CELESTIA - CHAPTER 68 : Two Assholes in an Empty Room
The classroom was empty.
The rays of the setting sun filtered through the dirty windows, drawing squares of dusty light on the wooden floor. The desks were stacked. The chairs piled up. The blackboard, wiped clean, still bore traces of a strategy class no one had listened to.
Zayn walked in without knocking.
He saw Kai, sitting on a desk, legs dangling, arms crossed. He was staring at the blank wall with an intensity that promised nothing good.
"You're here."
"No, I'm a ghost."
"You're pissed?"
"No, I'm serene as a lake in summer."
Zayn sat down next to him on the desk. He said nothing. He waited. He knew Kai would eventually talk.
He wasn't wrong.
Kai took a long breath, then exhaled like a volcano holding back its lava for too long.
"You see this system, Zayn?"
"What system?"
"EVERYTHING, man! The UAP, the Academy, the paladins, the ranks, the grades, all this fucking circus."
Zayn looked at him, one eyebrow raised.
"Here we go."
"I'm serious, my nigga. Do you realize what we're doing? We fight, we bleed, we die — for what? So some old suit can pat us on the back and say 'good job, you've improved' while we keep being guard dogs for people who've never set foot on a battlefield?"
"You're exaggerating."
"I'm exaggerating?"
Kai turned abruptly toward him, eyes narrowed.
"I'm exaggerating, Zayn? Then tell me: what's a paladin to you?"
"Uh... a protector?"
"PROTECTOR?"
Kai let out a dry, humorless laugh.
"Bro, a protector protects the weak, sacrifices himself for others, puts his life on the line for people he doesn't even know. But us? What are we? We're soldiers they send to the slaughter to maintain a system that benefits them. We're Celestes, or some buffed-up niggas in uniform sucking the UAP CEO's dick while waiting for a medal and a pat on the back?"
Zayn opened his mouth. He closed it.
"Damn, Kai…"
"No, wait! Let me finish!"
He stopped, pointed a finger at Zayn.
"They tell us: be strong, be loyal, sacrifice yourselves for peace. But they hide the truth from us. They lie to us. They use the Djinns as an excuse to keep power, they send us to the labyrinth so we can kill each other like dogs, and then they tell us 'good job champ, here's a cookie'."
He stood up, started pacing back and forth.
"And what about the guys like Rex? They're dead, yeah? They died for what? For progress? For humanity? No, Zayn. They died because some guys in ties decided it was easier to send us to war than to do their fucking job."
"I'm tired of this shit, my nigga. I'm tired of fighting for people who see us as numbers. We're niggas in uniform, little soldiers they toss into the shit so the old white suits can sleep peacefully."
"Kai, you're going way off…"
"OFF?"
He stopped dead, pointed a finger at Zayn.
"Zayn, my nigga, look at us! We wear black uniforms, we have crazy powers, but what are we really? We're fucking niggas doing the dirty work while the big bosses suck each other off around a table, saying 'let's send the kids to the front, it'll be a vacation for them'."
"That's a bit harsh…"
"Harsh? You seen life, my nigga? It's harsh. Rex is dead, Kofi is dead, and no one said a thing. No one cried. No one screamed. We just changed rooms and kept going like nothing happened."
He stopped, his gaze burning.
"I don't wanna end up like them. I don't wanna die for a badge and a 'satisfactory' on some fucking report."
"And what do you wanna do?"
"I don't know. But I'm not gonna stay here sucking the system's dick until it grinds me up."
Zayn stood up, faced him.
"Listen to me, my nigga. I agree with everything you said. But we gotta keep our heads cool. If we lose control, we end up like Loyd. And we don't wanna end up like Loyd."
"You wanna end up like Rex?"
Zayn stopped. He didn't answer.
Kai looked at him, his gaze softening slightly.
"I got under your skin, didn't I?"
"A little. But you're right."
Kai sat down, exhausted.
"I'm tired, my nigga. Really."
Zayn sat next to him.
"I know. But we'll find a way. Niggas like us don't give up."
Kai looked at him.
"You're really an asshole, Zayn."
"I know. But you're my asshole."
Kai laughed.
"That's the gayest thing you've ever said."
"Shut the fuck up, my nigga."
"Fuck you too, my nigga."
They sat there, in the silence, staring at the wall, thinking about everything and nothing. Because sometimes, the best conversations are the ones that start with an insult and end with a shared silence.
And because niggas, even when they snap, stay niggas.
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