Nero sat down at the desk. His history teacher was looming over the podium. Nero anxiously watched the door, propped open by a small plastic wedge, waiting to see Maria walk in. To his surprise, she did. Just the same as she always had, with a sly smile and no make-up, as though nothing had happened.

Nero fidgeted around in his seat as she came up and sat next to him. She kept looking at him as he did his best to avoid eye contact, instead looking over at the police officer standing in the corner.

"Nero. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?"

"I talked with Dr. Virzi. I'll be fine. I... wanted to know more about you- I know now's not a good time, I'll talk to you about it after class."

Nero was attentive for once in class, focusing on the board and the teacher ramble on about the implications of various research projects on the history of the city. Maria kept looking over at him, but he couldn't look back at her without images from that night flashing through his head.

At the end of class, they went to their normal spot at the edge of the campus's central field. He laid back on the grass as he normally did, as Maria sat down beside him.

"Nero," she said. "Who are you? Really?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me about yourself."

"You know who I am. It's useless for me to tell you again. I don't get-"

"Tell me anyways."

"I'm Nero Satou."

She looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm a student, and I take the bare minimum of classes here at ESPU. I take math, history, and power development on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I have English comp and programming on Tuesday and Thursday. You know which ones we share. I play video games and-"

"I don't mean that, stop playing dumb." She leaned closer to him, staring down into his eyes.

"That's really all their is to me."

"Then... how did you come rescue me? And how did you know Fetter Young?"

"We're friends. He saved my life once, and I just sort of stuck around him. Then I did him a favor. There's nothing special there."

"That's it? You don't have a history working with him or anything?" Her fluffy brown hair was nearly into his face now.

"Yeah."

Maria moved away, leaning back on the grass. "I- I forgot to say thank you."

"I should be the one thanking you. You stopped him from taking me."

"What if someone targets you again though? We can't be sure that they won't try again."

"It was your brother. You'd know better than me. Besides," Nero pointed at the officer standing around at the center of the field. "They've got police everywhere on campus now."

"That's not..."

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

Nero sat up and turned towards Maria. "I said what about you? Who are you really?"

"Oh. I suppose I should. I'm Maria Rodriguez. I'm from District 13 and my brother and I are adopted by someone important for the area. I work at a hospital as a nurse after school."

"Is that why you always ran off instead of hanging around with me after class?"

"Yeah."

Nero stood up, offering out a hand to Maria. "Well, do you want to show me around? We don't have class this afternoon. We got an email saying-"

"Yeah I got that too. Dr. Virzi told me that he got sick because he was staying up to watch her for too long."

"That's not how that works."

"I think it still sounds romantic." Maria pulled herself up with Nero's arm. "And yeah, I'll show you around if you want. It's a long walk though, so are you sure you want to?"

"Yeah. It can't be that bad."

"You're going to regret saying that."

***

Nero dropped his hands onto his knees. He shook a little in place, before stumbling to his side. Maria reached over and grabbed him by the arm, keeping him upright.

"We're almost there Nero. It's fine."

"We've been walking for an hour now. You do this every day? Both ways? You don't have like a spot you stay at in District 12?"

"No, I have to help at the hospital."

Nero looked back over at the giant concrete wall running through the buildings. It was imposing, and a reminder that he wasn't in the city anymore. He turned back as he felt Maria's hand leave him, moving on into the dust colored remains around him. The place looked deserted.

"Does anyone live near here?" he asked, looking around.

"Maybe a few, but not really. It's the border region."

They continued on, eventually the collapsed buildings changed over to boarded up ones. Shadows moved out of sight as they passed by, a few last just long enough for Nero to catch glimpses of worn faces.

Soon the yellowed dust color gave way to a smooth stony gray of concrete, as the dry dust from crumbling concrete slowly vanished. Then, they came across the buildings, centered around a five story building with its windows intact. The people here didn't retreat into the shadows, and some of them even waved.

"Is this it?" Nero asked, looking around.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Yeah. That's the hospital." She pointed at the large building. "And over there is the power plant. It runs between five and seven o'clock so people can cook dinner. We don't have too much coal, and it's a bit hard to scavenge more."

"This place has coal power plants?"

"Yeah. It's why this place ended up like this. Before the island switched over to mostly nuclear, District 13 ran the coal and natural gas power plants to make up the difference that solar and wind weren't doing."

"They didn't build them here?"

"No. The mayors wanted nuclear reactors in their own districts, and the mayor for District 13 didn't want to cut the power jobs. All the jobs dried up anyways. Then everyone left, gangs took over, and it's history from there."

"That's... sad."

"Maybe. We're trying to rebuild here now. Make a good settlement, not related to the gangs that are all over the west side of the district. Hopefully we can rejoin the rest of the city, but that's just a pipe dream."

"How are you going to the school? I know you have a fake name, but how did they let you in? Don't you need like, official documents and stuff?"

"I stole someone's identity, from District 12. The school doesn't know who I really am. I don't know much about the real Maria Watanabe, just that Father told me she was a good person. It's a real shame what happened."

"She died?"

"Yeah."

"I... see."

Maria walked towards the big building. "We should stop standing around outside. Come in. Come in." She motioned into the open door.

Nero followed her inside. "This certainly feels like a hospital."

He looked across the reception area, with its dozen or so chairs neatly lined up along the wall. The floor was white tile, with blue specks and lines drizzled across it. A table was set up at the far end of the room, right where it looked like a desk had been built into the wall sometime before. The old lady on the other side smiled at them.

"Hey Mrs. Thompson, how are you today?" Maria asked, waving to her.

"Oh I'm doing just fine. Who is this? I don't recognize him."

"This is my friend Nero. I'm showing him around."

"He's from your school?! Well! Hello there Nero." The old lady smiled sweetly at him.

Maria walked on, glancing back to make sure Nero was following her. They went to the stairs, and went up.

"Why use stairs in a hospital? Don't you have to get patients up and down?"

"No. Patients are on the first floor. Supplies are on the second. Living quarters are on the fourth and fifth."

"What about the third?"

"That's... long term care. Their the ones that don't usually make it, so we move them off the first floor. The elevator runs when the power is on."

"Oh. I shouldn't have asked."

"It's fine. It's just a thing. I'm on the fourth floor, come on."

Nero followed her up the stairs, glancing out nervously at the third floor. They arrived on the fourth floor, where Maria took a left turn out into the hallway. Decorations and welcome mats sat out in front of the doors. Maria took the second door on the right, the one with a wreath of orange and yellow papers hung from it.

"This is your room?" Nero asked, stepping in behind Maria.

"Yeah. It's a bit small, but it's better than nothing."

It was about half the size of Nero's apartment, missing the kitchen area completely. The walls were paneled wood, different from the white throughout the hospital. Her bed had a heavy brown and white quilt laying over it, with small knick-knacks covering the table next to it. A stack of clothes sat folded on a chair in the corner, right next to a shelf with a few scattered books.

"Do you have a computer?" he asked.

"No. I do my homework at the library in District 12."

"Huh."

"What? Confused that I don't play video games?"

"I mean, not really. It's just that I don't get what you would do in your free time without something like that. I mean I guess you could read. But I bet you'd have gone through those books a dozen times each if that was the only thing here."

"No. I don't really read, except what I need to for classes. I work now. It helps me take my mind off things sometimes."

"That's sad, having to work instead of have fun." Nero sat down on the bed, staring around the room.

"I don't know about that. Do you really think that just sitting at your apartment gaming all the time is fun? Doesn't it get boring, doing the same thing over and over?"

Nero didn't answer, just sinking his head in thought.

A knock came to the door.

"Hold on," said Maria, walking over to it. She opened it just a crack to peek out, then pulled it open.

An old man walked in, with tanned leathery skin and peppered gray hair. He was dressed in a suit, but it was clear it was quite worn. His eyes widened when he looked at Nero.

"Who is this, Maria?" the man asked with a stressed tone.

"This is Nero. I've told you about him."

"Indeed you have. What is he doing here?"

"I brought him along, since he had already met Ricardo, I figured it would be fine to bring him here."

The man let out a sigh and fell back to a normal tone. "It's too late now, in any case. Mrs. Thompson told me you had a guest, so I figured I should drop in and see."

"Hello. I'm Nero," he said, waving from the bed. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, I am Sebastian."

"He's my father," said Maria, waving Nero over.

"Oh!" Nero sprung up to a stand. "I'm sorry Mr... Rodriguez?"

"No! Don't feel like you have to stand for an old man like me. And it's Mahan, Sebastian Mahan."

"Ah. I'm sorry."

"No, no. Please, sit back down. You're making me nervous." Sebastian gave a light chuckle.

Nero slowly sat back down, resting his arm on the foot of the bed.

"Father, stop messing with him. Don't you have something to be doing right now? I'm sure someone needs you."

"You may be right. I'll let you two be. Will he be staying the night?"

Maria just looked over at Nero.

"Oh. Uhh, no."

"Well, don't have too much fun." Sebastian shut the door behind him as he left.

***

Sebastian let go of the knob, letting out a brief sigh as he turned around. Standing beside him was Ricardo, with a rather serious expression.

"You've seen her now. Can we speak?"

"Yes, we can speak. We should go somewhere else first though."

"The roof?"

"Good enough."

The two of them went up the stairs, pushing open the metal door at the top to end up on the roof. Metal boxes sat around, coming to life one by one as the sun sunk deeper in the sky.

"Well? What did you come back for? I told you that you weren't welcome here." Sebastian's gentle demeanor was gone.

"First. I must apologize."

"It's too late for apologies. Could you not even consider what you were doing, attacking the campus?"

"I know. I know. But still, I must apologize. I was blinded for a bit." Ricardo walked away a bit.

"You expect me to believe you've changed?"

He turned back sharply, scraping his sole against the rough concrete. "No. It is because I haven't changed."

"You aren't asking for forgiveness?"

"Of course not."

"Then why did you come back?"

"We cannot exist together, you and I. But I can't accept that, nor should I. The only way I have to change this is to fight. So I must. I challenge you to a duel, the stakes are control of this town."

"Is your head too dense to understand what you are saying? Cut the crap."

"You are a coward, Sebastian! You are doing just enough for these people to live, but not enough for anyone to thrive! Look around you. Does this look sustainable? We've rationed out power for the next four months, but what then? What about food? Medicine? We live because you send people like me out to do dirty work and die for gangsters out of the town. Then you refuse to even admit you've done wrong."

"That's enough! I ought to teach you the meaning of responsibility."

"The same flowery language just to say you're going to try and beat me."

"I've always wanted you to succeed, Ricardo."

"That's not true. You've never done what was necessary for that. You've pushed me towards this, every step of the way." Ricardo pointed his finger, shaking it against the air in time with his words. "You set me up as an eventual sacrifice, to keep the gears of this shithole turning."

"That's what it takes to succeed in this world! You are so foolish and stubborn and ignorant! I must have failed you if you still can't see any of the big picture."

"I don't think you are capable enough to lead anyone to a better life, not even one girl. I'll repeat myself. I challenge you to a duel, the stakes are leadership. Think of it as beating some sense into me if you want, but I have to do this. Leaving things in your hands clearly won't work."

"Fine! If that's what you want, so be it. If that's what it takes for you to leave."

"We meet tonight, after sunset." Ricardo walked off the side of the building, down a staircase of ice appearing under his feet.

"You're going to regret this!" Sebastian yelled after him, but he was already gone.