Ren and Lucia ran for hours nonstop, even when Ren's serum had worn off, or when his injury had reopened and was bleeding. Lucia tried to offer Ren to carry him or stop and rest, but he would refuse it every time, either out of embarrassment or a rush.
Even though his wound would send him stinging pain, he didn't flinch or limp once! He would bear through it and force himself to run. Lucia didn't like the idea of pushing Ren's body past its physical threshold, but the threat of possibly a hostile construct that is capable of jamming their connection to the Babylonia command center and disabling their radar was too much of a risk.
Corrupteds are also a threat to them since they don't know where or how many there are, or how far or close their enemy is. And every time a group of corrupted would appear, they would try their best to escape or evade them, but there are times they can't avoid fights.
"Ren, how are you holding up?" Lucia asked as she sliced through the last infected construct.
"Barely okay." Ren breathed out while clutching his abdomen. He was struck by one of the corrupted wielding a metal pole as a weapon. Lucia frowned and just ultimately decided to carry Ren even if it was against his wishes. Ren on the other hand just let himself be carried by Lucia, he was too tired and weak to move on his own.
Lucia moved with ninja-like efficiency and jumped from building to building, ran on walls, and stayed in the shadows while also looking around the area. They had run for quite some time, and the sun was already beginning to set. They must find shelter soon or they'll risk their lives fighting in the dark.
Lucia then found a suitable enough building and decided to take shelter in one of its rooms. This building was a run-down hotel, even though it had been abandoned for a while, it still retains its structural integrity. She picked a room at the top floor and barricaded their door with a shelf, she then gently placed Ren on the bed.
"Heh, thank you, Lucia, sorry that I had to be carried. Was I not too heavy, am I?" Ren asked as he sat up.
"M? It's fine, you hardly weigh anything, which is concerning, you must eat to regain your strength, Ren!" Lucia strongly suggested, and Ren nodded, he pulled out two packs of rations and handed one to Lucia.
"No, you don't have to give me one, my frame can function without eating anything, you can have that, Ren." Lucia denied the food, but Ren shook his head side to side.
"Nah, just take it, you'll make me feel conscious if I eat alone." Ren said with a small laugh.
"But you need it more."
"One pack is enough for me, though. Come on, just accompany me while I eat. You don't have to finish it all, hehe." Lucia eyed the bar and accepted it with a grateful smile.
"Well, if you don't mind, then. Thank you, Ren." Lucia pulled back the wrapper and took a small bite of the grain bar, expecting it to taste as plain or salty as the other food rations she had had before. But when she took a bite, flavors suddenly filled her mouth. She was shocked that it tasted so good.
"Hehehe, does it taste good? I put effort into making it." Ren said as he touched a button underneath his helmet to separate the mouthpiece of his mask so he could eat.
"MHM!" Lucia nodded and gulped down. "It tastes so delicious, Ren! Did you really make this?!"
"Hehehehe, don't flatter me, it isn't worth mentioning."
"But it is though! I didn't know you could make this so delicious." Lucia said as she took another bite, enjoying the flavor. Her ration bar was of the sweeter variety that Ren prepared for this mission, while his was plain and salted, just the way he liked it.
"Heh, thank you, I learnt making this when I was still a soldier patrolling the borderlines, some rations sent to us wouldn't taste good and aren't filling, we would find ways to make it more delicious so morale wouldn't diminish, I'm glad I still know how to make this." Ren said, and Lucia was amazed that food was enough to keep a soldier's morale high even if positioned on the borderlines.
They talked to each other while they ate blissfully, sharing some past experiences and joyous moments, accomplishments, and failures, they talked and surprisingly found similarities with each other. Ren was relieved that he managed to ease some of Lucia's stiffness between them, she was more at ease when talking to Ren.
"Hey, Ren, is it okay to ask you something?" Seeing that they are now both comfortable with each other, Lucia then asked Ren.
"M, yeah sure."
"Why did you choose to become a soldier? Aren't there other professions in Babylonia that don't involve being in danger? Is it a noble cost?" Lucia waited, observing Ren.
"Mmmm, well, I can't say it's a noble cost, I just didn't have much of a choice either." Ren chuckled and Lucia became curious and intrigued.
"You see, my family didn't have that much money in our name, my father was a garbage collector and my mother a cleaner, it wasn't some glorified profession, but it put food on our table and sent me to school, we were poor but happy…." Ren paused a bit, sighed, and recalled the moments with his family with a sorrowful smile.
"Right until Babylonia unexpectedly had a breach on one of its borders and lost City XX due to a sudden red tide…" Lucia's eyes widened, she knew this city, because she used to live there when she was still a human, but stayed silent to let him finish.
"The government was desperately recruiting new soldiers to fill the ranks and push back the invading corrupted. One of this rush recruited soldiers was my father. Mother didn't like the idea of him becoming a soldier, saying that he would die, just let the construct fight for us, you don't have to do this. But…" Ren chuckled in admiration to his father.
"Hehehehe, my father was a stubborn man and won't let anyone sway him if he made up his mind. He would find ways to follow what he wants, and would sweet talk my mother into agreeing, and my mother knows this but she loves him so much and would fall for his words easily, so she relented to let him join but with a promise of returning to us, alive, even if he were missing his limbs." Ren once again stopped, but his mouth was quivering. Lucia softly grasped Ren's hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. Ren stabilized his emotions and continued.
"A… A message was then sent to us, expecting it to be one of father's weekly mails, we opened the mail and inside was a piece of paper and medals, we read the message, but it wasn't the format father usually used when sending us a message, it was from the government, detailing what had happened in the battle for the city… It reported how my father heroically sacrificed himself so that their airship could safely lift off and get his teammates and rescued citizens out of there…" Ren's tears were now falling down his cheeks, and his voice was cracking and shaky. But Lucia was there, ready to comfort him.
"The shock and death of my father was too much for my mother to bear, and she collapsed. I called for help and got her to the hospital, where I found out that her heart had some complications and she was put into a coma. If she doesn't receive any immediate help, her heart would entirely stop and she would die… The thought of also losing my mother, I cried for days and lost myself in sorrow and desperation, because of our status, I couldn't get enough money for her treatment and the money the government sent to us was just enough to maintain her needs, so I tried applying for the construct program, but I wasn't compatible for the procedure, I'll just be killing myself if I continued. Out of desperation and hopelessness, I applied to become a cadet. Luckily, I was accepted due to one of my father's buddies recognizing me and vouching for me to be taken, and for years, I worked hard and diligently to be promoted to a private and immediately trained to become a soldier… And on that day, I vowed to my mother and late father that I would save up enough money to cure her." Ren said in full determination. Lucia then cupped Ren's cheeks and wiped the tears away. She then pulled him into a tight hug as Ren reciprocated. Lucia felt soft to him, not too heavy nor metallic, she felt human to him.
Ren cherished her hug because he hadn't felt this kind of hug since his mother was put in a coma. Lucia was also relishing in their embrace, it wasn't like the hugs she received from Liv and half hug from Lee, this was a shared hug of similar pain they have, not one of them would let go.
They stayed like this til Ren's emotions calmed down, he lessened the tightness of his hug, yet he still did not let go. Ren sniffled a bit and swallowed down the sorrow, silently thanking Lucia, he hadn't had the chance to let out the sorrow he had been holding in for years and it only accumulated over the years when he was assigned on the borders.
"Ho-How about you, Lucia? Why did you choose to become a construct?" Ren asked, and Lucia thought a bit about his question.
"…I, too, didn't have much of a choice. My little sister and I were orphaned from the downfall of city XX…" Ren's mouth gaped when Lucia mentioned that city.
"Yes… The very city where the red tide breach happened… My parents died from the hordes of corrupted when they tried protecting me and my sister. Thanks to them, we managed to escape through the forest of dead trees, armed with only a blade I managed to pick up from a dead construct. We ran away as far as our legs would take us. If my sister became tired of running, I would carry her as she wept at the loss of our parents. It was a daunting task to survive in the snow and fight alone, but if it meant for my sister's safety and happiness, I would do it without complaints nor hesitation… Thankfully, we managed to come across a camp for survivors. It was filled with people who once lived and worked in the city. There were also children, and some of them were orphaned, just like us. We thought that we were finally saved and could survive another day, however, our naivety got the best of us. The rations the camp had were limited, and the survivors would fight or steal from one another. I would only eat a little so that my sister could have enough. We managed to stockpile some food for the upcoming heavy winter snow, and those bastards!" Lucia said through gritted teeth.
"They took advantage of my sister's kindness and made empty promises and pitiful excuses to make her give them some shares of our food. If I hadn't known these, they would have taken our whole stock and wouldn't care if we starved to death… But the chapel sister in the camp took pity on us and gave me and my sister three cans of food…" Lucia then went silent and sighed heavily.
"Then, one day, I managed to overheard the chapel sister talking to a strange man wearing a formal attire surrounded with armed men, they talked about exchanging some of the orphaned children for resources like medicine and rations, the chapel sister agreed and I quickly go back to our room, and told my sister not to go out of our room and I would be the one to collect the fire wood… While I was away to be a part of people collecting firewood, I had a strange feeling in me that made me whizzy. I quickly gathered firewood and hastily returned, but my sister was already taken by the men who talked to the chapel sister. And the chapel sister even had the gall to talk about my sister, and should be grateful that I wouldn't be burdened anymore. I wanted to slash her throat at that time, I wanted to shout, I wanted to cry and blame the other kids why they weren't taken, but the resolve in me diminished because in the end, I was weak, so I said nothing and returned to our bed, which had a letter on it…" Lucia swallowed back the tears that were threatening to fall.
"It read… "Dear sister. I am sorry I didn't wait for you toreturn so I could tell you in person that I am leaving, I don't wanna be a hindrance to you anymore, I want to be a help of you, so don't worry sister I will be doing fine and I am paying back the rations we lost, are you proud of me big sis? I wanna see you soon, sis, take care. -Love, Luna." …" Lucia involuntarily tightens her hug as she lets a couple of tears roll down her cheeks. Ren rubbed circles around her back to comfort her.
"…A month had passed after those men took my sister, and another group of men came to our camp with the same intention as the first, but this time I took the initiative to join them in hopes that I would find Luna. They took some tests and said I was exceptionally compatible with the procedure, and Nikola accepted me with open arms… I endured a lot of experiments and tests to prepare my consciousness to be transferred to a new body. I endured it all so I could see Luna again… After two months of testing and experimenting, I managed to survive the procedure and became a construct. I would have been happy, but I was then informed that Luna had been killed in battle while I was still in the process of mending my consciousness to the new body… Again… I lost her again… Since I had become a construct, my emotions were kept in check, I could only stare blankly and lost hope, forced to swallow that I didn't have the chance to talk to her or embrace her one last time… I-I miss her so much… Each day, I trained to become stronger so that I could purge the Punishing Virus and return this barren land back to its former beauty described in some historical books. Luna wished to see it with her own eyes, the beauty of the world…" Lucia fell silent and let out a silent cry.
They embraced each other and just let out the stockpiled sorrow they had accumulated without having the chance to let it all out. They stayed like that till their sorrow was spent, they didn't let go of one another, finding comfort in each other's embrace till they both dozed off for the night, finally sleeping peacefully with a lighter chest.