OVERRIDE

Chapter 4: Final Moments

I stumbled back into my dim apartment, sliding off my helmet and plopping down on the mattress.

It was done.

I couldn't help but smile, and it grew into laughter. I felt like a heavy burden had been lifted off my shoulders. My hands were stained, yet I felt content. I felt free.

"You're in a good mood," a deep voice rang out from the shadows. I jumped up, aiming my blaster in the direction it came from.

"Woah, woah, woah," a man emerged from the corner, "it's just me, love."

I sighed, realizing it was none other than Ixel. We had been dating for four years, yet somehow I'd forgotten that he had the habit of showing up in my apartment at the most random of times.

"What the hell are you doing Ixel? That's creepy, you know," I said as he approached me.

"So is you coming home in the dead of night and laughing like a maniac," he held his hands up in surrender. "Can you please put the blaster down now?"

I ran my hands through my hair as I walked over to the dresser to put the blaster away. I couldn't help but smile as Ixel pulled me into an embrace from behind.

"What were you doing out so late, love?" His words became mumbled as he pressed his lips to my neck. The stubble on his chin slightly tickled and his long navy blue hair was still damp from a recent shower.

I hesitated. I couldn't tell him the truth. If somehow it did lead back to me, I didn't want to get him involved.

"Lotus asked me to stay with her at the orphanage a little longer," I faced him and twisted a strand of his hair in my fingers, "She didn't want to be alone."

Ixel hummed, "It's dangerous out there. You had me worried for a moment," 

I shook my head and turned towards him, wrapping my arms around his neck, "I think I know how dangerous it is out there. I grew up here, unlike you, love."

He looked down at me with warm eyes as a slight grin tugged on his lips. Ixel had come here five years ago from Arc-K5, a little while after I left Aderr. We were both looking for a new start, and had nowhere else to go. We just clicked, it didn't take long for us grow close to one another. 

"So now are you gonna tell me what you were really doing out there?" he raised a brow in curiosity. He saw right through my lie. 

"You already know that I'm not going to tell you," I slipped from his grasp and strolled to the bathroom. I glanced over at the time, not realizing how late it actually was.

"Have it your way," Ixel sprinted towards me, easily lifting me up and slinging me over his shoulder.

"Put me down, Ixel."

"Nope."

"Ixel."

"Nope."

He flopped me down on the mattress and made himself comfortable next to me, "You almost made me forget the entire reason I stopped by."

"And that reason is?"

"This," he reached in his pocket, pulling out a small flask.

"You know I don't drink."

"Relax love, it's not alcohol," he reached back in his pocket and pulled out a small bag with two luminescent pills, "Just a little something to help these go down."

The pills were Zire, one of the new lab drugs that wasn't addictive. Zire became popular in the streets of poorer arcs a little after the war, and had remained prominent ever since then.