Chapter 9

We spent the rest of the evening playing a game An’Ri brought from their room. It was called Ur’ or something like that, and you rolled the dice and moved your pieces on the board. Once you learned to ignore the strange symbols drawn on the board and the pyramid-shaped dice, it wasn’t so different from what we had on Earth. At least we didn’t need to speak about anything else. Despite its apparent simplicity, the rules were pretty complex, and the fact that both of them tried to explain them to me didn’t really help, so I lost every time.

It must have been late when I finally left and went back to my flat. Only when I let my body sink into the sofa did I realise how relaxed I was, and the prospect of going to bed and trying to fall asleep didn’t bring me the usual apprehension. For the first time, my bedroom felt inviting.

Yet too many questions rushed through my mind at the same time. I sighed and picked up my laptop, bracing myself for the cringe as the Military for Peace website was loading.

Fuck, I had finished on the front page of the news again, this time standing in front of Fenrir with that ridiculous white ribbon clearly visible on my uniform. Fuck… The last time I was interviewed, during the war, it hadn’t been as bad, and I only ended up on the first page because I had the most sober look of all my squad. I clicked on the Unity menu item, taking a deep breath in preparation, but even that didn’t equip me for what I would see.

A cartoonish drawing of a human and one of them holding hands through the portal. Fantastic. Whoever had approved this should be court-martialled, or even better, shot on the spot to save the hassle. I almost gave up, but I forced myself to read.

…even if we don’t look the same, we are not very different from you. We love and care just like you do, and our big families are the foundation of our communities. Sunsets in our world are really beautiful, when the setting sun fills the skies with a soft violet…

What the fuck… I closed my laptop. I was sure who I would not vote for in the next election. What had happened to ‘Nuke’em All’? Back then, it was everywhere, starting from the moment we figured out how to send something other than power armour to the other side. From the news to the posters on the streets, fuck, there had even been a beer brand with that name. Sure, it was disgusting, but it made the job so no one had complained.

I blinked and glanced towards the balcony. Maybe it had been a bit over the top, but still… It felt like the world had changed too fast, taken a turn in the wrong direction, leaving me behind.

My scrolling left me even more confused and the relaxed feeling was gone, and unwanted thoughts started creeping into my mind from the edges of my consciousness. Fuck, I guess it would be another sleepless night. It had started so well.

Yeah, it really had. Did I really like spending time with them that much? Another question I probably shouldn’t dwell on too long. It was what it was, but… I sighed, got up and walked out onto the balcony. The air was cold and humid, and clouds covered the night sky. It would probably rain tomorrow. I glanced towards their flat, but the lights were off. I guess they were sleeping. I sighed and leaned against the wall. It would be the weekend tomorrow, so I was free, but that was never a valid excuse to wake up late and skip my workout. But after that, I would have nothing to do again…

I stayed on the balcony until the first droplets of rain fell on the floor. I didn’t mind the rain, but there was no point in getting wet for the sake of it. I went inside, shutting the sliding door behind me, and lied down on the sofa.

I must have fallen asleep in the end because I woke up to my alarm, feeling stiff and tired. It didn’t matter. The cold shower forced me to wake up, and the dopamine hit after my workout, mixed with strong coffee, helped me to start my day in a presentable manner, even if I didn’t have anything waiting for me that day. With nothing better to fill my time, I started to scroll through that cringy Unity page again.

If they really were as peace-loving as this crap told me, and the war had been the fault of their totalitarian government that ruled them with an iron fist, they could have just surrendered at the first opportunity when they came to our world. To be fair, some did. Their Resistance had taken their chance when the war broke out and joined our side, but most of them didn’t. You could say many things about them, but they knew how to fight.

Mai’Ri… What was her story? I would probably never know. It wasn’t something I would ask about, and I couldn’t imagine she would share it with me. We weren’t so different in the end… Considering how long any of them had to stay in the camp, learning how our world worked before they gained citizenship, she must have come when the war was still raging. Had she just stolen her power armour and jumped to our side? How else could she have brought her daughter with her? Not bad if that’s what she had done.

There was a soft knock on the balcony door, and when I turned, I saw An’Ri waving at me, unbothered by the rain that had already soaked her. She must have been there for a while. I closed my laptop and got up, and opened the sliding door.

“Fu’Ri!”, she beamed

“An’Ri…”

I smiled and hesitantly crouched down before her, slightly extending my arms. Yeah, buried in all that cringe, there was some useful info. She smiled, took my hands, and pressed her forehead against mine, filling the void in me with her warmth.