Chapter Text
A grey SUV zoomed down the highway, heading to Roseville.
Inside the car were two Korats who were chatting. One of the Korats was an aged woman who
was driving the vehicle. The other one was a younger half-metal Korat known as Mike.
They were catching up on what had happened since she last saw Mike. Chris was now in his
sophomore year of high school. Haley was now formally engaged to Jordan.
Yeah, Jordan... Mike was not looking forward to seeing him.
Now, Mike didn't have an issue with Jordan, but Jordan certainly did with him due to what he did
to Jordan's sister. Mike deserved it, he supposed. What he did to Lucy was unforgivable.
Eventually, they arrived at the house. It was the same house that Mike had called home
throughout his childhood and teenage years.
"We're here!" Mike's mom exclaimed as she shut off the car and got out.
Mike left the car as well, and they both quickly went inside.
It was dark inside the house, and Mike noticed that Chris was lying on the couch and sound
asleep. Mike's mom noticed that he was staring at his younger brother and said, "He was trying to stay
awake so he could see you."
Mike smiled warmly at the thought of what Chris had tried to do and gave him a quick peck on
the forehead before heading upstairs.
"Good Night mom," Mike called out as he ascended the stairs.
"Good Night Michael," His mother said in reply.
After walking up the stairs, Mike walked into his room. Once in his room, he quickly got out of
his clothes and went to bed, not even bothering to shower.
It was dead silent, Mike couldn't even hear his heartbeat. This was because he didn't have one.
One of the cybernetic implants he had gotten when he agreed to be a CyberCavaly soldier was
an artificial heart to improve blood flow. The new heart, however, didn't have a heartbeat.
As Mike starred up toward the ceiling, his mind was a blaze of thoughts and feelings. He was
planning to have lunch with Daisy tomorrow. They had agreed to have it somewhere on the
outskirts of town to minimize the chance of running into their old friends, but still, Mike was
nervous. Then there was the issue of Jordan. Mike's plan regarding him was to avoid him, but that was going to be hard. As Mike continued to think, he felt sleepiness set in, and he fell
asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Mike got out of his bed.
Rubbing his eyes, he found he was still tired, unsurprising considering he did not get much
sleep last night. Mike also found that he stank and stank badly. This was also unsurprising as he
had not showered in two days.
So Mike quickly left the room and got into the shower. He turned on the water, set it to hot, and
began showering.
As he showered, the Korat fantasized about breakfast. Military food was not exactly the best, to
put it lightly. Mike remembered what happened after Jack had eaten the infamous "vomlet." Jack
was vomiting all over the floor of the mess hall as the rest of the Bravo Squad looked on in a
mixture of pity and disgust. Mike shuddered at the thought of that incident.
Once done showering, Mike left the shower and put on a towel. Walking outside the bathroom,
he could hear noise from downstairs, presumably Mom making breakfast.
Mike walked into his room and opened the closet. To his dismay, he found all the clothes in it
were too small. "Crap," Mike thought, "I need to go to the mall to get new clothes." Then he
remembered his old friends, and after briefly peering at the clothes he had worn the previous
day, decided it wasn't necessary. Then Mike recalled he hadn't bought a Christmas present for
Chris yet so he was going to need to go anyway. “Fuckk...” Mike muttered under his breath at the
realization.
After putting on the clothes he wore the previous day, Mike went downstairs.
As soon as Mike got downstairs, he immediately found himself wrapped up in a surprise hug.
This hug was delivered by Chris. Mike was taken off guard by the sudden hug, delivered by his
younger brother but quickly returned it. The two Korats stood there, continuing to hug each
other. "I missed you so much." Chris said softly, "I missed you too." Mike replied.
After a while, they broke their embrace. "C'mon let's go have breakfast."
The two Korats walked to the table and sat down. Mike's dad, Haley, and Jordan had already
sat down and were having breakfast, which was scrambled eggs and bacon. The green and
blue-eyed cat shot a brief glare toward Mike before resuming his conversation with Haley,
causing Mike to shudder from his cold gaze. The glare turned into confusion briefly however
when Jordan saw Mike's implants. Chris grabbed some orange juice and poured it into his and
Mike's glass.
"Thanks," Mike said gratefully.
"No problem."
After this, Mike began conversing with his dad, catching up about stuff.
Eventually, Mike's mom came out of the kitchen with two plates of bacon and scrambled eggs
and placed them in front of Chris and Mike, who both said thanks. She then went back into the
kitchen, grabbed her plate, and then went back to the table and sat down.
Chris asked, "So Mike got more stories to share from the army?"
"Yeah, actually."
So Mike began to tell them stories about him being a CyberCavalry soldier in the US Army. He
told them about the 2nd Light CyberCavalry regiment's first deployment to Afghanistan, the
chaotic withdrawal from said country, and a troublesome trainee they had to deal with while
training the new German special operations forces. While Mike was initially telling only Chris, it
quickly expanded to the entire table. Even Jordan was listening. "Eventually we had to kick him
out of the course." Mike said, wrapping up his story.
Once Mike was done, the others went back to conversing among themselves.
Breakfast eventually wrapped up, and Mike helped his dad and mom do the dishes. Jordan and
Haely headed out to the mall. Mike considered joining them, but he didn't think he could survive
being in the same car with Jordan.
"Any plans for today sweetie?" Mike's mom asked
"Yeah, I am heading to the mall to buy a gift for Chris and to get some new clothes, and after
that, I am going to have lunch with an old friend."
Mike hadn't thought about what his younger brother wanted. He knew Chris liked video games,
so maybe a new one?
"I don't know any new video games out?" Mike asked
"There's this new racing game he really wants," Mike's dad replied.
Ah, NASCAR Racer 4 Jack had spent quite a bit of time complaining about being unable to play
it because foreign military bases only get the old games, while the ones located stateside get
the new games.
"Yeah I know that one I'll get it."
Eventually, Mike and his parents finished the dishes, and after saying goodbye to them, headed
outside and began walking to the mall.
Winter had descended on the land, and while it wasn't snowing, there was still plenty of snow all
over the place. It was also incredibly cold, though Mike didn't feel it due to wearing a jacket and
scarf, plus his cybernetic temperature regulators.
As the half-metal Korat strolled down the sidewalk he passed several landmarks, to his
childhood and teenagehood. These brought back painful memories for Mike. The bonsai tree,
now without leaves due to the winter, reminded him of Lucy and how he failed her. His former
high school reminded Mike about how he alienated all his former friends with his stupidity.
Thinking about it made Mike feel a mixture of grief and self-hatred. He knew his former friends
wouldn't want to see him again, and he didn't blame them.
Eventually, Mike arrived at the crowded mall full of last-minute holiday shoppers. As he entered
the mall, Mike caught a few strange looks. Mike didn't care, though, as this is what typically
happens when CyberCavlary soldiers were in the civilian world.
Mike headed to the video game store, making his way through the crowd. Once inside the busy
store, the cat began searching for NASCAR Racer 4.
As Mike walked through the aisles attempting to find the game, his sensitive hearing suddenly
heard a voice on a phone approaching the aisle, "Wow that's interesting."
Mike could recognize that voice easily. It was Lucy.
He used his speed to quickly get out of the aisle and hide behind the shelves.
Lucy didn't recognize him, so she just shrugged it off and picked out the game she wanted
before leaving the aisle.
"Phew that was close," Mike muttered to himself.
Once he was sure that Lucy had left, Mike left the cover of the shelves and resumed his search
for the racing game. Once he found the game, Mike took it off the shelf and quickly went through
the checkout before leaving the store.
Now, outside the Video game store, Mike debated whether to continue shopping for new clothes
or not, but after his close encounter with Lucy, he decided not to take any chances and hurried
out of the mall.