AstroHarmony: The Height of Rebellion

The Brink of Reality

From my spot on the bed, I could make out just about every aspect of the cluttered room. I sit on the one spot where there are no pages strewn about, careful that I didn't shift around and mess up any sort of organization Rokuro had here. I keep my hands clasped tightly in my lap, white knuckles evidence of my inability to blow off the anxiety of the situation.

How did Rokuro know, Leeh, how did they know I didn't remember? How did they know anything about me?

I take a deep breath, gazing up to the ceiling before dropping my eyes and focusing on my surroundings, forcing the questions away, determined to get answers once Leeh and Rokuro returned.

There is a desk adjacent to me in the room against the opposite wall, covered in papers with what I assumed to be an organized manner for whoever had placed them there. The chair Leeh had cast aside sat haphazardly towards the center of the room, facing away from me. Above the desk, I notice a shelf, stacked with books and pamphlets, all written in a code I couldn't read. The letters seemed foreign next to each other, unnatural to the language I was used to reading.

I let out a big sigh, hunching my shoulders as I fingered the hem of my shirt, the fabric soft to my touch.

There is a shout from the hallway and I glance over to the closed door, hearing their voices but unable to comprehend what was being exchanged between the two friends. They had left as soon as I was conscious, well enough to be left on my own without collapsing. Physically, I was fine, but mentally I had no clue what was triggering these visions, not sure exactly where my stability had gone.

What was happening to me? I couldn't remember anything from before; who I was, what had triggered any of this? Or why the government had me in the first place?

I choose to ignore the dreams, the visions; their content filling few gaps in my mind if they were even true. It wasn't enough, but it was the taste of curiosity that was unhealthily keeping me in her clutches. I've learned nothing except my name and these glimpses of someone I don't even know—

Blue. There is a flash of blue and for a moment, I think I've been torn from the room once again.

But I hadn't. The door flies open, almost slamming into the chair as Leeh storms in, approaching me with a pace not at all slow. Rokuro follows at a much slower, hesitant stride, arms crossed lazily over his chest as he glances to me with his dark eyes.

That's all I'm able to see before Leeh is mere inches from my face.

"You alright Ashten?"

She reaches out and takes my face in both hands; lifting my chin and examining me before I am able to respond. Pressing my cheeks together, all I can see are Leeh's eyes, bright green shining curiously through the soft brown. I can hardly breathe under her touch, let alone answer the absurdly obvious question. I try to pull my head away, jerking back and dropping the hem of my shirt to grab Leeh's wrists and push her away. She stumbles back a few steps as I snap; "I'm fine."

I take a quick glance to Rokuro to see a smirk painted on his face, staring at his feet as Leeh interrogated me.

"You don't remember anything?"

At this, I hesitate with my snide remark, holding back my answer. How could she know I didn't remember? I drop my gaze down to my lap, tugging my shirt further down as I rock back and forth. "No," I mutter, settling back into my position and not moving,

"Nothing?" I hear the chair scuff the carpet as she sits down to face me.

She just couldn't drop it, could she? I answered once, as if it would change three seconds later? "It's not—no. It doesn't matter, okay? It's not important—"

"So there is something—"

"Leeh, Rokuro interrupts, "drop it." Leeh looks back to him; the two exchanging a silent conversation as my anger finally spilled over at Leeh's persistence. There was nothing I could do to hold back my tide of words.

"Okay, yeah Leeh, there was something," I start, my voice growing louder as I push myself to my feet, edged with angry irritation. "And you guys were right, I'm hardly innocent!" There was a silence that was left untouched to settle in the air around us, almost suffocating. I clench my fists at my side, digging my fingernails into my palms and holding back all my anger; expelling it through my harsh words. "And yeah, whatever they did to me—I probably should be dead!" I look deliberately to Rokuro, watching as he drops his arms, mouth growing wide as he glances to Leeh under my gaze. "It's a miracle I'm even alive, right?" I snap.

At my comment, Leeh gasps, though her expression isn't in my frame of vision as I watch Rokuro, amazement and awe leaking onto his face as he realizes what I've said, that I'd heard them. An expression of shock fills his darker eyes.

It is a moment before anybody speaks, and when he finally does, Rokuro's voice is quiet. "You heard that?"

I jerk my head back at his absurd question; a look I know is full of harsh confusion plastered to my face. "Of course I did, why wouldn't I have?"

At this, Leeh finally overcomes her surprise to speak up; cutting off what I know was to be a rude retort from Rokuro. "You blacked out, Ashten, pale as a ghost. Had I not caught you, you'd have fallen to the ground and hurt yourself even more—"

"'Even more', what does that mean? What happened to me before?" I interrupt.

"—and for all we knew, you might not have woken up." Leeh doesn't answer my question, just fueling my rage even more, but somewhere in my mind, I know I had truly scared them. As if it was my fault anyway, I can't help but think to myself. I can't control these...dreams. I don't chose to fall unconscious. I try to seek out sympathy for them in the situation, but it's buried too deep at the moment.

"So you don't try to help me, you just assume that there's nothing you can do?" I'm unable to hold the words back, my voice filling the room and bouncing back off the walls.

"No!" Rokuro snaps back, taking a step quick step towards me, glaring down and taking the full advantage of the height difference. I didn't falter. "If you recall, Ashten, I stated that I was surprised you've lived this long, not that you were dead!"

A sharp response is prepared on my lips, but suddenly, as if a cord had suddenly snapped inside me, everything in my head was gone, all my thoughts, through the window and taken in the breeze. Rokuro no longer intimidated me, his deep voice echoing in the room no longer made me flinch inside. I don't move as he stands before me, eyes gazing down at me full of anger but showing no hate. We stand about three inches from each other, and for some reason, my whole body was aware. I feel my face heating up along with the rest of me, skin crawling at the closeness.

I don't understand.

And I don't like the feeling of ignorance.

"Hey guys, cut it out," Leeh chips in. "As long as Ashten's okay, it doesn't matter."

Rokuro holds my gaze a moment longer before breaking off, taking three large strides to the other side of the room to stare at his bookshelf, his back to me.

"You are okay, right?"

I tear my gaze from Rokuro, letting out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and turning to face Leeh. Her eyes were wide with question, worries, green glinting through the soft brown.

Glaring at her for only a moment before turning away from her attempt at kindness, I ignore the question, relieved of her frustration at my choice as a booming voice crackled over a dying intercom, his words lacing through the halls.

"This building is now on lockdown under the presence of Elite patrol. No one is to leave until a secure search has been completed for a breach in the system."

It was a voice I have heard before only in my dreams, scolding and prying for the revelation of innocence we all know I lack.

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