Ships in the Night

Lyzander stepped out of the medic tent and into the rain, wincing slightly as it splattered down from broad canopy leaves and down to the ground below. A continent away, Camp Curahee was in the middle of a frosty patch of Onyx's spring; the sweltering tropical downpour here was a little unwelcome. He received a few wary looks from the camp guards as he passed, but they raised no objection as he wandered his way over to the rocky outcrop.
"She's going to be okay. A little shocked, but alright."
Avila turned to face him, hair clinging to her face, her overalls sodden. She'd been out here since before the storm broke. Anyone else and he'd be practically dragging them to warmth and shelter, but not her.
"Okay?"
"Yeah." Her response had sounded dismissive, but he carried on regardless. "They said - since we got her out in one piece, they're gonna be... 'lenient' about things. About us getting into the ruins, at least."
"Hari getting into the ruins. I didn't decide to go in there." 
"Avi, I know you-"
"I knew-"
"-come on, we all-"
"I knew. I knew where we were. I knew how far we'd gone, knew where the edge of the forest was and where the stream we were following would lead to and where the edge of the dotted red line was, I knew we were at the edge of the Zone, and-"
A momentary, choked pause.
"-and, and I-"
He threw her arms around her.
"Avi. It's okay."
Her tenseness softened after a moment; after another, it melted away fully, and after a third he could feel the rise and fall of her breathing start up again. Then, at last, her own arms moved to embrace him.
"I'm glad you were there. I'm glad you stayed. I'm glad you're alright."
"You're glad she's-"
"It's not like that!" 
Avila pulled back, looking him in the eye. He met her gaze - and after a moment, she found she was suddenly unable to hold it.
"You really mean that?"
"Yeah."
"Huh." A nervous gulp, a glance away. "Right." 
She found nothing left on her lips worth saying, and the world rushed to fill the gap. The silence lasted a blink; the weight of the rain, the growling of Warthog engines in the distance, the sharp bursts of wind were what lasted forever.
"Well. Then. I guess, guess I should say something about how I-"
"I know."
"You know?"
Lyzander chuckled, gently. "Yeah."
"Then you-"
"I thought I should keep my mouth shut, at least until the Trials were done."
"Well, that turned out well, didn't it." Avila's delivery was deadpan, and for a second it seemed as if she would throw another defensive barb
down onto the table. "But... now?"
The laugh had faded into a sheepish grin. "Now's as good as any, huh? Anyone who'd gossip is a thousand klicks away."
"Or asleep."
"Yeah." He paused, and took a breath. 
"So, how about it? Wanna... be invincible together?"
-----
Avila's breath caught in her throat. Her heart raced, her chest tightened - without another thought she grabbed him, pulled him close, held him tight. The embrace was only a moment, but she came away from it with her hand held in his.
"Call that a yes, then."
"Sure." Avila laughed, reached up with her free hand; cupping the smaller boy's face, running her thumb in gentle circles around the cheekbone. 
"What happened to your bruise?"
"Doesn't matter. I'd rather stay here with you."
A frown flickered across her brow for a moment. "No, it was - it was all over your face. After Hari hit you, after she..." 
"Forget it."
"No, shut up. This isn't how things went. She ran, and you chased her - she hit you, we got caught, we never got to help look, the instructors found her. And something happened with you two on the flight back, and, and-"
This time, he was silent.
"This didn't happen, did it?"
"Of course it didn't." Something changed - something, subtly, shifted in Lyzander's face as he chuckled. "Does that change anything?"
"Stop it."
"Who says you can't let yourself live it, can't indulge in what could have been? Who says you shouldn't get to feel-"
"Don't."
He raised his hands, pulling away. "Okay, okay."
"Just... tell me if we keep doing this. If I always end up here."
His smile was warmer, older than it had been before. "Nah. Sometimes we're out here, sometimes back at Curahee. Sometimes we get through Earth in one piece. But we stay together, all of us."
"I see." The breath caught in her throat again, but it was different this time. 
"I think I'm ready to go now."
"You su-"
"I think I am, yes." 
"Alright."
This time, the silence was left to fill the gap unmolested; the world pulled away from them, drawing away at the edges. Withdrawing, retreating.
"Hey, Lyzander?"
"Yeah?"
"I-"
-----
The buzzer was loud. It was sharp, persistent.
It drowned out her words. It drowned out his face
And then it drowned out the very forest around them.
-----
Avila sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed in a single, smooth motion. The overalls were discarded, the cleanly-pressed uniform was donned. 
A nod was the only acknowledgement she received from the prowler's Captain as she stepped onto the ops deck - quiet, at this late hour - and a gesture with the steaming mug in her hand was her only response.
Her station's display came to life as she sat down in front of it; challenges for passkey, fingerprinting, iris and voice authentication lit up in turn. Three communiqués had arrived the few hours she had been resting, one of them marked as JADE-restricted. 
She tapped that one first.
Category:The Weekly