Disenchantment

At the foyer, a live lobster lies in display. Veiled by glass that is wet to the touch. I continue to tap its glass while watching Luca scans the choking old musty-brown room. Its wooden laced exterior is completely empty, except for a few waiters standing at attention in the corners of the room. He tells me to follow his lead and heads to the kitchen. The contrasting kitchen has bright teal lights and staff robotically carrying out their kitchen duties. They pause and make a customary bow as we enter before ignoring us and continuing.

At the back an elevator door stands before us. Luca presses the down button and hands me his suit jacket.

"A disguise for your all-white outfit."

Nodding, I take the jacket. The door soon opens and we climb in. The doors close and the elevator shoots down. The elevator opens sooner than I expect and a shudder runs through me. People with bright colorfully altered skin walk through the carnival holding toys and candy. I stare at a couple with pastel purple highlights in their skin. I instinctively lower my head as they walk past us laughing as they go about their day.

"Don't worry, as long as we don't cause ant form of commotion no one will identify us. Now, which ride to go onto?"

People litter the food stalls on the ground while colossal rides, drenched in the soft blue sky, stare back at me. They emit metallic groans as they almost forcefully swing children and adults around in circles. I stand stiff and stare at them all. One in particular catches my attention. It's a hexagonal grey box that drops people out of it and spins them in several directions.

"That one." I say pointing to it. Luca follows my hand and nods in approval.

"Fun and simple. Plus, there's no cue."

We head to the ride and weave through the mass of people walking to different rides. When we reach the ride, I make sure to lag behind and let Luca do the talking. He pays for our tickets and gestures me to follow him inside.

A light shines red from the middle of the room and we are instructed to head to a wall. I proceed to the marker indicated for passengers and lean back on it. A harness pops down from above and I reach for it grab it down. I hook it across me as Luca joins me to my right.

The only other passengers besides us is a young colorfully tattooed boy with Synthetic arms who tapers into the room. I stare at him, oblivious to who I am as he enters the ride. He takes a place across from me and fastens himself. We make brief eye contact. He frowns and looks away confused. I dart my eyes away and stare at the ground. The light soon goes green and I let out a breath of shock as the walls behind us slide open. The hexagon drifts further and further away as I fall back in free fall. I squint my eyes as the air whips from behind me. My harness gently pulls at me and dangles me in the air before the machine begins spinning us around. My hands drift into the air and I catch the gust of wind and let it filter through my hands. The world around me becoming a blur.

When the ride ends, we are pulled back up. With our legs weak and world still spinning, Luca and I stumble to the exit. The taste of bile fills my mouth and my knees begin to buckle. I scramble to the nearest trashcan and vomit into it.

"Motion sickness?" Luca asks.

"Yes." I lie as Luca hands me a cloth.

"I can still feel the world spinning." He says looking back at the ride.

"Sovereign?" The words cause me to immediately stiffen. Luca and I hurriedly turn around. The boy from the ride stares at me, his eyes wide and confused. Luca heads to him nodding his head.

"No, you must have my fine scientist here confused little one-"

"Sovereign!" He says louder. He stares at me now with a wide smile on his face – ignoring Luca.

I rush to him and grip his shoulders.

"Today I am not Sovereign, today I you. All of you. Today I am the people. So as the people, I am going to need you to do a favor for me-"

I stare at his hand as it grips mine.

"Sovereign." He says now pointing at my white shirt.

Luca sighs.

"No, no-" I say as I try to calm him down.

Another comes to my side and grips my shirt causing me to let out a breath of shock. Followed by another and another. They pile around me as a group before escalating into a hoard. All of them stretching their hands towards me. My hear swells as they all stare at me like lost children. I try weave through the crowd and touch as many as possible. Assuring them that I am here and for them - that I am fighting for their survival. A hand grabs me and pulls me into the hoard.

"Nova, we need to go. It's getting out of hand," Luca's familiar voice says. He begins twisting and turning me through the people as if in tall grass.

"No. They need to touch me – to know that they have a Supreme Leader here for them."

"Yeah, they'll surely know a Supreme Leader is here soon enough-"

A rifle screeches through the sky and they all disperse. The distorted yells and grunts of police officers filter through the crowd. I stare in shock as they hit them with shields and heave them from me. Through the commotion an Equilistor stands with his arm raised into the air. Still smoking from the round he just sent. His Synthetic arm twists and distorts back into a hand. A female Equilistor joins him and they begin towards me dawned in crimson and white leather trench coats.

"Sovereign." The man and woman say as they bow. The mans red cybernetic eye glistens in the sun as we make eye contact. They both have stark white hair. Hers styled into a neat bob and his into a fauxhawk.

"Your mother has requested your immediate presence at Citadel, we are here to escort you back to your hover-craft." She says.

"You were the Equilistors at my banquet."

"We are Valentina and Valentino Valentine, head Equilistors from the Safety and Security Ministry," the female, Valentina, says, "We are sorry if we alarmed you, but once we were informed by Citadel - we arrived as soon as you went missing." Valentina says, with her hand over her chest, worried. They walk over to Luca.

"We must have taken a wrong turn." Lucas says.

She smiles at Luca and says, "Luckily we were here to control the situation." before Valentino swoops behind him and slithers his arms under Luca's arms and behind his head, firmly locking both of Luca's arms in the air.