Leonid

Mysterious Life

4:55; November, 13, 2065

Tired wasn't a strong enough word for what Jane was. Two minutes after waking up, she knew second day of her review was going to be absolute hell. Staying up the night before was a bad idea. She'd known it then, but now she knew; and there wasn't a thing she could do about it.

She groaned as she got up, and nearly fell as dizziness hit. By the time she'd made it to the bathroom mirror she'd forgotten how she got there. She peered at the bed through the door before turning to face the reflection.

What is wrong with you?

---

5:36, November, 13, 2065

Neil didn't want to wake up and face the wondrous world of PT; so he chose not to. The Military wasn't going to do a damned thing about it, since they needed him, regardless.

…Or the Cpt. Edwards would cover for him. Whichever it always was.

Twenty minutes later, he pushed himself up, and was surprised at the amount of grit that itched its way through his clothes. He ran his fingers through his hair, and a cascade of sand fell about him; the grains rained down onto the blankets as he surveyed the dried mud that decorated the floor, and certain parts of the walls, and… well, a lot of places.

He smiled at nothing; and stretched his arms behind his head.

---

12:51, November, 13, 2065

"Well, then maybe she doesn't know," Ryan finished his argument, continuing to play with the 'meal' set before him. If he squinted hard enough, it looked like the ocean. He admired his work before starting to devour a whale shaped leaf of steamed kelp, "Come to think of it, if she knew, Neil'd know, right?"

"Probably," Gray was trying not to think, but his friend was leading his mind whether he liked it or not. Where lack of sleep hadn't affected him at first, now his consciousness was slowly becoming alike to melted putty. He lifted his head to look at the man across the table, in a 'so?' gaze.

"If he knew, he'd probably tell us."

"Unless she didn't want anyone to know," Ryan scoffed at his captains reasoning. Now they were running in circles.

"It's not that bad a thing," the sergeant paused to lance a starfish shaped something or other, "If you want to know, just as…" the sentence fell into a whistle, which, in turn, became a rendition of a classical music piece. Gray huffed and glared over his shoulder. The momentary subject of all that tormented him stared back at him unfazed.

"Fine, I'll sit somewhere else," Jane said flatly.

"No…" Ryan grabbed for her as she tried to walk by, and managed to seize the cloth of her shirt, "Captain Edwards wants to ask you something important; isn't that right sir?" He pulled her back towards the benched table and moved himself over a bit to make room.

She sat down where he had been – across from Gray. The captain was spending the minute to send mental death threats in Ryan's music-filled direction. Ryan stopped whistling and smiled pleasantly as he locked eyes and matched wills with the other man, "Go on."

Jane was observing them both without expression. Gray sighed again and turned his attention to her, "Are you all right?"

She stared at him, not seeing the sergeant beside her slap his forehead with the his palm, "How do you mean?"

"From last night or… or anything else," He noticed Ryan's gesture from the corner of his eye with a triumph. You ask next time, if you're so curious! "Are you; all right?"

"Are you?"

"That depends on the situation…"

"So what is the situation?" Jane watched carefully as her superior grit his teeth. For a brief instant she thought she heard what could have been bone grinding upon bone, but shrugged it off as imagination.

"Forget it," He didn't know why he tried anymore, but… "If you find out anything's wrong… just… please tell me."

"Okay," What's he asking for? She glanced around the under-crowded dining hall, looking for a reason not to be where she was. Not finding a viable reason to move, she dug through the contents of the tray before her and half listened to the half a conversation on politics the next table over. She looked back to Gray, only to find he'd fallen asleep.

"What was that about?" She asked Ryan quietly.

"He worries about you guys," Her friend stated simply.

"I know but…" The woman couldn't complete the sentence. Something was bothersome and she wasn't sure what it was.

"Don't worry about it," Ryan's smile was reassuring, but Jane still felt that creepiness crawling along, "I'm sure everything's fine. We're going to Underground tonight, you want to come?"

"No," Jane snapped, earning a very amused chuckle from her friend.

"C'mon… You can beat the truth out of him, see what he's up to…."

---

21:07, November, 13, 2065

The lounges were unmonitored establishments where rank held no sway. As long as it didn't carry heavily into the outside world, it was allowed. It was open to and staffed by military personnel, and didn't exist to the rest of the world. While evolved from more primitive social establishments, each had developed a distinct culture of its own. Underground was no exception.

This history passed Jane by as she stood over her captain. The rules of this game were simple – to stay within the circle, to remain conscious and at least relatively unharmed, and to not give up. Everyone had varying tactics to win; and one of hers was to prolong the fight as much as possible.

She wiped her eyes, and blinked over the spectators. She felt lightheaded, and her sight lingered over the stairs; a moment later the view blurred as the world fell around her. Uncertain at first, she was relieved to feel sudden pain in her knees as she twisted to catch herself on the floor. She wasn't fainting; it was only Gray that kicked her. She would have pushed herself back up, had she not noticed how the tips of three fingers of her right hand crossed the thinly drawn white line of the boundary. She slumped there; even as Gray tried to help her up, she shrugged him off. It's just a bad couple of days…

She pushed herself up suddenly, trying to get away from the circle. She ran across the floor, towards the staircase and the platform above… to where Neil was. He stood alone against the wall, his hands behind his back; and was quite near to the door. She stopped close to him, but dared not touch him; and he smiled – something that broke through the gloom of the days.

"The old man kicked your ass," he may have only teased, but the comment stung.

"He wouldn't have if I hadn't seen you," she accused; but it made him grin.

"Yeah?" He turned his head and scanned the floor below. She shrugged in response, but he missed it. He shifted his position to free a hand, and reached out to hold onto the railing… something that was too far away from his grasp, "Can we go home?"

While she didn't feel like being there either, she thought the tone behind the request was strange, "Sure." She took hold of his still outstretched hand, and was surprised at the sheer tension it contained. Nevertheless, she brought it back to him. "Neil?" concern struck hard, even as he stared elsewhere, but she shoved it back, "Are you okay?"

"No; can we go?" Choked, he may have been, by some force she couldn't see and couldn't feel but for that.

"Of course," She slipped her arm around his shoulders to lead him away, since he seemed to have no impulse of his own; and he clung to her.