Koev li halev

Chapter 3: Sleepless stars

Sleeping is usually a simple thing. Close your eyes and you'll drift into tranquil blackness, or perhaps a world of color and bustling movement-a dream, good or bad depending on the many thoughts, fears, and desires hidden in your subconscious.

A simple thing? Not for Solar. He found himself wide awake, quite irritated by the lack of sleep and abundance of racing thoughts.

Oh, he forgot. The reason why he couldn't sleep was that he was now sitting in a waiting room - quite possibly the most boring room in the universe. Waiting for who? For someone who had almost died in his arms, that was who.

Solar stared down at his hands, twisting and knotting them as if doing so would hold back the chaos inside him. Restlessness roamed the room, expelled through the breath of worriers like him and those doing their best to bite down on the pain that had brought them here.

"Try to relax". Gempa's reminder came to mind as Solar closed his eyes and tried to figure out how to breathe, how to keep himself covered and not move, all at the same time. He took a deep breath and was immediately overwhelmed with dizziness, nausea and an unbearable headache, making it difficult to take another breath at all, let alone do anything else he had planned for today or tomorrow when this was all over and done with - but not yet, no, he had to go through all these motions one more time, and then...

It was unusual for Solar to act like a nervous wreck; the confident boy was always wearing a mask that concealed his true intentions. In this moment, however, it was understandable. He could sense the stares his friends were giving to the gloves half-drenched in blood, momentarily recalling the horrifying scene. Back then, when Solar tried to keep the blood from pouring out and Duri stopped the wound from worsening, they felt worried, frightened, shaking, terrified.

And Taufan, he– No. It's better not to recall that.

As the minutes ticked by, he was greeted by a familiar sight: Fang stepping out of the doorway.

"Commander wants to see you," He blurted out with concern. Fang, too, felt this situation was too overwhelming for him.

Grayish-silver stared back at him, dark circles under the eyes and redness around them, hinting at a lack of sleep. Sleepless nights weren't exactly new for Solar. However, this time - when you knew your family had been on the verge of death only a few hours ago - it hit differently.

Solar didn't say anything, instead simply standing up and walking in the indicated direction, dropping the nervous act as if he didn't care about anything in this world anymore.

He was tired of waiting.

—

Commander Koko Ci sat in his swivel chair, hand scanning through the report. Sometimes, he would give the two young soldiers a brief glance, only to notice Solar temporarily zoning out, and Fang nudging him to call him back. He guessed the boy couldn't help it, as silver eyes darted to the infirmary direction every once in a while.

The alien man cleared his throat, drawing the two teenagers' attention, "So you are saying that the arms dealer killed themself by fusing with the bomb. And the other has been captured by your team."

"Yes." The boy in white opened the hologram screen from his watch, showing the other two a scene from their mission earlier, "Our watches recorded everything for you." He clicked on a specific file from his watch, showing the other two views of the latest mission. One was entirely buried in debris as a consequence of the explosion, and one bore burning traces and a massive hole at the end.

"The station exploded, resulting in an energy surge that caused some sections of the lair to be destroyed, and creating the debris field we were in a few hours before."