Some Thing Called Myself (Complete)

LXIII: That's so troubling

 — Tai —

Tai's sneakers screeched on the cement as a piece of the ceiling fell and sunk into the cracked ground, disappearing in the caves beneath it. This was the corridor between the training dens and the patio, and they still had to cross half of the HQ in order to reach the place Mimi and Godo said that Mara could be.

"Shit," Tai growled, the support disappearing from underneath their feet. "Fall back. Fall back!"

Godo leaned backward and pivoted around, but they weren't fast enough. The cracks on the cement stretched, chasing them.

"Tai, watch out!" Mimi locked a hand around Tai's wrist and grunted, using all the added strength of her prosthetics to pull them away from the crumbling floor and throw them toward a solid part of the corridor.

It wasn't enough. The cracks reached Mimi's soles as she tossed Tai, and gravity caught them, pulling them down with the shattered floor of the HQ. They both fell. Mimi screamed, the sight of the corridor being replaced by holey rock and earth. In the back of their mind, Tai recognized those holes as the home of the Kerana tree's roots. A tiny, sad smile tugged their lips upward; they loved that damned tree so much.

And now it was dead, disintegrating into nothingness like so many things in their life.

Tai was so tired of losing everything they loved. They were so sick of watching them all either go away or be taken from them...and they were so used to feeling the world crumble. For a moment, nothing but a moment, they considered letting go. They considered letting the earth swallow them whole, putting an end to all the confusion and the pain and the loneliness in their heart. Maybe stopping here was for the best, after all—their mom used to say that sometimes it was better to give up than to keep dando murro em ponta de faca.

Punching a knife's tip—that was such a strong, violent image. And it felt so close to what they were doing.

Still.

Falling, Tai felt more than saw Godo approaching. Tai knew their squad; they knew their capabilities, their speed, their everything. They had trained them and with them for the past sixteen years, and they had always tried to know everything about every single one of them...and because of that, they knew they had messed up. Mara was alone. She was in danger, and if anything happened to her, Zombie or not, it would be their fault.

Tai wouldn't let that happen.

Furrowing their brow, they twisted their wrist to grab Mimi's arm—Tai would never let her fall—and shot their other arm up at the same time that Godo's hand reached out and over the edge of the chasm. There was a satisfying smack as their hands met, and Godo grunted and growled as gravity tugged Mimi and Tai downward.

Tai let out a breathless laugh and looked up to find Godo's sweaty, overly-red face, veins popping in his neck and forehead. Like a human chain, they hung over the dark crater expanding underneath them, droplets of sweat and maybe one or two tears running down their face.

"Cool view from here, but I think I prefer to be on solid ground!" Mimi shouted, her voice bouncing off of rock and dirt.

Despite Tai's snort, Godo didn't laugh. He roared, pulling Tai and Mimi up over the edge. Tai tried to help, climbing the face of the rock as best as they could, but Godo did most of the job. Only after Tai's knees met the solid-ish floor that they really started to do something, turning around to help hoist Mimi to safety.

None of them said anything at first, huffing and puffing together. Then, Godo said,

"Three of these, and I'll run for Mister Universe next year."