ARIS

The Adversary

 I inhaled sharply as a bolt of pain shot up my arms.

"Take a walk with me Ceres it's time we talked about what happened," Nysa's guttural voice pulled me from my task. I dropped the crystals on the floor they bounced on the chrome and clattered loudly.

"Walk with you? That must be a joke." I sent him a sideways glare as I tried to bend down to gather the fallen tools.

My body protested as I reached, my fingers not quite long enough, what was left of them at least. He pushed me aside, the wheels skidded against the polished metal floor, sending me crashing softly into the wall. He sighed and gathered everything from the floor and pulled me back toward him. He tossed the tools into my lap and looked down at me, a look of pity on his heavily scarred face.

"Don't make me force you I am the one with the slight advantage if you hadn't noticed," He gestured to the crude wheelchair I had fashioned myself after the accident.

"Screw you, Nysa," I tried to wheel myself away, the jagged wheel grips painfully digging into my palm.

He pulled me back before I had even gotten three feet away. He whipped me around and pushed my chair down the hall I thrashed in the chair trying to get out of his grip. I threw myself against the leather chair back. The rhythmic slap of skin on leather that filled my ears only fuelled my fire. I tried to stop the wheels, gripping them hard with my battered fingers. The tubing burned my flesh. I hissed and yelled, and the people along the corridor turned to stare, but quickly flashing furious stares and turning away once more. I growled, slapping Nysa's hands as hard as I could manage, his blue flesh tinged purple after I finished. It wasn't enough, he was far too strong for me.

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," He said, an almost sardonic tone, I could sense his patience running thin. Good.

"That's what I'm afraid of," I sighed, admitting defeat.

He wheeled me down the back corridor, as we walked—well he walked—we passed the nurse's bay, the beds full of people blackened and charred. I looked away, staring at the walls, the heavily polished titanium reflecting my sad excuse of a Plejaren. My blonde hair was gone, charred and blackened into small spiked clumps on the top of my head. My skin looking grey and ashen rather than the brilliant blue that Nysa had. I sighed and looked away, looking both left and right made me feel worse than I already did.

I tried not to think about it, the crashing memories of the fire, the smoke and the heat on skin, and the sounds of gunfire pressed against my brain. A thin sheet of sweat formed on my skin. I looked at the floor. The space where my right leg had been was now empty, an eternal reminder of what I had done.

When we finally stopped we were in the deepest alley of Dune Station. The lights flickered venomously making my stomach turn uneasily. I looked up at Nysa, his long blonde beard was braided intricately, the beads clacking together when he looked down at me.

"Why Ceres, why did you do it?"

I bit back the urge to roll my eyes, He would never understand.

"Just try and explain," His tone lowered, making my stomach flip again.

I sighed, it was now or never, "You don't understand Nysa. It was horrible. Watching them wheel in those bodies like that, so cold, so emotionless. They shouldn't send the Younglings to war. The council is wrong. The Younglings need to learn, and train as long as we did, how do they survive combat without the training?"

"You committed treason Ceres, setting a bomb off during council deliberation? You killed five people. What were you thinking? Screw that, you obviously weren't thinking. Otherwise, you wouldn't have done something so dangerous. There is no trial, and there is no jail. They are going to kill you. They will float you. Dying in space is the loneliest way to die. There is no Valhalla for you," His guttural voice cracked in either pity or remorse, I was unaware of which one.

I gritted my teeth hard, "The death of five is better than the death of thousands."

"You don't get to do this, you don't get to justify your actions. You killed somebody's family, somebody's parent. Somebody's son. How can you live with that? You became a murderer, a filthy murderer," Nysa spat vehemently.

"Are we much better? The Thousand Year's War has not ceased. How many lives have you taken Nysa? How many more have to be taken before people learn?"

"You murdered your own. That is not the same, our people are our family. We do not hurt our family," He said casting his eyes to the ceiling, unable to even look at me.

"Our people are wrong," I said, "They are breaking their own laws sending the Younglings to fight our battles, the battles that have been going since before their conception."

"This doesn't excuse your actions, I did not train you to become a traitor," Disappointment filled the room.

"Well, I'll pay for my actions in death," I said trying to hold back my emotion.

"Why didn't you come to me?"

"You're not my guardian anymore, you have new charges now. The Younglings need you now," I looked down.

"That doesn't matter!" He yelled.

"Well, it certainly doesn't matter now. Look at me now, maybe death won't be too bad," I laughed lowly pointing at the empty space where my leg used to be.

"You could've died in the bombing, consider yourself lucky!" His voice cracked again, I had never seen so much fury in his eyes before.

"I am not lucky."

Nysa's hand lashed out and met my cheek. My head whipped to the side, tears pricking my eyes from the sting. I tried to push myself up to his level, to look him in the eye. But, I lost my balance and crumpled forward, my hands gripped the front of his uniform as I slid toward the floor. I let out a strangled cry, and tried to let go, tried to fall the rest of the way to the floor. It was where I belonged. Nysa's hand gripped my wrist and he pulled me up. I dipped my chin into my chest hoping to conceal the emotion that tainted my facial expression.

"Be a man Ceres. You are a Nordic of Dune Station. Act like it. We do not show emotion. We will not be persecuted for feeling. Be strong," His voice was like my lifejacket, keeping my head above the water. Keeping me afloat.

"How can I, how can I be a man when I just killed five of my brothers?" Remorse finally filling my body.

"You will die like a man," He gripped my shoulders with a vice grip. "Don't show remorse."

"But—"

"Show them that there will be no Younglings sent to war, show the council that Dune Station will not stand for actions like these. The war on humans can wait, our children will not perish at the hand of the elders," He said with a vigor I was unfamiliar with. His typically stoic tone was gone, replaced with a fire filled fury.

"After I am dead..." I trailed off.

"Don't worry about that," He said.

"Nysa."

"Nysa nothing," His voice grew thick, "Stand for your cause, and the others will follow."

We locked gazes, his violent violet eyes told me everything was going to be alright, "Okay."

I closed my eyes, letting the blackness surround me.