The Conversation

When the conversation ended.

Starlight sat in a corner with her knees hugged to her chest, her face ashen.

"I've worked so hard. I thought that once I got into Seven Tower, I could stand on tiptoe and reach the sunlight. But..."

She paused and glanced at Ryan.

"I didn't expect the sky to be overcast."

No one listened to her complaints. Ryan went to the wall and kicked aside the fallen bricks. The Deep was buried underneath.

His chest rose and fell. He was still breathing.

As long as he was breathing, he could be saved. Ryan took out his phone and called A-Train.

A-Train seemed to be asleep. A woman's voice in the background asked, "Can't you just ignore it?"

Ryan was very polite.

"Am I disturbing you?"

"Do you know what time it is? Did Seven Tower collapse, or did Vought International go bankrupt? Why do you have to call me now?"

What time?

A-Train's question made Ryan check. It was two in the morning. The new day had barely begun.

And the guy was in quite a mood when woken up, shouting into the phone.

Ryan held the phone away from his ear.

"You sound wide awake."

"That's anger."

"Then I'll call back when you've calmed down."

With no other choice, Ryan hung up. Starlight, seeing that no one was going to comfort her, no matter how miserable she looked,

brushed the dust off her backside and stood. Moonlight still shone brightly outside the window as she came over to Ryan.

"You're taking that well."

"I'm easy to get along with."

He had no idea what this girl had misunderstood about him. Ryan thought he had always been friendly. He waited ten minutes

before calling A-Train again.

The phone rang for a while.

Then A-Train picked up, sounding close to breaking point.

"Enough. Stop torturing me. I just got back to sleep, and you're calling again. Tell me what you want."

"I thought you wouldn't answer."

Ryan pulled Starlight back. She couldn't beat him and still had anger to vent, so she had been kicking the unconscious Deep over and over.

If she kept it up, The Deep really would sink into the deep.

On the phone, Ryan heard clothes rustling. A-Train seemed to be holding the phone as he got dressed.

"If I didn't answer, I had a feeling you'd kill me."

"..."

That couldn't have been sincere. Ryan wondered why everyone he met imagined him as some kind of monster.

He wasn't nearly as extreme as A-Train made him sound. He wouldn't do anything to someone just for missing a call.

Reflecting on that, Ryan asked A-Train to come to the company, mainly to carry The Deep to the infirmary.

It wasn't A-Train's first time carrying someone, anyway.

As a fellow member of The Seven, A-Train at least asked why The Deep needed treatment again before hanging up.

Ryan looked at The Deep on the floor. Starlight's heels had left several marks on his face. He looked miserable.

Ryan answered casually.

"He tripped."

After hanging up, Ryan told Starlight someone would come take care of The Deep.

Then he left with her.

The two walked out of Seven Tower into the long, empty night.

It was late, but New York had not gone to sleep.

Ryan looked down the street. The cars and crowds seemed even livelier than they had by day.

Lights and strolling pedestrians filled his view.

"What are you going to do now?"

"Go home."

Starlight gazed at the street too, her feelings a tangled mess.

She just wanted a good night's sleep and to forget everything.

So Ryan picked her up and flew her back to her childhood home in Iowa.

Flying was fast, and Ryan knew the way. He landed at her front door.

He reached out and knocked.

The knock at that hour woke Starlight's mother. When she looked through the peephole,

she saw Starlight in Ryan's arms, glaring fiercely at him.

She didn't want her daughter standing outside in the night air, so she immediately opened the door and welcomed them in.

As they entered, she scolded Starlight.

"I thought you might bring a boyfriend home one day, but a child?"

"He's no child."

Starlight shot Ryan a glare. He might be young, but he was far too knowing for his age.

Besides, at the dinner table before, she had seen her mother trying to sell Ryan on her.

As a girl who liked to dream, Starlight had imagined what falling in love would be like.

A beach at sunset. A ring, a kiss, vows never to part. But reality was—

"Ah!"

Starlight cried out in pain. Ryan had dropped her on the floor like a delivered package.

With his passenger at her destination, Ryan felt he had been quite kind. Starlight's mother had even accepted delivery of her daughter.

His job done, he said goodbye to Starlight's mother, but she asked him to stay.

She did offer, though she touched her cheek and said awkwardly that there was no spare room.

Ryan understood what she meant. Truth be told, he didn't want to fly through moonlit clouds at this hour either.

He needed somewhere to sleep.

Inside, Starlight stared in disbelief as Ryan tossed her pillow and blanket onto the sofa.

He had taken over her bed.

She sat down on the sofa, stunned.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Close your eyes. Anywhere can be your bed."

Ryan said no more and went into Starlight's room. The bed was free of clutter, clean and tidy.

He could sleep there for a night without any discomfort.

He glanced around, climbed into bed, and closed his eyes.

The night passed without incident.

When Ryan woke, he felt a blanket over him. He had no idea who had put it there.

He got up and washed, then found that Starlight's mother had prepared breakfast early.

It was a simple family breakfast.

Milk with cereal and hash browns. Ryan had taken a few bites of a hash brown when Starlight appeared at the table, looking full of energy.

She seemed to have bounced back. Ryan was glad. That was how it should be; dwelling on the past would only keep her from moving forward.

After breakfast, Ryan stepped outside. Starlight followed him.

"I want to fly with you again. I was so busy being angry yesterday that I didn't get to enjoy it."

"Are you treating me like a ride?"

"Just this once. We got a lot closer last night, didn't we? I've thought it through. You're still better than The Deep."

"Two assholes, and you're picking the lesser one?"

Ryan looked at her, amused. He had no idea what had gone through her mind overnight.

But he was sure of one thing.

There was no justice or injustice in Seven Tower. There were only villains who needed worse villains to keep them in line. Ryan had sent The Deep to the hospital with one punch.

That was why Starlight could still hold on to a little of her original innocence.

In the first light of morning, Ryan shook his head.

"Take a ride yourself."

Without waiting for Starlight's reply, Ryan lifted off the ground and shot into the clouds.

Starlight looked up. She could only watch Ryan shrink to a speck and vanish from sight.

"Don't leave me behind, shit."