Chapter Text
1997
The three of them stay huddled together in the cave for a long time before he realizes that they cannot stay here forever. Nobody has come for them and the weird cave their pods were left in offers little to them in the way of meeting any of their needs. The girl is shivering from cold and his throat is burning in a way that means he’ll need water soon if he wants to survive. He stands up, and without a word, the other two follow him.
So, apparently he’s going to take the lead. He doesn’t feel like he’s qualified for that, but then again, the other two really don’t seem up for the job and somebody has to do something to keep them alive long enough to be found.
They stumble around in the dark for a while down a long tunnel before it ends. The wall in front of them isn’t made of rock like the rest of the cave, instead it’s made of a solid, but plantlike substance that seems familiar enough to him even if he cannot place it. It’s hard and brown and… doesn’t move. He’s about to turn around to find another way out when the girl starts pushing against the structure and the entire thing shakes, almost like…
Is it a door? he asks.
I can hear the wind, can’t you? the girl says, her ear to the structure.
He places his ear against it too, but doesn’t hear anything. Instead, he feels a soft breeze of air hit his cheek. It’s enough to know that their way out is through.
He steps back and the girl follows suit, the boy is still waiting behind them, has been the entire time. Though he’s not sure how he even knows what to do, he pulls on the energy inside of him and throws it out until the structure falls to the ground and the tunnel is filled with a gust of wind, making all of them shiver.
The boy and girl both look at him in shock and awe. When he grabs both of their hands again, he feels the deep seeded faith they have in his ability to protect them and he knows with absolute certainty, it’s unwarranted.
They step out into the open air. The girl stops to pick up the structure and struggles to pull it back up until all three of them help her. They get it back in place and he looks at her.
Why did we close it? he asks, confused.
It’s our home. We should protect it , she says.
He doesn’t get it at first, but much later from now, he will.
They walk, hand in hand, the boy between them so that he’s easier to protect. The girl and he have a private agreement that he’s the most fragile and thus, it’s their duty to put him first.
It’s dark, wherever they are. Cold. Empty. Strange. The plants here are dry and even without light, he can tell that this land lacks the kind of life he expected to see.
What is this place? the girl asks.
He has no answers. It’s most certainly not home. Nothing about it feels familiar, and he can feel the same unease and unfamiliarity in the others. Wherever they are, it’s new.
Let’s walk, he suggests. There has to be life out here.
And so they walk. Together, hand in hand. The ground hurts their feet. The sky is dark despite the fact that he can see thousands of suns. None of them are enough to warm this dead, desolate place. They walk for what feels like forever, expecting there to eventually be something, but there’s nothing as far as their eyes can see.
They eventually make it to a smoother ground that doesn’t make their feet bleed when they walk on it, and they decide to stay on the path it lays out for them. The boy is growing more distant, the connection more muted. Despite the fact that the boy had kept step with them earlier, he’s finding they are pulling him along more now.
What are you looking at? the girl asks the boy. He looks over to see the boy is staring up at the sky and when he pushes to open their connection wider, he feels the longing within him.
Home.
The girl looks like she’s about to start crying again and he’s filled with a feeling of rage that they’ve been put in this position with no adult anywhere in sight to help.
I don’t understand why they would leave us in this place, he says, looking around this dead land with disgust. It’s becoming clearer and clearer to him that they aren’t going to come across any sign of life in this vast nothingness. This is a dead world where even the ground can’t find a way to live.
Who? she asks, the arm that’s not holding onto the boy is wrapped around her stomach and he can feel her closing in on herself.
Our parents , he explains. She gives him a strange look. Both of them do.
Parents? the boy says, the word sounds foreign to him. As if he doesn’t understand what it means.
Yeah, our parents, he argues, before realizing that even as he’s saying it, he can’t picture them. He knows he came from a mother and a father. He feels a love deep in his bones that tells him he once had somebody. And yet… he can’t picture them. His mind won’t allow him to access any memory of them.
We had to have had parents, he says, with a confidence that’s starting to wane. Right?
Came from nothing. Die as nothing, the boy says.
The girl meets his eyes and they both share a look of dread before glancing back over at the boy.
What does that even mean? he asks, though he’s pretty positive he doesn’t want to know the answer. After all, what little he’s seen inside this boy's mind had been a nightmare.
No parents. Only us. Three.
There’s a weird vibration that starts running through the ground and both the boy and the girl jump at something and look over their shoulder. A second later, a bright light appears, casting shadows onto the ground. He turns around, expectant. Hopeful. While he can’t remember what home looks like, he knows what he sees isn’t it. It’s big and made of some kind of crude metal with rudimentary wheels. A man sits inside of it so he can only surmise that it’s some kind of vehicle. The image doesn’t pull on his memory in the way that the two kids beside him do or the way the pods did… so this is something extraterrestrial. And clearly primitive. It makes him once again question where they are and how they’d ended up in such an awful place.
Out of the vehicle comes a man who looks like them, but isn’t one of them. He tries to walk towards them, but the boy takes several steps back and the man stops, holding up his hands.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, is all the boy keeps saying.
He reaches out his hand behind him for the boy's hand, but rather than take it, the boy takes off. He instantly follows, pulling the girl along with him.
Stop! she calls out to them.
Wait! He tries, but their voices get lost in the boy’s cries.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, the boy keeps repeating as he runs ahead of them and they struggle to keep up with their aching feet.
What if the man can help! the girl argues.
You wanna tell him that? he says.
They run until the lights from the vehicle disappear and eventually the boy stops, sitting down and curling up into himself. The girl takes him into her arms. The moment she touches him, they are both hit with a wave of overwhelming fear and panic. Images flash so quickly before his eyes that it makes him dizzy.
Do something, he says to the girl. Much like with his own power before, he’s not sure how he knows that she can do it, he just does. And so must the girl. She closes her eyes and pushes into the connection until they are both standing in front of the boy in a strange place with a red sky and soft grounds.
You are safe with us , she says to the boy. You are safe and you can rest.
The boy moves to step away, but he’s chained to the floor.
It’s okay, the girl assures him. She closes her eyes and the images around them shift until they are standing beside a body of water, the boy’s chains gone. We’re in control in here. Nothing is going to hurt you.
The boy looks doubtful, but when he nods at him encouragingly, the boy agrees. When the girl drops the connection and they are back in the dead land, the boy is asleep.
Well that’s a helpful trick, he says, relieved that the connection to the boy is temporarily quiet. He hadn’t noticed how much of his emotions he’d been carrying. It was a lot. He feels lighter.
The girl smiles at him and he feels loved. Whoever this girl is to him, she’s family. She’s his. He wraps his arms around her.
Sister? he asks. It’s not the right word. Not exactly. But it’s close enough.
Brother , she replies, holding him tight. The events of the day catch up to him and he cries.
That’s when the red and blue lights find them.