Cracks

It was already after sundown by the time Eve finally saw Alva running down the street towards her, waving and calling her name. As she drew closer, she began to slow to a jog, visibly out of breath. The teen practically collapsed against the wall, struggling for air.

"I just need... one second..." The smaller girl panted, raising a finger, "One second..." Eve waited patiently for the one minute her sister took to catch her breath, "Mmkay! I'm good!" She exclaimed, pushing off the wall.

"You're half an hour late." Eve stated bluntly.

"It's not my fault! Any shuttles that drop you off anywhere near the main gate of the CRYSIS HQ requires you to have a military status and ID!" Alva retorted, already beginning to pout, "The nearest public shuttle stop was practically in the next district!"

"Alright, alright." Eve raised her hands in defeat, "But why did you want to meet me at the main gate anyway? It would have been easier to just meet at the apartment."

"Because I heard something interesting today." The younger of the two said with a grin before grabbing Eve's hand and pulling her down the street, back the way she'd run from. Stumbling a little from being semi-dragged awkwardly, pulled her hand away, but remained walking closely behind Alva.

"You ran across half the district, making me wait half an hour, because you heard something interesting." Eve attempted to follow her sister's though process aloud. Alva threw her another pouty look before picking up the pace. Sighing, Eve decided to remain quiet, and acted—as she found through experience—the best way to do so around Alva; which was to just go with it.

They walked for a good 15 minutes before Eve realized they'd reached the edge of the CRYSIS district. Alva slowed to a stop and began examining the shrubbery behind a low wall along the pavement. Eve watched with mild interest as the teen poked and shifted different areas before she finally let out a yell.

"Found it!" She looked towards Eve, pointing towards the bushes. Eve moved to stand behind her. She looked to see what seemed to be a small path leading away from them, through the vegetation. The tree-line of part of a forest started a few yards away so she couldn't see much farther in.

"A path into the forest." Eve observed verbally.

"Not just any path, come on!" Alva said excitedly, already climbing over the half-wall.

"Alva, it's dark already, I had a long day." Eve sighed heavily, "Can we just go home? We can play get-lost-in-the-forest some other time." In the process of voicing her suggestion, she became semi-aware that the smaller girl was probably paying less attention to her and more attention to the larger bush that looked as if it were ingesting her leg.

"You coming?" Came a question instead of an answer.

"Alva-"

"C'mon it'll only take a second!" The younger of the two was already making her way down the tiny path. Shutting her eyes for a moment, Eve took a deep breath. When she opened them, she noticed the crystal street-lights were lighting up to illuminate the roads. She also noticed the lights along the CRYSIS district walls were emitting enough light to keep the 'path' at least somewhat visible. Fully aware that she'd probably regret doing so, she swung herself over the low wall and began to follow her sister towards who knew where.

Fortunately the path remained on the outskirts of the forest and near the lights from the CRYSIS district walls. The two siblings continued for about 10 minutes before Eve noticed a light that differed from the ones they'd been relying on until then. It was an eerie blue and seemed to be coming from a much larger source. Unfortunately branches and leaves blocked the view of whatever it was. Another few feet, however, and she noticed a they were reaching a clearing.

She watched Alva stumble out first and look towards what she assumed was the source of whatever the blue light was. Finding her pace quicken, she eventually reached the clearing as well and stepped out, dusting herself off before following Alva's gaze.

"Whoa!" The younger sibling spoke first, "It looks even bigger up close!"

Eve swallowed a lump in her throat as she took in the sight. They were literally standing about 20 yards away from the base of the Crystal Pillar. Her eyes climbed upwards along the crystal, mapping the way it looked as if it were flowing upward. The flower-like structures under the base of the dead planet looked more like fireworks from where she stood, looking up at that particular angle.

It was visible from anywhere in Crystallinus, but she'd never been this close. The CRYSIS district was built around the base of the Pillar but there was about a 40 yard perimeter around it, moderately guarded. She wasn't sure of the specifics but she'd been pretty sure a Lance-Corporal wouldn't have had clearance to be anywhere near the base of the Pillar. Not that she wanted to. The Pillar had always given her a cold chill or a quiet sense of discomfort whenever she thought about it too much. She may have even unconsiously begun to avoid being anywhere near the Baseline. Strangely enough, being so close somewhat quelled the unease, soothed it-

"Look! There's an opening!" Alva's voice snapped her eyes back to ground level, where she saw the teen heading towards the glowing blue crystal mass.

"Alva, wait-!" Eve started but also noticed something odd about the glow. While it was faint, the size of the Pillar create quite a large amount of light. However, looking closer at the crystal wall, there was a soft pulsing glow behind it. Curiosity getting the better of her, she found herself rushing after Alva, but not quite with the intention of stopping her. Alva had already clambered her way into the small opening by the time Eve had reached it. The older of the two hesitated for a second before climbing in after her.

It wasn't a long passage but seemed more or less natural meaning some segments were tighter than others. Finally rolling out of a particularly tight squeeze, Eve finally found herself in an open space. No, open room? Her eyes had to refocus to a slightly different lighting but they widened as a reflex when she realized what she was staring at. The Crystal Pillar was hollow. They were standing in it. What was more was that there was a smaller, thinner pillar running up the middle of it. And it was the inner pillar that was the source of the pulsing light.

"What... what is it?" Eve heard Alva ask. Both of them knew they probably wouldn't get an answer. Eve was too busy following the inner pillar upwards. She couldn't quite see what was at the top—but whatever it was, it was something you could only see from the inside. Was it... moving?

There was a suddenly pulse, not only of light, but a force that Eve felt through her entire body. She looked down against to see Alva reaching for the pillar.

"Alva don't!" She warned, jumping towards the smaller girl. She managed to grab Alva's outstretched hand but landed awkwardly on a few loose crystal fragments which that her off balance. She tried to angle herself away from the PIllar but she'd pulled Alva along with her so she ended up reflexively grabbing at the pillar to keep them both from falling. She succeeded, for the most part.

"Aw c'mon Eve, that's not fair!" Alva said from the awkward position she was in: being half-carried under one of Eve's arms, "Why do you get to touch it?"

"I didn't have a-" Eve began but was cut off when another pulse echoed through the room—no, through her hand-

"-ou want quiet, take the next train-"

"-omise I'll protect Cocoon-!"

"-loose, but I'm a l'cie, same as you-"

"-ive up! Forget our focus! We don't need it-!"

"-tear down the sky if it'll save her-"

"-Don't you even-!"

"-What do you want from me-?"

"-ow do you pay for what you've done-?"

"-mpossible possible! That is our focus-!"

"-you ready-?"

"Araaaaagh!" Eve finally let out a scream as another pulse surged past her hand and arm; Into her body—no, through her body—sending her and Alva flying backwards a few feet. Eve landed hard on her back, Alva rolling out of her grip a few feet away.

Eve clutched her head. The muffled voices were fading but was replaced by loud static, almost cracking noise. She forced herself up and noticed Alva lying on the ground, not moving.

"Alva!" She scrambled over, grabbing the smaller girl and pulling her into her arms, "Alva?" The teen was still breathing, most likely unconscious. She had to get her out of the Pillar. Eve adjusted Alva's position and picked her up, making her way towards the entrance. She felt her footing slip and fell to one knee. Had she the blast effected her that bad? She then noticed that, even while kneeling, she felt unbalanced. A tremor?

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself back to her feet and slowly made her way to the opening in the Pillar. The tremor began to get violent as was forced to half carry, half drag Alva throw the crystal. As she reached the outside, the tremors began to cease. Stopping only for a few moments to catch her breath, Eve then continued back down the path they'd came. There were no words that could explain what she was thinking or feeling. The only thing that was clear was that she wanted keep Alva, as well as herself, as far away from the Crystal Pillar as possible.

A/N:

BEHOLD! THE OMNIOUS-ITY... or something o_0
These chapters are getting long... but hopefully not boring.