Ch. 14 - They Reflect...

Content Warning: Sudden lapse in the perception of time

↓ This is the Audio Companion for Chapter 14!↓ 

As told by accounts from those who've lived through such times, Galvana's final few days were marked by the feeling of... surrealism. Things, on a grander scale, were finally progressing for the better, overall. But even as things became easier to end for those outside the walls, the same couldn't be said for the inner elements; the holdouts of the dead imperial order, and their captives. Some bore their own pains as they attempted to move on, and the others caused pain. Lashing out for misguided self-defense, or for their own benefit after everything had come to an end. Fascism doesn't die easily.

Joshua's sense of reality was still... fuzzy. Muddy. But he picked up the bag behind them and walked towards the place he called home. Bran followed just behind him, listening around for voices or footsteps and pointing Joshua in the right direction every occasional turn. Even with the tension, things seemed calm enough for a really weird day.

It wasn't just weird. I wouldn't call it that.

Nice to hear you speak to me again.

...hm.

Quite a few minutes pass, and the world gets redder and darker, but there's still no sign of anybody other than them. The world as quiet as it's ever been.

"One more turn here," Bran says quietly, "and it'll be ahead of us."

Joshua makes his arbitrary turn at this intersection and--

...

Joshua and Bran stop suddenly, as they see a group of soldiers just outside of the barrack ahead of them, and...

'John'. 

Looking around at the group, trying to hide himself behind another house.

He hasn't noticed the two yet in spite of being in clear line of sight. Bran gently tries to pull Joshua back by his shirt.

But Joshua's foot moves back too fast, and 'John's head snaps over to them, his eyes wide.

They all freeze, as their gaze locks.

What the hell does he want now?

Bran's grip still being on Joshua is losing him his balance, making him stumble forward a bit.

And 'John' turns and runs away from everybody.

...

Huh?

He just... ran away?

He just... ran away...

Well, Bran doesn't seem to know what to do about that; he exhales sharply and Joshua see's his head turn back to the barrack in his peripheral vision.

...

God, it's been a while since I've seen Joshua's peripheral vision.

Anyways, the barrack is busy; the whole military stock, all the weapons the soldiers can carry and a few armor vests here and there, is getting moved around for people to equip themselves with. Even small time officers - the same kind as Bran is 'supposed' to be - are joining in on that end, which is not something they should be doing. They're supposed to be managing everybody, on the order's of a higher officer, like the Marshall, or the General.

...

...

Where are they?

Why are these people doing all of this without them?

Bran seemed to wonder something similar, and started getting up from his crouch to walk towards them. Joshua was off his guard and gently grabbed Bran's arm in surprise, turning him back to face him. The question was shared through a look; What are you going to do?

Bran's eyes wandered a bit, but refocused on Joshua into a grimace. He grabbed his arm in return, and pulled him up to stand. "We've gotta figure something out," he whispered, as he continued towards the collective effort in front of them.

The walk wasn't very long, but it was slow, and anxious. As the gravel was ground underneath their shoes, the nearest officer glanced up at them. Bran paused, and Joshua, following just behind him, froze in response. But the officer looked back to the harnesses and pouches and resumed his busywork.

Okay, so they don't care about us...

Bran kept going, looking around to everyone else's work, and Joshua kept his eyes on the officer as he creaped forward.

"I was wondering what happened to you guys," the officer said, never taking his eyes back off his work. "Been gone all day."

Bran stopped just in front of the man.

"You're late, anyways," he continued. "Nothing left for you, not that I think anybody would've let you if you wanted."

What the hell is going on?

"What the hell is going on?" Bran asked, trying to keep some authority with his tone.

The officer dropped everything in his hands and looked at them sternly. "What do you think? We're gonna go to the village when the sun's gone."

Joshua blanks. But Bran's doing all the talking anyways. "How does the General feel about that?"

"Bitch, have you seen the offices?" the officer gestured to around where the front door of the Tower would be, and then slapped his hand back against his leg. "Emptier than these houses; if they care about what we're doing, they can come out themselves, cause everybody else already left."

Joshua was already pretty stunned by everything turning out the way it was, but Bran was mostly keeping his composure until now. What else was there to say to something like that, except...

"What do you mean, everybody left?"

"I fucking mean everybody left," the officer replied to Bran. "And no, I don't know why. None of us do. Frankly I thought it had something to do with you guys, since you were the only ones who got to do anything that wasn't regurgitated drills."

Now Bran was fully at a loss for words. Not even the answer to a pretty weird question for today was enough to instill confidence apparently. Eventually though, the officer finished up their business, and looked to everybody else, who were casually lounging against the barrack and other houses nearby, waiting for the sun to go away.

"Actually," the officer began again, "what the hell happened this morning? We heard you shouting, and saw... something... going back to that ship."

Oh, of course that drew attention.

Well, Joshua wasn't sure about talking about it.

"Some asshole hurt 'I-- The third of us."

Joshua looked at Bran uncertainly as he continued. "We brought him to that ship for medical attention."

The officer just stared at Bran and Joshua, like he was measuring them. "Really?" he asked, almost monotone. "And he's still up there?" he finished as he looked at that double ended obelisk.

Joshua and Bran didn't reply, and he looked back at them. "Well fair enough, I guess." He grabbed his stuff and started walking to the others.

But then he stopped, and looked back to them both. "Hey," he started. "I know we don't have... friendly terms... but we'd appreciate it if, for our sake and yours... you don't tell the 'big guys' what we're doing."

They stayed silent. Eventually, the officer seemed satisfied, and moved on to the others as Bran and Joshua moved their gaze from him to the ship ahead and above.

What the hell is going to happen now?

Joshua looked to Bran--

...huh??

...Uh... Bran's nowhere to be seen...

And it's--

Sun's gone, too.

...really dark--

"Let's go, guys!"

A shout, from ahead of Josh...

...but the groups not there when he turns his head. In fact... some of them can be seen down the street, some car headlights keeping them visible. Joshua can hear the gate opening from here, and it's quickly drowned a bit by the flood of engines revving, and some exclamations of excitement as they all drive out of there. A brief moment of this passes, before the gate closes back automatically, and only distant, muted cars can be heard beyond the walls.

Joshua only stands there for a second or two before he runs into the barrack.

"Bran!" he loudly calls out.

In the intermittently lit space, he sees a body jolt a bit. They're not quite sitting up from one of the bunks. but they're alerted and looking at Joshua.

"What is it?" Bran's voice replies, a bit quieter, and nervous.

"They... they just left!" He replies, with no train of thought in his head.

Bran shuffles himself away from the covers, but only enough to become more visible to Joshua, as the light from the ship's shield comes through some windows. He stares at Joshua, confused.

"They left, you said?" he replied, softly.

"Yes," Joshua reiterated. "I looked back to where you were, but you were gone, it was suddenly dark, and they started leaving!"

Bran got out of the bed and started walking to Joshua. He was half-dressed, and the light stretched across him in spots as he said, "What do you mean 'suddenly dark'? I told you I was going here when they were still moving things away."

...Joshua didn't remember that.

"I asked you if you wanted to come, and you said no," he continued, as he came closer, the distance making it easier to see him even in the dark.

...I don't remember that, either.

"You didn't say anything else, you just kept standing there." Bran was now arm's length away, and the look on his face was unnervingly concerned. "Were you out there the whole time?"

Joshua opened his mouth to try to say something, but he didn't know where to begin or what to say. Neither do I.

"I don't know," he finally said, softly. His eyes almost felt like they were going to tear up.

Silently, Bran closed the distance further, putting his head against Joshua's.

"Are you okay?" Bran asked softly, then put a hand on his shoulder as well.

...Joshua's eyes wandered, trying to make sense of everything.

..."I don't know."

Bran slowly pulled his head away and exhaled. Then, without breaking eye contact, he motioned his head back where he came from, and tugged a bit at Joshua's shoulder. "Come to bed," he said.

Joshua looked back to the bed, the covers lit dimly, and silhouetted by the sea of empty racks. Hesitantly, he took a step forward, and Bran led him the rest of the way, even pulling him down to sit before getting on the opposite side, then pulling Joshua further down to lay right in front of him in an embrace under the covers. Joshua reflexively grabbed Bran's arm in response.

"We haven't had a chance to do anything like this in a long time," Bran whispered to Joshua, just behind his ear. "Maybe it'll make you feel better, after everything that's happened today."

Joshua grunted in response, no more words in his head.

Time passes, and soon enough Bran's rhythmic breathing is felt all around. But Joshua's eyes are still open, looking out a window, watching the shield move in that flowing motion.

...

...I don't know how Joshua feels...

But eventually, he finds his sleep as well.

It can entrench itself so deeply into one's self, one's life... that to remove oneself from it becomes a much greater ordeal than just... moving away can ever be. One might find themself carrying the weight of it all in the minutia of their lives; casual conversations, existing with loved ones, meeting new people and learning new things. It's infectious.

It'kara finally tore their eyes away from the building and looked back down to those sold-

No, sorry, those... hostile captives?

Regardless, they were moving quickly towards the town, clearly energized from what It'kara could see in spite of the distance between them. If it wasn't for these magnifiers, nobody on the ship would even know they were approaching. So small, It'kara thought to themself, now seeing they were halfway to their destination since they left.

A snap from behind - probably a piece of armor locking - brought It'kara's attention away from the window, now seeing the selected fe'rots, macidai and humans coming from the stairs and convening around them. It'kara turned the magnifier off and turned to face them.

"You've all been briefed, then?" It'kara began, putting an air of authority into their voice. Been a long time since I've done that.

A few yeses from the fe'rots, and the humans and macidai nod, all their collective non-ricochet armor plates shifting smoothly over each other.

"Good," It'kara continued, beginning to pace in front of the six of them. "Now remember; you two," It'kara emphasized, pointing to the human pair, "will be doing most of the talking to them. Ideally, since you're both from Galvana, the common ground with be able to garner some sympathy, maybe even bring them onto the ship so we can help them. But you shouldn't let your guard down. We don't know how they'll react to seeing you again. Everything else," they continued, looking back to the macidai and fe'rot pairs, "you four know your roles."

They all nod in unison again, and It'kara looks back through the window to see the men close to three quarters of the way to the town. Still no sign that their 'leaders' are part of the group, thankfully. Hopefully an isolated talk will be good for them.

A few minutes later, they stopped in front of the shield, and the six envoys started loading themselves into a pod; the macidai first, by far being the smallest, then the humans and fe'rots. It'kara met them at the opening, wished them the "Best of luck," and sent them on their way down before going back to the window to watch over them.

They could almost put themself into the scenario, watching it happen from so far away. Having the experience from their first night at this planet, coming down in a similar formation of people and meeting the locals where they were definitely helps with that.

It shouldn't be too different here. If things go well, at least.

The pod opens, and the fe'rots and macidai step outside first, hands out, as the captives train their weapons on them. Then the humans step out, and almost immediately the guns are pointed away. So far, so good. One of the captives comes up to the pair and they start talking. Minutes pass. Some vague gestures here and there, but the tension doesn't seem to be elevating. In fact, far as It'kara can tell, the pair are convincing them.

A few seconds of what they assume is silence pass down there.

...

Then the one captive puts down their gun. Slowly, the rest follow suit, and It'kara sighs.

Thank  the Consciousness.

Back to It'kara's left, a big group of workers are now preparing for the captives to come into the ship, rolling out vaccines, preparing pods, and getting more humans for familiarity to explain things. They get over to the group to help with the process.