"What?"

Ember narrowed her eyes. What was more absurd, that she had to sneak into the Colonel's office or that her own Sergeant was asking her to do it?

Ferun moved her back away from the wall and took a few steps down the corridor. Her arms crossed, her head raised as if looking at the ceiling, her back to Ember. The uniform fit her well, hugging her narrow waist and athletic frame. "I'm not asking you to do this alone. Of course I'll be there to help you, and if we get caught, I'll take full responsibility."

The muscles of her face relaxed. Ember leaned a hand against the wall, the vibrating electromagnetic field tickling her skin. She had expected nothing less from the Sergeant. Though her life at the Academy had been anything but easy, she had had one constant, a woman she admired for her strength and great sense of morality.

"I'm asking you because I've noticed that you're good at going unnoticed," Ferun continued.

"You want to use my invisible girl skills?"

Ember barely suppressed a giggle. Taking a place in the room and becoming a mirror for others' eyes was a skill she had had to develop as a child. How many times had her father, beer bottle in hand, needed someone to take his anger out on? So many. And each time, Ember was there, yet she was not: a smoky presence watching in silence.

Ferun let out a half snort and turned in her direction. "You don't have to say yes to me. It's not an order."

Her heart beat to the rhythm of a love song in her chest. Ember clutched the drawing tighter in the vain hope that it could help her calm down.

You're pathetic. Do you really think she cares about your skills? What skills, come on, give me a break.

Shushing her father, or the miniature version of him living in her head, took several tries. Finally she succeeded, at least for the next five minutes she was free. "What is it, then?"

"A request." The Sergeant's tone was intense, yet almost a whisper.

Ember really didn't need to think about it. She knew she had no chance with her. And she didn't care. Every single word of appreciation from Ferun was enough to put her father's miniature version behind bars. They drowned him in a cascade of cleansing, warm water.

"I'll help you," she said, her throat dry. She cleared it, but to no avail.

The other gave her a nod. A silent thanks, perhaps. She unfastened a bracelet from her wrist, its stiff texture and soft color, and handed it to Ember. "I will contact you."

Ember hesitated, confused. Why was she giving her a bracelet now? But without question, cheeks burning, she grabbed it. She weighed it between her fingers: it was still warm. The thought that it had been in close contact with the Sergeant's skin until that moment made her stomach churn.

"It's a covert communication device. I have another connected to this one, so that we can exchange information without the risk of being intercepted."

"Oh." Ember turned it between her fingers. "Thank you. But how does it work? Do I have to talk close to it?" She brought the bracelet to her lips and whispered, "Testing, testing. Code red."

She felt stupid when she saw Ferun's confused expression. "No, no need."

The Sergeant reached out and took her wrist. Her fingers were cold and calloused, but she carefully tied the bracelet around her wrist.

Don't get any funny ideas. Please concentrate.

When she was done, Ferun pressed her fingertip against the bracelet. At first, nothing happened - except for a whole herd of bulls jumping into Ember's stomach. Then a blueish light crossed the Sergeant's fingernail; it blinked for a few seconds and went out.

"Touch it. And say 'connect.'"

Ferun's extreme proximity and her scent of cherry and leather made it difficult for her to remember how to move. After a moment's hesitation, Ember pressed her forefinger against the wristband, as her Sergeant had just done. "Connect..." she murmured in a shaky voice.

The bracelet quivered, as if it contained a small motor inside. It emitted a series of 'beeps' and a faint surge of energy coursed through her body. The hair on her arms stood on end.

Ember recognized an electromagnetic field, felt the faint pulsing of that force against her own skin, where she touched the bracelet.

"It's now connected to you. To use it, all you have to do is touch it, as you just did. Once you feel the vibration, that means it's on and ready to send your message."

Advanced technology. Ember recalled reading about similar devices in her classes. Used for coded communication between two individuals, they had originated as tools for the military, but their adaptability had made them popular with spies. Soldiers of higher ranks almost always received a pair too.

"Um, okay." She lifted her wrist and noticed that as small as the bracelet was, it weighed a lot. Must be the electromagnetic field.

Ferun took a few steps back. The lack of that warmth so close to her allowed Ember to breathe more easily. "It recognizes the tone of your voice. It will isolate it from outside noise, so don't worry about bringing it close to your mouth. No need."

"Cool."

Ember could communicate with the Sergeant in secret. A necessity, given her cooperation in finding the traitor among the higher ranks. Her lovesick teenage heart, however, imagined a different scenario: them getting to know each other, coded conversations, little jokes that could make them feel almost like friends...

Getting more and more ridiculous, aren't ya?

Ferun moved her feet towards the hallway. "I'll let you know as soon as I have a plan."

"Sure."

The Sergeant walked away and Ember stood still, looking at her, almost in a trance. No matter how much she called herself stupid, she couldn't wipe the smile from her lips.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

✦⋆𓆩✧𓆪⋆✦

The library was off limits for the day, thanks to Alpes. It would have been rude to go back in and take a seat away from the small group she had left without a word. And odd. So Ember gave up the prospect of drawing and reading among the books and decided to take a walk.

The gardens of the Academy greeted her with a breath of fresh air and the scent of lilies. Ember closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of lightness, away from the electromagnetic field that operated the elevators and doors in the Academy.

She remembered her first day there. It had felt like a five-pound weight on her back, each step more and more exhausting. Her first run through boot camp, ah, what a disaster. The Sergeant's stern gaze juggled the new cadets, brandishing those who had not made it to the end. Ember was among them. Not the best start.

Ember followed the cobblestone path to a bench. She dropped onto it with a resounding sigh. The burn in her leg continued to give her trouble; sometimes it was easier to distract herself, to let the feeling of the tugging skin fade into the background, but in moments of sharp stinging it was impossible. Leaving the drawing beside her, Ember turned to the white side of the paper and leaned her head back. She bit her lip to stifle a groan.

She closed her eyes, the voices around her fading away. All that remained was the cawing of crows pawing over the meadow, the scent of lilies, and the cool breeze that ruffled her hair.

The idea of sneaking into Colonel Oblam's study unnerved her. The fact that the Sergeant was relying on her sent a wave of anxiety through her, locking her muscles and confusing her thoughts: what was she supposed to be looking for? what if she found incriminating files and was unable to recognize them? what if she left everything so that the Colonel would notice the intrusion? The Sergeant would have found out what an idiot Ember really was, what an imbecile she was.

You're going to ruin everything. You know it and I know it. You'd better go home and do what your mother always does: screw up and be useless.

Ember gritted her teeth, her fingers gripping the edge of the bench. No, fuck her father. She didn't have to listen to him. He was the useless one, the insulting microbe who wasted his days yelling and drinking.

She opened her eyes, blinded by the gardens' colors. Someone stood beside her, the weight of his gaze pinning her to the bench like an electromagnetic field. Phoenix gave her a broad smile as soon as Ember turned to face him, his green hair lifted into a snappy style. It had grown back since she had last seen him, as had the beard that covered his chin.

"Hey, Leroy. I hear you're some kind of little heroine, huh?"

Ember blushed, hating the damn heat in her cheeks. "Heroine sounds a little strong to me, General."

He opened his arms, shrugged, and ran a hand through his hair. "You shot down a Vylian. That's not something you do every day."

As it turned out, the Sergeant had not only reported the details to Alpes: perhaps it was information gleaned from her mission report. Ember rested both palms on the bench, the cold iron helping to calm her nerves. "I just got lucky."

"There's no such thing as luck." Phoenix sat beside her, the drawing acting as a wall between them. "There are only people who take action and make things happen, and people who stand still and let things happen."

Ember averted her attention. She was usually the classic let things happen person. Even she did not know why she had decided to do something that day. Perhaps the prospect of getting away from the carnage of the battlefield had been the real driving force, and others had mistaken it for courage.

"A real tragedy, for your dead comrades," Phoenix continued. "If I had not already been engaged in another mission, I might have been able to join you before things got so bad."

What difference would one extra soldier have made, no matter how strong the General might have been? Ember avoided asking the question, not wanting to start an unnecessary conflict with Phoenix. She already knew that he would reply with a few more wise generalities, and while she could usually appreciate them, she really didn't feel like hearing them that day.

"How did your mission go?" she rather asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Very well. We broke through the Ysnian defenses and freed Gertha. Now we can use the city as a checkpoint again."

At least things were improving somewhere. Ember could not help but wonder why the Ysnians had wasted all those resources fighting a bunch of inexperienced cadets and saving useless ancient ruins instead of strengthening the defenses in Gertha. A pointless strategy. Unless there was something she did not know. Maybe the Ysnians had hoped to find some ancient weapons in the ruins? Or maybe they thought Gertha was expendable?

"Your leg won't let you train for a while, huh?" Phoenix asked. He leaned his upper body towards her, as if he wanted to watch her closely. His eyes wandered down, looking for a bandage hidden under her pants.

"Yes. But I hope I can recover soon," Ember said without much conviction.

"I really hope so. It would be a shame for you to fall behind in training. Picking up the pace after a break is hard enough, it might even be stressful if you're forced to see your comrades who have moved on in the meantime."

A panacea for her fears. Ember ventured a tentative smile, not quite sure what to answer. Sometimes she didn't understand what her superiors expected of her when they came up with these 'motivational' speeches. In her head, she knew they were just trying to help her, but part of her wondered why they couldn't leave her alone.

They all expected too much from her.

As if it depended on her will to heal the wound.

Phoenix stood up again and stretched his arms over his head. "But I'm sure it won't be a problem for you. You'll heal soon, you'll see." He let out a half moan as he straightened his back. Then his attention turned to the Academy entrance, and he waved. "Hey, Mark!"

It was no secret that Mark Terris was Phoenix's favorite cadet. Especially since Mark took every opportunity to remind everyone of that. Ember planted her feet firmly on the ground, questioning the stability of her own leg as she planned an escape.

Mark joined them with his haughty stride. He always seemed to have a pole up his ass. Not that there were few people who wanted to shove said pole into his sensitive areas, so for all Ember knew, maybe he really did have one. "General! I thought you weren't due back until tomorrow."

"We managed to dislodge the Ysnians more easily than we expected. So here I am."

Mark greeted him with a hand over his heart, Phoenix held out his own instead. The two exchanged a manly squeeze.

"It would have been nice if you had returned a day earlier. Maybe we would have had a capable superior to defend us," Mark said.

Ember longed to stand up and kick him in the groin. But she kept her eyes down, only half sitting on the bench, ready to leave. First, though, she had to make sure that the blowhard wasn't going to intercept her.

Phoenix rubbed his chin. "You had Ferun with you, didn't you?"

"Exactly. The Sergeant is only useful to get us three hundred laps around the field."

"Mark, she is your superior. And she is very capable. I understand you're angry, but what happened wasn't her fault."

Mark let out a dismissive huff, but he dared not disagree. He liked to act big in front of his comrades, but in the presence of his beloved General, he became a sucker. Pathetic.

As if you're not.

"Anyway, may I ask you for some private training, General? I want to become stronger, to be more useful in really serious situations."

He still hadn't digested the fact that Ember had outperformed him in the last mission. Phoenix flashed an enthusiastic smile and patted him on the shoulder. "Gladly. It's always good to see such a willing young cadet."

Ember rolled her eyes and got to her feet. She had had enough of Mark and his need for attention for the day. Neither of them noticed her leaving, too busy arguing to find a time to see each other for their private training. Ember walked back to the Academy entrance, her fingers playing with the bracelet on her wrist.

It wasn't until she reached her room that she realized she had forgotten the drawing on the bench.