As soon as we return to our hideout, Cross and I start packing our things. We don’t have many belongings except some clothes and hygiene products. How could we after all? We’re constantly on the run. And yes, nature doesn’t give a fuck if you’re chased by a group of black-maskers. When it’s your time of the month, it’s your time of the month, and you can’t do anything about it.

However, I’m still not sure why now is finally the time to leave. I and Cross, well, we are not in such good terms nowadays. It was a rough year overall and things have changed between us. I don’t know how we went from first-name base to just calling him Cross, but it sort of happened. The good thing is that now all I think about is returning to him. The bad thing is that I have no idea what’s going on most of the time.

I grab a change of clothes and put it in the bag. I have another change under the bed, where a secret passage to the roof is concealed below, but I decide to leave it there. You never know when someone will need it. Maybe the next person that will find this hideout will also need a change of clothes and a quick getaway.

Soon, I hear Cross’ steps heading towards the door. He’s probably checking if anyone suspicious is waiting for us outside. Setting up a trap and almost capturing me means that they’re getting smarter and more organized. It has taken us some time and a great deal of effort to clean up the mess we did back in the warehouse, but people of Caso are known for being big, blabbermouth bastards that will do anything they can to earn a gold coin or two.

And what’s that with Caso and their love for gold coins? Don’t they know about credit cards here? They’re heavy, dirty and cling annoyingly in your pocket all day. Try getting away from a bunch of beggars with your coins clinking in your pocket all the way to the hideout. I had to run around the block three times to lose them, and it was also my time of the month.

When I’m ready, I head to the common room where Cross is still checking for suspicious activity. With my bag on my back and my metal stuff in my hands, I’m ready to go at any time.

“Let’s go. I want to return to get back on Yaerus as soon as I can,” I say, murmuring behind my teeth.

I can see that my behavior towards him it’s hurting him, but I’m not sure I can recall the sympathy I had for the man when we first met on Yaerus. I was someone else back there, and he was just a doctor. Now, I’m a trained assassin ready to tackle any situation, and he’s a high-ranked member of an organization that runs around the galaxy and uproots problems.

I wouldn’t feel so bad about this if the Organization wasn’t so dredged into a religious tone. It’s like they follow a prophecy of some sort without ever stopping to wonder if all the things they believe are just excuses to justify their murders.

Cross turns and looks at me, his mouth open ready to spout some nonsense again. I don’t want to hear it this time. I’ve just started liking him again after he told me it’s time to return on Yaerus, but I don’t plan on cutting him any slack for that. It’s his fault people died on Yaerus and his fault that a whole planet is now in danger because he didn’t do anything to stop the disease from spreading even though he knew everything about it.

I’m sure he can sense my animosity towards him; he doesn’t say a thing. He nods and opens the door for us to head outside. Cross gets out first; I wait for his signal before I follow him, both our heads lowered, our hoods on.

It’s night on Caso. Living in an underground settlement makes it difficult to tell the difference, but after two months staying here, I’m confident I can understand it. The ceiling of the underground chamber the city is built in is full of strong floodlights. During the day, the majority of them work in full strength, shedding their light above the city, calling it a day.

The night, however, the administration shuts down more than half of them and lowers the intensity of the ones still on, calling that state of dim lightness a night. It’s really difficult to walk around the complex pathways of Caso when that happens, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the city. But, for some reason, Cross never quite gets lost, not here, not anywhere else. He always seems to know where he’s going, like he’s following a mental map inside his head.

It takes us some time to get to the spaceport close to our hideout. It has been over a week since the last time I came to check our spaceship. At that time, I remember feeling miserable as hell. It has been almost a year since we got separated from the rest of the gang back on that strange planet. I thought we would never return to Yaerus and that I’ll die running away from those black-maskers.

That’s why, getting closer, I can’t keep my head down any longer. I want to have a better view of the port, to savor our win. I slow down a bit and raise my upper body. I smile at the sight of the big, cylindrical building towering above the rest of the city.

“Get down,” Cross suddenly hisses at me.

I hear Cross’ warning, but it’s already too late. A strong headlight suddenly compromises my location; it’s the black-maskers again.

“Shit,” I swear loudly. I quickly pick up my pace.

I hear the dissonant sound of bullets raining above me. Luckily, Caso doesn’t allow for laser guns on its premises or I would have been dead already without never knowing what hit me.

Cross is running ahead, plainly heading towards the hidden passage we discovered the first week we arrived on Caso. Of course, Cross was the one that found it back then, and he’s the one that finds it again today. Up to this day, I have no idea how he manages to do it so fast, but I’m sure it has something to do with his vast experience as an operative of the Organization.

Fortunately, the city is built on many levels, so the black-maskers shooting us from above have no good field of view. And by running below all these metallic columns, makes avoiding the bullets easy.

“Faster Eladia. We’re almost there,” Cross shouts at me.

I decide that there’s no time to play games anymore. I don’t want to die before seeing him again, before touching his big hands, caress his silver hair. I can’t stop thinking of Dark Jay throughout all this ordeal.

When we both pass through the tight pathway, I run ahead and find our spaceship on the edge of a long line of spaceships, most of them class 1 vehicles suitable for five people, max. For a moment, I lose Cross from my eyes. I turn around only to see him pull something next to the exit of the passage.

“What are you doing? We have to go!” I yell at him.

He doesn’t hear me. I decide to run to his side and help him do whatever he’s trying to do when suddenly a shrieking noise stops me from getting any closer to him. Sudden movement coming from above the hidden passage draws my attention. The rope that Cross pulled was the only thing keeping a big chunk of metal garbage from closing the pathway’s exit to the spaceport.

Cross, as always, was two steps ahead of everyone, and he proved it by having set up a trap for the black-maskers.

When he runs to my side, I stop him, grabbing his hand.

“What?” He seems surprised.

I take a breath and open my mouth. “Thank you, Dale. For everything.”

I don’t know why I felt the need to say this to him now, but it was the only thing that came to my mind. It doesn’t change anything between us, but now, seeing him take care of me even after everything we went through, I feel gratitude towards him.

This nightmare is almost over, and he’s the one that kept me safe and sane for this long after all.

“It’s okay, Eladia. We have to go now. We’ll talk about everything as soon as we get on the ship.”

He doesn’t wait for me to say anything else. He gently frees himself from my grip and runs towards the spaceship. I follow him close behind. Five minutes later, we’re on our way away off Xioria.

A fierce sandstorm has covered the main exit of the spaceport with tons of gold sand. A small waterfall splashes on the main pane of the cockpit, giving us the impression that we emerged from a sea of sand.

Historically, Caso was built underground to avoid the extreme weather effects whipping the planet’s surface at frequent intervals. There wasn’t a day that we didn’t feel the effects of those extreme weather conditions underground, with vast amounts of sand covering the metal ceiling of the settlement. Back in the days, when they used to open the cover during the calm days, the whole city was being hit by natural sunlight enough to even have some minor agricultural activities started down there.

Nowadays, everything is covered in sand and stone. Strangely, this is the only place of the one’s we visited that I’ll actually miss. It is, after all, the only place that I felt comfortable being myself—my new self.

We’re off orbit already, heading towards Yaerus. For the first time after nine months of seclusion from the Grid, I can finally see what’s going on with the rest of the galaxy. I open the monitor and type the word Yaerus on the screen.

I cup my mouth with my hand almost immediately. The first result of my search is that big, bold headline saying: “Yaerus in danger of a Purge. The local solar system in danger of an uber-demic. The council is devastated by the recent kidnapping of the Phadh ambassador’s daughter in the middle of talks regarding Ecli System’s safety.”

Honestly, what the fuck it’s going on out there?.