Dreams in Monochrome - A New Elysium Story [ongoing - hiatus]

Prologue: Heart On

A.N. / Disclaimer:
This story deals with topics of friendship and love. I believe that love is for everyone, and there is nothing wrong with consensual expression of it. If you disagree with this notion, this story is likely not for you.

The prologue is dedicated to my friend Cosmo. I thought about waiting with posting, but I was hoping this could perhaps cheer you up a little. Lots of love, and presidency <3

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Year 2525, The Town on Six

The Backside Of The Coin was just a shady bar, in a dirty shanty town, on a forgotten planet in the Outlands. It was a den of thieves, where raiders, murderers and other backstabbing lowlifes gathered to do their dubious business. It was also a sanctuary for augments - one of the last places in known space where they didn't have to hide their abilities, cover their visible implants, and most importantly, constantly fear for their lives.

For Nova, it was even more than that.

The Backside was as close to a home as anything he had, besides his ship. To him, the people at there were like his family. A big, loud, and very dysfunctional family, but a family. He had spent some very good times there in the past, and had taken his mind off of things during very bad times, too.

That day, he visited for the latter purpose.

It was a sodden evening, and the rain had just begun, but already the dirt roads had turned into muddy trenches. The water washed away the desert dust that had caked the buildings and blinded the windows. Now, it was curtains of water that obscured the view.

Nova stepped into the Backside and headed straight for the bar without a word of greeting to anyone, stopping only briefly near the door to stomp off the worst of the dirt that clung to his boots. When he sat down at the bar, Becky only shot him one glance, before she wordlessly poured him a glass of a pale blue liquid.

Resting her elbows on the counter, she propped up her chin on interlaced fingers and just watched him in silence for a while.

"Do you want me to ask you what's wrong, or would you rather drink that in silent contemplation and wallow in your sadness?" she finally asked.

He looked up at her and cracked a grin. "Me, sad? How did you get that impression?"

"Now let me think..." She narrowed her eyes and scrutinized him for a moment, "You've just spent five minutes staring at a blank vid screen without touching your drink, your hair is unusually messy, the shadows under your eyes look like you haven't slept in days, and your jacket can't hide the fact that you've lost about..." She eyed him up and down for a moment. "...four pounds since you last were here – that about right?"

He didn't reply, he just shook his head with a forced grin and took a sip of his drink. Just enough to let it trickle down slowly and allow it to trace its burning path along this throat before settling in his belly. The fake warmth of the liquor did little to rid him off the bitter chill he had been feeling for the past days.

"Five," he corrected her as he put the glass down, "But I'm not... sad."

He snorted at the thought and swirled his glass, staring at the pale blue liquid as it sloshed around within. She had poured him some of the better stuff, not that moonshine that Old Arus was brewing up in his dirty little shack at the other end of the Town. This came from off-world, from Malovia, and there was only one person he knew of who would be capable of smuggling it out of that sector.

In hindsight, of all the places to go to take his mind off of Amy Larsson, Six had probably not been the best choice. Ever since she had first walked into the Backside about a year ago, the small woman with the doll-like face, mismatched eyes and black and white hair had become something of a local celebrity. And that was not just because she was an absolute eye catcher. Or because she somehow procured batches of the best booze, smuggled from all over known space. Or because she packed the meanest punch in every bar fight that she had gotten into since then.