Chapter Text
Present day
Bang.
Clink.
A slow inhale followed by silence.
Bang.
Clink
The slow, methodical sound of single gunshots fills the space between the sharp bouts of silence. Even the sounds of Rhea's own breathing sounded too harsh to her. The range was empty, not an uncommon occurrence. There was hardly any ammo that anyone would be willing to spare for some target practice.
“You're getting better at that.”
Bang
‘Fucking Abby just had to show up,’ Rhea thought.
Inhale
Bang
Clink
“Soon enough, you will be better at it than me.”
Rhea didn't bother with a response. She would have hoped that her silence would have hinted to her sister that she really wasn't in the mood to argue with her today, but she was still there when Rhea's clip ran out of ammo, forcing her to meet her sister's gaze.
“You gonna lecture me about something, or are you just here to waste my time?” Rhea announced as she went through the tedious process of taking apart and cleaning her handgun. She had a rough night, constantly waking up to nightmares of the research wing, which had left her physically and mentally drained. She really just wanted some time to herself before her shift, and any conversation she had with her sister these days almost always ended in a fight. But the wince that Abby gave in return to her comment made her feel just a little guilty for coming out swinging.
“No lecture, I promise,” she said, putting her hands up in surrender. “I actually came here to give you an offer.”
That piqued Rhea's interest. Nodding to her sister to continue, she set her gun down to fully turn toward her.
“I have a patrol shift in an hour with some of the other younger fireflies, it’s pair-based, and the guy that I was going with called out sick. Sooo… I was wondering if you’d like to come instead?”
“Don’t you have to be 16 to patrol?” Rhea replied, unconvinced with the excuse; her tone was far too annoyed that it should have been.
“That's more of a guideline, and you're practically 16 anyway,” Abby said. “ It’s only around the block, less than a mile tops.”
The look Rhea gave in response said it all. She didn't believe it for a second. There was no way that her overprotective, stubborn, goodie-to-shoes of a sister wanted to take her patrolling.
Abby sighed, “Look, I know things have been… distant between us for a while now. I just want to spend some time with you without us being at each other's throats. Okay?”
“Did you come up with this master plan all by yourself, or did a certain brown-haired boy that you patrol with tell you to?” Disdain laced her words.
“Leave Owen out of this. This was my decision. I… I miss you, okay? I just want things to go back to what they were like before.” Abby says, approaching her with an arm stretched out to grab onto her shoulder, but Rhea only shrank away.
“But things will never be like before. I can’t go on living my life like… like it didn’t happen, I just can’t. I’m not like you,” Rhea says and turns her back to Abby, not being able to keep eye contact with her anymore.
Abby sighed, “I know, and.. I know I haven't always said or done the right things, but maybe we could have this be a new start?”
They share a look. Rhea knows that if she says no again, Abby would leave it, and things will go back to how they have been for the past few months. But is that something she really wants? She did want things to be different; hell, if she could, she would have never gone down to that stupid basement. What was that saying? Ignorance is bliss? Sighing loudly, Rhea makes up her mind.
“We… I can't just start over, but I miss you too, I guess,” Rhea says, gesturing between them. “You're my family, I would probably look like a shitty person if I didn’t try to make things better.”
Abby laughs half-heartedly. Rhea can tell she was surprised she had agreed. Now wondering if she had made a terrible mistake, she asks, “So when exactly is this patrol leaving?”
“Yeah, about that, patrol leaves in 10, so get your shit and meet me in the lobby. Don’t be late!” She says, throwing a bag of supplies into her hands and bolts out the door before her sentence even finishes.
“What the actual fuck, Abigail? Way to give a girl a heads up!” Rhea shouts after her as she jogs out of the range doors. She packs up her stuff quickly, and the angry grumbles of choice words she would like to give her sister are outweighed by the small smile that is plastered on her face as she makes her way down toward the lobby. Maybe, just maybe, it wouldn’t be so bad.
∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩
11 years ago
“Uggggg”
“Sweetheart, are you okay?”
Rhea was indeed not okay, well, at least as not okay as an extremely bored 4-year-old can get. She had been stuck with her father, doing absolutely nothing all day, because he had work to do.
Her father let out a big sigh, “Alright, how about I make you a deal? Okay?”
That immediately piqued her interest. “Deewl?”
Crouching down to where Rhea had sprawled herself across the floor of his office, her father spoke, “Yes, you let me finish my work for 15 minutes, and afterwards we find your sister and do something more fun?”
“Abbywale?”
“Yes, we’ll go find Abby,” he responded.
“Yaaaaaaaay!!” she cheered, bounding around the small office.
“Alright, allright, settle down. Just give me a few minutes, and we’ll go.”
∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩
Finding her sister hadn't been hard. She was talking with a group of her friends as Rhea spotted her. Rushing forward, she collided with Abby at full speed, tackling her into a hug.
“Abby, Abby! Dad said we gonna do somewing fun togetwer!” Rhea babbles as she dragged her sister away from her friends and towards their father.
“I didn't mean to interrupt, but the gremlin here was getting ansy, and I thought it might be good if we all got out for a bit,” their father said, chuckling at the antics of his youngest. “But if you have plans with your friends, I can take her by myself.”
“No!!” Rhea whined, gripping her sister even tighter, “ Abbywale come too.”
“It's fine Dad, I would love to come,” she said, finally giving in and picking Rhea up. Calling back to her group of friends, Abby shouted that she was leaving and that she would see them later.
“So now what exactly do you have in mind for this sudden trip?” Abby questioned.
At that, her father smiled, “You’ll see, now grab your stuff, I don't want to be out past dark.”
∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩
The place in question turned out to be a small old rooftop overlooking a pond. But the scenery wasn’t the most interesting part; it was the dozen or so animals that congregated around it. From giraffes and zebras to small meerkats, there were creatures of all sizes and colors. To Rhea, the sight was mesmerizing. She would have stayed out there all day if she had been given the choice.
“How do you girls like it?”
Abby, who had been almost as entranced with the sight as Rhea, tore her gaze away to look at her father. “It’s beautiful. How did you find a place like this?”
“Heard some of the patrolmen talking about it, tracked the path back to here a few weeks ago. Thought I’d save it for a special day,” he said, walking up to where Abby was resting against the wall. Pulling her into him, he said, “I’ll teach you someday, when you're older.”
“Hey, Rhea!” he called over to her. “Come here a sec, I have something for you.”
Whining, Rhea refused to turn around, choosing instead to continue staring intently at the animals. It was so much more peaceful out there than inside the hospital. It felt like, for the first time, she could breathe deeply.
“Rhea, come on, I’m sure it will only take a minute, then you can go back to staring,” Abby called to her.
Sighing once more, Rhea climbed down from the ledge of the building where she had been sitting and dragged her feet over to them.
“I have a gift for you,” he said, crouching down to her level. “Now I want you to close your eyes and hold out your hand.”
Giggling Rhea complied with the instructions, her previous annoyance forgotten. There was some jingling of noise before something cold and metal was placed into her outstretched palm.
“All right, you can open them.”
Rhea's eyes shot open, flipping the piece of metal between her fingertips. It was a firefly pennant, one with her name engraved into it. Captivated by the shiny metal tag, she traced over the number scrawled beneath her name, 000303. Rushing over to Abby, she demanded that it be put on immediately.
Chuckling softly, her father said, “I thought it was about time you got one of your own.”
Grinning proudly, she dragged both of them back to the ledge of the rooftop to watch the animals below. Rhea couldn’t have imagined a better day with the people she loved as they sat there watching the sun set.
∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩≡U≡∩
Present Day
Now, over a decade later, Rhea leans against that same ledge. It's cracked and eroded edge cutting into her skin. The wind brushes through her hair as the midday sun beats down on her face. Rhea counted each of her breaths, closing her eyes and listening to the silence that surrounded her.
Her mind spirals with thoughts of that wonderful day spent with her family so long ago, but then they collide with the harsh memory of the day in the basement. Over and over again, flashes of those moments play on the inside of her eyelids, making her sick. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the watch, swinging the chain back and forth.
She never wanted this.
Tick.
Never wanted the grotesque faces of infected fireflies, of infected friends, seared into her brain.
Tock.
Never wanted to feel like she had broken something between those she loved, or maybe it was her that was the broken thing.
Tick.
She wanted her father back, the man who would tell her stories of the world before, show her coins from his collection, and take her to see the wild zebras. The man who saved lives, not took them.
Tock.
She wanted to be able to spend her days at the hospital without feeling sick, that even though she had begged for it to end, she was still standing only a few feet above the active research lab.
Tick.
Rhea was surrounded by silence.
But she could not hold on to any of it as her mind raged.
Her eyes still closed, Rhea finally speaks, her voice cracking as she does, “ Why did you bring me here?”
There is a shuffle from behind her. “ I thought it might be nice.”
The questioning glance she gave to her sister behind her said she wouldn’t take that as an answer. Abby was shuffling back and forth, her nervous energy palpable. Sighing, she approached Rhea, leaning against the siding, with her looking off into the distance as she began to speak again.
“ I haven't been up here in years, you know.” The only response was a scoff. Of course she hadn’t, Abby was practically a workaholic.
“I think I forgot how pretty it was. I had to pretty much hold you back so you didn't go tumbling off the edge when you were younger,” she laughed lightly. “I'm sorry I let you push me out. I thought giving you space first would help, but…”
“Space? Ha, space is a few weeks, Abigail, not months!” Rhea interrupts, tears beginning to pool in her eyes.
“I know.”
“You left, you took his side, and you left me!” Rhea's tears are now fully streaming down her cheeks.
“God, I know,” Abby's head is in her hands now. “ I messed up, I shouldn’t have said the things I did. I wanted to make it better, but the longer I waited, the harder it got. I know I can't get back what was lost, and I'm sorry for letting things get cold between us, but I'm trying to make things better now.”
God, if it wasn't everything Rhea had wanted to hear for months. But there was this lingering thought at the back of her mind that she couldn't let go.
“You still agree with him?” Her voice is only just above a whisper, “ with what they’ve done, don't you?”
Abby refuses to meet Rheas stare, “I think this is bigger than any of us.”
Rhea nods, “and this immune girl we’re not supposed to talk about? Is that just some fantasy because I sure as hell haven’t heard anyone talking about…”
“No, No, god no, I told you that Marleen's keeping quiet about it for now, I wanted you to know because I thought it might help…”
“Bullshit, you told it to me to keep me around and believing in this shit!” Rhea interrupts, grasping at her firefly tag, “That's why we're here, right, so you can give me a big speech about the cause and what this stupid tag means. How I should put my big-girl pants on and go back to helping in the hospital.”
“NO, damit this isnt how I wanted this to go.” Abby has her head in her hands now. “ I know there is nothing I could say for you to go back there, and I don’t blame you for that. I wanted to come out here because this is where we had our happiest moments…God… I didn’t want to argue with you today.”
“Well, congratulations, you failed.” Rhea snarked.
The soft I don’t want to lose you that Abby seemed to say more to herself made Rhea pause, “and if you already have?”
There was a soft sob, “You're my sister, I can’t accept that.” Abby looked up from her hand at last meeting Rheas tear filled gaze. “But if you can’t, I’ll still be here, no matter what, I’ll always be by your side, to protect you.”
There's a long pause after. The silence between them is painful, as if they are both standing on a knife-edge waiting for the ball to drop. Then, suddenly, Rhea launches herself into Abby's arms, gripping her tightly.
“I don’t want to lose you either,” she mumbles into Abby's neck.
They sat there for a long time just holding each other. Not a word is spoken between them as what feels like hours pass. When they finally pull away, Rhea is quick to wipe the tears from her eyes.
“You're not complete shit at this.”
Abby laughed, wiping the tears from her own face, “ Yeah, you think?”
“I’d give it a solid 5/10,” Rhea replied, smiling.
“I’ll take it.”
They both dissolve into a comfortable silence. Rhea moved close to Abby, laying her head on her shoulder as they watched the animals below, listening to her steady heartbeat. Rhea played with her firefly tag, rubbing the pad of her thumb over the engraved letters and numbers as she had long ago. Maybe everything would be alright. If they find a cure, maybe all of this will go back to what it was before, and if not, at least she will always have Abby by her side.