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Something about his words seized Eden deep down, and she struggled a bit to get out of his grip and face forward in time to hide her blushing. He was so dangerously honest at times... She pulled her chin close to her chest and hid her face, leaving him to stare at her back. And she could definitely feel him staring.
“...The Zebra also began to move,” he suddenly said.
“Wait, what? How?”
“He probably heard the news too and didn’t quite appreciate it... Some of his people went and destroyed one of the Core’s entrances to the Suburbs. They bombed it, making part of that area collapse.”
“What... When was that? And which part did they attack, exactly?”
“I just heard it twenty minutes ago. It was the entry past Western Avenue. The Dog apparently lent them support, and A. camouflaged the whole thing. It’s probably as much to warn the Core as it was to bring it to the attention of the other Zodiacs.”
Eden remained quiet, but the gears in her head were spinning fast. The Zebra was definitely one of the biggest Zodiacs, one of the most powerful, and the one known to hate the Core the most. She had never seen him, and she had never gone to the Black community’s territories either, but it was another of the large ones. Something was definitely changing for the Zebra to take such an obvious and loud stand against the Core. Never had a Zodiac ever done something physical against the Core. The risk of retribution was too high to even consider it. There had been many cases of people openly trying to attack the Core, or even citizens of the Core visiting the Suburbs. Each time, the repercussions had been horribly violent and quick. A punishment to set an example for others, dissuading people from ever attempting something like that again. Eden had seen it. People were dragged into the street and publicly shot down by men in black. An entire building was blown up for the one gang that was hiding inside, even if there were also innocent families on the other floors. Hackers like her could hide through the Dark Reality and had higher chances of not being found out, but she knew she was putting her life in danger each time she Dived. This was why all hackers always operated so secretly, hiding their real identities and finding the weirdest hiding spots, like a deserted, underground basement. Everything was done to lessen the chances of the Core finding them.
Yet, all of this seemed to be amounting to something now. Thao and Dante had already faced the Core’s people at the Red Temple, and now, the Zebra and the Dog were directly attacking the Core. There were only eight entrances into the Suburbs from the Core, and one had just been blown up. It was definitely big... or a sign something even bigger was about to happen.
“...Did the Core relay that? On their channels?” she asked.
“I don’t know...”
“Loir, search it for us!”
“H-h-how did you know I was tuned in!”
“Because you’re a freaking pervert stalker. Just look it up.”
“Oh, fine, fine... But you two are boring, you know. If I had known, I would have just watched the latest season of The Young and the Restless... Let’s see... Not this one, not this... Oh, is that a cooking show? Oh, those burgers look amazing! Is that duck? Oh, I love those fancy people, eating nearly-extinct creatures in our faces...”
“Loir,” groaned Eden.
She leaned back against Dante while waiting for the words she wanted to hear, and the Tiger groaned a bit in satisfaction, immediately wrapping his arms around her waist. Eden didn’t even fight it, as long as she was comfortable against him...
“Coming, coming... Well, they only have three main news channels, and none are talking about our bad boy Zebra blowing up their landscape, not even the most boring one! Instead, they are just talking about how great the council is, as usual, and their favorite celebrities of the moment... Oh, my bunny, is that guy eating a live octopus? This is so interesting! ...Oh, something’s coming out his nostrils. Guess what? Octopus-chan is making a comeback. That’s kind of gross but in a fascinating way...”
“So they don’t plan on saying anything,” scoffed Eden. “As usual...”
“You seem to know plenty,” muttered Dante.
“I’ve spent years spying on the Core. In fact, a lot of the things I think I remember from my childhood might have been from all the times I hacked into their surveillance cameras. The difference with our lives, here... Honestly, sometimes I envied them, sometimes I hated them even more. Those people have no idea what it’s like here, but they just don’t want to know. They have fresh air every single day, fresh food growing in their gardens, perfectly cut green grass, they have running water that doesn’t taste like crap, and things they can buy without thinking... Free transport, free schools, free healthcare, and even their houses are made to be exactly the right size for the job they do, so the government takes what they owe and they get some pocket money left. It’s like… paradise in a schoolbook. They do what they’re told, enjoy what everyone enjoys, and pretend to like everyone so everyone likes them... They never see the color of blood or a speck of dust in their perfect lives... Their polished, oblivious lives.”
“...Do you envy them?”
“Sometimes,” admitted Eden, “but it’s hard to envy something you know you once had, and lost. Even if I went back now, pardoned and everything, I wouldn’t have my mom, or get to see my father. I’d be leaving more behind than I want to admit, I believe...”
“What about here?”
“What do you mean?”
She heard Dante sigh, and he gently pressed his lips against her shoulders.
“You could continue to live here, with me. Without fighting the Core, just being by my side. You’d get all those things, without the Core’s control. You could enjoy all you wanted, with me. Just... let go of this fight, and have a life here with me. We already have everything the others want. You wouldn’t miss anything you mentioned.”
Eden was rendered mute by Dante’s offer.
No, in fact, she could barely process what she had just heard. It just sounded completely unreal. However, it was actually what she was living right then. Enjoying a scented bath with bubbles, her lover hugging her, with clean air in the room. Fresh and new clothes waiting for her, fine food, a bed with silk sheets, and even toys for her pups... Because she had been refusing all of the privileges that came with Dante until now, Eden had barely realized how free she was now. Except for her mother, she hadn’t bothered about money at all. Not about her growling stomach, how much oxygen she had left, or how to sleep on a broken mattress at night. In fact, she had been thoughtlessly indulging in this newly found life, mostly because she hadn’t realized how it happened...
Eden had been so used to living day to day, only hoping to make it to tomorrow, that she had been completely blind to how much her situation had changed these past few days. In fact, she suddenly got scared of how comfortable she was, and a wave of fear took her by surprise. She tried to sit back up, but before she could, Dante’s hand suddenly covered her eyes, and he gently pulled her back in his embrace, although his other arm was holding her tightly against him.
“I’m just saying, this is a possibility too,” he whispered against her ear. “We don’t have to fight. You can decide.”
