The Voice in Your Heart
Page 83: Lens

In the middle of their journey, both Axl and Epsilon noticed land from afar. They don't know what nation it is, but since they can at least speak English, it should be fine. The ride chaser went on forward, until they were close enough to it to notice the distinct shape of Central Tower.

Of all places, it was Giga City.

It was fine, though. It was someplace they already know. All too well, but at least they don't have to deal with a language barrier. Axl in particular felt relief because he knew people from there: Jasmine, Cumin, and Saffron. He had not been keeping up with news, but he can only hope that they're doing well even after the government imposed stricter regulations on Force Metal.

Since it's a big metropolis, Axl circled around to find a port – he doesn't want to get a ticket for unauthorized parking. He doesn't even have any money on hand, because what kind of hunter brings in their wallet in missions? But just as he found that port, he was shocked to see that it was desolate.

There was absolutely no one there. There were a lot of huge storage boxes, most of which had started to rust. There were next to no ships either; the ones that still remained were already derelict.

Axl's shock faded down a bit – perhaps this is just an abandoned port, and surely there are other points of entry that aren't completely abandoned? It's entirely possible for many companies to get out of business after the Force Metal incident. Giga City was centered around Force Metal, so it's likely that its economy crashed after the incident—

Epsilon's "digital spectre" floated beside Axl. "Oh shit," he remarked. "It's all my fault" went unsaid.
Axl shrugged. "Hey, no biggie. It might just be one abandoned port. Maybe there are other ports nearby that are still operational."

There were none.

After circling the entire island, all the other ports were like that – empty and abandoned. But still, at least they can park the ride chaser. Axl felt his heart sinking; if the ports are all like this, how is he supposed to find civilization? Or even a SIM card to connect to the rest of the world?

"Fucking hell…" Epsilon remarked as he floated beside Axl. He would've said it if, 1) Epsilon didn't say it first, and 2) he wasn't speechless in his shock. Like Epsilon, the last time he saw Giga City, it was a bustling metropolis. Now it was like it had gotten back to when Epsilon had driven the humans away, except it's even worse.

How many years had it been? For the life of him, without the help of an internet search engine, Axl couldn't recall in what year the Giga City incident happened.

"Hey, Delta, there's gotta be someone in here, right?" Epsilon questioned.
"Same," came Axl's answer.

They searched around the city, traversing through familiar roads. But they didn't come across any person or reploid. All they could see were abandoned old model PREONs lying on the streets.

Axl recalled that after the Giga City incident, a Maverick Hunter base was established on the island, because the incident was seen as proof that PREONs and human police are not enough to keep territories safe from reploid terrorism. As far as he knew, the hunters were supposed to cooperate with the PREONs. He remembered that because it was successful enough for the method to be carried back to most of the world, since PREONs are more advanced than mechaniloids.

Perhaps the base was still around?

While he doesn't know where it is, he could probably find it. An important place like that is bound to be in the center of the city or something, right? Perhaps around Central Tower…

As Axl walked on and on with Epsilon beside him, there was still nothing to be found. The supermarkets are completely empty, except for canned food that had long expired. They might as well just be a rock to break windows with. There was nothing much inside. The supermarket companies had probably shipped out all sellable goods to their other branches across the world.

At least, they noticed, the power in the city is still on. Axl was able to charge the smartphone he had looted from the professor. While he sat in the abandoned supermarket, Epsilon floated outside to find that the signal transmitters still work in the city, because it runs on solar power.

Sighing as he waited for the phone battery to be full, Axl remarked, "Then we just need to find a working Wi-Fi signal to solve our problems. That, or a SIM card. I'm just afraid that the modems, routers, and SIM cards have all been shipped out. Or, worse than that, the providers have all closed shop so Wi-Fi is goddamn impossible, which narrows down our options."
"Or we can just find a globe." Epsilon suggested.
"That's actually fucking genius," Axl commented, "If we know exactly where we are in the world, we can position ourselves at least."
"It's kind of going to be a desperate measure though. Because in the end we do need to literally cross the ocean to go back to civilization, and that's the hard part."
Axl groaned. "This sucks like hell… with the sun, at least I don't have to worry about sustenance. But being isolated like this, unable to communicate with the outside world sucks like hell."

Once the phone was fully charged, Axl left the supermarket, and started to head to the direction of Jasmine's shop. While he's not completely sure why he went there, he felt that since he used to live there, he could maybe find something? Or perhaps he wanted there to be something left for him there.

Before arriving at Jasmine's Force Metal shop, he passed by Cumin's weapon shop and Saffron's general store. The buildings had gotten dilapidated, the paint had faded, and it's empty of wares inside just like with the other stores they had seen. And, unfortunately, it's the same with Jasmine's shop, with a few exceptions.

First off, the interior looks completely different. The display cases and shelves for the Force Metals were not there anymore. Instead there were chairs and tables, and a letter taped to the table where the cash register used to be.

"To Axl" was written on top of the envelope.

His eyes widened. She still remembered him, held him dearly in her heart, even after they basically parted ways goodness knows how many years ago when he rejoined the Hunters?

At that moment, he could only focus on the old letter addressed to him. Taking the dusty envelope off the table, he opened it and pulled out a handwritten letter.

"Dear Axl,

I know we said our goodbyes years ago, but I still remember promising you that you'll always be welcome with me here, and with Cumin and Saffron, too. I'm still intent on keeping it. But… now I'm not sure if it's meant to be.

You probably heard the news already. Force Metal got hit with a lot of restrictions. My customer base dwindled overnight. But although it was hard, I managed to sell my entire stock. With that, I had saved enough money to retool this place as a restaurant. Things were good after that, but it didn't last long.

Eventually, people started moving away, out of the town. Most of it was from Force Metal companies that went out of business. A lot of people lost their jobs. As a result, a lot of businesses left with them because their customer base dwindled too. In the end, all three of us also have to go because of that.

You still have my contact information, right? While I will obviously need to change my number once I move away, I still have my old email. Even if I change it, I'll send you an email to tell you about my new address.

While I'm 99% sure that you might never find this letter, I want to write it anyway, because I never got to tell you that I always loved you.

Jasmine"

He doesn't return her feelings, nor was he aware that they existed. But Axl shed tears anyway, for someone who always remembered him and loved him when he was not his best self. As much as he wanted to photograph the letter and send it to Jasmine, he can't do it without a working Wi-Fi connection. Perhaps her heart was broken long ago when the (fake) news of Axl's "death" was publicized.

Even so, Axl took the letter and kept it in his container, in the same place where he put the professor's memory chip. After searching the shop and found nothing, he left to continue his search of a means to get through to the outside world.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Holy fucking shit. 4 plus months? Crap, I didn't realize how long time passed. But basically, a lot of stuff happened. But ultimately, I settled down in a good new place, passed my probation at work, and am more or less in a comfortable place in my life right now.

I would like to thank everyone who had stayed with me and with this story. It's been going on for almost 5 years now. As much as I want to finish it, I don't want to rush it. That would be sad. It's funny how it shows how my writing evolved. Sometimes there are good times and bad times, but ultimately, I grow with this story. And you do, too.