Bestial Planet

Chapter 20: Breath/e

I hear distant conversations before I notice the sun hitting my eyelids. I take a deep breath and open them begrudgingly asking the sun, in my head, why it had to wake me. The first thing I see is Nik's upside-down head with a flaming pool under it. I guess they decided against leaving for a few days and came back in the middle of the night.

"Dude."

"..."

"Nik, you're on fire."

"I stay sleepy."

"NIK!"

"ngmm, what?"

An eye opened lazily and went wide when he noticed the fire and proceeded to roll on top of it; the commotion woke Catty up. She glared at him before speaking.

"How did you not burn down Canada before we got there?"

"Shut up."

Nik wiped at his face, shot a glance out the gaping hole and made his way to the elevator. I stretched and followed suit. Catty got up slowly and scratched at the floor which was just aflame before following.

"Damn Nik, you're over here melting space metal and shit."

"That's probably some lower quality indoor stuff."

"Negative. The metal used throughout the ship is of the same quality."

"That, freaks me out..." Nik said trailing off at the end, unsure which of the brothers voices that was.

"I'm Rould."

"Rould, that freaks me out."

"I apologize."

The three of us piled into the elevator. I pawed at the screen and we started moving to the mess hall.

"So – Rould, Are you in here too?" Nik asked apprehensively.

"My brothers and I are accessible throughout most of the remnants of the Dreadnaught Class, Shinimorte."

"So, you watch us sleep?"

"I watch everyone sleep if you want to put it that way."

"That's creepy man."

"That's what I told him." Vould said flatly.

"Silence Vould. Someone has to monitor the crew's vitals."

The doors opened and I clumsily made my way around the kitchen, gathering the food Yora stored for us after we went hunting. As we sat down to eat Catty commented on my choice of meal.

"Oats, grains, and fruit... You part horse too?"

Nik burst out laughing at Catty's comment, as did Vould whom decided to join us for breakfast by projecting his head in the mess hall.

"What? I mean we're still human, it's not like we only have to eat meat. Plus this just... is more appetizing to me in the morning for some reason."

"Well I do remember Emmy making fun of you for eating 'old people' cereal whenever you came over. You were the only reason we bought the stuff."

"Who's Emmy, again?"

There was a short, awkward silence before Catty answered.

"He was our best friend."

Her words dropped in my stomach like a stone.

"... I'm sorry I don't remember."

"Panzer, we told you already, don't beat yourself up over it. If you remember, you remember. You don't have to know everything. It's not your fault."