Chapter Text
Miranda held onto her younger siblings’ wrists and tugged them outside, closing her eyes briefly as if to mentally drown out their shouting and begging to not leave the house, digging their heels in, but the elder was a good two decades older and easily pulled them along.
“Miri! Please! I don’t wanna!” They trilled and cried, voices overlapping until they reached the top stair of the porch.
“Mama needs sleep. She called me to babysit you two, and she won’t get any sleep if you both yell and run about inside.” Miranda explained to the younger two. “C’mon, why don’t we head down to the beach. It’s late in the season, there won’t be any tourists to crowd around.”
At the mention of the nearby beach, both Nino and Pyrha perked right up and shot forward, soon dragging Miranda behind them, shouting over one another excitedly. Miranda simply laughed and allowed herself to be dragged by her little siblings.
The three siblings headed over to one of the beaches that lined Varadero, Miranda keeping an eye for any cars to pass by as they crossed a few streets before they reached the sandy beach. It was a warm day for an August day, and the ocean practically sparkled in the late afternoon sun.
Once their feet hit the sand, Miranda let Nino and Pyrha go and watched them blast forward towards the water, not caring for the clothes they wore. Having always lived so close to beaches made their clothes constantly salty, so they simply stopped caring about being careful. But Miranda was anyway, sitting down in one of the shadier places on the beach, keeping a watchful eye on her siblings as they use up their energy.
They were there for an hour, Miranda soon being dragged into the water to help Pyrha and Nino stay afloat when the waves hit a little harder than an eight- and ten-year old could normally manage. She held her sister’s hands, watching her kicking feet and nodding happily.
“Yes, that’s perfect, sweetheart.” She cheered, smiling warmly at her. “You’re learning so fast, you could become an Olympian athlete.”
Pyrha gave a loud trill of laughter, face red with exertion and excitement. She kicked harder and Miranda let go of her hands in time to watch her sister zoom into her chest, sending her onto her back with a splash and a laugh.
It was then that the two heard Nino scream and Miranda’s head snapped up. This wasn’t a happy scream, or a laugh, but a shout of surprise, scared almost.
Instinct kicked in and she pulled Pyrha close to her chest, twisting her head to find where Nino was and why he had given the shout.
She saw him by the shore, head up to the sky with eyes like saucers and pointing to the clouds. Turning her head to see what Nino was looking at, while also taking both herself and Pyrha closer to their brother, Miranda saw what caught his attention and wondered how she hadn’t seen it earlier.
Something was blocking out the sun, a large strangely shaped object that was unlike any plane or spacecraft Miranda had ever seen. The front-half looked like a hook - a thin middle from what she could see - with the second-half looking like a proper spacecraft, like from Star Wars.
Then something from the thing seemed to pop out and streak towards them and Miranda took action, jumping up, holding onto Pyrha tightly as she wrapped her arms and legs around her side, and made her way to Nino.
“Nino, we have to go!” She shouted. She didn’t know what was coming towards them, but she didn’t want to find out.
Their brother jumped to attention and nodded, running ahead before stopping dead in his tracks to look behind - at the thing falling or at his sisters, Miranda wasn’t sure - his eyes widening.
“Miri! Miri!” He shouted, running back to her, and the elder had to prepare herself for him to launch himself into her arms.
Now burdened with both siblings, Miranda paused to hold them both better, but during that time, the thing was within sight, and as she watched, it crashed into the sand not a yard away from where the three stood, wide-eyed.
“Miri? Miri I don’t like it.” Pyrha whispered into her ear, and Miranda had to agree. The thing was like a strange cross between a Hummer and a Garrison transport vehicle without the tracks. It was dark in colour, with something about it that made the elder want to shiver.
“Miri, let’s go. Mama will be worried.” Nino whispered in Miranda’s other ear, looking away just as the door - there had been a door? - lifted up, and the elder found herself unable to move in shock.
Several things trickled out of the thing, sharp dark purple suits covering them all from head to foot except two… creatures. And the faces of the creatures were what made Miranda freeze in shock.
They had purple faces, fangs peeking out from large lips, and had the most bizarre hair ever, sticking up in points like ears on either side of their heads. One had a scar in the form of a Y across their face and the other had what looked like an eyepatch over their right eye.
The one-eyed purple creature - alien?! - turned its head and seemed to stare straight at Miranda, and that was when her fight-or-flight instinct kicked in and she bolted, holding Nino and Pyrha tightly, adrenaline making it easier to keep them up.
But still, she ran slower because of their added weight, and barely made it past a block when something snared her feet and she twisted to hit her back, still keeping her siblings mostly safe, all three shouting.
The eye-patch alien was heading over to them, and Miranda turned to them, whispering quickly. “Go, go, go. Get home and lock the doors, go to Mama!” She was pushing them out of her arms, pleading they would run and listen to her.
Nino did listen, and she heard him pelt across the street, but Pyrha stood frozen in fear. But Miranda couldn’t worry about that now, she heard the Eye-Patch shout something guttural and entirely alien , pointing at Nino’s running form.
“No!” She screamed, kicking at whatever held her legs - some neon pink seamless rope or laser or something - but unable to break from it as one of the completely armoured-covered aliens ran after her brother.
The Eye-Patch had reached Miranda and Pyrha when they heard Nino shriek and the elder felt her heart leap into her throat in fear for her siblings and herself. Eye-Patch seemed to smile, revealing all fangs that looked like they were made from rough rocks, and when the alien spoke, Miranda was shocked to hear English as it tapped something on its arm piece.
The voice was deep and masculine, throaty. “Tell the Prince we found some.”
Chapter done!