Art Knights Dystopia

Cafeteria Reunion

     Praying that she'll be okay, I started making my way toward the cafeteria, following arrows painted along the floor.  Soon enough, I started hearing voices and a dim yellow stream of light emitting from a set of extremely rusty doors. Pushing the doors open, my eyes began to wander around the room, everything was rusted with age blending in perfectly with the tattered brown slacks that shielded everyone's skin from being exposed to the filthy air. My thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a powerful force shoving me against the filth ridden walls of the cafeteria. My strength crumpled against the wall, unmatched for my opponent. Frightened for my life, I shivered as I steadily turn my head around, only to meet the all too familiar ruby colored eyes that I yearned to see, "N-nathan? Wait, is that really you?" His eyes were dull, the bright shine that once rivaled the blinding glow of the sun was now gone. The pearly white smile that painted his face everyday has now been replaced by an intimidating scowl. He narrowed his eyes, furrowing his eyebrows in the process. He growled in a low husky whisper, "Stay low for a bit, will ya?" Taking me by the arm, he then dragged me into the corner. He looks around for a bit then turns to me and hissed, "What the hell are you doing here?!" I lowered my voice at his sudden serious demeanor, "Here to find you, idiot! How could I not be worried about you suddenly disappearing, leaving without a word? Other than that message saying 'PLEASE TALK TO TOKI ONCE YOU READ THIS', wouldn't you find that alarming as well!? Anyways, what the heck are you doing here?" Everything I kept bottled inside suddenly gushed out like a 5th grade volcano experiment and I couldn't stop it, "How would YOU feel if I suddenly disappeared for 4 months? Do you have any idea how I felt?" Nat bit his lips in frustration and I continued my spiel, "Now that I finally find you, you're telling me to go back!? Without you?" Nat gave me a look of pity and gently rested his hand on my shoulder, his voice quivering as he spoke, "I was hoping you wouldn't find that. I-I was scared and... and frustrated, I..." He lowered his gaze, an internal battle seeming to take place in his mind as he remains silent. "Tch... I guess that doesn't matter anymore, huh?" he smiled at me wearily, "But seriously, why would you come here... You won't be able to get back to your old peaceful life now... I'd hate it if you left with regrets." Hearing these words, my shoulders lower in disappointment. Why would you come here...You should be aware you won't be able to get back to your old peaceful life now... His words echoed throughout my head, taunting me. "The only thing I regret," I began, glaring into his eyes, "was not being there for you when you needed me most... Heck, not even getting the chance to say goodbye!" His eyes widened in surprise, I continued, "Do you really think I can go and pretend everything is fine, knowing that someone I used to hang out a lot, fetch the groceries and even scold me for eating noodles too much, suddenly disappears?" I let out a sarcastic chuckle, avoiding eye contact, gently letting out a sigh, "Of course I'm going to get worried about you... Especially with all that mumbo-jumbo Toki starts telling me out of nowhere." I look up, more confident in my words, "So, if you're going to tell me to get out of here alone, go home and have a pizza, after I broke the law to come here and try to find your missing face, then it's not happening." I stood my ground and crossed my arms defiantly. "Pfft-ahaha! Of course, but a guy can dream, right?" A small smile makes it way to Nathan's face. He took my hands and rested his head on my shoulder, "Thank you though. Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He softly squeezed my hand , "You know, I was worried too... I thought I'd never see you again, that the last would be all we had left. If only I had been good enough, If only I did better. You wouldn't be dragged into this mess. I'm sorry..." I playfully nudged his face off my shoulder and chuckled, I suddenly became aware of the two ominous figures behind us. I quickly glanced behind us and anxiously tapped Nat to alert him of the potential danger, "Anyways, those two seem to be staring daggers at us... do they happen to be friends? Or should we start running?" I tightly gripped onto Nat's sweating hand. "Wait, what?!" Nat tenses up and whips his head in the my direction, noticing the two other figures standing impatiently behind us. He instantly gives a sigh of relief and relaxes his grip on my hand, "You mustard, you almost gave me a heart attack!" He gave a small laugh and slapped my arm playfully.  "Ahh no, don't worry. They're my friends!" he guides me to the two figures then stands at their side. "Noki, meet Len and Lunacy," he gestured to the other two, "Welcome to the group!"
     "I was wondering when you were gonna introduce us!" the girl, Len was it? Said, sarcastically rolling her eyes. "Luna and I were getting impatient to see who it was you so compassionately threw against the wall. Right Luna?" she looked at the taller guy expectantly. "Mhm," Luna grunts, nodding his head in agreement. "Well anyways," Nat interrupted, "let me fill you in on the situation." We took a seat at a lunch table and began the debriefing. So from what I understand, it's basically what Toki had already informed me of regarding the land outside the border. Although, he did give me new information that piqued my interest. "...Do you know the reason why I got sent here?" Nat said, lowering his voice. I shook my head. He looked to make sure no one was listening and as we all huddled together in an attempt to create privacy, "Ok so, I was working one night correct? Then, from the corner of my eye, I see an unusual file that was not supposed to be there. Curious, I opened the document and began skimming through just to see what it was. In those documents, were many plans of weapons of mass destruction and ways to effectively shut down other societies. From what I learned, the AK is using those in the inner city to come up with plans to conquer the world and essentially start World War IV." Overloaded with information, I felt dazed and confused. Nat held out his arms and chortled, "Well, reading that didn't go so well for me now, did it? I'm lucky I'm still alive!"
     Then, all of the sudden, the heavy doors of the cafeteria swung open with a loud metallic clang. The cafeteria went silent as everyone watched, mouths agape, as two chained figures began emerging from behind the doors. Many security guards swarmed them, prodding them to move along. As one of the guards stepped back to uncuff them, I caught a quick glimpse of the two prisoners, they were both females. I only needed one look to ascertain that they clearly did not belong here. They seemed too... clean? Too refined. Unnaturally so. As I watched them slowly get released, the guards quickly cleared the site, leaving from whence they came. I could see them in full view now, as they gracefully strode to the lunchline with their long, slender physique. The slightly taller of the two had fierce, ebonic blue eyes; her thin, raven hair pulled firmly into a ponytail matched with slightly skewed bangs. The other had long, flowing, pure white hair; her strawberry champagne eyes briefly meeting mine as they passed by. Everyone's eyes were glued to them, entranced by their sophisticated aura, anxiously waiting to see their next move, where they would go next. After getting their food, to my surprise, they started making their way towards our table, OUR table. They nervously sat down across from us, their eyes darting every which way. The white haired one spoke up first, breaking the dead silence, "Uh-uhm, hi. Mind if we sit here? You can call me Jas, this is Siri." She gestured towards the raven haired girl, who waved at us in response, "Hey."