Ruin // Danger Days (Book 3)

02.

"Where should this go?" Sunset Flash asked.

Val Velocity shrugged. "Next to your bed, maybe? Where else would you put a picture of you and your friends?"

Sunset nodded, and stuck the 4" by 6" photo of the Ascenders on the wall next to her bed.

It was from years ago, obviously. The four of them were just messing around, attempting to play music. General Atomic Alien and Violent Vendetta stood back-to-back, Alien singing as loud as humanly possible and Vendetta engrossed in the rhythm of his bass. Sunset herself was standing confidently, but the electric guitar was unfamiliar in her hands. She'd only just learned how to play, but she was grinning anyway. And Silent Storm was happily banging away at his drumset. He'd almost broken one of his sticks that day, she remembered.

She missed those days. But now, there were only two of them left. Her and Storm, against the world.

And Val, of course.

Val was unique. He was completely different than everyone she'd ever met. He was confident, he had a temper, but he was always so kind to her. He had the idea of them sharing a room in the Nest, they were always attached at the hip, and he'd even offered for her to join the Vs, even though she had just met him a couple of months ago. She'd declined, of course, because she had her own crew already. And her name didn't even start with a V, it would just be wrong!

But he was still her best friend. Other than Storm, he was the only person she was close with. He was like a brother to her.

The new Nest was pretty awesome. The elevators didn't work, but that's really the only bad thing. Sunset and Val got to have their own room, with privacy! There were enough rooms for everyone, with a few people having to share, of course. There was a whole kitchen, a whole lobby with a bunch of cushiony chairs, and a TV in the rec room that was connected to BLI's power grid! It didn't have a music studio, but a few people were working on building one in one of the janitors' closets.

Wait, is it just one, or did I hear someone say that they were putting one on each floor? I'm not sure.

She'd been playing guitar a lot lately. Whenever she did she always managed to create new melodies and patterns, so she started to write them down, and when she wrote them down, lyrics came with them. She now had a whole notebook full of songs that she'd written. There were eight so far.

"Okay, I think we're done!" Val said, putting his hands on his hips and surveying the room. They'd successfully moved all of their personal belongings into the room, each of them taking one half of it. There were two twin-sized beds in it, a nightstand between them, and a bathroom connected to it. Val had a couple of posters of bands on the walls, and Sunset mainly had pictures. She also had a small shelf with books on it, and a stand for her orange and white electric guitar in the corner.

"I like it!" Sunset grinned. "I'm just glad we have privacy, honestly."

"I've never had privacy in my life," Val laughed.

Sunset laughed too. "Yeah, all four years of it!"

He gave her a playful shove. "Shut up!

She loved moments like this. When they could just be friends, without all of the fighting and war getting in the way.

☀️

A few 'Joys had set up a target practice area behind the building, consisting of some pieces of cardboard that was cut to look like a person, with black smiley faces (BLI's logo) drawn on their heads. They were already covered in burn marks, but there was minimal damage, because people didn't want to waste their battery power by using the kill setting on cardboard.

Val and Sunset went out there after they finished setting up. They made a bet of ten carbons on who could make the most hits in the span of sixty seconds.

"You ready to get your ass kicked?" Val smirked.

"Only if you are," Sunset said back, winking.

Val set a timer on his watch, then he counted to three, aimed, and pulled his trigger.

But nothing happened. He tried again, but still no shots came out.

"Shit!" he cursed, hitting the side of his gun and trying again, but to no avail. "My battery's dead."

"It's because you practice too often," Sunset replied, switching her safety on and placing her gun back in its holster. "You waste the power."

"I do not!" Val argued. She gave him a look, then he sighed, realizing he had no argument. "Fine. Will you come with me to the junkyard in Two to try and find a new one? I don't feel like buying one."

"Of course!" Sunset smiled. "I might just find something for myself."

Val smiled. "It's a date," he joked. But in reality, he had a plan. It was Sunset's birthday soon (June 14th), and he planned to get her something. He wasn't sure what yet, but he figured he'd know it when he saw it. It was her 18th, so he wanted it to be special for her.

If he was being totally honest with himself, whenever he was around her, he felt... something. He had no idea what this emotion was, but here's what he got from it: he thought that Sunset was amazing. She was really special to him, and he never wanted to see her upset, and if anyone tried to hurt her, he would go off on them like he never had before. He kept telling himself that he just thought of her as his friend, but the emotions that came with her were different than those that came with Volume, Volt, Vaya and Vamos, or Vinyl. There was just... more there. And he had no idea what to do with it. He wanted something, but he didn't know what it was.

But, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. For now, he would continue what he was doing and see what happened.