Chapter 4: Among Lost Souls

Max~

After Layla left to go find possible work, it left me to my thoughts. I wasn't as rushed as she was when it came to time, as buying food wouldn't take nearly as long as what I sent her off to do. Looking back on it, we should of switched roles, but I didn't really want to trust her with buying food when even a small mistake could lead to extreme illness all the way to death on my part.

Thinking back to the research I did on the omni-tool when Layla was still asleep, I went over in my head the different typical turian foods, reminding myself exactly what I should be looking for, and what meal it would fulfill. Human food was much easier to remember, thanks to my years of experience as a human myself. Thinking about it made me feel a pang of sadness, knowing that I could never eat my favourite foods again, but I steeled myself and tried not to harbour such negative thoughts about my situation.

Actually buying the food itself was easy, and relatively uneventful. Most of the places I found that sold food reminded me of those foreign market stalls you always see when travelling abroad, though one or two of the places I found resembled the corner shops I was more used to, if simultaneously more futuristic and run-down.

I was quite pleased with my little haul actually, as I had got quite a bit of relatively alright looking turian food, and as it turns out, pots of instant noodles are quite popular and cheap as all hell, meaning I had some food that Layla would be pleased with too.

As I walked back with the food I purchased, I noticed a tall imposing looking turian, blue markings on his face, but that wasn't what drew my attention. He was wearing this heavy set of armour, coloured mostly blue with white circles and lines around it. I realized that I actually recognized this armour, being representative of the Blue Suns mercenary group.

For obvious reasons, I didn't want to be around this person, both because of the implications that the armour he wore held, and that he had a proper assault rifle on his back, and could of probably killed me as easily as one might snap a finger, or talon, in my case.

Before I could slowly and carefully go another way, he noticed my presence, and called over to me. "Hey! You!" His tone didn't seem threatening, but that didn't make me feel any safer.

Deciding that doing what they wanted would make the safest situation out of all the actions I could of taken, I replied. "Yes? You're talking to me, right?"

I really hope he isn't.

"Of course I'm talking to you." The Blue Sun answered, filling me with the slightest feeling of dread. "I got something I want to ask you."

Good things do not normally come from that statement.

Trying to play it cool, I decided to run with it. "Sure, what do you need?" I hoped acting polite and non-confrontational would get me off with a mild threat at worst, and it seemed to pay off, but not in the way I expected.

"I don't suppose you're looking for work?"

"I am actually, why do you ask?" I was beginning to think that I was absurdly lucky. I managed to get some decent food relatively cheap, and then it seemed I actually was having people coming up to me with job offers, instead of the other way round.

"Just letting you know that the Blue Suns are recruiting at the moment." He stopped and swept his talon over his armour, as if it wasn't abundantly clear who he worked for. "Don't worry if you don't have too much combat experience, we train the new recruits on the job."

That… could actually be a possibility. I mean yeah, I'm not exactly ready for that kind of thing, but it's an option for sure.

"I will definitely consider it, thanks." I told him, and he sent me a little digital leaflet over omni-tool, detailing exactly where to go and when you had to apply by, as well as general information about the job. It was surprisingly professional and tame looking considering it was for a group of space-criminal mercenaries, actually.

The rest of the trip back to the room Layla and I had bought was uneventful, leaving me in decently high spirits. When I actually got back to the room, I first made sure to store away all the food, making a conscious effort to keep mine and Layla's food apart from each other, not willing to risk cross-contamination.

I slumped down on the couch, checking my handy holographic tool for the time. I noticed that I had got back about two hours before we were supposed to actually meet up, but that didn't surprise me too much, my job being the far less time consuming of the two.

I decided to spend the time familiarizing myself with the wrist mounted super-tool, looking at the different features it had, how they worked, and I even had a little look on how all the omni-tool hacking tricks worked. I didn't really understand them at the time, but it was clear to me that it was something that I could end up learning.

This took up quite a lot of time, enough that it actually went past the time we were supposed to come back here by, and I didn't even notice til about thirty minutes after said time. I eventually backed out of the extranet, and noticed the time.

"Fuck." I told myself. "She should be here by now." I got up, and started to pace a little, actually beginning to get worried. "I mean, she could just be late. Or perhaps she found a job, and is already working?" I tried to legitimize her absence, the excuses sounded poor to me.

"What am I talking about. I fucked up." I held my head in my talons. "I shouldn't let her out on her own, I mean, just being killed is one of the nicer things that could happen to you here, for fucks sake." I felt horrible, having felt like I doomed the only person I knew here that I could relate with to a likely horrible death.

My mind was racing with thoughts on what could've happened to her, quickly leading to the darkest possible outcomes, like slavery and a slow death. I couldn't keep my usually more optimistic thoughts, due to the harm someone had come over because I didn't think things through enough.

I was close to taking out my gun and charging out the front door- when I heard a hiss.

The front door opened to reveal a familiar looking companion of mine. Except, something was different. Her skin seemed to be paler than normal, unseeing eyes staring at the floor with shaky hands either side of her. The more prominent detail that I instantly spotted and put ice into my veins- was the blood splattered onto her clothes.

She looked like a zombie.

She didn't say anything. She just took a few steps, heading toward the bathroom, feet shuffling along the floor. She stumbled, hand tightly grasping the wall- which smeared a crimson stain across it.

Dreading the worst, I ran over to her, immediately trying to help her out in any way I could. "Layla! What happened? Are you alright?" The questions came out my mouth in quick succession.

Her shoulders were quaking but she stiffly nodded, attempting to move passed me. "I… nothing. I'm fine."

Not willing to let her brush me off after such an obvious lie, I blocked her path. "Layla… you're covered in blood, and you're pale. You are obviously not ok. Tell me what happened."

She was quiet again, then clenched her jaw. Her eyes watered, but no tears fell. "I…. someone tried to shoot me."

Tried.

Eyeing the blood on her person, I was slightly confused, but I had an idea of what could've happened. "What happened exactly? I can't help you if you don't say anything."

Her voice was so soft I almost didn't hear her. "It was him or me…. I had to."

While that still didn't tell me exactly what happened, it was easy to fill in the blanks. "I'm… I'm so sorry that you had to do that. I shouldn't of let you go it alone." I wasn't too sure what to actually tell her, not used to having to comfort someone after they killed another person in self defence.

"It's okay." She muttered. "I want to… wash the blood… I want to get it off."

"Alright." I didn't want to rush her, she clearly wasn't in a very good mindset, and I had to tread carefully not to upset her even more. "Just… we can talk after, all right? I don't want you to think you're on you're own."

She nodded, then quickly skittered off. A few minutes later, I could distantly hear running water through the slight gap in the door. I sat on the cruddy couch, my foreign hand pressing against my forehead.

This was fucked.

I really shouldn't of let her go on her own. I had the gun, for what good it would of done. I was the more physically imposing of the two, if I was there, I imagine whatever the situation was, it wouldn't have happened. But, of course, I was a fucking idiot and did exactly zero planning beyond 'wing it' like I always did and it backfired. A plan backfiring on myself was one thing, but to backfire on an innocent person whom I barely knew? Not exactly fair to them.

But then, would I be able to deal with such situations any better than she did? I mean, sure, I had a gun, but I didn't know how to use it. I had never shot a person, let alone killed one. I guess it was just fate, or something. The will of Omega. We managed to get food and accommodation, everything seemed to be going as well as they could in a slum. But Omega had to remind us. That this wasn't a safe place. Death is simply a part of living in Omega, and I suppose that in a morbid sense we were lucky to learn this without getting physically hurt in the process. If Layla was killed instead of killing someone else, where would of that left me? Not that I wanted to show it, trying to pull a brave face and all, but I don't think I would of been able to handle such a situation on my own.

Soon the running water ceased.

The dark haired girl came out a little bit after, wet hair raked over to the side. It looked like a tangled mess, but I didn't have a comb or a hairbrush to help her out. Layla's eyes were heavy, as if starved by sleep for a month. She wore the tracksuit again, but had the jacket part of the outfit removed, the only thing remaining was the black vest top, and shorts. They appeared damp, and I assumed she attempted to wash out the blood, despite the few freckles of red still staining the material.

I found myself sitting up, as she wandered over to the couch to curl up on the corner of the arm. She held her arms around her shins, pressing her chin on top of her knees.

There was a pregnant pause, and a thick quiet.

For a while, at least. I imagine for a much shorter time than it felt, but it really took a lot of effort to break a silence like that. I probably should have came up with something better to say than the age old, pointless question that never really needs an answer.

"Are… are you alright?" I tried to give her a sympathetic look. I doubt it helped.

I was ready to smack myself with a brick when she didn't answer for a good while. Her eyebrows made the cycle of folding and unfolding, mouth opening and closing. She didn't seem to know what to say, and hell if I was in her position I wouldn't either.

But after a solid minute, Layla finally managed to speak. Her voice was soft. "I'll be okay." Her fingers tightened along her legs. "I just… it's… I feel a little sick."

"Just, don't blame yourself, alright?" I paused, mostly to gauge her response, and make sure I hadn't crossed any boundaries. "It was my fault anyway. It was a stupid idea to split up. I should've thought about the risks."

She mulled over my words, a dry smile ghosting over her mouth for a split second. "We're on Omega, Max." She, albeit bitterly, pointed out. "I'm just lucky it was an ameatuer mugger."

"That doesn't exactly excuse me. I should of at least been there. It shouldn't of been something that either of us should've had to deal with alone." I told her, idly flicking my talons against my knee, unsure exactly where I was going with all of it.

"You couldn't have known, and probably would've gotten shot." She started, icy eyes snapping up to level with mine. "If I had to, I would've done the exact same choice to survive. It's done. We need to move on."

I doubted she fully meant this, more than likely it was an attempt to calm herself down through playing brave to me, something that was rather easy to recognize, considering I had been doing the exact same thing since we had got here.

"Did you get food?" Layla mumbled, changing the subject.

"Yeah. I did." I gestured up to the single pantry box built into the kitchen area's wall. "It's in there. You said you liked noodles, and they were cheap, so…" I trailed off.

She swallowed. I wasn't sure if it was the light, or if her eyes were naturally this shiny, but I could've sworn she was on the verge of crying. It pointed to the latter when her words had a light tremor. "Thank you."

"It's no big deal." Which was true, even if she didn't like noodles they really were the most cost effective food I found that wasn't some really dire mystery meat type thing. "What about you? Any luck finding work?"

Judging by the way she dishearteningly lowered her gaze, she didn't have to say anything. Reluctantly, she still shook her head, worrying her bottom lip. Deciding to actually address and attempt to cheer up the clearly distressed girl, I decided upon placing a hand on her shoulder. I felt her stiffen slightly under my touch, but she didn't shy away.

"It's alright. I'm sure you tried your hardest. Next time, we will go together, and hopefully we will get more success out of our efforts, right?"

It would help that I had a gun to defend us.

Layla inhaled deeply. She hesitated, but eventually bobbed her head in a nod. "Okay."

"I just want you to remember that we are in this together, and that we are going to be looking after each other, alright?"

A shot of confusion flittered across her face, she glanced up at me, brow furrowing. "You barely know me, why would you go through such trouble?"

I gave a noncommittal shrug. "I know you more than I know anyone else here." I tried to look a bit more positive about it all. "And if you really want a logical answer, two heads are better than one, and so forth."

She accepted my explanations, swiftly running a hand through her damp hair with another nod. "I suppose… yeah, you're right. Logically, if we're gonna survive in this mess, we should stick together."

I shot her finger guns, or I suppose talon guns, to lighten the mood. "Now you got it." I switched to a thumbs up. "We might even end up alright."

"Dork." She randomly pointed out, but the corner of her mouth curved. It didn't quite reach her eyes, however, it was a start.

"Hey, I'll take that." I slapped my hands on my knees for emphasis. "Tell you what. Once your hair is dry and you're feeling up to it, we go back out there, together, and try to fit in a bit more job hunting. I know you might not be exactly… eager to get back out there-"

"But we need money." She cut me off. "I know. It's important. I don't need to wait for my hair to dry, we can go in a few minutes."

"Cool. That's good. This time will be better, promise."

Layla gave me a strained smile. "Where do you think we should look first? Travelling to the Tuhi district may be ideal."

"Already know the districts by name? Seems like you have picked up a bit more than me. Or just remember more than me. Still useful though. Care to fill me in on what exact district that is?"

"I'm a bit of a nerd, guilty as charged." Layla awkwardly coughed. "I also… wrote fan made stories based on.. Well…" she gave a curt gesture to our room, but I knew she meant the mining station. "Here, so I have some minor information stuck in my head. The Tuhi district is a commercial area, so it would be a good place to start."

This was useful information to have, and was definitely distracting Layla of her troubles. "Sounds like a good place to go, I imagine it's probably safer than… whatever district we are in." I gestured a bit towards the door. "So… we good to go?"

"Let me get my shoes on."

"Right, I can do that." I thought to myself, that perhaps we could make this work.

Author's Notes

So, uh... what a punctual update, huh? I'm sure this wasn't completely out the left field whatsoever. If it's any consolation the huge delay for this was that as this story is written between me and LeShyWolf, we both got pretty busy for a little while, then just lost communication for a longer while. But we are back! For better or for worse anyway.

That chapter though, right? Some heavy shit, I'm sure. Killing dudes and buying food, we got it all. Except for jobs, as is the norm in the current political climate, right? I don't think it would be a surprise to many to hear that a place like Omega doesn't exactly have benefits or any kind of work scheme. I'm sure it will be fine. Just fine

And time for some replies to some reviews likely left by people who forgot they wrote them by this point.

Toothless is best- Let your wait be over, an update has arrived!

Anon- Yeah, I'm sure the other end of this story would be an odd and... interesting read. But, alas, the POV remains locked to our main characters, and it must stay that way, upon threat of death.

Spiritstrike- Yeah, death is pretty much par for the course in Omega. Best deal with it early to toughen yourself up for when you need to be strong, and hope the mental and emotional scarring remains at a minimum.

DrStache- I feel threatened by the alliteration. But this is my turf. Today, I can throw down in a threatening tumultuous manner. AND YOU CANNOT STOP ME. But for reals though, in terms of how it's written, dialogue and character actions made by the protagonists are almost exclusively written by one of us (I do max, LSW does Layla) and anything else is done by about an even split. We build of what each other writes, and change what might already exist for something that could fit better. We don't know each other in real life, LSW messaged me if I wanted to co-author something, I agreed, then we decided on what to write and went from there. Quite simple honestly.

As for the dog? Don't question it. The dog feeds off love, like a cute animal. Or a parasite. Pick whichever you prefer. Don't think I didn't see you throwing shade at me, just fight me man. Do it. I am the senate.