Beneath Infinity

Evening Sorrows

Ghali Anania drank in the violent beauty of the Martian landscape as she sheltered from the raging wind. She sat and watched the shadows cast by the long-dead towers of Freehold grow as the hours strolled by, stretching like great dark fingers caressing a crimson body. harsh spotlights pierced through the dark howling night, presumably originating from the nearby land tank squatting just over the dunes. This was the Mars Ghali knew; occupied and dangerous. She loathed being this close to the Buried City.

She wished she had rejected Jacob's proposal to come here. She knew it would affect her like this, so why had she been stupid enough to make the decision? She had bided her time to split from the group until after Jacob had left on his scavenging hunt with Silver - if she disappeared while he was still in camp he would probably have followed her. Silently cursing herself, she decided subconciously that she would purposefully irritate him at any point possible in order to punish him for suggesting such a ridiculous idea, and that she would-

"Mind if I join you?"

Ghali jumped, startled, as he appeared behind her.

"Of course not."

Jacob's white and red armour scraped across the ancient concrete floor as he clambered down into a sitting position beside her, two chocolate bars in his hand.

"Thought you might be hungry," he said, holding one of the bars out to her, a soft smile across his eyes. Ghali had not realised before, but she was famished. Without thinking she took the bar and smiled back at him.

"Thanks, Jacob."

Fuck it, she couldn't be annoyed at Jacob for something that was mostly her fault. She had to stop being so sensitive. She turned back to the red vista, now illuminated harshly by light reflecting from Phobos. They sat in silence for a number of minutes until the two bars were finished and the sandstorm had died down enough for audible conversation.

"So, what's got you so down?"

You should tell him, Ghali thought. You shouldn't keep things so bottled up.

"Nothing, I'm fine."

Fuck.

"Really? 'Cause you don't seem fine to me. 'Fine' Ghali is funny and sarcastic and shoots her allies with fusion rifles; this Ghali hasn't said a word since we got to the factory."

His discription of her was amusing, but she maintained her demeanor. "Seriously, Jacob. I'm fine, stop talking about it."

"You sound like you need to start trusting others with your feelings. I think there's a lot of stuff bottled up in there, am I right?"

Ghali turned to Jacob sharply, ready to angrily refute his statement, but stopped with her mouth hanging open as she saw the genuinely concerned look on his face. Catching herself, she tried to disguise her upset.

"I'm- It's not-" Sighing, she turned back to Mars and brought her legs to her chin before folding her arms around them in a reclusive fetal position. "It's none of your business. You don't understand."

"You're right, it's not. Sorry for pushing you." Jacob turned back to the landscape also, his hands subconciously fixated on a buckle on one of his leg bracers. "If you do ever decide you want to chat about it, though, then I'm here if you need me." He quickly realised what he had said and stumbled slightly, recollecting his words. "Like, I know we only met a few weeks ago obviously, but I just- I thought I'd let you know."

Ghali sighed and rested her head on her knees. Screw it, she thought. It was about time she let someone in other than her Ghost and right now it just felt... well, right.