Posts
All Comments
HAPPY HOLIDAYS MY QUESTIONABLY QUIET CUCUMBERS!
I hope your days have been the upmost joyful!
Thank you all for taking time to read my blog this year and catch up with ren- I mean Lonely and Eos's story! I really appreciate you all for helping my dream of writing for others come true! I hope I can keep writing for you for a good long while.
Joyous days to you dear readers! See you in the new year!
- Zoë
The electricity crackled from the grate in front of them.
"It's about five minutes till it temporarily shuts off." Vayne turned to Eos, "Then, we have thirty seconds to both get through."
Nodding, Eos rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to fight the cool air in the vent. Her body was not built for a colder habitat; normally, most planets can regulate their temperature now without the need for a close star. Whispwood couldn't have been able to since no one would have been there to run it, which is one of the reasons Eos utilized the space suites.
Shifting his weight, Vayne whispered, "It should be warmer on the other side."
"Thank you for helping us. This can't be easy to go through again." Eos looked up and met his eyes, or at least his normal set; they appeared to be a somewhat neon yellow color in the dim light from the grate.
Sharply inhaling, Vayne spoke quietly, "Your eye."
"What?" startled, Eos tilted her head, "what about it?" She thought whatever was about to come out of his mouth would be rich, considering he had three pairs of eyes.
His hand started moving toward her left eye, but it dropped back to his side as he said, "It's turning red."
Before she could say anything, the electricity shut off. They both grabbed at the gate and violently yanked it open and ran through. It closed with a clang behind them just as it started to hum again.
Vayne fell to his knees, the noise thumping on the hardwood now beneath them. They were in the office now, but instead of being quiet, He was laughing with relief.
"It actually worked! Neither of us got shocked!" he sighed, "We made it! It's so much easier to open it with another person!"
Eos crouched down so she could see his face, "You mean, you didn't know if we'd both make it through?"
Through his tears of relief and laughter, he said, "I'm saying I would have held it open for you so you could get through, so you didn't die like he did. It takes twenty seconds to get it open on my own, and almost not enough time to get through before the gate hits me in the back. I honestly didn't think you'd help me open it; it never occurred to me."
He was pulling on his hair lightly as he spoke. She reached out and grabbed his hands, pulling them down to his lap. They sat like that for a few moments as he slowly started to calm himself down.
"Sorry, sorry," he breathed shakily, "I just-...lost control of myself for a second. We need to keep- we need to keep moving." With those words, Vayne stood up. Pulling his warm hands away from hers, "Thanks for trying to help."
Eos nodded and stood next to him, surveying the room. Thankfully, there was no occupant; Pandora and Lonely must have caused a good distraction. The office had a few gray file cabinets, a dark wood desk, a swivel chair with no back, and a bookshelf, which the two of them were standing on. Vayne pointed at the desk, more specifically, a mug that read "world's worst boss" that was full of writing utensils on the desk.
Grinning slyly, he turned to her, all previous emotions gone from his face, "The pen will be in the mug."
"Pen?" she asked, not quite understanding.
He sighed and carefully said, "The last passkey piece is holding together his best pen, like I said earlier, before we split off into two groups. We'll need to take it and pull it off."
Nodding slowly, Eos wondered how she had forgotten that so easily. She thought maybe she'd been too caught up in the moment to focus on that detail, but it seemed unlikely. What else could she have forgotten?
She opened her mouth and then closed it, her face contorted into confusion. Finally, Eos asked, "Wait-what kind of piece is it? We already have the loopy top part from Carnalavilia, the shafty piece from Whispwood, and the spikey teeth from Ancient Geese. There shouldn't be anything else."
Nodding in hesitation, Vayne answered, "It's a ring shape. To connect the quote on quote 'loopy top part' to the 'shafty piece', are you okay?"
He slid himself over the edge of the roof of the bookshelf and dropped onto the top shelf.
Eos peered over the side and found him staring up at her. "Well, come on then!" He called, waving at her, "I'll make sure you won't fall, promise."
"I feel like I'm putting too much trust in someone I hardly know." She frowned as she started to lower herself down.
"You know you can't just dangle yourself to get down. You actually have to let go."
She could hear the laughter in his voice. Swinging, Eos flung herself down and inward, smacking into the Vayne and the books behind him.
Letting out a yelp as they crashed into the books, Vayne felt Eos's elbow jut into his rib cage.
"Ow!" he winced, as she scrambled to her feet, rambling apologies, "you're a very graceful princess, huh?" he chuckled, wincing again from the sudden pain in his head. Hurriedly, she grabbed his arm and helped him to his feet, and they kept moving down the bookcase. One shelf after the other till they were on the floor.
That's around the time Eos realized how tall the desk truly was; it loomed over them, and while being made of wood, thus making it easier to climb, it would still take time they didn't know they had. It had already taken too long to get down the bookshelf.
Glancing at Vayne, Eos waited to see what he'd do. Wandering off, he gestured for her to stay put. Not wanting to be left alone, she followed anyway, and together they walked to the other side of the desk, where an equally tall swivel stool was placed. It was lowered close to the ground.
"If you can spin this thing, I can go up and get the piece." He muttered, "It looks like a thinner metal", looking towards her. Vayne asked, "Can you spin it?"
Giving him an odd look, Eos shook her head, "You're overestimating my strength. However, if we can get up there on top of the stool, we can use the desk drawers as a kind of step ladder."
He nodded and slipped the kitsune mask over his face once more, quickly turning into the black fox again. They took a few steps backward before sprinting forward and jumping.
*
Lonely and Pandora made it to the top of the rubbish a lot quicker than it seemed. They would jump when it was clear they had a platform to land on, but there were a few close calls when Lonely would almost miss it, or Pandora overestimated and smacked into the trash a good few feet above the designated platform.
After finally making it to the top, Pandora started working on prying the door to the starship open, muttering about how she wouldn't get stuck on another demon planet after escaping the last one. Lonely just stayed out of her way, since she looked like she was about to explode his brain with her mind.
Looking out over the planet, all he could see was a pattern of squares. The whole place was covered in millions of cubicles, not one lake or tree.
"We've got to free them." He sighed.
"You mean start a revolution? Aiming for their walls, not them?"
Pandora was digging her nails at the door. Lonely meandered over to help.
Thinking as he pulled, he told her, "That's exactly what we should do."
"Hey, you're the one that's gonna be aiming the gun, I don't care where you're firing, as long as we can draw as much attention as we're able." She yanked hard on the door, and it popped open with a jarring noise like jack jackhammer. Hands immediately covering his ears, Lonely watched as Pandora opened it the whole way.
The two of them slipped in and split ways. Pandora took to the pilot's seat, and Lonely disappeared down the hall, running to jump into the small compartment to start up the cannons. The starship powered on as Lonely pulled the headset over his ears.
"Ready to start shooting, L?" She spoke in his ears, a spark of energy flooded his system as he answered, "Yes, Ma'am!"
"Alright! Time for take off!"
The ship rose up off the heap of rubble, and as the trash became distant. The feeling in Lonely's chest was not unfamiliar, having experienced the same feeling in Ancient Geese, it spread from his heart to his toes and ears. It was fierce courage and bravery that he had never brought himself to experience on his earth. Lonely felt like the version of himself he kept deep down inside of him, the version he decided from a young age to bottle up to keep it safe from the harmful words of others. It exploded in his mind as he pulled the trigger, taking careful aim, and he laughed. Finally letting out the laughter of pure joy at standing up for others, standing up for himself. In those few moments, Lonely truly felt like who he should have grown up to be: someone willing to go the distance, to keep people safe. Yes, he was a rebel to the greedy and powerful.
