Chapter 40: Lunar Deficit

Unable to keep her tail from bristling, Rachel at least managed to keep her ears from going completely straight; she even relaxed them to an extent with some conscious effort, bending the soft appendages forward while processing that she was talking to one of the most influential people in the world.

Instinctively parsing through dozens of ways she could respond to the strong opening, she saw Scarlet draw a complete blank, not fully realizing how significant this was.

In a state of martial law, when the whole world was still reeling from the backlash of The Oscillation, the man overseeing a giant part of the operational and planning spectrum had taken time to talk to them; the general was right—she shouldn’t waste his time.

Clearing her throat, she didn’t smile since outward pleasantries would only annoy the busy military officer; instead, she went straight to the point. "Where do you want me to begin?"

He studied Scarlet and her reaction for a few seconds; the vespertine reaper’s nervous gaze shifted between them, giving the impression Rachel was in charge.

Leaning forward and placing his elbows on the desk, the man bridged his fingers to rest his chin with a hum, now only addressing her.

"To the best of your abilities, report to me your thought process throughout the previous night that led you to sit in front of me. Include when you believed this higher power got involved, the changes to your mental state you’ve experienced in the moment of acting, and your views on how things have been conducted in your general area."

Rachel nodded, straightening in her wheelchair and attempting to stay focused, trying not to get sidetracked by the pain she experienced all across her body. This man didn’t want a brief summary but precisely her understanding of herself, the changes around her, and her emotional state throughout the events.

A lot would be taken from this discussion that wouldn’t only affect her but possibly how he went forward in dealing with all mythickin and legendkin; she had to build trust, and Rachel doubted she was the only changed person he was talking to, which meant attempting to manipulate things could get far worse for her than the straight truth.

"Alright...do you want me to begin with the morning before The Oscillation, or a month before, and my poor relationship with my sister-in-law, as Lt. Thompson inquired?"

"Hmm..." He seemed to ponder her request for clarification, studying everything she did as he worked to understand her character. "Personal details can come later. I’m primarily interested in the change itself, the details you uncovered, how you processed them to take the actions you did, and the reason for those decisions."

She nodded and began. Her throat felt dry after an hour, when he interrupted her; Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief at the respite to the interrogation, or at least that’s how she seemed to take it with his blunt inquiries and attitude.

"I have questions to think about and responsibilities to see to for a short while, so we’ll take a break and reconvene in an hour. Have Lt. Mateo bring you some water or food—blood bags," he added to Scarlet, "or whatever else you require."

Rubbing her throat, Rachel showed a slight smile while trying to stand. "Thank you, General, I think I—mmgm!"

"Rachel?!" Scarlet hissed, lurching over.

She tried pushing herself up, only for her legs to tremble and give out, making her growl while slumping back into the wheelchair. "Eh-heh. I’m fine, just...a lot weaker than I thought after the sun evaporated all of the Lunar Energy I gathered last night. I think I need to moonbathe or something."

General Dallas rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression. "Do that and report back to me how you feel when we meet again."

"Will do."

He cut off the feed, and Rachel gave Scarlet a melancholy grin. "I really hate to ask, but..."

Scarlet giggled and got up to chaperone her with a fanged smile. "I’d love to help! But seriously, Rachel...I’m starting to think you have a death wish with how hard you push yourself. Shouldn’t you slow down a little?"

Leaning back and closing her eyes to breathe and release stress, Rachel yawned before attempting to rub her sore legs while Scarlet went to open the door for them.

"If I did slow down, we wouldn’t be where we are now; it’s the same for school, the gym, and life in general...when you have momentum, you gotta use every second of it to the fullest." She let out an exhausted laugh that sounded more like a groan. "I have a plan for my exhausted body; don’t you worry."

Scarlet gave her a wry smirk as her blood seeped out of her wrist to pass through the door, breaking the locks on the exterior that sealed them in. She pulled it open to the mild shock of those outside.

"Of course, you have a plan...you always seem to have a plan. Wait, I didn’t mean to break it; I just wanted to pick it. Ugh! I feel so useless. I can’t do anything right."

"It’s whatever; they have to tear all this down anyway. Also, the general didn’t want you to talk since his time is limited, so he focused primarily on me. I bet you’ll get your chance sooner or later, and don’t think you’re useless because I wouldn’t be here without you. Heh, how would I get out of this sound-proofed room without you, too?"

The girl’s face glowed at the comment, and Mateo lifted an eyebrow at them when the door swung in, guns partly at the ready; he was with his men and another officer by the marks on his Air Force shirt.

"Done?"

"A break," Rachel said, shrugging. "I need to find somewhere to rest in the moonlight, and Scarlet could probably use a blood bag if you have one; he wants a report on how I feel after recharging a bit."

He nodded and made a few comments to the men next to him before guiding them down the hallway to exit the military facility, Scarlet pushing her. Her thoughts were on everything she’d been able to glean from the general in their discussion, which wasn’t much.

General Dallas had kept an excellent poker face while she discussed goddesses, aliens, the Scarlet Hand, and her own thought process that took pieces of information to fit together into a workable plan of action. She had no idea how this would end, but her gut sense of misfortune hadn’t acted up yet, which she took as a good sign.

Relief flooded her muscles when Scarlet stopped her on the military airfield strip, with Mateo remaining inside to get updates from his men at the hospital and on Selvaria’s movements.

Rachel watched the very active base functioning through the night, bright lights illuminating the entire place as the sounds of whirring blades and jet engines flooded the air. Her mind wasn’t tired, but her body felt utterly spent; she couldn’t wait to further develop her plan to restore her physical health when this was done—if nothing threw a curveball her way.

Scarlet took a chair they brought out to sit beside her, legs knotted and fingers occasionally rising to manage her hair when the breeze changed; she was likely trying not to think about where her life would go from here.

She was practically scared to tears to see her mother for a multitude of reasons, which obviously included her father’s death, and with the bomb her parents had sprung on her, it was natural that the poor girl was questioning everyone in her life. Ironically, Rachel was her only sense of stability left, and she had to assume Scarlet’s instability was an essential factor for the cultists.

The more Rachel thought about it, the more she was convinced that Scarlet’s former teacher was meant to be the final nail in the coffin that would crack her last straw of sanity; of course, her intervention had changed all that, which was why the woman had freaked out. They weren’t done trying once news got out, which meant Rachel had to prepare accordingly.

Sucking on one of the blood bags a soldier brought her, Scarlet’s blue eyes shifted to her a few times before working up the courage to speak. "Umm...feeling better? How much time do you need?"

Rachel repositioned in the wheelchair to stare up at the partially cloudy sky and the sliver of a moon that went across the heavens. "A while, apparently, since the moonlight is so weak here... It was like I was drowning in energy when I was in that other world." She let out a dry laugh, which infected the raven-haired girl with a smile. "I think I was spoiled with two moons."

"Hehe. It must have been pretty—excluding the obvious creepy green goblins... I shiver just thinking about how you described them. Eww."

"Meh," Rachel shrugged, passively keeping track of a lot of events happening around Miami as she continued to keep herself up-to-date on the development of things.