Chapter Text
The animal’s various sounds were always calming in a chaotic way. The neighing, barks, and chirps that were oddly close to my native chirps helps me focus on them rather than the random thoughts that sometimes fill my head. I was even comfortable enough to flick my wrist, deactivating the innocuous gem resting within. Wintin a second, I could tell what every creature around me was feeling; content if annoyed. I was annoyed too since the shouts of the human below have been getting louder and louder for the past twenty minutes! It felt like my tympanum was going to start bleeding if he didn’t stop.Father was still in his meeting, presumably because Grem or Freki were really vying for a test subject bonus, so he couldn’t do anything to quiet the human.
I had gotten used to the cacophony, even with the new addition of the human’s added to the chaos. It was a bit of a shock when everything went silent all of the sudden. Everything aside from the clip clop sound of my father’s footsteps. I watched him walk out of the room for a moment before I slid down to the bottom floor. One of the goyal's twitched at my landing and… gosh it is hard to tell which one is which when they are on the shoulders. I think Munnin flicked his eyes towards me as I slipped into the light. He flickered with some concern before turning his focus back on the human. The others in the room didn’t react at all, but I know that father was aware of my presence at least. He eventually stopped in front of the human and looked at the figure in silence.
The human, who had been screaming his head off a moment ago, leaned against his bars like there was nothing interesting happening and said “If you’re the guy that keeps calling about the calamari, fine, it’s pig butts! But the crab cakes are real.” What the… Did this have something to do with whatever they were rambling about with the guards? And what does a swine’s behind have to do with a tiny cthulhu? …At least the crab sounds interesting.
“I assure you, I have no interest in your petty cakes of crab.” Father leaned a little closer to them and Munnin lept towards the figure. They jumped back at his sudden appearance, but Munnin didn’t care for a second.
"But we would love to hear more about those pig butts." Wha… those goyals are always interested in the weirdest things. Huggin joined his partner as they harassed the captive human and father moved to the smaller cage. I couldn’t see what was in the cage from where I was, but I could only assume that it held the agent that was in Grem’s orb earlier.
“So nice of you to return my vial.” He reached his hand past the mystic field and yanked the glowing vial I saw earlier away with a snap. He gazed at it for a moment before returning to his test subject. He pulled off the rope with delicate fingers before he focused on the captive once again. “You are about to be part of an experiment that will change the very nature of humanity."
"All right!" … This human is an absolute idiot! They are captive in a world of creatures that look nothing like him, has been locked up, and was just told that he was going to be experimented on! Why is he so relaxed? There is not an ounce of fear in this man! Is this normal for humans or is he just weird?!
I guess it’s not normal since father gave him a look before he walked to the main console and poured the vial into a section of it. The liquid flowed into the cylinder and shifted the feeding bubble from its original honey hue to a toxic green shade. The bugs flitted to the glow and their abdomens turned an eerie green as they consumed the ooze. Father looked at the buzzing insects for a moment before he snagged one out of the container and carried it back to the human.
Said human finally noticed the tone of the room and dimmed a little bit. “So…” The cage shifted to wrap around his hands and feet and yanked him into the air. “I…is this going to hurt?” this was the first time since his appearance that he actually
Father’s face twisted into a dark smile and he leaned in a little bit, though his nose did wrinkle at the human’s scent. “It will . . . if I’m doing it right." With no more warning, father releases the bug and it immediately flits to the human’s face. It’s specially designed proboscis poked into their forehead and father’s ooze is injected into the figure. It was gross to watch that thing work, but what came after was outright grotesque.
At first, nothing was really happening. The human started to say “Hey, that wasn’t so” before he started to tense every muscle in his body. “Oh, ow! Okay, this part hurts. This part – oh! This part hurts. Ah, that hurts! Oh!"” With that, his body started to bubble and shift in an absolutely unnatural way. It was like his insides were melting and boiling while confined in his skin as he was still alive. Speaking of his skin, it slowly turned deathly white and it no longer smelled of sweat. No, everything about him, from his physical appearance, to the energy coming off him, even to his individual scent became… fishy for lack of a better phrase. His skin was now covered in silver scales, his mouth had moved to the top of his head, shallow yellow eyes rested at the end of said gaping maw, and what was left of his greasy dirty blond hair practically hung off his back in a singular tiny clump. Even his hands transformed, looking like four tubes attached to a thin cylinder instead of normal five fingered hands that humans normally have. There was practically nothing resembling the human that was once locked in the cell aside from the clothing that hung off his wiry frame. I heard a female voice in the background say “That is messed up" and I couldn’t help but agree with them whatever they were.
The creature before me looked at his new body for a moment, making gurgling sounds of distress before he yelled “I just got used to acne. Now this?" With that, he gave a final scream and ran out of the door. I tried to go after him, but the main entrance shut in my face and I didn’t have permission to leave at this point. He was wandering through the Hidden city with no guide and no clue what kind of world he has now joined. I don’t think he would know what places would be safe to go… aside from common sense. Common sense…that he does not possess.
Mama's always looking for new blood for the Nexus tournaments… With no other option in mind, I pulled out my phone and sent my mother a quick text. I didn’t include any details, same as always when it came to the other parent’s actions, and just asked her to keep an eye out for someone of his description and offer him an easy position if possible. He was just brought into the yokai community and would probably need a smidgen of help to get his flippers under him.
Munin must have seen me, since I wasn’t as stealthy as normal, because he asked father the question I didn’t. “Should we go after him, boss?" Though he asked this with a slight chuckle in his voice. It didn’t matter anyway. Father didn’t hear a word he said.
“The mutation worked, just like it did all those years ago." I don’t know why he sounded so shocked. He has spent thirteen years working on this one project. Even with the small projects and cases the counsel forced him to work on, it was clear that he would succeed. Why would he have summoned me if he even imagined that this test would fail? It must have been that simple since father didn’t bother to take any final notes on the success. He just moved to the other cage, once again blocking my view of the captive, and leaned down. “I’ll deal with you next." He paused there for a moment before he turned back to me. “Fi, I want you to finish unpacking while I deal with this… agent. I will send a goyal to get you if you are needed.”
After a moment of silence, I bowed and walked back to my area. There was no reason to stay when I was both unwanted and unneeded. I could feel the heavy blanket of concern drifting drilling into my back from the shoulder parrots. It vanished with a tap of my wrist. I don’t want phantom emotions to hit me as I try to get my stuff set up.
I was barely able to unpack my first small overnight when Muggin frantically crashed into my back. “Niya, Boss wants you in the lab as soon as possible.”
“Wha… I was only out for five minutes, probably less. What happened?”
Muninn gave a little shrug and perched on my shoulder. “Some people fell out of a pipe right in front of Boss. He can handle it himself, but he wants you there to move them if they pass out or something like that. You could probably get away with hanging out in the shadows like you usually do.” Thanks for that call out bud.
“In that case, I think I’ll stay outside my door. I wouldn’t want to get in father’s way.” Munnin gave a shrug and flew away. I gave myself a moment to tighten my mask and ensure my uniform was pristine before following behind. if we had guests, then it would be best to make a … good first impression.
Muninn forgot to mention that the pipe dropped the group on the second floor instead of literally right in front of father. I guess I should have assumed that was the case, since none of our pipes opened to the main floor, but I thought they literally fell at father’s feet until I saw them crowded together on the grate right above my door. It looks like there were five figures, with the largest one in the middle and two people on either side. Only one of them had a pair of shoes and the others looked like they had two toes and an extended heel… just like… Just like other reptilian yokai I have seen. Nothing that special, especially since one of them decided to dangle his feet closer to my face. Yikes, that is a lot of cologne.
"All right, you incredibly, unusually buff bookworm, give us the little guy, and you’ll walk out of here with your horns still attached." I don’t know who these yokai are, but they are either very sheltered or very dumb to threaten father like that.
The one sitting down leaned over when he heard that and whispered to the bigger one. "Shouldn’t we also stop him from creating crab-men?" Crab… that man turned into a fish, not a crab.
"Good note. Okay, give us the little guy, stop creating crab-men –" Not a crab…
"Imitation crab-men." Thank you… guy leaning on a support bar. At least one of them could notice the obvious.
"Okay, good note. Stop creating imitation crab-men . . ." The one I can only assume was the leader, well I guess he could be the oldest sibling? Eh, let’s go with leader for now. The leader kept trying to focus the conversation and make his rather ridiculous demands, but the others decided that messing with him was more important than focusing on the enemy that was RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM! They just randomly threw out stupid suggestions that had nothing to do with the current situation.
“And a ride home.” Use a portal like everyone else.
“In a limo.” What is a limo?
“With a hot tub.” What?
“And pizza!” Pizz… well, I can agree with that one. Not that father or momma could ever find out. I shouldn’t break my usual diet with something that greasy… at least not this week. Wait… Now they are getting me distracted. Focus Niya, you just missed what the big one said. The sitting one did hear him seemingly struggle and patted his arm.
"Raph, why don’t you take it from the top again?" Raph… was that the big one’s name? Ugh! It’s like these guys have never had any training before. Never use your or your partner’s names when facing an opponent. That’s why mamma gave me a secondary name for hotel use!
The big one gave a little shake and psyched himself up. "Here goes. First, you apologize to the dog thingy –" That was as far as he got before he was interrupted once again.
The figure wearing shoes gave a groan of pure annoyance before standing up. “ "Let’s do this!” she yelled right before she leapt off the balcony with no form of apparent wings or levitation to keep her from crashing to the ground. “APRIL O’NEIL!” She swung her club around as she plummeted. She was going to crack her stupid head open and I would have to clean human remains off the floor. Does she even know how hard it is to wash blood off of a stone surface?
Thankfully, I won’t have to worry about that. The moment the goyals saw a girl falling off the balcony once again, they flew into action. She didn’t even have a chance to land on the cage she was apparently aiming for before they grabbed onto her and carried her away. They started to take her towards me before they remembered that I was standing there and they started to randomly fly around the room. I guess they were looking for a place to stick her where she wouldn’t get involved with anything that was about to happen, but she was thrashing too much and threw off their flight patterns. They almost hit a few different things but manage to evade just before they collide with anything.
While all of us were distracted, father sent out some of his larger vines and knocked the rest of the company from their perch. I ignored them… and the training golem that suddenly appeared… and slipped to their earlier spot. It’s my usual perch when we have company. I can see everything, but no one can really see me unless attention is brought to the spot. That being said, it was still hard to tell what the other beings were as they flit from place to place. All I could really tell was that they had green skin with different colored markings or clothing.
Eventually, they brought down the golem and had a chance to slow down. …They were… they had to be some subspecies of kappa. There are kappa of all sizes and colors in the world, and many of them have similar features to average turtle species. Most of them look like box turtles of some kind, though I don’t think I have seen any with as prominent orange marks as the smallest one does or has stripes like the cologne wearer. They mostly have plain green shells and a circle of hair on their hair, not… Well there are some with spikes like an alligator snapping turtle… though they are never as big as… And I really can’t tell what the last one’s shell is like. It is covered with some purple contraption, like he was protecting …a … a soft sh… no. They are dead and it is foolish to pretend they aren’t. These are just kappa. Weird kappa, but kappa nonetheless. Father started to glow with a hope he has only ever had when I defeated my first Nexis battle alone.
"Accidentally impressive. With a little bit of training, you could be as formidable as I’d hoped." Wait… does father think? Could they… I scoot closer to the edge of my hiding place to try to see the figures better without being seen. That orange… I know that color and pattern. He seemed to notice my attention and started to turn, but father continued speaking and drew his attention again. “Eventually, you could be just as impressive as my current apprentice.” He turns his attention to me and gives a nod. Without another thought, I jumped off the balcony like the girl earlier and landed in a roll to stand right in front of father. My back was turned to the invaders but I could feel their eyes boring into my shell. Father placed a hand on my shoulder with a smile for one second before he turned me to face the others.
I didn’t fully recognise three of them; the large one, the striped one, and the one staring at his phone. The orange one… I know those spots. I saw them the day father found me. When the first lab exploded and my brothers… didn’t die apparently. I always had a feeling that at least one of them was alive, but all four, together, and seemingly thriving together even with average fighting abilities. Was Lou Jitsu also alive or did he pass to protect them? If he is alive, did he abandon… no. He is either a part of their lives or dead. He wouldn’t abandon people in need… Father wouldn’t have chosen him as the greatest warrior to base our DNA on if that wasn’t the case.
While I was having an internal crisis, the conversation moved on without me. I guess they were talking about who I was and … somebody surrendering? I don’t think anyone noticed that I wasn’t paying attention… aside from the orange one. While the others were practically yelling at each other, he was watching me with a worried expression on his overall kind looking face. I ignored him, and the pain that caused my heart, as Huggin fell from the air and bounced off father’s head before landing on the ground in front of his feet.
“I’m sorry, boss," he moaned before falling to the ground. I quickly picked him up, since his position was squishing one of his wings, and the second he was in my arms, the human landed in his place. She somehow managed to get Huggin in her mouth and shook him a second before she focused on the turtles. Once again ignoring the opponents in front of her, she gave the turtles a thumbs up while dropping the goyal to the ground. He was dizzy, but didn’t look too injured from my perspective. I did pick him up as well and tucked them in a little alcove behind father. He gave me a nod, probably because he was planning to protect them anyway, and silently motioned for me to slip behind him as well.
He barely waited for me to get into position before he threw a set of binding bulbs at the other girl. They wrapped thin brown vines around her body until they confined everything except her head. Those are one of the most prevalent personal security mystics father has developed during his career. In my opinion at least. I think the officers prefer the power sealing expando orbs since they both confine and seal mystics at the same time. The boys didn’t appreciate his hard work however. In fact, they were offended that their friend was confined if Orange’s shout of “You did not just do that to our friend!” was any indication.
For the first time in this battle, he looked serious and swung the Hitodama possessed kusari-fundō that was safely secured in father’s vault. Or… was previously apparently. Father took this weapon from an arsonist and he locked it up due to its unpredictable movements. It liked to drag the user around if they didn’t know how to use it properly or were naturally skilled at its use. Orange learned this fact very quickly when the ball that father dodged hovered over his shoulder long enough for the boy to say “Whoa. Magic weapon” before it pulled him off his feet and into the air.
The weapon flies towards me, like it always tries to do when out of control, and I have to fling myself to the floor to avoid getting burned. The Hitodama ignored me and flung itself throughout the room with Orange clinging to the handle. They barely missed all of us as it passed multiple times. The only prominent sound was the boy’s screaming as he crashed into walls, only quieting when he was dragged to the upper powersource above the central cylinder. We all watch as he bounces the support structures connecting the orb to the ceiling and keep it stable. Something snaps while he is up there and I have no clue if it’s from a bone or one of the supports. I don't know which one would be better.
He bounced around for a few more seconds before the weapon hulls him back to the ground. It almost hits father, but he dodges and the orange turtle is left sitting in a crater that would have shattered a normal being. “Mikey. That was awesome!” Raph points at the weapon as he exclaims “how did you do that?”
Mikey jumps back to his feet with a shrug. “ I don’t know, man. I was just swinging my weapon, like this, and all of a sudden … “ The swinging weapon suddenly stops and catches fire again. “Just like tha –a-a-a!” He goes flying again, but I think I am the only one that continues to watch him. It has been years since I used that particular weapon, but I can still remember how hard those walls can be when you crash into them.
A massive boom behind me shocks me from watching Mikey as I spin to see that Raph was now partly in the wall. A muffled “mine work too” could be heard before he slid to the floor with a groan. Blue gives him a quick once over and, upon apparently deciding that the large turtle would be alright, turns back towards father with an excited smirk.
“Can’t wait to find out what mine does!” He then starts sprinting towards father, either ignoring or ignorant of the blue lightning that lights up his blade. He takes a wild swipe, actually shocking father for a brief moment as he brings his arms up to block the swing. We all waited for a moment for nothing to happen. The striped turtle laughs with anxiety as father shifts out of shock to pure annoyance. This turtle is going to get hurt if he doesn’t move.
Father goes to shove him away when the neglected blue energy ignites engraved runes across the entire blade. The blade yanks the turtle’s arms to the sky and intensely vibrates. The energy shifted into harmless lightning bolts that reached to the ground and created a blue circle around his feet. He jumps up, possibly to avoid the swirling blue gateway that suddenly appeared, but he is quickly sucked in and vanishes while the portal remains. A few seconds of silence pass before an identical portal appears above the original and drops the turtle. He is once again dragged into the first portal and gets stuck in a loop of falling through nothing again and again. It can be fun when you plan for it, but he was not ready and didn’t seem to enjoy the free fall. He shouts “Get. Me. Off. This. Ride!” with every repeated loop before going silent and becoming a blur of blue, green, and red.
Father watches for a moment before the purple turtle engages him. I should pay attention in case I am needed, but my attention is dragged to the others. The goyals have left the alcove and are watching the chaos from the air. They will probably return to father’s shoulders when he takes care of the purple turtle. The purple turtle that is surprisingly handling the fight pretty well, even managing to get through a few of his blocks. The orange turtle was still flying around the room, but the weapon was actually starting to avoid the walls. That’s a first… He could probably tame the thing if father decides to trust him with a weapon like he did with me years ago. For now though, he was not going to be an issue. The large one still looked dizzy, but his shell did hit the back wall with enough force to leave a him shaped crater in the stone. He would probably need Irma or another medic to check him out for concussion or whiplash for that one. And blue was still trapped in a loop of his own creation. The human, April O’Neil, was still wrapped up, but she was watching… me? I decided to test this by shifting over a few feet and… yep. Her eyes were tracking my movements. Weird… it’s not like I am a threat to her. Who would try to fight a defeated opponent? Especially one that literally can’t move more than a caterpillar wiggle.
Father barely takes another second to wrap up the battle. Literally! He wraps up the other turtles the same way he did with the human in less than two seconds. Five little caterpillars that father will eventually turn into the battle ready generals we were created to be. He’s probably even made a plan for the human, though nothing as high as his original creations will be. There is potential, but it will need to be polished to a shine before father can use them.
“This is what happens when you don’t train.” Father was facing the invaders, giving them a judgment of their fighting abilities like he always did, but my mind flashed to the various criticisms I grew with. The days I would spend healing from a failed training session trying an easy move for the first time. The bruises and broken bones from falling off the old obstacle course when one thing was moved. The small mistakes that would be repeated multiple days in a row. Things that could have been avoided if I had trained more.
I was barely back to the present when father turned to me with expectation in his eyes. I gave a brief nod and looked to the floor. He smiles at my agreement and places a hand on my shoulder for a second before taking a step toward the boys. I lean towards him as he leaves, praying that the hand would stay for a moment longer if I kept up. It didn’t. He took it away and focused on the others. I just took a step back to where I originally was and focused my attention on them as well. Three of the boys and the girl focused on father. Orange… Mikey was watching me. I could feel something in my mystics reach out, but I shut it and the eye contact down in a moment. I could feel pity dripping off both and I did not need that. A weapon does not need an enemy’s pity.
“You fought like untrained baboons, but under my training, you will become true warriors like my apprentice is.” He turned away from them and walked to the counsel once again. “After I release my oozesquitoes, we will begin. Take them to the training wing and keep them confined until I am done.” I gave him a bow that he didn’t see and turned to the others. I would have appreciated his usual nod, but we both had work to do. He didn’t have time to focus on unimportant details.
With a single breath to relax a bit, I turned to my own task, getting my brothers to their once abandoned rooms. They were all rather basic, just like mine, but I can help them decorate it. Father will be careful to monitor what will be allowed or not for a while but there are a lot of ways to decorate without anything that would be banned. First thing first, I have to get them there. They were currently in independent pods… somehow… so it was just a question of who to start with. The big one… Raph… probably would be the best since I wouldn’t be tired… but I don’t want to deal with the spikes right now. The three others are pretty even so it won’t really matter what order I take them in. Wait… where will the girl go? … Bathroom is not a good idea, too many things to accidentally hit. Same for the kitchen and clinic… The gymnastics room has padded floors, that would work. As for the last one, the one I remember from childhood, he would be the easiest. He is the smallest of the five and his room was placed across from mine at the entrance. Might as well start there and see what to do next. Without another thought, I bent down to pick up Orange.
The group had been demanding their release while I was thinking, but their demands instantly changed when I had Oran… Mikey apparently, in my arms. Raph begged for me to leave him and take him instead, like they weren’t going to the same place anyway. The striped one tried to bargain for all of their freedom but I wasn’t interested in what he offered. The girl threw out threats that would have been intimidating if I were a man. The purple one… he just watched. He watched me, the others, and the area around him. I ignored all of them and started to carry Orange away.
In all honesty, part of me wanted to let them go. They weren’t used to the training I grew up with and there would be a period where they could be injured with the tests and challenges. They would improve… eventually, but… they wouldn’t be as loud as they are and I kind of enjoyed the energy they brought with them. And father doesn’t need them. He has already changed his plan thirteen years ago when he thought they died. What if I just…
No. Father gave me an order and I need to reach his expectations.
I forced myself to take a breath and carry Mikey away from the others. I forced myself to ignore the shouts that became increasingly panicked as the distance increased and focused on keeping the writhing boy in hand. He did everything he could to get out of my arms, but I ignored him. At least I did until he froze, looked me in the eye as best he could, and started to speak.
“Let me go,” he says with a steady yet frustrated voice. I shake my head and keep my attention on where I’m going. “Why?” I can feel my grip tighten, and I know that Mikey can feel it, but I still stay silent. “Why are you doing this? Please.” I made the mistake of looking down and looking at his eyes again. He is scared and angry, but underneath that is an honest concern. The same concern I saw from the human earlier and the same concern the others showed when I picked him up. He… he cared about me even though heh had no clue who I was to him.
I had to give him some kind of answer, but the tightness in my chest screamed that it was not safe. He was new. Who knows what people he was connected to? He might not know the Hidden City, but I don’t know the surface. No, I stayed silent . No reason to reveal something he could use against us. Say nothing… but he needs an answer. He deserves to know why I was carrying him away from his brothers, even if they were going to join him soon enough. Maybe, if I answer him now, he will be willing to tell me about the world above. I might be able to tell him something if he starts. Now what was his question? OH! Right, why… um…
“Father’s orders. The others join soon.” Shoot! My nerves got me and I couldn’t finish a single sentence properly! I will be in so much trouble if Mamma hears about that.
“Father? Do you mean Draxum?” Really? Isn’t that one obvious? I answer him with a nod and wait for him to continue. It took a few moments, but he did have more questions. “What does he want with us?”
“Warriors. You’re strong, could b..be stronger.” Ugh! The stutter?! I thought I got rid of that!
“And if we don’t want to fight?”
Like they have a choice? Ha! Unlikely. Humans and yokai are going to end up in a war sooner or later. “No choice. You fight sooner or later.” Mikey went silent at that moment. He seemed to be deep in thought and my mystics started to reach towards him once again. I pulled most of it back, but I did sense that he was more concerned about me than he was about himself. Weird… it should be the opposite, but at least he didn’t hate me. Concern is easier to move past than hatred was.
We got a few feet before he asked another question. “Do you have a name?” Shoot… hit me with the hard question. Jasmine was the name Mamma gave to protect me, but do I use that or the name I’ve had since I was three? My real name… He is my brother and I want to trust him, but he isn’t safe. I could be in danger if he knew the full name.
“Yes.” Yeah, that works. That answered his question without giving too much information. He gave me a look of annoyance that told me he wanted more. Okay… what to give him… what is a safe… “Fi.” That was a nickname really. Short for Fianna, a name my old caretaker gave me, but it also stood for the name father gave me. It is also the nickname for many more full names, so he couldn’t possibly guess its real meaning.
“Does that stand for something?” Titan damn it. I do not want to continue this conversation. My throat is starting to feel tight and I am near my conversational limit for today. I give a shrug and just focus on where I need to go. His shock practically hits me like a physical wall, but there was an undercurrent of … heart break.
He started to say something when the building around me suddenly shook. It felt like something exploded, just like it did thirteen years ago, but the building around us was intact. I heard everyone shout in shock, but my mind instantly went to keep the others safe. I quickly turned to go back to the captive teens, but I was only able to take a few steps before my foot caught on a piece of rubble. I could feel my body begin to tilt forward, but I knew that if I allowed myself to tumble, there was a chance Mikey would be harmed. I only had a second to think of a way to avoid that and a plan popped into my head. It was more of an instinct and emotional reaction rather than a plan, but I knew that if I could angle myself properly, Mikey would land next to his brothers. They could figure out a way to protect each other until I would be able to get there myself.
I quickly used whatever momentum I had to spin on my toes and let myself fall to my carapace. Part of me instantly regrets the choice as a piece of debris jabs a weaker section of my shell, but it is washed away as I watch Mikey roll back to his companions. They instantly start asking about his welfare, but he keeps silently watching me as I roll onto my feet. I was barely up before I had to start dodging a few larger pieces of debris.
“Fi!” Father sounded scared, but that could just be me hearing my own fear in his voice. I tried to give him my attention, but I couldn’t spare much while still avoiding the falling rubble. “Get to cover! Your room! Get to your room and wait for me or the goyals to get you.” I immediately turned to follow the order, forcing myself to ignore the thud I heard in his general direction. I just ran.
I ran. I ran through the doorway I have walked through too many times. I ran past through my door that had protected me many times before. I slid under the bed, pulling the colorful blanket down and wrapping myself into a cocoon of protection. All of that happened in a single blink. One second I was watching my chaotic brothers, the next, my childhood was crumbling around me. My body shook with adrenaline and flinched with every thud or crash. The direct sound might have been muffled by the walls but it sounded like it had followed me. The sounds were deafening, but I didn't hear any screams of pain. If the boys were hurt, they would make a sound… right. I can’t have lost them again..
Please, great Titan. Please don’t let them be gone again. I don’t want to be the only one left again. No, please, no, no, no, no…, no… please, pleas.. Ple… I… I can’t…
My head falls to the ground under me and my eyes fall close. I can’t help it. I fell into an uneasy and tear filled sleep hoping that this didn’t happen when I woke up.