Friends

Her skin prickling in the early evening cold, Cass hugged herself tightly, trying to rub a bit of warmth back into her sleeveless arms as she walked briskly through the unseasonal February drizzle
She'd jumped the barriers at the subway like a teenager, and taken Yurakucho downtown to change onto Oedo and then Chiyoda out into Saitama, and now she was walking the short distance to Shin and Mei's apartment - two friends she knew she had, but whom she had never met
A few turns down first one familiar street and then another saw her climbing the stairs of the low apartment block and hurrying along the exterior walkway to apartment 317, where feeling unaccountably nervous, she reached forward and pressed the buzzer
"Bloody hell Kate" Shin gasped as he opened the door "Where have you been? What happened to your hair!?"
Cass smiled even in spite of herself; she had good memories of these two and besides which, they were holding a few useful items for her
"Kate?" Mei emerged from the lounge, a magazine in her hand "Where have you been? You and Yori just dropped off the radar"
"Nowhere good" Cass shrugged, feeling fake and still wondering where to begin
"Don't just stand there, come in" Shin insisted before she could say any more, holding the door open and motioning her inside
"Do you have a towel?" Cass asked as she gratefully stepped into the hallway, happy to be in, out of the cold "It's that pissy rain out there; the sort that gets you really wet?"
Mei dodged across into the bathroom and emerged a second later with a large white towel which she handed to Cass, a concerned frown on her face
"So what's the story?" Shin asked as Cass briskly dried her hair and her arms; the rain had made her skin feel greasy but short of taking a shower, that couldn't be helped
"You've lost weight" Mei observed bluntly "Makes you look older"
"Guys" Cass began "You know that box I asked you to hold for me in case there was an emergency?" she paused to look between them, wilting beneath their worried stares "This is an emergency..."
"Bloody hell Kate" Shin sighed, slowly shaking his head "Just come inside, eh?"
"The box?" Cass prompted, hopefully
"I'll get it" Mei tutted and turned away into the bedroom as Shin ushered Cass through into the lounge
"So, what's happened?" he inquired, as as Cass lowered herself onto the old sofa where she and Yori had kissed for the first time "Everyone's been worried"
Cass opened her mouth, not really wanting to say what needed to be said, and finding herself caring deeply about these people's opinion of her, even in spite of never personally having met then before
"We got involved in some illegal stuff" she began
"You've been in up to your eyeballs as long as we've know you" Mei observed as she returned with the rectangular metal box "Too many inconsistencies with what you did for a living"
"I'm sorry" Cass grimaced, accepting the proffered box
"We're not bothered about that" Shin shrugged, glaring sharply at Mei, trying to get her to hold her tongue "We're just worried because we care; we've known you for what? Two years now? Yori for many more, and then all of a sudden you both disappear without so much as a word. Everyone's been worried" he gestured expansively "Niki and Chia, Jummi, Aiden, Kai; hell, even Riko - and you know what she's like"
Pursing her lips, Cass cradled the box on her lap in her hands and gazed unhappily down at the floor. She knew these were Brittany's friends and not really hers, but her memories were of happy times with all these people; she'd had a life here - friends, lovers, ambitions and a sense of belonging. Given the choice, she'd far rather live her life out here than have to flee offworld and wake up, three million years later in a murderously dangerous, rusting hulk, where even scratching out a day to day existence was exhaustingly arduous
Was this one of the reasons Brittany had left her here, she wondered: To realise that there was more to life than her narrow existence, three million years in the future?
That there could be something else for her?
Something better?
Fat chance, she inwardly sneered at her optimistic stupidity; there was no way Brittany would allow her to just leave and live her life - She had the STCP to set up at some point
"Hey..." her expression must have betrayed her thoughts, because Mei slipped in beside her to slide an arm around her shoulders
"I'm so sorry guys" Cass sighed, allowing her friend to draw her into a clumsy embrace, her heart aching with a longing for a life that could never be hers "I... This is probably going to be the last time you'll see me"
"No!" Mei pulled out of the hug to hold Cass at arms length, her brown eyes searching hers
"Figures" Shin grimaced "And Yori?"
Cass shook her head and looked away at the floor
"I don't even know if he's still alive" she murmured
"Smeg's sake" Mei breathed, her eyes glistening with tears "What did you do?"
"It's complicated" Cass sighed, wondering what to say
Would they even believe that one of their oldest friends was a black market cyber-medic and that he had sold his girlfriend out to swindle the Yakuza rather than pay them their tithe?
They didn't need to know that
"We got involved in a bad job" Cass lied instead "Things went wrong, we got separated. I've been laying low these last two weeks, and Yori hasn't made any of our designated backup meeting points, so I have to assume they got him"
"Fucksake" Shin muttered with a shake of his head, before looking up to meet Cassandra's eyes "You're not endangering us by being here are you?"
"No" Cass smiled faintly; Shin always was the pragmatic one "I wouldn't be here if that were the case, but I do need to keep moving" she stood abruptly before continuing "Can you tell everyone else that I said goodbye, and that I'm sorry; you've all been great friends"
"Stay the night" Mei insisted, close to tears "For old times?"
"I can't" Cass gently shook her head, relieved at the opportunity not to have to lie any more "There are people I need to see, and I have to see them tonight"

The three embraced, and bade their tearful farewells not long after that, Cass leaving with sorrow and a sense of relief that she had actually managed to say goodbye to her friends, even in spite of the fact that for her, it was three million years too late

Back out in the cold drizzle, without a friend in the world, Cass thumbed the fingerprint scanner to open the box and check its contents: a heavy pistol, a memory stick, and fifty thousand dollarpounds
Strange to think that at one time she had been rich
It was just a pity that the fixer she was about to go and see would probably want all of it