Akky says her goodbyes, haranguing the other Broken and a much more personal moment with Nike. In telling him what she felt, she remembers even more. And, things she did not want to.

This story is absolutely not going where I thought it was.

Enjoy my content? Buy me a beer!

She was sitting on a dilapidated bench outside of the three main buildings of Machine Shop.  Akaiame had been there for what she thought was only a few minutes, but noticed the voices of the other Broken as they came home.  Voices that all seemed to mention her.

“I’ve not done anything wrong!” She lifted her head to yell at them, almost all teen boys.

“You!  You of all people!  Why don’t you rebel?  Stand up for yourselves!”

The movement past her stopped.

“What the – ” the word came to her.  “Hell are you afraid of!”

Everyone but her covered their ears.  It was as if the Wall had rung.

“We… we all have hope!” Szikra began.

“Good for you!” Akaiame stood.  “I’m taking action!”

She was past the Room for Hatchlings and nearly to hers when she saw him.

Not now!  Please not now!  I’ll never get out of here if he…!

“Quite the little speech,” Nike said.  He lit the cigarette in his mouth and turned it around for her.

She took it.

He made another appear from his hand and lit that one.  He leaned left.  Akaiame leaned right.  The interior of the ‘Shop seemed cold, tonight.

“Yeah,” she finally replied.  She pointed at his wings.

“I learned a term yesterday, from an overly nice kid at The Farm.” A drag off her smoke.

“And what was that?” Nike exhaled through his nose.

“That…” She took the cigarette from her mouth and looked at it.  “I prefer filterless.”

Akaiame stared at Nike.

“What does that mean and how do I know it?”

“Don’t know,” he shrugged.

She took a huge drag.

“For another, I’ll tell you a story… about my brother.”

Nike had been reaching for his pocket for smokes.  His lighter fell to the ground.

“You remember… you really remember?”

“Naah.” With a last pull Akaiame tossed the butt to the ground.  “But… I FEEL!”

“Here,” Nike shook the pack.  Akaiame took the one furthest out.  She put it between her lips and leaned forward.

He lit it.

A puff in her mouth she pulled into her lungs.  She let it out; slow.

“You know, I love you?”

“It’s obvious.”

Akaiame took another drag.

“Let me tell you what I saw… no… better!  What I saw and felt!” She gestured past him towards her new room.  He nodded and let her talk.

“He began to talk to me before I was awakened,” she began.

“What does that mean?” Nike immediately countered.

“I don’t know.  Didn’t you talk to me in my egg?”

“Your point.  Please go on,” he smiled.

I want to kiss him so badly.

“Later, even when I was being hurt at… at… some place, Brother was always there for me.  Brought me food, helped me to stand.” Akaiame took a shaking breath.  “He was so nice.”

Her cigarette out, Nike lit another and passed it to her.  That his lips touched it first made her wings shudder.

“When…when he told me he had been told to leave, by,” she snarled, “Mother, that bitch, it was the end of my world.  All I wanted was my brother and in days he would be gone.”

She stared off at the Walls.

“I…I might remember he was going to meet someone?  A girl?” A shake of her head.  “Nothing is clear, just feelings, do you understand, Nike?”

“After a fashion, yes.  There have only been a few Broken who recall as much as you are saying now,” he replied.  With a slow blink, he leaned closer to her.  She didn’t move, so he kissed her on her lips.

“Our kind are not supposed to have any relationships, past holding hands, like Fire and Ice,” he explained, leaning back.  Akaiame thought her heart was going to explode.  “If you’d not been such a jerk with the priests, they would have told you that.”

“I was given a better offer.”

That drew Nike up short.

“From who?”

“Some man’s voice.  I think he’s a Broken.  The one Snaren told me about, atop Building Three.”

“Engineer?” Now he looked off at the Walls for a few moments.  “The only one here longer than I’ve been.  We knew one another for a bit, but he had such ideas…  May I ask what he said to you?”

“You may, but I won’t tell you unless you kiss me again.  Damn the rules,” she smiled, ruffling her feathers.

This time, when he leaned to her, their halos make a *tink* sound as they hit.  Only when he finally leaned back did she reach up.

“I don’t need this anymore,” she said rotating it slowly.  Now in her hands, she tossed it aside.  The look on Nike’s face was priceless.

“Who are you?  What are you?” he asked in a whisper.

“I’m unique, I think the word is.  And, as much as I love you, I’m leaving.” She stood then sat in his lap, resting her head onto his chest.  “Just for you, Nike:  when you bullied my name out of me after hatching?  That red rain was a mix of my blood and my brother’s.  I am not a good Broken.  I will make my own way and I will find my brother.”