The SongBird's Love

#6 Phantom

Eden felt the pain before opening her eyes.

Like blades piercing her legs, fire devouring them. She whimpered in pain and opened her eyes, full of tears already. She tried to breathe, inhale and exhale, but her whole brain was focused on the scorching pain. She cried out loud and grabbed the mattress, using all of her arms' strength to sit up. She was sweating, shivering with a terrible fever.

As she finally sat down, Eden looked down and grabbed the upper end of her legs. What was left of them. She glared at the empty space on the mattress.

"It's not real," she groaned. "It's not real, you f*****g stupid brain..."

Clenching her teeth, she kept breathing, trying to fight the pain. It was still horrible. How could she feel pain when there was nothing there to feel pain from? Eden cried between her teeth and curled down, glaring at the phantom limbs as if she could convince them to appear.

Suddenly, a little sound on her left caught her attention. Amid the tremendous amount of pain she was feeling, she glanced to the side. Between her blonde locks, she spotted Bullet sitting down and staring at her. The pups... She had forgotten about them. She looked around, locating Beer curled up on the left side of the mattress. Seeing the little dogs so calm and quiet felt odd in comparison to the nightmare she was experiencing.

Eden took deep breaths and glanced up, trying to calm down once more.

Bullet suddenly ran to her, climbing on her lap and yelping. She looked down and grabbed the puppy, hugging him against her chest. Feeling his short fur and warmth helped her calm down a little. Unhappy, Bullet began growling and biting her hand a bit, but it actually made Eden chuckle. The pain slowly subsided. It didn't disappear at once, but it gradually faded, as she was focusing on the pup instead.

Hearing his brother being so noisy, Beer woke up slowly and climbed on her lap too, as if wondering what was so interesting.

Once she calmed down enough, Eden sighed and put Bullet down, both puppies staring at her. She smiled at them, a bit relieved. So she hadn't taken them in for nothing, in the end... They climbed down from her lap and began playing together on the mattress, ironically where Eden's legs should have been.

Eden stared at her prosthetic legs, waiting on the side. Those damn pieces of metal were giving her more trouble than she had thought… Back then, she had believed it was a good deal to take a more expensive model, but now they were too expensive to take care of. She grabbed them and reattached her bionic limbs with a few movements. Her SIN sent a little tingling, and she tried moving her feet, which indeed followed each movement she intended. Eden was finally able to get up.

However, as soon as she got up, she raised her mattress, opening the little tear done inside, and took out a little sachet. It only contained three little white pills. She grimaced and put them back. At least she didn't need one today...

"Beer, Bullet. Come on."

Following her voice, the puppies barked and came down the mattress, running in circles and playing. Eden quickly changed into another bodysuit, a black one with a turtleneck and some jeans. She took her large jacket and left the apartment, her stomach a bit noisy. The two pups followed after her, excited to go out. However, Eden first stopped by the basement to see Loir.

"Evening!"

"It's morning, Loir."

"Oh... Hi, puppies! Hello there! You're so cute, and you're cuter! Yes, you two adorable cutie pies!"

"I'm going to buy them food," she said, putting her hands in her pockets, a bit nervous. "Give me some money."

"I'll transfer it to you as soon as you're out," said Loir, still making strange gestures at the two dogs.

"...Fine."

Eden turned on her heels and prepared to leave, both little dogs still following her. However, as she was about to leave, she heard Loir chuckling.

"...What?"

"You look grumpy today..."

"I'm fine."

"Eden, my little Kitty. Don't go buying something else."

She froze, resisting the urge to turn around to glare at him. He knew... How did he know? Was he spying on her? Probably. She wouldn't have been surprised if Loir had hacked her SIN again...

"...I won't."

"Good girl."

With a grimace, she went back upstairs and, this time, headed for the residence entrance, checking the information screen. Luckily, the air would be in the green today. The Core probably had used their oxygen supplies all day yesterday, enough to clear some of their air too. With a sigh of relief, Eden left the building, her dogs by her feet.

The air wasn't cleared enough that she'd take a deep breath, though. It still smelled of dirt, pollution, and something spicy too. Probably one of the Mexican restaurants around. Eden wasn't so foolish that she'd go back to that scene. Instead, she took the opposite direction heading to the grocery shop a bit further away. She was careful, though. Whenever she heard a car coming close, she'd grab the two pups and carry them. There weren't that many people who could afford cars in that neighborhood, which made her even more cautious...

Indeed, another big car from the Mexican mafioso made a ruckus a couple of streets later. Eden knew they were only trying to provoke their neighbors.

In Chicago's suburbs, the lines between the different territories were blurred, but the inhabitants knew where to pass and where not to go. Eden hadn't exactly chosen to live in that neighborhood. It was just the only one she could afford and one where she had the least chances of being found. Although, it was also one of the most dangerous ones. Out of the ten Zodiacs, the Eagle cared the least about who lived on his territory. Most of the population was of South-American origin, but the rest was a melting pot of outsiders. The local gangs never bothered to check who came in and out, and from what she knew, they had no official hackers either.

Eden felt a little relieved when she turned onto a new street in the Rat's neighborhood. It was known as one of the most peaceful Zodiacs. Just like the Eagle, the Rat's territory welcomed strangers other than their south-Asian locals, but the local mafia was more active to ensure peace. They didn't care who came in, as long as they wouldn't disturb the locals and kept their business to themselves. It was easy to know when she reached it: the passerby went from mostly Hispanic to all Asian ascent within two blocks. Her white skin stood out, but at least, no one seemed to care. Grabbing her dogs, Eden stepped into Granny Duong's shop.

"Eden! How are you?" Asked the old lady behind her cashier.

"Good Morning, Granny Duong."

Granny Duong was incredibly old and so wrinkled it was hard to find her eyes on her face. She wore all of her white hair in a gigantic bun over her head and always had some very flashy pink lipstick.

"What are you going to buy today, Eden?"

"Do you have dog food? For... puppies?"

"Of course I do!"

"I'll take that, and if you have... I don't know, cushions for them?"

The old woman laughed with her high-pitched voice, but she helped Eden sort out everything she needed. Of course, the list was endless, but Eden put an end to it, knowing Granny Duong's business wasn't thriving by mere luck.

"Can you take the money from another account?"

Eden handed the credit card, and the old lady took it, using it for the p*****t. It wasn't a common way to pay, but Granny Duong knew how to not ask any questions. Eden used that old system from time to time, always with a different card each time. As soon as the p*****t was validated, she'd destroy it and throw it away.

"Do you need anything else, darling?"

"Do you have... my candies?"

"Oh, the price for those went up, Eden."

"What? How come?"

"Tough times!" Sighed the old woman. "The Rat is worried the Old Dragon will make a bad decision. We need to look out for ourselves, you know..."

"What about the Yakuza?"

The lady shook her head.

"Unless we get a strong new Dragon, the Snake will try to eat the Rat!"

Eden grimaced, but the imagery was fitting. The Yakuza head, known among the Zodiac as the Snake, had never gotten along with the Rat. If it wasn't for the Dragon acting as a mediator between them, it was unlikely those two would remain on speaking terms. The rumors of the old man Long being sick were really shaking up all the territories...

"You're better without it," said Granny Duong. "Trust me, darling, I don't say this often, but that's one product I'm never happy selling. Especially to little flowers like you."

Eden nodded, but her throat felt tight when she remembered she only had three left. If she couldn't afford to buy more, how would she endure that pain next time? She grabbed her bags and left Granny Duong's shop.

Eden stopped outside to put her two puppies on a leash, although both hated it, and resumed her walk with her bags. Another thing she liked about that neighborhood was the cheap and good food. Eden knew exactly where to find the best street stalls. She sat down for her lunch and fed her dogs while waiting for her own food. Eden was no stranger to her favorite food stalls, but without interacting with anyone else, she just kept playing with her dogs and watching them fight over some pieces of chicken. She knew she was sticking out like a sore thumb in that neighborhood and shouldn't stay around for too long. The locals were still applying the Confucianism principle of hospitality, but she couldn't push it. Even the patron of the shop was just polite to her, as she was a regular customer.

"The Edge?"

She froze, hearing the two men on the next table whisper. Eden's SIN was translating everything they were saying for her. It was one of the perks of being a Hacker, she could download most programs for free if she knew where to find them, and she had made sure to get one for Asian languages two years ago.

However, those men had no idea she was actually spying on them. How many white people spent money on Vietnamese translating software? Hence, they whispered for the other people not to hear them, but Eden was the only one they weren't cautious about.

"Are you an i***t?" Said the other one. "If the Edge was hiding here, don't you think the Rat would know? Nah, I'm telling you, the Yakuza are hiding the Edge."

A shiver of excitement went down Eden's spine.

The Edge. The most wanted criminal organization and the only global one. An international league of Hackers acted together, like vigilantes, shattering the Cores with each of their massive attacks. They had reportedly managed to have the Miami Core shut down for forty-eight hours four years ago, an unprecedented event that had made them famous but also put them as the number one enemy...

"No, no. I had some information. It said Ghost's signal appeared again, around the area."

"Ghost is part of the Edge?"

"Of course! The best Hacker of the Chicago Server, why wouldn't he? He's got to be!"

Eden wondered if she should have felt flattered by those words, but truthfully she was a bit more worried that her last position had been pinpointed... She stood up, paid for her food, and left, a bit nervous.

She had never wanted to be Ghost. She needed money, and it was something she was good at. She had always been good as a Dive Hacker, and she had a unique configuration that made her the best among many, many others. That was it. She was curious about the Edge, of course, but she had no intention to look for them. Sometimes, she even wondered if the Edge was real. During the Miami Incident, their Core had claimed it had come from a malfunction, a technical incident. Of course, a lot of people hadn't believed that. Since when could the Cores go out of power like that? Not only their main energy source had been cut off, but all the electrical support and extra resources had been cut off too, communications included. No other Core had been able to intervene, almost causing a major political incident between the Southern Confederation and the Northern States Republic Union...

As Eden went back to the Mexican territory, she suddenly heard gunshots from afar. She froze and, like everyone around, walked closer to a wall, waiting a bit to see. It looked like it came from further North, into the Italian's territory... Were things going wrong? Or was the ruckus just caused by the Luchadores again?

She sighed, and as soon as things went quiet again, she grabbed the puppies and hurried back towards her territory.

There was no safe territory in the Suburbs. Safety was something only the people living in the Core were allowed. The Mafias were like a double-edged sword, protecting their citizens but also causing more fights.

A Mafia Lord's territory wasn't judged by its size but by how much their borders moved. The stronger ones had established their presence enough for the other Zodiacs not to mess with them...It meant nothing to have authority over several neighborhoods if they could lose them overnight.

Eden got home quickly. Once she had locked the door behind her and let the dogs down, she let out a long sigh, a bit out of breath. There really was no way to rest peacefully here... As the puppies, tired by the little trip, went to nap on the mattress, she walked to her little drawer, grabbing a picture hidden inside the little notebook she used to do her calculations. She smiled every time she saw that picture.

"...SIN, call mom."

She felt the little device vibrate, and closed her eyes, waiting. It took a little while.

"Eden! Eden, how are you, my baby!"

A bright smile appeared on Eden's lips.

"Hi, Mom. How are you?"

"I'm fine! I'm at the restaurant with my friends! What about you, my baby? Are you alright? Your voice sounds different..."

"I'm great, mom. I... Mom, I got two puppies."

"Oh, really? You always loved dogs. Eden, dear, you need to show me a picture of them! They must be so cute! What names did you pick for them, darling?"

"B... Berry and Bob," lied Eden, biting her lip.

"Berry and Bob? Oh, that is so funny! You should tell your dad!"

Eden's smile faded a bit, but she nodded.

"...I will, mom. Are you okay? Are you eating well?"

"Of course! The food here is amazing, you should come! The restaurant's name is... What is it again..."

"It's alright, mom. I'm sure you'll remember soon."

"No, no, wait! I'll ask the waitress! Miss! Miss, what is the name of this restaurant?"

Eden waited, a bit nervous.

"Yes, it's my Eden on the phone, my little girl! She's already twelve years old, can you believe that? Those children, they grow so fast! Anyway, darling, how are you?"

"I'm fine, mom."

"Oh, really? Anyway! My friend, she was telling me, uh... What was she telling me again? Oh, never mind. But baby, we are at that restaurant, it's amazing! You... Where are you, Eden?"

"I'm okay, mom, I'm... I'm at school."

"Oh, that's right! I'm so silly! When do I need to come and get you?"

"No, no, Mom, it's okay. I'll go home alone."

"What? What alone, of course, I'm not letting my little girl go home alone! I'm coming! I'm coming! Wait, wait, where is my bag again..."

"No, no, Mom, it's fine! I... I'll ask Dad to come."

"Dad...?"

As her mom suddenly went silent, Eden sighed, rubbing her eyelids.

"It's alright, mom."

"Yes... Yes, your dad... Uh... Excuse me, miss, where is this? Have you seen my bag? I need my bag, for... uh..."

"Mom, it's okay, you don't need your bag. Just... just sit down with your friends."

"Oh, Eden! How are you, my baby?"

"I'm fine, mom."

The conversation went on again, but Eden had a little knot in her heart. It was hard to lie and pretend, making sure her mother wouldn't get too worked up. After a little while, she managed to have her hang up calmly and let out a long sigh of relief.

Once her mother's voice was gone, she suddenly felt a wave of loneliness in this little square room. She glanced at the puppies, sleeping like everything was alright in this world. Eden smiled a bit, looking at their cute little sleeping faces. She took a deep breath and put the picture back. Every time Eden heard her mother's voice, there were mixed feelings. She was more certain of her decisions, and at the same time, she had regrets. She wished she could go back in time, to when her mother could still be with her, take care of her.

It was strange how easily her mother talked about her dad, too, as if they had ever lived together.

When that man had disappeared before she could even remember him.