The two cyborgs were not too far from their destination at this point. The boy had become much more talkative over the past few hours, which put a smile on Lune’s face. Things were moving along smoothly, but there was one thing Lune had to do before they could go any further.

“Hey, kid! How ‘bout we-”

“C’mon. I’m not a baby anymore.”

“Well, it’s not my fault you can’t decide on a name!”

The two bickered back and forth before ultimately bursting into laughter over the silliness of their argument. Lune explained that he wanted to train the boy. As a prodigy himself, Lune’s teachings would put the boy at a serious advantage over any future threats.

“So, what are we doing? A little spar between friends?” the boy said, lifting his fists up in front of his face.

“No. I want you to go all out. Fight me with the intent to kill.” Lune replied, the boy stood there in silence and disbelief.

Surely he was just playing around, the boy figured, another classic case of Lune’s sarcastic behaviour. However, Lune lifted one of his arms and instantly triggered a mechanism that coated his body in a translucent layer of armor. He was serious.

Knowing what he had to do, the boy ran in for a punch, but was easily countered and knocked back by Lune. Throughout his journey, he had gotten much more accustomed to running with his cybernetic legs, so he recovered quickly and immediately went in for another attack. Hoping to fake out his teacher, he swung a right hook at Lune’s head. Then, as Lune’s head lowered to dodge, the boy came back with an uppercut, but once again, he faltered as Lune managed to dodge his attack again.

As the fight progressed, the boy would continue to throw a flurry of punches, all of them evaded by Lune. His movements were so fluid, it was as if he was perceiving the battle in slow motion. At this point, Lune wasn’t even retaliating, and the boy had grown frustrated.

“Fight back!!!” he shouted, charging in to tackle him.

However, Lune simply stepped aside and placed his foot out, promptly tripping the boy. As he fell towards the ground, the boy felt a slight breeze below his torso.

“Well, if you say so.” Lune replied, as he kicked the boy in his stomach, launching him metres away.

As the boy flopped across the surface of the wasteland, he felt a jabbing pain in his hip, as if he landed on a sharp rock.

“What is it?” Lune said, walking over to the groaning boy.

The boy had foolishly jumped straight into battle without removing the satchel over his shoulder. Lune knelt down and helped him remove it as the two opened the pouch. Inside were some basic first aid cyborg maintenance tools, a small screwdriver, a flare gun, and finally, a golden locket, something the boy knew he hadn’t packed himself. Lune stared at the locket, the aurous coating glistening back at him.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“What? Do you know what that is?” the boy asked.

Lune pondered for a while, scratching his head before coming to a conclusion.

“Nah, but let’s open it.”

“Let’s WHAT?!!” the boy yelled, “What if it’s a bomb?!”

“Who would put a bomb in your carrying pouch?”

“Uhh, maybe CynTech?”

“Good point. Let’s destroy it.”

“No!”

The duo bickered back and forth until suddenly a murmur could be heard from within the locket. Lune quickly grabbed it and threw it to the ground, hoping to give them an opportunity to escape the potential blast radius. The locket had a tag on it, marked “For Unit C13,” this is unmistakably addressed to the boy. While the boy read it in shock, Lune stood guard, preparing for the imminent explosion.

Instead, however, the locket opened up and displayed a hologram. Flickering from the slight damage it accrued and slowly becoming more visible as the sun started to set for the day, a symbol appeared depicting a sun with a crescent moon design within it. Soon after, the previously muffled murmuring they heard became clear as a voice recording began playing from the locket. A woman was speaking, rather excitedly.

“This is Dr. Frost. Recording an experimentation update on July 1st, 4055. We’ve hit a milestone in the development of PROJECT: SOL, she’s our strongest unit yet. With her abilities, it’s possible we can put an end to our old colleague’s crimes. We're working in tandem with law enforcement, but they will only do so much.”

“Celestia, could you pass me the blueprints on C13 again?” a familiar voice asked.

The boy's eyes lit up, “C13? Was that Ace?” he thought, the voice sounded so youthful and energetic, but it had his signature charm.

The old man always sounded a bit tired amidst his comical outbursts. The boy recognized that date was around 15 years ago and wondered how much could’ve gone wrong in that time to cause Ace to let himself go. He had always been so friendly and eager to help the boy, but his fatigued eyes and unkempt attire told another story.

“I told you, it’s Ciel, honey! We don’t need code names for everything. Besides, you know how special this is to me, it was my grandfather’s name. It means ‘sky’ in French. I dream of a world where our boy can be as free as the sky, a world where his own aspirations can be limitless.”

The audio faded out for a moment as the boy had become completely lost in thought. The two continued to bicker over the recording about names, but all he could remember was what the woman had said.

The sky, it was something he had never been able to see until the day they left the CynTech factory. Even so, he never had the opportunity to truly sit back and watch the clouds go by, and the constant sandstorms and smog in the air didn’t help either.

His eyes welled up with tears as he tried to process the information he was hearing. This life he had, it was never meant to be this way. This woman, Dr. Frost… she had envisioned something completely different than what the boy had been through. Again, the boy asked himself, what could’ve gone wrong all those years ago.

“Sorry about that, your father can be really stubborn sometimes.” the woman giggled, “Anyway, we don’t have much time left, dear. There will be one more recording on this device that only you can access. Just close and reopen this locket and allow the facial scanner to do its thing.”

The woman took a deep breath.

“When you’re ready… We’ll be here.”

The recording ended and the boy laid down on his back.

“Damn, that was intense. I wonder what the next recording will be.” Lune said, his hands on his hips as he looked up to the sky.

A faint snicker was heard from the boy. Lune looked over to see him quietly laughing with tears in his eyes.

“Okay, I know I’m pretty hilarious, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t say anything funny.” Lune remarked.

The boy laughed even harder, “Don’t ever stop being yourself, Lune.”

For the first time since meeting him, Lune had seen true happiness in the boy’s eyes. He hadn’t seen that from anyone in years. He smiled as he realized that this small instance was already leaving an impression on him. Lune was as friendly as they come, but he always operated as a lone wolf. The idea of a reality where he could settle down with people he trusted was completely foreign to him. However, in this very moment, he could feel it… a spark inside him, remnants of hope reinvigorated. Perhaps this mission he was sent on was much more than just a simple relocation. Maybe, just maybe, there was a future after all.

“Hey!” the boy alerted Lune, who was lost in thought, “I’m ready.”

The locket lit up once more and the two sat down to hear its final message.