Vheissu - PROLOGUE & PART 1 (a)
Author: 
kitcountssouls
Rating: R
Category: drama
Warning: dystopian setting, implied character death
Characters: Carles Puyol / Gerard Pique; Josep Guardiola / Bojan Krkic; Xavi Hernandez / David Villa; Lionel Messi / Cesc Fabregas; with Sergio Busquets, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Enrique, Thierry Henry & Sandro Rosell
Wordcount: 28917 words consisting of 3 parts, Prologue & Epilogue
Summary: Future world where dreamcatching technology has become available. Three of the greatest minds helped create a perfect dreamworld - Vheissu, where “souls” of people who can afford it are taken by a technique of suction and implantation and where they live perfect lives, as opposed to the oppressive real world. But when outside forces begin to wake up one of the minds, would Vheissu resist, or would it crumble?
The story follows the lives of a few couples caught right in the middle of the mess.
Disclaimer: fiction, 100% fiction
Authors Notes:
With the slightest disturbance, the dream's going to collapse.
Prologue
Carles was on his way home after a long day at work. With construction sites spawning all over Metropolis, work was blooming for people like Carles. As a welder, he was almost guaranteed employment, as more and more buildings had to be erected for the City's growing population. However, the work itself was all-consuming and when the workday was over, he was completely drained.
By the time he reached the apartment building on this particularly difficult day, when he had been assigned three different construction sites, he was in no mood for anything but a long shower followed by sleep. He felt his arms would soon fall off and his eyes burned, even if they had been protected by the welding mask, so rest was all he needed. He was too tired to even eat.
When he entered the apartment he shared with a room-mate by Government regulations - as did most single people in Metropolis - the ruckus made by the younger man Carles had for a flatmate worsened his bad mood within seconds.
He spent the next 20 minutes yelling at Gerard, while the taller man, who had turned half of their common room into a lab, tried to assuage his rage with jokes and lame explanations, such as he was working on something that might change the world.
When, exhausted after the all the shouting (much of it his own), Carles finally got into the shower, there was no more warm water. Suppressing himself, for the sake of his own sanity, Carles went to bed angrier than ever. He decided to find a way to get rid of Gerard from the apartment, since this was the very last straw in a cohabitation marred by escalating arguments.
***
When Carles woke up the next day, the flat was spotless and there wasn't only fresh orange juice in a pitcher on the table, but also coffee, real coffee, its smell ravishing the hungry man in an instant. Carles couldn't remember the last time he had had any real food, so this surprise knocked off all the residual fury from the other night.
Gerard was gone, so Carles helped himself to the scrambled eggs and all the delicious food left for him. He hadn't known Gerard cooked so well. Perhaps he could tolerate his mischief for that kind of repayment.
He decided to give his younger flatmate another chance, but to keep an eye out for any changes in behaviour. The last thing he wanted was to end his days with anger and shouts. If he was honest, Gerard and him only got in silly arguments, mostly caused by Carles' irritation at his younger, apparently doing nothing all day flatmate. Gerrard's carefree lifestyle and his steady, better than average income felt like an insult to the hard working man. It also pissed Carles off that he knew basically nothing of the younger man, not what he did for a living, not his rank and certainly not what prompted him to be so cheerful all the time, when their life was generally hard and complicated.
***
Sharing a flat in Metropolis was a rather lonely experience. Since most people worked long hours, they never got to spend too much time together. Unless friendships were struck, or the two became lovers, each man or woman spent their free days in malls or clubs, spending their hard-earned credits on various pleasures and indulgences.
Carles and Gerard were no different. Outside their occasional fights, they didn't talk much. Carles worked long hours and whenever he was home, he was too tired for proper conversation. Gerard was rarely at home anymore, apparently having taken the hint that working on whatever he was planning in the flat was a big offense.
Even if that particularly gruesome quarrel had long been forgotten, Carles still found breakfast basically all prepared for him each morning. Whenever he entered the tiny kitchen, he felt a bit ashamed for not telling Gerard there was no need for that anymore, that he had made sufficient amends and he had been forgiven. After the first two weeks, Carles decided to have a serious talk with his younger flatmate. But every time he thought he'd find the other man at home so they could talk about housing arrangements, Carles was disappointed: Gerard never got home before Carles went to bed.
***
There came the morning when Carles found the kitchen table empty, nothing left for him. His only thought was that Gerard had not made it home that night, and he immediately went to check the man's bedroom. Just like he had thought, the bed was not slept in. His following emotion was worry, because Metropolis could be a very nasty place to be out on the streets at night.
Preparing his own breakfast, Carles wished, more than any other time, to see Gerard again. But then, he had to leave for his job and the brute work engulfed him, like it did any other day, and Gerard's sudden absence was soon forgotten.
***
The apartment was eerily quiet. As far as Carles was aware, Gerard had not been home for the last five days. Carles only knew this for sure because of the lack of breakfast, but it wasn't breakfast he missed most. As his job required maximum concentration and was extremely noisy, Carles didn't really get to interact with his colleagues. They all came in, punched in their cards, welded, ate lunch quietly, too tired to talk, welded some more and then left for their homes. Days were all the same and welding teams split very often. So Carles didn't get to be around people a lot, therefore Gerard was, for what it was worth, his sole stable human interaction. Even if they didn't see each other for weeks, especially lately, it was reassuring to return home to an inhabited place.
Finding he missed the clumsy fool Gerard had always seemed to be was quite a surprise. Getting home to his obvious absence, to the peace and calm of am empty flat and to the possibility of a long hot shower was no longer the prize of the evening. It was in fact what took the fun out of it, since it meant Gerard was away. And it bothered him, the sudden complete emptiness of the apartment filling him with anguish.
Unlike that first night though, he was no longer worried about the man's safety. He knew Gerard was all right, unharmed and healthy, otherwise the Government would immediately assign him another room-mate and that was yet to happen. Given the overpopulation of the hundred million-citizen City, the Government was strict about housing regulations and kept track of people sharing an apartment, making sure all of its contributing citizens had a place to live.
As he ate another lonely dinner, Carles contemplated his new state of mind. Ever since that fight and its next morning's resolve, and despite of his absence, he had grown fond of Gerard. Now, he just wished the younger man was back.
***
It had been 10 days now and while Carles tried not to actually worry, deep down, he could feel his heart rattling in its cage. Restlessness took him over even when he was supposed to work. It was unnerving, because this was a new sensation and he didn't really know how to work around it. It wasn't something he could just ignore, as it was always present, like a sore in the back of his throat. What made him feel so interested in Gerard all of the sudden was also a complete mystery and faced with such new emotions, the simple man Carles was felt like he was about to explode.
There was something he could do though, to at least ease his mind if not his aching heart. He decided to contact someone, anyone, who might know of Gerard's whereabouts. Once he knew at least something about the younger man, he hoped the weight in his chest would ease off.
When he got home that evening, the music blared so loudly through the front door, Carles immediately thought that, in his tiredness, he must've entered the wrong building. Somehow, he decided to still use the access card and once in, there it was. The unmistakable mayhem of Gerard's presence unleashed itself onto him.
Gerard was dancing madly around the main room, in nothing but the skimpiest shorts Carles had ever seen a grown man wear. When the tall blond turned around and noticed him, he stopped dead in his tracks and frantically reached to turn down the volume, his smile beginning to fade.
But Carles was smiling widely, and gesturing Gerard to keep the volume as it was, started dancing himself. He didn't really know what urged him to do that, but in twenty seconds from making it through the front door, he was shaking his hips and truly enjoying himself. Besides moving his body to the rhythm, a thing he had never done before - not even in his youth - Carles looked at Gerard. He looked at the younger man deeply, taking in all the changes in his beautiful face. Carles felt his heart contracting as he noticed how tired Gerard looked, but seeing his genuine smile and how happy his eyes twinkled, it somehow made Carles understand the other man was doing fine.
As soon as they finish dancing, which took a while, and like he hadn't been gone for so long, Gerard started cooking dinner, taking out real meat and real potatoes from his backpack. Carles was stunned - even if he was aware Gerard's income was quite substantial - and that made him recall all the of the last few days' anguish.
“Where have you been? What have you been working on? I hope you're not in trouble!” Carles shot in rapid fire.
Gerard laughed and gave the older man a long look, while trying to find his words. He then checked the oven, the smell of roast already filling the room and making Carles' mouth water.
“I've been working on something truly magnificent. It's quite top secret and it'll be of much use to mankind once it is completed. But now, now I just want us to have dinner. We haven't had a meal together in a while,” he said softly, the final sentence a clear invitation.
Carles understood and nodded in approval. Having Gerard back, even with such few answers was more than enough. What he didn't understand though was why his heart had swollen oh so suddenly. He couldn't keep his eyes off the younger man, nor could be believe the way the other was looking at him, with fondness and something else in his eyes.
Aged 35, Carles felt a little old to feel like this, after such a lacklustre personal life, but he also relished the emotion. His dull, hard, deeply extenuating and mind-numbing job was now finally balanced by these fresh feelings, and even such a life felt worth it now. Carles had never been one to over-think things, taking life day by day, as it came, working and having the regulated fun just like everybody else. But now, now he could feel how miserable he had been before this moment, when he was watching Gerard cook dinner.
The evening continued perfectly, with the best dinner Carles has ever tasted and talking for hours, making up for all those silent evenings of before. They talked about nothing and everything at the same time, even the little nothings making them both smile.
Moving from the dinner table to the comfortable couch, it was obvious both men were reveling in each other's company. Gerard eventually fell asleep, his head on Carles' shoulder and the older man carried him to his bedroom and put him to bed. As Carles pulled the covers over the sleeping figure, he accidentally brushed his bare chest.
The burning sensation in his fingers kept Carles awake for half the night.
***
After that, and without any need to talk about what was happening, they settled into some sort of routine. Gerard was gone for days and sometimes weeks, but when he was home - albeit for only a couple days at a time - it was time to party. Carles felt 25 again, without a care in the world and when he was with Gerard it was like Christmas and his birthday rolled into one.
Sometimes he wondered what the stunningly good-looking younger man saw in him, a burly welder, but he could see with his very eyes how happy the other was when they were together, so after a while he stopped worrying that he wasn't good enough.
He could no longer recall why he used to despise the buoyant younger man, why he was such a bland creature himself, denying himself the pleasures of life, of a good conversation or of a shared meal. He finally understood that he was allowed a meaningful life even if he was merely a welder, that even in Metropolis love could bloom.
Carles soon learned that he was happiest when Gerard was home and that days dragged on forever when he was not. But now he knew that whatever Gerard was working on was important - for the whole of human kind as Gerard once put it - and that even so, Gerard always found time to return to him.
So Carles waited as patiently as he could, counting the days of breakup and readying himself for each reunion.
***
Carles reached home and Gerard's absence cut him deeper than any other time. It had been unusually long this time, and Carles had been hoping for a while to get to the flat one evening and find his... sort-of lover there. His disappointment soared as he hung his coat and took off his shoes.
It wasn't fun to cook dinner for one, but Carles needed to eat. The synthetic meat would never make a steak as good as the real deal, but the meat his coupons could buy was still more fulfilling than the hydroponic vegetables he got served at work for lunch.
Just as he was tasting the foul-smelling pasta he was making, the door sprung open and in a matter of seconds, Gerard had his arms wrapped around Carles, their faces so close, that the older man could see the very glimmer in the taller man's eyes. When Gerard kissed him, Carles had no other response than kissing him back.
Even as they gradually moved into a relationship, they hadn't kissed before, somehow not finding the right moment. But now that it finally happened, it was perfect, tender and passionate at the same time.
“I did it!” Gerard bellowed breaking the kiss and pulling Carles into a tight hug.
He then let go slowly and the two men looked at each other, acknowledging what they had done. Gerard's excitement of unknown origin instantly rubbed onto Carles, just like it always did, and the older man hugged him close in his turn kissing him again.
They fumbled onto the couch kissing for minutes, more and more passionately, clutching at each other's clothes, pulling at them, and only the pasta pot catching fire broke them apart.
Breathless and red in the face, Carles put out the fire and tried to salvage what was left of the odious pasta. Gerard continued to grin, the incident not managing to perturb her utter glee. As Carles busied about the stove, Gerard closed the gap between them and hugged him from behind, pressing his body tightly to the older man's. Breathing hotly and excitedly in Carles' mane of curly hair, Gerard finally unburdened himself of the grand secret.
“I found a way to transport souls into someone's dream, Carles. They're building a dream world, Carles and I’m part of the project! We're building Vheissu!”
Carles turned and stared at Gerard and he could feel something raw bubbling inside of him. The feeling was indescribable and Carles would always remember that night as the beginning of the end.
I
The sensation on his skin was prickly. Like a numb hand regaining its vigour, but translated to the whole body. He had been instructed on what to do, how to take the right steps, so he didn't try to open his eyes right away. His body's functionality was, in fact, his last worry. He must first process where he was and what had happened to him.
He had been told he would only vaguely remember his life before, especially in the beginning. That he could be a bit confused and might have an identity crisis. It was a possibility, since he was the very first implant and they had no way of telling how the procedure actually worked. But everything in Vheissu was designed to help him accommodate and all he had to do was simply try to go through each day until things got better. And then again, everything could go smoothly as well.
He focused, remaining completely motionless even if the sensation had turned into a general itch he'd like to scratch. He waited instead, allowing his newly formed body to accustom with its new environment. Soon, the itch was gone and he could feel a pleasant warmth covering his body, the weight of clothes and a general sensation of floating.
As he regained awareness of his body, his memories started coming slowly, with bits and pieces missing, their absence mystery and balm at the same time. Firstly, he recalled the most recent events, the sleeping chamber and the machine with the suction device. He remembered his fright upon seeing the apparatus, with its bright eye-hurting colours and how ferocious it looked in the well-lit room. He remembered the nurses, all three of them fussing around him, especially the older one, who looked at him with worried eyes. He remembered lying on that bed, head level with the rest of the body, and the lack of comfort until the drug took effect. He even recalled falling asleep and - like a dream - how the nurses hooked him to the machine.
The memories faded after that point, he only vaguely recalled the actual passing over. There was a tunnel, of colour and sound, of emotions and even physical sensations, and then there was a fall, not long, not fear instilling. He had been trained to welcome the fall, so he knew - even in his half-dead state - that he would land smoothly, that he would be safe. Absence of fear was the only way to could insure a successful implant, because only souls wishing to be there, embracing the fall could make it into Vheissu. There was nothing else he could remember after the fall, just waking up in the warm sun.
He was yet to open his eyes. He mustn't until he recalled everything, until he knew why he was there. That was another key, the implant catching, as they said: remembering the reason for which he chose to lose his corporeal body and give away the real world for Vheissu. As he had been taught, he started by recollecting what Vheissu was. A perfect dream world, granting eternal bliss to those who could afford it. For those brave enough to undergo physical death in order to achieve spiritual immortality in another world.
Vheissu was a generated world, drawn from the magnificent dreams of the three greatest minds in the City. It was a world of wonder and exquisite pleasures, a magical world where deepest wishes always came true and where one could leave a peaceful, pleasant life, away from the decaying, miserable real world. And now, with a supreme effort, Bojan remembered why he was there. While his deepest memories were blocked, forever in the shadows and never to be willingly tapped into, he could recall he had lost everything in the real world, Metropolis had robbed him of everything he held dear. Alone, he decided to leave for some-place where he could get away from the sorrow and where he could start over. And there was only one place he could go to.
For him, Vheissu was peace of mind and forgetting. As soon as he reached this awareness level, his body relaxed and he felt the insatiable need to open his eyes. It was time, he was ready. The transition period had ended and he was now truly a Vheissu inhabitant, a Vheissuan. Carefully, he opened his eyes, taking in the sights. He was laying in a hammock, between apple trees and once he craned his neck, he could see his house in front of the orchard. He didn't remember landing in the hammock, but Vheissu was make-believe and he had always wanted to swing in a hammock under the trees. The sensation was inebriating. The world would give him everything he could ever wish for, as long as one of the Minds could dream of it.
He stayed a while in the hammock, listening to the wind and the birds chirping, and he could feel his heart mellowing as he was home at last. Only when he felt hungry did he finally leave the blessed hammock, and walking barefoot through the freshly cut grass, he stepped inside.
He had always wished to have a country house, but despite all his wealth, Bojan had been confined in the City, just like everyone else. Now he knew why Vheissu was such an attraction, as it would always provide the things hearts most desired. The house was rustic, raw wood with few pieces of furniture, even if the kitchen was modern, the fridge well stocked and the appliances new and ready for the most elaborate meals. He found that everything was just as he'd hoped it'd be, just like he'd imagined it, even if he actually hadn't imagined anything at all.
Making a frugal meal, Bojan ate on the porch, just sitting on the first step and staring at the golden fields in front of him. From the looks of it, the house seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere, with forests bordering the fields in the horizon. It was perfect, as the one thing Bojan wanted was seclusion, the need to be alone and mend deeper than his most gregarious instinct. He knew that once he would be ready to socialize, Vheissu would create a way for him to meet new people. Either they would come to him or he would be taken to them, perhaps magically such as suddenly waking up in a flat with flatmates rather than in his cottage. Even if that seemed a little crazy, Bojan knew it could very well happen, since Vheissu was the place where anything was possible.
He smiled as he watched the sunset, while finishing his dinner. The red ball of light turned the sky a deep purple, like in a glorious explosion before finally waning out, disappearing behind the hills, the sky turning a deep blue, and darkness falling over what Bojan felt was his very own vast domain. He was too young to have seen a real sunset with his own eyes and the breathtaking sights brought tears of joy to his eyes. Letting the tears dry on his cheeks and feeling like a boy again, innocent and pure, Bojan ended his first day in Vheissu with a salute addressed to no-one in particular and then he retreated in the house.
Falling asleep in the most comfortable bed, Bojan felt happy for the first time in a long while.
***
David was returning home after another day on the streets. He had been once again unable to find work, the placement offices of the Metropolis finding him unsuitable for most jobs he wanted. He either wasn't qualified for the office jobs he coveted nor was he apt for the manual labour positions he didn't want to begin with.
David felt the city to be oppressive, his only skill not needed in the highly industrialized, highly bureaucratic, restrictive Metropolis. He couldn't adapt to the city and the city had long passed the time when it adapted to its citizens.
David had been born with the gift of music, but with nothing else of value. His family had been poor and the poor could not afford enrolling their kids in Metropolis' artistic programs. Since he wasn't on their lists he couldn't sing for money, he could only perform the jobs his rank allowed him. Having ranked poorly, David was not fit for intellectual jobs. His body was fit, but not strong, his mind was too bright to cope with repetitive work and his soul felt crushed even thinking he could become a digger or a builder or a miner, which were his only choices.
David's sole salvation in the cruel world of Metropolis was Xavi, once his designated flatmate, now and for a while, his lover. The Metropolis ruling class did not care about their citizens' private lives as long as they worked their due and contributed to the tightly controlled economy. As long as children were registered upon birth, marriage was no longer necessary and same sex relations were a normal part of everyday life.
There were other, far more important, laws that needed to be respected, laws that prevented the Metropolis citizens from ever leaving the great City's premises, laws that forced them to live in controlled compounds and made them behave a certain way when in public. Metropolis controlled the food and the locative space, Metropolis controlled births and deaths and what people did when in groups exceeding three people. Metropolis had sardonic laws controlling every aspect of its citizens public life, but no rules for what they did indoors. Free love sprung everywhere and this had been David's escape. In absence of any other lucrative skills, David had become a lover.
He could depend on Xavi, even if Xavi didn't like this. He could rely on his lover's paycheck when he brought home nothing or little to nothing. He could stand all the scolding and all the fights, because he knew he would never find anyone like Xavi, anyone else who would love him and support him like Xavi did.
Of all his lovers, Xavi was the best, even if Xavi was different than him, or perhaps that was why.
As artificial night set onto the city - needed since the official day was of 30 hours now - David took a small detour. There was a little dead end street where he liked to stay awhile. He liked its quaint timelessness, the old alley still cobbled like in the old days. Also, on a good day, one could climb up the old building's fire escape and from there one could see the sunset, the actual discus of the pale yellow sun setting.
Metropolis and the cities before it had polluted the atmosphere, the ashes from the furnaces creating a grey barrier between that part of earth and the sun, which had become a mere shadow. Over the years, people had learned to live in the grey daylight, and Metropolis had started controlling the climate, needed in order to sustain life on the City premises.
David did not believe the stories the Metropolis Government told them and how climate control was necessary. He didn't believe that the sun would be too bright for an average Metropolitan and too hot to endure if they ever left the City's boundaries. David never dared express his own thoughts on this, not even in front of Xavi, but he knew there were some others who shared his belief, others who did think that Metropolis wasn't the safe haven it claimed to be. In a way, David knew he was a coward and that, even granted the choice, he would never leave Metropolis.
While his annoyance at yet another squandered day and zero credits gained had somehow dissipated during his sojourn in the ancient alley, David knew he should hurry. Since he wasn't making any money lately, his sole job in the household was making dinner.
To his absolute dread, when he finally reached the flat, Xavi was already there. And he looked furious.
“Glad you finally decided you should come home, David.”
So many excuses were coming to David's mind, but he knew better than to try and justify his lateness, even if Xavi was home early for once. He just looked apologetically at his lover and said nothing. He had learned not to talk back to Xavi when the older man was angry, especially since he depended on Xavi for his everyday life.
“I see you've managed one more empty day, one more day of leisure and of strolling around town to your heart's content. How long do you think I can tolerate that? I really hate the idea of maintaining you, it just doesn't feel right!”
David had heard The Speech enough times to know it by heart. Xavi always called him a bum and how intolerable and humiliating it was to come home night after night, after working long, tiring hours in a demanding department to a household he solely maintained. He always scolded him for refusing to accept any kind of job that required sheer physicality, for thinking he was better than what Metropolis had coined him to be. Xavi always brought up that they lived in a certain society and had to abide its rules, that bringing nothing to the economy was nothing short of a crime.
In the beginning, David had cringed at Xavi's line of thinking, at his rigidity and close-mindedness, but The Speech had come when both of them were in love with each other already, so David had to bear it. He had been disappointed to find that a man so bright, with higher studies, could be so engrossed in the Metropolis rules and unable to think freely, outside the norms. Because Xavi was a model citizen, breathing the Metropolis way of life and only his relationship with someone like David was rather out of order. Before knowing him intimately, men like Xavi always seemed to congregate only with like-minded folk and reject anyone different from the very start.
But Xavi loved David and had launched himself into their relationship without any restrains, so even if he wasn't as inquisitive nor as open-minded as David was, he was a good man, a man whose hopeless nature showed only when he gave The Speech. And in time, David had learned to ignore it. His eyes pretended to pay attention, but his mind wandered off, in search of Xavi's good side.
This time was no different, but David couldn't help but be a little peeved with Xavi questioning him when he hadn't actually been late. Instead of enduring the whole soliloquy, he rounded the kitchen table and proceeded to light the stove. He took out vegetables and the slab of real meat and began chopping them together, before Xavi's stunned eyes.
“What the hell do you think you're doing?” Xavi erupted, interrupting himself by the time David had started simmering the oil in the pan.
“Dinner?”
David looked innocently at Xavi, trying to hold himself together. He was tired. He had been trying to get a job for weeks now and Xavi had been understanding, so this outburst was exasperating.
Xavi was shocked, it wasn't like David to be sarcastic. He knew his lover was a dreamer, that he afforded to be one since he had a strong back in none other than himself, but he wished he would come back to earth. They lived in Metropolis, the giant city with a hundred million citizens and for all that was worth, the City provided them with a place to live and with food, some of it even organic. In exchange of that, they had to respect some rules. It wasn't complicated, but David was keen on keeping his misfit role for as long as possible.
The argument broke out quite ferociously, one of their many to date. They had been flatmates for two years and a half and lovers for two, and they both knew that the longer they let things build up, the bigger the fight would be. This time, it had been a full month since David had lost his last job (which he had held for little under two weeks) and his attempts to find a new one had been completely futile. Xavi had been supportive by not bringing it up and David had been wasting his time by pretending to look for a job. It was bound to come to a boil-over soon, especially since Xavi knew that in ten days time David would have to fill in another unemployment form, marking Xavi as his provider.
Xavi hated this aspect of their relationship, David's economic dependency, it made him feel horribly used and that he was breaking the Metropolis rules on citizen contribution to the general well-fare. The fact that David obviously didn't give a rat's ass about this, nor on any of Metropolis' rules annoyed Xavi even further.
He could never tell if David's free spirit was what he most loved about him or what he most hated. What was crystal clear though was that once he had lived next to David, as his lover and life-partner, he could never leave him, nor ever find another as wonderful.
The fight came to a necessary halt when the food was ready and David ostentatiously slammed the full plate in front of Xavi. Since Xavi couldn't really cook and David made wonders even with hydroponic vegetables, this was a winning argument. So Xavi sat down and David sat too, dinner becoming a silent affair, the only sounds the clinking of utensils on the plastic plates. They then went to bed without apologizing or at least attempting to talk to each other.
Sleep eluded both of them though, both still caught in their petty argument, in the stupid, hurtful things they said and in how they wished they could take it all back. Xavi knew he had been under a lot of stress lately, his governmental job sucking the energy out of him everyday. He had tried to keep it under wraps when he got home, not to drag David into it, but the last few days had been particularly difficult, and now that the first phase of the project had concluded quite unexpectedly, Xavi found himself still fully loaded upon reaching home.
Not finding David there and being aware of his lover's whereabouts had driven him off the edge, especially when David finally made it back with that face of his, all disgusted with life and yearning for something neither of them could ever get. He had stopped dreaming a long time ago and sometimes wished David gave that up as well.
Xavi felt bad for shouting at David though, he knew his lover was different and would never fit into the well-lined world of Metropolis, and in the end, this was what made him special and worth loving. As a very correct man, Xavi knew he had to make amends.
“David, are you asleep?” he whispered softly, not daring to extend his arm and touch the other man.
David turned around as response, eyes wide and hopeful.
“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have started it. You are walking on your own path and I on mine. We should consider ourselves lucky that they crossed.”
“Xavi, there's no I’m sorry in love and war; however, I’m glad you know how things stand with you and I. Maybe my path is not the right one, perhaps I should try to fit in, try to be more like you. You're not so bad, you're not like everyone else...”
“I'm not like everyone else when I'm with you. Otherwise I am one of them. I am a proud citizen.”
David could hear the resignation in Xavi's voice, his hopelessness that he could ever change. Whenever Xavi sounded like that, David felt his heart breaking, but this time he knew it wasn't smart to be sarcastic about it. If Xavi was proud of who he was, he too could be proud of his lover and of his achievements.
“What are you so proud of now, my most beloved citizen?” he said, grabbing Xavi's hand and holding it tightly.
“Today we implanted the first man into Vheissu,” Xavi let out, reaching for David's other hand.
Not needing any invitation other than David's visible thirst of knowing everything about Vheissu, Xavi went on to explain how the operation had been a complete success, how his concoction of gasses had been used to slowly put the body into hibernation, while the man's soul became visible within, ready to be sucked out and implanted into the magical dream world Vheissu. When the process had been completed, life had been taken out of the subject's body until he was quite effectively dead and then the remains had been cremated.
As the head chemist and physician working on project Vheissu, Xavi had been part of the entire procedure and had been on the team from the very beginning.
The two talked another hour about Vheissu, David raving how wonderful would it be to be there, together, finally free of life's every day burdens and Xavi trying to temperate his lover, clearly not believing in a magical resolution to all their problems and preferring a more realistic, even if mundane and difficult life.
Part I (b)
kitcountssouls
Rating: R
Category: drama
Warning: dystopian setting, implied character death
Characters: Carles Puyol / Gerard Pique; Josep Guardiola / Bojan Krkic; Xavi Hernandez / David Villa; Lionel Messi / Cesc Fabregas; with Sergio Busquets, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis Enrique, Thierry Henry & Sandro Rosell
Wordcount: 28917 words consisting of 3 parts, Prologue & Epilogue
Summary: Future world where dreamcatching technology has become available. Three of the greatest minds helped create a perfect dreamworld - Vheissu, where “souls” of people who can afford it are taken by a technique of suction and implantation and where they live perfect lives, as opposed to the oppressive real world. But when outside forces begin to wake up one of the minds, would Vheissu resist, or would it crumble?
The story follows the lives of a few couples caught right in the middle of the mess.
Disclaimer: fiction, 100% fiction
Authors Notes:
- The story is based on one of the possible meanings of V in Thomas Pynchon's novel V, namely a place as opposed to the usual meaning, i.e. a person. the story shaped up based on this single word and my desire to write another sci-fi fic, given the success of my previous ones.
- written for rpf_big_bang, the story is accompanied by an excellent soundtrack by the awesome spurtle which can be enjoyed here
- title artwork by devioussoul10
- pdf version
With the slightest disturbance, the dream's going to collapse.
Prologue
Carles was on his way home after a long day at work. With construction sites spawning all over Metropolis, work was blooming for people like Carles. As a welder, he was almost guaranteed employment, as more and more buildings had to be erected for the City's growing population. However, the work itself was all-consuming and when the workday was over, he was completely drained.
By the time he reached the apartment building on this particularly difficult day, when he had been assigned three different construction sites, he was in no mood for anything but a long shower followed by sleep. He felt his arms would soon fall off and his eyes burned, even if they had been protected by the welding mask, so rest was all he needed. He was too tired to even eat.
When he entered the apartment he shared with a room-mate by Government regulations - as did most single people in Metropolis - the ruckus made by the younger man Carles had for a flatmate worsened his bad mood within seconds.
He spent the next 20 minutes yelling at Gerard, while the taller man, who had turned half of their common room into a lab, tried to assuage his rage with jokes and lame explanations, such as he was working on something that might change the world.
When, exhausted after the all the shouting (much of it his own), Carles finally got into the shower, there was no more warm water. Suppressing himself, for the sake of his own sanity, Carles went to bed angrier than ever. He decided to find a way to get rid of Gerard from the apartment, since this was the very last straw in a cohabitation marred by escalating arguments.
***
When Carles woke up the next day, the flat was spotless and there wasn't only fresh orange juice in a pitcher on the table, but also coffee, real coffee, its smell ravishing the hungry man in an instant. Carles couldn't remember the last time he had had any real food, so this surprise knocked off all the residual fury from the other night.
Gerard was gone, so Carles helped himself to the scrambled eggs and all the delicious food left for him. He hadn't known Gerard cooked so well. Perhaps he could tolerate his mischief for that kind of repayment.
He decided to give his younger flatmate another chance, but to keep an eye out for any changes in behaviour. The last thing he wanted was to end his days with anger and shouts. If he was honest, Gerard and him only got in silly arguments, mostly caused by Carles' irritation at his younger, apparently doing nothing all day flatmate. Gerrard's carefree lifestyle and his steady, better than average income felt like an insult to the hard working man. It also pissed Carles off that he knew basically nothing of the younger man, not what he did for a living, not his rank and certainly not what prompted him to be so cheerful all the time, when their life was generally hard and complicated.
***
Sharing a flat in Metropolis was a rather lonely experience. Since most people worked long hours, they never got to spend too much time together. Unless friendships were struck, or the two became lovers, each man or woman spent their free days in malls or clubs, spending their hard-earned credits on various pleasures and indulgences.
Carles and Gerard were no different. Outside their occasional fights, they didn't talk much. Carles worked long hours and whenever he was home, he was too tired for proper conversation. Gerard was rarely at home anymore, apparently having taken the hint that working on whatever he was planning in the flat was a big offense.
Even if that particularly gruesome quarrel had long been forgotten, Carles still found breakfast basically all prepared for him each morning. Whenever he entered the tiny kitchen, he felt a bit ashamed for not telling Gerard there was no need for that anymore, that he had made sufficient amends and he had been forgiven. After the first two weeks, Carles decided to have a serious talk with his younger flatmate. But every time he thought he'd find the other man at home so they could talk about housing arrangements, Carles was disappointed: Gerard never got home before Carles went to bed.
***
There came the morning when Carles found the kitchen table empty, nothing left for him. His only thought was that Gerard had not made it home that night, and he immediately went to check the man's bedroom. Just like he had thought, the bed was not slept in. His following emotion was worry, because Metropolis could be a very nasty place to be out on the streets at night.
Preparing his own breakfast, Carles wished, more than any other time, to see Gerard again. But then, he had to leave for his job and the brute work engulfed him, like it did any other day, and Gerard's sudden absence was soon forgotten.
***
The apartment was eerily quiet. As far as Carles was aware, Gerard had not been home for the last five days. Carles only knew this for sure because of the lack of breakfast, but it wasn't breakfast he missed most. As his job required maximum concentration and was extremely noisy, Carles didn't really get to interact with his colleagues. They all came in, punched in their cards, welded, ate lunch quietly, too tired to talk, welded some more and then left for their homes. Days were all the same and welding teams split very often. So Carles didn't get to be around people a lot, therefore Gerard was, for what it was worth, his sole stable human interaction. Even if they didn't see each other for weeks, especially lately, it was reassuring to return home to an inhabited place.
Finding he missed the clumsy fool Gerard had always seemed to be was quite a surprise. Getting home to his obvious absence, to the peace and calm of am empty flat and to the possibility of a long hot shower was no longer the prize of the evening. It was in fact what took the fun out of it, since it meant Gerard was away. And it bothered him, the sudden complete emptiness of the apartment filling him with anguish.
Unlike that first night though, he was no longer worried about the man's safety. He knew Gerard was all right, unharmed and healthy, otherwise the Government would immediately assign him another room-mate and that was yet to happen. Given the overpopulation of the hundred million-citizen City, the Government was strict about housing regulations and kept track of people sharing an apartment, making sure all of its contributing citizens had a place to live.
As he ate another lonely dinner, Carles contemplated his new state of mind. Ever since that fight and its next morning's resolve, and despite of his absence, he had grown fond of Gerard. Now, he just wished the younger man was back.
***
It had been 10 days now and while Carles tried not to actually worry, deep down, he could feel his heart rattling in its cage. Restlessness took him over even when he was supposed to work. It was unnerving, because this was a new sensation and he didn't really know how to work around it. It wasn't something he could just ignore, as it was always present, like a sore in the back of his throat. What made him feel so interested in Gerard all of the sudden was also a complete mystery and faced with such new emotions, the simple man Carles was felt like he was about to explode.
There was something he could do though, to at least ease his mind if not his aching heart. He decided to contact someone, anyone, who might know of Gerard's whereabouts. Once he knew at least something about the younger man, he hoped the weight in his chest would ease off.
When he got home that evening, the music blared so loudly through the front door, Carles immediately thought that, in his tiredness, he must've entered the wrong building. Somehow, he decided to still use the access card and once in, there it was. The unmistakable mayhem of Gerard's presence unleashed itself onto him.
Gerard was dancing madly around the main room, in nothing but the skimpiest shorts Carles had ever seen a grown man wear. When the tall blond turned around and noticed him, he stopped dead in his tracks and frantically reached to turn down the volume, his smile beginning to fade.
But Carles was smiling widely, and gesturing Gerard to keep the volume as it was, started dancing himself. He didn't really know what urged him to do that, but in twenty seconds from making it through the front door, he was shaking his hips and truly enjoying himself. Besides moving his body to the rhythm, a thing he had never done before - not even in his youth - Carles looked at Gerard. He looked at the younger man deeply, taking in all the changes in his beautiful face. Carles felt his heart contracting as he noticed how tired Gerard looked, but seeing his genuine smile and how happy his eyes twinkled, it somehow made Carles understand the other man was doing fine.
As soon as they finish dancing, which took a while, and like he hadn't been gone for so long, Gerard started cooking dinner, taking out real meat and real potatoes from his backpack. Carles was stunned - even if he was aware Gerard's income was quite substantial - and that made him recall all the of the last few days' anguish.
“Where have you been? What have you been working on? I hope you're not in trouble!” Carles shot in rapid fire.
Gerard laughed and gave the older man a long look, while trying to find his words. He then checked the oven, the smell of roast already filling the room and making Carles' mouth water.
“I've been working on something truly magnificent. It's quite top secret and it'll be of much use to mankind once it is completed. But now, now I just want us to have dinner. We haven't had a meal together in a while,” he said softly, the final sentence a clear invitation.
Carles understood and nodded in approval. Having Gerard back, even with such few answers was more than enough. What he didn't understand though was why his heart had swollen oh so suddenly. He couldn't keep his eyes off the younger man, nor could be believe the way the other was looking at him, with fondness and something else in his eyes.
Aged 35, Carles felt a little old to feel like this, after such a lacklustre personal life, but he also relished the emotion. His dull, hard, deeply extenuating and mind-numbing job was now finally balanced by these fresh feelings, and even such a life felt worth it now. Carles had never been one to over-think things, taking life day by day, as it came, working and having the regulated fun just like everybody else. But now, now he could feel how miserable he had been before this moment, when he was watching Gerard cook dinner.
The evening continued perfectly, with the best dinner Carles has ever tasted and talking for hours, making up for all those silent evenings of before. They talked about nothing and everything at the same time, even the little nothings making them both smile.
Moving from the dinner table to the comfortable couch, it was obvious both men were reveling in each other's company. Gerard eventually fell asleep, his head on Carles' shoulder and the older man carried him to his bedroom and put him to bed. As Carles pulled the covers over the sleeping figure, he accidentally brushed his bare chest.
The burning sensation in his fingers kept Carles awake for half the night.
***
After that, and without any need to talk about what was happening, they settled into some sort of routine. Gerard was gone for days and sometimes weeks, but when he was home - albeit for only a couple days at a time - it was time to party. Carles felt 25 again, without a care in the world and when he was with Gerard it was like Christmas and his birthday rolled into one.
Sometimes he wondered what the stunningly good-looking younger man saw in him, a burly welder, but he could see with his very eyes how happy the other was when they were together, so after a while he stopped worrying that he wasn't good enough.
He could no longer recall why he used to despise the buoyant younger man, why he was such a bland creature himself, denying himself the pleasures of life, of a good conversation or of a shared meal. He finally understood that he was allowed a meaningful life even if he was merely a welder, that even in Metropolis love could bloom.
Carles soon learned that he was happiest when Gerard was home and that days dragged on forever when he was not. But now he knew that whatever Gerard was working on was important - for the whole of human kind as Gerard once put it - and that even so, Gerard always found time to return to him.
So Carles waited as patiently as he could, counting the days of breakup and readying himself for each reunion.
***
Carles reached home and Gerard's absence cut him deeper than any other time. It had been unusually long this time, and Carles had been hoping for a while to get to the flat one evening and find his... sort-of lover there. His disappointment soared as he hung his coat and took off his shoes.
It wasn't fun to cook dinner for one, but Carles needed to eat. The synthetic meat would never make a steak as good as the real deal, but the meat his coupons could buy was still more fulfilling than the hydroponic vegetables he got served at work for lunch.
Just as he was tasting the foul-smelling pasta he was making, the door sprung open and in a matter of seconds, Gerard had his arms wrapped around Carles, their faces so close, that the older man could see the very glimmer in the taller man's eyes. When Gerard kissed him, Carles had no other response than kissing him back.
Even as they gradually moved into a relationship, they hadn't kissed before, somehow not finding the right moment. But now that it finally happened, it was perfect, tender and passionate at the same time.
“I did it!” Gerard bellowed breaking the kiss and pulling Carles into a tight hug.
He then let go slowly and the two men looked at each other, acknowledging what they had done. Gerard's excitement of unknown origin instantly rubbed onto Carles, just like it always did, and the older man hugged him close in his turn kissing him again.
They fumbled onto the couch kissing for minutes, more and more passionately, clutching at each other's clothes, pulling at them, and only the pasta pot catching fire broke them apart.
Breathless and red in the face, Carles put out the fire and tried to salvage what was left of the odious pasta. Gerard continued to grin, the incident not managing to perturb her utter glee. As Carles busied about the stove, Gerard closed the gap between them and hugged him from behind, pressing his body tightly to the older man's. Breathing hotly and excitedly in Carles' mane of curly hair, Gerard finally unburdened himself of the grand secret.
“I found a way to transport souls into someone's dream, Carles. They're building a dream world, Carles and I’m part of the project! We're building Vheissu!”
Carles turned and stared at Gerard and he could feel something raw bubbling inside of him. The feeling was indescribable and Carles would always remember that night as the beginning of the end.
I
The sensation on his skin was prickly. Like a numb hand regaining its vigour, but translated to the whole body. He had been instructed on what to do, how to take the right steps, so he didn't try to open his eyes right away. His body's functionality was, in fact, his last worry. He must first process where he was and what had happened to him.
He had been told he would only vaguely remember his life before, especially in the beginning. That he could be a bit confused and might have an identity crisis. It was a possibility, since he was the very first implant and they had no way of telling how the procedure actually worked. But everything in Vheissu was designed to help him accommodate and all he had to do was simply try to go through each day until things got better. And then again, everything could go smoothly as well.
He focused, remaining completely motionless even if the sensation had turned into a general itch he'd like to scratch. He waited instead, allowing his newly formed body to accustom with its new environment. Soon, the itch was gone and he could feel a pleasant warmth covering his body, the weight of clothes and a general sensation of floating.
As he regained awareness of his body, his memories started coming slowly, with bits and pieces missing, their absence mystery and balm at the same time. Firstly, he recalled the most recent events, the sleeping chamber and the machine with the suction device. He remembered his fright upon seeing the apparatus, with its bright eye-hurting colours and how ferocious it looked in the well-lit room. He remembered the nurses, all three of them fussing around him, especially the older one, who looked at him with worried eyes. He remembered lying on that bed, head level with the rest of the body, and the lack of comfort until the drug took effect. He even recalled falling asleep and - like a dream - how the nurses hooked him to the machine.
The memories faded after that point, he only vaguely recalled the actual passing over. There was a tunnel, of colour and sound, of emotions and even physical sensations, and then there was a fall, not long, not fear instilling. He had been trained to welcome the fall, so he knew - even in his half-dead state - that he would land smoothly, that he would be safe. Absence of fear was the only way to could insure a successful implant, because only souls wishing to be there, embracing the fall could make it into Vheissu. There was nothing else he could remember after the fall, just waking up in the warm sun.
He was yet to open his eyes. He mustn't until he recalled everything, until he knew why he was there. That was another key, the implant catching, as they said: remembering the reason for which he chose to lose his corporeal body and give away the real world for Vheissu. As he had been taught, he started by recollecting what Vheissu was. A perfect dream world, granting eternal bliss to those who could afford it. For those brave enough to undergo physical death in order to achieve spiritual immortality in another world.
Vheissu was a generated world, drawn from the magnificent dreams of the three greatest minds in the City. It was a world of wonder and exquisite pleasures, a magical world where deepest wishes always came true and where one could leave a peaceful, pleasant life, away from the decaying, miserable real world. And now, with a supreme effort, Bojan remembered why he was there. While his deepest memories were blocked, forever in the shadows and never to be willingly tapped into, he could recall he had lost everything in the real world, Metropolis had robbed him of everything he held dear. Alone, he decided to leave for some-place where he could get away from the sorrow and where he could start over. And there was only one place he could go to.
For him, Vheissu was peace of mind and forgetting. As soon as he reached this awareness level, his body relaxed and he felt the insatiable need to open his eyes. It was time, he was ready. The transition period had ended and he was now truly a Vheissu inhabitant, a Vheissuan. Carefully, he opened his eyes, taking in the sights. He was laying in a hammock, between apple trees and once he craned his neck, he could see his house in front of the orchard. He didn't remember landing in the hammock, but Vheissu was make-believe and he had always wanted to swing in a hammock under the trees. The sensation was inebriating. The world would give him everything he could ever wish for, as long as one of the Minds could dream of it.
He stayed a while in the hammock, listening to the wind and the birds chirping, and he could feel his heart mellowing as he was home at last. Only when he felt hungry did he finally leave the blessed hammock, and walking barefoot through the freshly cut grass, he stepped inside.
He had always wished to have a country house, but despite all his wealth, Bojan had been confined in the City, just like everyone else. Now he knew why Vheissu was such an attraction, as it would always provide the things hearts most desired. The house was rustic, raw wood with few pieces of furniture, even if the kitchen was modern, the fridge well stocked and the appliances new and ready for the most elaborate meals. He found that everything was just as he'd hoped it'd be, just like he'd imagined it, even if he actually hadn't imagined anything at all.
Making a frugal meal, Bojan ate on the porch, just sitting on the first step and staring at the golden fields in front of him. From the looks of it, the house seemed to be located in the middle of nowhere, with forests bordering the fields in the horizon. It was perfect, as the one thing Bojan wanted was seclusion, the need to be alone and mend deeper than his most gregarious instinct. He knew that once he would be ready to socialize, Vheissu would create a way for him to meet new people. Either they would come to him or he would be taken to them, perhaps magically such as suddenly waking up in a flat with flatmates rather than in his cottage. Even if that seemed a little crazy, Bojan knew it could very well happen, since Vheissu was the place where anything was possible.
He smiled as he watched the sunset, while finishing his dinner. The red ball of light turned the sky a deep purple, like in a glorious explosion before finally waning out, disappearing behind the hills, the sky turning a deep blue, and darkness falling over what Bojan felt was his very own vast domain. He was too young to have seen a real sunset with his own eyes and the breathtaking sights brought tears of joy to his eyes. Letting the tears dry on his cheeks and feeling like a boy again, innocent and pure, Bojan ended his first day in Vheissu with a salute addressed to no-one in particular and then he retreated in the house.
Falling asleep in the most comfortable bed, Bojan felt happy for the first time in a long while.
***
David was returning home after another day on the streets. He had been once again unable to find work, the placement offices of the Metropolis finding him unsuitable for most jobs he wanted. He either wasn't qualified for the office jobs he coveted nor was he apt for the manual labour positions he didn't want to begin with.
David felt the city to be oppressive, his only skill not needed in the highly industrialized, highly bureaucratic, restrictive Metropolis. He couldn't adapt to the city and the city had long passed the time when it adapted to its citizens.
David had been born with the gift of music, but with nothing else of value. His family had been poor and the poor could not afford enrolling their kids in Metropolis' artistic programs. Since he wasn't on their lists he couldn't sing for money, he could only perform the jobs his rank allowed him. Having ranked poorly, David was not fit for intellectual jobs. His body was fit, but not strong, his mind was too bright to cope with repetitive work and his soul felt crushed even thinking he could become a digger or a builder or a miner, which were his only choices.
David's sole salvation in the cruel world of Metropolis was Xavi, once his designated flatmate, now and for a while, his lover. The Metropolis ruling class did not care about their citizens' private lives as long as they worked their due and contributed to the tightly controlled economy. As long as children were registered upon birth, marriage was no longer necessary and same sex relations were a normal part of everyday life.
There were other, far more important, laws that needed to be respected, laws that prevented the Metropolis citizens from ever leaving the great City's premises, laws that forced them to live in controlled compounds and made them behave a certain way when in public. Metropolis controlled the food and the locative space, Metropolis controlled births and deaths and what people did when in groups exceeding three people. Metropolis had sardonic laws controlling every aspect of its citizens public life, but no rules for what they did indoors. Free love sprung everywhere and this had been David's escape. In absence of any other lucrative skills, David had become a lover.
He could depend on Xavi, even if Xavi didn't like this. He could rely on his lover's paycheck when he brought home nothing or little to nothing. He could stand all the scolding and all the fights, because he knew he would never find anyone like Xavi, anyone else who would love him and support him like Xavi did.
Of all his lovers, Xavi was the best, even if Xavi was different than him, or perhaps that was why.
As artificial night set onto the city - needed since the official day was of 30 hours now - David took a small detour. There was a little dead end street where he liked to stay awhile. He liked its quaint timelessness, the old alley still cobbled like in the old days. Also, on a good day, one could climb up the old building's fire escape and from there one could see the sunset, the actual discus of the pale yellow sun setting.
Metropolis and the cities before it had polluted the atmosphere, the ashes from the furnaces creating a grey barrier between that part of earth and the sun, which had become a mere shadow. Over the years, people had learned to live in the grey daylight, and Metropolis had started controlling the climate, needed in order to sustain life on the City premises.
David did not believe the stories the Metropolis Government told them and how climate control was necessary. He didn't believe that the sun would be too bright for an average Metropolitan and too hot to endure if they ever left the City's boundaries. David never dared express his own thoughts on this, not even in front of Xavi, but he knew there were some others who shared his belief, others who did think that Metropolis wasn't the safe haven it claimed to be. In a way, David knew he was a coward and that, even granted the choice, he would never leave Metropolis.
While his annoyance at yet another squandered day and zero credits gained had somehow dissipated during his sojourn in the ancient alley, David knew he should hurry. Since he wasn't making any money lately, his sole job in the household was making dinner.
To his absolute dread, when he finally reached the flat, Xavi was already there. And he looked furious.
“Glad you finally decided you should come home, David.”
So many excuses were coming to David's mind, but he knew better than to try and justify his lateness, even if Xavi was home early for once. He just looked apologetically at his lover and said nothing. He had learned not to talk back to Xavi when the older man was angry, especially since he depended on Xavi for his everyday life.
“I see you've managed one more empty day, one more day of leisure and of strolling around town to your heart's content. How long do you think I can tolerate that? I really hate the idea of maintaining you, it just doesn't feel right!”
David had heard The Speech enough times to know it by heart. Xavi always called him a bum and how intolerable and humiliating it was to come home night after night, after working long, tiring hours in a demanding department to a household he solely maintained. He always scolded him for refusing to accept any kind of job that required sheer physicality, for thinking he was better than what Metropolis had coined him to be. Xavi always brought up that they lived in a certain society and had to abide its rules, that bringing nothing to the economy was nothing short of a crime.
In the beginning, David had cringed at Xavi's line of thinking, at his rigidity and close-mindedness, but The Speech had come when both of them were in love with each other already, so David had to bear it. He had been disappointed to find that a man so bright, with higher studies, could be so engrossed in the Metropolis rules and unable to think freely, outside the norms. Because Xavi was a model citizen, breathing the Metropolis way of life and only his relationship with someone like David was rather out of order. Before knowing him intimately, men like Xavi always seemed to congregate only with like-minded folk and reject anyone different from the very start.
But Xavi loved David and had launched himself into their relationship without any restrains, so even if he wasn't as inquisitive nor as open-minded as David was, he was a good man, a man whose hopeless nature showed only when he gave The Speech. And in time, David had learned to ignore it. His eyes pretended to pay attention, but his mind wandered off, in search of Xavi's good side.
This time was no different, but David couldn't help but be a little peeved with Xavi questioning him when he hadn't actually been late. Instead of enduring the whole soliloquy, he rounded the kitchen table and proceeded to light the stove. He took out vegetables and the slab of real meat and began chopping them together, before Xavi's stunned eyes.
“What the hell do you think you're doing?” Xavi erupted, interrupting himself by the time David had started simmering the oil in the pan.
“Dinner?”
David looked innocently at Xavi, trying to hold himself together. He was tired. He had been trying to get a job for weeks now and Xavi had been understanding, so this outburst was exasperating.
Xavi was shocked, it wasn't like David to be sarcastic. He knew his lover was a dreamer, that he afforded to be one since he had a strong back in none other than himself, but he wished he would come back to earth. They lived in Metropolis, the giant city with a hundred million citizens and for all that was worth, the City provided them with a place to live and with food, some of it even organic. In exchange of that, they had to respect some rules. It wasn't complicated, but David was keen on keeping his misfit role for as long as possible.
The argument broke out quite ferociously, one of their many to date. They had been flatmates for two years and a half and lovers for two, and they both knew that the longer they let things build up, the bigger the fight would be. This time, it had been a full month since David had lost his last job (which he had held for little under two weeks) and his attempts to find a new one had been completely futile. Xavi had been supportive by not bringing it up and David had been wasting his time by pretending to look for a job. It was bound to come to a boil-over soon, especially since Xavi knew that in ten days time David would have to fill in another unemployment form, marking Xavi as his provider.
Xavi hated this aspect of their relationship, David's economic dependency, it made him feel horribly used and that he was breaking the Metropolis rules on citizen contribution to the general well-fare. The fact that David obviously didn't give a rat's ass about this, nor on any of Metropolis' rules annoyed Xavi even further.
He could never tell if David's free spirit was what he most loved about him or what he most hated. What was crystal clear though was that once he had lived next to David, as his lover and life-partner, he could never leave him, nor ever find another as wonderful.
The fight came to a necessary halt when the food was ready and David ostentatiously slammed the full plate in front of Xavi. Since Xavi couldn't really cook and David made wonders even with hydroponic vegetables, this was a winning argument. So Xavi sat down and David sat too, dinner becoming a silent affair, the only sounds the clinking of utensils on the plastic plates. They then went to bed without apologizing or at least attempting to talk to each other.
Sleep eluded both of them though, both still caught in their petty argument, in the stupid, hurtful things they said and in how they wished they could take it all back. Xavi knew he had been under a lot of stress lately, his governmental job sucking the energy out of him everyday. He had tried to keep it under wraps when he got home, not to drag David into it, but the last few days had been particularly difficult, and now that the first phase of the project had concluded quite unexpectedly, Xavi found himself still fully loaded upon reaching home.
Not finding David there and being aware of his lover's whereabouts had driven him off the edge, especially when David finally made it back with that face of his, all disgusted with life and yearning for something neither of them could ever get. He had stopped dreaming a long time ago and sometimes wished David gave that up as well.
Xavi felt bad for shouting at David though, he knew his lover was different and would never fit into the well-lined world of Metropolis, and in the end, this was what made him special and worth loving. As a very correct man, Xavi knew he had to make amends.
“David, are you asleep?” he whispered softly, not daring to extend his arm and touch the other man.
David turned around as response, eyes wide and hopeful.
“I'm sorry, I shouldn't have started it. You are walking on your own path and I on mine. We should consider ourselves lucky that they crossed.”
“Xavi, there's no I’m sorry in love and war; however, I’m glad you know how things stand with you and I. Maybe my path is not the right one, perhaps I should try to fit in, try to be more like you. You're not so bad, you're not like everyone else...”
“I'm not like everyone else when I'm with you. Otherwise I am one of them. I am a proud citizen.”
David could hear the resignation in Xavi's voice, his hopelessness that he could ever change. Whenever Xavi sounded like that, David felt his heart breaking, but this time he knew it wasn't smart to be sarcastic about it. If Xavi was proud of who he was, he too could be proud of his lover and of his achievements.
“What are you so proud of now, my most beloved citizen?” he said, grabbing Xavi's hand and holding it tightly.
“Today we implanted the first man into Vheissu,” Xavi let out, reaching for David's other hand.
Not needing any invitation other than David's visible thirst of knowing everything about Vheissu, Xavi went on to explain how the operation had been a complete success, how his concoction of gasses had been used to slowly put the body into hibernation, while the man's soul became visible within, ready to be sucked out and implanted into the magical dream world Vheissu. When the process had been completed, life had been taken out of the subject's body until he was quite effectively dead and then the remains had been cremated.
As the head chemist and physician working on project Vheissu, Xavi had been part of the entire procedure and had been on the team from the very beginning.
The two talked another hour about Vheissu, David raving how wonderful would it be to be there, together, finally free of life's every day burdens and Xavi trying to temperate his lover, clearly not believing in a magical resolution to all their problems and preferring a more realistic, even if mundane and difficult life.
Part I (b)