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Chapter Text

Tata let his exhausted body flop down onto his bed with a heavy sigh, one hand reaching up to rub weakly at his eyes in an attempt to dispel the ever-present jadedness swirling inside of them. He sunk in deeper into the soft sheets of his bed, wishing that they would just wrap themselves around him and swallow him whole so that he could fall into an abyss of eternal sleep without being forced to climb his way back up to reality. Unfortunately, the mass of fabric spread out beneath him remained motionless, refusing to take him away, far, far away from his problems.

Pushing his body up into a sitting position, he sighed heavily, the weight behind that small exhale running deep in his bones, rattling them and causing shivers to run through his body.

‘Switch it on,’ his mind urged him, ‘Switch it on and forget about everything.’ He complied to its orders without complaint, knowing that it probably was the best course of action right now.

He reached for the remote control sitting on his nightstand, the sides of it scratched and the colors already fading from over-use, pressing a button on the upper-right corner which automatically dimmed the lights in the room, plunging it into absolute darkness. His fingers pressed the next buttons on pure muscle-memory, since he couldn’t even see his own hands in front of his face, waiting for the familiar purr of a machine turning on to fill the room.

There was a loud creaking noise at the foot of his bed and then a large metallic rod with something akin to a crystal ball at the end of it rose slowly. With one final push of a button, the orb filled the room with a blinding white light before simmering down to a faint pulsing. With a grin, Tata looked up to the ceiling, gazing in wonder at the stars projected onto it, all rotating and jumping here and there on the white wall like a kid with a sugar high.

He allowed himself a small content smile, watching as stars of different colors and shapes twirled around on the walls of his bedroom like ballroom dancers on a marble floor, adding color and joy to the previous monotony of the room. He twisted a few knobs on his remote control, manipulating the appearance of the stars and giving the walls of his room the impression of never-ending change and transformation, always a new, different and unique star being born every second.

He continued watching the enrapturing performances the stars put on for him with an awed and amazed look on his face, like a little kid seeing a magic show for the first time, even though this was hardly the first time he had seen them. Despite having done this a million times before during the nights when his fears and worries had gotten the best of him, he always managed to look at them like he’d never seen anything like them before.

That was the thing he liked about stars, they always inspire such happiness in people’s hearts. Just by shining brilliantly, they could flip someone’s day upside down, they could paint smiles over everyone’s faces and best of all, they gave people hope.

Tata wishes that he could just fly away from his planet and visit all the stars in the universe one by one, just to thank them for being there for him during his darkest hours. He wants to go live somewhere were the stars were completely unobstructed, able to burn as long and bright as they want without anyone soiling or tainting their purity. He wanted to leave his planet and explore the entire universe, going on adventures and meeting new people, making friends.

He didn’t realize it, but his head had slowly started to tilted downwards, chin resting on his chest, and his eyes started getting heavier, slowly drooping down without his permission. The last thing he saw before the darkness took him captive were the stars, dancing as energetically as they had done when he first switched them on. Consciousness escaped his grasp, sending him straight into his dreams. Dreams of the wide and vast galaxies, of space missions, of unusual but interesting people that he had yet to meet.

Dreams of a home.

Tata rose from his bed with a jaw-breaking yawn, peeling his eyes open one by one by sheer force of will, grimacing when blazing sunlight attacked his vulnerable eyes which had grown accustomed to darkness after a full eight hours of sleep. He blinked slowly, trying to get his eyes used to light again, and stood up, half-stumbling his way into the bathroom for a shower.

He stepped in front of the bathroom mirror, wrinkling his nose in displeasure when he caught sight of a disheveled-looking alien staring back at him. He gave the creature in the mirror a quick once-over, taking note of the pale red of his skin, which was supposed to be a bold, firetruck red, the blue jumpsuit with yellow polka-dots which had a thick layer of grime coating it and the prominent downward turn of his lips, which revealed too much of emotion for his liking.

He spent the next fifteen minutes trying to coax a bit of his original shade of red back into his heart-shaped face while also attempting to school his facial expression into his regular serious face, perfectly horizontal mouth and eyebrows and eyes not betraying any form of emotion, just small black pools of solemnity.

Nodding in satisfaction when he deemed his appearance acceptable, he peeled his dirty jumpsuit off and discarded it in the corner of the bathroom, taking a brief shower, just to wash away the dirt on his skin from yesterday. He stepped outside of the bathroom, one towel wrapped around his lower body and torso and one towel wrapped around his head, steam escaping from the bathroom and into his bedroom, a result of turning the hot water on at full-blast.

He ceremoniously dumped his dirty clothes inside his laundry basket, quickly slipping inside of an identical jumpsuit – which was way cleaner, thank god – and grabbing his trusty backpack, zooming down the stairs like a hyper child, eager to go exploring again just like he did every week.

Unfortunately, he only made it one foot through the door when a stern, female voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Where exactly do you think you’re going, Tata?” someone said curtly, disapproval clear in her tone.

Tata froze in place before groaning quietly, turning around to face his mother with dread. She was standing at the entrance of the kitchen with her arms folded and her stance impatient, expecting him to say something. Tata cursed mentally, going through every single plausible excuse in his arsenal. Unluckily for him, he wasn’t really good at thinking on the spot so he blurted out the first alibi passing through his head at the moment:

“Uh, I’m going to study plants!” he half-shouted, already slamming his head against a wall inside his head for such a horrible cover-up.

His mother quirked an eyebrow at his answer, not convinced by his lie, “And when exactly have you been interested in botany, young man?” she pressed on. He didn’t answer.

“Uh-huh, as I thought.” She reached into the pocket of his backpack, pulling out a piece of paper from inside of it. Tata panicked when she unfolded and held it in front of her, revealing a very detailed hand-drawn map of their town, X’s marked on the places he had visited and circles around the place that he wanted to go to today. She stared at him with an unimpressed look.

She sighed wearily, “Tata, how many times have I told you to drop this ‘adventuring’ thing?” she rolled her eyes at him, tired of having to go through this conversation with him over and over again.

“Instead of going around looking for monsters to defeat, you should be studying more so you can have a respectable job like your father,” she nagged him endlessly, listing off the benefits of pursuing law like his father did. Tata expertly tuned her out, having heard this lecture a million times before, instead thinking about that one abandoned warehouse that he had yet to visit.

Daydreaming of all the weird and crazy creatures he would find in the old building, he almost missed what his mother was saying to him.

“-ta, Tata! Are you even listening to me?!” she yelled at him, face red – well, actually it was already red in the first place but you know what I mean – and steam almost rising out of her ears in fury.

“Huh? What?”

She looked at him in exasperation. “I said that I’m grounding you,” she said through gritted teeth, making him snap to attention.

“That’s right, no more exploring, no more pretending to be heroes and no more looking at those damn stars all day! I’m sick of it! Is that all you want to do with your life? Dreaming of doing things that can never come true?”

Tata ignored the sting in his heart at her harsh words, he knew that his hopes and aspirations were near-impossible but that didn’t stop the dagger of hurt his mother had threw at him. He hoped that the upset didn’t show in his eyes as he fired back a reply.

“They’re not impossible!” he denied vehemently, rejecting her arguments that yes, yes it was. “Mom, look, I don’t want to be a lawyer, it’s just not the right thing for me,” he tried to explain to her, “I want to go to space and visit other planets, like-,” what were those people called again? The ones who dressed up in big, bulky suits and travelled around in spaceships? “like an astronaut,” he said finally, hoping that his mother would accept his answer. Unfortunately, it only seemed to make her angrier.

“Son, you and I both know there’s no point in going to space, because that’s exactly what it is, just a big empty space! Why would you even want to go to other planets anyway? Isn’t this planet good enough for you?” she argued, releasing a sigh when he didn’t budge an inch on the topic, “Your ambitions have always been foolish and nonsensical, you like singing, you like music, you like fashion and you like space, how are any of those interests benefiting at all?” she said, stressing the last sentence in hope that it will finally get through to him.

“None of these will ever contribute to society, Tata, no one needs a singer, a fashion designer or an astronaut in their lives. You need to stop being so selfish and think about doing something that will actually help someone for once, something useful.”

Tata took a sharp intake of breath which went by unnoticed by his mother. He looked at her, only to see a considering but guilty look on her face as she stared at the paper in hands, the map he had worked so hard to create, almost as if she was ashamed of what was going to happen. It took a few seconds for Tata to realize what she was going to do.

“Oh no, mom, please don’t-!” he pleaded with her but he was a second too late. He watched in horror as she tore all of his hard work into tiny little pieces, eyes stinging with tears as the damaged pieces of paper floated down gently onto the cold marble floor.

His vision turned red as anger coursed through his veins, making the blood pound in his ears in unison with his thundering heartbeat. Mortifyingly, he felt tears blur his vision and pour down his face, dripping onto the floor and staining the paper pieces. He didn’t see the guilt in his mother’s eyes, he just turned around and hightailed out of the house, not looking back even once and firmly ignoring his mother’s calls of: “Tata, wait!”

He had no idea how long he ran. It could’ve been hours, it could’ve been days, that didn’t matter, he just ran. He ran away from all the disapproving faces, the pressure placed on him to succeed, the little pieces of paper that signified all of his hopes, torn and ripped apart heartlessly and left to die on the floor. He ran till breathing seemed to become a challenge instead of a natural tendency, until his lungs burned like an inferno, making every inhale a painful punishment, until his legs transformed into gelatin, barely even giving his body the support it needed. He ran until he couldn’t run anymore.

He slowed down, his body was protesting against his actions so loudly that he could barely even hear himself think so he finally stopped, throwing caution to the wind and letting the exhaustion overwhelm his body, making him fall forwards to the hard, rocky ground. He laid on the ground face down, giving his trembling body the break it deserved, not caring if his face got dirty or scraped. He was motionless for a few minutes, giving the impression of being dead, before pushing himself into an upright position with great effort, dusting off the dirt on his jumpsuit which now bore a striking resemblance to his clothes from yesterday.

He remained in a crouching position with his hands on his head, a good breathing technique he learned from his gym teacher, resisting the urge to just sleep right then and there since he knew that he could easily be taken advantage of by any passing person if he did. He slipped his backpack off of his shoulders and rummaged through it, taking out a bottle of water that he packed in case of an emergency. Screwing the cap open, he decided that this was certainly an emergency and gulped down one-fourth of the water in one go.

After his breathing regulated and his limbs actually worked again, he stood up, ignoring the heaviness of his bones, and walked around the area that he somehow ended up in.

He didn’t recognize anything here. There were no distinguishing landmarks, no people, only him and the woodland creatures stuck together in what seems to be a rainforest. He ran his hand over the unfamiliar texture of the trees around him, shielding his over-heated body from the sun’s glaring rays which he was grateful for. He pulled his notebook out of his backpack along with a pencil, sketching his surroundings out of reflex, labelling the unknown area with a short-term name: Zone V.

That’s what he always did with places he hadn’t found the name of yet, he gave them a letter from the alphabet, already having used up the previous twenty-one letters. He closed his notebook with a sigh, harshly reminded of his utterly obliterated map, the map he’s had for as long as he could remember, his reliable pal whenever he was cornered by a robber or late for something and he needed a shortcut. That map had gotten him out of a lot of bad scrapes and now, it was gone.

Tata sighed, ‘Well, I can still recreate it and make it better and more accurate, at least there’s that, right?’ he smiled weakly, trying to find a bright side in this, as small as it was.

He shook himself out of his gloomy thoughts and pocketed his notebook, twirling his pencil around his fingers and ready to step deeper inside the forest to search for anything interesting when a painful sensation hit his head with the force of a bullet-train, bringing him to his knees with a gasp. It was like a sledgehammer had broke his skull in half, making his head pulse agonizingly and his eyes water, mouth inadvertently releasing a pained scream. An image flashed inside his mind for a split-second, it looked like a robot, judging by it’s shiny metallic skin, except it was designed a bit differently from the usual robots he had seen on television as a kid. Its left side was white with an outline of a circle where it’s eye was supposed to be while it’s right side was black with a cross, parallel to the circle. The head was perfectly round except for the pointy stump sticking out of the top of it’s head like the tip of the pencil.

The image disappeared as quickly as it came, leaving Tata with a pounding, but quickly fading, headache on the forest floor. Taking a deep breath, Tata uprighted himself, wondering what the heck just happened.

‘Go left,’ a small unfamiliar voice whispered in his ear, so unlike his conscience’s voice, making Tata ask himself where it came from. Regardless, he obeyed, knowing not to question small signs like these, despite his naturally curious disposition. He did an about turn to the left, walking in a straight line until the voice gave another instruction.

‘Walk a straight and make a right at the oak tree.’

‘Slip between those two boulders there.’

‘Go through that curtain of vines.’

He followed the mysterious voice’s directions almost thoughtlessly, using his hand to part the wall of vines obstructing his path and edging through it cautiously, peeking curiously inside.

The sight before his eyes made his eyes pop out comically, sending his jaw straight to the ground in amazement. What lay before him was a glistening lake that shined a sparkling blue, an almost unnatural color as if it was made of magic. A steady sound of streaming water reached his ears which turned out to be coming from the biggest waterfall he’d ever seen, – then again, he hasn’t seen that many waterfalls in the first place – an ocean-like amount of water rushing down fiercely due to the effects of gravity. He took in his surroundings excitedly, awe shining in his eyes when he saw beautiful fishes of different sizes and colors with unique patterns on their body swimming happily in the sapphire blue lake.

His fingers itched to take his notebook and write down every single detail of this fascinating hidden location when the voice spoke up once more.

‘Find him,’ the voice told him, causing Tata to frown at the vague order.

‘Find what exactly? Can you be a little more specific?’ Tata asked the voice.

‘Find him,’ the voice repeated, ignoring his question.

‘Find what?’ he asked once more, frustration evident in his tone. Tata waited for it to reply but the voice had gone silent. He sighed after two minutes of waiting, assuming that whatever it is the voice wanted him to do, he had to do it himself.

He jumped in the lake, not bothering to take off his jumpsuit since hey, it was filthy anyway, no point in trying to protect it anymore, sending a giant ripple throughout the lake and causing all the fish who were unlucky enough to be in his vicinity swim away from him in panic. He resurfaced and spit out the water that had entered his mouth before going under again. He swam through the lake, relishing the feeling of cool water against his body, rejuvenating him. The feeling was refreshing and very much welcomed after the terrible day he had.

He glided through the water like an arrow, swimming to the deepest depths of the lake in search of who this him person was that he was supposed to find.

(If he had to guess, whoever this him was, he surely had something to do with that robot he saw earlier.)

After fifteen minutes of swimming around but getting no results, he felt his limbs getting tired, making his movements slower and more uncoordinated. After the fifth time he bumped his head against a rock, he decided that continuing to swim would do more harm than good and reluctantly pulled himself out of the lake and onto a rock near the waterfall. He shook his head and body, making rivulets of water fall onto the rocks, staining them a darker color.

He sighed as he hopped from rock to rock, a bit frustrated that all of his attempts were fruitless and that he’s not getting any closer to finding out who him was. He hopped onto the rock in front of the waterfall, sticking his hand through the waterfall and running it across the wall of stone behind it as he walked alongside the wide curtain of rushing water.

His hand fell to his side limply as he stopped walking, turning to rest his weight on the wall of stone behind the waterfall and let the water soak him from above like a nature-made shower-head. He leaned back, expecting the solid surface to support his weight entirely only to be surprised when his back met nothing but water and air, sending him toppling backwards into the waterfall.

‘Shoooooot!’ he cursed, bracing himself for the undoubtedly painful landing he was about to face only to fall headfirst into a body of water. Overcome with surprise, he accidentally opened his mouth underwater, choking when the water rushed into it, forcing itself down his throat and filling his lungs before he regained his senses and flailed his hands like a bird, the force behind it propelling him upwards. His head broke through the water as he coughed and spluttered uncontrollably, the water in his lungs replaced by oxygen again to his immense relief.

He panted heavily and looked back at the spot where he fell through the waterfall, seeing a huge – and I mean massive – hole in the stone wall, the waterfall shielding it from view, making this cave completely obscured to anyone passing by, the perfect hiding spot. You could hide literally anything in here, money you just robbed from the bank, an ancient treasure chest, a dead body-

Tata shuddered, shaking that thought out of his head.

“Best not to go down that path,” he muttered to himself, not knowing what he would do if there was actually a dead body here. He cleared his throat loudly. Moving on.

It was clear that this cave had been built on purpose, Tata wasn’t stupid, no, far from it, he noticed that the hole in the stone wall looked…unnatural. As if it was made by a machine, not by mother nature. If it was made through weathering, the hole would’ve been rough around edges and uneven, not perfectly symmetrical like this one was. He looked around the dark cave hoping to find some clues but it was useless, the cave was so dark he couldn’t even see his own two feet. He groped around blindly, trying to find at least a dry piece of land so he could figure out what to do. Luckily, his hand latched onto what felt like a rock and he dragged himself onto it, sitting down and shaking the water droplets off his head.

After a while, when he was too tired to swim back through the hole but too uncomfortable to just sit there freezing to death in his soaking wet jumpsuit, he stood up and touched his ankle, pressing down on a button located on that exact spot on his jumpsuit. Suddenly the cave was filled with bright yellow spots of light like there was a disco ball hanging off the cave ceiling, not completely lighting it but enough for Tata to see his surroundings.

(Yes, his suit could light up. There were small built-in water-proof light bulbs sewed into every single one of the many polka-dots on every single one of his jumpsuits, stop asking.)

He looked up and jumped five feet into the air with a terrified gasp, nearly slipping off his rock and falling back into the water. His heart was thundering so loud that he could practically feel vibrations all throughout his body, his eyes were the size of dinner plates while his pupils were dilated to the equivalent of a needle-tip, all because of the surprising – but slightly frightening –  sight before him.

What stood in front of him was a giant robot with a line split down the middle of his body, black on the right side, white on the left. It was the robot that had envisioned while he was in the forest, now towering over him at about twenty feet, possibly even higher! It was definitely him!

Could this be the him that the voice told him to find?

Tata used the rocks that rose slightly above the water as stepping stones, making sure to point the shining polka-dot located on the palm of his jumpsuit in front of him to illuminate the way so that he wouldn’t slip and fall back into the water. Finally, he reached the large expanse of land containing the robot and inched closer to him cautiously, afraid that he would suddenly come alive and crush him under his foot like pancake.

Fortunately, – or unfortunately, depending on what your point of view is – the closer Tata got to him, the more he was sure that he certainly won’t be coming to life anytime soon.

The robot was in shambles, the paint was chipping away so badly that you could barely even tell the black paint from the white anymore, there parts where his joints were connected were rusted horribly from years of neglect and the metal plate which was supposed to be his eye lay damaged at his feet, leaving an almost disturbing hole on his face.

The sight of the mighty robot he had seen before reduced to a shell of its former self was kind of…sad. He could tell that it once stood proudly, a masterpiece made from metal and wires, now it just seemed hollow, empty even.

‘Well, I half-right about the dead body thing,’ he thought to himself wryly, smile laced with irony. He approached the robot, not worried about getting flattened anymore, and touched his immobile leg, flinching and recoiling when he felt how cold it was. Upon closer inspection, he saw frost coating a majority of the leg, which made sense, considering he had probably been stuck here for years and the winters on this planet had always been particularly harsh.

He circled the robot, taking in every detail of the lifeless machine before him, wishing he could bring his notebook over from the other side of the lake. He traced his finger along the metal of the legs, making a line across the dust-covered metal and smudging his finger a dark grey, when it suddenly caught onto something, protruding slightly higher than the usual smoothness of the surface. Wincing and cradling his hurt finger close to his chest, he looked at the offending piece of metal accusingly, seeing that it was a brass plate of some sort with something indiscernible written on it.

He used his elbow to rub the thick layer of dust off of the plate, dirtying his clothes even further, and leaned closer to it, squinting his eyes.

Model 1-18-13-26

         VAN

“Van?” he muttered to himself, “Who’s Van? Is that his name or something?” He wiped the metal again, only to find a blaring red stamp or something right beneath the plate, scratched horribly by what looked like a metal object.

Defective

Tata frowned, ‘Well, that isn’t very nice,’ he thought, an irritated look directed at whoever put that stamp on him, “Nothing is defective because everything can be fixed,” he declared to himself, a new resolution forming in his head. A resolution to restore this robot, Van, to his former glory.

He smiled to himself, rushing out of the cave, careful to avoid the freezing water by using the stones laid conveniently in front of him – which was useless since he got sprayed by the waterfall anyway – and made a beeline for his backpack. He took out a towel and dried himself off thoroughly, or at least as thoroughly as he could since a towel couldn’t exactly do much for wet clothes – he had gotten into the habit of bringing it along inside his bag after the second time he accidentally fell into the lake and earned a scolding from his mother.

‘Oh yeah,’ his face darkened, ‘My mother,’ he sighed sullenly, shoulders drooping. He had almost forgotten about her and their little fight, the one that made him run away and end up here in the first place. He sighed, wondering how the heck he’s going to squirm his way out of this situation and explain where he’s been, what he’s been doing and why his clothes looked like they’ve been through a whirlpool.

“But first,” he looked around at the strange area he got himself stuck at, “I need to figure out how to get home…” he trailed off uncertainly, racking his brain trying to remember which way he went when he ran out of the house. Unfortunately, his memory came up blank, eliciting a despairing groan from Tata.

‘Great, just great,’ he thought, an irate expression twisting his face, ‘I’m wet, freezing, tired, hungry and lost in a freaking forest!’ he growled, kicking a nearby stone into the water in an attempt to vent his frustrations, which didn’t really help all that much, only serving to aggravate his aching feet further.

He took a deep breath, slapping his cheeks lightly to gather his composure. ‘No use getting angry now, Tata,’ he berated himself, ‘Anger only leads to trouble.’ He chuckled, ‘You sure know a lot about that don’t you…’ he laughed self-deprecatingly, remembering what happened this morning when he let anger get the best of him.

Shaking his head, he packed in his towel, notebook and stationeries and held his bag by the handle, not wanting to get it wet by wearing his backpack the normal way. He exited the waterfall area – Zone V now, he reminded himself, making a mental note to himself to write this place down in his ‘adventure notebook’ – through the vines he came in through originally. And…that’s about the only direction he remembers actually…

‘Ugh,’ he slumped down to the ground, curling up in a ball, resigning himself to a life in the wild eating acorns and berries with the forest creatures. ‘This would be a good time to show up, mysterious voice person,’ he grouched in his mind, knowing that the voice from earlier had probably pulled a Houdini on him after sending him off on his quest. He was proven wrong however when the voice replied to his request, causing him to let out a surprised yelp and nearly fall on his rear-end.

‘Between the boulders,’ the voice stated.

‘W-What? You’re still here?’ he stuttered, shocked but mostly embarrassed at his near-tumble.

‘Do you want my help or not?’ he asked in irritation, clicking his tongue. ‘I have...other business to attend to, so don’t waste my time,’ he said coldly, making Tata blush and stammer out a meek ‘sorry’, swallowing any questions he might have had about

‘Good, now go through the boulders.’

Tata followed his directions obediently, his pace quick, not wanting to take up too much of the mysterious person’s time. Eventually, he made it out of the forest, back to where he had taken a break from his mini-marathon. He could tell because of the shallow imprints of the dirt where he had collapsed in exhaustion after running for so long.

‘You’re currently in the Ti Fylakí Tou Van village, about six miles away from your house,’ the voice stated, causing Tata’s eyes to pop out in a cartoonish way.

“Six miles?!” he shouted in astonishment, already sweating just thinking about crossing such a large distance, “There’s no way I did that, I can barely run a lap around my neighborhood without fainting!”

‘Amazing what anger can do to someone, am I right?’ he responded dryly, the smirk evident in his voice when Tata didn’t reply, not able to defend his rash actions.

‘Anyway, as I was saying, if you make a left over at that big rock over there,’ Tata turned his head, spotting the rock he was talking about immediately since it was the only rock in sight, ‘Yes, that one. If you make a left, you’ll find a bus stop. The next bus to your town is coming in five minutes so you won’t have to wait that long, I trust that you have the money to pay the bus driver?’ Tata nodded and patted his backpack, knowing that the voice could see him. I mean, how else could he be giving Tata directions if he couldn’t see him or the area around him?

‘Good, now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go.’

‘Wait! Where are you going? What if I get lost again?’

‘Lost where, kid? In the bus?’ he said sarcastically and Tata could almost feel the voice’s eyes roll.

‘Look kid, don’t worry your little heart-shaped head, alright? I’ll be back. I’m not sure when, but I’ll definitely be back. So, until then, wait for me, okay?’ he said, attempting to be light-hearted and trying his best to reassure him but failing due to the awkwardness present in his voice.

Tata nodded hesitantly, a little surprised at the kind but embarrassed tone in his voice but glad for it nonetheless. “I-I’ll wait,” he promised him, a firm look on his face and a vow in his voice.

‘Great, now go or else you’ll miss your bus and then you’ll have to wait another two hours for the next one.’

Tata yelped and scrambled to the bus stop, ignoring the voice laughing at him, reaching it a mere five seconds before the bus arrived. He boarded the bus with a sheepish smile, handing the amused bus driver enough money for a ticket and scurrying over to the end of the bus and sitting down, wincing when he realized that his seat would be damp even after he was gone – he mentally apologized to the poor bus driver – and avoiding eye contact with everyone in the bus who seemed to be staring at him.

The entire bus ride was absolutely unbearable. Nearly every eye on the whole damned vehicle was wholly focused on him and he tried his hardest not to squirm uncomfortably under their scrutinizing looks. He tuned out their whispering with practiced ease, but the pressure of their gazes still remained. Sighing, he resigned himself to staring out of the window, seemingly preoccupied by his thoughts, pretending that he didn’t notice their goggling.

This continued for two hours.

He let out a silent huff, ‘Why do they keep staring at me?’ he asked himself in irritation. That in itself was a lie, he knew exactly why they were so in awe of him but he didn’t want to come in terms with that yet, not today at least. He was already drained physically, mentally and emotionally, he was afraid that if even one more thing went wrong for him today, he would either break down completely or lash out at the nearest person, regardless if they had done anything to deserve his wrath at all. He didn’t particularly like either of those options so he kept quiet, praying that the bus would arrive at his neighborhood soon so that he could slip into his room undetected and leave his problems to be dealt with next morning, when he would hopefully be more rested and thereby more prepared to face the backlash he had undoubtedly created by running away.

Luckily for him, a quick glance at the clock hanging on the wall of the bus revealed that he only had about ten minutes left until he reached his neighborhood, causing him to let out a relieved sigh. ‘Yes, only a little bit left, only ten minutes, six-hundred seconds, I can do this,’ he told himself encouragingly.

“Um, excuse me,” a female voice said next to him.

Okay, maybe not.

He turned his head to face the person next to him, a young woman with purple feathers visible on any surface of her skin except her face and the skin that was covered by her clothes, who was staring at him with slight trepidation but mostly amazement on her face and Tata suppressed a tired groan.

‘Great, I just had to jinx it, didn’t I?’ he thought, shaking his head internally since the woman was still watching him expectantly, ‘Great job.’

Tata smiled politely at the older woman, “Yes, miss? Do you need anything?” he tilted his head, acting like he didn’t know why she was approaching him, why anyone approached him in the first place. He scowled bitterly inside while the woman nervously stuttered out a reply

“N-No, I don’t need anything, it’s just,” Tata braced himself for her answer, “Aren’t you Tayn Varen’s son?” she asked him anxiously, eagerness blooming across her face while waiting for him to respond.

There. There it was.

Her words were like a blow to his heart, his breath hitched slightly, his smile faltered, revealing a crest-fallen expression for just a split-second before he plastered on another, hopefully convincing, grin on his face. ‘It’s fine, Tata, just nine more minutes, you’ll be fine.’

“Why yes, as a matter-of-fact I am,” he said to the woman playfully, wincing when she squealed excitedly and began to jump around, prompting the others on the bus who had been watching their exchange in interest to start talking and asking him questions all at once.

“Really? You must want to become a lawyer then! Just like your father, right?” the man in the seat in front of him chirped, oblivious to his small, almost unnoticeable flinch.

“Um, actually-” he answered meekly, only to be interrupted by a teenager shouting at him from across the aisle.

“Wow, you must have it easy, huh? Your life’s practically set now with your father being Tayn for god’s sake,” he said scornfully, jealousy lacing his tone like venom, obviously envying his fabulous upbringing.

“That’s not the case-” he protested weakly, his next words dying in his throat when another barrage of questions hit him full-force.

“I’ve heard rumors of you having transformation powers, is that true?”

“What career do you want to pursue? Surely, it’s law, correct?”

“Is it true that you’re descended from Talyn Varen? The founder of BT planet?”

“Can you give us a snippet of that fancy power you got there?”

Tata felt his throat close up in the face of all the questions, making him unable to even answer them. Still, the curious passengers were staring at him expectantly, waiting for the freaking declaration of independence to spill out of his mouth effortlessly. After all, what else could one expect of Tayn Varen’s son? He opened his mouth again but the words were stuck in his throat, leaving him floundering among the impatient interrogators.

He swallowed the failed reply clinging to his lips, that refused to let go and meet the passengers ears no matter what, and tried again, but instead of words, he felt a sob build up in his body, slowly rising up and out his mouth, ready to embarrass him on front of total strangers.

Just as the tears were pricking his eyes mortifyingly, he was saved by the bell. Literally. The bus had slowed down to a stop and the bus driver rang a bell to signify that it had reached its destination. An uncontrollable smile broke out on Tata’s face, great relief washing over him as he pushed past the passengers, apologizing profusely for having to leave them so soon.

He neared the entrance of the bus but stopped when he saw that the bus didn’t even stop in front of a bus stop, just in the middle of the street. He turned to the bus driver in confusion only to be met with a secretive smirk and a finger placed discreetly over his lips mischievously. Realizing what the driver had done, he gave him the brightest, most grateful face he could muster up.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he bowed repeatedly, thanking the flustered bus driver incessantly.

“Er, it was no problem, kid, you just looked like you needed help. Not your fault you got cornered by insensitive pricks. But I guess you have to walk the rest of the journey by yourself now,” he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. His eyes softened when he saw the unshed tears shining in Tata’s eyes and patted his head comfortingly.

“Hang in there, kid. It gets better, I promise,” he said sympathetically. Tata sniffled before nodding, turning around and stepping out of the bus but not before throwing one last grateful smile over his shoulder.

The rest of the walk was silent. The mysterious voice was gone now, off to address his ‘unfinished business’ and there were no whispers there to provide him the comfort of having people near him – not that he ever wanted to be in that situation again, mind you. All that was there was the crushing weight of his actions, filling him with dread and fear, unsure of what he would be met with when he finally entered his house again after what felt like half a day.

‘It gets better, kid, I promise,’ the bus driver’s words replayed inside his head like a broken record. Tata hesitated and slowed his pace as he mulled over the words.

‘He said that it gets better, but I don’t know when…It could be tomorrow or it could be next year, it’ll be impossible to estimate,’ he thought uncertainly, stopping his steady march through the streets entirely to give himself time to think. ‘Even the mysterious voice said that he didn’t know when he would be back, I could be stuck like this without guidance for god-knows-how-long. Can I handle this sort of thing?’ he asked himself pessimistically, sighing dismally.

He looked up towards the sky glumly in hopes of finding some sort of answer or sign from a deity, only to be met with the most beautiful sight he had ever seen in the short eighteen years he’d been alive. The sky was alight with stars. Splatters of pink, blue, yellow and purple painted the normally grey and overcast sky, with hundreds of thousands of tiny, pin-pricks of light dotting the vibrant canvas spread for miles around. His eyes grew wide with delight when he caught sight of his absolutely favorite sight in the whole world, the universe.

He basked in its glory for a few minutes, almost forgetting what he was supposed to be doing, and sighed happily, wishing that he could stay like this forever, sitting peacefully under the stars, away from all of his problems…

He stared wistfully into the night sky, imagining every single thing that he would do if he lived in space, all the nights he would spend under the stars, all the days he would travel around galaxy, all the planets he would visit to spread his love and knowledge with, all the happy, happy days he would come to get used to.

Suddenly, Tata’s breath hitched and he balked in fear, coming to a horrible, startling realization. What was he doing? He was just about to give up all of his dreams…he was going to lose everything before he even got them! He was going to abandon all of his beliefs and dreams, all because of a stupid fight?

‘I-I was…’ he gulped nervously, horror written plain as day on his face, paling rapidly at what had almost happened, ‘I was going to give up…I was going to surrender my pride and joy, I was going to let my stars be stolen away from me,’ his eyes gained a desperate and near-manic gleam as he dug his nails into the palm of his hand painfully, knowing that he deserved far worse than a faint sting on his skin for committing an almost unforgivable crime. It might sound ridiculous to others, but for him, it was perfectly logical.

He took a few deep, shaky breaths before his head snapped up violently, revealing a determined glimmer in warm, brown eyes, ‘I swear, I am not going to let anything get in the way of me and my dreams again,’ he swore to himself, tracing his fingers over his chest in an X motion, a childish habit that had carried over from when he was a kid to now, resurfacing whenever he was making a serious promise, one that he couldn’t afford to break.

He clenched his fists tightly and powered on through the dark, empty streets with a firm gaze. He refuses to keep running away, he’ll accept whatever his mother throws at him, whatever weapons of hurt made specifically for shattering his aspirations – he smirked internally – but that doesn’t mean he’ll follow her orders. He smiled faintly before catching himself and schooling his features back into an expression of grimness. He doesn’t need these types of emotions right now, emotions were a sign of weakness, just another weak point in his delicate and likely-to-fall-apart-at-any-moment armor. For now, he would have to settle for half-hazardly patching up as many holes as he can for the upcoming war about to happen, aka, the confrontation with his mother.

He neared the house cautiously, paranoid that his mother was just going to pop up suddenly with a surprise attack but luckily, he managed to at least get to the front porch without any psychotic maternal figures stabbing him to death.

And now, all that stood between him and danger was merely a flimsy piece plywood, cruelly taunting him to make his first move. Tata gulped audibly but, remembering his promise, steeled his nerves and turned the doorknob, stepping inside the house. The moment he entered the house though, he choked. There was a suffocating kind of air all around the house and Tata felt like he was being strangled, like there were invisible hands closing around his throat from all directions, restricting his airways and making him gasp for air every time he managed to overpower the hands enough to take a breath.

He looked around desperately for whatever it was that was causing such an oppressive air in the house when he saw two silhouettes plastered across the wall, made by the light of the flames in the fireplace.

He sighed quietly, ‘Of course, it’s them. Both of them,’ he wondered if it was too late to turn back, but got rid of that thought immediately. He’s not going to be weak this time.

“Hello mother, father,” he greeted curtly, giving them a small bow and watching as they both rose out of their respective seats, murder painted across their faces.

“Tata…” she began in a deadly tone but stopped herself when she saw the state he was in. Still dripping wet, despite the two-hour period between the last time he submerged himself in the lake and now, his clothes sticking uncomfortably to his skin and the dark brown of dirt clinging stubbornly to him like a second skin. He saw worry flit across his face but it disappeared so quickly that Tata wondered if he had imagined it.

“Tata,” she started again, but with a slight waver in her voice, “Do you have any idea what time it is, right now?” she hissed at him through gritted teeth. “What have you even been doing, young man?” she looked him up and down pointedly, making him flinch and shuffle his feet nervously.

“I-I got,” he gulped under the judging stares from both of his parents and cleared his throat lightly, ‘I got lost,” he finally said to them. It was a half-truth really so he wasn’t actually lying but he’ll die before he tells them about Zone V. His mother raised her eyebrows at his answer, unconvinced and his father seemed to take that as a sign to take over from there.

“Son, you were lost for half the day,” Tata flinched, he didn’t know he’d been away for so long… “And you come up to us now, wet and filthy, saying that you were lost. Where did you get yourself lost in, a maze?!” his father’s voice had started off as a quiet whisper but it gained volume slowly, reaching up to a shout at the end. Tata tried his hardest not to quiver under his furious gaze, covering it up with a fearless, solemn face.

“I got lost in a forest, so I couldn’t ask anyone where to go, and it started raining after I arrived, I tripped over a few roots and stones, so that’s why I look like this,” he gestured to his appearance. His father hummed skeptically.

“And who’s fault was it that you got yourself stuck in a forest in the first place, young man?” his father said sternly, refusing to back down from their argument. That…he couldn’t defend that, sadly. Yes, it was his mother that caused him to run out in the first place, but he was the one who decided to run in the first place. Well, maybe not decided, more like forced to when anger clouded his logic and rationality. But, still, the blame is on him this time.

“I apologize, father, I had let my anger take over me and as a result, I ended up in the forest,” he bowed his head in apology.

“Why were you so angry then?”

Tata froze, not expecting the question, but replied either way, albeit hesitantly, “I had gotten into an argument with mother and she had damaged one of my prized possessions in the process so I let my temper lash out against my better judgement,” he raised his head and saw his father looking at his mother and he hoped at least that she would be berated for her actions, only to be disappointed when the older man didn’t seem the least bit surprised at the information.

“Yes, I heard about that from your mother, she ripped your childish ‘exploration’ map, correct?” Tata nodded, looking down so that he wouldn’t see the annoyance on in his eyes when he called his map childish, “That’s hardly a reason for acting up as you did this morning, is it?” Tata’s form stilled and his breathing halted. “You should know better than that, Tata. I raised you to be better than that.”

Tata wanted to scream, he wanted to shout out at his father when? When have you ever been home long enough to raise me? When have you ever been home for reasons other than food or documents that you forgot to bring to the office? When have you just stopped working just to spend time with me? Tell me, did you even raise me at all? He couldn’t say it to him out loud so he swallowed the sharp and biting words and turned his focus back to his still-talking father.

“Tata, I think it’s time that you grow up already. Let go of those immature fantasies of yours and think seriously about your life for a second,” his father pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation, probably tired of his behavior, “Just become a lawyer like me and your grandfather, Tata. We’ve practically paved the way for you already, and you have the nerve to refuse after all we’ve done for you? You should be ashamed.”

Tata screwed his eyes shut at the verbal attack, hoping that he would finish soon before he cracked. Unfortunately, his father was far from finished from his rant.

“Why would you even want to leave our planet? The planet our ancestors founded? The planet that has done so much for us? You want to leave BT planet to go to somewhere like Planet 18 or, god-forbid, Planet Earth?” the disgust was tangible in his voice.

Tata stayed silent.

His father let out a huff of exasperation, “That’s it, young man. Go to your room right this instant and don’t come out the next morning until we say so. Go. Now.” Tata pursed his lips together and went away quietly, leaving his parents alone in the living room to discuss what to do about the situation.

He climbed the stairs with great effort, each step that led him closer to his bedroom weighing him down heavily until he had to drag himself into the room. He closed the door behind him and flopped into his bed, not bothering to take off his still wet and dirty clothes, letting it smudge his bedsheets with dirt.

All of a sudden, he chuckled wryly, only now realizing the similarities between tonight and yesterday night. What he did the moment he stepped into the room was practically a repeat of yesterday night’s events, an exact mirror image. He smiled sardonically, finding the situation humorous but also a bit sad.

Oh, who was he kidding, it wasn’t just a bit sad, it was downright pathetic.

He turned and laid on his side, eyes closing and mind slowly shutting down. He didn’t want to deal with his problems now. He would leave everything for next morning. The plans on restoring Van, the punishment he would receive from his parents, the pressure of giving up his stars to become a lawyer and live up to everyone’s expectations of him, the cold and empty feeling inside of him twisting around his heart like a boa constrictor. He left it all to be dealt with next morning because right now, he just wanted to sleep.

Luckily for him, the falling asleep part was easy. Unluckily for him, sleeping seemed to hold the same amount of stress for him as being awake did. The tension never drained away from his body, leaving his muscles aching the entire night, the pressure placed upon the house that affected him when he first stepped into the house seemed to be back, wrapping around his throat and crushing his windpipe and the dreams he was having quickly morphed into horrifying nightmares. He whimpered pitifully in his sleep.

He didn’t turn on the star projector that night.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks following ‘the incident’, as his family liked to call it, were nothing short of torture. No, they didn’t put him through hours of back-breaking hard labor or throw him in the dungeons to be whipped or anything, but they might as well have since his level of freedom was akin to that of a criminal. Every single day, he was locked in the house and cooped up in his room with a private tutor, forced to endure five hours of the older man droning on and on about Criminology and Police Science – his father majored in those when he was in law school, along with many, many others which he won’t waste time on reciting – while Tata pretended to pay attention.

He sighed, chewing absently at his pencil eraser as he flipped through the pages of the book he was given – Collier on Bankruptcy, how exciting – wondering if the five hours were over already. Discreetly, he took a peek at his wristwatch, groaning quietly when he saw that he still had less than half an hour left until the lessons were over.

This was the punishment that his parents came up with when he woke up, five hours of private sessions with a law professor, then a small thirty-minute break in which he could do whatever he wanted, after that, six hours of basic subjects like math and science with another teacher, a thirty-minute break again and to top it all off, he had to tag along on his father’s cases and follow him around all day – he was mostly sitting in the court room – while taking notes on everything he did, or as his father put it, ‘Watch how it’s done.’ And only after that was he allowed to go back home and rest his brain for tomorrow, which would basically be a repeat of the day before.

Needless to say, he was completely burnt out.

“-ata. Tata!” he was brought out of his thoughts by the sound of his professor calling his name and the sting of a textbook smacking the top of his head, making him yelp in surprise.

“Ow!” Tata looked up from the textbook he had been staring at for the past ten minutes, not noticing that he had been reading the exact same paragraph over and over again without any of it really sinking in, and stared into the scowling face of his law professor.

“Uh, I mean…yes, professor?” he put on his best polite smile, which didn’t do anything to placate the stern professor, judging by how his frown deepened even further.

“Tata...” the older man sighed, throwing him a look of immense exasperation, “When are ever going to learn how to pay attention? Get your head out of the clouds, boy!” he tapped the textbook in his hands lightly on Tata’s head again which, considering how heavy and big it was, didn’t do much to lessen the impact.

“Yes sir,” Tata mumbled, rubbing the tender spot on his head where the book had hit him, and returned his attention the book he was supposed to be reading. Unfortunately, it seemed that the older man wasn’t quite finished with his tirade yet and pressed onwards, despite Tata already having apologized and submitted to him.

“How do you ever expect to become a lawyer with this kind of attitude, boy?” he barked at him, crossing his arms and staring at him with an expression that said, ‘Well?’ Tata didn’t answer, merely ducking his head lower into his book until his face was only a hair’s breadth away from the pages, just barely brushing against the large blocks of text. He muttered a quiet ‘sorry, professor’ and tried his hardest to seem as absorbed as possible with the paragraph he was reading, hoping the older man would leave him alone.

“And another thing!” Goddamnit. “Stop apologizing so much, you have to be more assertive. Or else everyone’s just going to walk all over you. And that’s one of the-,” A loud succession of beeps resounded inside the room and Tata looked down, blushing when he saw that it was his own watch that was making the noise. He hastily disabled the alarm, ending the incessant beeping and looked up to the unamused face of his professor sheepishly.

“Sorry, sir, it’s time for my next lesson,” Tata said in a rushed tone, shoving all of his books into his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder, waiting patiently for the older to give him permission to leave. The professor eyed him scrutinizingly over the top of his glasses with pursed lips but eventually sighed, dismissing him with a wave of the hand. Tata grinned and scampered off, not wanting to waste even a minute of his precious thirty-minute break before his hell started again.

He dashed through the streets at full-speed, all of the buildings around him blending together like an oil painting due to how fast he was going, eager to get to his destination before he lost too much of the very little time he had. He ignored the piercing stares directed at him as he skidded to a halt in front of a shop, his shoes making a small mark on the concrete ground along with a high-pitched squeak of rubber. Panting slightly, but not enough to hinder his movements, he stepped into the nearly-empty store, the little bell hanging above the door jingling at his entrance.

“Well, good morning, Tata!” a man greeted him as soon as he came in, a big, always smiling, elf-like creature with kind, twinkling blue eyes and a warm, jolly voice. “Back again, I see?”

“As usual, Mr. Mouro,” he replied with a smile, walking up to the large, pointy-eared man at the counter, who let out a deep booming laugh.

“Your usual, I assume?” he raised an eyebrow, reaching for a plastic bag in the box by his feet. Tata nodded and he brought out a wooden scoop, shoveling a generous number of blueberries into the bag until it was filled three-quarters of the way with just enough space at the top to tie into a knot, just in case he wanted to save it for later.

“Thanks, Mr. Mouro,” he accepted the bag from the fruit-shop owner, handing him his money in return. He turned his back on the man and started to make his way out of the store, clutching the plastic bag in his hands in a tight grip, a giddy smile on his face.

“You’re welcome, my boy,” he dropped the money into the cash register, closing it screech of metal against metal. He waved goodbye to Tata, face still set in that permanently friendly smile, “Come again soon!”

Exiting the store with another jingle, he located the nearest unoccupied bench and sat down, ignoring the sharp sting of cold he got from the frost-covered seat. With a content sigh, he reached into the bag and picked a single blueberry, mouth watering at the mere sight of it.

Tata always had a strange little obsession with blueberries. He could barely get through a day without them. It just had a kind of calming effect on him, not to mention he had the biggest sweet tooth ever. It was a bit expensive, considering how hard it was to come by, but thankfully, the owner of the fruit shop was kind enough to give him a discount, since he was a loyal customer.

He popped one in his mouth happily, relishing the feeling of the round berry bursting in his mouth and the cool, sweet liquid flowing down his throat, soothing its soreness after being forced to recite five entire pages of solid text, word for word. He let out a pleased sigh, already feeling his tension draining when suddenly, a voice called his name in the distance, destroying any hopes of having a peaceful break. His eye twitched in irritation, but he quickly concealed it, smoothing his face out into the grim, no-nonsense face that everyone knew him by.

“Hey, Tata!” a boy around his age appeared in front of him, flocked on either side by two other boys. The boy who called him looked like a living plant, with his light green skin, leaves and flowers tangled together making up his hair and vines curling around his arms and legs like snakes, little flower buds on the verge of blooming on the end of every vine and sparkling emerald green eyes. The other two boys consisted of a shy and timid-looking ghost in a scarf and beanie and half-tiger boy with fangs, whiskers and black and orange stripes covering him from the top of his head to the tip of his tail.

“Hello, Luse,” he greeted the plant-like creature, “Yul, Tora,” he nodded at the two others who nodded back. “What brings you here?”

“Well,” Luse began cheerfully, the other two still silent. He was always the first to speak in their little group, the other two just tended to follow whatever he was doing, “We were on our way to the arcade but then we saw you and then we just had come by and say hi, y’know?” he slung an arm around Tata’s shoulder’s in a friendly manner. “And if you’re not too busy, can I ask you a favor?”

Tata froze, not liking where this was going. Whenever Luse, or anyone else for that manner, asked him for a favor, it always ended up being ‘that’. Tata eyed him suspiciously, hoping that this would just be another help-me-with-my-homework request or even a can-I-borrow-some-money request and not a favor asking him to use that. He was wrong, of course.

“Can you let us see your power again?” his eyes lit up in excitement, nearly vibrating in his spot eagerly. Tata let out a quiet sigh that went unnoticed by the others, his hopes dashed. “I mean, I know I’ve asked to see it a million times before but I just can’t get enough of it, it’s so cool!” he babbled on with abandon, “It’s way better than this lame plant power I have,” he did a little gesture with his hand and the dandelion growing by the sidewalk grew exponentially, the stem elongating and reaching up in the air, twirling and doing tricks, manipulated by Luse’s nimble fingers.

“All I can do is control plants and make them grow, how is that useful?” he scowled and made a sharp movement with his hand, ripping the dandelion from the concrete ruthlessly, roots and all, and tossing it somewhere else. The scowl disappeared in an instant though, and Tata almost got whiplash from how fast the boy’s moods changed, from irritated to happy in an instant.

“So, pleeeeaase?” he pleaded with him, fully-equipped with puppy eyes, clasping his hand in front of him in a bow. Tata sweated nervously, not sure if he had the heart to refuse the poor boy’s request now that he had targeted Tata’s secret weakness. He sighed resignedly, knowing that he would never win against Luse, and complied.

“Fine,” he muttered and Luse jumped in the air gleefully with a squeal. A group of nearby wildflowers exploded in a mess of floating petals and leaves, reflecting Luse’s happiness. None of them flinched, already used to Luse’s powers going out of control spontaneously when his emotions got too strong. Tata paid no mind to the rush of wind grazing his ankles and the flower petals pooling around his feet, instead focusing on the power Luse had very much wanted to see.

Closing his eyes, he inhaled and exhaled deeply, shaking his limbs to get his blood flowing and to make what he was about to do easier. He could feel the little ball of power in his gut grow steadily bigger and bigger until it was pooling around in his stomach and slowly entering his veins, travelling to the rest of his body. He let the power coil around his bones, organs and muscles lightly, much like the vines around Luse’s arms, holding them captive in a tight but gentle grip, like a stern mother. Taking a deep, calming breath, he braced himself for what was about to follow.

The soft hold the power had on him quickly morphed into a crushing, vise-like grip. The power intertwined with his bones applied ten times the amount of pressure it had previously, breaking every single one of the bones in his body in half, one after the other at barely even one second intervals, starting from the top of his head to his feet. Tata tried his best not to scream in pain as the previously broken bones mended back together differently, some elongating, some appearing out of nowhere, some disappearing entirely. All of the bones in his body shifted under his skin uncomfortably, stretching his flesh like taffy but not quite tearing it, which was sort of worse since it caused him the most amount of pain possible without granting him the relief of bleeding to death, or at least into unconsciousness, whichever came first.

He prepared for the most painful part of the transformation. He didn’t do this part much, preferring to keep his head and face the same since it was usually the hardest to bear but why not go out with a bang, right? Breathing in to calm himself down and stifling a whimper, he let the power inside his body spread to his head and around his heart-shaped skull. With one final order to the power, it crushed his cranium and molded it into a more human-like shape, much smaller than it previously was. And with it being smaller, of course his brain was squeezed and jostled for a bit, almost making Tata cry out at the horrible feeling he was experiencing because of it. It felt someone had jabbed an icepick right between his eyes and hit the back of his head repeatedly with a hammer, it didn’t take long for him to figure out that he had the beginnings of a headache knocking at his door.

Finally, he opened his eyes again, having already gone through the worst of the transformation, his power still putting on the finishing touches on his appearance for more detail. He locked eyes with the shocked-looking Luse, who immediately began jumping around, whooping.

“This is so cool!” Luse squealed as he looked at the exact mirror image of himself standing right in front of him, same height, same green skin, same flowers and leaves and same eyes. Tata smiled back weakly at him, a vine growing from his shoe and twisting around his ankle like a spiral staircase and the color green spreading to the tip of his fingertips. Luse ‘ooh-ed’ at it before reaching up and petting Tata’s new hair in child-like fascination, trying to see if the flowers were real. Tata decided to humor him by copying every single action the other made with a completely straight face until Luse collapsed in a fit of giggles.

“It’s awesome!” Luse exclaimed, stars shining in his eyes, “What do you call it even? I’d try to name it something cool, like a superpower.”

“Uh, I didn’t really think about a cool name for it, usually I just call it Alter since, you know, I’m altering my appearance,” he said awkwardly. The name had popped into his head a few years ago, so he just stuck with it for now.

“Ooh, I like the name, sounds like an official power and everything,” he nodded vigorously. He was a comic book enthusiast and an all-around honest person, so at least Tata knew that he wasn’t lying about that.

“So, where are you off to now?” Luse changed the subject, finishing his inspection of his copy.

“Well, I’m going to go meet my tutor in a bit for my lessons, I was on my break when you came,” Tata’s mood instantly soured, being reminded of his meet-up with his teacher. Luse didn’t seem to notice his face falling, only nodding at his answer.

“Oh yeah, I almost forgot,” Luse snapped his fingers in realization, “You wanted to be a lawyer, right?”

Tata tensed, “Well…” he trailed off, not having the guts to say that he actually didn’t.

“You already have your life planned out, eh? That’s smart, I don’t even know what I want to do, gardening maybe?” Luse scoffed at himself self-deprecatingly, “That’s all I’m good for.” Tata frowned, ready to protest against his last statement, but Luse had already bounced back from his brief bout of bitterness, smiling at Tata.

“You’re amazing, Tata, really,” he said off-handedly, not noticing the way Tata blushed at his praise. “Even at this age, you’re thinking about your future, you’re so much more mature than most of us already.”

‘No, not really. I don’t even want to become a lawyer. I just want to leave this godforsaken planet forever,’ he argued back, even though he said this in his mind and not out loud where others would be able to hear him. ‘I’m not mature, I’m the complete opposite,’ Tata sighed inaudibly, Luse still talking in the background. He turned his attention away from his thoughts and back to the blabbering Luse.

“I wish that I knew what I wanted to-,” A steady rhythm of beeps broke through his chatter. Luse looked down to his watch, “Oh, dang. Sorry, Tata, we need to go, see you later though,” Luse gave him an apologetic grin which Tata waved off. The green-skinned boy started to turn and walk away, flanked by Yul and Tora, but stopped and twisted his head around to face Tata.

“One final piece of advice, my grandfather used to tell me this all the time,” Luse smiled softly at the questioning Tata.

“Don’t just follow your dreams, Tata, chase after them.”

And with that, they were gone. Leaving behind a shaken Tata alone in the street with only a forgotten bag of blueberries for company. He stared after them blankly, even after their backs had long since disappeared in the distance. Eventually, after his legs had gotten a bit shaky from standing up for too long, he sat back down on the cold bench with his blueberries in hand.

Luse’s words replayed in his mind like a broken tape recorder. ‘Don’t just follow your dreams, chase after them. Don’t just follow your dreams, chase after them. Don’t just follow your dreams, chase after them.’ Again and again, hovering around his head like a buzzing bee.

‘It’s not that simple…’ he thought to himself, a hint of bitterness seeping into his expression as he smiled sadly. ‘I can’t even follow my dreams, much less chase after them and I can’t do anything about it…’ He knew that Luse didn’t mean to shake him up so badly, he probably meant it in the nicest way possible. It was Tata’s fault for blowing it out of proportions, like he always does. Even so, the words still stung. With another sigh, something that had become almost a constant nowadays, he plucked a blueberry from inside the bag and popped it inside his mouth.

The blueberries tasted bitter in his mouth.

He tied the top of the plastic bag containing his blueberries into a knot and tucked it into the front pocket of his backpack, standing up from the bench and trudging his way through the ankle-deep blanket of snow which had accumulated rapidly during the short time he’d been talking to the three boys from before. Careful not to jostle his bag too much so as to not crush the fragile berries inside of it, he moved slowly and silently through the crowded streets, not attracting any unnecessary attention due to his scarf and beanie concealing his identity.

He took the long way to this tutoring center, not taking any of his usual shortcuts that he knew would let him arrive half as fast, wanting to milk the rest of his five minutes of free time for all its worth. He strolled leisurely along the large lake of sparkling blue, reveling in the naturally tranquil effect it had on anyone who so much as glances at it. Ah, how he wishes he could just jump in and drift along in it for a little while, god knows he needs it.

The smile slipped off his face as the cold and no-nonsense vibe of the tutoring center hit him, combined with the sight of his tutor drinking coffee through the window. His eyes were dull as he walked in through the large double-doors and towards his designated room. Fortunately, no one had noticed him, thanks to the group of loud teenagers fooling around in the middle of the room.

He rapped his knuckles against the door, sliding it open without waiting for a reply from the other end. His teacher hated wasting time, after all. He scurried over to his desk quickly, mumbling a meek, “Good morning, Mr. Mouro,” to the man at the front of the room, who hummed in acknowledgement, nose buried in his newspaper.

Tata spread out all of his books on the desk and pretended to be engrossed in his math worksheet, tapping his pen impatiently as he waited for his teacher to say the words that would jumpstart his plan. He didn’t have to wait long, soon the sound of his teacher sipping his coffee ceased and Tata looked up automatically.

“Tata, will you get me another cup of coffee, please?” Like clockwork.

Tata schooled his face into a neutral expression as he walked retrieved the cup from the teacher’s desk and went to the back of the room where the coffee maker was. He patted the pocket of his pants, pleased to feel a small bump on it which meant he didn’t forget his package at home. He casually took it out after making sure his teacher wasn’t looking his way and unwrapped it, revealing a small glass vial filled with a clear liquid.

He placed the cup on his teacher’s desk, filled with coffee and laced with a little something else. The teacher took it without question and Tata smirked.

Ten minutes later, there was a thud of something hitting wood and Tata looked at his teacher. The older man’s head was laid facedown on the wood in a comical way that almost made Tata snort, if it wasn’t for the fact that he might wake the other up.

Chloral hydrate. Otherwise known as a sleeping syrup that could potentially land him in jail if he wasn’t careful enough.

You might be thinking that this is a tad bit too much for a day off but honestly…yes, yes it was, he can’t deny that. But he’s been exhausted these past few days, so his mind isn’t exactly the most stable it can be right now, he’ll admit.

He shook his head. Never mind that, he didn’t have time to ponder the consequences of drugging his teacher right now, he has work to do.

Taking out the math worksheet he was supposed to be working on during the tutoring session, he then proceeded to copy all of the answers on the cheat sheet he had prepared beforehand onto it. Not the most ethical way of dealing with homework but, as he said, he wasn’t really thinking straight at the moment.

It didn’t take him long to complete all of the work he was assigned, after all, it was just circling either A, B, C or D, how hard could it be when you already have all the answers prepared? Within five minutes, he was packing his bags and leaving his sedated teacher behind as he snuck out of the building undetected.

He walked away from the building calmly and broke into a run as soon as he turned the corner. He was thankful that there was a big event on the other side of town that left the streets completely empty – bar the tutoring center because if there was one thing his town valued, it was knowledge – since there was no one around to witness his mad dash to the bus stop, nor his brief jump of joy. There he sat, practically vibrating in his seat with excitement as he waited for the bus that would lead him back to Zone V and for the first time in what felt like forever, Tata smiled.

“Good to see you again,” the bus driver – the same bus driver that drove him back home last time – said, a smile playing on his lips as he tipped his hat towards Tata.

“Long time no see, Mr. Bus Driver, when was the last time I saw you? Yesterday?” Tata handed him a wad of money and sat down on the seat nearest to the man so that he could talk to him easily.

“Yep, as always.” Tata chuckled. “I still don’t understand why you insist on going to this village every day. I mean, not many people even live there. Most of it is just a forest.”

“I just like visiting all these isolated places, that’s all. Everyone needs alone time.”

The driver snorted. “Especially you, with all those creepy fans following you around all the time.”

“Exactly.”

The conversation died down after that, filling the bus with a comfortable silence. This was what Tata liked most about these bus rides, it was devoid of the usual noise of everyday life. No cars honking, no drunken people arguing about nothing on the sidewalk, no frustrated drivers yelling at each other in traffic, nothing. Just the quiet whirring of an engine and classical music filtering through the radio.

Tata was glad that he was the only passenger in the bus, it saved him the trouble of having to deal with a full-on interrogation like last time. Then again, not many people wanted to go to a quiet, out-of-the-way place like Ti Fylakí Tou Van. Heck, not many people even knew such a place existed, so he didn’t have to worry about anyone barging in on him at Zone V. Except for the villagers, but he’s never even seen them so he assumes that they won’t mind if he’s there. Plus, he’s almost done with his little project, there’s no way he’s letting them kick him out before he’s done.

His project being the giant robot he’d stumbled upon a few weeks back. He’s been working tirelessly on restoring the robot and he was proud to say that he’d made excellent progress on it. That was the main reason he was skiving off his lessons – the other reason being that he just didn’t to, but he’s never going to admit that. Sure, drugging an authority figure might be going a bit far but how else is he going to find the time to work on it? His schedule is packed enough as it is and he’s one hundred percent sure that his parents won’t be letting him go off on his own again after his stunt last week.

It was pretty hard trying to find the materials needed to fix up Van though. Heck, it was near impossible to find chloral hydrate anywhere without a doctor’s permit, but thankfully he managed to find someone who was willing to sell it to him. Never mind the fact that that he was required to meet said person in a dark alleyway in order to buy it. That was weird.

He’d gotten a pretty good deal on equipment too, from the same person who sold him the chloral hydrate even. He wonders occasionally if his methods of getting supplies were legal or not, but hey, it’s not like any sane adult would sell this kind of stuff to a kid.

It wasn’t hard hiding the materials from his parents, he merely went on a quick trip to the forest right after his purchase and dumped all of it there. He’s certain that no one except him enters the wooded area so it’s pretty safe.

Now I can hear your skepticism, how can he fix the robot up just like that? You’re forgetting the fact that he’s Tata, logic doesn’t apply to him. If he wants something done, he’ll get it done, one way or another. Besides, who do you think built his star projector and his disco ball slash jumpsuit? Him, or course. Do you really think his parents would let him buy those things willingly? Don’t make him laugh.

The trip went by in a flash thanks to the driver, who seemed to think that if only him and Tata were on the bus, he could break every single traffic law on the planet. Hey, it’s not like Tata’s complaining, it cut his trip time in half so more fun time for him.

Should he be worried that legality doesn’t seem to be a problem for him anymore? Probably.

He bid the Mr. Bus Driver goodbye – he really needs to ask for his name later – and hopped off the bus, watching as the large vehicle zoomed through the lanes in ways it should not be scientifically able to do, knocking down it’s fair share of stop signs along the way. He belatedly ponders how that man had gotten a driver’s license, let alone a license to carry passengers.

Pushing that out of his mind for the time being, he starts his long trek through the forest, the directions to the waterfall ingrained into his reflexes already from the sheer amount of times he’s traveled the twisting, maze-like path. This time, there are no strange mysterious voices to guide him, he has to depend entirely on himself now that the voice disappeared.

He wonders where he’s gone off to, he promised that he’d be back but Tata hasn’t heard a peep from him in weeks. It’s like he’d completely vanished off the face of the planet. But he’s not worried, no, he’s far from it. The voice sounds like a capable person, he’s sure that whatever he might’ve landed himself in, he’d be able to take care of it easily. He sounds like the type of guy to do that.

He waltzed into Zone V with a light heart, completely in his element now that he’s entered his favorite place in the entire world. Too lazy to swim across the lake, he stretched his legs into a rubber band-like version of stilts and propelled himself towards the cave, disregarding the painful sensation that spread across his entire lower half afterwards.

His legs snapped back into place in mid-air after he passed the wall of water covering the cave entrance and he somersaulted in front of Van, ending his spontaneous gymnastics routine with a bow, not sure who exactly he was trying to show off to.

He got started immediately after that, retrieving all of his supplies from the blanket he stored them under as a weak protection against the cold weather. He’d already finished re-painting Van’s entire body, making the robot look good as new, and he’d also finished replacing all the rusted or broken parts using all the metal he’d found in the hidden goldmine that was the town’s junkyard. Now, all that’s left to do was to rewire all the frayed and damaged ones inside him and he’d be perfect!

Rewiring was a tedious job, it required him to spend nearly an hour inside the robot where it was practically an oven that was roasting him alive, not to mention that all the – probably toxic – fumes were getting to him.

Ah well, at least there was this one place inside the robot that wasn’t all hot and stuffy. On the contrary, it was actually pretty comfy. It was inside Van’s head and it seemed to be the control room or something. There were all these big screens and speakers inside, plus a million buttons and levers that Tata didn’t dare touch in fear of accidentally triggering the robot’s self-destruct mode.

Still, he’s sure Van wouldn’t like the inside of his head to look so dark and dreary so he figured that a couple of bean bags or pillows wouldn’t hurt to brighten it up a bit. He resolved to bring the softest and fluffiest pillows he could find and dump them in every corner of the compartment. Maybe even a fan when it became too warm inside.

He wiped the sweat forming on his brow and climbed out of the robot, finally – finally – done with all the rewiring. He has to say, Van doesn’t look half bad. Seeing the robot standing proudly after its been beaten down so badly before gave him a feeling of immense satisfaction and, with a smirk shamelessly displaying smugness, he went inside the control room to wake the robot up.

He’d found a button in the room weeks ago that took nearly all of his willpower to not push, especially with it being large, shiny and red, the ultimate combination. It also had the word ‘Go’ on it, which made it all the more difficult for him. But, finally, now that he’s repaired Van, he’s earned the right to push it.

And push it he did. Shortly after his hand made contact with the button, all the screens in front of him lit up simultaneously, forcing him to cover his eyes from the brightness. Eventually, his momentary blindness faded and he looked around the room in wonder.

He could finally see the room properly, now that the lights were on, and he’s got to say, it looked awesome. He could feel a grin spreading the longer his eyes roamed.

The walls were split into two colors just like the outside and but the floors were tiled and in a black and white checker pattern. Oh, he could only imagine the fun he would have if he ever got friends together to play a giant game of chess. Too bad he didn’t have any friends. Hm, oh well.

He ran his hands over the intricate patterns over the walls, a series of overly-complicated shapes and letters in a language that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. The dome-shaped ceiling wasn’t even really a ceiling, it displayed clear blue skies and wisps of clouds moving here and there from a large television screen. It seemed as if there wasn’t a screen at all and that the heavens were bared before him in all its natural beauty. He wonders if there was an option to choose what the screen displayed so he could play sunsets and night skies, maybe even a movie if it wasn’t such a hassle to crane his head upwards just so he could look at it. There probably was a button for it, this robot literally had everything you could imagine and more.

He shook his head. He doesn’t have time for this, he can explore it later. Right now, he had to greet his newest friend. He climbed out of the robot and jumped down, landing in front of the slowly awakening robot. There was a dim light shining from the machine’s eyes, gradually brightening like a newborn baby trying to open his eyes for the first time. He could feel his giddiness growing with every purr and growl his engine released, with every creak and groan of his metallic limbs, with every ding and beep of his computerized brain. He was nearly vibrating in his spot when suddenly all the noises stopped. Van moved his head downwards, looking straight at the awestruck boy.

The line representing Van’s mouth lit up. Tata held his breath.

“Hello, master. I am Van.”