"Rough day" is an understatement." I mumbled, falling onto my bed face-first. I couldn't feel him sit next to me but I knew he was there. When I looked up he was there, laying beside me like he's done for the last 12 years.

"I heard. I'm not gonna press you about tryna replace me but–"

"Who said I'm replacing you?! Ugh, you sound just like mom." I groaned, pulling my pillow over my face.

His chuckle both haunted and soothed me at once. Memories danced across the darkness of my eyelids. I shoved them down, same as always.

"So why'd you do it then?" Leave it to Wyatt to ask the real question.

"I don't know."

"Remove the pillow and try again, ma'am." I could hear his smirk, plain as day.

"You're the worst." Complying with this wasn't easy, even for him but I did it anyway.

"Sapphyra..."

"What?"

"Don't shut me out. We're all each other's got, right?"

"...right." I sank into my comforter a little more. Meanwhile, Wyatt intended to pry the answer from me with a crowbar. The hard line of his mouth said it all.

"Why are you asking something you already know the answer to? If I'm sabotaging anything, it's because of you!" furrowing my brows, I sat up and glared at him.

Wyatt Hart, the love of my life. My high school sweetheart.

The literal skeleton in my closet that I refused to bury.

"Sapph, I'm asking because I need to hear you say it."

"No." I crossed my arms, he wouldn't win this one today.

"Sapphyra! Look at me. Really look at me."

"No..." I whimpered, eyeing the soft gecko patterns on my pink comforter–anywhere but at him.

I couldn't feel his touch but I remembered it. When his warm, calloused fingers would grasp my chin because I was being so goddamn stubborn–I remembered it.

It was here and now, as our gaze locked on each other.

Except the man before me wasn't really a man, not anymore. He was a skeleton wearing Wyatt's clothes, forcing me to gaze into the abyss of darkness where his eyes once sat.

Wyatt died 12 years ago. Right on my 18th birthday...

"Wyatt." I choked on his name, raw hurt clogging my throat.

He died when we planned on eloping-bags already packed to finally leave this decaying city for good.

Wyatt's skeleton sighed, holding out his ethereal arms.

"I'm here. Come here." I fell into my memories of him, letting them free at last. Every birthday party, picnic, exam study session–those were surface level. They still held my sanity.

Our first kiss took my breath away. He saw me, not as a tree to be climbed or a mountain to be conquered but as a woman. His woman. I let him in and I never regret it...until he died.

Until Guy Dynamo failed to save him on that day.

"Shh. You're thinking too hard. Go to sleep."

I scoffed, a bitter smile on my lips. "Sleep is for the weak."

"Don't you have a big day tomorrow?"

My meeting with the president. It's not everyday a girl gets to do that.

But who gives a flying fuck. I buried myself into the pillows, pretending they were his embrace.

"I don't want to sleep yet. You'll be gone when I do." Mentally cursing, I couldn't fight the yawn that escaped me.

"That's not fair. You act like I won't come back to you." He murmured in my hair, half buried into the mattress just to comfort me.

"One day you might not." My eyelids gave up the fight first, falling down like curtains.

"Sleep, baby. It's gonna get better." I could already sense he was slipping away from me. I'm not sure how it worked but when I needed him, Wyatt would come.

I'm sure if I could afford a therapist, they'd probably tell me it's something to do with grief and hallucinations blah-blah-blah.

My phones alarm woke me up with a screeching cat in the morning. At first, I panicked for two reasons.

Wyatt was gone. That one settled quickly, he never did stay past midnight anyway. The time though? It had my blood running cold. 7:20 a.m.

The bus stop is 5 minutes up the street and it takes 30 minutes to get into the Administrative part of the city!

Bread jumps out of the toaster. I grab it with my mouth and run out the door, still shoving my clothes on. I went with a white-sleeved button up blouse and black slacks, pretty professional as far as I'm concerned. It's a little tighter than when I bought it though–but I'll manage.

"Have a great day honey! I love you." My mom called out, waving from the front door as I made a mad dash down to the bus depot.

The bus doors were this close to folding before I shoved my hand in and forced myself through.

"Whoa! Jeez, Sapph, cutting it close there ain't ya? What are you doing up this early anyway?"

"Got an interview Dax! Sorry. Can you take me to–" I lean in, whispering the location to him. His eyes widened but nodded.

"Anything for you Sapphy. I still can't thank you enough for-" I cut him off, slicing my hand back and forth across my throat frantically.

"Er, Uh, nevermind." He blushed, poor old guy. No one paid him any mind but I couldn't be too careful.

Keep your head down. Don't interfere.

I'd helped Dax with his house before...just not all at once like Penny's place. No, I gave him the special wood and bricks he needed by converting some of the stuff in my void.

Penny. Even now I still can't figure out how I did what I did for her place.

The bus came to a stop a few yards away from the front of the President's massive marble mansion. It wasn't a public place so when security stopped me at the gate, it all felt natural.

"Hold it! No trespassers–"

"It's alright." A familiar voice cut off the security guard holding a gun to my head. My body stiffened and I tried my best to still my racing heart.

Guy Dynamo floated down in front of the guard. He didn't speak, just glanced at the man threatening my life with the coldest look I'd seen yet. I'm pretty sure the poor man pissed himself.

Would Guy yell? Give me the cold shoulder for how I treated him? Both things I absolutely deserved.

I don't know what I was expecting but a smirk coupled with an adorable dimple was not it.

"You look good, Cleanup girl."

The silence was deafening as I trailed behind him, guilt twisting my gut back into knots. I wasn't used to walking in high heels-let alone anything other than a wedge.

Guess who tripped on her big-ass feet and squealed like a pig to break the ice? Me.

"Whoa! Easy there." He caught me. Of course he did, he's got super speed. Still...why is he holding me for so long?

I gulped, disliking how chiseled his arms were.

"You can let me go now." I softly muttered, more irritated than I intended. Guys blush was cute, almost cuter than his dimple–not that I cared.

He quickly let go, quietly coughing to himself. We continued walking in silence, yet it felt worse now than before. Eventually, after a soft tour of the mansion, we stopped right before a pair of grand oak double doors.

"Maybe I–"

"Do you–"

We looked at each other and laughed a little. Talking at the same time like we're in some sort of rom-com is not how the day should go. It's not how an apology should start.

"Sorry." I finally let it out.

He waved it away, shaking his head.

"Don't be. Besides, today isn't about me, it's about you." Guy beamed a little, then opened the doors with a push of his fingertip.

Up until now, I had only seen Rupert Domingo in books and on ads–never in person. He rarely ever let anyone come to his place of dwelling outside of his small cabinet of advisors. Something about him felt...wrong and right at the same time.

He was tall, nearly as tall as me with my complexion too. Salt and pepper hair slicked back with horn-rimmed glasses met me first. HIs grey eyes and slim face came second.

It wasn't his clothing that drew me in, or the way he stood with his hands clasped behind his back. His smile though...there was something familiar about it but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Sapphyra, it's nice to finally meet you in person. Please, have a seat." Rupert motioned towards the chair in front of his expensive looking oak desk. Real oak too, not the synthetic stuff we grow in the east district.

I couldn't help glancing at Guy but he was nowhere in sight. That did little to help my nerves. At least the doors were still wide open.

"I never thought I'd be sitting here, Mr. President. I hope these chairs are sturdy." I mentioned with a nervous laugh, silently praying that they were actually built for hefty people. My hand covered my heart as a wave of relief washed over me when my ass didn't fall through the flimsy looking chair.

He smiled and sat down as well.

"Please, call me Rupert. And I'll let you know a secret, everything in this office is reinforced."

Blinking, I looked behind him at the paintings on the wall and the huge windows looking out onto his front lawn.

"Yes, everything–even the windows. I had it set up that way in case a monster should ever find itself here. Don't get me wrong, I trust that my men are highly trained but those beasts are tricky." My brow raised when he clenched his fist and slid it under the table.

The smile returned with a vengeance.

"Speaking of beasts, I've noticed the work that you do as a Battlefield Janitor and I am thoroughly impressed."

I shrank a little in my chair. What could he mean by that? What work? Guy said he would keep my secret-

"Sapphyra, what would you think about a class change?" The way his ocean deep blue eyes bore into me made me feel restless.

"A class change? You'd waste that on me?"

"Hm. That's right, you've reminded me about how tricky it is to come by one of the Applications. That said, I'm the president. I have a few to spare but this one is special. It's the second ever artificial Application made. The first belongs to our resident superhero, Guy Dynamo."

"Wait, his Application is artificial? What does that mean?"

The president drummed his fingers across his desk, stroking his chin. He stands up, walking towards the window.

"Come, stand by my side." It wasn't a request. My body moved but I felt like a leashed dog following its master.

For the first time in my life, there was a man shorter than me that I felt intimidated by-and it had nothing to do with his Class.

"What do you know about the Class system?"

"Is this a pop quiz? Should I have studied?" Why the hell would I say that? My idiot meter must be on eleven today.

He chuckled, shaking his head.

"It's fine. No one wants a history lesson anyway. Instead...tell me about 12 years ago."

My throat ran dry, palms so sweaty that I could hear it dripping. I shoved them behind my back.

"What about it?" There's only one thing he could be referring to.

I glance back at the door, noticing Guy leaning against the doorframe. His nostrils flared and his arms were crossed. Once he caught me gawking, he clenched his jaw and turned his back on me.

Why doesn't he like this conversation?

"A tragedy." The only real answer I could give him without turning into a puddle of tears.

"Sir. That's a very rough day...for both of us. We should switch topics." Guy said, suddenly next to me. His presence comforted me, just a little.

And that scared me.

Rupert looked between the two of us. His smile returned, softer–yet no less predatory.

"You really don't think you're special at all...do you." He all but whispered it, in awe.

Rupert smiled like he knew an inside joke. Raising a brow, he asked "Cleaning up battlefields...are you sure that's all you're good for?"

All I could do was nod-too petrified to speak. I knew I was lying but no good would come from him knowing my abilities.

Rupert reached into his pocket, pulling out a small remote. He pressed the button and the windows turned into a projection screen.

Why did that make me start sweating?

"If cleaning up is all you do...then what am I looking at right now?"

There on the screen was a top down view of me expelling Penny's house from my body.

Well shit.

Care to explain?" At that moment, those three words spelled doom for me.

"I...you see, what had happened was–" As my brain scrambled to come up with a feasible answer, an alarm went off in Guy's back pocket. Was I saved by the bell?

"Oh boy. New monster alert, uptown this time." Guy mumbled, pocketing his phone quickly. He nods at Rupert and picks me up, bridal style, out of nowhere.

"Hey what the–put me down!"

"Dynamo, what the hell are you doing?" The president's voice was cold and menacing. I'm not sure which of these two I should be more wary of anymore.

"I'm gonna need my Cleanup girl to be close by...you know, for her job. Right?" He looked at me, slyly winking with one corner of his mouth ticked up.

My Cleanup girl? We're gonna circle back to that one later.

"Right, yeah it's probably better for me to be on standby. Safer too, I mean think of the optics–"

"Go. I tire of your infomercial antics." Rupert sighed, waving us off.

I didn't breathe properly until we were outside, amongst the city lights and darkness.

Wait, darkness?

"What happened to the sun? It's so early in the morning!" I gave him a second to respond but he seemed lost in thought, focusing heavily on the gargantuan snake in front of us.

"Oh, sorry, here." He sat me down gently, then motioned towards one of the buildings still standing a few feet away.

"I'd advise hiding over there. I'm about to do my best impression of a pretzel maker." He grinned, giving me another wink as he flew off, delivering a punch into the reptile's nose. Its body recoiled back and snapped forward, smacking into Guy and sending him flying into a newish cafe building.

His jokes were horrible but at least he was sturdy.

"Great, another building for me to clean up...it wasn't even that old."

While Guy was busy keeping the monster occupied–and destroying public property, I stayed in the shadows. I know it's my job to clean up, but after meeting Rupert and listening to the way he raved about me-like I'm some sort of mystery? I couldn't help but think, maybe he was right?

Maybe I could do something more.

Don't interfere.

Chovy's words haunted me, like a record stuck on repeat.

"Darling, move!"

My pulse quickened as I searched for the voice and immediate danger. Whoever it was, they weren't calling out to me but to the person a few feet away from me. My heart ached as I recognized who it was.

Dax, my kind and portly bus driver, was on his hands and knees crawling away from the fight. A woman called out to him from several shops away. I think that's his wife.

I didn't think. Just like with Penny, my body moved on autopilot. Standing next to him now, I helped him walk with his arm over my shoulder and my hand on his waist.

"S-Sapphyra? Where did you come from?"

"I was in the neighborhood. You should hobble a little faster, Dax."

He frowned, all the wrinkles showing at once on his otherwise youthful, plump face.

"Leave me behind." He said, struggling to push away from me.

Someone tossed a car in our direction. I reached up, blocking it from hitting us with a single hand. Was there smoke coming from my ears because I was super pissed off. Dax took a step back, though I'm not sure if it was because of the environment or me.

I grabbed him, tossing him over my shoulder violently. Tiny cracks in the pavement started forming.

Don't interfere. Keep your head down.

Fuck that.

"Sapph, what are you doing? I told you to leave me behind! It's my time to go!"

"Says who?"

"I..." he struggled. "It just is!"

"Is that so? What about your wife then, huh? And your kids? Do they get a say?!" I was yelling, making a scene, but I lost my last fuck when Dax decided to hit the escape button on life.

The ground shook beneath us with each step we took. But it wasn't from the fight.

The shaking was from me. I was just too angry to realize it.

"S-Sapphyra? Stop it. Y-you're just a janitor!"

I grabbed his skull, getting in real close. We were nose to nose so there was no misunderstanding what I said next.

"Yeah but I ain't cleaning up your bullshit Dax. You're gonna live, whether you like it or not."

Meanwhile, back at Rupert's mansion...

President Rupert paced back and forth in his office, eyeing the rising smoke from the direction of the city where Dynamo had fled to. He'd fled with his prize.

And Rupert couldn't stand that. He would bide his time for as long as he could but results must be shown. Changes to the system were just on the brink–if he could just get Sapphyra to agree to a class change.

A cold truth washed over him; he didn't have to wait. He was the goddamn president and if he wanted someone to change a class, by god he'd make them do it.

Rupert pulled up his laptop and pressed away at a few apps. A city map covered in red dots representing every citizen filled his view. But not Sapphyra's, hers was pink. He clicked her dot and entered the command. There was no hesitation when he pressed enter.

But there was certainly a frown at the response he got.

[CLASS CHANGE UNAVAILABLE.]

"What the hell do you mean unavailable?!"

[CLASS PROMOTION IN PROCESS]

He blinked a few times, reading the response over and over again just to be sure.

"That's impossible. Classes don't promote, that's not a thing." He mumbled in awe yet he welcomed the predatory smile that followed.

If he wasn't obsessed with Sapphyra before, he damn sure was now.

Back in the city streets...

"Here ma'am." I gently tossed Dax onto the ground next to his wife. She covered his face in kisses and then slapped the taste out of his mouth.

Good.

"Ow! Darcy, what the hell, woman?!"

"How dare you scare me like that! 20 years we've been married–if you want to die so badly then I'll kill you myself!" she screamed at him through her tears. I tried not to laugh as she took off her shoe and beat him over the head with it a few times.

Then reality hit me.

"Wait...Dax went out there willingly?"

Darcy nodded, stopping her assault. Dax cowered in a shop nearby.

"Yeah, fuggin' idiot of a man. Kept muttering something stupid, he had a blank stare in his eyes earlier...I didn't think nothin' of it at the time but–"

"Darcy." I gently grabbed her by the shoulders, centering her. "What did he say? What was he muttering?"

"Oh that? He kept saying; things are the way they are for a reason. Stupid, defeatist attitude if you ask me..."

She kept talking but I couldn't hear her beyond the roaring in my ears. It felt like the floodgates had opened.

I checked on Dax again, gasping.

He had his head down on the table–a blank look just like Darcy said.

And with jaws wide open, the world-eating snake was coming right for him.