Lumiea

Year -19 (L.D.)

Pain burned through Aeryn's body and settled in her thigh like her bones were melting. Jace's dead weight seemed enough to squash her. Hot blood from his shoulder wound dribbled against her neck.

"Jace…" Her scratchy voice was hardly audible.

No response. Not even a stirring. What if–

Aeryn couldn't think about it. Not for a moment. She dragged her heavy hands up his side to his back in search of wounds. Tarry blood squished between her fingers. With her heart pounding wildly, she reached for his neck, too scared to think or breathe.

His faint pulse beat against her fingers.

Relief swept over her, but it only lasted a second. The panic returned and threatened to annihilate her self-control, except Jace didn't have time for her to give in to that. She had to assess his injuries and treat him as well as she could. Get them both out of here. Struggling in one good breath, Aeryn planted her hand on the ground and tried to squeeze out from under him. Searing pain scorched her thigh and nearly immobilized her. Had to push through. Aeryn screamed through gritted teeth, digging her good heel into the ground to give herself leverage. Her hands slipped against the blood covering them and she fell back.

Why did he have to be so heavy? How could she possibly drag him when she couldn't even get out from under him?

"Jace…" Aeryn craned her neck to see his back, catching glimpses of his tattered shirt and the torn skin. Blood oozed from all over his back. "Damn it." Tears pinched her eyes as she tried in vain once more to free herself. "Please, don't die."

Aeryn anchored herself, forced one shoulder out from under him, and then her chest. Able to breathe now, she threw all her strength into pushing him and prying herself out from under him, until finally, Aeryn had dragged herself free.

The pain doubled her over. When she touched the worst of it in her thigh, black dots popped over her vision and the room seemed to close in on itself. Bad. Very bad. The force of the explosion and the weight of Jace's body landing on her may have fractured her femur. And her ribs… Aeryn gasped as she touched the tenderness in her side. The explosion played through her mind again. Petrin must have had a device implanted as a contingency plan.

"Just my luck that you two are so dangerous together."

Petrin had said that whoever the Witness left behind mattered as much as the Witness themself and that he'd wanted to know who cared about her most. The slain bodies flooded her attention until her vision narrowed on the spot where Petrin had once sat. Charred black floor and chunks of clotted blood sharpened in her mind while the stump of his corpse blurred. Instead of trying to make herself see it, she trusted her mind's instinct to protect herself from registering the body parts, and she turned her back on the man who had given her so much information. The man who had tried to kill her and Jace in the end.

Aeryn struggled onto her good leg and collapsed. That was when she noticed all the blood that slickened her torso. She had no idea if it belonged to her or Jace. Even though she wanted to work on him immediately, she knew she needed to identify any critical injuries in herself, or she'd pass out too.

With a wince, she lifted her shirt and looked for anything serious, noticing only scrapes. It must have been mostly Jace's blood. Bile climbed up her throat.

First, she needed to search for anything she could use for the blood loss, which meant getting herself mobile. How could she stabilize her leg? Looking all around the room, her eyes settled on a chunk of the door frame hanging from when Jace broke in. Aeryn rose to her leg again and hobbled forward, unable to quiet her gasps and cries at the explosion of pain in her leg with every movement. Grunting, she ripped it down, snapped it in half, and then pried the jacket off a body to form a make-shift splint.

Aeryn forced herself through one excruciating step at a time to search the bodies on the floor. Equipping hand mods that she wasn't used to would make them challenging to use. Didn't matter. Someone had to have a functioning pair. Aeryn removed a set from a woman similar to her size and connected them. The sting of it pairing to her central nervous system felt like a bug bite with how badly the rest of her hurt.

"Yes." Aeryn opened a rebel's pack to find three patches inside. Two others turned up empty, but she found another patch soon after. By the time she'd searched everyone in the room, she'd broken out into a sweat over her entire body, and dizziness left her world spinning, but she had seven patches, three vials of fuel, a laser pistol, and a laser rifle.

If only she had her bioengineer supplies so she could make the kind of medical treatments Jace truly needed.

"Can you hear me?" Aeryn gasped when she lowered herself beside him. Her thigh had swollen against her pants and fists of agony slammed into it with each heartbeat. It didn't feel possible to go on. How many times had she felt this way in her life, though? Aeryn would do this. She would not let Jace die here.

Aeryn pried the torn pieces of shirt away from his wound and picked the larger hunks off. The tissue damage to his shoulders and middle back were extensive. The blast had ripped away layers of flesh and muscle, leaving him raw. She tried scooping away the blood to see the damage better, but it was coming from everywhere.

Even with the modifications to help him survive with less blood, he couldn't go long like this. Aeryn applied a patch over the exit wound from the laser first. Jace didn't even stir when it tightened over him. She couldn't imagine that kind of pain not rousing him to consciousness.

"Calm down," she whispered to herself and balled her hands into fists to keep from shaking. "Don't you dare act so weak."

Meticulously, Aeryn placed the patches over his back, careful to ensure the edge of each overlapped, until she'd pieced it all together like a puzzle. The work helped her to quiet her fear. She activated each patch quickly.

This time, Jace's fingers twitched and a weak moan escaped from his lips. He still didn't respond when she said his name. That was for the best. One patch over a moderate injury hurt so badly. Seeing him suffering through this many for such life-threatening wounds would have destroyed her.

Aeryn had saved one patch for the front. She pried his shoulder up, slid it beneath, and secured it. Then she fell onto her side next to him and let the pain overcome her for a few seconds of weakness.

By now, the medication would have started to soothe him, and the patches would be stopping the blood loss. There was hope he would live. She looked over his pallid skin and lax features, drawing her hand to his lips to feel how weakly he exhaled. "Listen to me, Jace." Her sticky hand settled against his cheek. "It's Aerie. This next part will be hard and I need you to hold on. I need you to keep breathing and not die on me."

His torn shirt hung loose on his arms so she could see the community crest tattooed to his collarbone that matched her own. What if they had stayed those kids a few years longer and never left home? They wouldn't be covered in blood and surrounded by the dead. She never would have forgotten the sound of her own mother's voice and he would still tease her for never wanting to break a single one of the woman's rules.

A tear broke free and slid down her stinging cheek. It was the only one she would allow herself. Never had Aeryn felt more alone than lying there beside him as she barely clung to consciousness. If only she closed her eyes for a few seconds, she might have a small break.

Aeryn shoved herself up on her forearms before sleep could take her. No more weakness. Now wasn't the time.

How best to move him? The hand mods would give her strength, just not as much as if she were a combat soldier with an enhanced body. She was a bioengineer–sure, one without any damn equipment–so she could figure this out.

With the severity of his injuries, the patches wouldn't be enough to prevent Jace from bleeding out. It bought him time, but she needed to get him out of here quickly. Thrusters would be the fastest way to do that. Aeryn had never trained with them before. It wasn't a skill she ever planned to use.

Looking down at the hand mods she took, she studied the silver disc in her palm. Thrusters were common and gave the mods a metallic sheen. These were equipped with the ability. She just needed something to tether Jace to her. Aeryn limped to the restraints left lying on the ground and returned to him.

She used the enhanced strength the mods offered to push Jace onto his side so she could slip beneath him again. The position put too much pressure on her hurt leg and despite how hard she fought remain up, she collapsed.

Fury rushed through her. Aeryn growled in frustration, forced herself back up, and grabbed Jace's arms around her. Getting his wrists into position, she latched the restraints down so one of his arms went above one of her shoulders and the other beneath her right one. Hopefully, this position would keep him from falling off of her.

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Aeryn cried out from the pressure and used one mod to strengthen her while she tried to activate the thruster with the other. They both shot across the floor and slammed into the stairs.

Hot beads of blood tickled her forehead. "Ouch…" Jace hadn't fallen off her at least. She glanced behind her to see that blood streaked the ground where he'd been laying. Wincing, she whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Aeryn's muscles seemed to be shredding inside of her as she tried to push up on one of the stairs and to aim her hand mod again. Her leg and ribs hurt so badly she couldn't breathe, but even so, she managed to fling them up the stairs.

"Shit!" she screamed as they flew straight for the wall, with Jace's larger body sure to crush her own. Aeryn shifted her hand in front of her and used the thruster to push off the wall. It softened the blow, just not enough.

She hit first with Jace crashing into her. They both toppled to the ground, landing on her leg.

Distantly, she heard the sound of herself screaming like it came from someone else. But her world blinked out and it all faded.

Muffled voices scratched at her mind as she wrestled with the darkness that consumed her. It could have been seconds or hours that she lay there. No telling.

"No survivors so far." It was a male voice she didn't recognize.

"That blast didn't kill all these people," A woman said. "The plan that dumb old fart came up with must have backfired."

"Wait. I see a heat signature. It's stronger than the others. I think someone's alive."

"There."

The two shadows fell down the hall where Aeryn lay beneath Jace.

"You sure he's not dead?" the man asked.

"One good kick and he will be."

"Someone bandaged him. There's a survivor somewhere."

"I don't see signs of anyone else. They probably escaped."

"Let's check anyway. They could be masking themselves."

Jace's big body had finally worked in her favor today. Not only did he block Aeryn from their sight, but he also had covered her heat signature.

Quietly, Aeryn reached for the laser pistol at her side.

"We should kill him." It was the woman again. "He'll need more medical care than we have to offer and he's probably the one who killed our people."

"Alright. Fine."

Aeryn slipped her arm out and shot a laser beam through the man's open mouth. The woman's wide eyes mirrored the fresh hole gaping through her friend's face.

No one was killing Jace. Another shot and she finished off the woman before she'd even had time to aim.

The hand mods made it much easier to extricate herself from Jace this time. She searched the two soldiers and scowled when she found only a vial of fuel on each. At least they both had keycards, likely for operating whatever they'd traveled here in.

Ordinarily, the guilt of killing came quickly, even though she didn't let herself feel it. The callous way they'd talked about killing a mortally injured and defenseless man staved it off. Aeryn pressed a hand against the wall to support herself as he struggled to the door, where she peered out at the vehicle the two had ridden in. Others could arrive soon.

Wasting no time, Aeryn again forced Jace onto his side. This time, he moaned and his eyes flickered for a moment.

Her breath caught. "Jace?"

No response.

Aeryn positioned his arms around her again. His fingers curled and his breathing sounded more labored. He was awake and feeling it.

"We're almost out of here," she said. "It'll hurt, but it'll be over soon."

When she aimed her thrusters, Jace groaned something she couldn't understand. His palms turned to face the ground.

He wanted to help. Had he woken up before and she didn't realize it?

"Be careful," she said.

"Angle it…" Jace's voice trailed off before he continued. "...more…"

Aeryn looked at Jace's hands and matched his angle. This time, when they shot across the ground, they didn't fly into any walls, but skidded across the ground.

It hurt like hell. The little bit of energy she continued to emit helped to keep some of the pressure off their bodies, but in their state, any amount of weight and force was too much. When they stopped, Aeryn fell limp beneath Jace, clenching her teeth so hard to keep from crying out that it felt like her jaw would shatter. Jace gasped for breath in uneven spurts, body twisted over her. No doubt if he had enough strength to scream, he would have.

"There's the car. One more. Okay?" Aeryn forced them forward, this time helped along by Jace firing his own hand mods. Gone were the elegant and precise moves he used in battle. They nearly careened out of control between their clumsy efforts and finally slammed into the side of the car, denting the passenger door.

The effort took a toll on both of their bodies, especially Jace's. Blood darkened the patch over his shoulder, which surely meant the same happened to his back.

Almost there. Aeryn had to squash the guilt of hurting him to push through the final steps to get into the back of the car.

Jace passed out immediately once they landed on the seat, completely limp with his legs hanging outside of the door.

After dragging herself out from under him one final time and pulling him fully into the car, she limped to the driver side door, and drove as fast as she could. Aeryn didn't know where she was, but the rounded and weathered mountains in the northern distance were certainly enemy territory. So she went south, where she knew eventually she would find her people.

Considering that the group of rebels who initially took her had an Aerolux, she expected all of them to be so well-equipped. It seemed that only a select few in the group had access to that level of technology. This car was pretty bare bones as far as she could tell. Still, there were a few things that had some potential here, not that she could think of many uses off the top of her head.

As she drove, she studied her surroundings and the components of the vehicle to think of anything she could use as a weapon if they were followed. The biometric scanner could be advantageous, except that she'd never attempted to make the weapon she had in mind and had only used it a few times in training.

Twenty minutes into the drive and she started to think she really might make it, until she heard a noise in the distance. She didn't know vehicles well, but this one was shit, and anything even more remotely equipped with better tech or weapons would spell trouble for them.

Instead of trying to outrun a potentially faster vehicle or face a head on battle with an unknown number of enemies, Aeryn pulled over off the side of the road to park behind some trees.

She could see the other vehicle now, driving incredibly fast. There was no need to convince her soldiers had pursued. Anyone who found the reinforcements dead and their vehicle stolen would have easily followed her tracks.

Aeryn partially dislodged her hand mod to expose the wire running to her nerves and threaded the biometric scanner to it.

This would either kill her or work spectacularly.

Either way, she had to do it. Aeryn would die before letting Jace bleed to death in the back of the car while she took on who knew how many soldiers.

If the approaching rebels hadn't detected them yet, they would at any moment. Now was the time. Aeryn aimed and fired a biofeedback signal that would disrupt the synchronization between a hand mod and a person's central nervous system. If she had done it right, that was. It was something she'd only read about.

Though she couldn't see the signal, she felt it radiate from her palm. Seconds passed and still they drove closer.

Shit.

The car swerved suddenly, spun out, and smashed into a grove of trees. Aeryn peeled out and took off through the field, screaming.

"Don't fuck with bioengineers, bitches!" She steered with her good knee for a moment as she wrestled with the wires. "You see that, Jace?" A glance to the backseat where he hadn't stirred. "Yeah, you saw that. Now you regret not choosing the cooler career."

The high of succeeding when she very nearly had fried her own body lifted her spirits long enough for her to catch a second wind of energy and to ignore her throbbing bones. However, it could not quell the fear that Jace might still die. Nothing could until she'd driven far enough away that she started to believe they'd make it.

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The sedation had kept Aeryn under the first twenty-four hours in the hospital. Over the next day, she slept on and off, still drowsy.

She forced her eyes open so she could see Jace in the healing pod beside her and remind herself they'd survived. Already, the treatment had eased the burns on his back so pink skin stretched over what had been matted and burned flesh and fresh tissue began to fill in hunks the explosion had taken out of his back.

It still made her feel like throwing up to remember how his wounds had looked and to think about the pain he suffered.

Her own injuries were healing well. With the amount of time it had taken her to get treatment and the battering her body took after the injuries, the breaks in her ribs and femur would leave their mark. However, the incision from the surgery to repair the bones had already faded to a light scar and would soon disappear.

Nikka, Alix, Trin, and Lyon had come to visit. Most of the time, at least one of them sat with her and Jace, but no one was here right now. No wait, that wasn't true. Nikka was curled up on a couch at the far end of the room, asleep.

Aeryn smiled. She really hadn't known if she would ever see her again.

The smile didn't last long, though. The world no longer felt like her own. Before this past year, Aeryn had only ever wanted one thing in life. Her singular, obsessive focus on succeeding as a soldier had consistently driven her to the top of her class. Every step had been harder to take than the last and she figured it would remain that way.

Her time in the field changed that, even before being captured. It was not simply hard to capture and kill rebels or to choose between their life and that of her friends. It was impossible.

If she hadn't known it before her conversation with Petrin, she knew it now, and it wasn't because of what he'd told her, but because of the truth already burning deeply within her. All that Aeryn had ever dreamed of had been ground to dust and scattered upon the ground of a world that never really existed. She'd been a fool to think this cruel program would lead to liberating anyone. It was and always had been a tool of control.

At one time, she would have thought she'd have nothing to live for.

That seemed silly now as she looked at Nikka and over to Jace.

As hard as she'd fought to make it to where she was today, she'd fight much harder for her squad.

That was the danger Petrin saw in Jace. It scared her to think that same danger lived in her too.

She loved them. They were her family. Aeryn would do anything for her family.

Anything.

Of course, she'd been wrong before. But this? This didn't seem like something she could ever be wrong about.