cascade | kotlc

15. The Fault in Our Times

- J. R.

The gold is tranquil. Peaceful. Calming, like the smooth mirror surface of a windless lake. She wanted to drown in the gold, let it consume all of her, until she was nothing but a speck of glitter in the sea of color.

And then she felt a wind blow past her shoulders, and her eyes opened and she was awake.

"Hey," Fitz whispered, kneeling by her bed. "You're awake."

She gasped as wind rushed into her throat and filled her lungs, and she was grappling at his wrists until she blinked and comprehended her situation.

The Healing Center felt so familiar after all her time with Fitz and Sophie. White walls surrounded her, the glossy marble floor glinted, and the neatly arranged cots were pressed to the walls. Faye sat on the cot beside her. Her forehead had somehow acquired a new scar that looked suspiciously like a splinter, but she brushed some dust away.

"Glad you're finally awake," she said. "Now we can completely suffer through our upcoming tasks that will surely kill us."

Fitz scowled, slapping her gently. "Don't scare her like that."

"Can't argue with it though," she pointed out. "This will probably kill all of us. Assuming we even make it through-"

"At least let her get some sleep first. She's been unconscious from smoke inhalation, dehydration, and heat stroke for the last five hours."

"I have?" June asked incredulously.

Faye rolled her eyes. "No shit sherlock."

"Which is why you should get some rest before we tell you," Fitz agreed. "June, get some sleep, please. I'll be here with you."

"No, tell me," she interrupted, crawling up on her cot and piling pillows into a stack behind her. "What have we gotten ourselves into now?"

"Just the usual," Faye answered. Her voice was monotone as she flicked her Ace of Spades. "Vespera set us another impossible task that we'll somehow manage to solve. Because when have we not?"

June raised an eyebrow. "Continue?"

"Let's see. Apparently us getting these uranium cores-"

"Where did the uranium core go for this mission?"

Faye shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think it landed somewhere in the forest."

"And we're not going to retrieve it?"

"Nah. It'll be fine. It's probably melted already. The entire mountain range is on fire, and probably completely radioactive now too. I'm not filling in those craters I exploded. Also the infrastructure is dead. Let's just let the human authorities figure this one out."

"Seriously?"

"Why not? We've had enough of risking our lives for a while."

"I see your point," June conceded. "So we're not going back to the Sierra Nevadas for a nice little forest vacation anymore, are we?"

"No, we're not."

"Huh." She leaned back into her stack of pillows. "What's the plan?"

Faye glanced at Fitz. "Do you want to give her the short story or the long story? We don't want to bore her to death."

"Long story," June ordered. "I want to know everything."

"Settle down, then," Fitz said gently, scooting next to her on the cot and wrapping his arm around her neck. "I've got a lot to tell you. Well, I'm assuming Faye doesn't want to tell you about her embarrassing-"