The protests had already lasted moons. Most businesses had closed because of the strike sweeping the streets, while holograms hovered among the protesters, projecting a single feeling:
Insurgency.
Across the buildings, declarations shone: We are not insignificant! We stand together! We are a legion, and legions sweep tyrants away!
My eyes burned before the voices united in a single cry: "We'll keep moving forward!" How much had those people endured before reaching their limit?
Kiara held my hand, stitching our way through the insurgents.
Not even the spring rain stopped them. Nor the A.T.F. Nor Zenith. Nor the Aether Network. Every cry of revolt was also a cry for freedom. Rebellion radiated from every heart, and they seemed determined to continue, unstoppable, onward.
Meanwhile, zenithians demonstrated in support of the Aether Network, defending the premier and naming Une Côte as the enemy. An enemy that, according to them, should be eliminated.
In Centrália, the crowd tried to advance, but A.T.F. forces surrounded it before the streets leading to Zenith, repressing the protesters. The only route to the upper level was blocked. Soldiers, nanodrones, and police vehicles formed a nanobarrier, protecting the zenithians.
"We need to go. Cloakify's only gonna last an hour," Kiara urged me.
Thirty minutes later, we reached somewhere far too familiar.
My heart nearly stopped at the sight of the building's façade.
Cerda Street, 244. The building was closed, but Kiara overcame that obstacle easily. She pressed her holopass against the nanolock, and the door slid open.
"Ils le feront." They'll do it, someone had said amid laughter.
"Someone's come in." The voice traveled through the walls.
Kiara walked toward the café, and I followed close behind. The people who worked there were gathered around the tables. Among them, I recognized someone I had seen lunations ago: the young woman from the elevator, her long hair loose, blouse partly open, and a cigarette between her fingers.
The atmosphere tightened as we entered. Everyone straightened at the sight of Kiara.
"Kiara?" The young woman stood and put out her cigarette.
"Anne, can you take us upstairs?" the android asked.
"O-of course."
The others exchanged glances, surrounded by a heavy atmosphere. Kiara cast one last look at them before following Anne.
"How are things?"
The young woman tied back her hair and shrugged. "The protests intensified today after the premier's statement. Businesses closed, but some protesters are breaking into them, especially Sessota's."
The elevator arrived, and we entered.
Anne sat in her usual place. She never looked at me. She seemed to be avoiding me. Honestly? My thoughts were spinning. I hadn't expected to revisit a place so laden with memories. I held my breath. I didn't want to… Yes. It was inevitable. Inescapable. The red corridor and the wooden door numbered 55 sent my pulse racing.
"You know where to go if something happens?" Kiara asked.
Anne nodded.
We stepped out.
The elevator doors closed with a creak identical to the one that persisted in my memories. The reddish corridor seemed to stretch before me, distorted. The walls threatened to collapse over my body, crumbling into blocks, as a torrent of memories broke loose from somewhere inside me. An inevitable waterfall.
I felt dizzy. I had tucked that place away in a drawer. Had always avoided even passing its façade. Facing it was too heavy. Damn it.
"Everything alright?" Kiara touched my back. I met her eyes, which held a flicker of concern.
"I-I…"
"Been here before?" Her smile betrayed that she knew the answer. "I know it must be hard, but we don't have much time."
"It's alright." I swallowed, clinging firmly to reality.
Kiara opened the door.
Everything remained the same. The smell. The colors. The furniture. The walls. Even the crimson still made me nauseous. I walked slowly, breathing that air deeply. The smell of the old carpet. The wall's rough texture beneath my fingers. The memory of Maia's laughter. My heart wandered through the room. I dreaded sitting on the sofa. Dreaded looking at the chair where Maia used to settle.
It was so easy to imagine her there, brushing her fingers over her lips, wearing that teasing look… Ah… My cheeks burned, and a sorrowful warmth rose to my eyes. The urge to cry was about to overcome me. If not for Kiara, I would have fallen apart.
"Should be around here." She opened a wooden cabinet, revealing an enormous empty compartment.
Click The wood shuddered, and the bottom rose.
I focused all my attention on the mechanism. Any distraction would do to push away, even for an instant, the weight of that place.
"What? Why isn't it here?" Kiara stuck her head inside the compartment and straightened again. She began pacing.
Seeing her so disoriented was rare. Her eyes swept the room, searching the furniture, looking for something. But it wasn't there.
"Shit. We're outta time. Cloakify runs out in twenty minutes. Won't be able to reactivate it for an hour." She sat on the edge of the bed and patted the mattress. "Better relax. We'll have to wait."
"What's happening?" I hesitated to sit. Everything reminded me of Maia. I pressed my fingers against the bed's edge.
"Maia hid it somewhere else."
I drew my brows together, intrigued. "Do you know where?"
"Got an idea, but we need Cloakify. We won't get there in twenty minutes. Especially with that crowd outside." Kiara's voice was measured.
"Ah… is it here in Centrália?"
"Yeah." She rested her arms on the mattress. "Sitting around doing nothing for an hour's gonna be boring as fuck."
I swallowed.
Kiara looked deep into my eyes, as though sensing what I was trying to deal with. "How about I tell you how we got those items?"
A story with Maia? My eyes sparkled. "Yes, please."
Kiara's gaze grew distant. And she almost smiled.