Falling Like the Stars

Chapter 4

Sneaking around the fortress was absolutely not advised by anyone who had ever stepped inside. According to popular belief, if caught, it would be a one way ticket to hell, or worse, the deadlock.

And yet, as Javi Garcia, fully dressed in his black sentry uniform, tried to hide in the shadows, he noticed all sorts of night-time activities going on. This was the first time he was actually involved in dangerous activities— he had been a pretty straightforward sentry before that, retiring to his room, shared by two bunk mates, Aiyon and that absolute asshole Black Sentry Blair, after dinner, at nine, unless he had a night shift— and seeing the fortress after dark, and all the activities that took place under the curtain of the night, he realized just how much people actually defied Drakkon's rules in the little ways they could.

He spotted a couple he didn't recognise, sucking each other off in one corner, what looked like a girl high beyond reach over some stuff she must've gotten off the black market, and then someone who Javi was damn sure was not supposed to be in the castle, and was there for information... like his father used to.

Javi ignored every single one of them, and danced around the shadows to make sure they didn't notice him either. There were hushed whispers in the shadows that didn't sit right with him, and there were screams that Javi had never heard in the daytime before.

But just as he was about to swipe his ID on the lock to the files and records room, he realized if this was ever discovered, he'd be under the blade, and that would endanger Amelia's life too...

They had met quite a few times, since Javi had made his promise, be it Javi purposefully taking shifts near the woods, or known Coinless hideouts, or her straying to Sentry watch posts, and getting in trouble, so that when sentries shooed her away, not knowing she was a coinless, Javi could say he was going to check for more civilians, and clear them out, and then spend time making out beside a tree trunk, or talking over a bag of banana chips that always felt a little stale. Javi had promised Amelia information about her parents from the Fortress, but it took her a while to ease out her parent's names and descriptions from her Pop Pop. The process was slow, and it took about a month before Javi was equipped with enough information to actually start searching in the files.

And Skull's parting words still lingered in his head, all this time later, Don't go near the poisonous flowers, little nightingale, you don't know what falcons await, and he knew he was risking his everything for Amelia.

Javi immediately turned around, and traced his footsteps back to his room, and opened it to find his roommate gone... as usual... Aiyon's uniform was lying on the bed, probably taken off in a hurry, the helmet just lying there, discarded, and Javi was sure his ID was lying there somewhere too. Ever since Drakkon had used the morphin energy to dissipate suits and powers to the sentries, they had become more and more like military uniforms. The sentries didn't have morphers, they had small chips in their ID cards that could be used to access their suits and helmets. The same chips had various clearance levels, based on duties, that could be used to access files, records, and parts of the fortress that were usually not allowed access to everyone... due to sensitive reasons.

Aiyon had apparently left in a hurry. His ID, suit, and helmet, everything was lying there, just like that. He had probably left in civilian clothes, and Javi was sure it was definitely to meet Zayto. The black sentry knew he was going to regret what he was about to do, but he convinced himself it was Aiyon's fault for being so irresponsible. He quickly picked up Aiyon's ID card, and used it to unlock the zips of his suit, stripped his own off, and neatly tucked them away in a closet, keeping his own ID close, but getting into Aiyon's suit, and zipping up, locking it, the helmet coming up seconds later, he grabbed Aiyon's ID, and slipped out, and locked the door of their room. He'd be back before Aiyon knew, and return everything. No bad blood, right?