Luneth

Livia stepped back from Riven’s embrace, a faint smile on her lips. Her eyes were lit with the soft light of someone who knew it was over, but had no regrets.

The operatives took her arms and yanked her away to who knows where. Most likely her death, and Riven knew that.

But he didn’t move. He just watched her go, his hands trembling.

What I didn’t tell Riven about my memory that day was the very last part.

The fact that just before Livia disappeared back through the stone door, she turned her head to give one last look.

Not at him…

But at me. 

The me that was hidden in the shadows at the top of the stands. 

The me that had run from Riven, leaving him behind. 

The me that had avoided him, pretending to even myself that I didn’t care anymore. 

The me that maintained a strong exterior, but was too broken inside to truly have strength.

Her last look told me the one thing I needed to know.

I couldn’t give up on Riven.

***

I finished recalling the memory to him and finally brought my eyes down from the ceiling and onto his face. 

He was still looking at the carpet, but he had gone pale, his expression motionless. 

Despite the fact I knew I should’ve stopped, my mouth kept talking. “After that, I chose to watch over you.” That’s putting it lightly. I was stalking him. “Every day, I would watch you in the training grounds when I wasn’t being hammered to the ground by my athleticist.”

I brought my hands up and looked down at my palms. “I watched your Assignments as well, noting your progress on advancing your ability to use your Frequency. You had lost it after your memories were wiped, but, eventually, I could see it clearly again. That faint glow from your eyes… it was strangely comforting, you know, seeing it become brighter.”

I dropped my hands back down and looked back up to Riven’s face. “And that brings me to yesterday, where that glow had shone so, so bright.” 

I took a long pause. How was I supposed to end this? What was even the purpose of saying it all in the first place? To ease the tension between us, huh? 

I scanned his face one more time. It hadn’t changed since I had started talking about Livia. It wasn’t cold, just expressionless. Like a statue. 

Was it right of me to be so honest about what had happened to me?

It felt like a huge weight was lifted off my chest when I started talking, but seeing Riven like this placed a weight tenfold as heavy back on.

That realization cleared my mind.

I shut my eyes. Yes, I was angry. I had been angry for years about everything that happened. That much was obvious to me.

What I had lied to myself about was who to pin the blame on. In the end, it really wasn’t-.

It was Riven’s fault, Luneth. 

A sharp voice pierced through my mind. It was my own voice, but soaked in ice. My eyes shot open and my heart rate accelerated. 

All of it was Riven’s fault. 

The words echoed through my brain. The world tilted slightly, my eyesight spinning. 

He never even apologized to you. For forcing you to suffer alone. 

My mouth went dry.

He forgot you, acting like you weren’t there.

“No,” I whispered, so soft that Riven wouldn’t be able to hear it. “Stop…”

He had a choice. He always has the choice, and he chose the option that hurt you most.

Please… Please, stop. Stop it.

You were strong once. Do you remember what that felt like? To stand on your own? To keep moving forward without needing someone to look at you like you were worth it?

I looked down at my hands, which were now clenched tight enough to draw blood. No, they weren’t my hands. They were someone else’s. Or maybe they were still mine, just not me. 

It’s not fair to be the only one who suffers.

“Please…” My voice again. Small, but real.

The other voice laughed softly, which scared me more than anything it had said.

And then it vanished, leaving a deafening silence.

“Luneth.” Riven was standing in front of me, a familiar sparkle back in his eyes. At some point during that, he must’ve gotten up. He smiled sadly. “I get it, and I’m sorry-.”

“No!” My voice came out louder than I had wanted it to. I coughed. “No. It’s not your fault. It never had been, and I’m ashamed. Ashamed that I realized that only now. Ashamed that I had said all that just to make myself feel better… when I should’ve been saying it to make you feel better.” I felt my face turn red and my eyesight become blurry from tears, but I didn’t turn away.

He nodded slowly, processing what I said, and then smiled. Genuinely smiled. “Believe it or not, but I do feel better. Really. But it’s still my fault. There could’ve been a better decision to make, but I made the one that was the most obvious. The one that I thought would keep you safe, which was for me to fight and you to run.”

His eyes locked with mine, glowing slightly. “In another world, maybe I would’ve chosen a different option… But we live in this world. Not any other.” 

He walked over to the window and moved the blind out of the way, staring into the sunset. “I don’t know where our path ends.” He turned back to me, his expression soft and vulnerable. “But if you’re walking it too, that’s enough for me.”

I reached my hand out and gestured for him to come over to me. 

As soon as he came in range, I nudged him in the arm and laughed under my breath. “You’re unbelievable."

Riven grinned. “Hey! You know, I was being serious.”

I tilted my head to the side and smiled. “And I’m seriously trying not to cry, alright?”

The moment would’ve felt much sweeter if my mind didn’t keep going back to that voice. What was it?

***

Zerick, still in his black armor, clapped his hands. “Now that you both are done doing whatever, it’s time to talk about survival.” Riven was next to me on one sofa while Zerick was sitting suspiciously close to June on the other. “The hardest part is definitely going carefully through the maintenance shaft, yes, but that doesn’t mean you’ll have made it out once you get past it.”

He leaned forward. “Once you’re out of the maintenance shaft, you’ll find a huge opening. I think it’s called the ‘Oasis’, but that’s not important. Inside, there are a bunch of maglev trains that come in and out on a schedule.” Blank stares. “You don’t need to know what a maglev train is, just follow the directions on the floor to the one that says North America.”

Riven, June, and I all nodded simultaneously. Zerick sat up straight and smiled. “And guess what? I already made contact with the operative that’s going to give you your education. He agreed!”

Riven tilted his head to the side and frowned. “Do you mean he’s just going to give us a ton of lessons? What do you mean by ‘giving us an education’?”

Zerick grinned. “That’s the beauty of it! This guy’s Frequency allows him to instantly teach you anything he knows. He just does his thing and you’ll instantly have the knowledge of the average person in the real world.”

That’s pretty… unnerving, to say the least. Couldn’t he give us fake information and we would never know?

Zerick continued. “I gave him your planned route out, and he said he would meet you all somewhere along the way.”

June shifted slightly and looked at him with an expression I had never seen on her before. “Don’t you think you’re being a little too trusting of this guy? It’ll only take a minute for him to tell the whole facility where we are.”

He nodded. “That’s a valid concern, but I can guarantee he’ll keep you all safe. He doesn’t have the same agenda as the higher-ups. I would trust him with my life.”

That doesn’t mean we can trust him with our lives.

I sighed and waved my hand. “You still need to go over what to do after we make it past the train things.”

He nodded once more. “The guy you’ll meet on the way will tell you what to do. Honestly, I’m not sure what’ll happen to you all, but I know he also manages the transport of people in and out of the facility. There’s no need to worry about it yet.”

“What? That’s definitely something to worry about!” My tone came off a little harsher than I intended.

He shook his head. “I can’t help you with that. If you want to get out of here, you have to trust me.”

I sighed and leaned back against the sofa. 

Zerick pushed himself up and stretched out his arms. “We’ll move in five minutes,” he stated simply before walking to my room to grab his helmet.

June pushed herself up as well, walking to the kitchen to write a note, presumably that she wouldn’t be coming back.

I caught Riven’s glance at me and smiled.

He smiled as well, but his smile was a little sad. “In less than a day, I’ve gone from being entirely oblivious about literally everything to making an escape plan to leave everyone else I’ve met behind. It’s strange, really. The fact that my brain is acting like this is just another normal day.” He paused and studied my face for a little. “How are you, though?”

I laughed softly. “It definitely doesn’t just feel like another day to me. It’s more like wanting to do something for years without actually doing something to accomplish it. Then, a dice was rolled and suddenly everything clicked into place.”

He stared at me blankly. “Uh-huh.”

I sighed and stood up before taking another look at him. I wanted to say something sweet, but nothing came to mind. I just gave a quick nod and said, “Be ready.”