Section III: Solitude In Chaos

Tyler gets consoled by Tracie, in preparation for the next few days.

Section III: Solitude in Chaos

“You do not have to

be alone anymore. You

have no reason to.”

- Tracie, in a conversation with Tyler

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler opened the door to his quarters after a very stressful dinner in the cafeteria, eating food and searching for the earliest flights to Flana. The next portship to Flana would not depart for another day, and it would land nowhere near the capitol with all that is going on. At least he was lucky to find a ticket so soon. A private flight would not have the same kinds of restrictions, but they must be made days in advance, and given the urgency, there really was no choice.

The quarters were rather quaint, a somewhat spacious room, illuminated with dim blue lights to highlight the mostly light grey furniture. The only amenities colored anything but grey were items owned by Tyler himself, including clothing, equipment, books, and other trinkets found around Apolo. He owned very few things, especially things pertaining to his home. The only thing from home was what appeared to be a very long light-blue faux fur scarf-like ring. A part of this ring had little clips, seemingly to go around the neck, and allowing the ring to drape down the front, and loop around behind the feet. This ring was laid out on the bed, near the headrest, where Tyler sat down. His mind was less focused with his room, and more focused on the situation at hand.

Tyler’s mind raced in every direction imaginable. Part of his thoughts dwelled on the upcoming trip and task, and what he will do when there. Another part dwelled on a single question: “Could this be related?” Anytime his mind thought of that question, even for a moment, his stress increased, starting to think about the past. And what happened at home. 

He kept trying to shrug off the thought, trying to focus on the here and now, yet the question kept returning, gnawing at his mind. Sitting down on the bed, his frustration and stress continued to build up inside of him. No matter what he tried, his mind kept going back to that day. A day he kept trying to forget and put aside. It was torture, and he could not stop it. Tyler held his head in his hands, quietly screaming as the day etched in his mind, the day he wishes never happened: 16 Espel, 290 AYZ. 

He brought his mind back to The Queen. Someone had to have kidnapped her, there was no other way she could have just disappeared. And if it truly was someone, who? Could it be related? 16 Espel, 290 AYZ. Back to The Queen, then to Flana. The planet is struggling due to an outside threat. Could it be related? 16 Espel, 290 AYZ. Back to Flana. For what felt like hours, his mind rapidly went back and forth between the two events. The planet. The Threat. 16 Espel, 290 AYZ. The Queen. The probability of turning into a kidnapping. The people involved. 16 Espel, 290-

“Are you thinking about home again?”

The train of thought was thankfully interrupted by a voice behind Tyler, who turned slightly to side-eye the figure standing in the doorway. It was a smaller build of a woman, standing a tiny bit over Tyler. She almost looked like a smaller and younger Carnagee, having a very similar fur pattern and color. She even shared a similar beret to her older counterpart. Underneath the beret, her hair was straight and extended downwards to her waist. She wore a long-sleeved blue jacket-like shirt underneath a grey ceremonial yet functional chestplate. The right shoulder had little golden squares, alongside a golden rectangle above the left chest. The grey portion of the plate on the left side was a darker shade of grey, overlapped by a lighter shade making up the entire right side and most of the left. Her pants shared a similar grey to the plate, and her tall boots shared a similar blue to her shirt.

The second Tyler laid eyes on her, a majority of the stress building up crumbled away, though his face stayed its mostly neutral expression. “Unfortunately.” He replies, gravitas in his voice.

The woman’s expression was partially saddened, half-expecting the reply. “In all our years in which we have known each other…” She whispers under her breath, leaving the sentence unfinished. She knew Tyler from childhood, his parents being family friends to hers. Despite his… “impromptu move” to Apolo about five years prior, the two communicated on a personal level with each other about as frequently as someone winning the lottery. The woman walked around the bed to sit next to Tyler, giving both of them a little bit of space. “How did the thought enter back into your mind?” She spoke with softness and uneasiness, stressed like Carnagee.

“Flana. No one of that importance can just-“ Tyler stopped partway through, stopping himself from being confidently incorrect. He held his head down in his hands again, the illuminance of his right eye shining through his hand. “…How can I explain my thoughts when there are no words that can be used to describe it? There is no shadow of a doubt that the Anarchists are behind this, but in no way is it provable.”

”It will be. Our team will get to the bottom of this. We will find out who kidnapped her. A reminder to you that you should stress not about that day, as I have told you time and time again.”

”Tracie, you do not understand-“

”I never said I would understand. In most likelihood, I will never understand. But you know as well as I that there was nothing that you could have done to change the course of history. Please, stop beating yourself up over it. You do not have to be alone anymore. You have no reason to. Right now we are all stressed, and we need to focus as much on the present situation as we can.” A longer pause ensued between the two. Tracie’s face showed concern over many things, but Tyler kept his silent, emotionless demeanor, rarely looking over at Tracie. “Oh, you precious soul.” Tyler thought in his mind. “You will never understand what it is like to lose everything. For your sake, let us keep it that way.” “In other notice… How is the new engineer?”

“Oh, she is phenomenal. I have yet to see a brighter, more unique mind in the field of applied sciences. I hand picked her myself after you filed that complaint with our prior engineer.” Tracie felt slightly comforted, not just because the awkward silence was over, but she saw a glimmer, albeit faint, of hope, hope she could use to help Tyler with his… issues.

“So I have also heard from your father. Our Division will adjust to accommodate our new friend, I assume?”

“Correct, we’ve already given her your measurements and time to start working on gear. She herself is predicting to finish by mid-afternoon tomorrow, around the time you should arrive. Blake is also expected to be there tomorrow. I will contact you three remotely to lay out the plan.”

“Good.” Tyler stood up from the bed to hang up the faux-fur ring, and walked towards the large window-wall in the south corner of his room, opposite the door. The view was rather beautiful, especially at night. The mixture of the artificial lights put up by Kanign kind, along with the natural lights from fluorescent flowers of varieties of colors, illuminated the wonderfully spacious, yet dense, construction of Apolo, and shined alongside the numerous stars in the sky, seven brighter lights signifying planets in the solar system. “Oh how wondrous the views can be, this is truly the beauty of The Desena.” Tyler pondered in his mind of the view, so peaceful, in worlds of chaos. He was so enamored by the sky, he didn’t notice Tracie walking to his side until she accidentally bumped his shoulder, startling him only a little.

The two stared out the window, fully aware they should be sleeping in preparation for what would become a very long next few days. But that was a later issue. Tracie looked towards Tyler, her mind processing a thought. “Oh, how poor is your weary soul, Tyler. For your sake and our safety, your secret stays with us.” She slowly, instinctively, lowered her head to rest on Tyler’s shoulder, who looked over in confusion, but accepted the gesture with gratitude. After a few minutes, Tyler slowly returned the gesture, leaning his head on hers. He swore he could hear the faintest whisper from Tracie, the simple words “I love you.”

Author's Note

Yes, they have their own calendar system. It's twice as long as ours.

Note: I have no idea why the last paragraph is single-spaced while the rest is double spaced, because in the original file, it is double-spaced.

Reviews

[lizziedoesitall]

Hello! I just finished your story, and I loved every bit of it! Your writing is so engaging, and I couldn’t stop thinking about how awesome it would be as a com. I’m a professional commissioned artist, and I’d be honored to adapt your story into a comic format. no pressure, though! I just think it would be a perfect match. If you’re interested, you can reach me on Instagram(@lizziedoesitall). Let me know your thoughts!
Warm regards,
Lizzie