Fortnite: Project Mecha

Chapter 15: Power

Drift woke up, the other side of his bed unoccupied. Lynx must've woken up already. He rubbed the sheets where she had been and they were still faintly warm. He lifted himself up, a puppet whose strings were worn and tired, wishing for her love.
Drift considered going towards the main room as he often did in the morning, but decided not to. He felt the urge to go outside and fill his lungs with fresh oxygen, abandoning his want for love. He wanted the cool particles to reach his organs and extend its icy tendrils into his half asleep bloodstream. Get his heart pumping.
Things were ever so slightly beginning to look up. The Scientist had returned at some point the previous evening. Drift had been so tired that he'd gone to sleep early so he'd missed the grand return. Of course, things still weren't perfect. How could they be?
Drift was absolutely gutted about Shanta. He felt as if there was more he could've done to stop her fate, but it just wasn't meant to be, for reasons unbeknownst to him. Drift also understood the Scientist and how he felt. He had felt the exact same way when Brite had 'died'. Distraught. Empty. And just a little, Drift found that he blamed the Origin too.
Drift soon found himself on the beach nearby Sanctuary. The tide was out a bit further than it normally was, and somebody was already there. He was skimming stones across the almost non-existant waves, looking distressed for once in his life, scowling at what seemed like just the ground.
"Raz." Drift picked up a rock and skimmed it himself, having nothing better to do, "Are you ok?"
"What would make you think I'm not?" Raz asked indifferently, picking up another rock.
"Your face. You were scowling, but there was nothing to scowl at." Drift remarked.
"I'm just really bad at rock skimming. I'm getting lucky now, so I can't prove it to you. Just my luck." Raz skimmed a rock, hitting it ten times off of the liquid surface as if it was solid.
"You're bad at slimming rocks, huh?" Drift sarcastically repeated, "Tell me what's really going on. If I can be your friend, hopefully it can't be that much harder to be your therapist."
"It's just the rock thing." Raz picked up a rock once again.
Since Raz's throws were putting Drift's to shame, Drift just sat down and observed the absolute perfection being displayed. Bad at throwing rocks. It was as if Raz wanted to be found out about whatever he was hiding behind his unnecessary inner shield.
Not once did Raz meet Drift's eyes throughout the next few rock throws. It was like he was pretending that Drift didn't exist, and it was getting to the point that Drift didn't want to exist. He felt like an intruder breaking into someone's home. It was Raz's own space; maybe Drift should've just backed off while he still had the chance.
Raz stopped skimming rocks and sat down. He scowled at the floor again and rested his hand on his leg, lifting and dropping each of his fingers again and again, "It's about the Origin."
"Do you not like him? If so, that's no secret. Sorry." Drift felt like a slap in the face. He didn't want to hurt Raz, though, physically or mentally.
"No, it's not that. I do hate him, who doesn't, but I'm still... concerned for him." Raz spat the last part out as if it was shameful.
"How?" Drift asked, "Why?"
"He's..." Raz began.
"He's what?"
"My dad. He's my dad. And I don't know why I'm telling you this of all people, but... I guess I thought you'd understand." Raz sighed.
"I also kinda invaded your private time." Drift added.
"No, I could've just not told you." Raz shook his head.
"So why did you tell me?" Drift pressed, secrets still being withheld.
"Because my mother, the Cube Queen, had powers. I'm sorry about her, I know she ruined so many lives. I try to keep it under wraps." Raz admitted, "And my dad has powers too."
"And because I have powers..." Drift started.
"Yeah."
"I feel like there's still something else missing." Drift thought. Why would Raz try to relate Drift to his parents?
"Because..."
Raz lifted up his hand. At first, nothing happened and Drift thought that this was a part of a joke, but then Raz's hand glowed faintly purple. Every rock which Raz and Drift had thrown began to levitate, dripping from the water and shuddering in the air. Raz's eyes looked darker than normal, like a demon had invaded his body.
As Raz let the rocks fall, he panted like it had taken a lot of effort to hold them afloat. The plips and splashes in the distance were a soundtrack to Drift's shock, a whole new rhythm beginning to emerge before his very eyes.

***

Skye had entered a parallel universe of kaleidoscopes. Colours seemed to spin inside of the tent, and Skye's brain was more fried than an overheated computer. She also had no clue where Plague had disappeared off to. Only John and Shanta remianed, their chests slowly rising and falling.
It was a familiar feeling.
Like looking at identical twins, Skye's brain told her that this was exactly how things had happened before even though she knew that it couldn't be quite the same. Somehow, she felt more ill. She also didn't remember the colours so well, but that could've been down to a bad memory. But how could she forget what happened?
She went outside, the cold dawn making Skye feel like she was at death's door. She had to get away from John. She had to make sure that he didn't have to watch it, not again. But was her description to Shanta and Plague correct? Lagging? Glitching? Maybe it would be better if they did see.
Then, it started. Her body began to phase in and out of existence, blurring like watercolours or like having tears in her eyes. Maybe tears were in her eyes as well? Perhaps this was just some mistake... but the pain came anyway.
Like her limbs being torn from her body. Like her spine being taken apart and being rearranged. Like having an operation without anesthetics. It could be described a whole number of ways, but it just hurt. She couldn't think about anything else. She had to use all of the will she had left to stop herself from screaming and drawing attention.
But before she knew it, the pain began to subside as if there had never been any pain at all. She tried to drag herself up, but she felt sluggish. She didn't hurt, not any more, but she felt as if all of her newly energy had been drained. Maybe it had. Maybe it hadn't. It probably didn't matter.
What a way to wake up.
And what a way to go straight back to sleep.

***

Plague was the sort of person who was happy as he was and was without many pet peeves, although one thing about himself that he didn't like was his requirement to get up in the middle of the night to do something, anything, and then he'd go straight back to sleep. Tonight, that was going to the toilet.
Tonight actually might've been a bit of an inaccurate term. Dawn was beginning to break through the husk of the night. It wouldn't be really light until a little later, but Plague liked the fact that technically - technically - he had gotten through the night without waking up. A small win in a world without them.
The bushes and trees were thick and it took Plague a little bit to remember the way he had come, but he found his way. Maybe he got distracted by the birds up above, or maybe he was just a little sleepy but he completely missed the person hiding in the flora until it was too late.
The villain of the story, Doctor Slone.
She burst out from behind a tree and hissed, "Don't shout. It'll only make things harder for everyone."
Plague fell backwards and onto the floor in shock, only nodding.
"I'm going to give you a set of instructions, and you need to pass them onto Skye. Understand?" Slone spoke slowly and careful, ready for the situation to explode.
"Ok." Plague breathed. He didn't know what else to say.
Slone ran her hand through her thick, dark afro, "So, you know those capsules? I guess I didn't refine the science enough, and in terms of looping, they don't quite work. That's why it was different with you and Brite. You died. It's the energy that's released from looping that messed up the calculations and caused Skye to do... that. I guess the energy's different for everyone."
Plague was thinking that Slone wasn't really making any instructions as of yet, but didn't comment and just nodded.
"So I need you to tell her that she needs to come to me. I have medicine that I could give her to save her, but I want it to be of her own will." Slone continued.
Plague felt the urge to talk when he heard this, "Is she in danger?"
"Danger of death. Permanent death. Just like your twin sister. Would it make you happier if I said that I was sorry for you? Because I am. We could've stopped the Cube Queen, and we didn't." Slone apologised. Plague registered that she spoke a lot.
"So why'd you save me?" Plague asked, thoughts tumbling over each other on his head.
"Just in case Brite got an infection, like your younger brother. She's our best agent. We couldn't risk anything happening to her... my boss would've... never mind. She's already long gone, but it's not our fault. Not entirely. It doesn't concern you. Just tell Skye, ok?" and before Plague could add anything, Slone was gone, back into the flora, leaving Plague feeling afraid. Afraid for everyone.

To be continued...