Weathering the Storm

The virtual facade slowly fell away until Audra was back in the pod. Rain hammered down on the roof still, and wind howled. The storm still raged on despite her dive.

She unhooked herself from the machine and got up. The dim light of the workshop hit her as she stumbled out.

She felt numb and exhausted. Everything was muted.

"Audra?" Zephyr's voice cut through the fog.

She saw him putting down the debug console. He seemed worried. Of course he did. He'd been watching what'd happened. She couldn't imagine what he was thinking right now.

Was it pity? Disgust? Something else?

"H-hey, Zeph."

Her voice was hoarse and raspy. She tried to clear her throat, but she couldn't. Her mouth was dry, and she felt like she was about to throw up.

His expression dropped hard.

"Audra? You okay?"

"I-I… I don't know…"

He cautiously approached, patting her shoulder.

"Come on. Let's go sit, you seem like you—"

She didn't let him finish.

Before she even realized what she was doing, she threw her arms around him, hugging him tight and burying her face in his chest.

He was warm. Comfortable. Safe. Alive.

The floodgates broke. She couldn't hold it back anymore. Everything she'd bottled up since that day, it all came pouring out at once.

She cried, hard—uncontrollably—clinging as sobs shook her entire body.

"A-Audra?"

She couldn't manage a response to the wide-eyed Zeph.

"…" He eventually pulled her close and rubbed circles into her back.

Thunder rumbled, but it felt further away now.

She didn't know how long she stood there sobbing. All she knew is that it must've been a while, cause by the time she finally pulled away, her eyes stung from all the tears.

She sniffled and wiped her face with her sleeve, trying to compose herself.

Zeph wasn't stupid. He could put two and two together—figure out what'd happened to her and her parents. But still, she had to say it. She couldn't keep it locked away inside anymore.

“They’re gone,” she whispered. “It… happened about a month ago. Caused a scene when some guy called me a slur. Left the restaurant early to not make more trouble."

She flinched as lightning struck, but she kept going.

"When we got back, we were in front of the shop. It was raining hard, and… a truck… it was going too fast.”

The memory flashed through her mind—blinding headlights, the deafening screech of tires. Her body tensed at the ghost of it.

“It slammed into us… into the shop. There was a fire.”

Her voice cracked as her hand instinctively brushed against her prosthetic arm.

“I’m only alive because of these stupid bionics—protected me from getting crushed. My parents didn’t make it. They were… pronounced dead on the scene.”

She could still feel phantom blood dripping from them and onto the pavement.

"The funeral happened a week before I left. I had no relatives in the area, and no friends to stay with. So, I came here—ran away. From CPS, from the pain, from everything."

Snot ran from her nose as she sniffled.

"I-I didn't even get to tell them how much I loved them! You know those movies where they always manage to get a cheesy goodbye in before someone dies? How come I didn't get that?! I-it's not fair! They were good people! Why did they have to be the ones? Why did only their half-machine freak daughter have to survive?!"

She felt Zephyr's hand move to her head. It was gentle despite the sounds of the storm.

"Audra." He looked directly into her eyes. His own were glistening as he ran his hand through her hair.

"You're not a freak."

"T-then why did this have to happen?! W-why can't I just be normal?! If I was, none of this would've happened."

She hiccupped as rain continued to pour.

"I don't know why these things happen to good people. I just… I'm so sorry that you had to go through that."

"D-don't apologize! I'm not a good person. I'm a hothead and a coward! I didn't go to see their graves or take care of the shop or anything else. I just left. Didn't even say anything!"

"You were scared and hurt. That doesn't make you a bad person. As for taking care of things…? You will. One day. But that's not important right now. What's important is that you're okay."

"…" Audra couldn't respond. Instead, she buried her face in his chest again and closed her eyes.

*ba-dump*

She focused on his heartbeat, letting it soothe her frayed nerves.

The rhythm of it was calming, comforting. Something that she could focus on instead of the thunder.

"…You're not going to report me to CPS or something, right? Have me taken away?"

"Not so long as you want to stay here."

"B-but you could get in trouble."

"It's um, a big island. They'll have to find you first. The Bygone isn't even in their jurisdiction."

Her tears began to slow as Zeph wiped his eyes.

"Z-Zeph…?"

"Y-yes. What is it?"

"…You sure you don't have a shady past?"

He snorted, caught off guard. "Sheesh, you. Knock it off."

She giggled, dabbing her face with his shirt.

"T-thanks. And sorry about being such a mess."

"No problem. But I wouldn't say you're a mess." He smiled wryly and gestured at himself. "If you're talking about me though? Yeah, I'm a total disaster. Would be hypocritical of me to say otherwise."

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes but couldn't help the smile creeping up her lips. "D-don't degrade yourself like that, dummy."

"Can't help it. I'm a realist, remember?"

"You also said you were an optimist."

"Details."

Audra shook her head as she hugged him closer.

She felt a lot better after getting all of that out of her system. She still missed Mom and Dad, but at least now she didn't feel completely lost anymore.

They just embraced beneath the storm for a while.

"You doing alright now?" he asked once enough time had ticked by and raindrops were starting to quiet.

"I… don't know," she answered honestly. "But… maybe, um, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Just something's that been on my mind—seeing my old shop made it worse. I, um want to make sure that you don't lose Third Chances."

He blinked as it registered.

"W-wait, hold on. Staying here is fine and all, but you don't need to worry about—"

"Before you continue, just know that I snuck a read through all of your paperwork. Remember when you went to sleep?"

He audibly gulped.

"Damn it. You actually did. Those were confidential documents."

"And you said nothing was off limits. You're a terrible businessman, Zephyr Lee."

He scratched the back of his head.

"Y-yeesh, using my full name and an insult? What are you, a tax auditor?"

"I'm being serious here, Zeph. Please."

That deflated him slightly.

"Fine, continue."

"Thanks. Now as I was saying… You're months behind on your mortgage, you have a bunch of loans coming due soon, and you haven't paid yourself a proper salary… ever, really."

"Okay? That sto;; doesn't mean you should be concerning yourself with it. It's my problem."

She pulled away to stare him in the eyes—amber and silver, still glistening.

"Zeph, you're going to lose the building if things keep going like this."

"Er, well—"

"I can't let that happen. You've gotta actually charge clients properly."

Her voice went firm as she shoved the last of her sadness down. Despite how stupid-smart Zephyr was, he could be so dumb sometimes.

"Audra, like I said before, I'm not in this for the profit—"

"When you inevitably shut down because you can't afford to keep the lights on, do you really think that'll benefit your customers?"

"Uh." His lips quivered at the point.

"Think about it for a second, Zeph. If you go under, the next guy who'll set up a business like this might not be so kind. Plus, I bet you that there'd be people that'd miss Third Chances and you regardless of what happens."

"But—"

"No buts. Don't you remember your own damned motto? 'Third Chances is for everyone! Even me. Even you.'"

His mouth gaped like a fish, as if he were about to say something, before he sighed in defeat.

"Using my own words against me. Clever girl…"

"Thank you."

"I wasn't done. What would you propose instead?"

She smirked as she sniffled away the last of her snot.

"Don't forget, I technically meet the minimum requirements to do most jobs. I can work as your behind-the-scenes accountant or something."

"Sounds like a lot of work though. Are you sure you're up to the challenge?"

"I'm not, but if this place goes down, where will I stay? I don't want to be homeless again. Unless… you're okay with putting me back on the streets?"

"You're really making it hard to argue."

There was just something about the way his eyes crinkled that made it impossible to not grin dumbly.

"Damn right I am. So… partners, then?"

She held out her hand for him to shake.

He ruffled her hair as he took it.

"Partners it is."