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Sat in the foyer of HALT was Gerald, Gabriel and Teresa, awaiting Star and Valeria's return. Teresa still had her disguise on. Things had been escalating quickly. She, Star and Gerald had been waiting for this but it'd always been a plan. Not reality.
Teresa and Gerald were talking amongst themselves when Gabriel spoke, "You're very poised for a game designer."
Teresa turned to him, "Thank you?"
Gabriel looked over his shoulder at the double entrance to HALT. "How come there's two doors now?"
"Once it's completed, you can go straight to the Archives." Gerald didn't look away from his map, a blueprint of the Whein, "Roma said it's in the tower."
Teresa tugged at the cloak drapes over her body, keeping her warm, "Okay, but Gabriel only has four minutes to get to the diadem — "she quickly turned around to see a player walk into the foyer.
His eyes darted from the blueprint hologram, to Ruth Bader Ginsberg, then to Gerald's blaster aimed at his brow bone. Teresa saw the player dash behind a dresser, activating a forcefield. She grabbed Gabriel by the neck of his suit, yanking him behind her as blasts hit the walls of the foyer.
She grabbed the portal gun from Gerald's holster, ducking from the shots being fired and activating the portal into the air. Pushing Gabriel through, she turned back before entering, "Gerald, let's go!"
"Duch is still in there!" He yelled over the firepower, searching for a shield grenade in his inventory.
"She can handle herself — "
"I can't leave her," he insisted, tossing the grenade into the air. It attached to the forcefield like a magnet, slowly deteriorating the blue dome. "We'll meet you at the beach."
"If your light goes out, I swear — "
"It won't go out," he assured.
Teresa jumped through the portal, watching as reinforcements barged into the foyer as the portal closed. "Gerald — "she looked down, ripping Ruth's face off as she saw the gun was out of charge.
She could feel Gabriel's eyes on her as she threw the gun into a sand dune. She knew he was confused. Along with the Grove, her beach wasn't on the map. The sand was dark, a midnight blue shade that sparkled in shades of purple as the suns began to rise, a distant mulberry.
She heard his steps padder along the wet sand, trailing behind her. The more she walked, the more the bulbs in the sand illuminated. They were all connected, by a simple black strand of yarn. She knew where to go and which bulb to look for, falling to her knees as she approached it. Cupping it into her hands, the light throbbed at her touch, burning a sullen blue amidst a thousand golden stars.
"Okay," a swirl of smoke formed a face, a handsome young man smiling alongside Teresa. It was his graduation day, she was so proud she thought her face would get stuck from grinning for too young. "You're okay, my sweet."
