ARCHE

[English]

image [https://i.imgur.com/z6BJK2C.png]

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"Give me a break. Yeah, like I’m going to fall for that.”

“What?”

“You saw a rainbow on the return trip?”

“Yeah… why? You don’t believe me?”

“Oh sure I believe ya—now where’s me pot o’ gold?!” Demarcus spouted.

“Worst Irish accent ever.”

“But you did know it was Irish.”

Fania rolled her eyes, “A lucky guess.”

“You’re just trying to pull a fast one on me. As if you could beat me at my game!”

“Ahhh… so you don’t trust me.”

He nudged her with his shoulder from where he lay beside her, “Not on your Shard! Need I remind you of the ‘coffee table incident’?”

“It’d be a first if you didn’t,” she muttered under her breath loud enough for him to catch.

“Five stitches and a scar.”

“Yes… yes… You know, in the Lawless Heart of Asia, a scar is a badge of honor.”

“Really?! Well then, if that’s the case, I’m off to the Heart of Asia—about time I’m shown some respect.”

She nudged him back, “A twenty-two-year-old who doesn’t believe in rainbows isn’t going to get much respect anywhere.”

“Well, I haven’t seen one. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just for fairy tales and gullible little girls,” said Demarcus, strands of grass brushing against Fania’s bare side as he folded his arms theatrically.

“Ha. Ha. You’ve never seen anything!”

“Objection! Immaterial!”

“Overruled.”

“Damn! Alright miss smartass, and how do you know they’re real? Hmm? Maybe those bioweapon eyes of yours are just playing tricks on you.”

“Impossible. My eyesight, like the rest of me, is superior,” she said, fluttering her silver lashes in his oblivious face.

“Perhaps…” he reached out, finding and then booping her nose with his finger. “But seeing and perceiving are two different things. How could any of us, even those ‘superior’, know if anything is truly real? You, me, the—”

“Whoa whoa whoa! Haven’t we agreed to never bring up Simulation Theory again?” Fania protested as she shot up from where she lay.

“Objection! Hearsay!” Demarcus countered.

“Overruled!”

“Damn.”

…

“You know what I think?”

“What? You ran into Santa in the mess hall?” he scoffed, earning him a playful slap to the thigh.

Fania threw up a brow, the sass of her excellent gesture unfortunately missed by her sole audience, “Funny. No… I think somebody is jealous.”

“Well, it’s your fault if I am,” Demarcus grumbled.

“Huh?!”

“Can you blame me, Fania? I’m stuck here day after day twiddling my thumbs while you’re off on adventures—”

“Assignments.”

“—having lunch with Santa and chasing rainbows!”

“Just rainbows.”

The playful banter was turning irksome. With the top brass’s growing confidence in the bioweapon program, Fania’s sorties to the Lawless Zones were becoming more frequent, further limiting the few moments she and her mate had to themselves. The last thing she wanted was to have their precious time together spoiled by meaningless debate. Nevertheless, as she attempted to remove her hand from Demarcus’s grasp, a gentle, reassuring squeeze stopped her before pulling her back towards their bed of grass.

So, she remained.

A few minutes passed in silence. The young couple lay on their backs within their secret mountain meadow, soothed by the summer breeze as it rose towards the snowy peaks far above.

“Well… I’ll tell you something I do know,” Demarcus resumed.

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She felt his hand slip from hers, his fingertips gliding along her forearm.

Caught off guard by the unexpected gesture of affection, Fania turned to face him. It was somewhat annoying how the sly punk knew how to play her so well. Then again, that was also a part of his charm, and she would have it no other way.

“Oh pray tell, Great Demarcus, what do you know?” she retorted as his touch sent a shiver up her spine. There had been more anticipation in her voice than she’d intended.

Demarcus rolled onto his side—arm tucked under his head as a pillow, the warmth of his body radiating towards her as it moved closer. Tangled graying hair waved with the gusts of wind. His milky unfocused eyes stared towards some far-off place, seeing nothing, seeing everything. His free hand continued exploring her arm before arriving at the top of her neck and under her ear.

“There are many things whose existence may be unprovable, but the pleasure we derive from them? That… is very, very real,” Demarcus said as he caressed her cheek with his thumb.

It was an invitation that couldn’t be ignored. Both her heart and instinct demanded it. But she would delay it.

Their game was not over yet.

She was a hunter, a predator, apex. The pinnacle of life. She would not allow herself to succumb to entreaties so easily—not even his.

“Was that supposed to be smooth?” she responded, her slightly wavering voice a little breathless.

Demarcus grinned from ear to ear in that annoyingly irresistible way. “Aren’t I?” he swooned.

Another prickle ran up Fania’s spine. Time to put her darling back in his place.

In the way all true hunters knew, she masked her movements within the gusts of wind as she quickly pulled away before he could protest, lifting herself out of their flattened bed of grass. Even if she was disguised as a mere human, in the end, there was little he could do to stop her.

He’d brought this upon himself.

As the silence pressed on, Demarcus’s attitude changed. He swiveled in his spot, his playful grin slowly fading. His tangled hair tossed this way then that as he blindly listened for her. When he called Fania’s name with no response, Demarcus’s grin slipped into a scowl as he rose to his knees, eyes shut, open palms ready to intercept.

“And here I thought we were being civil today,” she heard him whine under his breath.

“How illogical,” Fania playfully cooed back, already moving from her position as Demarcus spun in the direction of her voice. “If it’s civility you’re looking for, you should have fraternized with the humans.”

His scowl deepened, “You say that like I’m not one of them.”

She giggled. It was nice to see him on the backfoot for a change. “But you aren’t, darling. You are prey.”

Demarcus swiveled again towards the new direction of her voice, still failing to grasp her true location as she silently circled him. “I fail to see the distinction. Aren’t all humans prey?”

A ping of frustration. There he went again speaking those misconceived notions of his humanity. It was true. He was not like her, or the other bioweapons. But he wasn’t human either. The shared existence of their Cores defined him so.

“Perhaps, but not all prey are human, darling,” Fania answered once completely behind him, causing Demarcus to flinch as he was forced to reposition yet again.

Demarcus rolled his milky eyes. “Right… because the Great Hyperfania doesn’t stoop so low as to ‘fraternize’ with the likes of us.”

She kicked a nearby pebble in his direction. “Not us. Them. And I get along perfectly fine with humans when they’re sensible. Just take my mother for example,” Fania said as she continued to circle.

“We both know she is the only other exemption aside from me,” he said, adjusting in his kneed stance. “Not that I particularly blame you.”

But his concession of her ill will towards the apes wasn’t good enough. How could he still see himself as one of them? He was better, so much better! Her affection and admiration for him alone proved as much.

It seemed some tough love was in order.

Letting her hand slip between the blades of grass, Fania reached for a nearby stick. Nothing too big or cumbersome, but large enough to serve its purpose. Passing it to her off-hand, she held it by its end as she propped herself on the balls of her prosthetic feet. Never breaking focus from her target, she made her final adjustments.

Then, she was ready.

Fania tossed the stick low to the ground and Demarcus spun to face the rustling grass, his flank vulnerable to her oncoming assault. The second the opening showed itself, she reached for his closest arm, and once caught, spun him around and underneath her as she mounted him. A startled yelp left the man, and in an instant, Demarcus lay pinned beneath her.

“I swear…” he said between rapid heaves, “You're gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.”

“As if you’d die so easily,” she riposted, releasing one of his hands to brush aside a tendril of hair covering his face.

He chuckled, gathering her into his embrace. At the edge of her mind, the warm and familiar presence of his Core asked for permission to enter. It spoke no words and wanted nothing in return but to intertwine its existence with her own.

Fania gladly accepted.

Demarcus’s being spilled into hers, and she, in kind, into his.  His relief, his remorse, his joy… she knew it all in an instant. She knew the person holding her saw her as she did him despite their differences. No. Because of their differences. Wrapping her arms under his shoulders, she squeezed her mate back, doing her best to return the love she’d been given to the only life form that knew her for her, and nothing else.

“’There are many things whose existence may be unprovable, but the pleasure we derive from them is real’, was that it?” she repeated his words inside the conjoined consciousness of their Cores. “So, you’re a philosopher now?”

She felt the rumble of his laugh through her chest as he spoke. “Well, I really can’t take credit for that one. I got it from your mother, actually. Remember when I was taken to Reykjavík for those tests?”

“How could I not?! Whole thing stressed me to my Core! Fucking Chairs!”

He laughed again. How wonderful it was to be in his arms once more.

“Chairs?! That’s a new one! Care to enlighten?”

“That’s what me and Mother have started calling those bastard generals ordering us around. I swear all they are good for is keeping things quiet.”

“I suppose I’ll have to thank them for my peaceful confinement then…”

“Silence,” she teased. “They are nothing more than a decrepit, conniving gang of apes, that would just a soon dissect you as protect you.”

“Brilliant…” her mate grumbled back as she kissed him tenderly, desire and annoyance emanating from his Core.

It was her turn to laugh, “Anyways, what was this about Reykjavik?”

“Ah yes! Reykjavik. Your mother told me that idiom during one of the days between the tests—the fifth, if I remember correctly. We were on a balcony enjoying the weather after a thunderstorm passed through, and this wonderful rainbow appeared and—”

“You little shit! I’m gonna kill y—”

ACHOO