by L. C. Mawson
Of course, they would be getting there by dropship, and they would be able to come back if they needed to, but Love didn’t want to be bothersome by having to come back too soon because she'd forgotten something simple.
Hate wasn’t much help either.
Not that Love had actually expected her to be. While Love’s difficulty packing probably stemmed from her autism, Hate had ADHD, so it wasn’t a complete shock that she might have the same difficulty.
Though she seemed to be dealing with that difficulty by becoming very quiet, only giving single word answers to any question Love had for her.
“Are you not done packing yet?” Hate asked as she walked over to Love’s side of the room, frowning more than a little.
Love blinked at her. “Are you done?”
Hate nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been done for ages.”
Love just blinked again. “Oh... I thought... You’ve been quiet. I thought that maybe you were having trouble as well.”
Hate shook her head. “No, I’ve just been waiting for you.”
Love frowned. She wasn’t great at reading other people, but Hate seemed to be speaking tersely, keeping her sentences as short as possible.
If she was trying to concentrate on packing, why was she so cold?
“Is everything okay?” Love asked her. “I mean, you seem a little...”
Hate shook her head once more. “Everything’s fine.”
Love folded her arms at the blatant lie. “Obviously it isn’t. Come on, what’s wrong?”
Hate sighed. “It’s nothing. I promise.”
That was a little more believable, but Love wasn’t just going to let it go like that. “It’s obviously not nothing. Are you still... Are you still worried that I won’t be able to do this? I’m just putting myself in danger?”
Hate sighed. “I understand that you want to help Loneliness, I do. And I do have faith in you, I don’t want you to think otherwise...”
“But?”
“Is this really something you want to risk your life over?”
“Hate, we risk our lives every day. Or at least, we used to.”
“But we don’t anymore! Well, the rest of us don’t. You have taken on the responsibility of every other Aspect, and it hasn’t been so bad while you’ve just been keeping the nests away from the city, but this is too much. You’re asking far too much of yourself.”
“Hate, I’m not just going to sit here and let them force Loneliness into something she doesn’t want. What if it’s one of us in the future?”
Hate quirked her eyebrow a little as she said, “I don’t think either of us has to worry about getting the other accidentally pregnant.”
“But what about kids in general? And what about Empathy? She’s all lovey-dovey with Pain.”
“She’s fourteen. And could she even get pregnant with her shapeshifting powers?”
Love groaned. “You’re missing the point. The point is that this isn’t just about Loneliness. This is about all of us and our futures. So yes, I am willing to risk my life for that. Better that than just staying stagnant in this Tower for the rest of our lives.”
“But at least then we would have lives.”
Love sighed, shaking her head. “I know that you worry for me, but I can do this. I promise.”
Hate just looked away. “Okay,” she said, but Love got the impression that things weren’t okay at all.
CHAPTER EIGHT
They decided not to head to London straightaway, instead heading to the tunnel to see if it was even still intact. The plan was for the dropship to drop them off outside the tunnel on their end, and then they would make sure that the tunnel was still functional and that there weren’t any monsters within by making their way through it to the other end.
Once on the other side, they would put a gate over the entrance to stop any monsters from getting through, and then set up a temporary base of operations.
The dropship landed, and everyone filed out, looking to the tunnel’s entrance.
“Will it be safe to travel through there?” Love asked.
Empathy patted the large bags over her shoulder. “I’ve got breathing equipment in here. Even if the air is bad in there, we will be safe. The question is whether any water has gotten in, or if any monsters have.”
“I’ll go and scout ahead,” Loneliness said. “It’s what my power is most useful for, after all.”
Love frowned, wondering if that was a good idea given Loneliness’ condition. But then, it wasn’t as if she was exactly an expert on pregnancy – the only life she could remember before the Aspects had been spent at boarding school, surrounded by girls her own age – and she assumed that Loneliness had educated herself on the matter.
Justice frowned, shaking her head. “You shouldn’t go. The rest of us can handle this.”
Loneliness smiled, raising an eyebrow. “Justice, this is my fight more than it is anyone else’s. I’m not just going to sit back and let other people fight for me.”
“If you get hurt... This could all be for nothing...”
“My powers make me invisible, remember? Getting hurt involves the monsters seeing you first.”
“Your powers only work as long as you feel alone. How can you feel alone at the minute? I mean, with all of us standing beside you.”
Loneliness’ smile faded just a bit, taking on a quality that was half sorrowful, half apologetic.
The next moment, she'd disappeared entirely.
Justice just stared at the empty air in front of her.
Vengeance put a comforting hand on his sister’s shoulder. “You didn’t expect her to still feel alone, did you?”
Justice shook her head. “How could I?”
“I think you forget that Loneliness spent thirteen years on her own before we showed up. And that we then disappeared on her. I don’t think she’ll ever stop guarding her heart completely.”
Justice looked away. “I thought she'd stopped guarding it from me,” she admitted quietly. “I just... I just want her to be happy, and I’m not sure how to do that...”
“Maybe just still being here and understanding will have to be enough.”
Justice nodded, falling back into silence as they waited for Loneliness to reappear.
It didn’t take long.
“Well, from what I could see, it seems structurally fine, but I didn’t exactly get very far,” Loneliness said as she reappeared, her disembodied voice startling everyone at first. “I came across a nest in my way.”
“Then I suppose that’s my cue,” Love said. “Did they seem agitated?”
Loneliness shrugged. “They always seem agitated to me.”
Love nodded before turning to Serenity. “Both of us should go, just to be safe.”
“Of course,” Serenity said before readying her headphones. It was how she kept her focus in the middle of battle.
Hate stepped forward. “I’m assuming that I’m also needed.”
Love smiled. “I always need you,” she quipped, but Hate didn’t so much as quirk her lips in response.
“I should come too,” Jealousy said. “I always go with you.”
Love frowned a little. “You always come because those missions just outside the city were pretty much guaranteed to be safe. I could approach the other nests from a distance and not seem as if I was intruding right away. With a nest like this, in such an enclosed space, we will probably be considered intruding the moment we step inside. The other missions were training, this could actually be dangerous.”
Jealousy glared at her, folding their arms. “If I’m not going to go now that there’s real danger, what was the point of me doing all of that training?”
Vengeance stepped forward. “I’ll come along with Jealousy,” he said. “They’re right, they need more varied experience, and Justice and Pain should be more than capable of keeping an eye on things here.”
Loneliness folded her arms. “What are the rest of us, chopped liver?”
Vengea
nce sighed. “You know what I mean. The rest of you have passive or defensive powers, we have offensive ones. That was all I meant.”
“You say that as if the rest of us don’t also go through combat training.”
Vengeance folded his arms. “Do you really want how this argument, or can I go?”
Loneliness sighed, shaking her head, though she had a smile. “Fine, go. We should probably try to get everything set up on the other end before we lose daylight...”
Vengeance nodded in agreement. “Now, if that’s all settled, let’s head out.”
Love nodded, taking the lead as they headed into the tunnel.
It was pitch black inside, and Love had to get out a torch to be able to navigate.
“How did Loneliness get through here without any light?” she asked.
“That’s the second part of her power,” Vengeance said. “No one can see her, but she sees everything.”
“So she can see in the dark?”
“You know, I’ve never asked exactly how it works. All I know is she’s the best person to have around if you lose something.”
“Shouldn’t you know more about her powers for tactical reasons?” Hate asked him.
Vengeance shrugged. “Why? She doesn’t live in our Tower. I mean, I know that Empathy does whatever she can to come up with reasons for Loneliness to visit, but I have never been in charge of those missions, so I have never had to know.”
“And what about once all this is over?” Jealousy asked. “Will Loneliness be going to live with us in our Tower, or will Justice leave?”
Serenity was the one to answer. “The more pressing question is what will we do about the Tower for this new city. Will each of the existing Towers sacrifice an Aspect? The current system was apparently designed for balance, so would a new Tower disrupt that balance? Either way, the new Tower will likely be the answer to your question in one way or another.”
Vengeance gave an over exaggerated sigh. “Okay, let’s stop talking about this.”
“Scared your sister is gonna move away?” Hate teased.
“Yes,” Vengeance said as if the answer should have been obvious. “She’s the only family I’ve got left, remember?” He nodded to Love. “Would you want to move away from Empathy?”
“No, I suppose not.”
“Then it shouldn’t be so shocking that I would be reluctant to move away from Justice. We’ve never lived apart before, we’re certainly not going to start now.”
The Aspects quieted as they began to see signs of the monsters. Scratches on the walls and floor.
Marks of their territory.
Love signalled for everyone else to stay put as she stepped forward, not wanting anyone else to be the 1st to encounter a creature. If the fighting started, it would be incredibly difficult for her to stop it.
Love kept moving forward, only to stop dead in her tracks as she saw the first creature approach, scuttling across the ceiling.
It was only as big as her forearm and Love couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not.
Every other time she'd relocated the nest, they had seen fully-grown creatures first. Perhaps they had been expected, given how close the nests had been to the city, and the fact that the Aspects only knew about them from other people stumbling across them.
These creatures had likely never seen a Human in their lives and certainly won’t have been expecting any to stumble across the nest.
So why would they keep fully grown monsters as sentries, guarding the tunnel?
Of course, winning over the monster sent out to investigate her usually won over the rest of the nest, but that was when the monster was fully grown.
Even if it had been a nest near the city, would a baby monster know to attack?
If it didn’t, would the nest see the baby’s trust in her as proof that she was harmless, or would they seek to quickly remove it from the predator who had taken advantage of its naivete?
Regardless, she held out her hand for the creature to investigate.
It sniffed her palm for a moment before hopping onto her arm and scurrying onto her shoulders.
Love did everything she could to stay still, not wanting to scare it.
Once on her shoulders, the creature settled happily, and Love sighed.
However the rest of the nest were going to react to her with the baby, she was just going to have to face it. She doubted she would be able to get it off her shoulders gently.
While she could command the creatures, ones this young listened to no one.
Love continued down the tunnel, hoping that Hate hadn’t picked up on how much more precarious the situation might be.
The last thing they needed was for anyone to do anything rash.
Eventually, she saw more glowing blue eyes appear at the darkness, and she did her best to put any fear from her mind.
It would only get in the way of her powers.
Instead, she focused on the little creature around her shoulders, not wanting anything to happen to it because of her interference.
Thankfully, that seemed to be enough for the other creatures to not read her or the other Aspects as a threat.
As she got closer, the little creature around her shoulders chirped before scurrying down her legs and making its way over to one of the larger creatures, climbing up its back.
Love assumed that the large creature in question was one of its parents.
Love stopped, wanting to give the creatures a chance to investigate her on their own terms.
They apparently found nothing to object to after just a few moments of sniffing, as they then bowed their heads to her.
“Come on,” Love said to them. “Let’s find somewhere safer for you to put your nest.”
CHAPTER NINE
Relocating the nest after that was just as simple as every other time Love had done it.
The others backed away from the entrance as she led the monsters out, getting them far enough away that they wouldn’t disrupt any of the planned construction.
Once the monsters were settled, Love returned to the others, struggling to stifle a yawn.
Walking the creatures such a distance wasn’t the lightest task, and she knew that they still had more to go.
As she returned, Hate used the dropship’s power systems to power her portable coffee maker.
In just a few moments, she handed Love a strong cup of coffee and an energy bar filled with almonds. Her favourite.
“You feeling okay?” Hate asked her.
Love nodded, hoping that Hate’s concern for her signalled an end to whatever distance she'd been placing between them before they left.
“Just tired,” Love said. “It’s fine. The coffee should sort me out.”
Vengeance raised an eyebrow as he overheard the conversation, shaking his head. “The coffee will likely only dehydrate you. Here.” He passed her a bottle of fizzy orange liquid. Love recognised it as one of the drinks Vengeance regularly used to replenish his energy.
“Isn’t this just liquid sugar?” Love asked.
“There is a lot of sugar,” Vengeance admitted. “But there is caffeine as well as some other essentials for perking you up. Either way, it would be better for you than coffee right now.”
Love shook her head. “I don’t like sweet things,” she reminded him.
Vengeance sighed. “You must be the only person in the world.”
Hate rolled her eyes. “Just because you and I have a sweet tooth doesn’t mean that everyone else has to.” She turned back to Love. “It shouldn’t matter that much anyway. We won’t have much longer to go.” She looked away, her gaze turning dark again.
Love placed a reassuring hand on her arm, worrying that she was focusing on how dangerous things were again. “Hey, everything is fine. This was as easy as it has ever been near the city. If it’s any indication of how well things are going to keep going, we have nothing to worry about.”
“Yeah,” Hate agreed quietly, not looking as if Love�
��s words had had any effect.
Love wanted to say something else, to ask once more why Hate was in such a grim mood, but Vengeance spoke up before she could.
“Come on,” he said. “We should try and make it to the other end of the tunnel before sunset.”
CHAPTER TEN
Once they made it to the other end of the tunnel, Love was immediately struck by the state of the ruins around her.
She'd been out of the walled cities before, of course, and sometimes she'd approached what remained of old settlements, but never like this. Never surrounded by crumbling walls, reclaimed by nature, with vines growing over brick and concrete.
“This is a mess,” Vengeance said with a sigh.
“But one that is salvageable,” Justice said with a smile to Lo. “If we can deal with all of the creatures so quickly, rebuilding will be the least of our troubles.”
“Easy for us maybe,” Lo said with a significant nod to Love. “We’re not the ones who had to deal with them.”
Love gave a shrug, looking away. “It was no problem, really. I want this to work as much as you do.”
“We should find somewhere to camp for the night,” Vengeance said, nodding to the now-pink sky. “The creatures can wait until morning. Or at least, we can have look-outs until morning in case there are any other nearby nests. We can deal with them properly tomorrow, as well as setting up better fortifications.”
Serenity nodded towards a larger building. “Assuming it’s still structurally sound, it should be safer to stay in there. The inner rooms should be more protected from the elements.”
Justice turned to Empathy. “Have you got a way to become skilled in... checking how safe buildings are?”
Empathy nodded, pulling out her tablet. “I assumed it would come up. Just give me ten minutes.”
Empathy put in her headphones and started watching something. Over the next few minutes, she turned into a tall, blond, middle-aged man with a pot belly.
“I should be able to fix it up with the supplies we brought,” Empathy told them after a few moments, her voice low and gruff. She nodded to Vengeance and Pain. “Can you lads give me a hand?”