Fez Smile-of-Fox | Part 1

- Prompt 1 of 30 -

Lifetime ban. The words rang in his head. His ears burned with shame. Don't cross The Wall? What kind of stupid rule was that? Best fleshbots on the Twelve Planets, and now he'd never be allowed to buy a ticket. The corners of his mouth flicked up. Wheels turned. I can still get there a different way...

- start -

Today was a good day for Fez Smile-of-Fox. It was a Wednesday, which meant that the Weather AIs would make it sunny, with just a hint of a breeze. He had been saving up credits to buy a suit for the occasion. A deep maroon three piece draped over him, filling him with the confidence needed for the task at hand.

Today was a good day. Why, you ask? Because today was the day that Fez would finally leave this no good slum behind.

You see, Fez had grown up in what was known in the Twelve Planets as a Section Zed Manufactured Living Collection. Colloquial names for this neighborhood included "SecZed", "Zed Collection", and Fez' favorite: "Garbage Town". Needless to say, it wasn't the best place for a young up-and-comer like our man Fez to grow up.

Never even knowing his parents, Fez was raised by a local band of Ratkin who had given him the name Smile-of-Fox. The little mutants were really a phenomenal judge of character, as Fez grew into a man who could smile his way through any situation. Often at the surprise to Fez himself sometimes.

Despite making somewhat of a name for himself in Garbage Town, Fez always wanted more. There were twelve whole planets out there in the Void, each one filled to the brim with magnificent sights, beautiful landscapes, and people to scam out of well-earned credits. Even not well-earned for that matter, Fez wasn't picky.

Everyone in Garbage Town talked about getting out, but not many actually knew how. Whatever Collection you had been born in, it was assumed that was where you were going to die. You might at best move up a Section, you might even get to visit one of the Twelve one day. The very thought that there might be more, that there was something beyond The Wall? You'd have to be insane to even try.

Seeing as how this was The Future - psychology had developed and advanced to such a degree that receiving a medical diagnosis had become as easy as placing one's hand on one of those fancy kiosks at the Astro Mall. You know the ones, with all the graffiti on them? Yeah, those ones could tell you exactly which part of your brain was broke and give you the exact set of neurotransmitter supplements you needed to get back to being a nice little worker bee. Fez had spent a good deal of his childhood dealing near these kiosks and they had always giving him the same result:

"Insane."

Or at least that was the gist of it, he always took it as a sign.

See, Fez wasn't interested in moving up a Section. He wasn't even interested in getting to Section Alpha - where all the rich folks who owned the other Sections lived. The Twelve Planets excited him, sure - but all he'd have to do was save up for a ticket on one of the Void cruises and he'd be able to make his escape. Fez knew himself well enough that there was only one thing in this life that would truly satisfy him, and that was crossing that damn Wall.

He had first run across this shimmery veil when he was just 5 years old (2.5 in Ratkin years). He had wandered a little far from the swarm and almost ran in to the thing. It extended up to the stars, and down far into the ground (he had tried digging). It looked like you could put you hand through it, but any attempt was met with a pain so fierce you'd swear it would kill you.

Fez had found this out when he stuck his hand straight into it. The wails that leapt from his five year old mouth could drone out a thousand Mecha Cats. It felt as if every nerve in his body was firing at once, as they were also being ripped out over and over again. His den mother ripped him from this trauma like only a Ratkin mother knew how (by the hair), and his first meeting with The Wall came to an abrupt end.

He was told later that The Wall bordered the far edge of every section, on all Twelve Planets. It was the edge of the world, and that there was nothing beyond it. More empty than the emptiest parts of the Void, they had said.

What BS, Fez had always thought whenever he heard their warnings. If there was nothing past it, you wouldn't call it a Wall, now would you? The Edge maybe, or the End. A wall implies there was something on the other side, usually something better than what you currently got - if Fez' upbringing had taught him anything.

It was this string of thoughts that had motivated Fez into adulthood. He kept clean, he made as little enemies as he could, and every few months would go and just stare at the Wall, trying to figure it out.

Everyone avoided it. No one would dare go more than twenty feet near it if they could. There were no buildings nearby - as if it gave off some sort of bad juju. This didn't deter Fez in the slightest. Why would it? Let those schmucks have their petty world. He would find out what treasures were on the other side, or he would die trying.

It didn't take him long before he tried touching it again, and boy did it hurt. He wasn't sure if it was because he knew what it felt like, or if it was actively trying to keep him out. He eventually learned to keep the screaming to a minimum, and to rotate through the places he tried so as to not raise the eye of the guard bots who patrolled the area. (One night in cyber-prison is enough for anyone)

Last month, he made a breakthrough. Literally, his hand broke through the other side. His arm was on fire, but his hand felt fine. Better than fine, actually - there was a breeze. Was it a breeze? Moving air, in any case. He kept his hand there way too long, soaking in the victory (Was only now starting to get feeling back in his arm).

There was a way through. The pain didn't kill you. He'd been right this whole time. The amount of self-confidence that filled Fez this passed month was nauseating. He was insufferable. Won every game of Holo-Poker he played, and wasn't even sorry about it. Might have even made some enemies, but what did it matter? He was gonna leave this hole behind. This world was chumps, and Fez was meant for greener pastures.

And so, it is on this beautifully sunny with just a hint of breeze Wednesday afternoon that Fez has made up his mind. He has made all the preparations - wrote what amounts to be the most sincere and heartfelt goodbye letters to his Ratkin family, put on (or bought) his Sunday's best, and paid off all the family's debts with his Holo-poker winnings. There is nothing holding him to the Twelve Planets anymore, and so without even a look back Fez takes the step he has been wanting his whole life.

The pain hits his face first, because what kind of chump wouldn't walk with confidence through the end of the known world? He's used to it on his arm, but as he pushed his shoulders through the Wall Fez realized that he perhaps hasn't prepared all that well. He hesitates for a moment, but through the pain of his eyes dissolving he feels his foot hit the ground. I should have run. He thinks, It would have hurt less if I ran... Have you ever felt what it would be like if your clothes melted in to your skin? I'm an idiot for not running. 

But then, our man Fez feels a force behind him. Maybe its his own resolve, or maybe its the Wall deciding that its better to just let this insane man through, but whatever the reason, the next step is easier. Fez can feel the other side, just barely. Just one more step.

And he's through.

And there's nothing.

The phrase, emptier than the emptiest parts of the Void were doing an injustice.

Fez turns around. He sees through the Wall, at Garbage Town, at the people keeping their distance. He panics and sticks his hand through, but finds it stuck on this side. The Wall is solid, like glass. Like a really hard glass that's keeping him out.

Fez turns around. Still nothing.

Fez kicks the wall.

"Why!?" he yells.

The Wall answers.

Rule violation: 

#1 Don't cross The Wall.

Punishment: 

Lifetime ban. 

The words ring in his head. His ears start to burn with shame. Don't cross the Wall? What kind of stupid rule is that? All the stories his family of rat-human mutants told him start coming back. All the places he could have gone.

Jarvis V: "Best fleshbots on all Twelve Planets"

And now he'd never be allowed to even buy a ticket.

Fez turns around again, expecting nothing.

There isn't nothing. There is something. A light.

A light! The corners of his mouth flick up. The smile that got its name has decided to show up. Wheels turn as the light becomes a door. A door with a sign above it.

The sign uses letters Fez is familiar with, but have never seen go together.

R-E-L-O-C-A-T-E? Fez makes a note, just in case it might come useful later. This door doesn't seem to lead back to Garbage Town, but maybe I can still get there a different way...

- end -