Omega, Enjō, and Uyama walked out of the conference room in silence. Enjō gently scratched a burn scar on his arm, and Uyama clutched his tie loose tie. Omega never noticed how many scars Enjō had, just from his baggy t-shirt and shorts. There was two on each of his forearms, one peeking through his left sleeve, three on his legs, and two near his neck. I wonder...how many of those scars were-

"Hey, guys? Want to get some ice-cream? I heard the JanuErian ice cream is the best." Uyama interrupted his thoughts. Enjō halted mid-scratch and flinched, "Mm! Oh yeah sure, sure!" His face scrunched for a moment from the pain. Omega nodded.

Uyama got butter pecan, Enjō got strawberry, and Omega got vanilla. It was a good option for an ice-cream novice like himself. As they sat down to eat, Omega thought, This is the second time he's done something like this after something serious.

"You don't gotta do this every time something like this happens, y'know. We can talk." Enjō looked up at Uyama, spoon in hand. Uyama looked at both of them, fiddling with the plastic the spoons came in, then looked outside at the city. "Alright then. You guys got any questions?"

Omega raised his hand, "What did Steele whisper to those people?"

"He really did come to a compromise with them, but I'm guessing it was more of a threat. You can't live by demanding things when there's no supply, and Steele is all of the supply."

"What did Steele mean when he talked about "accepting Artificials"?" Uyama furrowed a brow and looked at Enjō. Enjō threw a thumbs-up as he chewed on the ice-cream. "So, because Shacia isn't really the most passionate place on Earth, you haven't really seen that kind of stuff. People just about anywhere else aren't too...tolerant of Artificials. That's why most of them hide their symbol when they're in public. The whole thing is kind of like how people didn't like robots and AI earlier this century, but this time it's just fueled by pure ignorance in my opinion. Now that they're, uh..." Uyama shrugged, "...Maybe getting their rights, people will want to have a last minute show of their hatred."

Omega began to sweat, despite this new cold feeling enveloping his mouth.

"Wait, for real? No joke?" Enjō's eyes widened.

"No joke. If you were on a swim team and they were planning to make it illegal to swim, wouldn't you swim as much as you could before then?"

Enjō whistled, "Oooh, you might be right. But there's that Ael guy, right? He'll probably stop them."

Uyama cocked his head to the side, "I remind you, they'd happen literally everywhere at once. There's no way he'd be able to stop them all."

Enjō scratched his imaginary beard, "Fair point," and went back to chewing his ice cream.

"Wait, I have a something for you too, actually." Uyama wagged his finger in front of him. "You just saw President Dawa for yourself, so how do you feel?"

"Like I missed a solid opportunity to kill 'em right there and then." A few sparks flew from the clamping of his teeth on the ice cream.

Omega wondered how he was chewing down on such a cold treat, so he tried it himself. As his teeth clamped down on the ice-cream, his eyes widened in shock. It was like he could feel every nerve flare up from the tip of his teeth to the end of his root canal. He rocked in his chair, not enough for the others to notice. His hand darted to cover his mouth before he could make a sound. How does he do that?! What is he?!

"Well I'm damn happy you didn't!" Uyama laughed with ice cream in his mouth. "You would've gotten all of us killed in a flash! Damn man, you've got to be patient."

Enjō rolled his eyes, "Whatever you say, boss-man."

"Now, I actually have some advice for you too. I know you don't really like talking about this, but did you ever see what it was your father worked on before he disappeared?"

Enjō's eyes met Uyama's as he said, "No, not really. Why?"

"It's good to know what your father risked his life for, don't you think? He was willing to be disappeared to go through with it. You should go back to your house again and see if you can find anything clueing towards what he did. I'm sure your father is a smart man, he must've left something behind for you." Uyama took his last bite of ice-cream and wiped his mouth, "Plus, this might have more than one benefit, if you're willing to go through with it." Uyama extended his hand to Enjō.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Enjō looked down at it with lazy eyes, then back up at Uyama. "Deal." He said blankly, shaking his hand with vigor.

Omega recovered from his frostbite and asked with chattering teeth, "So, about Ael. Do you know who he is?" Both Uyama and Enjō shook their heads, in shared confusion. "One thing I know is that Steele didn't lie when he said Ael is an Alpha. In case you didn't know, Alpha's are one in thousands of Artificials, making them better than the other classes in any way possible. Ael protecting a Hatchery from a mob is very plausible."

———

The next day, Sheba opened the door to Izaak's face. His thin hair loosely hung over his face. "Man, I really thought you could a get better place than this, sis. Ooh that rhymed." Izaak welcomed himself into her apartment and sat down on the surprisingly clean couch while she eyed him.

"Oh wow, now that I look at it, you made this place look clean somehow! The others look like Hell compared to this, props." He clapped slowly.

"I told you not to get on in a public airline, and look what happened! You nearly died." She shut the door and stood in front of the couch. Izaak yawned and stretched his legs out.

"Do you understand how dangerous this is? You're the government's enemy just by running, you know?"

Izaak sighed, "I know you're worried, but let's leave that for later. It's been ten years, Sheba. We should catch up." Sheba dropped her hands to her side and accepted it.

"So how's the family?" He leaned back, expecting an outburst.

"Ignorant, just like everyone else. They think trying to get a better life for ourselves is stupid, that we should "appreciate what we have". Sheba ran her fingers through her black hair.

"Doesn't seem like much actually changed, huh? Also, how come you moved out?" Izaak lounged on the couch and sighed.

"Just couldn't take it anymore, I'm done with th-"

"Don't say that, Baba. They're just confused. Aside from them though, what were you planning to do?" Sheba hesitated to answer, knowing how he would respond. But there was nothing that would change her mind.

"I was planning to take care it myself."

"Yourself? What do you mean by yourself?" Izaak's voice grew rougher as he sat up. She avoided eye contact with him. "Take it however you want."

Izaak stood up from the couch slowly, then walked towards her, only standing a foot or two away. He looked Sheba in her eyes confidently. "Let me have my turn, before you try that. We haven't done everything we can yet, so please have faith in me."

'I already know it won't work. Conventional methods never do. I've been living like this for more than twenty years, and he just came back. What would he know about faith here? She thought to herself, crossing her arms in front of him. She couldn't be mad at him, though. As he smiled a fragile, soft smile, he hugged her softly. "I'm sorry," A little tighter now, "I'm sorry I left you here alone when we were just kids. You needed me, we needed each other. I just—I just saw a good chance and ran. I'm sorry, but...you don't have to forgive me." Izaak's hands balled up on her back, stretching the fabric of her dress.

Sheba's arms were still by her side, but her shoulder was wet. She felt her throat tense up, trying to keep composure. She lifted her hands shakily and patted his wide back, "I'll think—No, I—" She took a deep breath, "I forgive you."

Izaak backed off of her, his eyes and nose were red, and he smiled. "Hehe, thanks. And sorry again, about me crying on you." He chuckled and sat back down on the couch. Still a baby, like always, she thought to herself. She sat down next to him, "So what's your plan?" She remarked.

His fingertips touched each other, "Um... try my best?" Izaak flinched. "You stupid—" She grabbed at his throat flinging him side to side. She tugged one last time and pushed him away, "I just can't believe you." Her face fell down into her palms and she groaned, "They...are going to pull all sorts of tricks in order to keep you from getting traction. If that doesn't work, they'll just kill you. You don't have the ability to do either of those things for yourself, so you have to win fairly." Izaak massaged his red neck, "And the chance of me winning "fairly" is pretty low, huh?" She nodded.

"Hmm," He looked up at the ceiling, "Well, whatever happens, don't ya think it's for the best?" Sheba looked up at him with a furrowed brow. "What's so good about dying?"

"I mean just like—ugh, how do I say this? We'd be dying for our people, get it?"

Sheba smiled at him and thought, Dying for our people. I wonder what the point even is when they don't understand why we fight for them. I hate our own people. I hate them so much, but I have to do this. Even if it doesn't make sense, I have to protect them.