LEGACY OF THE BLAZERS - CHAPTER NINETEEN (Patreon)

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Where…

…Am I?

Lux awoke to nothingness.

No burning hellscape. No bits of a crashed ship. No corpses. No Blowhole. Thank god, no Blowhole. But no Cy, either. Just a smattering of black blobs filling the white void around her like ink blots on paper. She tried to reach out and grab one of the blobs but her arms wouldn’t listen. They laid limply against the ground no matter what she did.

I can’t move…

Am I…dead?

No. No, I can’t be…

“Goddammit, kid! You’ve become such a friggin’ worrywart!”

That voice…

Footsteps approached her. Thudding footsteps—the kind you get when someone with steel-toed boots struts across a tiled floor. She tried to look for them, but her head, like her arms, wasn’t taking commands. She was confined to waiting and listening and wondering if her hunch about that voice was correct.

But that wouldn’t make any sense...

Unless I really am dead…

“Look at you, you’re shivering! And you look like you’re about to cry, too. Didn’t I raise you better than that? Didn’t I raise you to look the enemy in the eye and, even if you’re sure you’re gonna die, fight back?”

The footsteps came to a sudden stop as a shadow swallowed her.

And standing over her was a person who she hadn’t seen since the day she’d died.

“Jess…?”

Jess didn’t say anything, though. Instead she crouched down, reached out, and slapped Lux hard across the cheek. Before she could asked why she was just slapped, Jess took hold of her cheeks and squeezed them tight.

“You’re bein’ a total dumbass, kid!” she yelled. “You know you can beat that bastard, dontcha? Then do it! Quit bein’ so scared!”

Lux tried to say something, but with her cheeks being squeezed it came out all jumbled. When Jess finally let go, she realized she didn’t even know what she wanted to say. “Jess,” she just repeated. “You’re…dead.”

“Yeah, I am. But you’re not!” She said. “You will be soon, though, if you don’t kick your ass back in gear!”

Jess reached down, seized the side of Lux’s panties, and tugged them tight enough to give her a wedgie. “Listen to me, Lux. You need to use these suckers. You need to merge them with your Eternal Blunt or, being honest? You’re fucked. Everyone you love is fucked. All of Panty’s Landing is even more fucked than it already is. That Blowhole asshole? He's worse than Kern and Bon because he’s smart enough to put sadistic systems in place that work.”

Tears began rolling down Lux’s cheeks because just seeing Jess again reminded her of how life had been before all of this shit. How, even during their war with the Blazers, there were plenty of times to smile. Lately it had been nothing but pain, and goddammit, she just wanted it all to be over, one way or another.

“Don’t go crying, kid,” Jess said, smudging away her tears. “You’ll have plenty of time to cry once you beat that punk.”

“But I can’t, Jess. I can’t. You couldn’t beat him, and you’re a hell of a long stronger than me.”

“I didn’t have panties, Lux.You do. Use them! Combine them with your Eternal Blunt in the same way he does and I know you’ll kick his goddamn ass! Remember, these things, these creatures we summon…they’re real and they love us and they fight better because of that!”

“These panties just piss me off so much,” Lux said. “Wearing them makes me feel like scum. I hate them! I hate them so much because they’re what killed you and when I use them, I get so freaking pissed because all I can think about is your head laying on the ground, soaked in blood. Your eyes cold and lifeless…”

Jess snatched up Lux by the collar of her shirt and stared deeply into her eyes. “Then don’t think about that! Think about me, right now, telling you that if I see you again soon, I’m gonna spend all of eternity kicking your ass! Got it? Someone needs to remember and lead the Blazers and you are probably the only goddamned one left!”

Jess let go of her and leaned over, snatching her blunt up off the ground. It was lit, and its cherry burned a soft, luminous red. She put it in Lux’s mouth. “You hit this blunt, Lux. You wake up. You kick his ass and you save that boyfriend of yours, got it? And don’t go apologizing for that, either. A kid’s gotta sneak around and I get it.”

The blunt was awkwardly heavy in Jess’ mouth, weighed down by the fear of what she was about to do. But, even though she hadn’t taken a hit off of it, it had rejuvenated her, and slowly feeling was returning to her body. No matter how much time she was to spend here, the whiteness of the world around her was clearing up as the crackling of fire returned—she was waking up.

Using what little strength she had mustered, she was able to reach out and seize Jess’ hand. “I’m not gonna see you for a long time, Jess…”

“You’d better not. And do me a favor, okay? When you kick Blowhole’s ass and get my Eternal Blunt back, destroy that shit.”

“Destroy it? But you’re snakes—”

“—They ain’t mine anymore, kiddo. He’s corrupted ‘em beyond saving. Trust me, they’d prefer getting to be with me again over serving a monster like him. I know it won’t be easy, but I need you to promise me you’ll do that.”

“I promise.”

“And promise me you’ll win.”

“I promise.”

“Promise what?”

“That I’ll win.”

With that, Jess smiled. Then she leaned over and gave Lux a peck on the forehead. “Now wake up.”

END OF CHAPTER NINETEEN