Burn

Koharu lowered the cyberette from her lips, blowing out a plume of pink smoke. She rested her elbow on the roof parapet, cheek in her hand.

The sun was starting to rise in Grandyne. The light broke out across the horizon and over the lake, bleeding through the thick, maroon smog that hung over the city like a veil. The city was dark. All cities she’d been to or seen pictures of were dark. But the smog made it darker.

Lights of all colours still glittered within the city on the other side of the lake, but they would be turning off any minute. Section by section, until just a few remained. She lifted her gaze to the sky.

There was a time when you could see stars in the sky, her father had told her. They were like tiny sparks that ignited the darkness with our imagination. Reminded us there was something more out there. That we weren’t done learning about the universe.

Now look at it, she thought.

Empty. All darkness. All the hope choked out of it.

The door behind her creaked open, then closed. Footsteps approached; slow, cautious. Nervous. Too heavy to be Kiyomi, and she never would’ve come after her anyway. Too small for Ezequiel, too unsure to be Beltran, too slow to be Daichi.

“Hello,” Ingacio said.

She lowered her head, taking another draw on her cyberette. “Hey.”

His footsteps came closer, and he stepped into her peripheral vision. He leaned an elbow on the parapet right beside her, staring at the lake.

“Wow,” he said, his voice low. “It’s beautiful.”

She clenched her jaws. It was disgusting. But if he liked it, she wasn’t going to ruin that. There were so few beautiful things in the world.

She glanced up at him, her hair falling along the side of her head. His tan skin warmed in the choked sunlight. That thick, spiky black hair poked in more directions than she could name, his smile returning the sun’s warmth to her face.

“You damn near saved me in the Ethergeist, you know,” she said, staring down at her cyberette.

He turned to her. “When Chey turned up?”

She nodded, taking another draw on her cyberette. She could see him smile in her peripheral vision, just a little.

“I guess so. But I would’ve been dead if you hadn’t told me to get down,” he said, leaning both arms on the parapet.

She tilted her head, sighing out pink smoke. “I guess we owe each other, then.”

“I guess so,” he said.

“How did you almost kill him?”

He paused, rubbing the back of his neck. “He almost killed me first with a lava glob in my stomach. But that gave me his Aspect and it combined with yours to create some kind of blue lava,” his fists clenched. “And I just… flung back at him, without even thinking.”

A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “You’re really not the kind of person to take on Cypher Corp.”

Ignacio sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “I know. But I’m not the kind of person to let my little sister get taken from me.”

“You’ll die in the process.”

“And what’s worse?” he said. “To leave her there alone, knowing I could’ve done more, or die trying to help her?”

Koharu paused, turning to him. Their eyes locked. There was a glint of something in his deep brown gaze. Something that broke through the dark. Just a tiny spark of… focus. Determination. The kind she’d smothered out in many men and women before.

“You want to burn, don’t you?” she asked.

“Well… I don’t know if that’s what I want,” he said, licking his lip. “But it’s what I’ll do if I have to.”

She stared at him for a moment, then looked away. “How’s she doing?”

“Celeste? I just checked on her. Still catatonic, nothing more than basic bodily functions to survive.”

Koharu paused. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” he said, leaning his head back to stare at the sky. “You’re helping me more than anyone to get her back.”

“Yeah,” she said, brushing her hair from her face. “And I want you to know that I had nothing to do with Chey. You saw what I looked like when you woke up. That only happens when I get disconnected manually.”

Ignacio nodded. “I believe you.”

She smiled. A full one, this time. “I noticed.”

He lowered his chin, smiling too. She turned, leaning her elbows on the parapet.

“Have you ever seen a star?” she asked, leaning her head back.

“The sun?” he said.

“No, dumbass,” she said, nodding at the sky. “The little ones.”

He lifted his head. The sky was still dark, warming into a deep purple as the sun rose.

“No. I heard my mother talk about them though, before she died. About how her and my dad used to go out into forests to see some.”

“Who’s your dad?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Don’t know, and I don’t care. I met him once when I was five, I think.”

She crossed her ankles. “He left you?”

Ignacio nodded. “He walked out the door one day and never came back. My mother tried to keep up the business trip narrative with my sister and I for a full month before giving up.”

She nodded, placing the cyberette to her lips. “I’m sure you’re better off without him.”

He went silent. Koharu sighed out a plume of pink smoke.

Said the wrong thing again, she thought.

“I needed him,” he said, softly. “We needed him.”

She tilted her head. “You thought you needed him,” she said, holding her elbow in her hand. “But look how far you got without him.”

Igancio grunted. “I lost my sister.”

“She was taken from you,” Koharu said. “That has nothing to do with you.”

He sniffed, scratching the side of his sharp jawline. “What about you? Where’s your family?”

She hesitated. For once, lying wasn’t the first response. For once, she didn’t want to smother out that spark.

“I don't know,” she said, flicking her hair from her face. She raised her cyberette to her lips, but stopped when his hand settled on her wrist.

“What happened?”

He let go as she lowered her hand. “That's a question for another time. We need to eat and get back in there.”

He nodded, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his high-collar jacket, the edges inlaid with a dull orange glow.

He looked up at the sky again as she stood, switching her cyberette off.

“Is there night time in the Ethergeist?” he asked.

She frowned. “Yes…”

“Have you ever seen the stars in there?”

Her frown lifted. “No… I guess not.”

He turned to her, a breeze sweeping his hair and collar to the side.

“Then I'll help you find them,” he said. “As soon as we get my sister back, Koharu. I'll help you find them all.”

She pulled the shoulder of her hood up, but it slipped back off.

I don't need your help, was the first answer that sprang to her mind.

But she found herself smiling instead.

“You want to burn, don't you, Ace?”

He smirked. “Maybe I do.”