As always, it was never that simple. But one step at a time, Eliza intended to overcome her faults. They gave her a chance, one single opportunity - one that she must cherish and clutch close to her chest.
She has no intention of letting go. She will not let them down, not Lilly, Quinn, Kiri, Amyé or any of them. She assured herself of that truth, gently resting the bouquet of flowers beside the memorial’s surface.
It was the same flowers that Riharia had painted on her mask. Resting it down, the flowers glowed a low blue hue beside the name: Riharia Aqilo-Terril.
The vibrant flowers continued to glisten as the memorial around them was filled with colourful, luminescent trees and fauna - it was majestic, Eliza thought. The bouquet was the least she could do, after all: she really did know nothing about her. She didn’t know where she was from, who she grew up with, how she came to the business…
“Ryunkai, was it?” Eliza asked. “I feel like there should be some stuff that I’d do when respecting them…”
She didn't know where she was from, who she grew up with, how she came to the business… Those thoughts stung Eliza as she stood up, dusting some flickering petals off that clung to her cardigan, white flowered-patterned skirt and tights.
Claire nodded. “Don’t worry about if you’re doing anything specific to her culture… She’d preferred to be remembered as Riharia, not as a Ryunkai Trasian, plus she didn’t really care about any of the cultural taboos ‘n’ stuff, so don’t worry about that… Just place your hands together or something, if you’re that worried sick. Hell, my homeworld of Mithradati is a corporate shit-hole… Don’t want to be tied to that, do I?”
Claire chuckled slightly, alleviating some of the tension within Eliza. Eliza found it to be quite a nice gesture, taking in a deep breath whilst smiling.
If there was any form of afterlife in this uncaring galaxy, Eliza hoped that Riharia could feel the sentiment, though she silently admitted there probably wasn’t. Taking a step back, she let the bloodied sunset falling westward shine onto the large black slab, adorned with a million names.
The sunset was eclipsed by a thousand neon boards, skyscrapers, and hovering islands.
“Feeling any better?” asked Claire, standing behind her with her arms crossed. Her navy blue hair barely scraped her shoulders. Strangely enough, the off-duty Contractor wore a lot more casual clothes than Eliza expected, a jacket with a long, pleated skirt.
Despite being Eliza’s bodyguard, Claire acted more like an elder sister than anything.
Claire nodded, twisting towards Eliza as caught a glimpse of the scale of the memorial, a large hulking obelisk slate that runs across a whole park, adorned with flowers.
Her flower brooch glistened in the dim sunset, carrying the burden of a dead star. “Yeah, it’s quite refreshing, two months… it passed that quickly? It’s just that…”
“Hey!” Claire interjected, slapping Eliza on the arm, “No point dwelling on it, you get it?”
Claire looked towards the memorial, with the names of every man, woman and child murdered in the skyliner crash.
Both Eliza’s charm-pink hair and Claire’s Mithradati-coloured navy blue hair blew with the winds… Eliza pushed some of her hair behind her ear, before readjusting the flowery white ornament holding her half-up, half-down hair in place.
Behind the monitors, she could stomach the deaths. Too many people died, but Kaz gave the Loyalists justice, the only form he can give. Sometimes, she even forgets how much of a sheltered life she’d lived, barely having to confront the violent, indifferent reality that most were accustomed to, only having to confront the harsh politics of upstart-aristocracy and the unrelenting demands of academia.
“Thanks, Claire. But, I still can’t help but blame myself,” said Eliza. She slowly turned and started to walk.
Claire quickly followed along, beside Eliza. “You weren’t there, and I don’t think Kaz told you, but he told us in the debrief that Svenn was a hard fucker to kill. If Amyé died instead… I wouldn’t have pinned it on you.” said Claire.
Eliza nodded. People were walking by, many with bouquets, incense, food offerings, lamps and holo-cards. Even in a galaxy where violence was commonplace, respect must always be paid.
Her mind ate it up, yet her heart kept herself from acknowledging Claire’s words. “Still… I just… It’s hard to put into words.”
“Hmm,” Claire started, audibly thinking as she raised an eyebrow to the skyline. “I have this saying from back during my crim days, people will fall, that’s inevitable: keep your eyes on those still here - those who rely on you rather than those who relied on you.”
“So that they may keeping relying on me,” Eliza finished Claire’s thought. She nodded, smiling. “I… understand.”
“Yeah! See, knew you’d get it, people like Quinn don’t, metaphors don’t really go well with him. Got the saying from my old boss.”
Despite Claire’s affirmations, Eliza still found it hard to understand and accept within her heart.
As they passed beside a small crowd, a voice called out to them, “Oi! You two!”
Claire twisted. She was the first to react. Grabbing hold of her hidden holster the two turned towards the voice. Stopping in place, Quinn waved at them - eyes glancing at Claire’s hand.
He raised his hands in a joking manner. “Hey! I’m not armed, don’t worry. It’s not like I’m gonna kill Liz, right?” joked Quinn, light-heartedly, “Really… I don’t have a gun on me, of course I could get one and come back, but that’ll take a while.”
“Ugh.” Claire relaxed, “Sorry about that, Quinn, just don’t call out to us randomly, m’kay?”
“Sure, sure!” Quinn completely ignored Claire. “Anyways, Liz, I’m guessing you’re here for Riharia?”
Eliza’s face lit up as she nodded quickly, asking, “Yes, might I ask the same of you?”
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He paused for a moment. “Yeah, no shit. She was like a sister to me…” Quinn nodded, before muttering off to himself, “Just wished that Petra got one…”
A fragment of melancholy lingered in his voice, underneath his happy-go attitude. Eliza caught onto it. She didn’t know who Petra was; but she could infer that she either died during Clandestine or the rebellion, but before Eliza was able to inquire any further, Quinn pointed towards the memorial. More specifically, the area that Eliza had placed the bouquet at, lined up against the wall with a few others.
“Mind if I count yours as mine as well?” asked Quinn. He placed one of his hands in his pocket, seemingly playing with something as he scratched his cheek with the other hand. “I normally don’t bring flowers so…”
Eliza nodded, happy to have Quinn along. Yet, Claire sighed in slight dismay. “Quinn, just buy a bouquet, it’s not that hard, you know?”
“Yeah but… I gotta save up—”
“—For a new holo-deck fifty pack?” asked Claire, raising an eyebrow at him. Quinn started to sweat a torrent, avoiding the question. After all, it was probably true.
He continued to scratch his cheek, looking quite unenthusiastic as he glanced at Eliza. “Well, no…”
“Hey, give Quinn a break,” Eliza interjected before Claire could say anything else, slapping her lightly on the shoulder, “There’s nothing wrong with saving up some money for rainy days… Plus, I need to save up personally for a new uplink model…”
Quinn latched onto her train of thought. “Yeah! Plus… feels disrespectful to Riharia, Jackia and all the others who have died.
Eliza didn’t know that latter name, there were so many dead that she had no idea of. However, they steeled Eliza’s mind to focus on keeping as many people alive as possible…
Claire agreed. “Hmm, yeah. You’re right, but why are you here, Quinn?”
Quinn stopped, his hand still remaining within his pocket. Then, his face restarted once again as he smiled, “It just gives me some comfort, I guess?”
The cogs in Claire’s brain started to move as she clicked her fingers, raising them towards him. “Great, you’re probably the best to get Liz out of the dumpster, then?” said Claire.
Quinn pondered for a moment as the three started walking again. “Pick yourself up, Liz, don’t get stuck in guilt’s black hole… nothing you can do about the past, right? Riharia might have been close to me, but she’s not the first, don’t think she’ll be the last either,” admitted Quinn. He tried to maintain a slight smile.
Eliza nodded. She hoped that the chord Quinn hit would let his cheeriness rub off onto her. After all, Eliza knew Riharia wouldn’t have wanted her to be so down over this. She wondered whether her old self would have stomached all of this better.
She pondered for a moment, catching Quinn’s attention as he continued, “Remember that time we all went out drinking? Hell, we all got fucking hammered.”
Claire muttered, “Of fucking course, I still remember dragging you all back with Lilly!”
“Wait, what are you talking about?” asked Eliza, “I don’t particularly remember this.”
He paused for a moment, then had a small epiphany. “Oh yeah… you were the most smashed out of all of us, like holy fuck… Hey, Claire, you still got any of those sober-stims?” asked Quinn.
Eliza’s face went red. She was so drunk that she couldn’t even remember what happened?!
“Fuck no. I wasted most of them that night, and you bet your ass I’m not giving you any in particular,” rebuked Claire, flicking her fingers at the side of Quinn’s head before looking at Eliza. He let off a small groan as the fingers made impact. “We should speed up, our ride will be expecting us soon, I think? Well, Liz and mine’s”
Nodding, Eliza pressed down on her phone, activating it, as she called Kazuki on the Hiccup application. It was the only messaging app he actually had. Her personal uplink buzzed to life, an attached earpiece varnished with a flower casing, a small droplet earing falling below her earlobe.
It rang for a few seconds, a bubbly photo of his pet Phoenix Leviathan was his avatar. A few seconds turned to four… then ten, before Kazuki picked it up.
“Jeez, he takes long,” commented Quinn.
Eliza could hear grumbling on the other side of the uplink-channel. ‘No, I’m not helping the lowguard clan. Get someone else to fight with you,’ complained Kazuki.
At the mention of that game, Eliza lost focus of the topic. ‘Ah, wait! Can I be invited?’ asked Eliza.
He audibly sighed, then paused for a moment before continuing, ‘Sorry, Yuki called me earlier… nevermind that.”
‘It’s alright, Kaz, do you mind me asking if anything important has arisen?’ Both Quinn and Claire listened in as Quinn slowly grew a grin.
‘No.’ said Kazuki, a simple reply.
“You know what we used to do when people were on their phones?” asked Quinn. “Why don’t I show you.”
Claire shook her head at Quinn as he leaned in towards Eliza, activating his own uplink with a giggle. But before he could make another sound, Kazuki responded, ‘Oh, I see you have Quinn with you.’
Eliza’s head twisted towards Quinn, as he backtracked, whistling away. Claire annoyingly nudged him in the elbow. “Say, uh, why don’t we go get something to eat?” asked Quinn.
She twisted back to the phone as Kazuki said, ‘Go ahead, nothing urgent. I can handle the information harvesting and management. By the way, how organised do you want the board to be?’
‘What sort of question is that?!’ asked Eliza, ‘Moderately good looking?’
‘Alright. Perfection it is.’ Kazuki remarked, before hanging up on her before she could reply.
She sighed, grumbling for a moment. He was never the type for talking, bland statements yes but he never divulged much. That was probably what made Archius so attached to him, the thrill of working alongside someone that he doesn’t understand… At least that’s what Eliza thought.
Eliza glanced over towards Claire, she was shaking her head at her. “Come on, it’s not a bad idea, we might as well get something,” said Eliza.
Claire sighed, grumbling under her breath, “Fine, but only, ONLY, if we go somewhere that doesn’t sell alcohol. Don’t want Eliza vomiting over us again…”
“Well, seems like Kazuki isn’t that worr—wait what do you mean me? I barely drink?!” Eliza exclaimed out loud as they walked by a grieving family, glancing at her. She apologised profusely, much to Quinn’s amusement, and Claire’s dismay.
“Sure, sure! No problem! No alcohol,” said Quinn, a hint of glee within his voice - he was definitely going to find a loophole.
Eliza couldn’t help but be amused, snickering slightly behind her hand. Claire didn’t even bother calling Quinn out, probably tired from dealing with him.
Claire relents, sighing - never as strict as her marine counterpart.
Looking up, the three saw a 3D holo-animation of that medical show, the one with Dr. Garreau, she was particularly more friendly in the show than in person. “Have any of you watched that show recently? The one with the doctors and drama?” asked Quinn, nearing the exit.
What did he just say? HE DIDN’T NEED TO POINT THAT OUT. Eliza looked at Quinn with a panicked face. He furrowed his brow, glancing around, then back at Eliza as he pointed at himself, confused.
She slowly mouthed, “PULL. BACK.”
“Huh?” Quinn scratched the back of his head as Claire’s head swivelled towards them. Her eyes glistened navy blue for a moment.
“You’ve watched it?” asked Claire, her navy blue eyes aflame with a sense of connection, linking her and Quinn. Eliza had a bad feeling—no: an awful one. Dread filled her as she knew Claire would babble on about something she’s passionate about, the pinnacle of medicine and entertainment combined. And now, it was finally impossible to stop her…
Giving Quinn a last desperate plea, her begging fell on deaf eyes. He simply shrugged off her stare. “Well, fuck yeah? Persephone and Martinez recommended it to me some days ago in the cafeteria. Hell! Even old man Hosea’s into it, it seems.”
And as Claire slowly opened her mouth, Eliza knew that it was over. From that moment on, she braced herself mentally…