Chapter Text
“NO!” I scream.
Energy bursts from my hands before I can even think, all my fear and anger sending Eleven straight into the ceiling. She collapses in a heap in the centre of the room, unconscious. Dead.
Peter slides down the wall, breathing hard, and I run to his side. There’s a strange expression on his face, his hands absentmindedly going to his chest, where she was breaking him.
“Are you… okay?”
He blinks, attempting to push himself up and failing. “Not completely,” he murmurs, mostly to himself.
I help him up, supporting as much of his weight as I can manage and using my abilities where I can’t.
“Is she dead?” he asks coldly, gazing at Eleven’s limp body with some mix of disappointment and relief.
“I’ll check!”
I walk over to her, kneeling down next to her. There’s a pulse, a weak one. She could survive, with help, but there’s no one around. They’re all dead. No need to kick her while she’s down, in any case.
“Yeah, she’s dead!” I call back to Peter, careful not to step in any blood as I return to his side.
He’s silent, staring at the door. Papa. Great. He’s staring at everything with that same horror that Eleven had, at me especially. Did he really think I wouldn’t retaliate?
I step closer, lifting him up with my mind. He struggles, trying to reason with me, speaking nonsense. Peter follows as I carry Papa down the hall, looking almost amused at his struggle.
“013, please, I just want to help you. We can fix this mess together. Don’t let this man twist things against me!”
“Oh shut up.”
I open the door and throw him into the darkness prison, closing and locking the door. We’ll see how he likes it in there. I turn back to Peter and he nods once in approval.
“Come on, let's go,” he says, nodding towards the exit.
I take his hand and we leave the building, passed corridors full of dead bodies, up a staircase, to a reception, and finally, freedom. The moment I breathe in the fresh air, I feel ready to cry. It’s still dark out, very dark, and my uncovered skin is pricked with cold, but I feel giddy.
“Well… now what?” I ask, holding his arm tighter, excited.
He stares straight ahead, lost in thought. “Things didn’t go exactly to plan… but I’ll figure something out. Go ahead. Enjoy the greenery.”
He leads the way towards the gate, dealing with the guards on duty. I run around the forest as he searches their bodies, pocketing some things. I stumble over my own feet in the darkness, scraping my knees slightly. I can’t bring myself to even mind.
Wow…
I really missed being outside.
Behind me, I hear a machine whirring to life. I turn, noticing a large vehicle. A car.
“Come on. Get in.”
I blink, stepping into the passenger seat. “Where’d you get this?”
“Someone was kind enough to lend me the keys.”
“Can you drive?”
He makes a so-so gesture with his hand. “I learned…”
“Did you?”
“Somewhat.”
* * *
We pull up to a large house, still in one piece. It’s blue with white trim and I imagine it was once really pretty. Now, though, it’s completely boarded up, falling apart.
“What is this place?”
He lets out a breath. “My home.”
“Really?”
He nods. “A long time ago. Twenty years ago, maybe. When I was a boy.”
“Oh. So why are we here now?”
“It was my home once. It can be my home again. We’ll clean it up, won’t we?”
“Yeah! Let’s do it!”
To Be Continued