File Five Adversity

I hummed the tune of my past. Normally, it left me with a terrible slew of nightmares, but, now, it reminded me of Doireann. I thought of her hair in my hands from the training the other day. I should have been harsher with her, because she faced Adversity in a few days, and I began to worry that my training lacked preparation techniques. Not my fault, though. She proved capable enough, and that threw me off my game.

A knock on my door brought me out of my thoughts. I lit a cigarette and puffed on it before telling the knocker to enter. I hoped to see Doireann, but she wanted to train on her own today, so the chances of encountering her became slim.

“Come in, love.”

Ryu burst through my door. His hands clenched into fists as he marched up to me. “Let’s get this straight right now, Travis,” Ryu said, huffed, and continued, “I’m not your ‘love.’”

I sneered. “Right you are about that one.”

“Where is she?”

I took one step back as Ryu advanced. What an interesting development. I calculated his possible meanings. “Why do you think I know Doireann’s whereabouts any more than you do?” I heard Ryu’s teeth grind together and stopped myself at that point. Whatever ruffled him did so horridly. I guessed that this was the anger Ryu held within him.

“Ever since you came around, she has acted strange.”

I tapped a forefinger to my chin. “How so?” I wondered if perhaps living in the trench for a while aggravated him. Ryu seemed like a guy who preferred nature in reality. I nearly suggested as much to him, but decided not to. No point in rousing an already provoked bear any further.

Ryu lifted his fist, then lowered it and opened his palm. He clenched his fist quickly. “She’s not talking to me. Eugene somehow went completely off the grid.”

I nodded, certain to put on a sympathetic air. “Sounds difficult.”

Ryu took a breath and lowered his head. “I suppose I’m sorry.”

“No worries. I’m enough of an enigma that most people blame me.” I squeezed my wrists and popped them. I pushed my thoughts away, or at least, I tried to. Eugene falling off the grid amused me, and I planned to keep a better eye on him.

“So, you really don’t know where D is?”

“Not exactly. I know she is training, but not where she is.”

“Yeah. She is doing that a lot lately.” Ryu cleared his throat and starched his cheek. He leaned against a wall and crossed his arms.

I watched him carefully, but did not give away my actions. “Yes, she really is becoming a fine Glitcher. Destined to be one of the best, I’m sure.” I imagined that heat waves formed around the boy for a moment. The anger in his eyes wanted to cut through me. Intriguing indeed.

“She is so much more than that.”

“Yes, of course. I did not mean anything diminishing with that statement in the least.”

Ryu snorted. “Right. Well, if Eugene manages to find anything off about you. Even one hair out of place, and I will put an end to all of this myself.”

“Understood. In any event, shouldn’t you be training for Adversity with her?”

“Not a Glitcher. Not my problem.”

“Shame. It’s quite the team-building exercise.” And you wonder why she might be distancing herself, I pondered.

“So I’ve heard. D’s connection to me is strong enough. I don’t need to train with her.”

“Perhaps, then, you need to train yourself and control that anger of yours.”

Ryu smirked. “Maybe.” He half-nodded and half-bowed before leaving my room.

I slid the chair away from my desk and sat down. It seemed Eugene and Ryu began to doubt my motives. Not that I could blame them. I sifted through my options. Whatever I did required a measure of caution and precision. I flexed my fingers and wheeled myself over to my desk where an interface turned on in front of me. From there, I oversaw the movements of Ryu and D. She placed herself in the isolation room. Her pose suggested that she did meditation or yoga.

I zoomed in on Ryu. He seemed to stare at me for a moment before shaking his head and wandering off. Two down, one to go. Eugene attempted to outsmart me, but it would prove futile. I plugged away a few coordinates into the interface and poked my head through the shimmering glass-like window that appeared within the screen. Once my vision cleared, I saw the husky boy. He munched on potato chips from an open bag at his lap and his hands gripped an odd-shaped controller. His breathing sounded heavy, and sweat beads formed on his forehead.

I restrained myself from chuckling and watched in awe as I vaguely recognized the game Eugene played. Two blotchy rectangles hit an equally pixelated ball back and forth. He’s not bad, I mused.

Still, seeing the game in its primitive state shocked me a bit. I grew up with the version that came with the first generation of visors. I wanted to ask the messy haired boy with goggles how he had managed to save a copy of the game on the original system, but I denied myself that curiosity. Eugene looked over in my direction, and I smirked. It felt as though he sensed something in the room, but I made myself unperceivable to him. Satisfied with my research, I ducked my head back into my room. While the bumbling boy happened to be a concern, I didn’t view him as a threat. Not yet, at least.

I lit another cigarette and made my way over to the isolation room. Doireann had left the door open a crack, so I allowed myself to marvel at her completely still, serene tree pose for a moment. I stepped toward the partially open door quietly and knocked.

“I told you to get lost, Ryu! I don’t know what is with you and Eugene, but Travis is not that bad! You both need to stop jumping to bloody conclusions every time something—”

I rushed into the room and caught the girl moments before she hit the ground. I gathered that her rage disrupted her concentration and sighed. “Easy there, love.” My voice had a bit of a hoarse tone to it, and my heart pounded in my chest.

“Oi, can’t you read your own signs?”

So much for a thank you. I glanced over my shoulder and laughed nervously. No smoking. I made sure the sassy girl regained her balance and stepped outside to snuff out the cigarette. I returned to the room and stood next to Doireann. My hand reached up to pull at one of her curls softly, but at the notice of her glare, I let my hand drop. “Better, love?”

“Hardly.”

I mirrored the girl’s warrior pose. My hips stretched painfully, and, for a moment, I became jealous of Doireann’s perfect steadiness. I must have made some sort of face, because laughter echoed through the room.

“Well, it seems I’ve bested a Glitcher at something.”

“Never that flexible.” I surprised myself with the ease of that half-truth. For a second, I wanted to tell her the answer to the question she asked a few days ago about my power, but I stopped myself.

“I hope Ryu didn’t bother you too much this morning.”

We slid from a warrior pose into a tree pose. My leg wobbled a bit. “I figured him for the jealous type. We did nearly kiss in his back yard.”

“I resisted you, remember?”

I chuckled. At least I could be sure that she was indeed a Perceiver.

“What makes you so sure that I’m your destined one, anyway?”

My body felt lighter than normal as Doireann said this, and I found myself forcing out breath. My balance swayed, and it became her turn to catch me, except, perhaps to make her point clear, she allowed me to fall to the floor. I sat up stiffly and noted the girl’s tongue stuck out at me. Her laughter filled my ears, and it came time for me to catch her again, but to make my own point clear, I let her suffer the same fate she’d enacted on me.

“Oh, so you only catch pretty girls when they have their eyes closed, huh?”

“No,” I said and slid closer to her. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“I’ll let it slide this time,” she said and tapped my hand with her fingers. “Did you have to go through Adversity?”

I hummed as I considered the potential depth of her question. “Every Glitcher has to, in one way or another. I remember that I lead the group as captain, so that gave me some undue recognition.”

“Captain Ryu. Nah, I think that title would go to his head too easily.”

“You would make a fine captain, I’m sure.”

“Oh, please. You say that out of bias.”

I stared into her eyes. Maybe so. “Honestly, Eugene has potential.”

Doireann leaned into my chest slowly. “Yeah, but there’s no way we’d get him to come into this reality. He’s always been that way.”

I rubbed her shoulder. Her voice shook slightly, and I felt something wet seep into my shirt. “Oh,” I mumbled and wiped away the next tear with my finger, “have I scared you, love?”

“No. It’s not Adversity. Well, not that Adversity, anyway. Are they that petty? I finally achieve my goal, and all of a sudden, they turn into jerks.”

I fought the urge to kiss her cheeks where the tears streaked them. She remained next to me when I wiped the tear, so I dutifully wiped away others. Something tightened in my chest, and, in the same moment, something burned within me. I imagined myself screaming at Ryu and Eugene.

“Ow.”

I swiveled my attention back to the girl in my company and eased my iron grip on her shoulder. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, Travis.”

Her eyes enthralled my gaze. “Good. Right, then. Big day coming up soon. You should go to bed and rest.” I noticed a mischievous light flicker across her eyes.

Doireann leaned further into me and whispered in my ear, “Still not the boss of me.” Her lips met my cheek softly, and, as I sat on the floor mesmerized, she made her escape.

“Yes, toy with me all you want, but the game is still afoot,” I muttered as I headed back to my room. Fire and ice tumbled at the spot where her lips had touched my skin.

Next Chapter: File Six: Endure It