Clearing the Air
Chapter 4: Clearing the Air
***
(Sunset)
A ringing noise awoke me at about three in the morning. I opened my eyes to see the phone on our nightstand flashing, waiting to be answered. I picked it up and hit the talk button.
"I like my sleep, so make it quick." I mumbled into the reciever. Normally I wouldn't be so rude but I was too tired to care about manners.
Mira's half asleep voice filtered through the other side. "I do too. Give it to Lacyus."
I shook Lacyus gently and he woke up, a look of tired annoyance crossing his face. "What?"
"Mira on the phone."
Lacyus took it and pushed the speakerphone button. "You better have a good reason for waking me up."
"Shut up and listen." I heard Mira ruffling papers on the other side of the line. "New orders from the Guild."
"Bounty Hunters?"
"No shit you idiot. Actually, the guy who sent these orders at this time is the idiot. It says: 'Lieutenant Commander Mira Akival. The construction on the PHX-SA Phalanx Specification Alpha Prototype Mobile Interdiction Unit and PDN-U4 Paladin Unit 4 Mobile Assault System have beem completed. We are now ready for inital field tests for the Phalanx. Please send the pilot candidate to Misier Base in Fyroduce city for calbration and set up. Please send one additional personelle to supervise the transit of Paladin Unit 4 from Misier Base to Headquarters. That is all. General Fay Jueng. Bounty Hunters Experimental Engineering Corps.'"
"So when do I leave?" Lacyus mumbled, pulling the blankets up more.
"Tomorrow. Guild's booked a train at 9:00 AM. Who's gonna come with you?"
"I'll go." I offered.
Mira yawned. "Sorry Sunny, but you don't pull enough rank. Minimum for this assignment is Private and you're an Ensign Trainee."
"What's going on?" A foreign voice came from the foot of the bed. Lacyus and I looked up to see Ennica standing at the end of our bed, completely awake and absently chewing on a pepperoni stick.
"How can you function at a time like this?" I mumbled.
"Me?" Ennica pointed at herself and took another bite out of her pepperoni stick. "Panther Xenomorphs are partially nocturnal. And I was hungry so yeah." She pointed at the bed and I nodded. She scooted up the side and laid down on it. "So what's going on? As far as I know dragons get really irritated if they don't get enough sleep."
"Orders from the guild. Lacyus needs someone to go with him to pick up a suit of powered armor."
"I'll go." Ennica offered, finishing her pepperoni stick.
"Sorry, but guild members only."
"The Order of the Realms has hundreds of manufactured identities arranged with the leaders of hundreds of organizations. It'll take a couple of hours if I put the request in now, but I'll be a bounty hunter by morning. Plus, I can get court marshalled if I 'Ignore my duties as an attendant of the Lord of Shadows.'"
Mira yawned again. "Whatever. Sounds good. Train leaves at 9:00 AM. Be there at 8:45." And with that, there was a click and she hung up.
Ennica got up. "I'll just place the request right now. G'night."
As Ennica left, I snuggled my serpentine body up to Lacyus. "Well, at least I get to fall asleep with you again."
Lacyus smiled affectionately. "You think you can transform back into a dragoness?"
"Sure." The transformation came slowly at first but sped up as I gathered energy.
When I was back into a dragoness, Lacyus pulled me in and let me snuggle up to him again. "See you in the morning, my love." And with that, he promptly fell asleep.
I nearly laughed, because it was the first absolute time that Lacyus fell asleep before I did. I gave a loving kiss to the tip of his snout before I fell asleep too.
***
(Mira)
I hung up the phone and yawned. I had been up since that fight I had with Skyve. As usual, I felt guilty for yelling at him. In my frustration, I had taken apart my dual barreled rifle and was in the process of running a detailed stripping of the components and a thorough cleaning. Brushes and swabs and cleaning rods laid in pieces on the ground. I grabbed the firing pin from one of the bolts and began to polish it. After I polished it, I moved to the different retention pins in the bolt, polishing each one like I would treat my own pups if I had any.
After properly oiling the parts and replacing them in the bolt carriage, I moved onto the second bolt and repeated the process. After both bolts were put back together, I popped one of the barrel assemblies out of the rifle. I looked down it and, to my dismay, saw shit lining the entire barrel and caked up in the firing chamber. I pulled out a thin wire brush on a long rod and pushed it down the barrel.
The door suddenly creaked and Skyve's head poked in. "You're up late."
I gave a tired smile. "Yeah. Gotta finish this though." I gestured to my rifle.
Skyve silently opened the door more before he walked in. "You want some help?"
"Knock yourself out." I popped the second barrel assembly out and handed it to Skyve. He grabbed a pick and began to scrape out the firing chamber. We sat in complete silence, until I broke it. "I'm sorry for yelling at you."
"It's okay."
"Yeah, but still. I need to be less tempermental if I even want to have a chance at having another mate." I put a couple of drops of cleaning oil down the barrel and continued to brush it out.
Skyve was having better luck, as chunks of built up carbon fell out of the chamber. "We had a lot of fun together. I kinda miss that about you."
My heart skipped a few beats at the mention of Skyve missing me. I nodded in agreement. "Remember that career festival?"
Skyve laughed. "How could I forget! You dragged me to the Bounty Hunter's Guild kiosk first thing and got us prizes for being the first to visit there. And later when we returned, you got another prize for being the only girl to visit it."
"Yeah. Aside from the dance you asked me to be your mate, that was probably the most fun I had with you."
Skyve finished with the pick and picked up a second barrel brush. "Maybe we could do something together. Maybe just go wandering Downtown Vancouver a bit?"
I grabbed the pick and began scraping out the firing chamber. "Maybe, but not tommorrow. I'm gonna probably sleep 'till dinner at this rate."
We finished cleaning in silence and I reassembled the rifle. I got up and set the rifle against the wall. "If you don't mind, I'm gonna get ready for bed."
"By all means." Skyve walked out the door and called back from behind him. "Night Mira."
"G'night Skyve."
I proceeded to strip all my clothes off, except my bra, and put on a pair of nice and soft flannel PJ pants. I wandered into the bathroom to brush my teeth and scrub my face's scales. As I took the abrasive pumice chunk and started scrubbing off the dead scales, I could hear Skyve talking on the phone.
"Listen Mary, I know you're scared... Well, I hate to say it but I'm not the one who stayed up to watch 'The Thing', 'Nightmare on Elm Street' and 'Friday the 13th'... Yeah, I'd be nervous too... Not to the point you're at..... Sorry Mary, but I have work tommorrow and I'm pushing the envelope as it is. I need sleep, so I'm really sorry but you'll have to do without me for tonight, okay..... I know, I'm sorry, so just think of me if you're scared, okay?..... I love you too..... Bye."
I walked out of the bathroom into the living room to see Skyve massaging his temples. He looked up at me. "Dating you was heaven compared to Mary."
"Then why are you going out with her?"
Skyve sighed and shook his head. "I dunno.... It's sort of tied in with why I dumped you. You wouldn't understand."
I nodded. "Alright. I believe you now. Good night."
Skyve smiled. "Sweet dreams."
I went to my room and climbed into bed. Drifting off to sleep, I started to dream. It was one of my better dreams. Skyve and I were in love again. Except this was different. We were no longer just 14 or 16 years old. We were our current ages, me at 22 years old and Skyve at 23 . He had dumped Mary because he found out that she was using him and he had gone back to me. We were cuddled up on the couch in our apartment, watching a movie. Skyve had me lovingly wrapped in his wings, giving me tender licks and kisses and showering me with affection. The hardest thing about this dream was waking up. Every time I did, I just wanted to cry.
***
Several hours later at sunrise
***
(Lacyus)
I was gently awoke by Sunset moving against me. She was simply rearanging herself in my arms. She often did this just before she woke up. I opened my eyes and was greeted by a very rare glimpse of Sunset. Most of the time in the morning, I couldn't see Sunset because her face was tucked into the crook of my neck. This morning, she laid slightly further away, allowing the rising sun to reflect off her scales. It was very hard to discern her element marks but it didn't matter. The light that filtered through the window reflected off of her scales to give them a tawny hue, almost a orange beige several shades darker than her old colors from when she was just a Lightdragon. She looked incredibly beautiful, making me thank the gods for allowing me to fall in love with such a girl. I could just lay there for eternity, watching Sunset's gentle breathing. Unfortunately, I had to catch a train so I decided to wake her up the way I knew she loved to be woken up. I pulled her in closely and kissed her on the tip of her muzzle.
Sunset groaned a little and opened her eyes sleepily, giving me an affectionate smile. The light made her eyes sparkle, making the little metalic bits in her golden irises stand out perfectly.
"Sunlight doesn't go good with burgundy scales Lac." Sunset murmured sleepily.
I gave her another kiss. "It makes you look perfect."
She sighed and cuddled up to me. "I'm going to make it up to you."
I frowned. "It's okay. I love you anyways."
On our link, I felt Sunset's thoughts become colored with love. However, there was a sliver of guilt. "I know, but I just feel a bit too guilty to be at peace with myself. I'm gonna get you a gift."
I smiled. "Nothing too big."
Sunset kissed my chin. "I'll get you whatever you want. You deserve it."
I thought for a moment. Then an idea popped into my head. "Okay. Draw a picture then."
"That's not enough. You
Sunset groaned a little more and sat up. "We better get going if we're going to get you on that train."
We got up and showered and dressed. In Ennica's room, there was a note.
_Have gone ahead to pick up papers
See you at station
Ennica_
Sunset was frying up some bacon in the kitchen and I was scrambling some eggs when Nephilla stumbled down the stairs, wrapped in a thick blanket. Sunset's face lit up.
"Neph! How are you feeling?"
Nephilla looked over and smiled. "Hundred times better. Still got-" She paused and coughed. "-this nasty cough and a sore throat but I'm getting better. I heard you're going back to Amorphis."
Sunset picked the last pieces of bacon out of the pan and poured in the eggs. "Yeah, I gotta drop off Lacyus at the train station. Why?"
"I wanna spend some time with mom and dad. I should actually after 15 years thinking I was a human."
"I don't see any reason why you can't tag along." I suggested.
Rykuu trudged down the stairs. Nephilla walked over and kissed him. "Rykuu?"
He smiled at Nephilla. "Yeah?"
"Do you mind if I go to Amorphis for a couple of days to see my mom and dad?"
Rykuu shook his head. "Nope. Shouldn't be a problem."
Sunset scooped out the eggs. "Well. You need to get ready cause we're leaving soon."
***
(Ennica)
"Big sister!"
Amel charged me as soon as she saw me. I caught her and lifted her onto my shoulders.
"So how was the sleepover?"
"Fun!"
I smiled. "Good to hear. Listen, I'm sorry but I have to leave you at home alone for a couple days. I'm going out of town on Order buisness. I'm pretty sure you can take care of yourself right?"
Amel nodded. "I can. I did it for two years."
"Good. There's some money if you need to go to the store but there should be enough groceries for about two weeks. Remeber to call Echelon over to help you cook."
I opened the door to my apartment. Ever since I turned my life's direction from a overly obsessed soldier to a normal girl, I had re-decorated my apartment. The walls were a pale green and I had put in a new couch. The bedroom was now a pleasant light blue. Amel refused a normal bed, saying it was too soft, so I got her a futon to replace the cot she used to sleep on. The walls were pretty plain but on one side, I was starting to put up pictures of me and my friends. My favorite so far was one of Mira and me doodling on Lacyus face with a Sharpie while he snoozed on the beach.
I went to my bedroom and began to pack clothes. Amel sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. About thirty minutes later, There was a knock at the door.
"I'll get it!" Amel yipped and dashed for the door. I couldn't see the door but I heard it open. "Who are you?"
A very familiar voice answered. "I'm Echelon. Is En-"
Amel cut him off. "You're Ennica's mate right?"
"Yes. Is Eni-"
Amel cut him off again. "How long have you two been mates?"
"About a week. Can I see-"
Again. "Have you kissed her?"
"Yes. Can I-"
And again. "Have you slept with her?"
I could feel Echelon become nervous on our link. "Well, ummmm..."
"That's enough Amel. I'm back here Echelon."
I could hear the patter of Amel dashing back to the couch. Echelon appeared in the doorway. I looked at him and realized something was different. It took a moment to realize it but I eventually got it.
"How come your hair's not braided?" I asked. When not in a braid, Echelon's hair came down to just below his shoulder.
He grinned sheepishly. "I need an elastic. I ran out of string to lace it up."
"There in the bathroom. Second drawer from the door."
Echelon went over and got one. He came back and quickly braided his hair with a five piece braid. He continued to help me pack.
"You don't have to do this for me." I offered.
Echelon grinned slyly. "I know. It just gives me an excuse to get off of admin duties and spend time with my mate."
I made a face. "Admin duties?" Everyone in the Order of the Realms hated admin duties. It was usually reserved for the newbies or for extra duties assigned as punishment.
"Me and some of the British SAS stole some of the officer's off duty passes. We went into town, screwed around and got caught when we got back."
"What did the SAS and US Navy Seals think of you?"
"SAS were my best friends. There was this guy, Jeromes, he had a talent for 'aquiring' the chocolate bars out of our IMP (Author's note: Individual Meal Packages. Think one pack of food, juice crystals, instant rice or pudding or oatmeal, gum in the breakfast meals, cookies at lunch and a chocolate bar at dinner. I had them when I was an army cadet and they're actually pretty good.). Markus was the best poker player ever. Seals didn't like the idea of working with a feline at first but they got used to it after I caught some fresh meat."
"Sounds like fun."
Echelon laughed a little. "It was."
I zipped up my bag and picked it up. "Well, I guess this is good bye."
Echelon shook his head. "Actually, I wanna walk you to the station. Just to give you a proper good bye."
***
(Mira)
Samuel had his dress shirt and slacks on. He worked in a small bookstore. I wasn't working today so I was still in my PJs with one of my DV Nekomata automatic .488 cal armor piercing pistols in pieces in front of me. It was clean, but the manufacturer reccomended that it should be stripped and inspected every month. I had learned the hard way that, as good as these pistols were, they did jam sometimes. Same with my rifle, a DV Riesigal .60 cal double barrel armor piercing sabot rifle.
Sam straigtened his shirt and turned to me. "Anything wrong?"
I gave him a quick sweep. "Nope."
"Right. See ya later."
"Bye."
Samuel walked out the door and I continued inspecting my pistol.
***
(Lacyus)
Sunset and I were sharing our last few moments together, cuddling in one of the waiting chairs at the train station. She had her muzzle just under my neck, letting me gently rub her back.
"You looked so beautiful this morning." I murmured to her.
"Really?"
"Yeah. And don't ever worry about me leaving you. That's what this is for." I took her hand and gently gave her ring finger a squeeze, making sure she knew her engagement ring was there.
A voice came over the intercom. "Attention please. The 9:00 to Fyroduce City has arrived. We shall begin boarding now."
I sighed. "That's me."
We got up and walked over to the train. It was a five day trip to Fyroduce so Ennica and I would have our own cabin. In front of us, Echelon was saying goodbye to Ennica. They hugged and kissed and finally Ennica boarded the train. Echelon spotted us as we walked up.
"Have a good trip and please take care of Ennica."
I smiled. "It shouldn't be that bad."
I turned to Sunset and kissed her and hugged her tightly. "I love you and I'll miss you Sunset.
Sunset gently nuzzled my neck. "I will too."
With that, we broke the hug and I boarded the train. I found my cabin, where Ennica was already getting settled in. It had wood panel walls and two nicely cushioned green leather seating benches. They would double as beds when pulled out.
She sighed. "Always hated trains."
I frowned. "Why?"
Ennica shoved her bag under her seat and laid on the bench. "They're so boring. Nothing to do."
"You've never traveled with a friend before have you?"
She shook her head and smiled. "Never considered that."
There was a creaking as the train began to move. I felt a twinge of sadness as Sunset ran up to the window, kissing her hand and pressing it to the window. I kissed my hand and pressed it to hers.
That was the bad part of having a telepathic link. After a time of having it, it created an emotional need for the other's attention. Even talking over the phone wouldn't help. We both knew each other's most intimate secrets and trusted each other heart and soul. As tough as I wanted to think I was, I always had a soft spot in my heart for Sunset and if we were seperated for no matter how long, I could always feel that spot ache for her.