Chapter 35: Warm Front
Azure led Ash out from the Thirteenth Moon and back to the Academy main level.
"I don’t expect you to keep it a secret," Azure said. "But I will still care about you, regardless of what you do."
The two were now just outside Ash’s dorm room.
"I’m not going to tell anyone," Ash decided.
Azure smiled.
"But I don’t know if I can go back. Or even if I want to go back." Ash said, his voice low and quiet, staring down.
"Whatever you choose, it’s your decision. The space is there for you to be," Azure said, her smile widening.
"Thanks" was all Ash could think and say. He entered his room and saw his phone vibrating on the desk.
"Hello?" Ash spoke, picking up the phone.
"Hey, have you seen Azure?" Vivian’s voice came out blasting through his eardrums.
Ash put his phone down briefly to check it wasn’t on the highest volume setting, only to find it was barely above mute. He left it there.
"How did you get my number?" Ash responded.
"Oh that? Seth gave it to me. Anyways, have you seen her?"
"Of course he did," Ash muttered. "I was just with her, but not anymore. She’s left."
"We were supposed to take on a Gate together, but I can’t find her. And... I do not want to tell Evelyn I lost the location where this thing is gonna spawn at."
"So you want me to do what?"
"Never mind, I’m here."
"Here where?"
His door slammed open; Vivian was breathing heavily in front of it, wielding her katana.
Ash sighed heavily. "Alright, I’ll help you find her, but I’m not in any condition to fight."
"Good enough for me; lead the way."
Ash let his Shade-sense run from the dormitory window. He swept the east side first, where the residential block and maintenance corridor were. He picked up the faint trace of Azure’s signature, moving at its normal pace throughout it and toward the south gate’s exit.
"She’s heading to the south gate," Ash said, following Vivian out of his room.
He said it before he’d made the decision to follow. His feet were already moving by the time he caught up with the thought.
Vivian’s pace was something Ash couldn’t keep up with. Still, he dragged what he could to where Vivian and Azure would intersect.
He saw the two already mid-conversation moments later.
"You didn’t wait at the meeting point," Vivian said.
"I waited at the corner of the east wing for four minutes," Azure spoke softly, trying not to raise her voice and disturb any students’ sleep.
"That’s not where we agreed to meet."
"I know."
"I—" Vivian stopped herself and let out a large breath through her nose. She looked down at Azure. Vivian had at least three inches on her, and that was while she was barefoot, which Ash only then noticed.
Azure, meanwhile, responded back with the warmth she brought with her everywhere. Present, unruffled, and offering nothing further.
They moved through the south gate and into the city. Vivian walked with too much forward momentum; her body continuously arrived at the next point before her mind had settled on the current one. Azure kept to herself, walking her own distance.
"Hey Vivian," Ash said from behind the two of them.
"Huh, yeah, what is it?" Vivian answered back.
"Why do you fight with a sword?"
"I dunno. I saw Evelyn use one and thought it’d be cool if I could channel my Dominion through it."
"Can you?"
She didn’t respond, but Ash could see her smile and grin to herself.
"Are you thinking about learning how to use one?" Azure asked, slowing her pace down to match Ash’s.
"I don’t know yet if a sword is the right form for me. What do you use?"
Azure tied her hands behind her back. "Mmm, I don’t use any," she said after some time.
"Don’t let her trick you; she’s stronger than she looks." Vivian called her out.
"I know she’s strong," Ash said, giving a knowing glance to Azure.
"Is this your second time seeing a Gate?" Azure asked.
"Third"
"When did the second happen?"
"I was with Evelyn when a spontaneous Gate spawned near us."
"Were you protected? Did you get hurt?" Azure demanded.
"I only watched a painting. I didn’t get hurt. I promise."
That calmed Azure down. She returned to walking at an equal distance between Vivian and Ash.
The industrial district was at the end of its lifecycle for the day. Sparse delivery vehicles returning to their hub stations, foot traffic non-existent, and shops cleaning up.
Six blocks away from the academy, they finally saw where the Gate would be forming. At least, that’s what the expression and posture shift from Azure and Vivian told Ash.
It was a small tear in the fabric of the sky. The contained pressure and pre-emergence reading coming through exactly as their reconnaissance told them it would be spawning at.
Azure read the residue and pointed without looking at Ash. "There. Vivian, the loading bay entrance, please."
She didn’t argue and positioned herself where Azure told her to be.
"Ash, can you please stand here?" She had nudged Ash over onto a corner wall that protected his back from any danger he couldn’t see.
"You’re going to do it like that?" Vivian yelled from across the space.
"Like what?" She said, just loud enough for her to hear.
"Whatever you’re about to do."
Azure didn’t answer and turned to face the emerging Gate in front of her.
Two C-rank Hollows pushed themselves through. They moved fast, absentmindedly, only going forward without anything to tell them to take a step back.
Azure extended one hand out slightly, only showing her palm. It wasn’t directed at the Hollows. But towards the Gate’s residue at the tear’s edge.
Ash felt her Shade make contact at the threshold of the Gate. Its warmth aimed through the opening like an offering rather than a barrier.
That didn’t stop the first Hollow from reaching her at its full speed.
Just when it was about to make contact with Azure, it stopped immediately. She didn’t look startled or unfazed. The Hollow stood there, its breath pushing down on her, until it turned around and went back through the Gate.
The second one, which wasn’t much further away, followed it back in.
Vivian stared dumbfounded at the space where Hollows should have turned her into a pile of bones.
"That’s it?"
"Azure, that was amazing," Ash said, coming up to her.
"Please go back. That was only the first wave." Azure gave Ash a reassuring nod that everything was exactly how she wanted it to be.
The next wave featured a variance. Two C-ranks and a Half-Hollow that was immediately drawn to Azure. She raised her hand and signaled Vivian without looking.
"Those two, please."
Vivian didn’t need any more instructions. She was already jumping at the two C-rank Hollows. Her blade instantly sliced through their chests, the tops sliding off at a diagonal before they began to dissolve.
Azure walked calmly to the remaining entity.
At an arm’s length range, the Half-Hollow received the full feeling of her Shade engulfing it.
It changed immediately. Something responded to what she was offering it. Not with intellect or awareness, but the residual of a Shade whose former human still hadn’t fully let go.
"It will be okay. Please," Azure assured the Half-Hollow.
She moved alongside it, guiding it at close range, rather than redirecting it entirely. Then, the Half-Hollow entered back into the Gate.
Ash saw a small tear begin to slide down her chin, which she quickly wiped away before it could mean anything.
Another wave emerged. One absent-minded C-rank was all Azure allowed Vivian to have her fun with. The rest, Azure assured, wouldn’t be harmed, so long as they returned back from where they came.
"You’re doing that thing again." Vivian said in an annoying tone.
Ash turned to see her juggle the parts of a Hollow that hadn’t fully dissipated yet.
"What thing?" Her voice carried no annoyance to it.
"That thing where you’re making it boring. You’re redirecting most of them before I can get there."
Her attention turned back to the tear. "You will get your fair share, Vivian."
Vivian’s eyes tracked back to the Gate.
The pressure against the tear from the other side had been building over the past three waves. Each wave more dense than the last, the differential at the threshold compressing.
Ash felt it before it came through. A mass significantly larger than any of the C-ranks began to accumulate against the other side of the tear.
Azure changed her posture, taking a single step back, but remained holding a palm extended. Vivian’s mouth salivated at what she knew was about to peek its head through the gate.
Azure’s palm stayed level. Whatever was on the other side, she hadn’t decided yet whether it was the enemy or just the next arrival.
