The Seven Revels

Checkpoints and Vigilantes

He laughed before letting go and leaving the room. Milo collapsed back into his seat with a loud sigh. He felt his face burning, and was beyond grateful Indigo hadn't seen what had just played out. After another few minutes he pulled himself up and walked down the hall, intending to look for Indigo.

He stopped and slunk back into the shadows when he heard voices down the hall.

"You what?" Garrett, Milo assumed, said. "Come on, Q! We talked about this! You need to get it under control!"

"I'm trying to!" Quill, but his voice sounded so much weaker, smaller, that Milo barely recognized it. "You know how it is. Sometimes I just can't-" His voice cut off with a pained squeak, a noise Milo had never heard another human make.

"Hey, come on, buddy. Don't- don't do this right now."

"You act like I have a choice," Quill said, his voice strained and painful. "It just... comes and goes and I can't-"

"Okay, just... don't try to...Quill, don't!"

Quill gave a choked yell and Milo heard a thump. After a moment, he heard Garrett sigh. Milo took a deep breath, then entered the room. Garrett was sitting on the floor and Quill was sprawled on the floor beside him, eyes closed.

"Is he okay?" Milo asked.

Garrett looked up, apparently startled. "Oh hey, you must be Milo." He looked at Quill for a moment. "He'll be fine. It's just a thing..."

"But what happened?"

"Don't worry about it. He's normally really good about it... But today was a hard day for him. I know how to take care of him, so don't worry about it."

Milo leaned against the wall and tried not to look at Quill.

"What triggered it?"

"That's not my information to give you. Sorry, man. But that's personal."

"Okay, I understand. You're Garrett, right?" Milo stepped forward and put his hand out. Garrett took it and gave it a firm shake.

"That's me. Good to meet you, Milo. Thanks for sparing space for us."

"It's not my airship, actually."

"Well, thanks for offering your piloting skills. You're saving all of our lives."

Milo shrugged. "Do you want help moving him somewhere more comfortable?" Milo knew he should be furious with Quill for the way he had been treated, but Milo could not get the broken voice out of his head. Something bad was going on inside Quill, and from what he and Garrett said, it contributed to his attitude. It sounded as though it was exhausting to deal with, so no wonder Quill was always in such a bad mood.

"No, it's cool. I can deal with it. You go fly the ship."

Milo nodded, took one more look at Quill, then started back to the cockpit. Once there, he sat down in the chair, tapped a few buttons and pulled up on the controls. The airship's angle increased to almost ninety degrees and they were only a few minutes out from the ISA checkpoint. Milo fumbled for a microphone that connected to speakers all over the airship.

"We're coming up on the checkpoint," he said, hearing his voice echo all over the ship.

"Do you need us to do anything?" a girl's voice responded. Milo started. He had forgotten that every room had an intercom system. He didn't recognize the voice, so he knew it wasn't Indigo.