“And I don't want to find out.” Echoed in her mind as she sat beside him on the sofa, staring blankly into the TV screen. Yet her world was all but blank.

  Crosby, Gilbert, Gary, Yukon, and Chad were there on the television.

  She didn't care.

  All who she looked at was John's face on the TV as he spoke about… whatever they're speaking about.

  She didn't care. She didn't want to care.

  She watched as he spoke, his lips moving, sound coming out, but she wasn't listening. Because she wasn't being spoken to.

  Darsa Island. Corporate rave. Pleasure commission. Impending doom.

  Doesn't care. She looks at John. That's all she cares about.

  The meeting felt like it lasted an eternity, yet as she blinks, suddenly it's over. John turned the TV off with a remote.

  An analog clock ticked in the background.

  The sofa was cozy. The air was warm.

  Why would anyone want to leave? She hears John sigh

  She looks up to him as he looks down at her; her body naturally leaned into his side. He put his arm over her to protect and keep her close. It really was unfortunate that his words would be what hurts her most.

  “I don't want to go.” Says John.

  “Then don't.” Amy tells him, her mouth muffled on his side.

  He strokes her hair gently as he speaks. “Did you catch any of what happened?” He asks, his voice shallow and hollow.

  “No.” Amy replies, wishing that would stay true. But John tells her anyway. It would be rude to keep comfort in a lie.

  “Amy. The boys want me back. We have to assault this island. We just… can't not, y'know?”

  “No. I don't know. John...” Amy replies, moving her head up to speak clearer. Her weight against him was the most comforting thing he could ask for. But duty calls.

  “I'm sorry Amy. I have to go.”

  “Why!” She immediately protests, pushing herself off of him to try and make her point. “Why can't they get anyone else to go! Half of them have more simulator experience than you do, right!? Why the FUCK do they have to take you again!” He couldn't bare looking at her like this.

  “Because… well… They gave lots of reasons to be honest. They told me I had more real experience. That I… have a weird intuition for sensing danger… but I know that's all bullshit.”

  He works the courage to look her in the eyes as he spoke. It makes each of his words painful.

  “Really… at the end of the day… it's because they still see me as leader.”

  “BUT YOU'RE NOT! NOT ANYMORE!” Amy cries. If only John didn't shake his head. If only he agreed in a way that mattered. Clearly struggling to hold back a torrent, John replies.

  “I know Amy. And I never was.”

  “THEN… THEN DON'T! THEN… Then… ju— just… don't…” She started choking up. She couldn't get the sentence out before collapsing into his side again.

  She was so warm. Her weight against him, so nice. He wishes they were always this close. He held her again as she cried, caressing her hair, letting her tears flow. But he didn't let his own.

  “W… Why are you going? You're never gonna come back…” She uttered into him.

  “You've said that before Amy. It'll be okay. One last one, then we kiss SERaMACs goodnight. Then, it's just you and I. No AI. No distractions. No nothing.”

  “Stop lying.” She pleaded. Every bit of hope just gets stripped away from her. Why would she want more?

  John changes his tone, using it to suppress his own dread.

  “Look. I've made it very clear this is the last thing I'm ever doing with them. I've told them I'm not the leader. They're the leaders. And, y’know, Crosby told me he's off to search for his faith. He said he doesn't want to fight. And yet, there he was, trying to convince me of it.”

  “Just shut up!” Amy asks him. He complies.

  Since when did people feel this deeply for each other?

  Why do they still— EVEN STILL—... look up to him?

  Questions he asks himself; going unanswered.

  He held her until she quietened down a little. Eventually, he moved his hand from her hair to her cheek as she looked up to him. He caressed them gently.

  “Care to join me outside for a moment?” He invites. Her bloodshot, tear-stained face nods in agreement. And so he lets her go, stands up, and allows her to follow him down the elevator.

  Then out the elevator towards the second door they ever opened. Through that door into the first hallway, to the first door, to the outside world.

  The Neosun is still gone. Even while they stand there in the opposite direction of where the clouds parted in the distance, they can see the real glow of a real Sun cascading across the bottom of the clouds It is ever-so-faint. Someone from the past of a world bathed in it might not have see it at all.

  The rain still fell— barely. John leads her away from the catwalk to the medicopter, and towards the black dunes of the sands of the shoreline. The water washed up on the beach with a soothing cadence.

  It must've been low tide. Neither bothered to put shoes on.

  John turned to Amy and reached both of his hands out for her to grab. She gladly took them; real, phantom light to one side of them. Global darkness to the other side.

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  John spoke. “Trust me. I will see you again here. This next mission might be bad, but... there's no way it’ll be worse than euthanizing SERaMACs. That… is something I have no control of. But I do control what I do. What I say. What I believe.”

  She listened to his every word, each its own novella to her.

  “I was going to hide it from you… but I like you too much to do that. I need to know what the Archliege is Amy. I… like you… but I am at a point where I just need to find out. This mission could do that. And it's the right thing to do.”

  “I— like you too John.” She replies, completely ignoring everything he said past that. The two stood there, holding hands as the waves crashed against the shore.

  No smog.

  No hyperrailers.

  No ads.

  No monoliths.

  No degenerates.

  No noise.

  Just… each other.

  His words made her take a mental step back from it all.

  “What… are we… John?” She asks him.

  Her voice was withered, as was his.

  “I… I don't know.” He said. He wasn't joking. It wasn't known, just felt.

  “I don't think we're just friends now.” Amy replies. The unspoken, finally being dug up. “Yeah… I agree. I just… really really like you I suppose. That's why I really don't wanna leave here.”

  “Same here.” Amy says as she looks down into the sand.

  They gravitate closer unknowingly, their fingers interlocking.

  Even the robotic ones.

  She looks back up, as does he. She never noticed now nice was was to look at him like that. And for him to look back. The exact. Same. Way.

  What he asked next may have been the most vulnerable thing he had ever asked. “Are… are you thinking what I am thinking?”

  “I think so. It's just… it won't go away.” Amy replies.

  “That feeling?” John asks.

  “Yes.” Amy assures.

  You can only fix a leak with a band-aid for so long until the band-aid starts to peel off. And the leak starts rearing its head.

  At the worst. Possible. Second.

  John and Amy stood there interlocked. Their eyes are unable to look away from each other. John was beginning to fall for it.

  “I… I feel like I should say it.”

  “Don't. Not yet.” Amy asks, knowing damn well what he was about to say. She wants to as well. Desperately, desperately wanted to. But she wanted to have faith in him more. Not out of hope, but out of… love.

  Not that she said that.

  “Once you come back, I'll tell you. After this… stupid fucking raid you've been pulled into. And then… you better say it back, okay?”

  “Sure. I hope we're on the same page.” John says as they finally let go.

  “We are— I think we'd better be.” Amy replies.

  The waves crash. So much has changed this moment, and yet… nothing has. The water washed up onto the shore, just to recessed again.

  The two stood there awkwardly. John takes the liberty of making her take charge. “Well. Shit. What do we do now?” John asks her.

  Amy giggles despite the crap— it feels like an unspoken weight has been lifted off of them both.

  “Haha, you're funny John. I guess you should figure out when to leave.”

  The two had deliberately left their digiphones on the counter to at least pretend to have some privacy. In hindsight, it actually worked, as SERaMACs didn't immediately answer them.

  “I guess we better ask our mutual friend.” He replies.

  Amy giggles again, and he wraps his right arm around her waist as the two walk back inside; she's kind enough to open the doors for him so he doesn't have to use his left hand. As she closes the door with them inside, she looks up to the roof as talks.

  “Hey SERaMACs! When does John have to go?”

  “It is good to see you in good spirits.” SERaMACs replies before answer her question, it's voice echoing throughout the halls.

  “John will be en route to rendezvous with the others in…”

  It pauses for a moment. “Tee minus seven hours. Would you like android assistance in helping pack gears?”

  “You said they'd be plenty at the rendezvous right?” John asks the thing. It takes a moment to reply.

  “Yes John, you are correct. Apologies for asking.”

  “No apology needed.” Said John, not willing to let it deflate the vibe. They continued through the hallways.

  Amy, confident and curious, decides to ask John about the details she edited out of her mind during the meeting.

  “So… what are you actually doing on this mission?” She opens the door for them both, and John gives her a straight answer.

  “It's simple really. Twice a year, all the evil and powerful people— the types of people who made the world a shit hole like it is. Well… not all of them, but a lot of them all gathered there for some sort of meeting. But it's supposed to also be, like, a party. And me and the boys will be crashing it.”

  The gate of the elevator opens for them, and they move inside, on their way back to their home above.

  “We would've hoped to get SERaMACs to bomb it, but it doesn't want to be directly responsible for people dying. So this is our next best option. SERaMACs will be helping with all the rest.”

  “That doesn't sound very rational, no offense SERaMACs.”

  Amy comments as they almost reach the top. John replies.

  “Yeah, and, well, no offense from me either. But it really hasn't been for a while when you think about it.”

  The good vibes were slowly dying. They needed something to revive it. As they made it to the top, the answer made itself apparent, John being the first to ask.

  “So… what we were doing earlier. On the couch with you lying beside me. Wanna do that again?”

  “You mean cuddle?” Amy corrects.

  “Yes! That! Huh, I didn't know that was what that was.” John replies.

  They trot over to the couch, the fake shoreline and river of the windows flowing by. The occasional call of what Amy learned are seagulls, off in the not-distance.

  John sat down, and patted next to him. Amy complied, being sure to push up against him as much as was comfortable. And then, the two stayed in an embrace. A warm, needed, overdue embrace.

  The mission loomed, but that didn't matter. What matters to them is the moment right now. And besides, they'll do plenty more once he gets back.

  Once they can finally let go of those feelings, and let those feelings wander into their ears. It'll be a nice day. It'll be pleasant. It'll have been worth fighting for, after all of this time.

  Warmth. Pleasantly. Cuddles.

  Yet it cannot be forgotten. The question on repeat.

  They are repressed for now, yet the subconscious remains; the thing that requires the vibe to be maintained. Those questions and statements being. “What is the Archliege?” For John.

  And for Amy, after the request of SERaMACs?

  “I don't want to find out.” Echoed. Perhaps unseen. Perhaps unheard. Yet that only remains true… for now.