Core Memory (Lolix)

Chapter Seven

"Ask me anything and I'll tell you." Locus found himself saying as he stepped into Felix's room, wasting no time in looking around at the space he was in. Felix's undersuit and armor were in a neat little pile in the corner of the room. On the other side, there was a handmade bullseye that hung from a nail and thin rope while two knives shared the center.

Besides that, the room seemed that of a normal citizen. A bed, closet, little souvenirs and figures to decorate, and even a small desk with papers sprawled about. If Locus hadn't known any better, someone could have mistaken Felix for a simple college kid living with his family.

He glanced behind him towards Felix, who silently shut the door behind him. The rest of those in the household were made well aware of how important this was to him, and so they wouldn't be bothered any time soon by them.

"What was I like? During the war....or when we were coworkers? Or any time really."

"You were a pain in the ass," Locus said in a light, huffed tone. "Talked non-stop about yourself, or about any topic you had wanted. During the war you were more...calmed and serious, but afterward? It was like you couldn't shut up."

Felix snorted at his words, stripping himself of his jacket and putting it back into the closet. Locus eyed the exo-brace poking out from the head of his shirt.

"When we were coworkers, along with a man named Mason Wu, or Siris, you were just about the same. Talkative, full of yourself, and sometimes unbearably loud. During the war on Chorus...You were..."

He trailed off, now faced with the harder part of memory lane. If it had been the Felix he knew, it would have been easy to tell him how horrible he was, but it wasn't the Felix he knew. This Felix was happier, nicer, and more pleasant to be around, as much as he hated to admit it.

"...Manipulative. Greedy, cruel, downright sociopathic, and murderous."

His throat tightened as he watched how quickly Felix's face had fallen and grown paler the more he had described him, or, what had used to be him. It felt as though he was breaking the news to him that someone he cared about had died, or that his puppy had run away and wasn't going to come back.

"W-What did we do as coworkers?"
The question came out in a broken tone.

"We were mercenaries. Bounty Hunters. You, Mason, and I. Our last job with him had been capturing a man named Gabriel Lozano, but things hadn't gone as planned, and many died that night trying to kill us." He could remember that night as if it were just yesterday. The way Felix had the phone call at the ready like it wasn't his first time holding someone for ransom, the way Felix so easily pointed his gun to Mason when he voiced his want to leave, how Felix had gotten shot in the leg. Everything.

Felix had gone silent. They were only two questions in, but it looked like he didn't want to hear any more about himself. All he had done was move over to his bed, and sit himself down at the edge of it.

"What's the thing on your back?" Locus had decided to ask a question instead since he had doubted more would come from Felix.

"A brace," Felix started, looking nowhere other than his hands, which rested, open-palmed, on his legs, "I had gotten it a week after I was first put into the hospital. They told me I was lucky I wasn't paralyzed, or worse, dead, even though I should have been from that fall."

He then turned to look at him, and Locus could see the pained realization in Felix's eyes. "I was supposed to die, wasn't I? My fall wasn't an accident, I was supposed to die."

"You were," Locus admitted, though it felt as though he choked on his words before they slipped free, "Otherwise Chorus would have probably been destroyed. You weren't completely at fault, as I was with you the entire time with the plan before the moment you fell. We were hired by a man named Hargrove to keep the war going and to have Chorus basically kill itself. We had a run-in with two freelancers, Agent Washington and Agent Carolina, and a fight had led to an entire ship being dropped on us. After you had run off when we got back to Capital, I learned of something that made me make my final decision about what we were doing."

He sighed, almost able to hear the Santa A.I in the back of his mind. "You were surrounded by the Reds and Blues, simulation troopers. The original plan had been that I was supposed to help, to save you. Instead, I didn't. I let them put the bomb on your shield, I let them throw the grenade at your feet, and watched you fall. I took your energy sword and left."

"Why did you come back?"

The question had almost surprised him.

"Your helmet has a tracker in it, as does mine. It was so that if something were to happen to one of us, the other would be able to find them. So, when your location had popped up, I was going to come back to collect your armor from whoever set it off. However, that person seems to have been you."

Then, Felix stood. It was sudden and silent, something that had never been his forte unless he was angry or upset. He moved to where his armor rested and picked up the pile.

Without a word, he held it out for Locus to take.

"Feli-"

"Isaac. My name is Isaac. I'm not Felix, I don't want to be Felix. If you came back for the armor, then here, take it. I don't want it."

"I have no reason to, you're still alive."

"Then kill me. I mean, I was supposed to be fucking dead anyway, right? So, get it over with, take the armor, and go."

"Felix I refuse to-"

"My. Name. Is. Isaac! I. S. A. C. C! Get it through that broken fucking brain of yours! My name is Isaac Gates! Not fucking Felix! Take the fucking armor and get the fuck out."

Locus couldn't help it. He couldn't help grabbing Felix by the neck, it was an old habit, grabbing him to just shut him up, to get him to stay still and listen. The look he had been given was felt on another level. Felix looked terrified under his hand. Despite giving Locus the invite to kill him, ow was terrified. Terrified of him. Unlike before, where his helmet had covered his face when Locus arrived to his 'aid', nothing was hiding how he felt, and Locus had an up-close look of his terror.

Almost immediately, Locus let go.

"J-just...Take the armor and go..."

This time Locus didn't argue.

But, when he opened the bedroom door to leave, he was met with the eyes of the youngest member of the household, listening in from the other side.

"Fuck..."