*Whirl*
In certain part of the dump otherwise known as the lower city stood a house as rundown as the others that could be seen in this place.
Each building was stacked on the other in an attempt to make the 'city' aesthetically pleasing, even if just a little.
But it was obvious enough that the structural engineer didn't get his degree, after all, the buildings looked like they could fall over at any moment.
It was even a surprise that they had be standing for decades now.
Anyway, if one walked in, they would hear the sound of an electric screwdriver intermittently spinning and stopping.
The interior was barely kept lit by a lamp producing a dull purple glow, its light revealing a boy hunched over a workbench cluttered with scrap metal, loose wires, and half-disassembled parts.
His locs were nearly tied behind his head as he worked with a serious expression on his face.
"Almost done," he muttered.
The machine beneath his hands was small, no bigger than a clenched fist. It was a jury-rigged regulator pieced together from discarded upper city tech.
Forget being pretty, he doubted if this thing was even legal, which it definitely wasn't, but it bought him enough time and that was all he cared about.
He glanced up the moment he heard a subtle creaking to his left.
On a narrow bed against the wall lay a girl, her chest was faintly illuminated through thin fabric she had on.
Visible beneath it was her mechanical heart, one that had replaced her organic one ever since she suffered from a heart failure due to aether pollution.
"Eon?" Her voice was quiet, as she slowly opened her eyes and looked towards his direction.
"I'm here," Eon said immediately, setting the screwdriver down and standing up before crossing the room in three quick steps.
He crouched beside her, forcing a smile on his face, one he wore only for her, "you woke up early."
She frowned faintly. "You didn't sleep again."
"I took a couple of power naps," Eon lied through his teeth as he placed a hand on her head, gently massaging her hair, "why don't you get some more sleep, after all, it's still a while before dawn."
She shook her head and sat up, "not before you do."
"Nia, I still have to—" he started, turned to his towards the work desk but she interrupted.
"Eon," Nia called out, forcing him to look back at her, "you can't keep fixing it forever."
"No," Eon shook his head gently, "but I can at least buy us enough time for a replacement."
"And how do you plan on getting a replacement?" She asked and he immediately went silent, refusing to answer her question.
And she immediately realized that he wasn't going to answer.
She quietly looked at him for a while before adding, "Screw said he saw you at the black market yesterday."
He didn't deny it.
Instead, he stood up and turned back to the workbench, giving her his back as he slowly walked to the bench.
"You shouldn't worry about that," he said.
"I should," she insisted, "after all, I'm the reason you're doing whatever you're up to right now."
That made him turn back to her.
"Don't say that."
"It's true," she whispered, eyes locked onto his. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be sneaking around, stealing scrap, running yourself into the ground. At this point… I'm just a burden."
Eon sighed, walked back over to her and knelt again, looking directly into her brown eyes, ones that were identical to his.
"If it wasn't for you," he said slowly, "I wouldn't still be here, I'd probably be one of the aether junkies floating down the river."
She froze at his words.
He reached out, resting his forehead lightly against hers. "You're not a burden, you're the only reason why I'm still sane in this hell hole."
They stayed silent for a while before Eon moved back a bit. The silence between the two lasted a while before Nia suddenly broke it.
She looked at his expression before she finally asked, "Eon… what are you planning?"
If there was anyone who knew Eon best, then it was Nia, after all, the two siblings had been together for as long as they could remember.
She knew when he was planning something from just his expression alone.
And his expression these past days, coupled with the rumors about him being spotted in the black market only worked to solidify the thought that he was planning something.
"Nothing that would put me in danger," the lie was very obvious but he didn't allow her to say anything before he added, "now sleep."
Seeing that he had no intention of telling her what he was planning, she hesitantly lay back down, pulling the thin blanket over herself.
But her eyes stayed open for a while and Eon stayed crouched, slowly massaging her hair and waited until her breathing evened out, before standing up again.
He returned to the workbench, careful not to wake her up again before getting back to working on the regulator.
"You're lying," the voice caused him to pause and look back at Nia, only to notice that she was still asleep.
Eon leaned back on his chair massaging his brows with his finger, he hated lying to her.
But he hated the alternative more.
He got off the chair, walked out the building, and was immediately hit with the cold morning air.
As polluted with aether as the air was, it was still worked to shake off the little bit of drowsiness in his eyes.
He then looked up at the ever present pollution clouds that shadowed this place, permanently denying them a view of the sun.
But it wasn't like the residents here cared if they saw the sun or not, after all, they had bigger things to worry about.
Around him, rundown buildings were cluttered together, barely leaving space for three people to walk side by side.
Even without the pollution, this place was a mess, but at least it was a mess they were used to.
And this mess was what gave them roofs over their heads.
Eon zipped up his jacket properly and stepped into the narrow alley just outside their home.
The residents of the lower city were already wide awake so he was hoping buy a couple of things for breakfast before Nia woke up again.
Maybe he'd also pick 'that' up in preparation for tonight, because unlike what he promised, he'd definitely be putting himself in danger tonight.
But he wasn't about to tell her that, after all, it would just cause her unnecessary worry.