Lumiea

-17 (L.D)

For months, Aeryn and Jace remained a poorly kept secret. They wanted time to themselves, so at first they'd managed to keep their relationship from the others, until at some point it was clear everyone knew. While Aeryn wanted to say her friends respected their privacy by not acknowledging it, that was not accurate. They simply enjoyed the subtle teasing that came along with the deal. It would have been much less fanfare had Aeryn and Jace simply announced they were together, because now they couldn't even stand close to each other without Nikka and Lyon giving each other that look.

It became a matter of stubborn pride that Aeryn did not openly tell her friends. She was tired of being teased. Besides, it was kind of fun keeping it a secret, even if it wasn't really. They all spent so much time together. Aeryn wanted one thing that was her business, not squad business.

So it should not have come as any surprise to her when she woke up after falling asleep in Jace's room to obnoxious shouting and laughter.

"Morning!" Lyon cried.

Aeryn squinted her eyes open at all the noise and groaned, pushing against Jace's chest to rise. His arm tightened around her as he turned his head to the side.

"Why…" Aeryn rubbed her tired eyes.

A little orb camera swooped over Nikka and Lyon's head to pan over them.

Jace dragged the blanket over Aeryn's head and pulled her back down against him. "Go away," he said.

"You look so cute and cozy." Nikka ripped the blankets down, teetering on the edge of the bed. "Good morning, love birds."

"I'm tired," Aeryn said with her eyes closed again.

Lyon hummed. "I bet you are."

"Hey," Aeryn shouted, swatting at them now. "You're being assholes."

"Oh no." Nikka giggled. "You guys brought this on yourselves. How could we not celebrate this momentous occasion?"

"We're just sleeping," Aeryn whined.

"Exactly. You didn't sneak back to your room. You'll want to watch this later when you have babies crawling all over the place."

Jace swatted the camera out of the air now. It flew across the room, spun toward the ground, and recovered just in time to not bust. "Fuck off."

"Oh no. He's mad." Lyon brought the camera back up.

Nikka crawled over Aeryn and squeezed herself between the two of them. She plopped a kiss on Aeryn's temple first and then Jace's cheek. "I just love you guys so much."

"I really hate you right now," Aeryn whined. It hurt to keep her eyes open.

"Okay." Lyon lifted his arms up in the air. "Group hug." Nikka grunted when Lyon fell on all of them, arms spread to try to hug everyone. "I'm so happy for you two. All grown up and admitting your love to the world."

"I said we're just sleeping." Aeryn pushed at both her friends in vain.

"Oh." Alix's heavy footsteps hammered nails of agitation into Aeryn's head. "Is there room for Alix?"

"No," everyone said at once.

"Trin," Alix called. "Everyone's having a moment. Come see."

"Leave them alone," Trin yelled from the other room.

Aeryn sat up, fixed her tank top, and begrudgingly set her hand on Lyon's back, because they were taking up the whole bed and there was nowhere else to go. "Fine. You had your fun. Are you happy?"

The camera popped directly in front of Aeryn's face.

"Smile," Nikka said.

Jace hadn't moved in a while but their friends had completely taken up the space between them and thoroughly woken them both up. He was glaring silently at Nikka.

"To whoever is watching this later, you're witnessing Lyon and Nikka's final moments," Aeryn said. "May they rest in peace."

"Get up," Jace said with a note of serious warning in his voice.

"He really is mad," Lyon whispered in a chuckle.

It was apparently the last comment Jace had been willing to take. In one motion he shoved himself up from the bed and rammed his body into Lyon's, knocking him onto the ground. A second later, he'd scooped Nikka over his shoulder and hauled her up while she laughed hysterically.

He dumped her off on Alix, successfully knocking the other man back a step through the door. Lyon had just pushed up to his feet when Jace ripped him over by the arm and pushed him against the other two.

Jace slammed the door shut and turned to face Aeryn.

She sat up in bed, grinning now. "Good work, soldier."

Jace didn't move at first. Just watched her. An amused and appreciative smile came over his face. "Wow. You're a messy sleeper."

Aeryn brushed her fingers through her hair, realizing that it stuck up badly. It had grown out since she sawed it off during training, but it still didn't reach her shoulders. "Oh no. I steal blankets too. Nikka doesn't like sleeping with me."

"That's okay. I like sleeping with you."

"The camera's still here, you know," Aeryn said without taking her eyes off him.

"Guess the camera is gonna be broken." Jace yelled it toward the door.

It hovered in the corner, likely forgotten, but now the light blinked off before it disappeared into the closet.

Jace walked back to her, hooked his arm around her waist, and twisted to drag her onto his chest as he plopped down on the bed. It pried a little scream from her.

Something beat on the wall from the other room. "We can hear you," Nikka shouted in a taunting yell.

Jace threw a pillow hard at the wall.

"Nikka!" Aeryn yelled, mad for real this time. "You're not funny!"

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

But the chorus of laughter from the other room told her they all thought otherwise.

Aeryn covered her face. "I'm moving out," she whined.

"It's okay," Jace whispered against her ear. "Don't be embarrassed that you're going to have a much better morning than they are."

"Oh. Am I?"

"Absolutely. Although, you're overdressed for the occasion."

Aeryn tilted her head back and laughed. The problem proved to be no challenge for Jace as in no time he'd thrown her clothes against the wall like he had with the pillow. "Did you hear that, fuckers?" Jace shouted.

"Jace! Shut up!" Aeryn slapped his chest, shaking with laughter.

Jace held himself over her, eyes on her. He smiled as he pushed her messy hair back from her face. "You're beautiful in the morning."

"Only in the morning?"

"Ha." He kissed behind her ear. "All the time. Every version of Aeryn has her own charm. Sleepy Aeryn. Fun Aeryn. Angry Aeryn. Serious Aeryn. Crazy Aeryn who hacks off all her hair in training."

She giggled and then kissed him. The teasing faded and her heart felt full. The warmth of his bare chest still surprised her when they'd had so much separation between them before. Just the feeling of their skin touching made her feel more connected to him than she knew possible. Peace flooded her. She'd never imagined being loved before. Didn't know how it would feel to share her life with someone. This was what they had run from?

"We always take too long to do everything," she said. "We should stop doing that."

He gave her a momentary serious look. It was time they acted on that old promise to fight. Why it struck her then in that particular moment had puzzled her at the time.

Maybe part of her had always known and simply not wanted to believe they were living on borrowed time. Because there were plenty of times the word cycled through her mind, beneath the surface of her thoughts, haunting her.

Witness. Witness. Witness.

The shadow had always loomed over her.

----------------------------------------

Sweat beaded along Aeryn's hairline. It had taken meticulous planning to create an opportunity for her and Jace to not only locate a rebel they could trust, but who also had the information they needed. Finding the opportunity to even speak with them had been nearly impossible. They'd spent the last few weeks in an active war zone and this morning had fought for hours with little time to catch their breath. Aeryn had worried they would miss the window to reach their contact.

It would have been easier if they had the squad on board, but Jace had convinced her that they needed to subtly sway their friends to their cause rather than risk pushing them too fast. Slowly, she'd gotten Nikka to open up about her discomfort over their work and had tried dropping ideas around Lyon to get him thinking. So far, it was only Jace and Aeryn, though.

"Think they bought it?" Jace whispered to her.

"It's true that we're almost out of fuel and it's much faster to get more from the supply than to make it. We should be fine."

Ironically, Petrin's network had ended up opening the door for them to start making contacts. Though many rebels died during their schemes to sway the Witnesses, there were those alive who wanted to continue that work and were willing to risk their lives on getting information to a Witness candidate.

Because of the Omni-AI's dominance in their world, they'd had to rely on whisper-networks. It took longer than Aeryn felt comfortable with. It also forced them to meet in person. Incredibly dangerous.

They waited on a rooftop and had to hope the rebel would be able to make it to them through the warzone alive. Aeryn was surprised and relieved, despite her nerves, to see a woman with soft blond hair approach quietly.

"You didn't mask?" Aeryn asked.

"To earn our trust as a Witness, you didn't conceal your identity. Out of respect, I'm not concealing mine."

What a noble thing to do considering it could get her killed. Noble and honestly stupid. "We only have a few minutes."

Jace turned, keeping a lookout while they talked.

"Here." The woman passed the small package containing the data they'd requested. Aeryn tucked it in her pocket. "We'll continue to gather what we can for you since your location is always tracked. I don't know when we'll be able to do another drop."

"Thank you," Aeryn said. "I hate others having to do dangerous work for us. Be careful."

She nodded. "It's the way things are. Do your part and try to influence other Witness candidates." Looking down, she lowered her voice then. "Petrin was my friend. I had a great deal of respect for him. It's possible he was wrong about you two. I hope you'll prove that to be true."

"We will." Aeryn wanted to justify Jace's actions. It was his bloody rampage that had convinced Petrin to sacrifice himself to kill them. If Jace had shown more restraint then maybe things would be different. But Aeryn couldn't blame him. They'd captured her and had intended to kill her if she did not join their side. It was an act of war and Jace answered in kind. At least, she wanted to believe they had been justified. The loss of those lives hung heavy in her heart.

It was time. This data would give them insight into the Omni-AI's decision making process, including what amount of human life it was willing to sacrifice for its objectives. If an outcome led to fewer deaths, would it always choose that? How did it balance ethical considerations? There was so much about Lumiea hidden from them. Aeryn needed to know the truth. How deep did the rot run?

The woman turned to leave and Aeryn looked at Jace. A scraping sound caught their attention. And at the same time, a shadow appeared above them.

Trin leapt onto the roof with her hands raised above her head and her mods glowing. Directly overhead, a missile froze, hovering in the air. Slowly, it lowered until it settled on the ground and deactivated.

"Did you plan this?" The icey edge of Trin's voice sounded nothing like her. Her intense stare locked onto the rebel woman.

"No."

"My analysis supports your answer. The likelihood of you lying is low. Leave, now."

Aeryn and Jace instinctively worked closer to one another, both of them staring at their friend.

"Since when can you disarm missiles?" Aeryn asked, feeling in her gut that something was very wrong. When Trin met her eyes, fear struck her.

"Any analyst is capable with the right training. It's a challenging skill to acquire."

"But when did you acquire this skill?"

Jace took Aeryn's hand. "She's been losing time, Aeryn."

"They didn't want to tell you and worry you." The sneer on Trin's face was a perversion of the woman's features.

No. Something was horribly wrong. How could Jace and Trin not tell her? Especially Jace? She'd told him not to baby her. Anger and a feeling like betrayal mixed with her fear. "Who are you?" Aeryn's voice cracked.

"Vehru watches all her Witnesses, especially since the kidnappings. You should be more careful with your life."

Her heart pounded. Whoever had taken over Trin's mind would report back to Vehru that they'd met with a rebel.

"Your heart rate is spiking," Trin said. "Take a breath. You must feel panicked having been caught. Commander Vehru already knew about what you were doing."

"If Vehru knows what we're doing, why didn't she stop us?" Jace asked.

This wasn't the first time they had asked this question, but it was the time it made the least amount of sense to her. Why would Vehru tolerate their dissent? A creeping sensation wound around her chest, coiling her muscles. Was this the end for them? How pathetic. They hadn't managed to do anything.

Trin looked nothing like herself, despite not physically changing. The expression she wore and the hardness in her eyes transformed her. "Suffering without cause leads to demoralization. The human spirit is especially resilient when you perceive a purpose in your suffering." She looked at Jace. "Your obsessive training regiment, for example." Back to Aeryn. "In fact, a certain amount of challenge can be beneficial. You no longer wish to fight to liberate Earth. Your efforts in this secret war still increase your skills while helping you to keep your spirit up. It's a harmless exercise that has positives for your mental health."

"That is so twisted," Aeryn said breathlessly.

"Commander Vehru believes you have pushed your limits, however, with her patience. Your unruly behavior may require that she cause you to feel demoralized. This benefits no one. Today, you almost got yourselves killed. Someone apparently betrayed you and tried to finish what Petrin started."

Jace studied her. "You aren't human."

A smile that did not reach her eyes lifted her stiff lips. "I welcome you to keep the data you stole today. While the general population does not need to learn more about the functioning of our Omni-AI, I believe it will be illuminating for you to appreciate the might of our global monitoring and enforcement system."

Our. This unknown entity in Trin's body spoke on behalf of Vehru or the Federation.

"Know what I think?" Aeryn scowled. "Vehru wants us to think she's known all along what we're doing so we feel like she was in control when really she'd lost it."

"Do you believe that?" Trin's head tilted. Her sharp stare cut through Aeryn. "The slight tremble to your voice and the tightening of your jaw muscles suggests you may not feel entirely confident in this assessment. You're frightened."

Jace pointed a stiff finger. "Get out of Trin's head, now."

"You should remember that we're watching." The smirk hadn't left Trin's lips. "Try to recover from this devastating defeat. You two have too much potential to be rendered useless now by a permanent loss of hope."

A blank look fell down their friend's face like a curtain before her eyes widened and her body immediately trembled. What Aeryn saw in her friend's eyes defied fear or panic. It stripped the life from her. "Where am I? What's happening to me?"

Aeryn covered her mouth and then ran to her friend, grabbing her in an embrace. "Oh, Trin."