Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Twenty Five: Tomorrow's Illusion. •EDITED•

October, Year 483
New Order Residence
North-East Border

Stinging tears scratched at Dawn's eyes as she glared at her reflection in the glass wall in front of her. She watched the water fall down her naked skin, burn a path through her flesh then splash on the tiled floor.

A shower, that was what she needed. Not arguing with Rhea Lee about a fiancé she didn't want or explaining to Corey that she wasn't in the mood to help him protect an earth that didn't want her to be happy.

No, a shower is just the perfect thing, she thought.

The rain of cleansing liquid dripped continuously from the roof of the little box that served as a bathroom; pitter-patter pitter-patter like little fiery feet dancing around her. The drops were hot and scalding, red marks left in their place after they slid away, burning another layer of skin and replacing it with tingling pain.

She made sure to scrub hard even though she didn't need to. People in this century didn't need to do much of anything.

They didn't need to work, didn't need to save, didn't need to plan for a future. The government did it all and androids carved the pathway for them.

Damn. Before she could be warned by the bathroom's AI, her hand slammed into the glass wall in front of her. She watched the water stop and saw pain spring into her own eyes.

Dawn blinked it away.

Her gaze fell to her bare feet then to her chest. She was clean by now. Eco-acid wasn't particularly dangerous and neither was hair gel but she still felt dirty on the inside.

She wished the glass would shatter just like the perfect world she had once envied now slowly crumbled. She wished her hand would bleed for the soldiers who now fought at the capital even though they didn't need to.

Why was the capital attacked? Why did the shields not protect it? What the braek am I going to do?

Her fist smashed into the wall of glass again and Dawn smiled as small cracks spread along the wall like cobwebs, slithering streams of blood worming into the crevices and staining them red.

She smiled despite knowing the truth. Wishes don't come true.

They never did and they never will.

She now felt claustrophobic in the tiny space of automated technology but she did nothing but resume the flow of warm soapy over her.

She washed the blood away, out of existence forever. Already she could feel the pulsing skin knit back together. It annoyed her, the frustration of being inhuman.

Her bath should have been over an hour ago according to the holographic panel by her hand, but she didn't care. Wrinkled skin didn't bother her as much as facing what life had thrown at her; a bath gave her more time to sulk.

Dawn wasn't a normal twenty-three year old regardless of how much she pretended to be one. She had a job to do, a world to save, a man to find and some people that had to die.

She turned off the shower with a thought and let a towel be wrapped around her by the invisible arms of the automated bath.

The doors slid open and as Dawn expected, her sister was sitting expectantly at the foot of the bed, staring at her with a gaze that revealed future conversations she wanted to avoid.