[5] The Final Ten

[Sage]

The two girls had ran, madly sprinting through the obfuscating darkness that had fallen over the main floor of the facility. The glass double-doors they were racing toward let the sun through, carving the light into a long, square pillar, like the light at the end of the tunnel. They ran for it, oblivious to the fact that there were no more goblins, or even that they were running exactly toward where Kai wanted them to go. They burst through the doors.

Ashe and Sage had ran out into the open desert, and kept on running until Sage ultimately fell to her knees, her chest tight and burning. Not this again... She groaned softly as the pink haired girl helped her back to her feet, sweat pouring from her suddenly feverish face. Ashe wore a look of obvious concern.

“Sage, you’re-”

“I’m-” the azure haired girl winced. “I’m... okay. Just... asthma...” she took in a deep breath, fighting back the coughing fit that crept up in her throat. She took a few more deep breaths and exhaled slowly, before she nodded to the younger girl.

They continued, walking now, each enduring an awkward silence. Sage took this time to think, which seemed to only make things worse. “I wonder if we should wait for...” she paused, unable to recall the name. “The... um... ninja?” she hesitantly guessed.

Ashe stopped, prompting Sage to do the same. She thought for a moment, “I... don’t think so. She told us to get going, so we can’t be sure she’s not planning something. It might be dangerous to go back.”

“I know, I just...” the coral eyed girl sighed. “I can’t help but, um, can’t help but feel like we’re abandoning her. ...And that old man,” she frowned, suddenly realizing she was being selfish. “I’m... I’m sorry your sister left you behind like that-”

Ashe raised an eyebrow, but she already knew Sage was referring to Rose. “She’s not my sister,” came the reply, laced with a hint of coldness, which garnered a look of surprise from the blue haired girl. “We’re not related.”

“Oh... I, um, ...sorry,” was the meek response. She’d apparently reverted to her timid persona once again. “I just... assumed-”

“Don’t worry about it,”

“Okay-”

“I can’t believe she bailed on me like that. I thought-” Ashe cut herself off. “Maybe I don’t know... maybe I can’t really blame her. Maybe I would have done the same thing...”

Sage knew she couldn’t blame Rose. She, herself, had left Nash and Kazuya behind, not even looking over her shoulder to see if maybe they were chasing after her. They could be dead now, all because she and Ashe had chosen to run away like Rose, rather than to stay and fight like Kazuya had done. And Sage had been suspicious of the purple haired warrior! The girl suddenly felt sick. Her chin fell close to her chest, and she hugged herself.

“I... feel like... like we betrayed them...” she softly declared. “I don’t...” Sage pulled the plasma pistol from her jean pocket, and stared hard at it, turning it over a few times. “...I don’t want to keep playing this game,” she admitted, not taking her eyes off the gun.

Ashe placed a hand on top of the pistol, and pushed Sage’s hand down, until the weapon fell at her side. “Nobody does,” she retorted, catching the girl’s gaze with her own. Sage hesitated for a moment, then nodded, and pocketed the weapon once again.

The addict and the high schooler walked through the sand in silence for a while, with Sage constantly checking the sands for any sign that they might be shifting. The last thing she wanted was to come face to face with any more scorpions.

Ashe was right, though. Sage had made her choice, and now she had to live with it.

“Hey, um,” surprisingly, it was the princess that broke the silence. “When I... was... um...” she grimaced, unsure how to phrase her thoughts. “...Dealing... with you in the, uh, elevator... you have a really strange...”

The pink haired girl knew where this was going. “It’s a birthmark. I’ve had it... basically forever, I guess.”

Sage’s eyes narrowed. “But... it was glowing.”

For a long time they walked in silence, until, finally, Ashe spoke up. “Well,” she paused for a moment. “I don’t know what to say about that. I really have no idea...”

The hybrid could see the discomfort on Ashe’s face, so she said nothing. It was probably best to just let it go, despite the many questions that raced through her head about it. Conveniently - too conveniently, actually, just like everything else on this island - the flat horizon was suddenly broken by tiny black squares against the sun. Ashe pointed and Sage nodded. It seemed they had a destination, now, though both of them silently shared the fear that a town in the middle of the desert was probably too good to be true. But there was nowhere to go, except back to the waterways. Sage cringed at the thought.

“Hey, Ashe,”

“Yeah?”

“I just, um, wanted to say... whatever happens...” she considered herself for a moment. “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For... for being my friend.”