Fragmented

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Woah!" Time gasped, gazing up at the ceiling above the group. "It's beautiful!" Light acknowledged its stunning beauty with a slight bob of his head.

The ceiling in question was a large glass dome, colorless light shining through the patches of snow accumulating on the exposed glass above. Several colorful panes of glass hung from the supports between the glass of the dome by strings so thin and transparent that it almost seemed like they were floating. They resembled an otherworldly, colorful river of some kind that weaved through the air, glittering like water from the sunlight shining above. The Steves had seen nothing like it, and they had seen things in their world akin to what their human friends would describe as magic.

"How- how are they hanging there like that?" Light asked. "Those strings must be much too weak to support the weight of the glass. Is there something else holding it up? Something I can't see?"

"Well, no, not exactly," Sabre replied. "The strings were made to be tough and durable. I'm not exactly sure how much more weight they could handle, but they're definitely strong enough to support the glass, as you can see. And there's nothing invisible hiding beneath, I can tell you that much."

"Very impressive craftsmanship. Even the Orange Steves would have difficulty building something like that."

"Thank you, Light. Means a lot for my species as a whole, considering we don't have powers like you do."

"I keep forgetting about that. You used to have powers of your own. At least you used them for good."

Sabre's eyes grew stormy and he looked away. "For a time, anyway."

They stood in awkward silence as distracted locals streamed past, a few giving them sympathetically concerned looks as it was obvious they were in a small squabble of some kind. After a moment, Time cleared his throat and said to them, "Why don't we go over there and look around?" He pointed to a shoe store a few shops down.

"Sounds like a great idea, Time," Sabre said. "We have some time to kill."

"Oh my God!" They turned to find Ryan walking up to them, a slight sheen of sweat coating his forehead. "You couldn't wait up for me?!" he puffed.

"Sorry, I thought you were staying in the car for longer to talk to Lucas. C'mon, we were about to visit that one shoe store down there."

Any anger that Ryan had been harboring for being left behind melted away instantaneously. "Oh, heck yeah! I needed some new kicks. I've worn these for years, and I think the mud during the spring showers has permanently changed the color." Sure enough, Sabre could see the slightest bit of what used to be white under all the brown.

"Alright, then let's stop wasting time and go."

As they entered the store, Time's eyes widened with amazement yet again at the shelves upon shelves of boxed shoes, quite a few pairs on display on small pedestals against the shelves. They weren't too special to Sabre and Ryan, who had seen this specific store several times in the past, but to the Steves, it was as if the shoes on display were relics from a far-off future.

"They're so colorful... Are we allowed to touch them?" Time asked.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Um... yeah? They're shoes. As long as you don't tug on the little plastic thingies, then you'll be fine."

"Knock yourselves out," Sabre said to them, inwardly chuckling to himself. Time's fascination with such casual items, along with M's, would never grow old. And even though Light wasn't nearly as enthusiastic, he was just as interested.

Time wandered off into one of the aisles, looking through the boxes that caught his eye with a small smile of partially hidden delight. It was almost like he was searching through a musty library that held foreign texts; he had to look through every one to learn all the information it possessed. In this case, it was tracing his finger along the colorful swoops and swirls that were the logos and fingering the soft yet flexible laces.