The Eternal Sleep

Danson's caves, anyone up for a trip?

“You think its viable?”

“Do we have any other leads right now?”

Luca and his team were once again back on the roof. Armando flipping through multiple screens with Olivia, Rena sharpening her knives and Jay sitting quietly at the edge of the building, a tired look on his face. Luca paced restlessly on the roof, a hand to his chin and his mind full of running clues back and forth in his head.

“Is there any information or anything from the two cards that we do have?” Jay held out his hands to Armando, reading the cards as they materialized with a flash of green light.

“Not yet, but a possibility is better than nothing.” Armando scowled, “But all of these maps are pretty wayward. They have place names and general history but no proper description or pictures.”

“I don’t have anything on the news-feeds either. It’s mainly city areas and popular handout spots.” Olivia dissolved her screens, “What exactly are you looking for, Luc ‘cause I feel like we’re pulling on strings.”

“Caves. ‘Shady’ could be anything, yes, but I don’t think Naijal would have us on a goose chase through a game that’s covered in fifty percent forest or buildings. We need to look for narrowed down spot in the entire game.”

“I thought we already established that Naijal is a madman.” Armando hardly looked remorseful at Olivia and Jay’s questioning looks, shrugging his shoulder.

“While you’re at it, look for places with sun for shade and cave-y areas with quests, it’d make more sense and narrow it down.” Rena waved a blade, “The last two cards we got were in the middle of quests.”

As the small roof top quieted to the slight sounds of fingers tapping away on holo-screens, Luca walked up to Jay silently. Jay hardly reacted, the cards limp in his hands and a far-away look in his eyes. Luca nudged his extended leg, settling himself heavily next to his best friend with a huff. “So, what’s got you all moody pretty boy?”

“Nothing, just tired.” Luca rolled his eyes and nudged him harder, a small smile and knowing look on his face.

“I’ve known you for a year, that phrase is not gonna fool me.”

“Okay, okay…” He handed Luca the cards, leaning back dangerously over the edge of the building and staring up at the blue sky. Jay always had a habit of moving recklessly in dangerous areas whenever Luca was next to him, confident that he would always catch him if he fell. “Last night’s just been hard is all.”

“Bad night?” Jay had moments when the death of his mother crashed down on him, leaving him lost and miserable. Usually, Jay would tell him beforehand and they’d talk for hours if he was up to it, but Luca didn’t recall any message on his computer.

“Yea, but not like that.” Jay struggled to find the words, his voice a whisper to avoid the others overhearing them. Luca noticed their movements on the screens slowed, trying hard to hear the founding members of the team, and sort-of leaders, talk but he paid them no mind, they all knew each other’s struggles already. “It’s my dad again.”

“What did he do?”

“You know how he started drinking… after everything that happened, right?” Luca just nodded, mentally prodding him to continue, “I feel like it’s been getting worse.”

“Has he… done anything?” Luca frowned, hand unintentionally moving to the teleportation totem still strapped to his wrist from the last quest.

“No, no, no, never.” Jay scoffed, “My dad’s not that kind of guy, he’s literally a marshmallow with sprinkles, it’s just that he left last night, and I couldn’t find him.”

“Left?”

“Yea, had to look everywhere, found him in the fifth bar around midnight.” Jay rubbed his face, “And what’s worse is that the bartender knew him by name. He’d been there so often that people knew him and exactly how long he’d been there.”

“Did you try talking to him?”

“No?”

“And why not?”

“I dunno, it doesn’t feel like my job.”

“Then whose job is it?

“I don’t know, okay.” Jay got up and paced a small area in front of Luca, a hand on his side and another running through his hair. He growled in frustration, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“You’re supposed to talk to him.” Luca stood up and grabbed his shoulders, “You are the only person is completely allowed to talk to him face-to-face.”

“And tell him what?”

“Tell him what he needs to hear the most. Remind him that he still has a son, someone to look after.” He shook him gently, “You’re the only one who can remind him that he’s not on his own on this. You’re the only one he’s gonna really listen to when he’s like this.”

Jay groans and dropped heavily on ground again, Luca following him at a slower pace. “You’re right.”

“And you always have the team in case things get to hard.” Luca smiled, thumping his best friend on this shoulder.

“What happened to you?” Jay gave him a sad smile, looking at him from under the hair that’d fallen onto his eyes, “What happened to the quiet, dangerous ball of angry fire that I fought with a year ago?”

“Following your advice, and very it’s helpful even to this day.” Luca chuckled as he remembered the first day he met Jay, as bad as it sounded, he’d genuinely shot Jay within the first hour from irritation. It didn’t make a difference, Luca had missed by a long shot, his training as useful as a kitten trying to hunt at the time. Jay continued to follow him around like a bloodsucker, his reflexives as keen as a lion from the sheer amount of successful dodging he’d done from that day onward.

Three months in of their wayward friendship and Jay telling him his background, Luca shared his own. He told him his anger and fears, trusting his friend completely, Jay gave him a piece of advice in return that he played as a mantra in his head on the days he really couldn’t muster the confidence to talk to people. “Even if you can’t see it, good people make bad choices, it doesn’t mean they’re bad people, it just means they’re humans with feeling just like you and me.”

“Guys, we have a hit.” Olivia spoke up, pushing Armando and Rena hands effortlessly away from her mouth. There was a slight scuffle as Olivia grew tired of the duo’s antics to overhear the conversation, grabbing them both into an arm lock each.

“What you got?” Luca pulled Jay up to sit closer to the team, his face already a little brighter.

“Here, Danson’s Caves.” Olivia released the struggling pair and turned the map to show Luca, a red dot highlighting the area, “It’s the only place with the greatest number of caves. The rest of places are mainly scattered on mountains or created for fights.”

“What about quests, does it have any noted?”

“There is one we found.” Armando straightened his hair with a miffed look in his eyes, typing in a few more lines in his code before swiping it to them. “It says it an intense parkour race.”

“Think it might be it?”

“Considering you got the clue from a randomly uttered place that sold car parts… it’s better than nothing.”

“Okay, so I could do with some nature and an intense workout. Who’s up for some sightseeing?”