New Elysium: Weapons of War (Book 2)

Cold Wind Part 19

"These are the risks that you have to take
wake up
these are feelings you have to break
so wake up
you and I must try
to survive
you and I must fight for our lives." - "Skyhunter" - IWNBTS 

Ember's body was intertwined with his. Her leg draped over his, her breath falling in and out in an even rhythm as she slept. He could watch this every night. He brushed his fingers along her back his fingertips drifting over the augments in her spine. He had at first imagined that they'd feel damp being inside her spinal column but they felt surprisingly dry to his touch. She shifted closer against him and he wrapped his arm around her leaning down to inhale the scent of her.

Red knew he was dreaming. But if he could stay forever in this moment, between asleep and awake, where he didn't have the whole of humanity calling for him to be something he didn't want, he would have. He tilted her chin up kissed her deeply, keeping his arms locked around her knowing full well she would disappear the moment he opened his eyes. The fact that he was on his way back to her made the dream bittersweet.

Then the worry seeped in...

Without warning, he was standing in complete darkness with no penetrating light and his friends began to appear in front of him. One by one, first Ember, and then Dag, followed by Amy, Nova and a slew of others he vaguely remembered from his time before prison. When he reached out to grasp them they vanished like smoke.

He cried out to each of them and found himself standing alone in the dark. Everywhere he turned there was nothing except...

Lars?

In his shock, he fell to his knees. Here was Lars as he was before, a metallic round body, no head, no expressions, at full strength resembling a reaper unit minus a few appendages.

"You are just going to vanish like the rest..." He swung his hand flat against the body. It connected to Lars's chest with a solid thock, jarring the rest of him. Brutal pain shot through his knuckles and spread up his arm, a surprisingly intense sensation for a dream.

He stepped back studying the metallic body that used to belong to his friend. The AI didn't move but simply stood, arms clasped behind his back as he looked at Red. It was as disconcerting as the first time they'd met. Lars had had no facial expressions to read him by. Just his personality, change in the pitch and tone of his voice, and his hand movements.

"I don't understand... This is a dream..." Red looked around, there was nothing but him and the AI.

The AI shifted his body towards Red, his hands coming down to this sides. "It's time to lead now, Red."

"I'm not...him. Not that guy, not the Captain they want."

"No, but you are more than what you've become."

"Did you just quote..." Red searched his brain for inspiration. "The Bible?"

"No," the AI sounded amused in a voice that Red remembered as Lars's but not quite Lars. "The Lion King, it was a good movie."

Red stood still, his fists clenched at his sides, his jaw working as he stared. Somehow his brain had connected to the fact that this was not a memory from his past. But he couldn't quite grasp who or what he was speaking to. "Who are you?"

"I think the more important question is... Who are you?"

"No one." His voice turned stubborn. Arguing with this dream version of Lars somehow felt different than real life.