It had been over two years since we had last seen each other on the other side of a screen, longer than that since we had breathed the same air. Time had changed him. The last time I had seen him, his complexion had been a dull gray from the drugs he was withdrawing from. His unwashed, shaggy hair had been in tangles around his face and shoulders. His hands, which had been rotating a business card around, had been speckled with dirt. He had been an animated skeleton with his bones poking out of his emaciated figure. Two years ago, he had allowed himself to become a victim of his circumstances. Time had roughened him, toughened him up.

Now, his bones had disappeared underneath his skin. There were bulges of muscles he never had before. His face had color to it, as opposed to being sunken in. His hair had been shorn off a long time ago. However, that same charming arrogance radiated off him in his forward stride. He never had a problem with keeping his chin held high and his shoulders pushed back, even when he was withdrawing from the recent hit of blues.

The moment my eyes met his, Jay stumbled forward in surprise. He caught himself within a step and straightened as he continued forward. He turned his gaze away as if he had never seen me, instead focusing on Sebastien.

"Ah, Sergeant Britton." Sebastien's eyes illuminated with more interest than I had seen from him over the course of the dinner. "Do you have something for me?"

"I came as soon as it arrived, sir." Jay stopped in front of Sebastien, angling his body in such a way that he blocked me. Jay handed the envelope to Sebastien and stood at attention.

Sebastien accepted the envelope. "Thank you. You are dismissed."

Jay pivoted one hundred and eighty degrees and marched back across the room. I watched him until he reached the two doors and disappeared into the hallway. He never once looked back at me. He stared resolutely ahead and forced his face into impassiveness. His lips were pressed into a straight line, but there was tension lurking in between his shoulder blades. It stung, and suddenly, my body yearned to jump up and run after him. Force him to look at me.

Biting my lip, I turned back to Sebastien. He had torn the envelope open with his butter knife and opened the single piece of folded paper inside of the envelope to read its contents. The paper was thick, preventing the ink from bleeding through. Stress captured every inch of my body as I waited for Sebastien to finish reading the note. His eyes shifted back and forth, left to right, several times. I was losing patience. Every second wasted on etiquette protocol meant Jay got further away from me. It increased the possibility of losing him again.

"Chancellor, I need to excuse myself," I found enough courage to say. Sebastien didn't look up from his letter as he made a noise that sounded like acceptance. Without waiting for further clarification, I pushed my chair backwards, threw the dinner towel on the table, and departed the dining room as quickly as I dared. I felt stares on my back, which I ignored. Whatever was in that letter had Sebastien distracted enough that he hadn't even inquired if I needed a guide to the restroom.

I came to a halt out in the hallway. The dining room doors slammed shut behind me. I tried to not breathe as I scanned the area for that familiar soul, though the pounding of my heart interfered with my concentration. He was easy to locate by sight and sound. His form bobbed as he descended the grand staircase at an even pace. Jay's uniformed form was two landings below.

I raced across the gallery to the grand staircase. I did my best to catch up with him, although it was harder to do so in my heels. As I increased my speed, I used the staircase’s railing to keep my balance. His name echoed down the staircase as I called out for him. Whether he couldn't hear me or ignored me like he had in the dining room, it wasn't clear. Jay didn't turn around.

The staircase ended in an atrium. The gold decorative accents warred with its ivory backdrop. A couple of benches were pushed up against the wall, while potted trees added a bit of greenery and life to the castle's entrance. Jay's stride remained intentional across the white tiles that were outlined in a shimmering gold. He was pushing through the castle's front entryway just as I landed on the same gold tiles. Fearing I would lose him outside, I darted to the front doors.

When I reached the front entryway, I yanked the door back. It was heavier than it looked, and I had to strain to just pull it open wide enough that I could slip through. There was a small footbridge that connected the castle to the street to circumvent a stream of water. Jay had finished crossing it and finally stopped. His focus was on a motorcycle that had been propped up next to the bridge's entrance to the castle. The castle loomed over us and cast us in its shadows.

I cried out his name. "Jay!"

Jay's focus remained on detaching his helmet from the bike. I was halfway across the bridge. I propelled myself faster. Sheer determination had made me push past the fear of tripping over in my heels. I was at the point where I would chase after him if he hopped onto that bike and sped off.

"Jay!" I cried. I stumbled to a halt when I was only a couple of feet away from him.

Jay was about to put on his helmet but froze. Standing behind him, I saw his shoulders and back tense. They remained tensed as he slowly turned around to face me. His hands fell to his sides, one of them still clutching the helmet. There was enough light to see his face scrunched into displeasure. I had seen that expression mark his face before. This was the first time it had been directed at me. It was enough to make me stumble backwards a step. His eyebrows arched, waiting. There were a million things I wanted to ask him, that I had to tell him. Yet, the only pitiful thing I said was, "Why are you ignoring me?" I was still breathless after the chase. I despised my voice’s elevated octave.

Jay shifted on his feet. His gaze searched the area behind me, as if checking that we were still alone. When it returned to me, Jay asked, "Do you know exactly who you were sitting at the table with, eating dinner with?"

"I do."

"You were sitting at the table with the chancellor and the entire Senate," Jay stated as if I hadn't said anything. His eyes widened as if he was trying to convey something important to me. "They are my bosses. Between them, they have enough power to have me stripped of my rank and sent to the lower reaches of society."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Just because you know me?" I laughed. "Jay, the chancellor already knows we grew up together! He knows all about Kit and Galileo. He wouldn't have punished you if you had just greeted me!" I didn't know the chancellor well, but I doubted he would discipline Jay for demonstrating a bit of humanity.

Jay shook his head in exasperation. A large, irritated sigh left him. "Things are different here, Bria. Look, I've been here for two years. I've made it to a rank of sergeant in the military, and that's only because of my blood. You've been here less than a day, and you're already having crème brûlée with the most powerful people in the universe. Things are different here. There’s a different set of standards I must live up to now, and what the chancellor is trying to accomplish... I want to be a part of it. I don't want to be dishonorably discharged and sent back to the fifteenth circle. Just leave me alone." He shifted on his feet and twisted back towards his motorcycle.

"Did you not hear anything I just said? The chancellor already knows about our past. If he was going to sign your discharge paperwork, he would have done it already. Jay, I don't know anyone here. I don't know what I'm doing here or what is going on or what I just stepped into the middle of. I need you—"

I didn't get to finish my sentence. The thunder of a deafening explosion interrupted it. Instinctively, I braced for the impact of momentum shoving me backwards and off my feet. I expected my peripheral vision to capture the flashes of flames.

But... there was absolutely nothing.

The world around us remained stable, from the footbridge to the castle's foundation. Our argument interrupted, Jay and I shared a confused glance before our eyes roamed and search our surroundings for evidence of an explosion. Jay found it first and cursed. I followed the direction of his gaze. Towards the top eastern side of the building, heavy black smoke was billowing out of one window. Upon closer inspection, I saw heavy sheets of glass tumbling down the side of the castle and shattering on the ground below. Beyond the smoke, flickers of red and orange flames could be seen inside of the castle.

"That's the dining room," Jay muttered to himself. He dropped his helmet on his motorcycle seat. Muttering a quick "stay here" to me, he took off across the footbridge and back into the castle.

Not one to take orders, especially from someone who was being downright rude, and feeling the need to help with whatever chaos was happening in that dining room, I chased after Jay. I crossed over the bridge. More than once, I landed on my heel wrong and had to correct my foot from the sideways position it landed in before I shattered my ankle. Once I cleared the bridge, I yanked my heels off and threw them beside the front door in the atrium. I gained speed as I ascended the staircase. Jay’s radio was blaring. The military had learned of the bombing. Soldiers were responding from all over the city.

There was a crowd in the gallery near the staircase when Jay and I arrived on the fifth level. Gone was the serene gallery that I had been in only five minutes ago. Chaos reigned here now. The dark smoke was billowing out of the dining room in plumes. Only one of the dining room’s double doors was open; heavy plumes of dark smoke was spreading to the upper gallery outside of the doors. It transformed the evacuees into unidentified shadows as they bent over and coughed, trying to get fresh air into their systems. They were in the way as others barged through the open door. They stumbled down the stairs in the effort to distance themselves from the danger. The orchestra of their coughs added to the cacophony.

My eyes darted around the entryway, counting. There weren't many senators who had evacuated; the majority were still trapped in the room. There were cries and screams coming from within.

Soldiers in similar uniforms as Jay's were responding from every possible direction. Those first to respond orientated themselves with the pandemonium before rushing into the dining room, pushing against the exiting traffic. Two focused on trying to open the second door. It was stuck. The soldiers couldn't dislodge it.

One victim stumbled out of the dining room amidst the others. Though the smoke was distorting everything, it was clear that the victim was injured. Soot stained his face and clothing. A dark reddish stain was spreading across his upper chest. Upon closer inspection, I could see steel protruding from his torso. He heaved a gasping breath before falling to his knees in front of the doors. One soldier rushed to the senator's aid. He tugged on him to get him to move further away from the fire. When he was brought near the steps, I gasped. Though his glasses had been lost in the fray, I recognized him: Dae-Seong.

I stood at the top of the staircase, frozen, as I tried to figure out how I could help. My breath was coming out in gasps from darting up the staircase as quickly as I had. I relied on the staircase railing as I hesitated. Jay stood by me.

"Britton!" snapped a commanding voice behind us. The man had the commanding presence and brass on his uniform to be identified as high rank. Lieutenant, I thought. He ascended the last couple of steps, and I could see that he had metal bar pins attached to his collar. He threw a mask at Jay as he summited the last step. Jay caught it. "Put that on and get in there. There are still victims trapped in the room!"

A strangled gasp came from the dining room entrance. An awkward, ungraceful form emerged from the smoke. With every heavy step, the form became clearer. Someone was walking backwards, bent over, and pulling a heavy load. That heavy load was revealed to be an unconscious senator. The lieutenant recognized this too, and shouted, "Someone help him!" Jay and another soldier rushed to execute the order. Hearing that help was coming, the man halted his efforts and stumbled sideways. The other soldier took care of the man, guiding him out of the way.

As the man was escorted by me, I released a relieved squeak. Underneath the smoke and soot layered over his face, I realized it was Sebastien. "Chancellor!" the lieutenant cried. "How many are still in there?"

Jay lowered himself so he could slip his arms underneath the unconscious form's armpits, and with a grunt, stood up. He shuffled backwards at a pace much quicker than Sebastien’s, dragging the victim out of harm's way. The second soldier picked up the person's feet and helped carry them to the staircase's first landing. I blinked in dismay as I recognized who it was. The chief senator, Katherine Kolst, had fallen. I didn't think she was breathing.

Sebastien's eyes fell on me before he shook his head. His hand clasped my upper arm in preparation of pulling me down the staircase. "Everyone get to the EOC!" Sebastien yelled over his shoulder. As he opened his mouth to speak, another explosion detonated. I saw the instantaneous flare of flames. I felt the floor tremble underneath my feet. Screaming followed the explosion, though it was faint behind the ringing in my ears. New smoke and flames attacked the area.

The force was exponential. It tore my hand from the railing and Sebastien's grip from me. It tossed me backwards like I was a rag doll. The sound vibrated against my ears and disrupted my hearing so that all I heard was the whistling air as I flew backwards. The impact when I collided against the ground was bone-shattering. I was still on the staircase. There was enough momentum that I tumbled down the stairs. Things were moving too quickly for me to grab ahold of something to stop the tumbling.

Then it stopped.

As if an invisible pressure was there, stopping the momentum on the second landing. Beaten, I collapsed on the floor. I stretched my arm across the landing. My fingers dug into the floor—as if that could prevent any more downward tumbling. My upper right chest was damp. The floor underneath the spot was getting wet, and there was the smell of iron grating against my nose. Ringing filled my ears. I managed to lift my head enough to see flames dancing around on the open dining room gallery—just to the left of the door. Shadowy forms raced across the hallway and down the stairs.

My head became too heavy for my body to hold, and it slumped back down against the ground. My eyes shuttered against the light of the flames.