Api Biru Pt. 2

(Fence)

Other people resistant to fire, experiments long before the effects of Y2K, what the hell was Lord Edwin talking about?

Bane was silent for a few moments. Nobody else dared to speak up. My Lord, Clarine seemed to be distressed by this entire situation, and Bane’s Lord, Rocco, seemed to be asleep. With his injuries, he should get good rest.

As for Lars, he was watching all of this unfold from the other end of the elevator. He sat on a bunk casually with no significant expression. Did he not care about anything that was being said? Of course, he didn’t… A pathetic man like that only thinks of himself.

Bane finally decided to speak up. His expression was full of anger and sadness. “Why did you lie to me about Mom? Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?”

Lord Edwin couldn’t even look at his son in the face. “I thought that if I told you your mother died, you would fall into a depression that I wouldn’t be strong enough to take you out of. It still plagues me to this day and I didn’t want to curse you with that same pain.”

“That’s bullshit, do you have any idea how much pain and suffering you caused me with your stupid, stupid, story about Mom leaving us for Mars?! You thought it would make me happy to know that Mom left us to live a better life. A better life meaning one where she didn’t have to put up with raising me?!”

Bane’s anger started to take over. I have very little respect for the kid, but just going off this conversation, I’d take his side here. Nothing is more important than the bond of family. To lie to him and make it seem like his mother had no interest in raising him must’ve been devastating for a child. If either of my parents ever walked out on me, I’m not sure my heart would be able to handle such a loss.

“No, Bane, I thought that knowing she was dead would bring you-”

“Oh shut up, what else have you been lying to me about, huh?! Is what Lars told me true? Do all you Scavenger Lords only exist to keep us underground? This fight for the surface means nothing to any of you?!”

What? This can’t be true. What did Lars tell him? Surely, this is a lie. My Lord Clarine would never act with such intentions. She’s eccentric, sure, but she has the best interests of humanity in mind, I know that.

Lord Edwin gritted his teeth. “It’s not what you think. We’ve done countless years of research. The surface becoming habitable again, just isn’t possible. If we told the world about this, everything would fall into chaos. Nobody would have any reason to work so hard to support each other and this wonderful world we built. This is a good thing, Bane! I know I’ve always told you about the old world and how majestic it was but the truth is, the old world was an awful place. There was war after war and with how expansive humanity was, not everyone was able to live a quality life with a home, and a family to support them. We have that here! In Milona, Ylvona, Flinholf, Grastin, any city you look. Sure, there’s a disparity in wealth and recreation but every single person gets to live knowing they can come back to a home, and there will be food on their table. You can’t truly comprehend how amazing that is, but it is!”

I looked at my Lord and she snapped her gaze away from my eyes. Was this all true?! My head began to hurt. On one hand, I wanted to believe what Lord Edwin was saying about this truly being the best for humanity. My family has lived a humble life and I’m eternally grateful, but to lie to us this whole time? No… Those who lived on the surface are still alive today, and even they yearn for the day we announce that the surface is habitable again. Who decided that abandoning the surface was best for humanity? Why was this kept from us?!

(Clarine)

That bastard did it now. No more secrets from your golden boy, huh? What was even the point of telling him all this? Edwin seemed to be losing it. We’re all headed down to Ylvona anyway, why couldn’t this wait?

Dammit all, my head still hurts like crazy. I have no idea what the hell happened with Lars, but hopefully, I’d be in a position to pay him back for this.

Looking at Fence made me feel sorry. I couldn’t bear to keep eye contact with him for longer than a second. He was an earnest scavenger who believed in everything we were doing. That stupid giant would tell me about his family over and over, and at some point, I started to feel like they were my relatives as well. As far as I’m concerned, the times we shared weren’t lies. I just had to hope he saw it the same way…

I looked at my other surroundings and couldn’t see Rocco. Where the hell was he? It only took a few more seconds to realize he was on the neighboring bunk. The shadow from the top bunk made it hard to see him at first. That, and he was sleeping. Wait, did he lose his arm?! Why’s everyone so calm about this? I probably shouldn’t panic if nobody else is. No, I can put his arm back together, as long as they have it, even with my injury, I can do it!
“Hey, do you guys have Rocco’s arm? I could-”

Bane spoke over me. “You’re a filthy liar who decided humanity wasn’t capable of more than you want them to be. The most respected Scavenger Lord? Yeah, right. You gave up on humanity long before anyone else did. Who gives a shit about keeping war, poverty, and all these other things away? You don’t even know if they will come back.”

Edwin shouted, “They will! If we get back to the surface, humanity will overpopulate just like before, and nobody is going to have the drive to support each other like we do down here. It’s setting us up for failure. Don’t act like I don’t know what I’m doing!”

“You know what you’re doing?! Give me a damn break. Out of everyone here, you know the least of what you’ve done. If chaos is the natural state of humanity, who are you to deprive them of that? My whole life has been spent chasing these pathetic dreams that you’ve fed me, but now I’m realizing that was by design. You wanted me to feel like there was something more than all of this because as long as I could get drunk on that, you would feel no remorse about sheltering everyone from the truth! I don’t care what you say, I’m telling everyone about this the second we get back to Ylvona.”

Bane leaned in towards his father’s face without an ounce of fear in his eyes. This was different. This rage wasn’t purely driven by the negativity of despair, betrayal, and pain, even someone like me could tell that Bane was encountering a new desire. This isn’t good…