The oppressive violet haze clinging to the air near the Rift-Disaster zone finally began to thin as the Rift finally faded from view. Sealing all by itself without a sound and allowing for a sense of normalcy to return.
Aiko sat on the edge of a nearby rooftop, feeling quite pleased with herself. Granted, she hadnât achieved her initial goal of directly saving anyone, but she did, however, manage to round up quite a few of the monsters roaming within the Rift-Disaster zone.
One by one, she had rounded them up and contained them with her barriers. Squeezing the menagerie of monsters between two barriers like a giant sandwich press.
Of course, this wasnât a particularly viable long-term containment solution. Fortunately though, when she caught a glimpse of the area below where the rift had formed, she found no trace of any Luminaries present. Just a giant monster corpse strewn on the floor to show that they had been there.
It felt a bit odd, seeing no one around whilst the Rift still loomed above the city, but Aiko was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe they were off chasing a second big monster that had managed to slip away, or maybe the Luminaries knew no lesser monsters would spill out after the main one had been killed.
Either way, it provided a convenient solution to her monster containment issue as she could simply chuck the Rift-Spawn back through the Rift they had come through. And after she stayed for a while to make sure none of them crawled back through the Rift, she could then head off to round up a couple more batches.
Dangling her legs off the edge of the rooftop, she allowed herself a small smile as she thought about how many potential encounters, injuries, or worse she had prevented for the people sheltering nearby. Today, she had used her new monstrous form for something undeniably good.
Suddenly, she felt the phone in her pocket start to ring. Her mind instantly drifted into dread as it instinctively braced itself for another scolding from her irate boss.
Then she remembered her phone was still probably somewhere in her apartment, and her mind instantly perked back up as it narrowed down the only person who could be calling her on this phone.
Taking out the rugged phone, she swiped to accept the call, "Elara?"
"Aiko! Hey-hey! It's me!" Elara's voice burst through the speaker, crackling with static, but still able to carry over her usual cheeriness. "Oh man, Iâm sorry if I came across a little grouchy earlier, but Iâm feeling a lot more like myself now! Guess I just needed to stretch my legs, get a good dose of that lovely Verge air." She made a dramatic sniffing noise to emphasize her point. "And guess what, I even found a Mimic! Just dropped it off with Vance just now. Easy-peasy!"
"Elara! That's great news," Aiko replied, genuine relief mixing with her own residual satisfaction. "Iâm sure Vance's client will be⦠well, as relieved as someone in his situation can be, I guess."
"Right?" Elara chirped. "But anyway, you're not around the Iron Maw anymore?"
"Nope, I headed out. I'm back in Boston proper now," Aiko said, walking to the roof's edge and peering down. "Uh⦠corner of Elm and 5th? Near a Lumibucks?"
"Elm and 5th⦠near a Lumibucks?" Elara pondered this for a moment, "That doesnât narrow it down at all⦠but oh well, I can just use a map." She clapped her hands together. "Anyways, back to why I called you, I was thinking dinner. We can meet back at the safehouse where there is a nice big stack of cheese-" she cut herself off abruptly. "I mean, we could head out for dinner, I have some cash on me; however, a restaurant might be tricky."
Aiko couldn't help a small laugh. "Yeah, I can imagine so." She pictured Elara's violet eyes and clawed hands causing panic if they tried to seat themselves in a cozy family bistro.
"Tricky is an understatement, bestie," Elara agreed, though she sounded more amused than concerned. "Hmm⦠Ooh! I know! We can order takeout! Then, as the delivery person steps out of the shop, we 'rob' them! Take the food, leave them with the money! Imagine the look on their face after they get mugged by two Rift-Touched out of nowhere!"
Aiko pinched the bridge of her nose. "Elara, no. That's just⦠paying for takeout with extra steps and potential trauma for the driver."
"Fine, fine, spoil my fun," Elara sighed dramatically, though the crackle in her voice betrayed her lack of genuine offense. "Got a better idea?"
"I⦠I could cook?" The offer surprised even Aiko as she said it. "At my apartment. It's⦠well, I mean I already paid the rent for the rest of this month, so itâs still mine. I think I have the ingredients for pasta in my fridge, probably enough for two portions unless you plan on eating more."
The squeal that erupted from the phone was so high-pitched it nearly distorted. "Aiko! Are you serious?! A home-cooked meal?! At your place?! That's even better than cheeseballs! Well, almost! Oh my gosh, we havenât had a sleepover since we were kids. And now I get to see your grown-up apartment?"
The sheer, unadulterated joy in Elara's voice was infectious, momentarily washing away the strangeness of their situation. Aiko chuckled. "Okay, dinner at my place then. The address is 44 Acorn Street, apartment 3B."
"44 Acorn Street, apartment 3B." Elara relayed back to her. "I will save this address permanently in my maps app. Under my list of important locations not to accidentally blow up."
Aiko got a small chuckle from Elaraâs joke. At least, she hoped she was joking. "Well, I will see you there soon, then."
"Yep! See you soon!" Elara confirmed before the line went dead.
Aiko pocketed the phone, a strange mix of anticipation and nervousness settling in her stomach. Cooking dinner for her monstrous, mob-affiliated, dimension-hopping childhood friend was slightly nerve-wracking, but she had at least a modicum of confidence in her ability to whip up the one decent meal she knew how to make.
She moved across the rooftops with swift, easy strides. The familiar streets around her home eventually came into view. From her perch, she could see the corner deli she always passed by on her way to work. The nice coffee shop, which she had visited once when she moved in, and then never found the time to revisit.
The whole area felt strangely comforting after the desolation of the Verge. And yet it also felt like a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a couple of days since she last walked by.
She reached her building, a slightly shabby but well-kept brick structure, and buzzed herself in. The climb to the third floor felt shorter than ever, and eventually she reached her apartment. Moving to unlock the door until she realized it had been left unlocked.
Sighing a little, she stepped inside and locked the door behind her. The familiar scent of old books, dust, and the faint lemony cleaner she used hit her. Home.
She leaned against the closed door for a moment, absorbing the quiet sense of normalcy she felt. So much had changed in just two days: the kidnapping, the revelation of Elara becoming Rift-Touched, the fights, the Verge.
Her gaze fell on her phone, lying discarded on the small shelf next to the entryway with her purse. She picked it up, pressing the small power button to wake up the screen, which immediately bombarded her with a barrage of notifications and text messages from her former boss, Mr. Henderson.
(Where ARE you?! The project deadline was YESTERDAY!)
(Ignoring me won't work, Aiko! Answer your phone!)
(This is UNPROFESSIONAL! Consider this your final warning!)
(Fine. You're fired. Effective immediately. Don't bother coming in. Jenkins cleared your pathetic desk. Everything's in the dumpster out back.)
(Good luck finding another job without a reference.)
Aiko stared at the screen, her fingers opening the messaging app to type out a response. An explanation? How could she even explain what had happened whilst leaving out all the sensitive details?
Then she remembered she never liked Mr. Henderson and his stupid face. Her thumb held down the delete key, and she revelled in the cathartic feeling of the entire message disappearing.
With one more decisive tap, she blocked his number. The weight of that particular chain lifted instantly. She pocketed the phone, feeling lighter.
Dinner. Right. She headed to the small kitchenette, opening the fridge. The contents were sparse but serviceable: an array of tomatoes was scattered in the fruit tray. There was half an onion, some stray cloves of garlic, and a chunk of minced beef in the freezer. She knew she had a couple of packets of spaghetti in her cupboards, so she decided to cook her usual pasta.
She started by defrosting the mince in a bowl of cold water. Then she placed a pot on her small stove and filled it with water. As the water boiled, she worked on chopping up the tomatoes, onion, and garlic, her knifework feeling unnaturally precise as she sliced each ingredient with ease.
A sharp tapping sound came from her living room, shattering her concentration in half. Aiko turned, knife still in hand, to see Elaraâs face pressed against the glass, violet eyes wide with excitement and a huge grin on her face.
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Aiko couldn't help but laugh, finding it remarkably obvious in hindsight that Elara wouldnât simply use the door.
She walked over and unlocked the window, sliding it open. Elara scrambled in with surprising agility for someone with such long limbs and sharp points.
"Wow! Aiko! This is amazing!" Elara immediately began bouncing around the small room like an over-caffeinated puppy, examining everything. "Look at your books! You managed to fill an entire shelf with them! And your futon! It looks just like the one you had as a kid! Ooh, the room even smells like you! And is this a potted plant? Itâs adorable. Does it have a name?" She picked up the small, ornate plant, turning it over in her clawed hands with exaggerated care.
"Elara, relax! Dinner's almost ready," Aiko said, shaking her head but smiling. "And no, I donât think the plant has a name."
"Then I shall call you Jeremy." Elara chirped, placing the plant back down with theatrical precision before flopping onto the futon. She wriggled, testing the softness of the bedding. "Hmm, still feels as weird as I remember."
Aiko decided to turn back to the food, adding the onion and garlic into a pan to sauté. The water had started to boil, so she dumped the spaghetti in, letting it slowly cook.
"Why donât you snap them in half so you can-" Aiko caught Elaraâs hand as she slowly reached towards the cooking pasta.
"Elara. Iâm cooking them my way, sit down and wait."
"Okay!"
Satisfied that her spaghetti was not about to be the victim of sacrilege, she added the tomatoes and beef to the pan with the onions and garlic. Tossing in her usual list of condiments and spices, she mixed the whole array nicely as the pasta cooked properly.
Satisfied, she drained the pasta and added it to the pan with a bit of the water left inside to form the base for the sauce. And after tossing it gently for a minute, she deposited it in two equal portions on two plates, finishing it with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
"Dinner's served," she announced, carrying the plates to the small table.
Elara was at the table in a flash, practically vibrating. She took a huge forkful, blew on it dramatically, though Aiko doubted Rift-Touched could burn their tongues on slightly hot pasta, and shoved it in her mouth. Her violet eyes widened comically. "Aiko! This is⦠this is incredible! You made this sauce? From scratch? It's so good! I didn't know you could cook like this! Why did we always order pizza?!"
Aiko flushed slightly as she dug in as well. "It's just pasta with sauce, Elara. Nothing fancy."
"No, it's amazing!" Elara insisted, shoveling in another mouthful. "Seriously, best thing I've eaten in a long while! I didnât know you were so good at cooking! This is art!"
"Itâs just a recipe I found online, but I am glad you like it," Aiko replied, trying to act cool but feeling her cheeks burn up from being showered with praise.
They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only sounds the clink of forks and Elara's occasional hums of appreciation. As the initial hunger subsided, Elara leaned back, patting her stomach. "So, bestie, spill! What did you get up to today? Besides hiding from me the fact that you were secretly a chef?"
Aiko recounted her day, starting with looking around the holding pens in the Iron Maw after Elara vanished into the Verge, her decision to try raising a familiar, the encounter with the surprisingly cute Mochi, and the horrifying-yet-oddly-endearing stomach-mouth revelation. She described the strange feeling she felt when she tried meditation, the strange pull towards the rift, and her exhilarating sprint across the city and rooftops. She detailed finding the Rift-Disaster, her decision to help, and the rules she gave Mochi: Don't hurt humans, help people, don't get killed.
"And then," Aiko sighed, twirling her remaining pasta absently, "I said, 'Alright, partner! Let's go!', all fired up⦠and Mochi just⦠bolted. Vanished into the city before I could blink. Left me standing there like an idiot." She recounted her initial annoyance. "Probably felt the pull of the monster that had called the Rift and decided to follow them instead of me."
Elara had been listening intently, nodding along. Until Aiko had reached the part where Mochi had bolted off. Elara didn't look sympathetic; she looked⦠like she was holding back laughter. Then a snort escaped her, followed by another, and soon she was doubled over, cackling with unrestrained laughter, her violet eyes squeezed shut, her claws clicking against the table.
"Aiko! Oh, stars and rifts! Oh, that's priceless!" Elara gasped between laughs, wiping an imaginary tear from her eye. "He didn't abandon you!"
Aiko frowned, confused. "What? But he ran off! Towards the rift, to join up with the big monster!"
Elara finally got her laughter under control, though a wide grin remained. "No, no, no! You bound him as your familiar, remember? That creates a link! A proper bond! A stronger monster can't just 'steal' him from you like some unbound straggler, not even I can steal a familiar from another monster. Thereâs a huge difference between a familiar who has been sworn in and a straggler just wandering around!"
"Then why did he run?" Aiko asked, utterly perplexed.
"Because," Elara said, leaning forward conspiratorially, her eyes sparkling with amusement, "you didnât tell him not to! You said:â Elara paused for a moment to apply her âAikoâ voice, â'Don't hurt humans. Help people in danger. Don't get killed.' All good rules! Solid! Then you said: 'Let's go!' And pointed, I assume? And then you let go of him."
Aiko blinked. "So?"
"So, he 'goâed' exactly as you told him to. He canât read your mind or intentions Aiko, if you tell him to go, he is going to go." Elara was cackling with laughter. "Oh, I bet he's out there right now, trying to 'help' someone by scaring off pigeons or something, utterly convinced itâs doing exactly what you wanted it to."
Aiko stared, her cheeks burning with a different kind of heat this time, pure embarrassment. "Oh. I⦠I didn't knowâ¦"
"Of course you didnât! That one is on me for not explaining it clearly." Elara managed, still chuckling. "Don't worry, bestie. Happens to the best of us. Probably. Maybe. Okay, maybe just you. But hey! Lesson learned! Specificity is key with familiars!"
"Can I⦠call him back? Somehow?" Aiko asked, feeling foolish.
Elara's mirth subsided briefly, replaced by a thoughtful expression. "Calling him back mentally? Tricky. Really tricky. Requires a deep, established bond, like months or years of connection to just send them a command without even knowing where they are. With only a day? Probably not happening. You could try shouting his name loudly near the rift zone, but that might attract the wrong kind of attention."
Aiko slumped. "So he's just⦠lost in the city?"
"Pretty much!" Elara said cheerfully. "But hey, look on the bright side! He's still bound to you. If you ever come across him, heâll probably come running straight back to tell you what a good job he's been doing. And in the meantime," she added, seeing Aiko's worried look, "I'll keep an eye out for him too. If I spot a little brown furball with a surprise mouth trying to 'help' a stray cat or something, I'll snag him and give you a call. Deal?"
"Deal," Aiko said, feeling slightly better. "Thanks, Elara."
"No problemo! Now," Elara pushed her empty plate away, "about that sleepover! I'm stuffed! Best pasta ever! Seriously!"
Aiko smiled, gathering the plates. "Glad you liked it. Let me clean up, and then we can figure out sleeping arrangements. I only have the one futon, but we could share it."
Elara waved a dismissive claw. "Oh, no need for the futon! We gotta sleep in the Verge!"
Aiko paused, dish in hand. "The⦠Verge?"
"Yep! Home sweet horrifying home!" Elara confirmed brightly. "See, our magic is directly tied to the Verge itself. Whilst we are out here." She raised her hands to specify she meant Earth. "It doesnât recharge, meaning weâre stuck using whatever magic we have stored in us. Although it is a lot, it is also not a good habit to spend too long outside the Verge without taking chances to recharge. So, I usually pop back every night to spend the night sleeping in the Verge. And donât worry about bringing the futon with you, the floor in the Verge is surprisingly comfortable!"
Aiko looked from her cozy, if slightly dull, apartment to Elara's eager, violet-eyed face. The thought of willingly returning to that desolate hellscape to simply sleep on the floor was deeply unappealing. But the logic was sound. She had felt a constant, low-level drain since stepping back into the real world, like a battery slowly depleting. And if recharging properly meant having to sleep in the Verge, maybe that was what she would have to learn to deal with.
"Okay," Aiko sighed, a mix of resignation and acceptance in her voice. "Let's do it."
"Good!" Elara beamed, hopping up. She raised a claw, violet energy gathering around it as she prepared to tear reality open right there in Aiko's living room.
The Rift formed, and they stepped through and back into the desolate wastes of the Verge. The moment they did so, Aiko felt her body loosen a little, like an unseen weight on her shoulders had been kindly removed for her.
Elara yawned dramatically and pointed at a nearby building that still had its roof and three of its walls
They walked in and made themselves comfortable, Elara choosing a nice pile of dirt near one of the glassless windows, and Aiko choosing to prop herself against a toppled-over bookshelf.
The moment she tried to fall asleep, she found Elara wasnât lying. Despite her reservations over the whole situation, the floor in the Verge was surprisingly comfortable.
"Night," Elara called at her from across the room before dozing off.
"Night," Aiko replied with a yawn before dozing off herself.
-
Gearloose knew she needed to sleep. Her body knew she needed to sleep.
So, of course, she still sat in the center of her room, staring drowsily at the bank of flickering monitors that lined the entire wall facing her desk.
She watched frame by frame, camera by camera, as she slowly traced the marble-skinned Rift-Touchedâs route through the city by piecing together whatever footage she could. The Rift-Touched moved with unsettling purpose, seeming to be heading for a specific location as they darted from rooftop to rooftop.
âWhere are you going?â She asked despite knowing the Rift-Touched had no way or intention of answering. Were they on reconnaissance? Hunting? Her mind kept circling back to Crimson, pale and bedridden. The image fueled a toxic mix of guilt, before pouring that mix directly into her soul.
Eventually, she noticed that the most recent footage saw the Rift-Touched dropping down to the ground, pulling up their hoodie and simply walking up to a run-down, nondescript building. Gearloose watched with interest as the monster⦠tapped a keycard and strolled in.
âThe Rift-Touched has proper access to this building?â Gearloose froze the frame, zooming in to try to learn more. She saw a sign above the entrance that simply read: â44â. She combined this with the camera's location to getâ¦
"44 Acorn Streetâ¦" Gearloose mumbled the name aloud, her voice hoarse from overuse and caffeine. Her tired brain sluggishly processed the information. Why an apartment building? Was it hiding there? Did it have a secret hideout there that it shared with other Rift-Touched? The implications were chilling.
She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her eyes. â44 Acorn Street.â She needed to cross-reference the address, pull building plans, see who else lived there⦠but the fatigue was a crushing weight. The screens blurred before her eyes. The name echoed in her mind as a mantra, the last conscious thought before exhaustion finally won. "44 Acorn Street⦠44 Acorn Streetâ¦"
Her head slumped backwards into her chair, her face still illuminated by the many glowing screens that surrounded her. Frozen on an image of a doorway, the last known location of the creature she believed had tried to kill her leader. The room plunged into relative silence, filled only by the hum of machines, Gearlooseâs soft, exhausted breaths, and the address of Aikoâs home being repeated in between snores.