for grav and me.

[glassea]

p ı ɹ ʇ s ɐ
two months,
six days

it wasn't until astrid saw aurora's shocked face that she recognized how truly serious this situation was. mya's speech she'd found overdramatic and overblown, but the aurora seemed to be taking it seriously. her face was paler than milk. she sat on the floor, hands gripping her pants with white knuckles. once mya was finished talking aurora took the bait. "what?" even though the girl had whispered it seemed to fill the room. they were all looking at each other now, all of them in there. everyone just looked so serious. although still rather ticked off astrid could feel the solemnity pressing on her like a physical force, as if that single syllable of what had rebounded from the ceiling and landed on her spine. it was not a pleasant feeling. astrid squirmed under the pressure of those sentiments, only partially allieviated once she allowed herself to be distracted by the next speaker. rex was talking now, but none of what he said made any sense at all.

the first topic up for discussion was rather obvious. she'd never heard of these people before, or their 'smoke'. what, did they just burn things all day long? their name and their claims didn't make any sense at all. "you contacted us." hopefully the disbelief was not too evident in her voice. "how? messenger pigeons, like the rusties? either way i don't seem to recall ever learning about this before." astrid was not a forgetful person, and even if she did forget something then it would not have been at all as important as this. this was just a smidge bigger than your nextdoor neighbor's birthday. her voice seemed to be climbing in pitch ever so slightly; something that was needless to say uncommon. don't freak yet... there would be time to break down later over the hopelessness of the whole situation. she would be in so much trouble, it wasn't even funny.

computer hacking? like all uglies astrid had messed with her board and belly ring a bit, modifying them for trips across the river. that was feasible. hacking what was possibly one of the most secure systems in the city? not something within the range of her talents. well, who knew; perhaps aurora was the person they'd been looking for. astrid knew it wasn't her, but it was also doubtful that aurora had been expecting them either. she'd been just as surprised as astrid had at this underground headquarters. but just to make sure, astrid turned her head towards aurora and asked a silent question just as the other girl had one. do you know what's going on?

[{belle}]

⊰ ａｕｒｏｒａ . ｌｙｎｎ . ｇｒｅｙ
two months, five days.

aurora tried to think of all that there was to carry this thing through. her life, maybe. she doubted they would kill her though. she thought of all there was to keep strong, pull the the alarm and run. her friends. her family. her dorm mates, the operation... everything was for the running away, but her one fear-- that of the smokies, kept her in place. she remembered when she had first heard of the place, when her friend had told her that he was going, and that he wanted her to come too. she had been only twelve then, and the most scared rabbit in the hole. to her the place sounded like a factory, where you make stuff all the time, and burn the forest. that wasn't a place she had wanted to go. now seeing these people she knew that it must be more like a military camp, where you get fit, then go break the rules in the most nervous-making way possible.

she silently listened as astrid tried to explain the situation to the smokies and turn in time to catch the questioning look that the girl gave her. she slowly shook her head, wondering if she got the question right, but she had no idea who they were exactly or why they had kidnapped the two of them. maybe they were looking to recruit troublesome uglies; if so, she had really picked the wrong time to cross the river.

she swallowed and spoke, more clearly this time, but hardly any louder. "look whoever you got in touch with, it wasn't us. sorry for any inconvenience, but we really had no idea about this. please just let us go now." even as she spoke the words she had started backing away, back towards the window, to freedom. she tugged astrid's hand and backed further, silently telling her to follow. her eyes all this time trained on the smokies. they stared at her and then mya stepped forward. "wait" aurora stopped in her tracks. then determined not to listen to them. she would walk home, go to bed and wake up from this terrible nightmare.

suddenly she bumped into something behind her. it was the wall, but it also meant the window was higher than she had thought is was. there would be no easy escape. like the smokies, to trap them before taking them to their camp, exposing how truly weak they were. she practically cowered in fear as justn, mya, and rex approached them. "ok then, sorry for any inconvenience, we thought you were... other people." they had started to sound ominous really, she didn't know if it was her adrenaline, tiredness, and fear, or if they really were getting scarier. she looked over at astrid, who seemed a little scared to. but not nearly as scared as the original wimp. not nearly.

rex now spoke: "we can't just let you go, because then you would tell on us. we really don't like it when people have big mouths. so, here are your options. we could either have you forget the past hours events, no us would still be in your memory." as he spoke he pulled out a syringe with some syrupy liquid, and looked at it casually, then at aurora and astrid. "or," justin now spoke, sounding more hopeful than rex. "you come with us, back to the smoke, and live there like us and learn the truth about the operation." mya stood by, arms crossed and eyebrows arched, so haughty aurora almost chocked. "the choice is yours. don't take all day about it." and turned her back to them, walking around the room from light table to wallscreen to see how easy the computers were to hack.

and so the choice was theirs. running away to some criminal military camp, or forget this nightmare. she knew what she was choosing.

[glassea]

p ı ɹ ʇ s ɐ
two months,
six days

astrid had made up her mind: this was a bad situation. it hadn't seemed quite as creepy at first, just odd; but that had all changed. now rex was acting like he would murder them in their sleep. with that look on his face? astrid would not have put it past him. mya and justin had seemed a little more reasonable than the fanatic rex. but they were also giving the conversation their two cents - another rusty phrase, her teacher would have been so proud of her - and adding onto the already high stakes. the three spoke as if they'd rehearsed this before, sounding almost robotic in their recitation. the effect was terrifying, especially how they all moved around. you could only watch one at once, giving off the impression that one standing behind you would brain you with a bat. not that there would be anyone behind her. astrid and aurora had both backed up to the wall. astrid hadn't even noticed her instinctive backwards movement. but now her palms pressed flat against cold concrete, fingers tensing, as if she could dig her way out of this cellar through sheer force of will.

the mention of the smoke did nothing to set astrid's mind at rest. she'd been raised to be terrified of the smoke - her crumbly mother had told astrid all about the smoke. apparently astrid's mother's best friend's sister had gone to the smoke, and her family had never saw the missing ugly again. it was impressed in astrid's mind more than anything else. the smoke will ruin your life, astrid, her mother had repeated over and over again. if you hear an ugly talk about it cover your ears and walk away. do you hear me? it was one of the few times that astrid's mother had been stern with her daughter. and astrid, then a littlie, had never forgotten it. but as she grew older astrid began to question her mother, defying authority like all uglies believed they did. was the smoke really that horrible? of course, they didn't have the surge, but there must be something out there that had led all those uglies to leave the city before the operation that would change them forever. there had to be some logic behind it. time passed and astrid forgot about it, turning her attention to causing havoc.

well, look where that had gotten her. a harmless prank on the other side of the river had turned into this, the impossible choice. her hands shook and the palms that still pressed the concrete slipped a little with sweat. the smoke, a place she's been told all her life to avoid? or taking something - something that she didn't even know what it was? "how do we know that's what you say it is?" she asked, raising a hand to point at the syringe. astrid cursed her shaking finger but kept it pointed squarely at the syringe. "how do we know that's not poison, or something?" anything to waste time, stall for a bit longer. she had the ridiculous impression that this was all a dream, and if she didn't answer directly she would wake and it would all be over. but although it was past midnight astrid knew it wasn't a dream. dreams were not this vivid, this real. but just to check she pinched her arm. no such luck.

"you don't know it's not poison," rex answered immediately. "we don't trust you and so it only makes sense that you don't trust us. you'll have to take our word for it."

"go on." this time it was mya that spoke. her voice had the same impatient tone as earlier. "just choose already." from the tone of her voice astrid could tell that mya thought she knew which option the two uglies would pick. frankly, astrid was in agreement. forgetting and getting the surge, or keeping her memory and being dragged from her home? one would leave her happy, with everything she wanted. the other - well, astrid could not deny that the unknown called to her just a little bit. but she was not one to initiate movements. there had to be more followers than leaders, and astrid was just another clueless sheep in the mass of uglies. a sheep far in over her head.

"we can't keep our memories?" astrid hedged. "even if that is what you say i don't want to just lose everything from the past hour." she knew what the answer would be and the vigorous shaking of three heads only comfirmed it. so, this was it, then. that needle seemed to taunt her from its position on the table, so seemingly innocent but holding the chance of a lifetime. whatever astrid did now would affect her whole life until the day she died. best to tread carefully, here. but then her frazzled brain picked up on something rex had said. "the secret about the operation? what do you mean? it's no secret."

"tell me," said justin, "what do you know about the operation - or as some call it, the surge?"

"we shouldn't be asking them this," hissed mya to the others. she barely moved her lips as she tried not to be heard. unfortunately, in the echoey cellar, astrid heard every word as if the unfriendly smokie stood next to her. "this isn't important."

"so what?" now it was rex. contrary to first inpressions, he seemed the friendliest of the bunch. "we tell them. if they choose to stay and take the meds they'll forget it all anyways."

[{belle}]

my brain decided to take a nap, sorry for not really doing anything, i can edit it later if you want.

⊰ ａｕｒｏｒａ . ｌｙｎｎ . ｇｒｅｙ
two months, five days.

she should have stayed home.

that was all that aurora could think, hear, say. every word that the imposing three said was a taunting reminder of what she never should of done, what she had, and what was happening now to her because of her thoughtless actions. maybe if she hadn't been so loud in the bush the warden never would have found her, and she would have toured some ugly faces and gone back home to await her surge.

surge. the word dropped from justin's mouth like led. he was keeping up with her thoughts and knew how to make her do what he wanted. he must know by now that she wasn't very brave --not brave at all-- and could make her do whatever he wanted so long as that syringe held the possibility of poison. it was sad how easy it was to make her do whatever you wanted. and now he was asking what the surge was. everyone knew that smokies were runaways from cities all over, all the cities had the surge and everyone knew what the surge was. whatever he was getting at he was trying to mess with their heads in a bad way and all aurora wanted was out.

"it's where you get an operation at sixteen, and you become pretty. then you live in new prettytown, where i really want to go, so please just let me go. everyone knows that" she hardly noticed that rex had been talking to the others when she had been mumbling half to herself and half to justin. when she made out the words tell them, though, spoken about the surge, her curiosity took over.

all those pings unanswered, the lucrative surge where you get everything for nothing. all the troublemakers subsided to party animals after their birthdays, it seemed like she was about to get an answer. all along it had the characteristics of a plan, a really good one that people had been falling for a whole century, and now there was no way out. they were all under the sinking sand, breathing the city's air that the city controlled, and they could take it away if they saw a bad ugly. she didn't want to be that ugly. or astrid, for that matter. she wanted astrid to make it out unharmed, on paper or physically almost as much as herself. at least she knew the nose wasn't her fault. astrid's nose was swollen and a tad green in all the purple and blue. she probably wanted ice, and to leave as much as she did. but now a possibility of a problem had arisen, she needed to know what it was.

"tell me." she said, staring rex in the eye, also the syringe which he bore in his hands. he seemed pleased that she had gone along with him. he gloated over the annoyed justin for only a second before getting serious and taking in breath for the speech that she knew would change her life. it was unlikely that he would tell a lie, they all treated it so carefully -- like a piece of glass that they didn't want to break, and rex had just set it down. it was now up to aurora and astrid to weather it stayed as one, or was broken.

[glassea]

p ı ɹ ʇ s ɐ
two months,
six days

the situation had gone from bad to worse.

now it was the other girl falling into their trap. they needed the girls to ask this question. aurora was playing right into their hands. astrid was sure that the vicious, evildoing smokies had planned this all out. trap innocent girls in a basement, then try and make them inject themselves with poison. but still... some of this didn't add up. the whole hacking fiasco. if they needed someone else to hack the system, they wouldn't have much to gain from killing astrid and aurora. sure, they could try to regain contact with the original ugly who'd offered to do this. but for something so dangerous - well, it was unlikely the ugly would try to stick around. best to forget about the whole thing once you assumed your partners in crime had been captured by wardens. astrid shivered slightly at the very thought. that could have been her had these uglies not intervened. so maybe she owed them a little. but nothing close to this secret's magnitude. it wasn't comprable to hacking a government computer system, or betraying everything she knew for something that could be frailer than smoke.

that's what astrid's logical side told her. but who ever listened to that? not astrid; who knew she was a weak-willed, compulsive ugly easily swayed by those around her. right now aurora's curiousity had her on the edge of her proverbial seat as well. her automatic "blend in" system kicked in. her voice repeated what aurora had said, mouth moving almost of its own accord. "yes, the surge makes you a pretty. so you can party. and have fun." she threw those words at them, hoping that they would understand. if they chose not to let aurora and astrid go, that was what the two uglies would miss out on. and who would be as cruel as that? everyone knew that was what an ugly looked forward to for the four years of indignity they recieved. her eyes drifted to the syringe. amber liquid, filled with slow-moving bubbles. and there was no way that giant needle was going in astrid's arm, not when she had no idea what it really was. perhaps it was just a memory modifier. but astrid was not going to take that chance, not for herself, not for aurora.

so there was really no choice, was there? "tell me." she made her voice as hard as possible but obviously failed, as rex just smirked a little. he seemed to be the spokesperson for unexpected developments, and obviously she and aurora were unexpected developments.

"i was going to," said a very peeved rex. "slow down." once the smokie had determined he had the girl's rapt attention, he began to speak. and pace. back and forth, back and forth, with greatly exaggerated hand motions as if addressing a crowd of six-year-olds. it annoyed astrid a bit - but she listened.

"the surge isn't what it's made out to be. our founders - of the smoke, i mean - were high-ranking officials. they had access to certain knowledge and files. one of the things they discovered from those files was... disturbing." here he paused, reveling in the moment and the taste of such powerful words in his mouth. astrid could easily have slapped him. "they noticed," rex continued with both his lecture and pacing, "a smudge. a smudge on the brains scans of a pretty - in fact, every pretty. almost everyone who had undergone the surge had this sort of thing. but not everyone. there were certain individuals; doctors, officials, scientists like themselves; that did not have this smudge. and you've noticed the difference between a new pretty and a doctor. right?" here he paused, and mya began. astrid figured that this smokie's speech would be a lot more curt, with less drama, as she'd noticed mya rolling her eyes at rex's theatrics. add in the fact that she didn't like astrid or aurora and presto! you had an unpleasant, martyr-like attitude.

[{belle}]

so sorry for late reply-- testing has been happening. also, there might be a lack of w's, because my keyboard has been excluding them.

⊰ ａｕｒｏｒａ . ｌｙｎｎ . ｇｒｅｙ
two months, five days.

aurora was stunned. and indeed, how could she not be? her whole world, way of thinking, mindset... everything that until no had been rock solid, was now being torn down. of course one half of her was disparately trying to build back her wall, trying to keep herself bordered in, but the other was peering into the distance, then creeping along further and further away. why had she kept this wall up for so long? what was it that that had been kept from her the first fifteen years of her life? it was like a battle going on inside of her. would she forget and go home like a good girl? or here the other side of the story-- the story behind the surge. if she was going under the knife, and there as a possibility that her brain might be altered? she anted to know. of course she could understand why it would be kept a secret. no matter ho good the intention of any possible alterations, people would be nervous and hesitant. but what if it as kept a secret for other reasons? what if her wall was being kept up to prepare her for the surge, here she would be sealed in for the rest of her life?

she shuddered at the thought of wandering around prettytown, not remembering the brains she had been given from her once-genius father. no though, he was wrapped up in the latest news, and looking into being a warden, now that his daughter was going to inevitably be safe and pretty. again the two halves of her took this two different ways. the good side thinking, they wouldn't take away your smarts! you're really over thinking this. the surge makes you pretty, then you simply don't need your brains, but it's not like they're gone! and the curious, free-spirited side: well if you don't need brains there, then it must be a boring place, and why keep them if they are unneeded? why not but in a blob to make you happy and obedient instead? she sighed, and decided to gather more information.

"so... you actually saw these slides then. the ones with the smudges? and they are real? it's possible that your founders might be lying to you to gather an army or something to take over prettyton for themselves." it as likely. at least it went along with the military camp idea. a pet on the back from good aurora. they seemed uneasy for a moment, then turned to justin. aurora smiled, knowing that she had stumped them. looking over at astrid, she thought that the girl wouyld probably have liked that, too.

justin stepped forward. "i have. the 'founders' are my aunt and uncle, and they showed me. they're real." aurora's eyes flared at his opposition. but now in full swing debate mode, she threw something more at him. "they show only those closest to them?" justin blinked, wondering at the random question. "yes, but-" "then i see no reason to believe you. if they only show those whom they trust the most, then they could be trusted to keep quiet the real truth. that there really are no x-rays. do you all see what i mean?" focusing the last part of her speech at rex, mya, and astrid. now the points stood 2-0, compliant aurora in the lead.

[glassea]

p ı ɹ ʇ s ɐ
two months,
six days

when aurora voiced her thoughts, astrid immediately modified her own. that was how she worked - changing, conforming to peer pressure, fitting in. now it made sense to her that they were lying; they had to be. pretties were just so pretty. "i don't see how this would work," she pointed. "i mean, everyone knows that pretties aren't brain-dead or anything, they're just pretty. stupid stuff doesn't matter to them." she used her hands to gesture around her, indicating that this was the stupid stuff she described. stupid and ridiculous and pointless and - why was she even listening to this? well, the blackmail was probably a good reason to stick around for a bit; giant needle and all. still, it was ridiculous how sincere they seemed. as the situation was explained even mya, the rude one, had nodded along. what did that tell her? astrid had no clue except for one: that this would seem to say these crazed smokies were right. preposterous. they were obviously influenced by this aunt and uncles of justin's, maybe drugged or something into compliance. astrid's mental picture of these two antagonists formed easily in her slightly panicked and hyperactive mind. they were tall and hunchbacked, wearing small round sunglasses, and laughing short, evil chuckles. automatically astrid cringed a little. she'd forgotten they weren't real. the ugly had always had a rather vivid imagination when let loose, picturing things in her head before they appeared with unnerving accuracy, but that was mostly squashed by a desire to be seen as a normal ugly. that would be someone driven to be a pretty, which astrid was sure she was. except for times like now, when a young idealist made her doubt herself. no. she was not changing for these smokies, letting her mind accomodate them. they were nothing, absolutely nothing, like her or aurora.

well, right now they were losing to aurora's arguments. she'd questioned them - something about secrecy, and maybe rhe public eye as well - but justin had not been able to respond. instantly astrid chimed in behind aurora to drive the point home and prove which side she was on. "yeah. we don't have any proof of this. what do you expect us to do, just believe you?" astrid was almost in full-on rant mode at this point, having lost the idea of simply following aurora's lead. "you drag us into some basement and try to convince us that the surge, the only thing that even matters, is a lie. well, i do not believe you." on that incredibly witty ending retort astrid clapped her mouth shut and simply stood next to aurora, giving them what was officially known as "the look". this seemed to provide them some discomfort, at least a little bit, which was her goal. should they feel more out of place - well, it was more likely she and aurora could leave without a fight, especially if they'd lost their train of thought. so she was hopeful that aurora's words and astrid's anger [fueled by aurora's words and general anger] would change their minds once and for all about the girls' intrusion.

she had no such luck. it was justin who replied, perhaps feeling the need to defend these relatives of his. he sounded like he was getting more annoyed by the second. "don't you think that's wierd? that only the surge matters around here?" he shook his head, seemingly disgusted and angry at their refusal to believe his every word. "on this side of the river, nobody cares about learning or art or anything. just the surge. why? because they won't need to use that information later. they'll just be mindless, bubbly as you call them, fashion-obssessed pretties with an education but no way to use it."

"bu-but-" she stuttered over her words before find an appropriate response. the words rolled off her tongue as she spoke, voice echoing a little. "there's just no need for such stupid things when you're pretty." it was essentially what she'd said before. astrid's mind was running like a broken record, around and around without pause. she needed a new argument to convince them, but when she poked around through her analytical thoughts, she didn't discover some clever or witty thing to say. all she found in her own mind was doubt, doubt of this society she'd grown up in. and it scared her. what if they were right? what if the surge does matter so much because they don't want us to think? "if they just wanted us to be compliant, like you say, then why are there uglies?" she asked triumphantly.

"because they need to burn off steam. pretties are rash and hot-headed. if you get all the rule-breaking out of your system early, it's better for everyone. even those oh-so-dangerous trips to new prettytown you go on? nothing more than a distraction from intense scrutiny of the surge." mya explained. "that's how it's always been. you just never kenw any different. but now you do know, and you're just going to lie down and let them mess with your mind?" here mya offered up a challenge. cowards, her eyes said.

astrid was a coward and she knew it.

[{belle}]

⊰ ａｕｒｏｒａ . ｌｙｎｎ . ｇｒｅｙ
two months, five days.

aurora so over the prolonged scene. they had been talking for mere minuets, and already her whole meaning of life was being questioned. she needed proof, and she needed it now. it was a simple fact that a tired aurora was a cranky, bossy aurora, and that a stressed aurora was a cranky, bossy aurora. the two were like water and oil: not mixing well.

she listened quietly as the conversation she had started grew, in that astrid had taken up offensive beside her, and together they were pushing back the smokies to the defensive. even mya seemed to be getting the idea, and turned skeptically at justin as he started to speak, knowing that he had to say something convincing, or he would most assuredly loose this battle [even though astrid and aurora were still the ones pushed up against the wall, aurora had turned it into a battle of tongues ].

she was divided. her good side cheering her on, while her free side looked out, still wanting to know what was out there. aurora did want to know. she wanted to see the smokies for what they really were, and meet justin's aunt and uncle, she wanted to see the slides for herself. at the same time she wanted to stay here, with astrid and fight, win them over. they didn't look too much over fifteen; there was still a chance that they could yet have the operation. her, astrid, mya and rex. all living happily in prettytown, joining all the coolest cliques and basking in the light that they, astrid and aurora, had brought two real life smokies back to thier wits. they had turned smokies pretty.

but she needed to decide. whether to demand to see the slides, to go back home to bed, or to try to get to the alarm on the other side of the room. she doubted that the smokies would see it coming, so she would have the advantage of suprize. wasn't that all she needed? no. she would see these slides. as long as the possibility was there, she would never be at rest. this was for her.

"shut up and take me to see the slides. i'll see if they're real myself."

she turned to astrid, who was looking at her. "i'm sorry, but i need to see. i need to know." she walked right up to justinf so their noses almost touched. his eyes searched hers even as hers searched his. he saw truth, and trustworthiness, and she saw joy. not spite, not victory, just happiness at her choice. "show me." she said.

[glassea]

p ı ɹ ʇ s ɐ
two months,
six days

proof was the last thing astrid needed right now. she'd just been told her world was a complete falsehood, a world of horrible things beneath its tantilizing cover of pretty. it was too much, too much, too mich; and it took a tremendous amount of will to stay put. astrid wanted to just run back to her dorm, burrow under the covers, and never come back out. but what kind of a life would that be, flinching at every passing pretty? wondering how they had been before part of their brains was taken out would become almost second nature. no, no; such a paranoid existence terrified astrid right now. she would not be able to live in constant fear, that one day in two months and six days she would be taken from uglyville and never return. those two months, she instinctively knew, would break her beyond repair.

her death warrant had been signed the moment these smokies had begun to speak.

stop being such a drama queen, astrid. the echoes from the past seemed to swirl in astrid's faintly shaken mind. they only served to make her more annoyed. astrid was absolutely positive her mind was being affected by the late hour, or something in the air. any sane ugly would have walked away before they saw this, the final shovel of dirt of astrid's grave. but astrid and aurora were obviously not sane, or at least easily swayed. astrid met aurora's eyes and felt a tiny jolt of shock. the other girl looked neither mad nor guillible. instead, her eyes shone with a fierce determination to find the answers and not stop until she did. well, astrid decided right then and there, i'm going along with her. she seems to know more about what's going on. or at least know what she wants.

for yet again, astrid did not know which side to pick. indecision was her downfall, always. but her decision suddenly became a lot easier at justin's words. he seemed nervous, almost, as if the girls might jump him. as if they would. these outlaws held all the cards, and astrid knew it. she was sure aurora did too. "well," said justin a bit awkwardly, "i can't show you them here."

"why not?" it seemed the appropriate question to ask. justin had obviously been expecting it, too, otherwise he would not have made such a wishy-washy statement. you didn't just dump something like that on people, and once they'd agreed to it, say it couldn't happen without some sort of catch.

justin was looking more and more uncomfortable. here comes that catch... noted astrid. "well, you see," he said, shuffling his toes nervously on the ground, "they're kinda not here. they're at the smoke. you would have to come with us to see them." he winced and looked up, seeming to have guessed what their reactions would be. shock? horror? something along those lines, definitely. he was asking them to leave their city for something they barely knew. "but they're there!" he added quickly. "i'm not trying to just lure you out into the wild." here he attempted a failure of a laugh that even his comrades ignored out of embarassment.

astrid looked over at aurora. she wasn't going to say anything. obviously astrid was held back by cowardice; however, she didn't want the other girl to know that. she would be a good little follower, just as she always was.

[{belle}]

⊰ ａｕｒｏｒａ . ｌｙｎｎ . ｇｒｅｙ
two months, five days.

aurora was stunned at the journey that now unfolded in her mind. a winding path with no metal for hoverboards, seemingly endless, going through a thick forest that continually burned. flaming logs falling on them and pressing them to the ground, where the wild bugs and animals from the ground came and started to eat them alive... she felt like screaming at the mere possibility at having to leave the city, but her pride stopped her from voicing her opinions, telling her that she would seem like a cowardly flip-flop after such a forceful demand to the smokies.

but if she was going to die a death from untamed animals while choking on smoke that these rebels had made while burning trees for no reason, she didn't want to go. but maybe dying was better than living a life with an altered brain, maybe being made a servant of evil, not knowing that she might kill people, or blow up the world... she had finally made up her mind. she would go to the smoke, she would see those slides no matter the cost.

turning to the now sheepish justin who looked just about ready to revive the most painful slap in the face of his life, she cemented her choice. "well," she said, pausing to control a slight shiver in her throat, that had somehow threatened to make and appearance in her voice if she didn't calm it, "you heard me. you know what i want and i-" again emotion swept over here and she took a deep breath. this would change her life forever. until this point she hadn't really made any real decisions. now, she was altering her life, and although she was absolutely certain now, it was hard to see what she would face that would make her certainty waver. she finished. "i will stop at nothing to see them. i need to know what will happen to me in two months time."

she shrugged her shoulders and turned a tad more submissive, like a load had been removed, and for a second of defiance she had been free. then a new load, shrouded in mystery and curiosity now was hers to bear. she knew that until she saw the x-rays, her life-- her whole existence would be one, big, rusty question mark. she didn't wan't what, and so she was more determined than ever.

she turned slowly to astrid. "are - are you coming? don't you need to see?" aurora desperately wanted astrid to come. for some reason, she felt as if the girls had been through a lifetime together already, when in fact it was more like half an hour. she knew that astrid was being faced with the same life-changing scenario that she had a few seconds ago, and didn't see how the girl could choose otherwise than she had. "please." aurora whispered. it was a full hearted plea for a familiar face to changer her life with her. this, she knew, was the moment where everything changed. the most important decision of her life, and she got to make it.