#𝒗 : xillia 2、creating our new future in the end

[mathcs]

'FRACTURED' ARRIVAL / @ervaurem

「　... Good afternoon, this is the Department of Dimensional Affairs. We have a matter we'd like to discuss with you in person. Rest assured, there is no cause for immediate concern at this time. However, we believe a meeting is appropriate for the situation, as your safety is of utmost importance to us. We understand that you might be away at the moment, but please come to headquarters alone at your earliest convenience. We look forward to seeing you again, Doctor Mathis.　」

Finally, peace and quiet. From the moment he stepped back onto dry land, it'd been nonstop onlookers and even the odd handshake, versus nobody shooting him a second glance on the ship ride here. But he'd be a fool to expect anything elseー this was Fennmont.In said city was Talim Medical School, where he'd studied for a few years ( jude mathis : from student to renowned spyrite researcher ). Not his destination tonight, though. He just didn't have any mental energy left to catch up with any old classmates or professors that might be around... On top of the fatigue, his GHS ( Gin Handy-phone System ) might be broken. Standing alone under the dim light of a lumen tree, Jude took the red device out of his pants pocket, flipping it open. He squinted down.

There was a giant fracture on the top section, cleaving the display screen straight down the middle.

He pressed the power button. Nothing.... No way. Hadn't the shopkeeper fixed it? It was functioning fine just an hour ago. Great, then he'll just have toーー his sigh faded as a sudden gust of wind drowned it out.

And one by one, the light of the lumen trees went out, softly buzzing.

Left in the shadows of the green blue sky, Jude's eyes widened. His body felt like it'd been shocked into stillness. Then, for some reason, he slowly turned to look out across the water....

And there, on the other side, down the stepsー

Was a person.

They were lying on the ground in the dark. Just them, nobody else was there. It was impossible to tell anything else from this distance. Jude broke into a run.

"Hey!! Are you okay?!" And, once he reached them, finally, "Hang on, pleaseーー" Please, don't already be too late ( where is this sudden sense of dread coming from? snap out of it! ) It was a guy with blood red hair, likely a bit older than him, unique clothes he couldn't put a name to... what the hell happened? Was he here the whole time? He just didn't notice? Quickly, Jude knelt down by his side, and just as he reached out a hand against his neck to take a pulse . . .

[mathcs]

"What?" Asch, in his alternate outfit, approached Jude with casual steps. Only once did he make eye contact. "I just took a walk around. Hardly learned a thing, though."

This was his best attempt at a bluff (or at the very least, this was a semblance of trying), since his so-called stroll actually took hours. Unsurprisingly, he went off to investigate some matters on his own, while having unexpected encounters that forced him to fight back.

Little did they know that these small actions were the start of dominos falling one by one for both the fated flame and ice.

"What do you mean, a walk...? For that long? Asch, what you did was too risky." There he was, finally showing up. Said risk wasn't even worth it, especially if he 'hardly learned a thing'... but why couldn't he look Jude in the eye as usual? That just made everything worse.

It wasn't like Jude wanted to keep glancing over their proverbial shoulders like this. But... still. He made an effort to lower his voice, calmer.

"Listen... even with the way we look right now, we're still standing out and there's not much we can do about it." Sure, his old hairstyle stopped those regular glances, but he was still 'Doctor Mathis' to anyone who recognized him ( lab coat or no lab coat ), from unknown to renown. Meanwhile, Asch: from unknown to even more unknown. And people feared what they didn't understand, Jude saw enough by now to know that ( some had other ideas. especially regarding matters of interdimensional origin ).

Call him overthinking and paranoid, Jude's bad feeling was almost unrelenting lately. Things disappearing from the corner of his eye before he could look at them, an extra footstep at night, but nobody behind him... maybe it was ridiculous. He didn't have any hard evidence, after all. Meanwhile, In the hours that Asch had gone, he'd gotten his GHS to work again at another repair shop. It was barely functioning, fractured screen included, but good enough.

Except one voicemail had completely disappeared from his inbox, leaving only a ghost notification. Someone had deleted it, deliberately. Because whoever they were, they decided that the situation was about to change. Jude didn't know anything.

Tilt one domino, and then all of them fall into oblivion, together. The hand that tilted first would win: someone couldn't let Spirius get to Asch first.

"You know those rumours about you, right? We can't give people even more reasons to believe them, someone might do something crazy to you. Or..." Quietly, Jude narrowed his eyes at Asch with a meaningful pause, gauging his reaction. "Maybe they already have?" These past few hours, did he really not run into some kind of danger?

Tell me I'm wrong about this.