Returning to No Applause, Only More of the Same

Free and already lost.

The whole city was laid out before him, with the thick river intersecting the whole of it, small and big bridges hopping over it, cars honking and people walking and complex architecture that Kreig barely even recognized. It was beautiful, and he didn’t know where to start.

Or, well, he did know where to go, but he had no idea how to get there. Maybe those people expected him to recall his way since this was the city he’d grown up in?

If that was the case, they were wrong. He couldn’t even recognize the signs, much less the buildings and landmarks. All he knew was that everything looked extremely high-tech, save for some singular buildings made of regular brick and glass. These buildings, although rare, reminded him of the buildings he’d seen in the capital of the Empire. Robust, well-made. Slightly nostalgic.

But before he so much took a step into this brave new world laid out before him, he made a little promise to himself not to cause a mess. He wouldn’t crack any skulls, he wouldn’t burn any houses. Just get from point A to point B. And he especially wouldn’t sprout any wings to get there faster. He would walk like a normal person, talk like a normal person, act like a normal person. After all, he was a normal person.

Not a disaster, not a prisoner, not a captain, not an inquisitor, not a chosen one. Just a normal man.

And that was all he longed to be.

But faced with the seemingly endless city that seemed to go on forever with its hurried humans and noisy cars, he suddenly felt almost overwhelmed. There were so many paths he could walk, so many places he could go. And somehow, he felt like whichever way he went, he would fail in getting home. It was a dreadful feeling, and the only way he could combat it was to just start walking.

He went straight ahead. Right across a road, through a bush (that gave an unhappy crack as he passed), and into a little park adjacent to the airport and the hotel beside it. It was a very pretty park, filled with trees and bushes and a small flower bed beside a fountain. It would probably have been filled with people and dogs, had it not been so close to a noisy airport. Terrible design. Kreig didn’t really notice it, since he had his hands full veering out of the way of a tree.

And then, he took a pause. Looked around. God only knew where he was, but if he went straight ahead, he’d get out of the park and into the actual city. Which was what he did.

The city wasn’t quite bustling by modern standards, but to Kreig, who had never seen a city with anywhere near that many people in it, it felt crowded. Crowded and tight and he really wanted to get away from there. So, as any sensible man would do, he shuffled through a crowd (no few of which shot disbelieving glances his way - he was, after all, quite big) and entered a small bystreet. There were still people there, but fewer. Room to breathe.

With the rustle of paper, he came to realize that he was still holding the map pointing him home. Thankfully he hadn’t held it too hard, but he still couldn’t really understand what it meant. He was good with maps, downright great (he’d done very well to get his squad home that one time), but he couldn’t even fathom how this map worked. It was a map of a city. He had only ever used maps of forests and plains and mountains. There were no indicators of different kinds of texture, just a general square everything.

At least his home was marked with a red X. He knew what that meant, despite it all. He just had to get there.

...Maybe he could try using Voice of the Earth? Just a quick try. To know which way to go. Nobody would know what he was doing.

...But he would. He’d know he was making a mess, and he’d feel even worse than he already did. No powers, no nothing like that. He’d get there using his own body and wits and for once, for one moment, that would have to be enough. If he couldn’t even do such a simple thing as find his way without his strength, what would he be without it?

And that was how Kreig set out to find home, only finding himself more lost in the process.

Going by the map and the river, he knew he was standing on a bridge. But which bridge? There were many bridges, at least a dozen, and he had already been on two others. Back when he hadn’t had to move at all, he didn’t have to get lost. The whole situation felt ridiculous, but he slowly came to realize that his chances of finding home on his own would be next to zero.

On his own. Alone. -Who said he couldn’t, well, ask someone for help?

Genius. A foolproof idea. These people walking in wide arches around him must surely have known the way home. Or at least how to get to the patch of green beside his home.

A simple plan. Perfect in theory. Impossible in practice.

Kreig watched patiently as people walked around him, shooting nervous glances at him, hurrying up to pass him. Tapping one of them on the shoulder would be… Impossible. He might tap too hard and shatter their bones. Then, speaking up to someone? Not possible either, his voice was much too weak. All he could do was…

He manoeuvred his body to angle it in front of someone who had been trying to pass him by. The young girl, clutching her handbag, walked straight into his chest, stumbled back, and craned her neck to meet his gaze. She visibly paled. Then, she returned her gaze back to the pavement and tried to move around him again. He took a single step and was once again in her way.

“Can-, um, may I help you?” she asked politely, her voice only shaking a little. She seemed to be young, but not below 20. Young and nervous.

Kreig removed the map from his pocket and held it out to her, pointing at the red X.

She looked at the map, up at his face, and gave one of the most forced smiles Kreig had ever seen. “Is this… Um, we’re here,” she pointed at one of the bridges, “so if you just go down there and follow the main road and take a left by Thirteenth and Third and then head straight through the park you’ll probably see it on the right. Right? Now, can I-,”

Kreig didn’t let her pass. He knew for a fact that everything she just said shot through his ear like a slingshot, in one and out the other. He didn’t need directions. He needed a guide.

-------

Erica wasn’t having a good day. Especially not this very second, when the extremely sketchy man had decided to not only block her path to the collage she frequented, but also force her into becoming his personal guide. She’d be more upset if she wasn’t so terrified. She’d seen the PSA’s about dangerous men who would whisk her away or punt her into next week for looking at them wrong.

And, man, this guy was dangerous. With a capital D. Silent, yes, but ripped like it wasn’t anybody’s business and taller than anybody she had ever seen, save for that uncle she only saw at the family gatherings every now and then.

College could wait. Right now, she had to guide this man somewhere.

Somewhere that was the police station.

She wasn’t an idiot by a long shot, and she had her sense of justice. Enough to know that X probably marked the spot for something heinous. Like drugs. Or children. Either way, she was about to bring this massive crime-man somewhere he might have to answer for his crimes. If he couldn’t find his way to the X himself, he was not about to notice her bringing him to the station. And if he did… She could just scream and run away. The city was packed with people! If he wanted her dead, the middle of Space Circle Avenue would be the wrong place to do it!

She gave a cackle.

The big man gave her an odd look.

“Uh-, um, say, you’ve been awfully quiet? Any chance you could…” she grinned to herself, preparing to form a testimony, “-tell me what X marks the spot for? You don’t have to. Unless you wanna.”

The man’s eyes seemed to light up in a hidden smile. “Family.” His voice was… subdued. Brass. Unlike how she would expect a criminal to sound like, but it was okay. Because they were right by the station, and she was about to bring him in for-, for something, she wasn’t sure yet. But the map was really suspicious.

The man stopped. Didn’t follow her inside. “-Huh? Aren’t you, um, coming?”

The man pointed at the building they were headed into. It was made of bricks and had a glass fixture at the front. A brass plate above the door said in bold, capital letters: ‘POLICE STATION’. The man shook his head softly, making his long black hair whip to his sides.

Erica motioned towards the inside of the police station. “It’s right in there. I promise. Pinky promise.”

The man’s face just turned disappointed as he glanced about the proximity. “-No green.”

Shoot. He got her. “...Fine. Follow me.” Erica proceeded to actually follow the map (despite the good chances that it might lead to a shallow grave), finding that whoever gave it to him really didn’t consider him too highly. There were little red arrows marked on many turns and a few tips and tricks on how to survive in the city scribbled in the perimeter with a scrawly handwriting. Still, they did get there.

As it turned out, ‘there’ happened to be a small residential area beside an equally small park. Likely the living-quarters of many students and up-and-coming families.

...Maybe, just maybe, this guy wasn’t a criminal, but had actually gotten lost and was trying to find his family’s home?... It was a radical thought, so unthinkable from how the man acted and seemed that it took her by surprise. The man in question appeared uncertain even as they had arrived. “It’s in there. I’ll… I’ll be going now, so you just… You do you. I’ll do me. No-, wait, that-,” the man fiddled with his thumbs for a few seconds before entering. “I didn’t mean it like-, shit.”

At least he’d gotten where he was going. And she was late for class. Shoot.