Now I'm seeing red, not thinking straight

[reliantnav]

It was strange, how suddenly the world had changed at the end of the war. The alliance had suddenly unlocked some classified new ability that only certain fighters could wield, and only through the use of navigators, but any navigator would do, and the rumors were that the technique used navigators up and drained them, making them disposable. Interchangeable. Not like the rare and highly-skilled fighters.

With the end of the war, a general--a fighter--had taken over presidency of the alliance with a landslide victory. The surviving fighters were all war heroes, lavishly rewarded.

And Abel, at the top of his class, was still in the academy at the end of the war, and graduated with no war and no purpose. But the alliance was what he wanted, and he'd worked to earn his title as a navigator, so he took it, and the position he was offered. He was to be paired with a fighter, one of the war heroes of the alliance. An honor, they said, that he'd earned, through his hard-work and skill.

But that wasn't quite right, because there wasn't a war anymore. They'd wiped out the Colterons, and they had enough military power to conquer any other races that appeared within reach. Abel didn't know what this position was, with his assignment to a fighter. He was given the code name to match his fighter: Cain.

It occurred to him that some navigator before had been called Abel. Whoever that navigator was, they were probably dead now.

Packing up his little room at the academy, Abel boarded a transport and went to meet his fate.

Comments

[reliantnav]

"You'd get jealous if I did," Abel guesses. It's only a guess, but he likes the sound of it better than he likes the thought of Cain sharing him out without compunction.

Smiling but still shy, Abel's hands fidget nervously as they arrive at the training area. He gets out of the car, keeping his head high. He's proud of himself and his abilities. A few fighters aren't going to change that.

[fightflight]

Cain scoffs, but there's something about the look on his face that makes it clearly evident that he would be jealous. Very jealous, probably. "Guess you'll just have to wait and see, Princess."

At least Abel is smiling now. That makes his life a lot easier. Although, he knows how other fighters get now that the war is over and they can have whatever they want. He's seen it more than a few times- fighters fighting over navigators, trying to lay claim to the ones they'd rather have.

Cain is pretty sure he doesn't want another one, at least for now. This one is cute and pliable. He's got a mouth on him, too. And that indignant look is not so bad either. "Just don't veer too far away from me. The other fighters might not be so nice."

[reliantnav]

Abel keeps his mouth shut at that, jaw tense. He has some arguments to make about how 'nice' Cain has been, but from what he's heard of fighters, Cain might be telling the truth about the others being worse. Abel certainly doesn't want to be cornered in a locker room and used by a group of fighters in turn, no matter how he might have fantasized about it. He doesn't want to need Cain's protection, but suspects that he does.

"I just want to train," Abel says, pushing away his fears by focusing on training and studying, the way he has always done.