Days Union Oneshot Book [DISCONTINUED]

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The golden sun shone its warm rays to bask Maghold in its brilliance. Birds chirped and chattered with one another across the trees sprouting with deep green leaves to greet the spring. The sky was a clear blue with only a few fluffy clouds floating through the bright blue canvas without a care in the world. It was the perfect day to catch a refreshment, go for a walk, and meet up with friends.

If only days were always like this.

Frankly, such a lovely day was a rare sight to see on Zirianata; most of the time, dense gray clouds blocked the sky and sun as jets roared overhead. Some newer clones were even a little bit nervous to leave their homes, as they had never seen a day such as this. But for those who had lived long enough to experience the infrequency of these kinds of days, they immediately bustled outside to enjoy their daily activities with warmer air to inhale and a brighter road to walk down.

In an informal celebration of such a rare day, Lamech had managed to convince the rest of the Catalyst Agency to join him on the golf course for a few rounds to take up their time. While Chanoch was initially against the plan and in favor of getting some more work done, Kalanit excitedly agreed and Amitai calmly nodded along.

Still, Chanoch remained unconvinced, "I got way too much work to do. You three can have fun."

"Come on, Channy!" Lamech pleaded, though his grip on Chanoch's arm implied it to be more of a demand than a request. "It'll be good to get you away from your desk for once!"

And so with several golf bags stuffed with gear and Chanoch in tow, Lamech led the Catalyst Agency out the door and set off for the golf field.

Lamech would have never admitted that he was a terrible teacher, but his attempts to teach Kalanit and Amitai how to play golf would answer that suspicion. He constantly scampered around to correct Amitai's grip on his golf club and repeat to a stubborn Kalanit that her higher score meant that she was losing. After explaining the rules for the fifth time to them, he took a deep breath to regain his patience and marched them back to the starting point of the course.

"Okay, now that I've explained the rules, you'll know when I beat you both this round," Lamech bragged as he readied his club to hit the ball.

Kalanit argued, "Why do you get to swing first? Isn't that my ball?"

He dropped his club reeled back high in the air back to the grass and answered with a gesture to the ball near her feet, "No, Kalanit. Your ball is right there."

"That's my ball," Amitai mumbled as he prodded the golf ball around to reveal the 'A' marked on it. Kalanit turned back to him with a triumphant smirk, prouder that Lamech was proven wrong than concerned about the whereabouts of her own ball.

"Then where the hell is your ball!? Please don't tell me you left it in the hole all the way over there..." Lamech lifted up his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes. This was much more frustrating than he had imagined. When he pried his fingers from his eyes and looked around, he noticed something was off.

As he squinted his eyes at Kalanit and Amitai, the realization smacked him in the face.

Chanoch was gone.

"Okay, you know what? Take my ball and play without me. I gotta find Chanoch," Lamech pressed his ball into Kalanit's hand before storming off. How could he have forgotten his best friend? "He probably ran off to do some work. Again..." he grumbled to himself as he searched the shaded deck where other wealthy civilians chatted and clinked their iced drinks together.

Among them was the conspiracist scribbling away on a notepad already littered with frantic chicken scratch in blue ink.

Lamech huffed with a teasing smile, "I knew I should've taken you as a nerd." He pulled up a chair across from Chanoch and sat down, resting his crossed arms on the table. He ducked his head to look at Chanoch's shadowed face, which looked as sunken and exhausted as ever. "Come on, Channer. What's the matter? You look like you've been through hell."

"Hello to you too, Lamech," he mumbled in reply before flipping to another page. His teeth gritted together as the scribbling noises became more aggressive—awful habits he had picked up in his stressful work.

Lamech sighed, "Just tell me what's wrong, Channer. You know I hate seeing you like this."

Chanoch tossed his notepad and pen down on the table and sighed, "You know my work means a lot to me, Lamech. I can't just tear myself away from it that easily."

Lamech leaned over the notepad and tried to make out the upside-down words: "...weird stares..." "...trying to think..." "...so loud..." and so on. A dreadful weight pressed on his conscience as he read the words; he should have known Chanoch did not do well in loud environments.

"Sorry, Channer. I just thought you'd need a bit of a break..." he confessed as he straightened himself out. Chanoch's softer glance back at him relieved some of the emotional burden pressing on him.

"I appreciate that. It's just that I really needed some time to work..." Chanoch picked back up the notepad, his blue eye darting over the text. "I gotta do what I can to keep the Agency alive. At least while I'm here..."

Lamech complained into his hands, "Channer, don't say that! You know I hate it when we talk about death like this."

"It's true, Lamel. We both know I'm not gonna be here forever... Or, well, at least as me." Chanoch leaned back in his seat and fixed his eye on the drawing of the Catalyst Agency's logo. The thin lines of the blue ink shaped the eye in a rough sketch—at least his drawing was a better coping habit of his. "I gotta keep this place going for as long as I can live. For everyone's sake."

Lamech dropped his eyes to a speck on the table as he said, "You're saying this like you're on your own." When Chanoch looked up, Lamech rested his sunglasses atop his head to expose his eyes. "I promise you, Channer. If you ever think you're alone and against the world, just know you have me by your side."

Chanoch's eyelids fluttered to hold back the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. Lamech noticed this and switched out of the sappy promises, instead replacing them with his typical self-confident persona.

"Besides, what more can you ask for than a super awesome bodyguard anyway?" He flipped his sunglasses back down on the bridge of his nose. "And a handsome one, too."

The conspiracist broke out into a howl of laughter. "Sure, Lamel. Whatever you say," he snickered once the fit of chuckles subsided.

"You happy now, dork?" Lamech joked, his fingers playing with the metal rings of the notepad. "Because I have a rental for a golf cart soon, and I think this time I'll let you drive."

Chanoch rolled his eye, "Yeah, I'm happy." As he pushed himself out of his seat, he said, "You're gonna regret letting me drive, though."

"Well, I guess we'll see. You owe me thirty Uion if you crash it," Lamech hopped out of his own chair and followed him through the maze of scattered chairs and tables on the deck. The stares of the rich followed them, but they could not care less.

"Pteh. Alright, Lamel."