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Beta(s) :

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Co-Writer and Requester : Gib

Editing: ChaosInRush

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Paz woke up to the ear-splitting scream and the teeth chattering tremors of the morning express line taking its daily turn at their station before it straightened back out towards downtown. Their lights, the ones that worked anyway, flickered faintly as it went by and, somewhere, a brick fell and shattered on the ground.

But, after about a minute, the train was gone, and everything was nice and quiet again.

Aside from the burst pipe in the bathroom…

Which never fucking. Stops. Dripping.

Still, Paz couldn't complain too much about their hideout.

It was a decently sized train-stop that, once upon a time, had been used as an express run from what had been the suburb to the mall that sat at the edge of the old city. Workers would ride in every morning, and out every evening, on the same express circuit that woke them up each day. That was fifty years ago. Now the train skipped their stop, going instead to the station in the new suburbs.

Paz sighed as she thought about it, Time marches on, I suppose.

Time certainly hadn't been kind to the old station. It had some offices attached for coordinating the trains and, apparently, stuff up in the mall as well, judging by what Paz assumed was a map in the offices. Most of it had rotted away or was eaten by bugs, but the name - something, something, Amber Clad - was on the bottom edge of it, so they had to be connected somehow. It didn't matter too much to her.

The offices took up half of the station and ran up to the surface. Paz and her friends lived in the abandoned lower part. The wide glass windows that had looked down on incoming trains were boarded up and desks were left to rot and collapse under their own weight. All of what remained stood on floors that sagged in way too much for them to risk venturing onto it. The mold had eaten away at the wood so badly, it was clear that anyone who walked on it would fall through to the floor below.

The other end of the train station had been restaurants. They'd been completely cleaned out and Paz wouldn't risk running gas through the pipes they left behind. Dust could catch on fire, or something could back the gas up and blow them to hell. Or worse, gas could leak and kill them silently in their sleep if someone didn't notice the gas being used. They had water, electricity, and even a bit of heat that leaked down from the mall when winter hit, and that was enough. It had to be.

They'd set up in one of the offices close to the train tracks when they found the place. It was run down and bare, but it was far enough away from the mall entrances that there weren't any motion sensors, and close enough for the ambient heat to reach them. This was the happy zone they needed. They'd hauled in some old sleeping bags and tables from the restaurant and made it a home.

A chilly home, that vibrated and screamed every morning, sure.

But home was home and walls were walls. It even came with half a bathroom. Despite the never ending leak, the sink closer to the door worked, so they could clean themselves whenever they wanted. It was one of the only luxuries they had. Paz scrubbed her arms down with a rag she'd managed to slip out of a store with and used a fork to brush her hair while the electric warmer warmed up the tin of beef and beans she'd managed to get.Rachel better appreciate this. Beef and beans was an expensive combination. Paz had to sell some tools and spare clothes to afford it, but Rachel needed the protein right now.

If only they could replace the coil on their little electric stove, they'd be set again. "But someone had to drop it on the third rail," Paz grumbled as she stole a look in the mirror they'd managed to find in one of the more stable offices.

It was an old thing, with a third of it broken off and cracked to the point of being useless, but the center was clean and clear. She gave herself a daily once over. Her lacerated skin was clean. Her eyes were clear, a bright blue and dull red looking back at her, unblemished. Her hair was full, dark black and striped in its odd, bright red. Still not sick, just defective.

A violent, wet coughing dragged her attention away from the mirror and she swore. "Fucking- The food!" It was burned by the time she got it to her, but Rachel let Paz prop her up on a pillow so she could eat it. She had the strength for that, at least…

"Thanks…" She managed around tiny bites of food. "Means 'lot."

"Mhm…" While she ate, Paz observed her with concern.

Her brown hair was darker than normal, almost black, and clung to her sweaty head limply. And her already pale skin had only paled more, spotched unevenly in red spots and a bumpy rash that crawled up her arms, neck and chest. Her breathing was heavy and rattled loudly whenever she inhaled. Paz watched her chest rise and fall with a frown for a long time.

"Starin' again." Rachel tried weakly, "Keep it up, I'll think you have a thing."

"Shut up…" Paz sighed, and then said, quietly, "You just… You look like shit, Rachel."

"Yeah?" She chuckled and then heaved a wet cough before she forced a thin smile and grumbled, "T-That's not something you say to the girl you've been eyein' up."

"Rachel…"

"I'm fine." She flicked a glassy-eyed look around, avoiding Paz's gaze as much as taking everything in. Then she realized, "Where's your food?"

"I already ate."

"Lie to me." Rachel growled, "Gave me the whole can again, didn't you?"

"You're sick-"

"You could be, too."

"We both know I never get sick, Rachel." It had to be the fever talking - Rachel never forgot that. It was one of the main things she teased Paz for, especially when it came to cleaning out the moldy offices.

As if I couldn't carry the mold out, or fall and break my neck. Just because my immune system was a bit better than some people's- Okay, everyone's, maybe, but that won't stop broken bones.

"Whatever…" Despite her complaints, Rachel finished the food. She handed the bowl over, laying back down with Paz's help. She curled up on her side, wheezing, and asked, "We got money for more food?"

Paz ran her thumb over the little ring on her finger and she stood, smiling. "No, but I, uh, have a job."

"Yeah?" She murmured, "You can handle it?"

"Mhm." She nodded and backed up a step, "Just rest. I'll be back in a couple hours."

"Yeah…"

Out on the train platform, Paz laid out on the old paving stones and pulled the ring off to look at it. It was a small thing, dull silver looking, impossibly thin, and made of two strings of metal that twined around each other. The silver was probably only worth a few bucks, really, but it felt nice to run her hand along. The gem was the money, though. It was a bright, almost scarlet, that somehow looked like it was lit up from within. Rachel said she was crazy when she mentioned it to her, and maybe she was.

"Sorry, folks," she sighed, addressing her family. "Rachel needs it more than I need a memento. You get it, yeah?"

No one answered her. No one but the noon train, screeching over a mile down the tracks as it turned towards downtown. The sounds echoed in the tunnels as they always had despite the distance. It made telling where the trains were difficult, so it was better to memorize the schedule than try and guess.

Finally, Paz stood and dropped next to the tracks to begin walking to the surface.

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Paz ducked under the old, ratty bit of cardboard that came sailing towards her head and straightened with a sigh. "Rachel, calm down! I did it to help you! And you know- Glrk!"

"That isn't the point!" The other girl shrieked while Paz spat out the old fur from the discolored stuffed rabbit Rachel had managed to plant straight in her mouth.

"What was I supposed to do, let you die? You looked like shit!" She still did, too. Her skin was clammy and a bit pasty, and her hair was limp and dull. And Paz could hardly see her wiry frame under the thick, baggy clothes she was wearing to fight the fever. But she could breathe, finally.

Enough to yell at her, sure, but breathing was breathing!

"And we can just get it back!" She snapped when Rachel dragged up an old, yellow pillow to hurl at her. That stopped her, for a second, and Paz rushed to add, "And even if we can't, oh well. You needed meds."

"I know, but…" She yanked the pillow up to press her face into it and screamed, before she flopped on the little pile of pillows she used to make her bedroll more 'beddish'. After a second, she peeked over the top of it and hugged it against her chest, "But it was important to you. From your parents, right?"

"So the story goes, yeah…" She sighed, dragging out one of the seats they'd scrounged out of the restaurant to sit on.

"So, like, even if we needed it… You know?" She shrugged and the girl sighed and pointed a long finger at her, "Plus, you saw the shiny on that thing. Ten times what you sold it for, easy. Probably a lot more."

"I mean, yeah, but we both know that shop gets, like, no traffic." She argued, "So out of the five places that will even buy from us…"

"He's the only place that might not sell it…"

"So we can just try and… Work for it."

"You mean steal it."

"Stealing is work!" Paz waved her off, "And besides, we both know that jagoff hasn't changed his alarm pass in ten years. So it's not like it'll be hard to-"

She grunted as the pillow took her in the face and Rachel snarked, "And who will he point to for the theft? Us, you dolt! Which means a manhunt at worst, if it's worth what i think, or us not being able to risk running anywhere near the mall!"

"And?"

"And that's our best picking place!" She snapped quietly, shaking her head and catching the pillow Paz pitched back at her. Cuddling with it again, she sighed. "How does that place even stay open anyway?"

"No clue." Paz sighed, watching the flame on the acetylene cooker on the table flicker as it boiled the water she'd come back with. "People buy weird shit all the time."

"No one ever goes in, though…"

"Online?" Pazz suggested, dropping a handful of the herbs she'd gotten with what was left of the money from the sale into the water. "Maybe paper ads? Who knows. People are weird."

"People are weird." Rachel agreed quietly, "Especially you."

"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes, "Now, tea's boiling-"

"Herbs in water isn't tea."

"-so how about we brainstorm?" Paz went on, ignoring her as always, "I cased the joint pretty well while I was in there, and you know the alarm code, so… What's the plan?"

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In a garden wider than the eye could see, blooming under a dark blue sky lit by the vibrant warmth of aurora lights, a man knelt and hummed quietly. His hands parted the thick, spiked leaves of a bush to expose its roots and he fished around in the dirt for what he was looking for. When he found it, he pinched it between a pair of fingers and slipped his root-cutters in to carve out his sample.

When it was free he held it up to inspect it and hummed quietly, "Ah, I wonder what you are capable of? Medicinal, perhaps? Or will you favor the poisonous father?"

It went into the case beside him, its slot already prepared, and joined a dozen other berries, roots, seeds and flowers he had collected so far. A certifiable cornucopia of crossbreeds, tailored by his hands, all just waiting for their next step. For refinement.

For a chance at perfection via potency to put to practiced purpose....

He felt the door that opened behind him, but didn't turn to it. Instead he simply asked, "What is it?"

"One of our contacts reached out to us."

"Oh?" He hummed, fishing for another root sample - whatever the first offered could be a fluke, but two? That would be a pattern.

"A merchant, with something… Peculiar." She said, "Something of interest to you."

"And he bases this on…?"

"Your own parameters." They said, "The ones you disseminated."

"Ah…" But that would mean… He stood and dusted his hands off, turning to the little imp and smiling. "Please, do tell me more."

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