The Last Hope

01 - Nineteen

SONG FOR THIS CHAPTER - M83, Midnight City. Linked above! If you enjoy the chapter please vote, it means a lot.

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Sometime later, Earth.

"Mer!" Felix was shouting over the music, the heavy thud thudding of the bass, bodies thriving and twisting, grinding, and gyrating to the beat that pulsed through Mercy's very bones, her blood alive with it. She lifted her arms, spinning them in the air above her, dancing in sync with the people around her, all slaves to the song as she was, and caught Felix's eye across the dancefloor. His bronze hair, streaked through with the neon paint they'd purchased by the bucket load from the dollar store earlier that day, flared to life in a hundred different colours as the lights in the club changed. His face, also streaked with paint, was contorted with frustration as Mercy beckoned him with both arms outstretched. "Fee!" The word was slurred only slightly.

She began twirling again as he got closer, pushing his way through the people dancing around her. The lights pulsed in time to a throbbing in her skull. The ringing in her ears drowned out by the din of the dancefloor. Laughing, she continued to dance, head-spinning as the song changed and she moved faster to match it. The room spiralled, she slowed stopping to catch her breath. Felix reached her finally.

"Come on, we've got a booth." He lightly grabbed her hand, pulling her around from the bobbing mass of people, buoys whipped about by a tumultuous sea. She let herself be dragged along, too dazed to do anything but giggle dimly as she tripped and stumbled her way across the room; feet catching on plastic bottles and cups that lay discarded on the sticky floor. A puddle of something viscid and brown threatened to send her sideways, she grasped Felix's arm like her life depended on it. "Fucking hell, Mer, how high are you right now?" He released the grip on her wrist and slung his arm around her waist instead. "I'm five foot six, but in these heels, probably higher," Mercy replied, cackling. Over the heads of patrons, a bartender eyed them suspiciously/ Felix caught the gaze and held up an arm in a wave. "She's my friend, I'm not kidnapping her," he yelled over the music to the bartender, a young pretty girl with pink hair and piercings hanging from every visible orifice. Not looking reassured, the bartender continued to watch until Felix had successfully half walked, half carried Mercy to their booth full of friends. Only then did her attention fade from the table to the gaggle of people surrounding the bar.

"Happy Birthday Mer!" Lucas, who Mercy vaguely recognised from an ethics class she'd taken and swiftly dropped earlier in the semester, called to her. Felix flopped her down into the seat next to Daivia, a pretty redhead in their circle, who was apparently dating Lucas. "Thank you Lukey!" Mercy hiccupped and smiled in what she hoped was a friendly way, wrapping one arm around Daivia and the other around Felix as he wedged himself into the booth beside her.

There were too many people at the table, and they were rammed in so tightly that one wrong move from Felix, at the end of the booth, and like newtons cradle, the other end would go flying. Mercy spied who was sitting at the other end of the booth, her legs draped over her neighbour. Stacey. Maybe she'd convince Felix to do a little shuffling.

Mercy scanned the others at the table. Steven, Jake, and Reggie, who she'd also met in her ethics elective last semester. Ironically, some of the least ethical men Mercy could think of. They were closer with Felix than with her since they all played lacrosse together. Billie, Cameron, and Stacey sat stuffed in between them, looking every part like pleased and lazy house cats. Drunk house cats. Mercy liked Billie and Cameron well enough, had many photos with them from drunken nights out just like this one. Stacey however, she had never gotten along with.

"What's she doing here?" She might have stage whispered a little too loudly, the words were slurred and punctuated by hiccups. Mercy not so covertly flicked her eyes repeatedly to Stacey whilst angling the question at Daivia. Stacey, who saw the look, just rolled her eyes, and went back to her seemingly animated conversation with Jake and Reggie, waving her hands through the air. Daivia snorted, and looked past Mercy to Felix, "what's she on?" The question was pointed, but it didn't have quite as much on an edge as it should've, probably due to the three empty cocktail glasses in front of her. Mercy looked disgruntled and crossed her arms in front of her, or tried to, accidentally punching Felix in the ribs in the process.