Crimson Red, Cerulean Blue

(Red)

Screaming.

My throat was raw.

No. This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening!

I couldn’t breathe.

Not him. Anyone but him.

Crayik, no.

Not Reuben.

Anyone, anyone but Reuben.

I was screaming, and everything erupted in fire.

He was gone. And it was all my fault. My best friend, my only friend in the world, was gone.

My heart was practically ripping itself apart, and I wanted to die. Crayik, crayik, crayik, no…

“Red? Wake up!”

I sprang upright, gasping, my eyes filled with tears. Still disoriented, I grabbed onto the first thing I found and held on tight, shaking, sobbing my heart out, every inch of me wanting to scream and scream until I faded away, along with the pain.

It was a while before I realized that my arms were wrapped around a person. A person who was holding very, very still, stiff with shock. A person with long blue hair, tied back with a pink ribbon.

I sprang backward, nightmare forgotten, my cheeks on fire (not literally). “Crayik! I’m sorry!”

Blue stared at me, looking just as embarrassed as I felt. “No, it’s fine. I’m fine. It’s okay. Uh. Sorry for waking you up. It’s just that… Um. You were crying, and… I didn’t know if I should…”

I shook my head, dragging my sleeve across my eyes and taking a deep breath. “Just a bad dream. That’s all. Uh… Was I screaming?”

“No, not really. I couldn’t sleep, so I was going to take a walk. You know, explore Rogue City a bit. Then I saw you, and well, you know the rest.”

I nodded and looked out the window. Still dark. “What time is it?”

She shrugged. “Beats me. The only clock in this place is in Orange’s laptop, and I don’t really feel like going there, if you know what I mean.”

“Yeah. I can see why. Well… If you’re still up for that walk, can I come with you?” I rubbed my eyes, knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep after that dream. “The nightmare kinda took away all of my desire to sleep.”

I was afraid she’d say no (after all, I’d just grabbed onto her for no reason and started bawling like a weirdo), but to my surprise, she nodded. “Sure. It’ll be nice to have some company. Someone who actually knows the area.”

I got to my feet, then helped her up to be polite. (See, Green? I know how to treat people.) I paused for a moment to grab my jacket, then glanced at her.

“Do you have a jacket?”

“Of course not,” came the obvious reply. “You burned my house down.”

(A decision I was really beginning to regret, by the way.)

I threw her mine.

“But don’t you need this?” she questioned, holding it up.

“No. Fire-user, remember? I wear it to not stand out, since Rogue City’s so freakishly cold. But it’s the middle of the night, so I doubt there’ll be many people around. Let’s go.”

Blue shrugged, then pulled it on. “This thing reeks of ash. You should seriously wash it before people start asking you if you work at a Rent-A-Barbeque company or something.”

“What in the world is a Rent-A-Barbeque?” I replied, opening the door and stepping out.

To me, the temperature hadn’t changed a bit. My body temperature can adjust to it’s surroundings, after all. But when Blue stepped out, she shivered, and her teeth almost immediately began chattering.

“Th-This place i-is f-freakishly cold f-for real!” she gasped.

I glanced back at her and realized she was still in a skirt and tank top. And it wasn’t an Ice day like when we’d arrived, from what I could remember of Blue’s magic cycle thingy. She had to be freezing.

“We could just not take a walk,” I suggested, worried that she’d catch pneumonia or something and Green would eat me alive. (Shudder.) But she shook her head.

“N-Nah. I’m f-fine. L-Let’s go.”

I looked at her, then sighed and stepped closer, extending my body heat. “Warmer?”

“Not…really…”

I stepped even closer.

“Uh… Still not really. But it’s all right, you don’t have to – ”

I took another step toward her, not meeting her eyes.

I was now close enough to comfortably hold her hand and walk at the same time. (Not that I was going to do that, of course.) Her cheeks were red, and probably not from the cold, either. So were mine.

“Um. Right. Thanks,” Blue mumbled.

“No problem. Wanna go around the block?”

“Yeah. Sure.”

We started walking, sneakers making almost no sound against the sidewalk. Snow was piled everywhere, none of it clean. Graffiti lined the walls and sidewalk, and the streetlights let off their glow, every other one, at least. A lot of them were broken.

Home sweet home.

“So,” Blue’s voice broke the silence. “This is Rogue City.”

“Yup. Welcome,” I joked. “Even though you’ve been here for two days already.”

“Yeah, I didn’t really get to soak in all the sights, you know. It’s actually…” Her voice grew soft. “Kind of beautiful.”

I stared at all the dirty snow, the graffiti, the vandalism, then looked at her like she was crazy. “Are you serious?”

She laughed. “No, I don’t mean this. I mean that.”

She pointed up, toward the snowy mountains that stood guard over the city, framed by the starry sky. I glanced up, then nodded, understanding. She was right. Rogue City was beautiful, in its own way.

I didn’t know why I started talking, but I did.

“There’s a legend about those mountains around these parts, you know.” My voice was faraway, acting of its own accord. “Once upon a time, there was a princess. One of the first rulers of Rogue City, in fact. Only it wasn’t called Rogue City at the time, it was called the Protected Kingdom, whose princess wasn’t allowed to fall in love. This was because the princess’s sole job in life was to protect the kingdom, and nothing else was supposed to distract her from doing so.”

I closed my eyes and continued, only it wasn’t my voice that was telling the tale anymore, it was the voice of the person who first told me the legend, staring up at the sky and smiling just like this. I could recall every detail perfectly, the bitter cold wind, my every remark and interruption.

What? I’d asked. That’s the lamest role I’ve ever heard! Who would make such a screwed up rule?

Reuben had shrugged. It was the rule in those times. No one really questioned it. But the princess was human, just like you and me. And she fell in love, just like anyone else.

I still don’t see what this has to do with the mountains, I’d grumbled. Let me guess, she ran away and married the guy like in Romeo and Juliet?

No, actually. She tried to keep it a secret. She tried to keep her feelings in check, and told herself over and over again that she was not in love, that she could not be in love. But she could not hide it, and finally, she decided that she would tell her lover to go away, so that she could never see him again.

And the mountains still haven’t been mentioned.

Sheesh, have some patience. So, meanwhile, the king found out that his daughter was in love. Not knowing about her plans to send him away and seal her heart, he arranged for the man to be assassinated.

The king was a violent fellow, wasn’t he.

Yeah, he kind of was. So on the night that her lover was to be sent away, she came down to say her final goodbyes. But the king misunderstood, and thought they were running away together. Her lover was killed.

Ooh. Yikes. I’ll bet she was mad.

Well, I guess she was sort of mad. But then a nature spirit passing by saw everything, and took pity on them. She changed the princess and her lover into those mountains, so that they could both remain together and watch over the city at the same time. And that, he finished with a grin, is where those mountains came from.

My words slowly died away, and I realized my cheeks were inexplicably wet from tears. I hurriedly wiped them away as Blue let out a sigh.

“So they lived happily ever after in the end, didn’t they?”

I shrugged. “Well, if you can call getting turned into a bunch of rocks a happy ever after.”

“You make it seem so unromantic.”

“Romantic isn’t really my thing, if you know what I mean. But yeah. I guess they did.”

Silence ensued as we both gazed at the mountains in the distance. The thought of the legend was bittersweet, for more reasons than one, and I struggled not to cry again, because how lame would that be?

Blue turned to me, suddenly serious. “Hey, don’t you think we should get back to the base? Orange and Green might wake up and – ”

But then all thoughts of returning to the base were instantly erased – as a scream cut through the air like a knife.

(Blue)

Red and I both instantly went on guard, sparks at his fingertips and a breeze at mine.

“What was that?” I questioned warily, looking around, bracing myself for a fight.

“How am I supposed to know?”

The same scream echoed through the night again, making us both jump. Then words came to me, racing on the breeze.

“GET AWAY FROM THEM!!! YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY CHILDREN!!!”

Red’s crimson eyes widened. “The Collectors!”

He shot toward the voice like a rocket, so fast that I couldn’t grab him and demand to know what in the world a Collector was. I raced after him, because anything that could make Red freak out like that had to be bad, really, really bad. Seriously bad.

We swerved into an alleyway, where ten guys were shoving a group of about twenty little kids into a bus. There was a woman there too, fighting against two big men, screaming the same scream we’d heard over and over again and cursing. The guys’ mothers would not have been flattered.

“You shut up right now,” one of them hissed, grabbing a little boy with brown hair and frightened blue eyes. “Or I’ll break his neck.”

She shut up instantly. This had to be one of her kids.

Red didn’t hesitate and marched right into the middle of the whole operation, demanding, “Who’s your leader? I want to have a talk with him.”

They eyed him warily.

“Get lost, kid,” a burly one with a nasty scar on his face growled. “If you know what’s good for you.”

“I think I’d know that better than you, wouldn’t I, Gorilla? So where’s your boss?”

The guy bristled. “Gorilla?”

I was about to step in and help him out (because these guys looked about ready to murder him) but he gave the tiniest shake of his head, and I stayed put.

“Yeah, ‘cause you’re all hairy and fat. I asked you where your boss was. Don’t tell me you don’t know.”

“What if I don’t know?”

“What if you just tell me the answer before I kick your stupid behind, Gorilla?”

Gorilla threw back his head and laughed, the sound making some of the kids cringe and step away. They were instantly shoved back into the group by his friends, so hard that about half of them fell.

I gritted my teeth. There was nothing I hated more than a bully, and these guys were seriously triggering my bully sensor.

“Listen to this puny kid talk! He says he can kick my behind. What a joke.” He turned to Red. “I’m the leader, kid. So what now? What’re you gonna do, huh?”

“Sweet,” Red replied with a grin. “That just means I get to kick both your butt and the leader’s at the same time. Two birds with one stone.”

“Oh, really?” Gorilla addressed his buddies. “Who here thinks that Puny’s gonna win against me?”

No one said anything. One of the kids whimpered, “He’s gonna get beat up.”

Red flashed her a grin. “Don’t jump to conclusions so easily, kid. Everything’s gonna be all right, don’t you worry.”

She didn’t reply, but Gorilla did. “I feel like wiping that stupid little smirk off his face. Don’t you, boys?”

“Uh-uh-uh.” Red wagged a finger in his face. “Can’t even defeat a little guy like me without your buddies? I called you a gorilla, but you’re more like a pansy!”

“A what?!”

I could see why the guy was so enraged. Gorilla was huge, probably seven feet tall and bulging with muscles. Red was tall too, but he was skinny and a lot shorter than him. Gorilla had biceps the size of thighs. Red, of course, did not. To anyone who didn’t know better, it looked as if Red was going to get his butt handed to him in this battle.

But of course, I knew better. And this was going to be a really good show.

“Don’t test me, kid,” Gorilla hissed. “Breaking your face would be the highlight of my day.”

Red stared back, all wide-eyed innocence. “Well, why don’t you break my face, then? No need to put off the highlight of your day.”

The punch came lightning fast, faster than I’d have thought a heavy guy like Gorilla could punch. Red ducked, then swung his leg into Gorilla’s with a powerful kick. The direct hit didn’t even faze him.

Red scowled, springing back.

“What, is that all?” Gorilla taunted. “You kick like a girl!”

(A remark I found extremely insulting, by the way.)

“Shin guards. You’re wearing shin guards,” came the reply. “What would you do something like that for? Scared some little kid’ll whack you in the legs? ‘Boo-hoo, Mommy, I hurt my knee!’ Yeah, I can imagine that going down – whoa!”

Gorilla launched a series of kicks and punches that Red was forced to dodge. With the strength difference between them, blocking one of them would probably get his arm broken. (Which would probably make Green throw some kind of fit, which would be ever so slightly…not good.)

Gorilla growled, irritated at not being able to hit him, and I decided he was distracted enough for me to strike.

I slipped around in the shadows, behind the two goons who were watching the kids. I took them both out with an elbow to the head, and they slumped to the ground with barely a sigh. The kids stared at me, astonished.

I held a finger to my lips and pointed down the alleyway. Go.

They hesitated at first, but the mother gave a tiny nod, and her son quietly tiptoed down the alleyway, leading the others away. They made it about halfway down the alley before one of the guys turned around.

“Hey!” he yelled. “They’re escaping!”

There were several gasps from the kids, and some of them froze in terror. But then someone yelled, “RUN!!!” and it was all chaos from there.

“GET THEM, YOU IDIOTS!!!” Gorilla screamed, forgetting about Red. He clapped his hands over Gorilla’s temples, and the gigantic man crumpled like a piece of aluminum foil.

But his buddies were still there, and they pounded down the narrow street after the kids. I cracked my knuckles and stepped out of the shadows, right in front of them.

“Not so fast.”

“It’s a chick,” the first guy said in surprise. I punched him in the face so fast, he never saw it coming.

All the goons except the guy who was now sitting on the ground holding his broken nose (I could’ve sworn he was crying a little) took a single step back.

“Yo, Ryan!” I called, using Red’s alias so they wouldn’t alert Mask to our presence later. “You mind if I take these guys out? You got the boss already, so it’s only fair.”

“Whoa, hold on there, Lani. The boss is one guy. You get nine. How is that fair?”

“Then hurry up and get over here so you can get your fair share!”

The goon I’d socked in the face clambered to his feet, scowling. “No one’s taking anyone out, little girl. Unless it’s us taking you out.”

“Why don’t you give it a try, then?. It’ll give me a laugh.” I folded my arms across my chest defiantly, taking a page out of Red’s book.

He pulled out a knife, long and jagged, and leered at me. “Well, since you asked so politely…”

He lunged. But his speed was nothing compared to Argot’s, slow-motion when put next to Kyore’s.

I stepped to the side, and while he was off-balance, delivered a sharp blow to his stomach. He hit the ground, groaning.

“Who’s next?” I asked, flipping my ponytail out of my face.

Red strolled up to me, hands in his pockets, and turned to face the goons. “Hey, I get the next one, remember?”

One of the Collectors’ eyes narrowed. “CHARGE!!!”

It was a huge waste of time on their part – but good practice for us.

I launched a series of kicks, punches, and jabs onto the group, Red following suit. Between the two of us, we had them all on the ground groaning in about five minutes.

“Well, that was fun,” Red said, not even out of breath. “Did you just kick that guy where no man should ever be kicked?”

I shrugged. “Dunno where I kicked him. Can’t remember. It was somewhere important, though. Looks like it hurts.”

“What are you two?” the poor guy gasped.

“People who don’t like bullies. And you Collectors are all the biggest bullies in Spectrum, except for maybe Mask and Argot.” Red leaned down, enunciating every word as clearly as possible as if speaking to an idiot. “You. Do. Not. Mess. With. The. Kids. Understand that? If I ever catch you guys doing anything like this ever again, I’ll put you in a world of hurt, and you will never recover. Never.”

He straightened up, smiling innocently and ignoring the terrified look on the Collector’s face. “Well, then, message delivered. See you around sometime. Or not. Let’s take off, Lani.”

I started following him out of the alleyway, but then a voice interrupted us.

“Wait.”

We both turned to see the mother, her eyes wide.

“Thank you,” she whispered simply.

Red smiled at her. “No problem. We couldn’t let them take your kid. But hey, do me a favor and make sure they all get back home, kay? Even if they aren’t your kids.”

She nodded. “I’ll do that. But I have something to tell you. You support the Seven, don’t you?”

“Yeah…?”

She looked hesitant. “I don’t know if I can tell you this, and I don’t know what you’ll be able to do with the knowledge, but I work in a bar a few blocks from here. The other night, a group of men came in. One of them was a guard from Yellowton. They got drunk, as men so often do, and I heard him talking. He said that Argot had brought in a special prisoner a few days ago, from Yellowton, but that the prisoner was transferred to a different prison. And he said that only a few people know where the prisoner is. One of them is named Caelin. She runs the Collectors’ Mines.”

My eyes widened. “A…special prisoner? Like who?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. But I felt that you should know.” Her eyes met mine. “That you could do something about it.”

Red nodded. “Thank you. That information’ll really help us. Thanks a lot.”

“No. Thank you. You saved my children.”

“That was no big deal.” He waved it away like it was nothing, which it was. “You did us a bigger favor by telling us that. Well, we should be going now. Those guys probably won’t be back, but if they ever are, we’ll be back too. See you around sometime!”

We left the alley as the sun’s faint rays began to show over the horizon, armed with new hope – and a new chance at finding Violet.