Alkalians (62 page)

“
Yes, yes. It’s all so
sad, such a tragedy. But, what could you do? You tried enough,
didn’t you? You can’t blame yourself for it.” She strokes a hand
through James’ long hair, her tone soft and seducing. “Why don’t
you just not worry about it, and ease your mind with something
else. Something more enjoyable.”

James doesn’t reply a moment, staring
at the ceiling again, before looking at her and asking, “What about
you?”

“
Me? What about
me?”

“
How come they haven’t
taken you into custody, yet?”

Confused, Irene asks, “Why would they
do that?”

“
Well, you were part of
it, remember? You were part of Cain’s scheme with Matt and Rose.
You were going to shoot Rose out of morph, right after Matt would
have defeated her, except she defeated him instead.”

“…
Heh, they don’t know
that. They can’t know that.”

“
You sure about that? You
think whoever finally told them what Cain was up to would have
forgotten to mention you?”

Irene bites her lip and shakes her
head. “They wouldn’t. They wouldn’t take me. I’m the first born
heir of Saratu, they can’t touch me.”

“
Just like they can’t
touch Cain? He’s of noble blood, too, you know. His uncle’s the
prime minister of Tirez.”

Becoming more anxious, Irene looks to
the door, then back to James. “And you? You got Matt and Rose to
fight each other, in the first place. You knew what was supposed to
happen.”

“
After
it was supposed to happen. Cain, as paranoid as he was, told
me to deceive the two, but not
why
. I was but a tool, oblivious to
my purpose. But
you
were the only other one who knew, because you were directly
involved.”

Irene glowers, staring down at the
white blankets, the white floor, the white walls. “Alright, then. I
should get going, and let you continue your rest.” She leans in,
quickly kisses James with a smile, and then stands, turns, and
hurries out of the room, the door slowly sliding closed after
her.

Once Irene was gone, James lays back
in his bed, his pulse returning to normal as he closes his eyes. He
wishes he was fit to be let out by then, to go see what was
happening with Cain himself, but he could still feel bruises on his
ribs when he had moved in discomfort from Irene’s presence. Sean
certainly had hit him hard.

With his eyes closed, his mind sinks
down into the depths of self-reflection, where James sees what had
become of the boss students’ regime over the school. The majority
of them had allied with the rebellion sparked by a gifted freshman,
and the meager few left, him and his cousin, had been beaten into
the ground for all the school to see, and now one of them was being
taken away for his insanity. He could no longer deny it was the
end. It had been a nice tradition, lasting ever since Cain’s and
his first year as intermediates, but some traditions can’t stand
the test of time.

Now, with his own kind facing
penalties for criminal activities or turned against him, James has
to make a choice. He could resist to the bitter end, attempting to
use his charm and deception to sabotage Matt’s alliance. But
Cynthia seems to have grown greatly attached to Sean, and there was
no way he was going to romance Lyn again anytime soon. All that is
left, then, is the closest woman to Matt, his own roommate. She
conveniently had the same class as him, but so did Matt. How could
James make a move on Rose without alerting her or Matt to his true
intention, especially after how he had manipulated them both
before?

There was that choice, that challenge,
or James could simply give it up. Let Matt and his friends have
their way with the community, revolutionize the roles of the
student leaders, and perhaps he could humble himself to receive
their pardon and maintain his status as one. Times were changing,
and he would have to change as well to survive, at least until he
graduated. Plus, making peace with them could open the way for him
to get at Rose. She was young, yes, but her strong character, her
toned body, the fire in her eyes, fascinated him much more than the
subjects in their alchemy class. James considers that, maybe, he
was no longer interested in resisting the revolution anymore, or
stirring up his own since he had a hunch he may not see much of his
partner again. His new interest, the thing that had been kept aside
because they were enemies at that time, could be taking the boldly
blooming Rose as his next trophy.

As he lingers on the thoughts, James’
consciousness resurfaces at the sound of knocking on the door
again. He peeks an eye open to see the nurse peeking on him again.
She has short green hair, and it was then that he recognized her.
He had slept with her a few times, as well. “Now what?”

“
Um, there is someone else
who would like to see you, James. Is that alright?”

“
As long as it’s not my
cousin, I don’t care.” He chokes on the words when it turns out to
be the man who put him in the ward in the first place. Scratching
his black haired scalp, a hesitant grin on his face, Sean asks him,
“So, how are you feeling, after a good night’s rest?”

“
Well, I may have been on
my way to a full recovery, until you walked in here. I can feel my
bones breaking anew as we speak.”

“
Oh, well, sorry to hear
that, bro. I just wanted to be the good sport and come check on ya,
and let you know there are no hard feelings between us. It was just
a competition, after all!”

“
Heh, yeah. It was all
just a competition, and I’m the loser.” He looks long at Sean,
seeing him fidgeting. “There’s another reason you came here, isn’t
there?”

“
Ah, yeah, well, you heard
yet about Cain, what’s gonna happen to him?”

“
Two words. Rasputin’s
disease.”

“
Ah. So you have. I just
found out myself, the word’s tumbling across campus like a
rockslide, Earth Spirit willing. But it’s probably best for him,
and all of us, that they’re taking him away. Everybody will be safe
now from more of his madness, eh?”

“
Yes. One can hope that.
And I guess I’m also glad I won’t have to see how the rest of the
family takes this, back home.”

“
Heh, yeah. I hear ya
there. Discord in the family blows.” Sean taps the floor while
peering around the room. “Now, with that bit of news out of the
way, there’s something else I wanted to tell ya. Something that may
impress you.”

“
Oh? And what’s that,
Sean?”

“
Well, um, let’s see.” He
comes closer to the bed, leaning against the wall, and prepares
what he has to say, getting it out slowly. “I was at a party last
night, in Cynthia’s apartment. She had all her girlfriends over to
join us. We all had drinks, played some poker, had a good time. All
except for Cynthia.”

“
Uh huh.”

“
So, I was like, ‘What’s
wrong, doll?’ And she was like, ‘Nothing, it’s nothing, you
wouldn’t understand.’ I kept pushing her to say what it was, but
she pushed me away. And her one lackey, Ashley, she came up and
suggested we leave her alone, go in the back and, well, get to know
each other better. So we did.”

“
Really? Cynthia let her
snatch you out from under her?”

“
Yep. It’s odd she did,
when you think about it, she must have been really troubled over
something. But whatever it was, it was quickly forgotten when she
burst into the room, just as I was going all the way with
Ashley.”

James’ eyes widen in suspense. “And
then? Did she stop you two?”

“
Nope. Better. She
joined
us. She was
standing there, already completely nude, along with the other
girlfriend beside her. What was her name, Amanda? Yeah, that’s
right, Amanda. So the two stroll in, hot, sweaty, and with swagger,
and they assure me to keep going with Ashley, and then they would
have their turn.”

“
No. You’re kidding
me.”

“
I’m not kidding ya, bro.
I scored with not one, not two, but
three
ladies in the same bed, in the
same night. I still can’t believe it, myself.” He slightly smirks
at James. “Whatcha think?”

James takes it in, picturing Sean with
two other women besides Cynthia, before the pulse on the machine
spikes as he breaks into laughter. “Spirits be burned, wow, I am
impressed, Sean. You were one lucky son of a bitch, last
night.”

“
I know, right!? I mean,
I’ve always had a thing with Lady Luck, I just never dared to think
I could wind up with
three
of her at the same time!” They both laugh for a
moment, and Sean says with a shrug, “But yeah, that really was
lucky, even for me. I doubt I may get a chance like that again,
seeing as we were all so drunk to get into it.”

“
Indeed. Cynthia’s never
struck me as having the same, ah, tastes as Irene. But, when you’re
intoxicated, you get some pretty wild tastes.”

“
Yep, you sure do. But I’m
still surprised that I managed to satisfy all three of them, in
order. I’ve never done it so much in one setting, before. And I was
still a virgin, just a few months ago!”

James laughs again. “No kidding.
That’s an impressive feat, truly.” He looks to the ceiling as
something crosses his mind on the subject. “Want to hear how I lost
mine?”

“
Lost what?”

“
My virginity, and with
whom.”

“
Oh! Uh, yeah, sure, why
not? Who was it with?”

“
Lyn Arcterus.”

“…
No way. She hates your
guts, doesn’t she?”

“
Yes, but not in the
beginning, when we first met.” The memories flash by on the blank
ceiling James stares at as he tells them. “We were young and
innocent, just like the rest of the freshmen, that first year. I
was just trying to be popular among the other students, use my
looks and nobility to fit in, but I couldn’t help but keep noticing
Lyn off to the side, and the effect she had on others. She was so
quiet, so shy, and I don’t have to tell you about the eyes, I’m
sure.”

Sean nods, and he goes on. “Well, I
tried to not mind how she kept following me around, until the one
evening, outside the casino, I came upon her cornered by some
intermediates, calling her a freak because of her eyes. They were
saying how dead she must be, so cold and dumb with those eyes, and
yet the tears that flowed looked warm enough to me. That’s when I
found myself, without thinking about it, step in for her, and after
a big fight I managed to chase them off.

“
From that point on, Lyn
and I became inseparable, and I can’t say whether I regret it or
not. It was through me that she began to improve in all aspects.
She could speak openly with me, and I sparred with her in morph to
make her stronger. I learned she was drawn to me because we’re both
from Tirez, and I became fond of the contrast between her pale eyes
and pretty smile. We weren’t roommates, but otherwise we seemed to
be everywhere together, during lunch, after class, at the casino.
In fact, when the Royale Project rolled around, even though we
didn’t have the same badge colors, we paired up and won many fights
together. We had a blast, neither of us expecting to get into the
tournament part, but in the wake of Nicholas’ floods wiping out the
competition I wound up there. I made it to the finals then, which I
didn’t win, and yet Lyn, my biggest fan, was all the more happy for
me, and that made me happy, in turn.

“
I knew by then we had
become close friends, but things began to heat up between us when
winter came. Being from Tirez, we were both well acquainted with
the cold and snow, and many days we found ourselves playing around
in it, building forts and having snowball fights with our other
friends or just between ourselves. It was one night after such
activity that she invited me over to her cabin, and that wasn’t
unusual, we’ve visited each other’s cabins before. After all the
romping in the snow, though, this time we were soaked and cold, and
we were the only ones there that night, Lyn’s roommates were off at
an all-nighter in a study hall. With just the two of us, alone and
wet, it came to both our minds of a little trick we knew of for
getting and keeping warm. After an awkward moment of mentioning it,
we then went ahead and did it.”

Sean tilts his head before speaking
up. “You already knew the trick was having sex?”

“
Oh, no, we didn’t think
of that. Well, completely. The trick is to strip down to the nude
and bundle up under a blanket, and there you would both share body
heat and stay warm against the cold. Anyway, so that’s what we did,
and I thought it would be just that. Lyn may have thought that,
too, but, something clicked with us under the blanket of her bed,
our bodies pressed together, the only sounds our breathing and
hearts beating. We tried to ignore it for awhile, but as we got
comfier and sleepier, more relaxed and such, she soon brought up
how she had been attracted to me ever since she had first seen me,
and that was why she had been following me about. I looked at her,
deep into her eyes and over her body, touched her, without her
resisting or flinching, and the next thing I knew we were kissing
and I was inside her. That was the night when we both lost our
innocence.”