Alasla: The New Age

Chapter Thirty-One - The City of Cost

Ralph moves the chair next to the bed where Eve lays, collapsing next to her, burying his head in his arms. Breathing in her aroma, whiffed along with the smell of the soap used on the bed sheet. He turns his head up a little, letting one eye over his arms, watching Eve's chest rest and fall in a relieving, safe rhythm.

For a moment, he thought he could do this forever. Is he asking for much? He just wanted to feel secure and protected, having someone he loves with him. Even if it's just for one brief second of his life. Isn't that what he's been fighting for? Why does it feel like he's been pushing everything away, then?

As happy as he is to see Forrest alive again, he was shocked by how he had changed.

He used to believe what Forrest does now. He used to believe that completing his missions, and killing the innocents is all for the greater good.

It's wrong, though.

Right?

His eyes flicked towards Eve's face. Wounded and worn.

Yeah. Right.

He probably fell asleep sometimes during the watch. He's lost track of time. And by the next day when he was woken up by a small, feeble shake on the shoulder, the sky outside the window was pearly grey, and his toes felt unpleasingly cold down beneath the chair.

Eve was gazing at him in the breezy morning air. It was the first time Ralph had seen her with her hair out. Her light brunette curls shone in a hazel shade, perhaps even a little bit blonde under the faint, early sun. It hangs loosely around her head like a breezy room full of velvet curtains, shading her eyes that had both returned to their tint of original, warm chocolate brown.

Ralph's breathing ceased for a second. He pushes up, wrapping his arms around Eve. Feeling her, warm and alive, the tears that he had been holding burst out all at once.

Eve didn't ask him what happened, she didn't even ask if he was alright. She just silently embraces Ralph, spreading her palm over his uncontrollably shivering body, listening to him as he cries.

"Kanitha's been taken!" He screams into her arms. "Forrest's joined the Scars! Cecilia's gone! Jerron's declared war against the Scars! Caprison's dead, and you nearly were too!" He sobs, clutching her shirt even tighter. "What should I do, Eve? What can I do?"

"Fight on," she whispers. "I've told you from the start, Ralph, that I'll go wherever you go. It's a promise. You can't change what's been done, but you can change what haven't been done. And you've done a good job on that."

"But how?" Ralph mumbled. "How can I fight, knowing that by doing so I'm putting my friends at constant risk? I can't-"

"You can," Eve insisted with a strong whisper. "I've been hurt by the Scars too, I would gladly give my life to get rid of them. I chose this path, so don't act as you forced me into it. And as for Kanitha, we can't really do anything about her situation now. We'll have to wait for the execution two weeks later, which is probably going to be the last and only chance we have to get her back. So please pick yourself up, you have people who are still counting on you."

She buries her head into Ralph's shoulder, tightening her embrace around his body. His tears slowly drain themselves out in her warmth, for one brief second, he allowed himself to have his guards down, enveloping himself in between her arms.

A thought flashed across his mind. Very faint. Very unreliable. But the question of how Eve knew not only about the execution but the precise time of it troubles him for a brief moment before he dismisses the thought.

"I understand," he whispers. "Thank you."

He felt Eve smiling behind him. At that instant, he felt a shifting change in the relationship between him and Eve. They aren't just friends, but Ralph don't like her romantically either. There's still a boundary between them, it's closer than friends, further than lovers.

But at least now he has Eve with him in a relatively safe city as long as they don't expose her identity. The Scars probably wouldn't have guessed that they're hiding at the same spot they're going to perform their execution in two weeks' time.

A knock on the door, followed by the sound of it creaking open. They break apart as Lucas enters the room with two plates on a tray.

"Your breakfasts," he mutters, carrying it over to the study table. Ralph thanked him, but at the same time, he felt strangely comforted by the warmth and tenderness that tinted the boy's dim, gray eyes when their gazes met.

That look is strange to him. He's not familiar with others' appreciation; he stared at Lucas until he shut the door, listening to his footsteps slowly fainted away into the corridor, trying to remember if he had seen the boy anywhere before. But no memories came up.

They had breakfast together, Ralph, for one, did not find the porridge he was given particularly appetizing. But still scraped his plate clean. At some point, he doesn't feel justified to eat from the Noir-Vols. He killed Whales. They're helping and feeding someone who had murdered their friend. He hasn't told Eve about the Alamekes, and he doesn't plan to. She doesn't have to be culpable for that. He doesn't want her to be constantly blaming herself for what her family has done. Ralph knows that feeling all too familiarly. And it's the one thing he hates about himself.

Rain is still buckled on his trousers. He tightens the clasp around its sheath, hoping that he wouldn't be using it for anything before the execution.

"Eve," he turns around. "So...Is your ear... Lost?"

She reached up to the right side of her head, waving her hand in the empty air.

"Yeah," she sighed with a small smile. "I guess it is."

"I'm sorry," Ralph slouched. "Does it hurt a lot?"

Eve ponders for a few seconds before answering. "No, actually. It hurts when it just got sliced off, but that was just for a brief second before I passed out." She pauses for a second before continuing. "I would make myself something to replace it, don't worry."

Another knock on the door. Ralph thought it was Lucas again as the door opens, but who turns up was Lily.

"Good morning," she began. "May I ask you for the rent of last night?"

For a second Ralph was unsure about what to say. He flipped his mind inside out, then remembered something about a thing called 'rent'. One of his mission, when he was around five, was to help catch a person who ran from the hotel without paying anything.

But he himself had never paid to live in a hotel or inn before. As the Second in Command of Ling, he bet that money was always paid for him.

He looked around to Eve for help, but she looks just as confused. He reached inside his pockets and fumbled around, only managing to pull out a pitifully small piece of silver he saved from Paulie's.

"Um," he held it up to Lily. "Is this enough?"

"About a hundred times of that would be enough," Lily scoffed. "You'll find that everything in Deus Maris is going to cost. I'd give you one more day because Toto got you here, you two should probably start earning some money, or I'm afraid you'd have to sleep on the street tonight."

She slams the door and left. Leaving Ralph sitting with Eve, completely dumbfounded. But looking around, he was shocked by the worry in Eve's eyes. He doesn't want to see that.

"It's fine," he assured her, speaking against his whole heart who had no idea what to do next. "You stay here. I'll go to earn the rent."

"Are you sure you can do that?"

"I came from Ling," Ralph did his best to force what he believed was a confident smile. "Of course, I can do that. You just wait for your ear to recover, I'll come back before six with all the money we need."

Eve nodded. He temporarily wore the clothing tops that were found in the closet of their room and headed out into the corridor with a final, exchanged glance with Eve.

He can't let them; He can't let her get thrown out to the streets tonight. If he can survive Ling, then surely he can handle Deus Maris.

Right?