Chapter 15

From the roof of a faraway pagoda, overlooking the whole of Shin-je, Eclipse sat quietly and observed as Jason and his Raksha companion made their way back to their base. As the silence of the rooftop began to become overbearing, he began to let his head drift to the events of his day.

…

“If I catch you guys around Naraka, it’s on sight.”

“We look forward to it.”

After Jason had been carried out of the warehouse by the Raksha, Eclipse decided the best decision would be to let them leave. The man had exhausted himself and clearly was no longer a threat. Despite Nikolai's silent prompting, Eclipse stood firm with his choice.

“It’s not worth interfering. Another opportunity will come.”

As Nikolai and Ayn climbed down the stairs, meeting him in the center of the warehouse, Eclipse walked over to the soldier girl to offer her his hand.

“I don't need your help.” She spat her blood on the ground, staring with contempt at Eclipse's faceless helmet. Despite her fire, her rage slowly melted into a fear as the two stared each other down, with the room growing warm with the energy emitting from his body. Sighing in defeat, she kneeled in front of him. “But, I would like your mercy. I will kill him next time, I promise you.”

The girls' eyes, unlike even Ayn’s or Nikolai’s, had true murderous intent behind them. With a sigh, Eclipse put his hand on her shoulder.

“Stand proud; you fought well.” Hearing his ring in her head due to a concussion, Chisako instinctively grabbed her ears before quickly calming herself.

“So, you won't kill me?”

“Kill you, after that showing? Absurd. In fact, we never planned to kill you to begin with.” Ayn spoke in a soft tone, coming down to now stand beside Eclipse. “I needed as much accurate data on your prosthetics as possible; forgive us for scaring you.” The rage on Chisako’s face grew exceptionally fast before she then took a breath and calmed herself once more, staring blankly ahead. “... It’s alright."

“As an apology, we are giving you a bit of a promotion! You'll now serve as our lieutenant general, second in command below us three. Isn't that wonderful, my friend?” Nikolai smiled, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Chisako flinched for a moment, seemingly wanting to pull away, before eventually relenting. “That is most flattering of you, Sir. “Thank you,” she said through gritted teeth.

Ignoring her obvious rage, Nikolai smiled brightly as he pinched Chisako's cheek condescendingly, causing her to wince.

“Wonderful, we will get your augments tweaked tomorrow; until then, rest up, soldier!” He chuckled jovially before gesturing Eclipse towards him.

“We'll have an eye on you, Chisako.” Ayn said with a curious smile; her face reminded Eclipse of a child who would pick the wings off of butterflies.

In a matter of moments, the four were teleported out of the warehouse.

…

Within the matter of two blinks, Chisako was back in her room at the inn, left alone once more. Grabbing a pillow from her bed, she threw it against the wall before screaming with a violent rage. It would continue for many hours.

The three arrived instantaneously at their pagoda in the upper district, finding themselves in the living room, around a modern glass table.

“I will say, no matter how long I stay here, I will never get used to your teleporting, Eclipse.” After coughing a few times, he then spoke. “I am not used to it myself, in all honesty.”

Eclipse didn't enjoy speaking, after the year he had spent in Naraka. He found telepathy to be a much more elegant situation.

Nikolai, walking to the kitchen in the penthouse, grabbed three glasses from the cupboard before pouring Rasa into each glass, mixed with a fruit juice. “My personal favorite thing since moving here has been attempting to make cocktails and ice cream out of Rasa; it's been quite the challenge. Try my most recent attempt, both of you. We'll toast to today.” He said, handing the glasses to the two waiting. Ayn took the class before raising it into the air. “To going home.” Nikolai, smiling, reciprocated the gesture.

“To going home.”

Raising his glass, Eclipse then took off the bottom half of his helmet before removing the tie from his hair, leaving it to fall down to his shoulders. He didn't speak, but the three glasses clinked, and the three drank.

Ayn had a hard time swallowing. Eclipse also found himself not enjoying the cocktail. Mixing Rasa with chocolate was a losing combination. Despite all the human food Nikolai had been given, he utterly misused it.

“You really need to get better at making these drinks, Nikolai.” Ayn spat, wiping her mouth with a tissue from the table.

He pursed his lips at Ayn’s words, feigning offense. “You’re so mean to me, you know! I don't need to take this from you!" Nikolai dramatically placed his hand on his forehead, pretending to faint.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have women to attend to in my quarters; maybe they'll be more supportive." He said sinisterly before heading towards the door. Ayn simply blinked in disgust, both at the drink and at Nikolai. Eclipse wondered if it was a good idea to have appointed him the leader of Soldier's hand.

…

"This has been a very unproductive day."

Suddenly, from the pagoda balcony, Eclipse could make out a hand struggling to reach up to him, gesturing for help. Looking down from the pagoda, Ayn smiled up at him. "Help me up?"

Grabbing her hand, he helped Ayn up to the top of the roof before going back to his sitting position. As she sat next to him, she made a point to sit as close as he would allow her, teasingly. “So, Eclipse, my brooding friend, what brings you up here looking so wistful?” she said to Eclipse as he adjusted his hair.

“The Raksha and Jason were down there; I was scouting their location,” he said blankly, before taking a sip of his drink. Despite the fact it did not taste good, he attempted to finish it regardless.

“Ah, so vigilant. Tell me, why are you so focused on them? Or should I say, on the man? I know you said he would be a good asset to us, but he has been nothing but uncooperative.” Ayn asked, poking into the shoulder plate of his armor in a half-hearted attempt to irritate him.

“I know what I am doing, Ayn.” Eclipse softly slapped her hand away, causing her to huff, turning away from him, before adjusting her glasses.

“You know, I have a theory,” she said, tapping her nails against her glass. “That you aren't interested in recruiting him at all. You just want to fight him, don't you?”

For the first time, Ayn saw Eclipse crack a smile. “You’re actually quite observant.” He said, softly scratching the sparse hair on his chin and mustache.

“From what you’ve told me about your life back on earth, that isn't surprising. You don't seem like you would be too fond of a jock type.” she teased, causing his smile to fade.

“It's not that at all.” He shrugged, finishing his drink before throwing the glass off of the pagoda, falling with an unsatisfying sound as it hit the snow, not shattering. Ayn snickered at the glass as she took a deep breath in the icy air. “I am also excited to prove my mettle against him, as a fellow athlete and all. I was the best sprinter in Germany for a time, you know?” She then prodded one more time, the coyness in her eye betraying her curiosity.

“But if not for poetic revenge, why so fixated?”

Looking towards Ayn, he spoke coldly as he put back on his helmet, staring at his hand. “I want to see whose pain is superior, that's all.”