Shadow Slave

Jet remained silent for a few moments, then sighed.

“I know that I already said it, but I am really glad that you are still around, Sunny. Otherwise, I would have been the only one… and that would have been a bit lonely, I think.”

Sunny smiled.

“Likewise. I mean… I am also really glad to still be around. Being around is the best.”

She chuckled.

“Who knew that a scrawny kid I babysat during his First Nightmare would become a Sovereign one day? Life truly is full of surprises.’

Sunny chewed his cracker and reached for the second one, expertly squeezing the last bit of synthpaste out of the tube by rolling its end into a tight spiral.

“You know, I really hoped that you had forgotten the details of that day. But you just had to go and tattle on me to my subordinates…”

Seated comfortably on the sofa, Jet shrugged.

“I don’t really remember much. You were just one of countless Sleepers I watched challenge the Nightmare, after all. Some of them woke up, some of them didn’t… the latter were far more memorable. Plus, I was perpetually overworked, sleep-deprived, and running low on essence back then. Ah, but you were from the outskirts, so I do remember a bit.”

She looked at him curiously.

“What about you? Do you remember it well?”

Sunny nodded.

“Of course! It was pretty unforgettable for me. It is not every day that you conquer the First Nightmare, after all… plus, you were the first real Awakened I met. And the advice you gave me back then really saved my skin. I don’t know if I’d still be alive today if some other government agent had been sent to observe me in my sleep.”

He did not mention that Jet herself was very memorable, as well.

Sunny looked at her, suddenly realizing that she looked almost exactly the same as she had back then. Transcendence augmented her cold beauty even further, of course, and her presence was far more powerful. But Jet was always herself. She even wore the same dark-blue uniform, complete with black leather boots and silver epaulets.

The only difference was that there were four stars on her shoulder insignia instead of three now.

Jet looked down and remained silent for a moment.

“A government agent, yeah…”

With that, she raised a hand and detached the insignia from her sleeve, then dropped it into the glass of water.

Sunny watched her do that in confusion.

“What was that for?”

Jet did not answer for a bit, then sighed and leaned back on the sofa.

She gave him a composed look.

“I am… retiring, Sunny.”

He froze.

Jet smiled faintly.

“In fact, I already did. I resigned from my post this morning, about an hour before we met. So… I guess I am unemployed now.”

Since Sunny still couldn’t form a reaction, she looked away and grimaced.

“It feels strange. I spent most of my life as a cog in the government machine… twenty years of service or so, more than I spent as a non-citizen in the outskirts. So, I don’t even know who I am without this insignia.”

Sunny finally regained his ability to speak.

“You’re… you resigned? What? Why?”

Jet looked down, pushing the glass with the insignia from side to side.

She remained silent for a while, then shrugged.

“It didn’t feel the same without the old man. But mostly…”

She looked at Sunny and smiled.

“You know why.”

Her expression slowly turned serious.

“The Fourth Nightmare awaits… and nobody knows how long it will last, let alone if I will return from it. So, I’ve been training people to replace me in the last year. And once they were trained, I figured I might as well quit.”

Jet remained silent for a moment.

“It’s because I have grown too big for the government.”

She smiled wistfully.

“I don’t mean that being a government officer is beneath me now. It’s just that my influence has become too great. It has become too overpowering… to the point that my name and the government are slowly becoming synonymous.”

Jet’s expression darkened, and she shook her head.

“And something like that must never happen. The authority of a single individual must never swallow the government — otherwise, it would become no different from a Great Clan. And there’s already plenty of those around.”

A frown slowly appeared on Sunny’s face.

“But can the government even exist without you? Wake of Ruin is gone, and you are leaving. How will it…”

Jet gave Sunny a humorous glance.

“I think you have a skewed perception of the government, Sunny. It’s because you mostly dealt with its military arm and me, I think. But actually, its administrative arm is both larger and more important. There are a lot of talented people making up the government, and most of them are not even Awakened. That is another reason why I can’t stay — my presence resoundingly breaks the fragile balance between the Awakened and mundane humans serving the government.”

She sighed again.

“Well, it’s a done deal, anyway. I guess I just wanted to send off my career in the company of someone who would understand.”

Sunny lingered for a long while, then raised his bottle of filtered water.

“Here’s to being unemployed, then. Gods know, you deserve a long vacation.”

Jet grinned and raised her empty bottle as well.

Taking a sip, Sunny shook his head.

“It feels weird, though. I sort of… can’t imagine you as a free agent. What are you going to do now?”

Jet shrugged.

“From the look of it, we only have a few years left before things really begin to go south. So, there’s not much of a window for us to conquer the Fourth Nightmare. I’ll prepare as best I can, and then… well, we’ll see.”

Sunny studied her for a few moments.

“So, you’ve decided then?”

She smiled.

“There’s not much to decide, is there? From the moment we conspired to take down the Sovereigns, there was no turning back — not for us, at least. You and Nephis are going to challenge the Fifth Nightmare, and someone will have to hold down the fort while you are gone. Being a Saint is not going to cut it.”

Sunny nodded with a grim expression.

She was right. The world needed more Supremes, and it needed them to rise soon. So…

Just like Rain had said farewell to her friends in front of a Nightmare Seed not too long ago, unable to join or help them, he was going to say farewell to his friends soon, too.

Tamar and her cohort had returned alive… but there was no telling if Jet and those who were to challenge the Fourth Nightmare with her would.

A Nightmare was a Nightmare, after all. Anything could happen in its terrifying depths.

Noticing his troubled expression, Jet smiled.

“Oh, by the way…”

When Sunny looked at her with a silent question in his eyes, she cleared her throat.

“I am not only unemployed now, you know. My apartment was a government residence, so… I guess I am homeless now, too.”

She looked around.

“What a coincidence! A nice, friendly junior of mine has just become a homeowner… wow, congratulations…”

Sunny’s expression slowly changed.

“Wait… this touching gesture of yours, gifting my home back to me. You didn’t arrange all that just to have somewhere to crash, did you?”

Jet looked at him and blinked innocently.

“What was that? You think I should crash here for a bit? Oh, no, I couldn’t, I wouldn’t want to impose. Thanks for offering, though, really…”

The corner of Sunny’s eye twitched.

“I didn’t offer anything!”

Jet grinned.

“Didn’t you tell me to make myself at home? Well, since you insist, I guess I can stay a few days…”

Sunny stared at her with wide eyes.

‘Unbelievable…’

How come every time he got himself a home, someone immediately invited themselves to live with him?

Not that he could live in the waking world, now that he was a Supreme.

‘So she is going to live in my home… while I can’t?!’

Now that… that was simply a whole new level of audacity!

Jet was from the outskirts, indeed.

Sunny gritted his teeth, then let out a heavy sigh.

“Okay… fine! That was not exactly what I meant by making yourself at home, but… I guess I can make an exception.”

And just like that, a new memory was created on Remembrance Day.