* The Truth Bearer POV -

Yumo Stargazer had just thrown up in his office sink.

It was five minutes before he was live, and the majority of that time was spent cleaning the corners of his mouth and making sure his suit was spotless. Couldn’t have a mess on live television now, could he?

His hands were numb as they gripped each side of the sink, and he stared at himself in the mirror opposite. On the surface, he looked fine, painted with makeup and well, groomed he was the picture-perfect news reporter he always dreamed he would be. Yet he could see the tiredness lurking in the deep recesses of his eyes. His smile felt awkward and plastered and he was uncomfortable in his own skin.

“Good morning Valtsomu!” He whispered to himself, repeatedly trying to find the right intonation.

‘It’s gotta be a bit higher, like you’re the announcer at your child’s first game of sport.’ He thought, irritated at his tone.

“GOOD MORNING VALTSOMU!” He exclaimed with a bit more chest. But that one didn’t feel good either, it sounded too forced, and his voice had cracked slightly towards the end.

He kept muttering to himself in the bathroom until he heard a knock on the door behind him. From the angry and impatient form of knocking he could tell that it was his television partner and best friend of nine years.

Taking a deep breath, he marched over to the door and swung it open.

“Weiss! My dearest friend how are you!” Yumo grinned as widely as he could manage.

His partner did not share his enthusiasm. Glaring at him with a look that would give even heartless murderers a run for their money. Weiss wore the same dress shoes and blue suit that he did, only his facial hair was unkempt, and his hair was thin and wild.

“Stop talking to yourself like a lunatic and get on set, we’re rolling in thirty seconds.” His partner clicked his teeth, “We’re covering the recent terrorist capture so be serious for once.”

“But I’m always serious!”

“…Don’t make me punch you, now hurry up. We’re already late as it is.”

“You got it, ol’ buddy ol’ pal,” Yumo replied with a dramatic wink. To which Weiss pinched the bridge of his nose and walked away from him, muttering obscenities.

Yumo simply shrugged his shoulders and straightened his tie, following after his partner in large strides as they wound their way through the hallways. The Nebula, (A fun name that he came up with for the Asteroids HQ) was an extremely cramped building, being squashed between two skyscrapers, they barely had enough real estate to house the few people who worked for them. But despite the absolute mess of papers and close-quarters cubicles, almost everybody he passed by wore a smile on their face.

The occasional Buzzsaw would zip around the rooms with orders of food and coffee for everybody there and even they seemed to be happy.

The only exception to this was Weiss who was constantly in a sour mood.

“Clocks ticking!” His partner called from ahead of him, “Use those damned long legs of yours to make sure we’re there faster.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine!” Yumo replied jovially, “Have some faith!”

“Faith’s not part of the equation. Get moving!”

The lead reporter chuckled while shaking his head. Weiss was blunt and aggressive but behind his anger was a passion for their work that he wouldn’t be here without. Back when they had only just started broadcasting, it was his relentless attitude that had pulled them through destitute times.

After a scenic journey filled with scrambling interns and creaky doorways, they finally pushed their way into the studio. Navigating past the skeleton crew manning the cameras (to which Yumo gave a dazzling smile and a thumbs up for all their hard work). Taking their usual seats behind a large oak desk in the centre of the room.

“You're late.” A woman with ruby, red hair walked up to them and set down a handful of papers.

She, like most of the operating crew, wore casual clothes compared to the two reporters' formal attire, with a large black set of headphones and a grey hoodie just a tad larger than her actual body. “The delayed broadcast is going to cost us.”

“Put a sock in it, Jordan.” Weiss shot back, looking down at the script rather than at her, “Yumo was busy and we’re here now, so just get the damned cameras rolling.”

The woman turned to eye the lead reporter, to which he gave a wry laugh. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t feeling too well this morning.”

“Oh…are you feeling better now?”

“Right as rain, my incredible assistant!” He puffed his chest out, “Nothing can stop the great Astro!”

“That’s good to hear but don’t push yourself or you’ll end up like this poor guy.” She stuck a thumb out at his best friend.

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Yumo replied, chuckling. Weiss had a bad habit of neglecting sleep, and it showed in the dark circles under his eyes.

His partner cut into their conversation, waving his hands frantically. “Jordan, so help me, Roma, if you don’t get those cameras rolling right now, especially after that comment, I’ll send you to almighty hell myself!”

Jordan rolled her eyes at him and walked off the raised stage back to where the camera crew was operating. After a few seconds of talking, she gave them a thumbs up, prompting both reporters to sit a little straighter in their seats.

One of the cameramen took a deep breath, “In three, in two, in one…And we’re live!”

Yumo heard Weiss clear his throat to his right and immediately cut him off with his trademark bellow.

“Good evening Valtsomu! I hope you are as happy as I am to spend another day in this wonderful city of shooting stars, where any dream is possible!”

“Yumo, this week was my turn to introduce the channel.” His partner jabbed two fingers into his side, pulling away and shaking his hand in pain not a second afterwards.

“Please call me Astro!” Yumo boomed, having not felt Weiss’ attack in the slightest, “And I don’t recall you ever saying anything of the sort.”

His friend looked shocked at the lead reporter, waving a tightly held stack of papers in his face. “It was literally in the transcript for today!”

“Ah well in that case I apologise, old chum, after all, you’re just as vital to this operation as I am, Astra!” Yumo gave his partner a light pat on the back, causing the man to flinch and rub his back after he pulled away.

“Damn, gorilla,” Weiss muttered massaging the spot where he had been pat.

“Now that’s not very nice…” Yumo frowned. “What will the fans think if you keep insulting me every time we’re up?”

Weiss stared at the lead reporter while massaging his temples

“Whatever Yumo… in any case, today’s story is an important one folks so listen carefully. The terrorist responsible for the whole city lockdown has finally been caught and brought to justice, while the identity of this person is still unknown, we should be receiving information regarding his punishment. I strongly recommend staying safe in your homes until this situation has been resolved.

His partner shuffled the stack of papers he had, flipping through them quickly

“As for the current state of the lockdown, it doesn’t seem like we’re going to be allowed out for some time yet.” Weiss continued.

Time slowly dragged on as both reporters took turns narrating the current state of events. Eventually, the topic shifted over to the raid on the small town of Scorch Mark and Weiss’ supposed short speech turned into a long-winded rant.

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As he listened to him talk, Yumo felt his friend's words slowly fade into the background as he sat there smiling in silence. The spotlight which illuminated their faces felt unusually bright today, almost burningly so…It slowly began to irritate him as the conversation dragged onwards.

Every second that ticked by, the worse the burning sensation got until it felt almost unbearable. The reporter gripped his hands tighter as the heat seared away his skin. Was his smile still there? Had they noticed his discomfort? Were they still rolling?

He gave a strained chuckle as he tried to adjust his collar, but the suffocating feeling remained. Or was it burning? Either way, he felt his body prickling in a constant state of discomfort. He felt sick.

His eyelids grew heavy as he felt faint. He was sick, the spotlights were bright, he was sweating, the spotlights were bright, Weiss stopped talking, he was sick, the spotlights were- Wait Wiess had stopped talking?

The whole world instantly snapped back into focus as he saw his fellow reporter staring at him.

“Something funny? Astro?” Weiss looked at him strangely. The entire studio fell silent at his words.

When did he laugh again? Yumo stared blankly into the camera for a brief moment as a moment of panic seized him. But he was live, this was no time to be overwhelmed.

“Oh, you’ll have to excuse me folks, I was simply overcome with relief.” Yumo pivoted, nervously tapping away at the desk. “Having heard that such a dangerous criminal was finally caught will help me dream sweeter tonight, with the knowledge that justice has been carried out!”

“Are you sure this isn’t just some big joke to you?” Weiss remarked scathingly.

“Now, Astra, you know I would never do something as heinous as laughing at the safety of our fair citizens. You’ve known me for almost a decade, do I look like somebody who finds joy in the suffering of others?”

“Ordinarily I’d say no but these days I’m not so sure,” Weiss muttered darkly.

This prompted the lead reporter to freeze. “I-I’m not sure I follow.” He said, nervously.

“You're always undermining whatever I say and straying away from the serious topics whenever they're brought up! Do you even remember why we built this company? It was to bring out the raw unfiltered truth that all the other news channels refuse to show. But with you here it’s like we never make any progress!” Weiss said, slowly raising his voice. “Every day it's like it's one step forward and two steps back, I can’t take much more of it!”

“Weiss please, we’re live. Could you hold this until afterwards?” Jordan called out from behind the camera.

“Dammit Jordan I know.” His friend snapped, “You’d be frustrated too if you had to deal with him every day.”

“Of course, I deal with him every day you cry-baby.” The assistant replied, “Now suck it up and get back to work.”

“…Fine, but if he doesn’t have one good ass explanation, I’m done.” His best friend said with an air of finality.

Yumo felt his hands form a half-fist in frustration under the desk.

“Astra…”

“Shut up, Yumo.” Wiess waved him off, “As I was saying, the raid on Scorch Mark was unprecedented. We haven’t had a full-scale deployment of the Watchmen for years now and all of a sudden, they send an entire platoon down to some small town on the outskirts of the city? The whole thing stinks beyond compare and it fits into other reports of things we’ve heard before. The extortion, the memory loss, the violent policing which has every sane man locked in his place of residence, praying that whatever miserable god looks down on us fixes this damned city.”

The reporter slammed a hand on the table. “If you ask me, I think there’s something bigger going on than just a simple terrorist attack. The last time something stunk this bad it was before the purge over a decade ago!”

Yumo felt his sickness kick in, in full force. He had to stop his friend before he said something he regretted.

“Is this confirmed?” Yumo asked, with an uncharacteristic level of seriousness. Bile trapped in the confines of his throat.

Weiss looked at him, slightly taken aback. “Well…No, not exactly. But you can’t deny that something fishy is happening.”

Yumo shook his head.

“If it hasn’t been confirmed then there is no point discussing it.” The lead reporter replied, gravely. “Was it not you who said that we deal in facts and truths? Let’s not waste time with half-baked conspiracy theories that won’t pan out.”

“Seriously, Yumo? It’s also our job to say what others won’t, or did you forget that too while you were daydreaming about turning into a walking kids’ cartoon?”

“You say that, yet you are the one acting childish right now.”

Weiss leaned back, stunned. “Wow, I mean…Wow.” His friend threw down his papers on the desk and stared at the ceiling without saying another word.

After some time in silence, the lead reporter turned back and faced forward.

“Sorry about that, folks, I think we’ll have to cut this one short.” Yumo winked at the camera, trying to muster up some of his old enthusiasm but found his voice dead. “We’ll be back next week and hopefully have better information for you then. Until next time!”

The spotlights dimmed and the camera cut.

As soon as this happened Weiss stood up and left the room in a quiet rage, leaving the entire crew as well as Yumo speechless. Jordan walked up to the stage and picked up the sheets which were sprawled across the table.

She looked sadly in the direction of his friend's disappearance. “I can go get him if you want.” Jordan offered, looking up at the lead reporter.

Yumo glanced at her gratefully, but silently shook his head. Wordlessly striding off to follow where his friend had gone off to.

He trailed Weiss through the building as his friend stomped his way past their employees seething with anger. Yumo trailed him through the office doors and down the stairs, following his friend even as he exited the building. He lost track of Weiss a few times but with how well he knew the man it wasn’t too hard for him to surmise where he was going. The lead reporter walked through the streets, of the city's Northern quadrant, passing by several strangers who stopped and stared at him as he blew by them.

The sun caused him to swelter in his hot suit, but strangely enough, he felt much better outside of the studio than he had when he was in there.

Eventually, Yumo rounded on a narrow path which led outwards onto a small public space with a fair number of benches lined up that overlooked the outer half of the northern quadrant as it sloped down until the city walls.

Sitting on one of those benches was Weiss, who had rested his head on his hand, being propped up by his elbow.

“Wiess?” He called out to his friend. Walking up behind him on the bench. “Is everything alright?”

The second reporter sighed without turning back to face him.

“It’s not Yumo, It’s not…” Wiess muttered, “I lost my damned cool in there, sorry about that.”

“It’s alright. I can understand your pain.” The lead reporter nodded sadly.

A few beats of silence passed between them.

“I won’t lie to you, I was pretty mad when I sat down.” His friend said after a moment. “But this view always has a way of calming me down.”

“Places where you have fond memories do that a lot.” He replied, leaning on the bench whilst standing and looking out as well.

Weiss rubbed his hands together and finally turned to look at him.

“Why’d you cut me off Yumo? You knew I had something; I could feel it.”

“I only stopped you before you hurt yourself. We both know what happens if one strays too far from what the nobles want us to say.”

It was why he had adopted the persona of Astro in the first place. A gag to make himself appear less serious in front of a running camera and shake away the watchful eye of the city's elite. He’d rather fade into obscurity alive than proclaim the truth and be hung the next day.

Weiss tapped his foot on the ground and cursed lightly.

“Those damned bastards, they can’t keep silencing us forever… and I can’t believe you just let them walk all over you, don’t you have any pride as a news reporter?”

“I don’t like doing this, but we don’t have another choice.”

“Like hell we don’t.” Wiess tightened his fist. “We just have to find something so big that they can’t shut us down. Always threatening to close our doors for good, well if we just find the right story then it won’t matter if they close our channel.”

‘Oh, Weiss.’ Yumo thought. If only he knew the entire truth. That those in charge would do far worse if their secrets were spilt. The lead reporter had no intent to see his loved ones wiped of their memories and personality, turning them into walking husks as opposed to people.

“Let it go, my friend, let it go.”

Weiss looked back at the view, downtrodden.

“I just don’t get it.” His friend hung his head, his voice barely above a whisper. “Why won’t you help me fight back, we could do it. We could find something to shut those noble idiots up for good, I know we could.”

Yumo elected not to respond, simply patting his friend on the back.

They stood there for some time without exchanging words. The cityscape looked even more beautiful than he last remembered, golden light shining down on the people below through cracks in the cloudy sky.

“Alright, Weiss,” Yumo said while stretching his legs. “How about we get back to the office and grab some cake? Dharna’s been programming her buzzsaw to bake and you haven’t tried any of their incredible pastries yet! Besides, I know you love sweets.”

His friend slowly unclenched his hand, shaking his head and standing up.

“…Yeah, you’re right. Let’s just go.”

They both stood up and walked over to the entrance of the lookout, the golden sun reflecting off their backs.

“Yumo?”

“Yes, ol’ chum?”

“Thanks for coming down.”

“Of course, and never fear Weiss, in day and night, in sun or rain. The great Astro will be here to help his fellow meteor!”

Weiss let out a low chuckle.

“Pfft, isn’t it asteroid?”

Yumo scratched at his imaginary beard, “Hmmm, that’s the age-old question, isn’t it? Truthfully if we’re talking about impact, we should have called ourselves meteors. But then again, I suppose we have yet to do anything of the sort.”

“What about meteoroids?”

“I do believe that those are just meteors before entering the atmosphere.” He replied.

Then a third voice entered the conversation.

“Then wouldn’t that be a more fitting name? considering what you plan to do?” A female voice caught the attention of both reporters.

Standing in the narrow passage they were walking through was a young woman, who was smiling at the pair and blocking their exit. Yumo’s first instinct was to brush her aside as a simple fan, despite their dwindling numbers the lead reporter had been approached on more than one occasion for an autograph. Mainly by children who thought that their antics were hilarious, but fans, nonetheless.

Except something about this woman was, unnerving. She wasn’t wearing anything special, donning a white leather jacket and a simple pair of jeans. Yet, she stood out in his mind's eye. Her long flowing white air could be considered strange, but Yumo had seen stress do worse to people much younger than she. No, what made him shiver was the familiar look she had on her face. Where the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, and the irises they held were black and empty, like that of a dead fish. It was something he had seen one too many times in his mirror, even if his eyes weren’t nearly as dark as hers.

“We’re in a bit of a hurry so we can’t sign anything,” Wiess said, waving her off.

But the woman remained steadfast in the middle of their path.

“Please won’t you just lend your ears for a second? I promise it won’t take long.” She replied in the same cheerful tone.

“I think we are quite alright miss,” Yumo said slowly.

He grabbed Weiss’ wrist and began to step backwards.

The woman looked more disappointed than anything else.

“Now that’s a shame.” She clicked her teeth. “I wanted to do this the easy way.”