"..."
Cecilia stretched forward and slid the small poster between her legs before it could drift any farther.
She felt Ikade shift behind her and leaned forward on instinct, catching herself before the woman's weight could push her over. A second later, Ikade turned and rested her chin on top of Cecilia's head, flattening her tufts without even the slightest hint of apology.
Cecilia's eye twitched.
Calling it a poster was generous. It was really just a flyer, no bigger than a sheet of paper.
Ikade leaned a little farther in, absentmindedly putting more of her weight on Cecilia's head while chatting about nothing in particular.
Cecilia reached out and took the flyer that had been calling to her.
The paper had a rough, textured surface.
When she tilted it from side to side, the images shifted—odd little visuals stitched together like a collage.
"Is this…a convention or something?"
The background looked like distant terrain seen from high above, warped slightly by the shifting surface.
Ikade's chin pressed harder into her head.
"Move it a little. I can't see."
"…It's not for you."
Ikade tried to reach around her shoulder.
"Aww, why not?"
"Some things are better left to innocent minds."
Ikade clicked her tongue and leaned around the other side, her hair brushing against Cecilia's cheek as she tried to peek.
"Oh yeah? And who took it from me in the first place?"
Ikade's hand darted in again.
Yet, with a flick of Cecilia's fingers, the flyer folded itself into a neat square and disappeared into the purse at her side.
Cecilia stood up, and brushed down her pants before stepping off.
Ikade followed after her, scooping up both their drinks and finishing them within minutes.
They wandered through the busy corridors, some wider than others, some packed tight with shops and kiosks. Every now and then, Ikade would drift a little ahead, only to suddenly slip into a store with unrestrained intent.
Cecilia followed along and watched Ikade pop back into view wearing something she had no intention of buying, turning this way and that.
A charming dress.
A pair of tinted glasses.
A hat.
Then a loose outer layer she shrugged on, spinning once in it.
And every single time, Cecilia found herself stopping, the rest of the shop dimming until only Ikade remained clear in front of her.
Ikade's lovely smile kept blessing her spirit, her gaze doing more than her words ever could.
Yet the more they walked, the more Cecilia's eyes kept following—the sway of Ikade's hair, the bounce of her fluffy ears, and the slight squeak in her voice whenever something caught her gaze.
Eventually, the crowded stretch gave way to calm.
A lingering loamy scent drifted through the air.
A herbal garden, if not a large one.
The two crossed the threshold, and soft air brushed against their skin. The ground rose into glossy retainers, tall enough to sit on.
Greenery filled Cecilia's eyes. Plants, vines, and leaves arched overhead in a living canopy. She raised her head and traced the artificial light above with her hand.
She paused.
She swallowed nothing and lowered her band-aid-littered hand, letting her fingers brush across the leaves in a lingering touch.
Ikade pulled out her phone.
Then she crouched beside anything and everything, snapping photos from one angle to another, catching a couple of people enjoying the atmosphere, leaning in to capture the textures of leaves and petals.
A few strands of her hair slipped over her shoulder, some sticking to the softness of her cheek.
Clck...flash!
Ikade paused and slowly, she turned her head, still crouched beside the plants, with her phone held between her hands.
"...Did you just take a picture of me?"
Cecilia's face remained unchanged.
"...no."
Cecilia lowered her wrist with all the innocence she did not have.
Ikade stared at her for another second before looking away, the corners of her mouth betraying her.
More walking followed, full of stops and starts, in and out of stores, only for them to leave empty-handed again and again.
Even so, it was fine.
"Wanna check it out?"
Ikade asked, slurping up the last of some leftover ramen from a clear plastic cup.
The two of them stopped in front of a kiosk planted squarely in the middle of the corridor. A looping movie preview played across the screen, dramatic visuals flashing by while a small line formed to their right, people waiting for whatever showing was up next.
"Might as well."
Ikade followed Cecilia to the counter, the two waiting through a painfully boring stretch before finally stepping up to see what movies were playing.
A quick round of rock-paper-scissors decided who would pay.
Ikade lost miserably.
She clicked her tongue and handed over the money, accepting the tickets with exaggerated disappointment.
"I was robbed. You're terrible Cil."
"Please secure your bags before entering. Storage is just through there."
Cecilia followed the attendant's gesture toward the side lockers.
After that, they were waved through.
Inside, they checked their ticket numbers and slipped into the right theater, sinking into the most comfortable seats they could find.
Somewhere around the midpoint, both of them fell asleep.
Only to jolt awake when a particular explosion rattled through the speakers.
Time fleeted.
The credits rolled, and the two of them walked back out into the movie corridor.
Ikade's ears flicked sharply.
She lifted a hand to rub them, still sore from the relentless explosions. Cecilia, on the other hand, answered whatever Ikade was saying with distracted little sounds while stretching out her own stiff body, twisting side to side.
By the time they reached the main corridor, it was even more crowded, like insects crawling over sugar.
People moved in thick streams, shoulders brushed against theirs, bags bumped against one another, voices layered over one another until it became a buzz.
Ikade turned to say something but she caught a mass running towards her.
A woman came cutting through the crowd too fast, her shoulder tucked inward, her head looking back without a though.
Cecilia's hand jabbed out and grabbed Ikade by the collar, before pulling her aside.
Thud!
Someone else caught the impact instead, farther down the corridor.
Ikade blinked, then looked over her shoulder at Cecilia's hand still gripping her jacket.
"...Was I about to get flattened?"
Ikade smiled before hugging her arm.
"Thanks, you saved my life." Before she could answer, Ikade leaned in and pressed a quick kiss against her cheek. "Mwah."
Cecilia shifted the bags on her arm, looking away before Ikade could see her face.
"Let's go back."
They carried their trinkets through the hallways, letting the current of people push and pull around them until the shops thinned out and the noise slowly dulled behind the many turns.
By the time they made it back to their room, even the softened echo of the outside had become too much.
Cecilia set the bags down near the wall while Ikade kicked off her shoes and flopped onto the couch without ceremony, sinking into it with a long breath.
She closed the door behind them cut the room off from the corridor.
Darkness slipped in quietly, broken by the guiding light coming from the window. The scenery beyond did little to ease the mood, the blanket of gray clouds leaving everything touched with blue.
Cecilia changed her shoes quickly, rolling her feet to work out the soreness.
Fuu...
She walked over and threw herself on top of Ikade, who squealed beneath her.
"Heavy—!"
Cecilia ignored the plea, letting her own body sag into comfort. Ikade shifted under her, muttering unkind things with no strength behind them, then gave a weak tap against Cecilia's leg with her tail.
ggrrnn…
A feline's meal.
Cecilia went still and listened closely, pressing her ear to Ikade's back and feeling the soft beast beneath it.
I don't… I don't even feel bothered anymore. I'm just…tired.
She closed her eyes, her breathing growing quieter than the night. Her arms slid around Ikade, then her legs followed, loosely interlocking their legs together.
For a while, she tried.
Her thoughts kept moving beneath the ceiling of her mind, slow and shapeless.
The muted gray bleeding in from the window.
Her eyelid twitched.
tktk.
She cranked an eye open, though blurry.
At first, she saw only the edge of the table before her.
tktk...tktk...tktk.
A pismire.
⌜Ifrit⌟, its undoing.
Pop.
Cecilia found herself sitting upright in a dilapidated room, her body stiff, her throat dry, her heartbeat crawled up from the inside of her ribs.
The once unbroken window was cracked.
Beyond, the city sat blurred and colorless, obscured behind the grime smeared across the glass.
clnch.
She looked down.
Her firearm was clutched tight in her arms, pressed so tight that her knuckles had gone pale.
█░░░░░█
█ W█er▓ d▒d th░y g█…? ░█
She pushed herself up.
Cecilia sat upright on the sofa, her firearm leveled with the ground while the floor seemed to pulsate beneath her shoes.
Her gaze dropped to her band-aid-covered hand wrapped around the grip.
Her fingers tightened.
Thmp.
A dull pressure beat behind her eyes, slow and heavy, forcing her to blink through the blur. Her firearm danced in her vision, its shape twisting and distorting before settling again.
rrrnnn…
Her eyes lifted to the ceiling.
Voices bled through the floor overhead, muffled and uneven.
A thin bead of sweat slid down the side of her neck.
Cecilia tried to stand, but nausea crashed through her before she could get straighten herself.
She slid down the sofa, keeping the firearm close while her breathing dragged in and out through her nose.
Thmp.
She took in a deep breath.
"Hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
Her breath coagulated like water, a dam losing all tension.
—~!
Everything returned to normal.
The floor stopped bending, her sight returned, the greyscale regained its color.
The room smelled like dust, wasted fabric, and something burnt in between.
░▒▓ It h█rts…e▓eryth▒ng h░rts… ▓▒░
For a moment, the sound of her breathing and the distant scrape of something dragging was all she could hear.
Right when she was about to rest her eyes.
—!
She snapped her firearm toward the door.
Tall. Scarred.
Worn and dented.
A shield filled the doorway, its surface chewed up by old dents and fresh scratches alike.
She snickered though her teeth.
Something akin to a pistol sat beside its edge, caught in the wielder's grasp—a multi-shot electronic device
"Ce."
Cecilia stared over the sights, her knuckles pale all around. The shield lowered just enough for her to see the face behind it, a tired and depressed face, worsened by the cut ear sitting above the dome of his head.
"You look...terrible..."
A few more figures slipped in behind him, moving carefully through the doorway with their own weapons lowered but ready.
Cecilia's firearm dipped by a few inches.
So did his.
The man with the shield sank to one knee in front of her, using his wall of steel for a crutch. He moved slowly, the way one would approach a wounded animal with its teeth still bared.
"You almost smoked me."
He reached somewhere she could not see and pulled out a small pack of cigarillos. The box was creased, half-crushed and stained at a corner.
Her eyes stayed on him for a moment longer before dropping to the pack.
She took it from him and shook one loose with a small jerk of her wrist. Her fingers fumbled before she put it between her lips.
Cecilia raised her band-aid-covered hand and cupped it around the end of the cigarillo.
Then the tip burst into fire.
A small, sharp bloom of heat licked outward before tapering down into a steady ember.
"Where are they? Don't look at me like that. Where's my team?"
"...You're the last one, Ce."
The ember at the end of the cigarillo glowed between them.
"After this...you're done."
Cecilia gritted her teeth hard, enough for her jaw to ache.
Heat crawled up her face, gathering beneath her eyes and across the bridge of her nose until her whole body felt like it was being cooked.
Retire?
Who the hell is he to decide that?
No one left in this room gets to point at the rest of my life and decide where it ends.
I survived this.
Whatever this was.
I crawl out of whatever hellhole swallowed everyone else, and the first thing he wants to hand me is a cheap ass, bad ending? Not even a reason. Not even an explanation. Like I'm worth less than the shit he steps on every day.
The cigarillo trembled faintly between her lips, its ember burning hotter before dimming again.
Who gave him that right?
Who gave anyone that right?
I lived long before anyone stood beside me. An orphan who could've been done in at any second.
I carved my own path through tears and blood!
Cecilia pushed herself up.
The sofa shifted beneath her, its springs groaning under her weight. Pain ran through her body in sharp spasms, stabbing at every bruise.
The room bent faintly at the edges of her sight.
Cecilia stood over him, breathing hard through her nose, the cigarillo still caught between her lips. Smoke curled up past her cheek in a thin, uneven line.
And in his eyes, she saw herself.
Ruined self.