Revive Me

Chapter Eleven

I wait for about half an hour for Kenji to arrive. I begin to wonder whether or not Delalieu told him to come, but he must have, because he brought steaming mugs of coffee. I already drank my cup, but Kenji's still sits on the table, getting colder by the minute.
Suddenly, the door opens and Kenji walks in. He's armed with a gun. I don't know whether he brought it to hurt me if I try anything or just being cautious. Either way, I smile at him and gesture for him to have a seat. I get up myself and heat his coffee in the microwave that lies in the corner of the room. I set it back down on the wrecked table and take a seat on one of the two light blue couches.
Kenji glances around the room. I remember that he's only been here when ordered to. He hasn't seen sunlight gleaming in through the windows with the blue curtains pulled back. He hasn't seen the white tiled floor sparkling clean for him. He hasn't sat in these blue couches or touched a coffee mug given to him by me. He hasn't had someone use a microwave to prepare something for him in this building.
This all must be so strange to him.
I hate myself for it.
I want to rip my hair out.
"So," he says in a bored tone. "Why did you tell me to come here?"
I look up at him and see that he's picked up the coffee. He took a sip of it and spat it out.
"Don't you sweeten this stuff?" he asks, clearly disgusted.
A laugh escapes my mouth as I gesture to the sugar that lies in the middle of the table.
He takes the sugar pot and dumps half of it into his mug. He takes a sip and looks relieved.
"Well?" he says. "Are you just gonna sit there and stare at me the whole time? Look, I know I am a very attractive man but-"
I cut him off with a cough.
"Kenji. I called you here to sort things out between us," I say.
He swears under his breath.
"I knew it," he whispers.
I blink my eyes, pressing them together for a little longer than usual.
He looks at my face and notices the long cuts on my forehead.
I curse myself in my head.
Why didn't I cover it with my hair?
"Did I give that to you?" he asks with a slight whimper.
"No," I reply. "It was from a rebel attack."
It's partially true.
He nods and takes a sip of his coffee.
"Well what happened about your tooth, pretty boy?" he asks in a mocking tone.
I hate when he talks like that.
"Delalieu implanted a new one," I reply. Simple and easy, I know he hates that.
For about 5 minutes, we sat there awkwardly in silence. Then Kenji finally spoke, and didn't shut up for another 5 minutes.
He said that Castle means the world to him and he didn't know what he would do if something happened to him and he just got a little over protective over him. He said how he didn't mean to slap me and how he didn't expect me to fight him back. He also told me how his arm was fine despite the twist at an awkward angle. And he finally apologized. He actually apologized.
God, the world is so unexpected.
"It's alright Kenji," I reply. "I'm sorry too."
And with that, I knew that another awkward moment would come.
But right at that moment, the sirens go off.
Rebels are in the building.

***

I run and grab a gun from my drawer. Kenji is already invisible and running towards the front to see possible intruders.
I thought I made an alliance.
I thought I could finally trust another sector.
I was wrong.
I stay in my position until Kenji comes back, laughing like crazy.
He disarms the blaring sirens and orders for us all to come out of our positions.
We all come out of our spots, but none of us put our guns down.
"Relax guys," he says between a laugh.
Behind him, 5 figures come. They're so so familiar and I can't believe that they're here and we're all so happy and hugging them and asking them how they are and how they're doing and where they've been.
Brendan, Winston, Ian, Alia and Lily are so overwhelmed by hugs that they fall to the floor laughing.
"Where have you been for the past year!?" asks Castle.
It's Ian who speaks so proudly with so much confidence it scares me.
"We've been walking from sector to sector, just seeing how this country has been doing. We lost track of which sector we were in until we showed up here. The most heavily armed sector had to be yours. And here we are."
Lily giggles a little and speaks so so softy.
"I don't think we're very welcome here considering a bunch of alarms went off once we entered."
I laugh and tell her how we have them set up for people who aren't supposed to be in this building to keep us safe from rebels.
"You all can stay here!" exclaims Kenji.
I jump, surprised at how happy and excited he is. Everyone turns to me, knowing that nobody stays here without my permission. I simply nod.
The most excited one has to be James. He jumps in circles and hugs each of then saying "Wooohooo! It's a sleepover party!"
I've always seen the world in negative ways.
I wonder where my brother gets his positivity from.
"Come along guys. We've got a lot of catching up to do," says Castle while gesturing for everyone to come with him.
Brendan looks at Ian who looks at Alia who looks at Lily who looks at Winston who looks at me.
"Yes, of course. But first, we would like to discuss some things with the The Supreme Commanders."
I shift uncomfortably in my position and its Kent who notices.
"Juliette is not able to discuss anything at this time," he says with a whimper hiding behind his tongue. "She is....unwell."
All 5 of them look confused but before they can ask any more questions, I gesture for them to follow me to the place that Kenji and I were in earlier. They glance at each other one last time and follow me.
I manage to arrange seats for everybody and I remain standing. It's a meeting room for two but we managed to fit six.
"So what did you need to talk about that you couldn't say in front of everyone else?" I ask.
They all look at each other in the exact same way they did in the hall two times.
I swear it's rehearsed.
"Sector 31 has been sending rebels to you to overthrow you," spits Lily.
"Yes I know," I say. They all stare at me, shocked. "They've recently sent a pledge of allegiance to me and I have accepted. We are now allies."
Winston opens his mouth to say something, but before he can, the door bursts open and Delalieu comes running in.
He runs towards me, knocking cups over in the process. Glass shatters on the floor and Brendan swears.
"DELALIEU! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" I scream. I take deep breaths and steady my voice. "Can I not attend to personal matters without interruption here?"
He takes deep breaths and grips my shoulders.
"Sorry to disturb, sir."
He stops and takes more deep breaths, releasing my shoulders.
He stares into my eyes.
"It's Ms. Ferrars," he says between breaths. "She's awake."