Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“This universe is broken...”

“Alright kids,” a Japanese man by the name of Nakadai clapped his hands, beaming at his students. “School is over for the day. You can all go home!”

The red-haired white boy, too absorbed in his book to hear the other children rush out of the classroom, remained at his desk. His hazel eyes took in every word on the pages. A book of magic, knights, dragons, and other fantastical creatures. He always carried it with him.

“Shawn,” Nakadai said, his voice gentle. “It’s time to go home.”

Shawn looked up at Nakadai, hazel eyes meeting dark brown eyes. The classroom’s emptiness soon dawned on Shawn, and he slowly closed his book, grinning sheepishly.

“Good night, Mr. Nakadai,” Shawn stuffed the book into his backpack and rushed out of the classroom. His white sneakers tapped against the yellow tiles, the large green doors just up ahead. Maybe if he was fast enough, he could make it home without another incident.

Ever since his family had come to this small, developing colony on a planet that rested at the very edge of Galactic Federation-controlled space, hardly anything had been pleasant for him. Even so, he tried to find the little joys where he could, for however much that actually meant.

Most of the children and adults had already cleared out. He quickened his pace. Perhaps they had already left, and if they hadn’t, perhaps he would be fast enough this time...

“Hey Shawn!”

Shawn’s blood turned cold as ice upon hearing the other boy’s voice. He ran even faster, towards the doors that held his salvation. He envisioned flying through them and into the sky above, far, far away from the other kids.

“Hey, wait up!” Another one of the bullies called out, her voice louder than the previous boy’s. Gripping the railing, Shawn jogged down the stairs and then resumed his frantic run across the grass yard.

For a moment, Shawn realized that he could make it. The bullies’ shouting got quieter, as safety came within his reach. He risked looking behind him, an option that came with immediate consequences. He tripped over a rock and tumbled into the grass and dirt. He struggled under the weight of his backpack to get back to his feet, but the bullies had caught up to him.

“Oh come on, Shawn, why don’t you want to play?” The oldest and meanest of the bullies, Dexter, looked down at Shawn with a horrible grin on his face and an equally awful glint in his blue eyes. Shawn had seen that face one too many times, and they were at eye level as Dexter pulled him up to his feet. “It’s not the same without you!”

“Leave me alone Dexter!” Shawn cried, squirming in the older boy’s grasp. A desperate sob of terror left his throat. “I just wanna go home!”
Dexter rolled his eyes. “Oh come on Shawn, you act like we’re stopping you or something.”

An uncharacteristic wave of bravery, or perhaps just a surge of no longer caring, coursed through Shawn’s veins. “Um... You kinda are?”
Regret immediately set in as Dexter gave him a death glare that could have burned a whole tree to cinders. Dexter shoved him aside, grabbing his backpack and carelessly reaching in and throwing things out.

“S-stop it!” Shawn wailed, trying to pull the backpack out of Dexter’s grasp. Dexter tightened his grip, wrenching it from Shawn’s hold and turning it upside down. Books, homework, pencils, and a tablet all fell onto the grass with a loud thud.

“Geez, you still read this thing?” One of the other bullies picked up the fairytales book. “That’s for babies!”

Shawn reached for the book, but the girl threw it to the ground and stomped on it, the other kids joining in and tearing it to pieces. He snatched the tablet and homework from the pile before they could be destroyed, but his teary eyes rested upon the ruined book.

Before he got the chance to start running again, Dexter swiped the tablet and homework from his hands, scattering the latter across the ground. Shawn dove to retrieve his tablet again, saving it from being crushed a second time. “Please, stop it!”

“Oh, did you need that?” Dexter grinned, pressing the papers deeper into the mud. “Too bad! Aww, are you gonna cry? Are you gonna-“
Dexter yelped, an eraser bouncing off his shoulder.

“Okay, who threw that?!” Dexter growled, clenching his fists and turning around. His green eyes lit up in fury when he saw the white girl with golden hair and crystal blue eyes staring back at him, holding her green backpack in front like a mighty shield.

“Oh look!” Another child started to laugh. “It’s just Sammy! Here to save the day!”

“It’s Samus!” She shot back with as much force as her six year old self could muster. Her backpack did nothing to hide her shivering, but she glared at them all anyway.

The bullies all burst into laughter.

“You’re so funny, Sammy!” The same girl held herself from laughing too much. “You should see the look on your face!”

“I don’t care who you are,” Dexter marched towards her and raised a fist. “If you mess with me, you’re gonna regret it!”

Samus screamed, dropping her backpack and sprinting away from Dexter. She frantically looked around the schoolyard for any adults, but none could be found. Which meant she’d have to get herself and that other child out of this mess on her own.

It began to dawn on her, as mud splashed against her green shirt and yellow pants, that she hadn’t thought this through at all.

“Get back here!” Dexter charged after her, quickly eliminating the distance between them. He reached a hand out to grab her by her shirt, but she whirled around and leapt up, punching him right on the nose. Shrieking, he stumbled and fell backwards onto the grass, clutching his nose.

Silence fell upon Dexter’s minions, like Samus had felled a giant.

Taking in hurried breaths, Samus cast one last glance at Dexter and rushed over to Shawn. She winced at the ruined papers, pencils, the book... “Are you okay?”

She knew he wasn’t. She felt like she should ask anyway.

“I’m... I’ll be okay...” Shawn said through a sob, putting what he could back into his backpack. “T-thank you...”

Samus smiled a bit, going to retrieve her own backpack and then walking back to him, keeping an eye on the bullies all the while. Shawn stayed close, looking at her like she was a knight in shining armour worthy of his now lost book. Samus looked back at him, confused. She’d never seen someone look at her in gratitude before. What do I do?

For Shawn, he hadn’t felt this excited to be around another kid since his family moved to K-2L. He and Samus were in different classes, though he had heard stories about her from the other students and teachers. It didn’t get past him that the adults mostly complained, but he couldn’t see why they would. He had only known Samus for a few minutes, but already she’d become his favorite person.

“There she is, Miss Bennett!” They suddenly heard one of the bullies yell, and they turned to see him pointing towards Samus accusingly. One of the teachers, a white woman with a scowl seemingly permanently etched upon her face, stood beside him. Making sure she was looking at them, he continued, “She punched Dexter in the face!”

Bennett, unlike Nakadai, didn’t keep herself from playing favorites. And both Samus and Shawn were not on her list of favorites.

“Is this true, Samus?” Bennett asked, straightening her purple jacket and looking like she’d rather be anywhere else.

Samus held her tongue for a moment. How am I going to explain this? I was just helping Shawn.

“Yes, I did, but I...” She trembled, the rest of her words dying in her throat when she saw Bennett frowning.

“And why did you do that?” Bennett crossed her arms.

Samus froze, her brain shutting down and unable to save her. “Because... He... I...”

“Because he’s been bullying me for weeks and you don’t help!” Shawn screamed, his voice strangled from the tears that lingered. “You don’t do anything!”

Bennett didn’t appear moved in the slightest. She looked over at Dexter, who was still clutching his nose. “Dexter, is that true?”

Dexter had been rehearsing for such a moment. He put out the fakest sobs imaginable. “M-Miss Bennett... Shawn tripped, and I was just trying to help him up, when Samus ran up to me and punched me!”

“He’s lying!” Samus and Shawn both yelled.

Dexter’s story was music to Bennett’s ears, and she ignored Samus and Shawn’s denial.

“Samus, I’m afraid I’m going to have to call your parents and tell them what happened,” Bennett didn’t sound sorry at all. “I’m so disappointed in you, and I know they will be, too. Especially your father. You should know better.”

Feeling overly pleased with herself, Bennett walked off. Dexter gave Samus and Shawn a smug smile before following Bennett.

Looking at each other for a moment, Samus and Shawn screamed in unison.

Samus wished the planet itself would swallow her up. Anything to get away from her current situation.

She avoided eye contact with her parents and with her younger brother, instead staring at her glass of water. She felt Rodney glaring at her, and she knew that Virginia felt only concern. Solomon? Too busy eating to even cast her a quick glance.

Her young mind screamed at her to speak, to do anything, but she remained frozen in place. Virginia would likely believe her if she explained what really happened, however she knew nothing mattered to Rodney. She didn’t know when or why it had started, but Rodney had resolved to himself to never imply he even liked her.

“So, any reason you attacked another student?” Rodney spoke in the only tone he ever used towards Samus; barely hidden contempt. “You know we’ve talked about this.”

They’d talked about it many times. Mostly Rodney just talked and didn’t let Samus say anything.

“Dexter is mean,” Samus said the first thing that came to her mind. “He and his friends were bullying Shawn, and I just wanted to help... But then Dexter came after me, and... I...”

Samus looked at Solomon, and he stared back. She wouldn’t get any help from him, but she didn’t expect him to help, either. But Rodney looked angry as he always did. His light brown eyes spoke everything he never actually said even when he wanted to.

“And you thought that made it okay to just punch him?” Rodney questioned, not unlike an interrogator on some detective show she’d seen Virginia watch now and then.

“No...” she replied in a smaller voice, sinking into her chair. “But I just wanted to...”

“What do you think she should have done, Rodney?” Virginia spoke up, having sat there feeling her own rage build up, not directed at Samus but at Rodney instead. Her own ocean blue eyes burned into Rodney’s side, as he didn’t meet her gaze.

Virginia and Rodney weren’t alike in any meaningful way. Samus assumed they must have gotten along well at some point, but she didn’t think she’d ever seen that herself.

“Why should that matter?” Rodney held on to his anger, but still didn’t dare look at Virginia. “She shouldn’t have hit him. That’s it. End of story.”
Rodney ran the Afloraltite mine that the colony at K2-L was established for. Virginia ran the security force that safeguarded the mine and the people. They rarely saw each other, except at nights like this. Always arguing. Usually over her.

“What would the alternative be?” Virginia gritted her teeth, looking at Rodney differently. Angrier. “That Dexter hits her instead? Have you ever seen that child and his friends?”

“Why are you encouraging her?” Rodney finally looked at her, glaring.

“Because someone has to actually get to the root of the problem,” Virginia said plainly, “since you don’t actually care enough to bother.”

Rodney grumbled, directing his gaze back to Samus. All that mattered to him was that Samus wouldn’t repeat any of this again. He didn’t care how it stopped, only that it did. He prided himself on running a smooth operation with the mine, but what worked there just didn’t work outside of it, and he couldn’t understand why. Why did Samus and Solomon, but especially Samus, have to make the mundane things so much more complicated?

Samus chose to tune the world out, nibbling on some bread. She heard Virginia and Rodney still talking, but their voices had become incomprehensible mumbles as she retreated further into herself. She noticed Solomon beginning to cry in the corner of her eye, but she couldn’t bring herself to face him. Numbness overtook her emotional state.

All she had wanted to do was help Shawn. How did it go so wrong?

A few minutes had past, feeling like an eternity. The voices around her were still muffled, the plate and glass were empty, and she wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and cry. When she was sure no one would notice, she slipped away and ran to her bedroom.

She pushed the door to her bedroom open, looking out the window beside her bed. She saw the starry night sky, wishing for a moment that she be among those stars. She had seen pictures of spaceships and watched spaceships land further out of town, but she’d never been on one. She wished she could see the stars in one every night, wondering what lie within them all.

A yawn escaped her, and she climbed into her bed. She allowed herself to forget about Virginia, Rodney, and Solomon. The sun had gone to sleep and so would she.

Crawling under the covers, she grabbed a nearby plush and held it close. It was a golden eagle plush, which numerous accidents and hasty repairs had added patches of red, blue, and green to. Its orange beak had become hollow from being flattened one too many times, which only added to the disaster-ridden appearance. It also possessed a clear button where one of its eyes used to be.

Samus named it Carter and it was her greatest friend in the whole universe.

Whenever Samus got upset, Carter waited for her and the comfort it gave always proved sweeter than candy. She never had a bad dream with it by her side, and so she kept it close every night. If it ever disappeared, she knew she’d be lost, doomed to dream of monsters that spoke in the voices of people she knew, like her father.

But with her world currently thanks to Carter’s presence, she drifted off to sleep.

Samus found herself in a blissful world of bright colours and infinite mysteries.

Stars and nebulae of all colours painted the black sky, shining brightly. Space itself seemed like water instead of emptiness, and she swam with the grace of a dolphin in the sea. She had never seen a sea or ocean before and often wondered what they were like, but surely they couldn’t compare to this.

As she swam across space, she saw planets of all shapes and sizes, some of them shining like blue jewels and others were dusty red rocks. Some planets had shimmering rings of sparkling stones, and still others had vast collections of moons made up of rock, metal, and ice.

The nebulae moved like waves beckoned by the wind, showering the stars and planets with mists of red, gold, and purple. She found herself staring in awe as they weaved through space like leaves blown by the autumn wind, without a care in the entire universe.

She swam into one of the nebulae, its warmth enveloping her like a blanket while her blue eyes took in the beauty all around her. It’s like swimming in the clouds...

The red mist danced around her and she held her hand out, watching it slide in between her fingers. It felt warm to the touch.

She then discovered she had entered a dome made of the soothing red mist, seeing the starry sky peering inside from above. She swam forward, watching mist swirl into the shape of a large egg. Curiosity seized her and she moved in closer, staring at it in amazement.

She heard the sound of cracking eggshell, but the egg didn’t show a single fracture. Instead, the egg unwound like thread, revealing a creature hiding its face with wings made of fire. She cautiously pushed herself back, as the creature unfolded its wings and raised its head, revealing a brilliant phoenix.

The phoenix opened its eyes, a glowing white that took in every detail of the world it had emerged within. With a mighty flap of its wings, it moved away from the center of the dome, leaving her breathless at the sight. Terror gripped her alongside the fascination, and she hid behind a rising cloud of mist as the phoenix flew ever closer towards her.

Do phoenixes eat kids? She thought to herself. I’ve never met one before!

The phoenix flapped its wings again but stayed in place, blowing away the mist Samus had taken refuge in. Seeing her, it let out a delighted cry and flew over to her, folding its wings at its side and crooning.

“Who are you?” Samu asked, her voice echoing against the dome’s walls. The phoenix leaned its head to the side and looked at her curiously, blinking as it pondered the question. It then straightened itself, lowering its head to her eye level. She held perfectly still, feeling the heat of the flames against her skin. Yet, she didn’t burn.

“I’m me,” the phoenix answered, but the phoenix’s beak didn’t move. Instead, she heard the voice echo within her own head. “Me and you. You and me.”

She found that a confusing answer.

Virginia opened the door slowly, wincing at the loud creaking noise it made. It didn’t Samus, who was in too deep a sleep to hear anything outside of her own dreamworld. Closing the door behind her, Virginia’s gaze fell on the sleeping child and her tattered eagle plush.

I wonder what she’s dreaming about... Virginia thought, sitting down beside the bed and smiling. She picked up a picture by the lamp, looking it over like a precious artifact.

She saw herself, Rodney, Samus, and Solomon all standing together for a group picture. Samus looked like she had seen a spider and had been caught mid-scream, Solomon looked ready to fall asleep, Rodney appeared to be cringing, and Virginia herself was the only one giving a smile to the camera.

She set the picture back down on the table, sighing. She’d always been an optimist, she supposed. And always wanted to fight the battles other people couldn’t. Samus seemed to be the same way.

For what good it did.

Chapter Text

Today would be a good day, Samus knew it. It wasn’t a school day, which meant that she wouldn’t run into Dexter or his friends. With any luck, she wouldn’t see Bennett, either. It wasn’t a large town, but to Samus, it may as well have been a grand city with secrets yet to be found.

“It’s rainy out today,” Virginia said, her voice full of warmth. She smiled at Samus, that same warmth filling her heart. “Don’t forget your coat-“

Samus grabbed it and bolted out the door, leaving Virginia to shake her head.

“Well then, that’s fine,” Virginia said to herself in mock-hurt. “Go on. Abandon me.”

She turned her full attention back to the tablet in her hands. A visit from the Federation military in a few days, assorted chatter over trade disputes, whispers of Space Pirate and Kriken Empire activity in other sectors on the outer rim of Federation-controlled space.
Virginia rubbed her eyes. It would be another long day.

Outside, the gray clouds above promised rain. A biting chill hung in the air, but Samus didn’t notice it. Samus found herself looking up at the sky. She thought it was beautiful, even if it hid the sun.

Her distraction cost her, as she ended up running and crashing right into a strategically placed stack of cardboard boxes.

“Ow...” she rubbed her head, sitting on the sidewalk. The wind picked up, blowing the cardboard boxes across the street. The gust lifted one box up, sending it flying into an open window, prompting a scream of surprise from the person inside.

“Oops...” Samus winced, standing up and catching one of the boxes before the wind could lift it. Maybe if she retrieved enough of them and stacked them, whoever the owner was wouldn’t notice a thing. And besides, she made the mess to begin with. Only fair she cleaned it up, she thought.

One by one, she carefully built a mighty fortress of cardboard boxes, unable to stack them into a tower like they had been before. The wind pushed against them, but couldn’t carry off any into the horizon, so Samus considered the mission a success.

“Nobody will notice what happened for sure!” Samus clapped her hands together and ran off. The box fort fell apart the second she left, just in time for the owner to step outside and see them being blown away by the wind.

“My boxes!” He cried out in anguish, falling to his knees and burying his face in his hands. Nobody noticed.

For Samus, however, the day’s adventure had only just begun. There were so many other people who might need help. She could finally, finally prove she could be a productive member of K-2L society! Or something.

“Hello!” Samus said cheerily, startling a woman carrying several cans of fruit into nearly dropping them. “Can I help you?”

“Please don’t scare me like that!” she said, steadying herself and turning to look at Samus. “But if you’re sure, I suppose I could use some extra help...”

She realized in that moment who she was talking to. “Actually, never mind.”

“Are you sure?” Samus asked. A large stack of cans stood near them. It would take a long time for one person to carry them all.

“I’m positive!” The shopkeeper assured her, holding her cans to her chest. “You should... go play or something. Really. I'm fine here.”
Samus blinked, slumping her shoulders in defeat. “Okay...”

Confident that disaster had been averted, the shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief. She moved towards the door, only to trip over the cans on the ground and knock the stack over.

Samus tried to think of where she could actually go where she’d feel mostly welcome. She knew the way to the Afloraltite mines, but she also knew from experience that no one could go there except the people actually working on the mining project. Or her mother's security force.
She didn’t really want to see Rodney anyway. And he definitely wouldn't want to see her.

Raindrops began to fall, and Samus finally felt the chill. The town’s library stood just ahead, and she ran towards the doors. She didn’t have time to run anywhere else, and at the very least, this was the one place where she could just be.

Unfortunately, the door handles were just out of her reach. She jumped up, succeeding only in hanging from one the handles, unable to pull the door open.

“Here, let me help you with that,” a man said from behind her, picking her up and setting her down.

She looked up at the man with all the indignation a child could muster. He reminded her of Shawn, she realized after a moment. They even had the same eyes.

“I could have opened it!” Samus insisted, crossing her arms and continuing to glare at him.

“You looked like you needed some help,” the man shrugged. He opened the door, waiting for her to step inside. “And besides, I wanted to thank you for helping my son yesterday. He seemed so happy... even if Bennett wasn’t any help whatsoever. Oh, I’m Neil, by the way.”

Confusion filled Samus. She wasn’t used to being thanked for anything. Getting yelled at? Now that she was used to. The only adult who didn’t yell at her was Virginia.

“Go on ahead,” Neil said, his voice still calm. “No need to stand out in the rain.”

Samus stepped inside, quickly disappearing into the rows of books before Neil could say anything. At least they were both out of the rain, which had only gotten more intense. Outside, people rushed across the street and into other buildings, the roar of the rain drowning out all other sound.

The cherry red bookshelves, tall as they were, seemed much more daunting to Samus than the doors could ever hope to be. Fortunately, everything she wanted to look at was within her reach. If it involved birds or any type of technology, she wanted to know everything.

Though she did have to admit that books with photos of cute kittens were good too. K-2L didn’t have cats.

She wandered through the library, stopping when she noticed Shawn in the corner of her eye. He had his full attention on a book, and so he didn’t see her approach the table.

“Hi,” she said shyly, regretting it the instant Shawn looked up from the book and at her. They stared at each other for a moment until a smile crept upon his face. She smiled back, not knowing how else to react. She wasn’t used to being liked by other children either. Aside from Solomon, anyway.

“Hey,” Shawn replied, finally breaking the awkward silence. He still looked at her like some kind of superhero. “Do you wanna see this book? It’s really cool!”

It felt strange to her that he even offered, but she couldn’t find it in herself to refuse, either. “Yes!”

Samus hadn’t really tried to read books like it before, but she found herself drawn to the stories of knights, dragons, and wizards. Her imagination blossomed with each word and picture.

“Mom let me borrow this,” Shawn explained. “When I showed her what Dexter and his friends did to mine.”

“You really like this book, huh?” She asked.

Shawn eagerly nodded, lost within the book once again.

Is this what having a friend felt like? Samus didn’t really know, but whatever it was, she thought she could get used to it. She’d be his friend, if he wanted. She hoped he would.

“Hey Shawn, have you made a new friend?” Neil asked, walking over to them. He sat down at the table across from Shawn, a smile on his face and warmth sparkling in his green eyes.

“I did!” Nothing could wipe the smile off of Shawn’s face, and his happiness was infectious.

“That’s wonderful,” Neil said, “I’m happy for you.”

Samus noted that Neil was a lot nicer than Rodney. It must have been nice to have a father like him. If Rodney were here, he’d insist she’d go home before she could find some way to embarrass him. She learned, as soon as she could grasp such a concept, that his reputation meant everything to him. And somehow, for reasons she couldn’t understand, she threatened to undermine it.

She’d go home if he demanded it, if only to stay on his good side.

“...Hi...” she managed to say, unsure how Neil would respond to... anything. The nervousness around adults who weren’t Virginia rapidly overtook her. Normally she ignored it, but now that Neil seemed actually interested, she didn’t know what to do.

“You’re a good kid,” Neil stood up. “You and Shawn have fun, alright? I have to get back to work before your father notices I’m gone.”

“My mom’s the librarian here,” Shawn said as Neil walked away. “Dad comes to visit her every day. He works at the Afloor... Afloraaaaa..... Um. The mines.”

“...My dad’s in charge of that,” Samus winced. The thought of Neil being anywhere near the snap-monster that was Rodney made her deeply uncomfortable. “I’m sorry about your dad. He’s nice.”

“He says he doesn’t mind,” Shawn said, “and I’m glad I got to meet you!”

Samus could agree with that. “I’m happy I got to meet you, too.”

Reaching the final page of the fantasy storybook, Shawn closed it. “What kind of books do you like?”

Samus breathed in deep, barely able to contain her excitement at the question. She showed him all her favorite books about birds, technology, and cats. In return, he showed her other fantasy books. They shared books like this for what seemed like hours, struggling to keep their laughter down.

“I should be going home now,” Samus spoke up, looking outside and seeing the rain had stopped. She’d be away far too long. “Mom’s gonna be worried if I don’t go home soon.”

“I understand...” Disappointed filled Shawn’s every word, but hope quickly overtook it. “You think you can meet me here again tomorrow?”
Samus’ eyes lit up in excitement. “Yes I can!”

She moved to make a dash towards the doors, but instead crashed into a woman carrying a stack of books. The woman stumbled into one of the bookshelves, ending up buried under the books that fell. Samus stood back up, ready to apologize, until she realized the woman was Bennett, at which point she ran.

“Aran!” She heard Bennett yell as the door closed behind her, Shawn’s mother, June, having opened it for her.

Virginia leaned against the side of the security building, rubbing her eyes and trying to will away the growing headache.
“I didn't have a single problem until your family moved here!” Bennett shrieked, attempting to reduce Virginia to cinders by simply glaring at her. "Samus is going to be the death of me!"

“She’s not doing any of this on purpose,” Virginia sighed, deciding to look at her helmet instead of Bennett. She’d need to clean it later; her recent visit to the mines had covered it in dust. “And what happened at the library was an accident. She’s not targeting you, I promise.”
Bennett’s eye twitched. “So you’re not going to do anything about her behavior?”

“There’s nothing to do anything about,” Virginia replied. "I can talk to her about her homework and that's about the only thing I have any direct control over."

Bennett wanted to protest, but the look on Virginia’s face told her everything she needed to know. She’d get no help from Virginia.

“Oh, everything will be fine...” Bennett said quietly, like the calm before the storm. Her eyes met Virginia’s, alight with renewed fire while Virginia still gave her a gaze of complete indifference. “I’ll just go accept a job for transporting highly explosive materials through trade routes known for Space Pirate raids!”

She wouldn’t actually do that and Virginia knew it. Virginia raised her eyebrow, reaching for an energy drink can she had set on the ground when Bennett had arrived. “Sounds dangerous. I wouldn’t recommend that.”

“THIS IS WHAT YOUR DAUGHTER HAS DONE TO ME!” Bennett yelled in one last attempt to get a proper response from Virginia.

Virginia popped the can's lid open and took a big gulp. “Sorry to hear that. Now, if you don’t mind, as the captain of security here, I’ve got a lot of pressing matters to deal with. I need to get back to work.”

“Are you saying that my suffering isn’t important?!” Bennett blocked Virginia from walking away. “Are you implying that I’m wasting your time?!”

“Not what I said, Bennett,” Virginia walked past her anyway, tossing the now empty can into the trash can outside. She put her helmet back on. “I’ve heard what you have to say. Now please, let me do my job.”

Bennett stood there, watching Virginia walk back into the building. She grumbled, storming off.

“Okay everyone, you’ve probably heard by now that the Galactic Federation HQ is sending a transport ship with a military escort to pick up a shipment of Afloraltite tomorrow,” Virginia announced to the other guards inside. “You know the drill. Nobody goes in or out of the mines without my knowing, and no funny business. Clear?”

“Clear!” they all shouted as one.

“Good,” Virginia smiled at them underneath her helmet. “Now before they arrive, we still have a job to do. Keep the mines and town secure. Alert me to anything you find suspicious. Now go.”

The guards saluted. “Right away, Captain!”

Virginia watched them all disperse, her eyes drifting towards the purple and orange horizon, K-2L’s sun sinking behind the mountains. She felt a weight hang over her head, a feeling of impending doom. She had ordered these patrols the whole week, and each time her guards found no signs of sabotage or carelessness.

Yet she felt her skin crawling. Saw flickers of fire when she closed her eyes. Smelled the coppery scent of blood where there was none. Felt the pain of flames eating away at her and the agony of flesh rending in her nightmares.

“I should tell Rodney,” she mused, replacing the miniature power cells in her gun. “Maybe he can convince the Federation fleet to come here sooner... Before anything can happen.”

She shook her head. Rodney wouldn’t believe her. What love had been between them had waned long ago, and with it, the trust they shared. He had been complaining about the extra security at the mines all week as it was.

She’d have to trust that it would all be fine. She had complete faith in her guards’ abilities.

But will it be enough? The thought nagged at her.

A stack of papers and her tablet awaited her on her desk. She sighed, until she saw the tablet screen blink red.

“No, no, that can’t be right...” she gripped the tablet tightly, reading the message over and over again. The message remained the same. “They wouldn’t be that bold...”

The report, more of a rumour than anything else, had begun circulating around nearby planets several hours ago. Claims of a Space Pirate vessel seen nearby, and speculation that its destination was K-2L itself. Yet the report lacked visual evidence of any kind, only claims from small spaceships who's crews could have seen anything in the dark of space.

She couldn’t ignore this rumour, not when she had a planet to protect. But she wouldn’t be able to act on it without proof... and besides, surely the Federation fleet would have seen something by now? She had to hope.

But there was one thing she could do...

She swiped the message away, searching through her contact list and finding the lead engineer of the planetary defense project, Akemi Miyamoto. As her tablet flashed a ‘Please Wait’ message, she stared at the screen until Akemi’s face popped in.

“Yes, Captain Aran?” Akemi said in a tired voice, barely able to keep her eyes open. She held a coffee mug in one hand, and Virginia could tell that it wasn’t her first one. “What can I do for you?”

“I need to know your team’s progress on the defense satellites,” Virginia asked, mentally crossing her fingers. She hoped Akemi could tell her what she wanted to hear. “I know this sector of space is well-guarded, but this project should have been operational weeks ago.”

Akemi looked even more tired than before. “We keep running into complications. The satellites’ construction was finally completed a few days ago, as I said in my last report... But we’ve been unable to get them operational. It’s all experimental tech that’s only been tested on three other planets.... We’re suspecting it’s atmospheric interference between the satellites and the-“

“They need to be up and running by tomorrow,” Virginia said without thinking.

Akemi didn’t need to see Virginia’s face to understand the worry in her voice. “Captain Aran, what is going on?”

“I don’t know if you’ve looked at Federation media lately, but there’s a wealth of... concerning rumours,” Virginia admitted.

The expression on Akemi’s face told Virginia that she had. “I... understand, Captain Aran. We will... we’ll do what we can.”

“That’s all I ask,” Virginia said.

They stared at each other in silence, before Akemi terminated the call, leaving Virginia to lean back and hope she did the right thing.

Chapter Text

Rodney had been rapidly developing a headache since he woke up, and the sight of the security force’s gray and yellow armour only served to strength it. I talked to Virginia about this...

They had indeed talked about it. Virginia elected to ignore him.

“I appreciate your concern...” Rodney lied, and he knew the guard, Chris, could tell. He took a single step, and Chris moved to follow. “But must you hover?”

“Captain’s orders,” Chris replied, and Rodney just knew that a smirk was on the man’s face, underneath the blue-tinted visor of his helmet. To his credit, he did take one small step back. “She wants everyone accounted for and the mine protected.”

Of course she did. Rodney rolled his eyes. “That’s nice, but I have a very delicate operation here.”

The worst thing that ever happened at the mines tended to be equipment malfunctions or animals wandering in, with the occasional foolish teenager sneaking in at night. But ultimately, nothing to get so worked up over. And if Rodney could be honest with himself, he really hated having armed guards around the Afloraltite. One mistake and the crystals would ignite.

Surely Virginia knew that.

“We know, and that’s why we’re here,” Chris said, his gun held securely in his hands. Rodney saw that the power cells had been manually locked. It didn’t make him feel any better.

There were other guards hovering around the entrances to the mines, and Rodney hadn’t been able to convince them to leave, either. Just what was Virginia even afraid of? She hadn’t told him a damn thing, just that the Federation fleet warranted extra security. Hardly. Virginia’s time as Captain of K-2L’s security force had dulled her senses.

Or perhaps Samus held some of the blame. She was, after all, good at causing unnecessary stress and distraction.

“Also, a small Nysian ship recently landed at the starport,” Chris, still following Rodney around like a loyal puppy, casually informed him. “And a Chozo vessel is requesting permission to land.”

“What is this, Land on K-2L Day?!” Rodney grumbled, inspecting a cart of Afloraltite. “First the Federation military, now some Nysians and Chozo?”

Chris shrugged. “A busy day, apparently.”

“No kidding,” Rodney huffed, “they probably want the Afloraltite. Not that I’d let them have any of it. These mines belong to the Galactic Federation, and last I checked, the Nysians and Chozo aren’t Federation citizens.”

The Nysians weren't much older that Humanity, but they had flown too close to the sun, losing their homeworld in the process. And yet they saw fit to refuse Federation assistance, many of them leaving for a journey of uncertainty into the vast ocean of space. Very few remained on Federation Core Worlds, and those on the Outer Rim were quickly disappearing.

No doubt K-2L was just one of many stops to resupply before that Nysian ship continued their voyage.

The Chozo had refused to join the Federation since its inception, remaining steadfast no matter the pressure. They had watched the Federation surround them and pick over their abandoned worlds like carrion despite their protests, and yet they did nothing. And now, all that remained of the Chozo were those from Zebes.

Mighty empires that rose and fell, to be replaced by the next to wield and die by the sword.

Rodney had dealt with the Chozo before. Enough that he knew the names of every last one of them that remained on Zebes. They always tried to bargain for some of the Afloraltite, and he rejected them every time.

What a headache.

“Could you please take another step back?” Rodney snapped at Chris, who had been standing so close he seemed to be looking over his shoulder.

“Captain’s orders,” Chris repeated.

Rodney kept himself from screaming, much to his credit.

“Here you go, kid,” the shopkeeper said with a smile as he handed the box down to Samus. “Now, you ask an adult to help you put that together, alright? I’m not going to encourage a kid to use scissors unsupervised.”

Samus nodded, only half-listening as the box commanded her attention. A Gun Sniper model kit. Her favorite Zoid. She’d been saving up for what felt like forever just to buy it. Being able to hold on to her small allowance and put it towards something like this felt like an accomplishment. If only her parents weren’t so busy, she’d ask one of them to help her put it together.

Holding the box in her hands, she pondered where to go from there. She’d already visited the library and seen Shawn like she promised, and the sky promised rain as it had the day before. Nowhere to go but home, she supposed.

Walking down the street to go home, Samus noticed a girl she hadn’t seen before on the other side of the road. She stopped walking, and so did the girl, both of them staring at each other. The girl’s pointed ears perked up.

“Um...” Samus struggled to think of something to say, now that she had accidentally gotten the Elfin girl’s attention. “Hi? I’ve never seen you before.”

“I’m... just passing through,” the girl said, her ruby red eyes darting around nervously, her ears pressed against the sides of her head like a frightened feline. “M-my mom and dad said I could look around while they took care of things.”

“I’m Samus!” Samus wanted to really break the ice, and she figured them telling each other their names was a good start. “What’s your name?”

The girl raised her head, her ears relaxing a little. “My name is... Athyna.”

“That’s a nice name,” Samus smiled.

Athyna smiled back, with a mouth full of sharp teeth. She still looked nervous, but before either could say anything else, a Nysian woman approached and took Athyna’s hand.

“We got everything we needed, Athyna,” the woman said in a gentle tone, sighing as Athyna’s ears drooped again. “It’s time to go.”

“But...” Athyna looked over at Samus.

The woman shook her head. “I’m sorry, but we don’t have the time right now.”

Samus waved goodbye as Athyna walked away with her mother. Athyna waved back, and then the two disappeared further into the town. Once they were gone, Samus felt lonely. Athyna must have felt the same.

Samus remembered that Virginia had asked her not to linger at the library and above all else, to stay home or at least close to it. So she started walking that way again, a cool breeze blowing through and giving her a chill. She ran when she felt a single raindrop splash against her face, her hold on the box tight.

Within a few minutes, she hopped up the front porch’s wooden stairs, right as the rain started. She sat down at the table outside for the time being, hearing the rain patter against the porch roof. Her eyes fell upon the box and she let out a disappointed sigh. She’d have to wait for Virginia or Rodney to get home. Preferably Virginia, who would actually take interest in it.

Solomon had been asleep inside the house since Samus had left. He liked to sleep in the rain, so this was probably the highlight of his day. She still needed to check on him. She'd been gone awhile.

She opened the front door.

“You can keep asking all you want, but the answer is no,” Rodney glared at the Chozo, who easily towered over him. The other races of the galaxy could revere the Chozo as much as they liked, but he had a job to do and he wasn’t going to give a dying elder race special treatment.

"This planet is quite rich in Afloraltite," the gray-feathered Chozo noted, looking down at Rodney in more ways besides literal. "Surely there is enough for you to spare a few crystals? We don't ask for much, but what we can give you would be triple its worth."

Access to trade with the remaining Chozo would have been a dream for anyone not named Rodney Aran.

"Every single crystal belongs to the Galactic Federation," Rodney focused his attention on the other side of the mine’s gate, hoping the Chozo would get the message and leave. He needed to get back in there and monitor everything, not waste time with an uninvited visitor. “We’re done here, and you’re leaving empty-handed.”

“Very well, then,” the Chozo bowed, black robes swishing with the wind as he walked away, his deep blue eyes looking up at the sky, watching the droplets of rain fall. This was an exercise in futility, but at least I tried.

“...Have you seriously been standing there the whole time?” Rodney almost shrieked when he turned around and saw Chris standing right behind him.

Chris smiled. “Captain’s orders.”

When Samus stepped back outside onto the porch, the first thing she saw was a giant bird with a humanoid body.

“Hello there, little one,” he said, his green eyes filled with more kindness than she could remember seeing in anyone besides Virginia. Yet, a sadness seemed to lie within them. “What is your name?”

“I’m...” Samus felt such awe at the sight of him and his golden feathers that she could barely speak. “I’m Samus.”

He couldn’t smile like a Human could, but the emotion twinkled within his eyes. “What a powerful name that is. Where I’m from, a name speaks to your truest self.”

“Really?” Samus blinked in curiosity. “What’s yours?”

“My people call me Old Bird,” he answered simply.

That was a pretty direct name. For a moment Samus wondered if Old Bird’s parents really had named him that or if it was just a nickname. Did all people where he came from have names like this?

“Are you waiting for your parents?” Old Bird asked, his voice so warm and kind that he must have been made of warmth and kindness. He noticed the box on the table where Samus sat. A remnant of ancient Earth culture, he realized. If only he had the time to learn more about it.

“Mom and Dad are really busy today,” Samus’ gaze fell to the floor. “Mom seemed really upset about something, and Dad’s... I don’t know if I wanna talk about it.”

“Is there something wrong with your father?” Old Bird lowered himself so that he and Samus could be at eye level. “Perhaps I could help?”

“I don’t know what you can do...” Samus admitted. She shuffled her feet. “I don’t think he likes me.”

“And why wouldn’t he like you?” Old Bird’s heart ached. “You have such a good spirit, and we have only known each other for a few minutes.”

“He thinks that all I do is cause trouble,” Samus explained. “I don’t mean to, but...”

She stopped talking when Old Bird reached a hand out towards her, a single talon gently resting on her shoulder. She stared into his eyes, taking in deep, calming breaths.

“Then that is his loss, I’m afraid,” Old Bird’s voice now held a tinge of that sadness he felt. “But yours is the spirit destined for great things, I know this. And so I must ask that you continue to be... You. Do not let others dictate to you how you should be or what you should become... That responsibility falls upon you and you alone.”

Samus slowly nodded. “Thanks...”

Old Bird opened his orange beak to say more, but stopped when he felt a presence behind him. The gray Chozo gave Samus a look that she couldn’t read, but she found him less pleasant than Old Bird almost immediately. He carried with him a weight that reminded her somewhat of Virginia, yet he seemed more guarded.

“It is time to leave, Old Bird,” the gray Chozo said. “Aran refused to grant my request, so we must look for Afloraltite elsewhere.”

“I suppose it cannot be helped," Old Bird sighed, as Gray Voice nudged him away. "Farewell."

Samus watched the two vanish into the crowd outside, feeling alone all over again.

“I’m sorry, Captain Aran, but this is where we’re at right now,” Akemi wiped her glasses with a cloth. “We’ve done everything we can, but I don’t know if the defense satellites will be able to fire. It’s unsafe.”

“I appreciate the hard work you and your crew have put into this project,” Virginia struggled to keep the anxiety beneath the surface in check. It would eat her alive. “But I... this needs to be done.”

Silence fell over the two women. Every time Virginia closed her eyes, she saw flashes of fire, blood, and inhuman teeth.

“...I make no promises, but we will continue working on it,” Akemi’s hands fell to her sides. “But I need to be alone with my thoughts.”

“I understand,” Virginia nodded. “I’ll leave you to your work.”

“Thank you,” Akemi said, motioning for Virginia to exit the lab.

Virginia's armour protected her from the heavy downpour and the mud that splashed with every step she took. Her mind replayed the same worries and images, over and over as she walked.

Thoughts of Samus and Solomon crossed her mind. She wanted to go check on them, she hadn't seen them all day, but knew she couldn't spare the time. But she did know one of the Troopers that would arrive in a smaller craft from the combat escort. A childhood friend.

He'd check on them for her. She need only ask.

The images flashed when she closed her eyes still. Virginia felt her insides twist into a knot. She knew the Federation ships would arrive any second, and she had to be there when the transport ship landed.

“I've done everything I can,” she tried to assure herself. Have I? Have I really?

She needed to believe it would all be fine.

Samus sank into the chair at the sight of the Federation Troopers that began patrolling the streets. They looked a thousand times more frightening than her mother’s security force, with gray and blue armour instead of the gray and yellow. Their faces were hidden underneath their visors, but the air around them seemed heavier and they carried themselves like they were walking in a warzone instead of a small, developing town.

She felt her heart a skip when she saw one of them walk slowly down the sidewalk, giving each house a look Samus could only wonder about. When the Trooper turned their head towards her house, she gasped and hid behind the chair.

“Hello?” The Trooper called out, sounding much nicer than his armour implied. “Is this the Aran residence?”

Samus held perfectly still as he climbed up the stairs and lifting up his visor to reveal a white man’s face. He looked around Virginia’s age, with blue eyes that didn’t really look like a soldier’s. Seeing her, he gave her the most reassuring smile he could.

“W-what do you want?” She shivered, her own blue eyes wide with terror. She’d rather talk to the Nysian girl or the Chozo, not this scary man. “Nobody’s home!”

“Easy, easy,” the Trooper sat down on the floor, trying to appear nonthreatening in spite of his armour. “I’m not here to hurt you. Your mom sent me here to check on you and your brother.”

She sniffled from the cold. “R-Really?”

“Yes, really,” the Trooper nodded. “You’re Samus, right?”

“Yes...” she answered, staring up at him and slowly beginning to feel a little less scared.

The Trooper reached up for his helmet, disconnecting it from his armour with a click and a hiss. He set it down on his lap, running a hand through his black hair. “Can you tell me where your brother is?”

“He’s inside...” Solomon was still asleep, last she checked. “He’s been sleeping all day.”

Which didn’t seem like him, but she hadn’t wanted to disturb him.

The Trooper nodded again. He didn’t expect to be let into the house, and he couldn’t blame Samus anyway. She clearly didn’t recognize him... had Virginia ever shown her any photos? Apparently not.

Rodney was the cause, more than likely.

“What’s your name?” Samus stood up from behind the chair, feeling much braver.

“Adam,” he answered, sounding relieved. He was getting somewhere. “Adam Malkovich.”

The name sounded familiar to Samus, but she couldn’t place why. “You know my mom?”

“An old friend,” Adam replied, a look of sadness on his face for a moment. “How old are you?”

Virginia had confided in him that her relationship with Rodney was degrading to the point that those around them wondered what they’d ever seen in each other at all. He felt responsible for it, even though he’d done nothing except what he’d always done; been Virginia’s friend.

But Rodney misunderstood. He always misunderstood. Never admitted when he was wrong about something.

“I’m six!” Samus’ voice brought Adam back to the present. She held up her hands, proudly showing off her age with her fingers.

He smiled. “Really? You act so grown up, I thought you were older!”

“How old are you?” she asked, sitting down on the chair and now looking down at him.

“Twenty-six,” Adam replied. Virginia was only a year older than him.

Samus’ voice turned as blunt as a child’s could. “You’re old.”

Adam had to resist the powerful urge to laugh. “I guess I am... But just you wait, you’ll be my age one day! And then we’ll see who’s laughing then!”

“You’ll be ancient then,” Samus helpfully informed him, the seriousness on her face making the urge to laugh even stronger for Adam.

Rodney should at least rent a sense of humour, if only for his daughter’s sake.

“Like Zoids, do you?” Adam finally noticed the box on the table. “My little brother loves them. He’s about your age, come to think of it... I’m sure he’d love to meet you.”

The thought excited Samus. “Yes! I'd love to meet him too!"

Eyes on the box again, she sighed. "I can't build these by myself..."

“Your parents won’t be home for awhile?” Adam asked.

“Yeah...” Samus said, disappointed.

“Well then, you’re in luck!” Adam grinned. “I’m old, so I’m pretty sure that makes me an adult!”

Samus stared at him like he had just uttered some piece of profound wisdom.

“If you’ve got a pair of scissors, I’ll be the one to use them,” Adam continued, actually feeling giddy about the thought of putting the kit together with her.

“Right here!” Samus picked them up from off the table.

“I hope you didn’t run with those...” Adam said quietly. With a shrug, he got up and sat at the chair across from Samus. He carefully opened the box, setting its contents out across the table and opening the manual. “First, let’s see what we’ve got...”

Picking up the scissors, Adam cut each piece from the frames with expert precision as Samus watched in awe. He put the empty frames back into the box, sorting the now separate pieces into something manageable. He opened the manual again, before handing it to Samus, who had been holding the pilot figure.

Samus gingerly put the power unit and the pieces of the body in place, and Adam snapped them all together. Samus grabbed a few more pieces and placed them on the Gun Sniper, and Adam also pushed them together with another satisfying snap. Soon enough, the newly built Gun Sniper stood proud atop the table.

All the stickers had been applied, all excess plastic had been shaved off, and Samus gently placed the pilot inside the canopy. Adam picked it up and took the windup key from its back, winding up the toy and setting it down to walk with barely a sense of grace.

While Samus watched the Gun Sniper make its glorious march across the table, a voice crackled from Adam’s helmet, still lying on the porch. Adam cursed inwardly, quickly retrieving it and putting it back on. Instantly his body tensed, taking in every word from his commander.

“I’m sorry, Samus, but I need to go,” Adam tried to keep his voice calm. He didn’t want to frighten her... but she should be just as scared. “I enjoyed our time together. I’ll let your mother know you and your brother are okay, and you have to promise me you won’t leave your house, got it? Promise me.”

“I promise...?” Samus saw and heard the tension and the fear. She watched Adam rush down the stairs and into the street. She frowned, as the Gun Sniper ran out of momentum and ceased movement. It seemed everyone she had met that day couldn’t stay long. How frustrating.

But the terror Adam tried to hide... What was happening?

Solomon crossed her mind, and she rushed inside. “Solomon, are you still asleep?”

She didn’t get an answer, as had been the day’s norm. But finally, worry actually set in. She pushed the door to Solomon’s room open, and felt her heart drop.

Solomon was gone. How long had he been gone?

“Solomon...?” the silence consumed her, and her mind became a whirlwind as she frantically searched the house, hoping to find him even she knew he wasn’t in the house.

Adam told her to stay inside. But she had to break that promise. She needed to find Solomon, wherever he was, no matter what Adam was so afraid of.

Their secret place, just outside the town and into the mountains. The place that both Virginia and Rodney banned them from. She couldn’t think of anywhere else; only she and Solomon knew the way past Virginia’s guards and through the gates.

Solomon had never gone there by himself, but he always wanted to go whenever Virginia and Rodney fought. It was a way for those problems to disappear. A means for him to try to process it all.

Samus went out the back door. She’d find him.

She had to.

Chapter Text

Virginia wasn’t being paranoid after all.

Sirens roared across the town and the mine. Rodney gritted his teeth from the shrill noise, watching Troopers surround the transport ship and point their guns towards the sky like that would do anything. In orbit, the ship’s escorts moved to cut off the Space Pirate ship’s approach.

“Damn it,” Rodney said under his breath. He rushed toward the small shed where the mine kept emergency weapons, grabbing one of the guns inside. Even during the chaos as other workers ran across the mine, Chris stuck to his orders and followed Rodney.

“I’m sure the Federation frigates can handle this,” Chris said between breaths. “...I hope so. I’ve never actually fought Space Pirates before.”

Rodney looked at Chris’ gun. Like everything the security force had, it was standard issue and inferior to anything the Federation police but especially the Federation military got to use. “Today may just be your lucky day.”

Chris stared at him. “Not really my idea of luck, sir.”

Rodney stepped away from the shed as Neil and a few other workers rushed towards it. Chaos erupted within his mind, but he couldn’t let it get to him as he looked towards the sky.

If he couldn’t keep himself calm, how could he expect everyone else to do the same?

“No,” Akemi stared at the screen, her body wracked by tremors. The monitor displayed a message she hadn’t wanted to see: the defense satellites were not operational. “No, no, no. If the Space Pirates get past the frigates, we’re all dead!”

“You did what you could, now we have to get out of here!” Virginia tried to pull Akemi away from the screen, but unlike the other engineers, Akemi was unwilling to leave the machines she had dedicated so many years to behind. Her fingers dug into the keyboard, as a new red icon appeared.

A greater wave of terror seized both women.

“The first ship was a decoy!” Akemi wrenched herself away from the screen, digging her fingernails into her scalp. “That one’s been cloaked the whole time! Even if the frigate returns, we’ll be a pile of ash!”

“We need to turn on the distress beacon!” Virginia shouted, forcing herself to remain calm on the outside.

“What good will it do?!” Akemi yelled back. “The only ship that’s anywhere near K-2L is the Chozo ship that left two hours ago, and even if they were armed, they won’t make it in time!”

“We have to try!” Virginia unlocked the casing, slamming her fist down on the red button. “We need to evacuate the town...”

Watching the other Pirate vessel close in on the radar, Akemi slowly nodded. “The caverns are the only shelter. The Pirates want the Afloraltite... so we have to abandon the mines.”

“It’s the only way,” Virginia agreed, as everyone else had already cleared out of the building. The ground suddenly shook violently, from the impact of something crashing near the lab.

“...They’re already here,” Akemi whispered.

Virginia’s senses became numb to the chaos, she only heard the sound of her own footsteps and heartbeat. The screaming that erupted outside was distant to her ears, until she looked up towards the window at the exit.

One of her guards, gun pointed at an assailant she couldn’t see, firing only to be stabbed clean through her chest by a pointed tail-tip, her blood splattering on the window.

A flash of recognition when Virginia closed her eyes. She knew of him. She’d seen him in her dreams leading up to this moment. She hated that she knew of him, because if she hadn’t, she might have still believed they had a chance.

Outside, the bodies of people she and Akemi knew littered the ground, and standing among the growing pools of blood were the Space Pirates. And most importantly... he was there.

“Hello, Ridley,” Virginia dared to say as she looked up at the Teradrak. A dragon, in every sense of the word. His presence meant the Afloraltite wasn’t all they were after.

Ridley possessed a love for death.

Everyone who knew anything about Space Pirates knew about Lord Ridley. The stories of his cruelty had spread across the stars, and K-2L was about to become yet another chapter.

If she let it.

Ridley opened his mouth, but whether it was to speak or breath his fire wouldn’t be known, as Virginia raised her gun and shot him in the back of his throat. The Pirate Lord stumbled back with a dreadful cough, looking back at Virginia with a mix of hatred and incredulity.

“...Interesting...” Ridley rasped, pointing a claw at Virginia. “Do me a favour and get rid of her.” Not that I expect you to be able to, if she’s this daring...

The first Pirate to charge at Virginia gained a gaping hole in his chest before he could reach her, Virginia shooting at them all without a single flinch. One lunged at her from behind and she slammed the back of her armoured hand into her face, while shooting another that leapt at her from the left.

She forgot about Ridley as his underlings tried and failed to even touch her. Then she heard him snarl. Akemi pointed a blood-covered gun at him, trembling.

“Akemi, run!” Virginia dared to get between them, knowing Ridley cold simply tear her apart to reach Akemi.

“Virginia-“ Akemi tried to protest, as Ridley roared behind them.

“GO!” Virginia got between them, charging another shot at the flailing dragon. “To the caverns!”

Once she heard Akemi run, she shot Ridley in the eye when he lunged for her. As he stumbled about, clutching his eye, she took an energy blade from one of the dead Pirates and slammed it down on Ridley’s foot, pinning it to the ground. She rolled to dodge a swing of his talons, but he sent her flying against the side of the building with his tail. The air was knocked right out of her, and before she could even realize again how screwed they all were, she blacked out.

Confident he’d taken care of the problem, Ridley tore the energy blade from his foot, his other hand still covering his eye.

“Solomon!” Samus cried out to no avail, running through the forested mountainside and unaware of what was happening back in the town. “Solomon! Solomon! Where are you?! We need to go home!”

She fell backwards as the ground and tumbled down the hill. She closed her eyes until she stopped rolling, seeing the fire and smoke through the trees. Her eyes widened, her heart pounded in her ears, and her mind raced.

Fire? Fire in the town?

Going back would be a bad idea. And she still needed to find Solomon. It’s what Virginia would have wanted her to do... right?

She didn’t find Solomon at their secret place, and she didn’t know where else he could have gone. The forest wildlife wasn’t dangerous, but she had no idea what lurked within the caverns, if anything at all. She shuddered, wondering if Solomon had wandered off into one.

She looked back towards the town. The flames had risen higher, and the clouds above weren’t giving the promised rain.

The town would burn, and she was too small to do a thing about it.

“Solomon!” Samus called out again, her body wracked with sobs. “Solomon! Solomon!”

“Is now a bad time to ask if you appreciate me now?” Chris asked over the sound of lasers flying through the air and the guttural screams of the Space Pirates. He dodged a shot and then blasted a Pirate in the face. “Why don’t these guys invest in helmets?”

“Now’s the worst time to ask questions!” Rodney yelled, taking cover behind a shed. “Quit talking and keep shooting!”

Bodies of Humans and Pirates alike littered the ground, red blood mixing with green. But the Pirates kept coming, and the defenders’ numbers were dwindling.

The odds weren’t in their favour, Rodney felt it. But they couldn’t stop.

They had to try.

“Don’t let them into the ship!” One of the Troopers yelled, gunning down the Pirates with such precision that Rodney flinched.

Rodney shot a Pirate that came too close, blood splashing against his helmet. He wiped it off, noticing how the ground was covered in it.
A terrifying roar stopped Rodney in his tracks, and he dared to look towards the town. He saw the fires for the first time, and the silhouette of a dragon within the flames.

Not just a dragon. A Teradrak.

He knew the name. Who didn’t?

A Pirate rammed into him, slamming him against the side of the transport vessel. He fell to the ground, vaguely aware of the Pirate roaring in agony, Troopers surrounding him, as well as Chris and Neil screaming out his name.

His vision faded to black.

Ridley crushed another guard in his grip, dropping the body to the ground and licking the blood off his claws. For such an important planet to the Federation, he had honestly expected more. Better soldiers, better weapons, better everything. He was itching for a real challenge, and this meager security force couldn’t live up to it.

What a disappointment.

But at least the flames burned as beautifully as ever. And the screams of the Humans as they struggled to save themselves and their families... Poetry.

He flicked his tail in irritation, accidentally knocking a Pirate right into one of the burning buildings. He rolled his eyes at the Pirate’s screaming, leaving him behind. He didn’t need his approval or forgiveness. He needed an interesting fight. Something he could boast about as further proof of his excellence for years to come.

He caught a glimpse of something in the corner of his good eye, and with nothing else in the town to sight alight, he spread his wings and flew towards it.

Samus froze at the shadow cast over her, too afraid to turn around and look at the source. The looming shadow looked like a dragon, and she knew it couldn’t be a friendly one. The fires in the town told her that much.

“Bah, it’s only a child...” the dragon spoke, his voice sending shivers down her spine. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Mustering up what courage she could, Samus forced herself to face him, her body trembling. Blood both red and green coated the dragon’s purple scales, and his golden eyes shone with more hatred and malice than she thought a single being could hold.

Ridley looked down at her. Killing her would be effortless and meaningless. He enjoyed bloodshed, yet going out of his way to kill this little girl couldn’t sound more boring if it tried. She was no more threatening than a tiny bug.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Ridley turned in the direction of the bloodcurdling scream, just in time for something to explode against his side. He shrieked, unable to see through the agony and the smoke. A desire for vengeance boiled within him, even as he shielded himself with his own wings.

Virginia tossed the now empty rocket launcher aside, looking at what she could see of Ridley in horror. How could he survive that? She pulled her gun from its holster, reloading it and firing wildly, too fueled by panic to stop and think. Once she stopped firing and rushed over to Samus, Ridley unfolded his wings to glare at them both.

“Samus, run!” Virginia kept her helmet on, but Samus heard the terror in her voice. She cast hurried glances at Ridley, seeing him watching them still.

“You again...” Ridley grumbled once he recognized Virginia, directing his attention back to Samus, who stood staring at him, frozen in fear. “How interesting...”

If the child meant something to that wretched Human, then that was reason enough to kill her.

Fire burned in the back of Ridley’s throat, and Virginia shot him again. He clutched his throat feebly, coughing and snarling. He saw Samus running away and Virginia pointing her gun at him, firing again and again.

In spite of it all, he had to laugh. The fire inside him was already subsiding. It couldn’t kill him. She couldn’t kill him. He didn’t rise up in a brutal society like the Space Pirates’ by being so weak that a single Human could kill him.

“I think you know how this ends,” he said, his voice still raspy. He rose to his full height, spreading his wings to make himself appear even larger and more intimidating.

“I say how it ends!” Virginia snapped, knowing she was going to die. She risked a glance behind her, seeing Samus disappear into a small cavern entrance.

That would have to be enough.

“You really don’t get it, do you?” Ridley lunged for her, claws poised to stab and rend her body.

Virginia jumped and rolled out of the way, shooting him where Akemi had. The wound hadn’t fully healed yet, and she realized his one eye was still damaged. The shot connected and he howled, swinging his tail at her. She ducked under it and shot him in the back, dodging to the side when he tried to stomp on her. She aimed for his good eye, but the shot missed.

Ridley pinned her to the ground with his hand. “Got you.”

Her arms free, Virginia held her gun up towards Ridley as he began to form his fire. She saw his eyes widen as he realized his mistake, until-
The gun didn’t fire.

Ridley couldn’t see it underneath her visor, but Virginia’s skin grew deathly pale as she realized the gun had lost its charge. She had a few power cells left in her small bag, but she couldn’t reach them. She struggled to reach for them anyway.

She didn’t have the chance to think of anything else when the flames took her. She didn’t even hear herself scream.

The flames stopped, and Ridley lifted his hand off what remained of Virginia’s body. He barely recognized her. No longer Human, but a misshapen heap of charred flesh and melted metal.

A broken sob tore through the air, and Ridley whipped his around to face Samus, seeing her standing in the cavern entrance. Her eyes were on Virginia’s body, tears streaming down her face, her heart breaking to pieces. He charged at her, breathing in to ignite another stream of fire.

Samus pulled her gaze away from Virginia and retreated into the cavern, tripping and stumbling down the slope inside as Ridley’s fire poured in above her, missing her. The fire lit up the cavern, burning hotter than any fire Samus could remember. Down at the bottom of the slope, she could only watch as the flames eventually petered out, Ridley roaring after.

The cavern dark and cold again, Samus slipped away into the darkness.

Rodney became aware of a sickening warmth on the back of his neck as his head throbbed. He opened his eyes, his vision blurry and pain surging through his entire body. Once the blurriness cleared, he realized he had been dragged into the Federation transport ship, probably by the Troopers.

He was sitting next to a Trooper’s corpse, and Chris’ body sat across from him against the wall, blood blood drying against the metal.
A low hum rumbled through the ship, allowing Rodney to piece it all together.

Rodney forced himself to his feet, pain stabbing all around his body. He reached for the back of his neck, feeling blood trickling down. Dizziness overtook him again, but he kept walking.

He stumbled forward, catching himself against a window. The ship rose into the atmosphere, and he saw the fire engulfing the town below.
“No...” he choked, clenching his fists until his knuckles turned white. The dizziness intensified. “No... Those monsters...”

Virginia had known about this. How had she known? And she hadn’t said anything? ...Would it have mattered if she had actually told him?
Probably not. But now it all felt so distant.

“...They left me alive,” he whispered to himself, eyes locking with the precious Afloraltite cargo. He had an idea. It would be the end of him, he knew. But he would deny the Space Pirates their prize... and see whatever awaited him on the other side.

He had to.

The Pirates had likely assumed him to be as good as dead, a mistake he would use to his advantage. He cast a mournful gaze at the Trooper, a hole in her chest. He carefully pried her gun from her hands, not meeting her dead eyes. He couldn’t feel guilty about it.

Gun in hand, Rodney began his slow, shaky walk towards the bridge of the ship. No Pirates guarded the short corridors. The lights flickered overhead, illuminating the two doors leading inside. He tightened his grip on the gun.

“Hello,” he spat as the doors opened, shooting the two Pirates standing guard. He shot the Pirate piloting the ship before he could rise from the seat. “Goodbye.”

Shoving the dead Pirate off, Rodney sat down and gripped the transport ship’s controls. He saw the larger Space Pirate vessel in the distance, as the transport ship exited K-2L’s atmosphere.

He set the ship on a collision course. He didn’t move from the bridge, accepting the inevitable.

“I promise you this...” he said, the distance between the ships closing rapidly. “I’m going to give you hell.”

Ridley stretched his still tattered wings, licking the blood off his fingers. He stood near one of the windows in what served as his throne room in the ship. His eye had fully healed, and pretty soon the rest of his wounds would be gone.

He wanted to stay and watch the town burn down completely to rubble, but the rain clouds had fully obscured the town and even if they hadn’t, the Federation frigates were on their way (may the crew of the decoy ship rest in the knowledge they had served their brethren well). He had no intention of risking what they had gained to fight the frigates, so once the transport ship was attached, they were leaving the system.

It was then Ridley noticed that the transport ship was approaching much too fast. His eyes widened in abject terror, as he realized all too late what was happening.

Before Ridley could so much as scream, he learned how it felt to be burned down to the bone.

Chapter Text

“Solomon...” Samus couldn’t even say it loud enough for her voice to echo. She received no response from the darkness, and struggled to pull herself up towards the cavern’s exit. Virginia was dead. Solomon was still lost. With the fire in the town, and that dragon, Rodney was definitely dead, too.

Her young but now shattered heart had doubts that anyone else but her had survived.

She wanted to go home, but dreaded what she would find there. She couldn’t stay in the cavern however, looking behind herself and into the abyss she didn’t want to delve deeper into. Home it would have to be, whatever was left.

Her body ached, but she climbed up the slope anyway, whimpering whenever she lost her footing and slid back down. She heard rain and thunder roaring outside, chilling wind blowing into the cavern. Sniffling, she pressed on and made it to the top of the slope, bracing herself for the downpour just outside the cavern’s maw.

The rain drenched her the moment she took her first step out of the cavern, and the chill struck her all at once. She ignored it as best her small body could, daring to look where Virginia’s body had been lying, even as her heart threatened to burst out of her chest in anguish.

Ridley was nowhere to be found. And Virginia... her mother...

Fresh tears welled up in her reddened eyes and a sickening terror bubbled up inside of her. All that remained of Virginia was her gun and a few pieces of twisted metal and charred flesh. If she hadn’t witnessed Ridley burn Virginia alive, she wouldn’t have known those things used to be her mother.

She screamed until her already dry throat hurt.

But she couldn’t stay there by Virginia’s remains. She needed to get out of the rain. She pushed herself back to her feet, beginning the trek back to the town or rather, what was left of it. No matter how much she walked, it didn’t seem to be getting any closer. She couldn’t decide whether or not that was a bad thing.

Exhaustion and hunger gnawed at her, but they couldn’t compare to the emptiness inside her heart or the screaming within her mind. She’d experienced loss in the worst way imaginable, and she didn’t know how to even begin to process it.

When she finally reached the town, a renewed sense of horror filled her. Charred and mangled bodies, both human and Space Pirate, were scattered across the streets. Some were buried under rubble, limbs sticking out in unnatural ways.

She threw up.

She couldn’t stop trembling, from the despair, the sickness, the cold, all of it crashed down on her. She used the last of her strength to stumble into an open door just to escape the rain, collapsing on the wooden floor. She cried out, a plea for help that seemed to extend beyond her being. A hand feebly reaching towards the stars to end the nightmare and make things right again.

Sleep took her once more.

“We’re too late...” Gray Voice closed his eyes, but he felt the devastation all around him.

Old Bird looked mournfully at the aftermath of the Space Pirates’ attack, his heart splintering for the lives lost. A part of him wanted to clench his fists and demand that justice be done. The other part of him could do nothing except stare, giving in to despair. He wanted to say something, but nothing came.

“There’s nothing we can do now, I’m afraid,” Gray Voice heaved a sigh. “We should return to Zebes.”

Gray Voice turned to walk back into the ship, but Old Bird held still in the rain, eyes set on the town. He felt something in the back of his mind. A cry for help, so weak and fading fast.

“We need to leave,” Gray Voice said when he noticed Old Bird wasn’t following him. “There is no one left.”

“There must be something...” Old Bird said in a shaky voice, taking a single step forward. He could still feel the cry. “There must be...”

“Space Pirates don’t leave survivors, Old Bird,” Gray Voice shook his head, but he began to feel it too. “One as old as you should know that by now.”

They’d lived long enough to have seen this many times before. Always the same tragic song.

Old Bird kept walking, focused on the presence he sensed. Something among all the death and decay called out to him, like a hand reaching for salvation. And until he found it, he wouldn’t leave what once was K-2L’s only town, even if it meant wandering the planet for years on end.

“What are you doing?” Gray Voice called after him, receiving no response. The pull became stronger, until he couldn’t explain it away. “Someone’s here?”

Gray Voice stopped at the feeling of the charred wood underneath his feet. He stood and watched Old Bird walk deeper into the town, surrounded by bodies on every side.

Intense, unimaginable suffering filled the call for help, Old Bird following the trail left by that one mind, shielding his own from the worst of the other’s suffering. Recognition clicked as he got closer, until he saw the child lying down in the doorway. Carefully, he stepped through the debris, lifting the girl up in his much larger hands.

“It is you...”

Such a small, vulnerable child. How did she survive, when he could sense no else?

But he hadn’t just sensed her. Within the cacophony of the deceased, she had called for him, whether she knew it or not. She possessed a gift most rare for Humankind.

He kept his breath steady as Samus began to thrash in her sleep. Old Bird didn’t tighten his grip when she panicked, but kept her from falling.
“Don’t be afraid,” Old Bird said in a soothing voice. “You’re safe now. We’re here.”

He reached out to her with his mind, to calm the storm inside of her, if only for a little while.

Gray Voice hadn’t followed him the whole way, which didn’t surprise him. He could only hope that Gray Voice wouldn’t object to what he was about to do.

He only wanted what was best for Samus. But would this be it?

“...That child survived?” Gray Voice’s beak hung open at the child in Old Bird’s hands. “How is this possible...?”

“She must have hid well,” Old Bird reasoned. “Or someone protected her, no matter what it cost them. Her mind is a storm; I will not pry into it.”

“The Federation frigates will be landing soon,” Gray Voice noted, looking up at the sky. “We can’t remain here. We’re trespassing now as it is.”

“We can’t leave her here,” Old Bird said unprompted.

Gray Voice leaned his head back, staring at Old Bird in confusion. “...What do you intend for us to do? We can’t take her to Zebes. She is a citizen of the Galactic Federation, and we are not.”

“The Galactic Federation will not save her,” Old Bird locked eyes with the taller Chozo. He would not be swayed. “You have to sense it, Gray Voice. This girl is a psionic.”

“Most uncommon for a Human, yes,” Gray Voice didn’t let his discomfort with the intensity in Old Bird’s eyes show. “But we can’t-“

“Psionic capability within Humankind is so unheard of that it’s poorly understood, considered rumour, even,” Old Bird began walking to their ship, still cradling Samus. “But this girl... her potential is great. She would not go unnoticed.”

Gray Voice said nothing. The wind picked up, their robes and feathers flowing with it. Raindrops began to pepper the landscape again, bathing the town and their ship in a cold mist.

Old Bird gently closed his hands around Samus to shield her from the rain. “You know what they would do. They’d want to study her power, but that assumes they would not believe she was a hybrid. You know the Federation’s laws on hybrids.”

Gray Voice did. If they suspected that Samus’ genetic makeup had been modified in any way or that she wasn’t fully Human...

“She will die if we leave her here,” Old Bird spoke firmly, standing just in front of the ship’s door.

“And she would not survive on Zebes,” Gray Voice stood in the doorway, out of the rain. “Humans cannot breathe the air. Our world is one of death to them.”

“We could make her one of us,” Old Bird didn’t need to think twice about it. “Federation laws are not ours.”

Living among other Humans would be dangerous if they did that. But being psionic meant Samus already was living dangerously under the Federation’s gaze. At least with the Chozo, she could learn to control her power. Learn how to hide it from prying eyes.

“And our ways are not Human ways,” Gray Voice offered the only argument he had left, letting Old Bird aboard. “We can make her able to breathe our air, but we cannot make her one with it.”

“She can learn,” Old Bird insisted. “We can adapt, as we always have. And Gray Voice, you must see what I do. There is so much more to her. She could be-“

Gray Voice didn’t have the powers of foresight like Old Bird did. But even he could see it, much as he couldn’t accept it. “Please do not confuse your desire to help this child for...”

“Then let us not dwell on what could be, and instead on what we need to do now,” Old Bird replied. He shifted his hands, revealing Samus to Gray Voice again. “This child has nothing left, and with the Federation, she never will.”

“You are right...” Gray Voice began flipping the switches, the engine springing to life with a hum. “We shall take her back to Zebes. What we need is there, but we must take care not to expose her to the atmosphere before the procedure can be completed.”

“You have my thanks, Gray Voice,” Old Bird relaxed, placing a small mask over Samus’ face. He cleared his throat as he felt the atmosphere in the ship quickly shift to something more pleasant to Humans. “I am sure you will have hers as well...”

“I only hope that we are making the right decision,” Gray Voice sighed, lifting the ship off K-2L’s surface, where they would never return.

“Oh my god...”

Adam could barely stand, staring at the nightmare ahead of them. The Space Pirate ships had been destroyed, the larger one now an impact crater just outside the town. But it didn’t matter. They had lost K-2L. They had lost everyone.

“Search for survivors!” He heard their commander say, but it didn’t register. Other Troopers rushed past him as his mind reeled. He had never fought in a real battle before. Had never faced Space Pirates before. Had never seen a town once full of people reduced to a charred scar on the surface of a planet.

He questioned the choices he had made, which had directly led him to this moment.

“Malkovich?” The commander’s voice knocked him out of his trance. Hidden by the helmet’s visor, Adam couldn’t see the expression on the commander’s face.

“I’m not fine,” Adam admitted. “I’m not fine at all.”

“It doesn’t get easier,” the commander told him, with a voice that didn’t betray any emotion. “Sooner or later, you’re going to have to accept that, and if you can’t... You shouldn’t be here.”

Adam started walking, shocking his body into quick, deliberate steps. His stomach churned at each body he passed, thoughts of the people they used to be forcing their way into his mind.

The clouds finally scattered, beams of light illuminating the tapestry of death.

“This needs to be reported to the Supreme Council...” the commander said, searching through debris, talking to himself just to avoid the thoughts cascading down on him. “Keep looking!”

Adam realized too late where his legs had brought him. The house where his friend and her family had once lived no longer stood, broken and burned. Something small lying among the debris caught his eye, and he felt like someone had punched him right in the gut.

“...Malkovich?” The commander’s voice seemed much quieter to Adam’s ears.

Adam picked up the broken Gun Sniper with a trembling hand.

He froze when he heard it. The sound of a child crying.

He flung himself in the direction of it, digging through the debris, the crying becoming louder. Not a hallucination. A real child. Someone was alive. Someone was alive.

He pushed aside wood, metal, and stone, until he found the source of the crying.

He hadn’t seen him when he had met Samus, but he knew who the child was: Solomon Aran.

Solomon looked up at Adam, sitting underneath a table that had been buried under debris. He clutched a bird plush to his chest. It wasn’t his, but it was the only thing left of hers that he could find. He trembled, saying the same unintelligible words over and over again.

Adam wanted to say something to reassure Solomon. Instead he could only stare, the rest of the world closed off to him. He lifted his visor, letting the boy see his face. “Shh... I’ve got you.”

“Malkovich?” He heard his commander say from behind him.

Adam tasted bile. He searched through the debris with one hand. Not one sign of Samus, or Virginia, or Rodney. He didn’t have to wonder. Virginia and Rodney would have fought to defend the people under their care. Would have come here if they were still alive.

“Malkovich?”

Adam couldn’t answer him.

He felt a hole in his heart where Virginia and Samus should have been.

His best friend was dead. Her daughter was dead. He never got the chance to help mend what he’d broken between Virginia and Rodney.

He’d never see any of them again.

But Solomon still lived. Adam held him close, feeling the child’s hands grip him tightly. 

Someone still lived.

“She’s still asleep,” Old Bird said, still holding Samus. He watched the stars fly by the window in streaks of light, the only sound being the constant hum of the engine. “I can only hope that after what she has been through, her dreams are peaceful.”

Gray Voice cast them a quick glance, humming his acknowledgement. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Samus fully. Even asleep, the pain that emanated from her was keenly felt.

He didn’t know much about Humans. Just enough to attempt trade. The other Zebesian Chozo weren’t much better, with a handful of exceptions. The Chozo had generally chosen to keep themselves in their decline.

And even then, Gray Voice kept his own mind isolated from the universe beyond it, including other Chozo. Except for Old Bird, who he never wanted to block entirely.

But he lowered his walls so he could link his mind with Samus’. The mental link was small, like poking something with a single finger. Still enough to let him learn more about her while keeping the ship steady.

To look through Samus’ mind was to walk through a field of broken glass. She struggled to process the brutality of the Space Pirates’ attack, simultaneously trying to block the memories while refusing to let them go.

Gray Voice shielded himself from the turmoil. He didn’t reach for her to share in her pain, not when Old Bird was already doing that, and much better than he ever could. He set Old Bird’s presence aside to focus on Samus. Underneath the pain, he saw a pure heart, kind and just.

Would she remain that? Could she? Should she?

Could they really help her?

Gray Voice didn’t know where their paths would lead now. Old Bird probably did, but if he would share what he knew remained to be seen. He kept a lot, perhaps too much, to himself. But Gray Voice couldn’t blame him completely. To see the future was a great and terrible burden.

He felt the psionic potential of Samus’ mind again. Unknowingly, she had called out to them with it, in a display of power that even he had to recognize. What else could she do?

She needed a teacher.

“I know what you’re thinking, Old Bird,” Gray Voice withdrew the link, eyes meeting Old Bird’s. “I don’t have to look through your mind to know. We still have to tell the others... and they may not be so understanding.”

“We only need the understanding of our Great Elder and Crystal Eyes,” Old Bird said. “They will understand, even if no one else does.”

Gray Voice said nothing more, lost in his thoughts and leaving Old Bird to his own. He focused on Samus, who wasn’t any closer to waking up than she had been before.

It reminded Old Bird of the old days, really.

Gray Voice’s memories of it all were vague, but Old Bird still remembered the time when Chozo children roamed the cities of Zebes, Tallon IV, and the other worlds of their once great empire. But that hadn’t been the case for what felt like... centuries.

Old Bird sighed, reminding himself that it had, in fact, been centuries. A long gone era, one that the Chozo drifted further away from with each passing day. It had been so long ago, Old Bird couldn’t even remember when the decline had begun. He didn’t remember why eggs stopped hatching or why the Chozo were doomed to die out, their ruins their only legacy.

They had tried cloning once. It didn’t change anything. It couldn’t.

And they had to keep their secrets from the Galactic Federation. The Council wanted what the Chozo had, and would use any excuse to seize it.

But Old Bird couldn’t dwell on it right now. Not when there would be a child of the Chozo again.

Even if that child was also Human.

The Chozo and the Federation were long gone, and the Federation’s attack dogs had missed him. They hadn’t even searched the wreckage of the two ships in the impact crater.

Bones crunched between his teeth, charred flesh sliding down his throat. He forced himself to his feet, little more than a heap of exposed muscle and bone that kept moving in spite of the all-consuming agony.

But enough of him had survived, and there were plenty of bodies around.

Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.

Corpses ripped asunder to stitch his own body back together, blood dripping onto the ground. A ringing in his ears, overpowering the sound of his slow heartbeat. Bones mended and flesh regrew over bone, slowly, painfully, past the point of unbearable.

His right hand, reduced to twisted bone by the explosion, looked good as new. The pain lingered, but he could finally move his fingers again. He sifted through the wreckage, consuming the bodies that crossed his vision.

He found what he had been looking for: a circular object that fit in the palm of his hand. A distress beacon. Once active, it shined a ruby red.

He’d be going home.

Chapter Text

Crystal Eyes had seen many things in her long life. And yet Gray Voice and Old Bird always managed to find some new way to surprise her.

“What have you done?” Crystal Eyes stood just in front of the doorway to the bridge, her blue eyes on the child in Old Bird’s hands. “Explain this.”

“This is a Human child,” Gray Voice offered.

“I can see that,” Crystal Eyes crossed her arms, clicking her pale gray beak. “Why did you bring her here?”

“Space Pirates destroyed her home,” Old Bird explained, Samus still sound asleep in his gentle hold. “And she is psionic. We couldn’t leave her there.”

Crystal Eyes’ expression didn’t betray her reaction. “So you brought her to Zebes... where Humans can’t survive. Ah, but that’s why you asked for me, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Gray Voice stood between Old Bird and Crystal Eyes, as if hiding Samus from the blue Chozo’s vision would erase her from her memory. “There were no other options available to us. Nothing that would end well for this child.”

Crystal Eyes stepped to the side, looking past Gray Voice at Samus again. She’d never seen a Human child before, and hadn’t left Zebes for many a century. She’s so small. A single miscalculation and I could...

But she wouldn’t. Her well-earned confidence hadn’t left her the way it had faded from the others.

“Ancestors help us,” Crystal Eyes mumbled under her breath. Her steely gaze met Gray Voice again. “You know what I need.”

Gray Voice sighed, holding his arm out to Crystal Eyes and pulling up his sleeve. “I do.”

What Crystal Eyes held in her hand didn’t look like a syringe that Humans might use, being rectangular and having no obvious function. She brought it down on Gray Voice’s arm, the translucent material turning red as a low whirring sound filled the air. Gray Voice grimaced, feeling Old Bird shift uncomfortably behind him.

“The medbay is small, but it will have to do,” Crystal Eyes took Samus from Old Bird’s hands, holding her breath. I’ve never held anything this small... Not since...

She shook her head. She’d never done this procedure before, only read about it, and a Human had never been the subject, either.

Setting Samus down, Crystal Eyes spared one more thought to the stars above. I hope Gray Voice and Old Bird know what they’re getting all of us into...

She felt cold, like she was floating in water. And then she felt warmth, the water seeming to recede.

Mumbling voices pulled her from her tormented slumber. A piercing ache stabbed her in all directions, and the darkness of her scattered sleep gave way to a brightness that was sharp and burning all at once. She spent those seconds in a state between desperation to emerge from the nightmares and a desire to hide away from the reality that awaited.

But regardless of how ready she felt, her body had abandoned the lure of dreams, seeking to rejoin the world that her mind wanted so desperately to hide away from. She felt changed in ways she couldn't quite place, and the pain began to ebb away, bringing life back into what had felt dead.

"Are you well, child?" Samus heard the voice clearly, recognizing it as a Chozo voice but belonging to neither one she had met.

She opened her eyes, seeing the source of that exact voice: a crystal blue Chozo much taller than Old Bird or Gray Voice, who stood next to her. Her eyes held something within them... Concern? Disdain? She couldn't be sure.

She wanted to speak. Knew she needed to say something, but no words came. The blue Chozo's expression remained unreadable, but she stepped back to allow Samus to focus her attention on the room she had woken up in.

The walls were made up of cold, gray tones, and a harsh, blue glow flickered from several lights that lined the stone. There were no windows to let any natural light in that she could see.

"It is a relief to see you open your eyes again," Old Bird spoke, the same kind smile on his face that she remembered him having when they met. "You are safe now."

She wanted to ask him where they were, what had happened, why it had happened, and was anyone else okay-

But she didn't need to. They already knew, somehow.

"Welcome to Zebes, our home planet," Old Bird's claws tapped and scraped against the stone floor as he walked over to her, holding out his hand. "Let me help you."

She took a single claw and climbed down from the device she had woken up in. One day, she would recognize what the large capsule actually was, but in that moment, it meant little to her.

Though she didn't yet realize it, she had been born anew. Her mind buzzed with new senses she could barely understand, as if she had been underwater her whole life and could only now finally breathe. She was hyper-aware of the pumping of her own blood, but something did feel different.

She didn't have much familiarity with Zebes beyond its name and a vague knowledge that a group of Chozo lived there. Zebes. Not K-2L. Not home. But home was gone. Home wasn't coming back. Her family was gone and never coming back.

Sadness welled up inside her, and she took slow and steady breaths, straining her tiny body to look up at the Chozo. Her mind whirred with so many questions, but her voice still refused the call. She didn't know these Chozo. She knew Old Bird's name, yes. She knew Gray Voice's. And she knew... Crystal Eyes'?

But how did she know that?

She found herself gravitating to Old Bird anyway. Everything about him emanated comfort and safety in ways that Gray Voice and Crystal Eyes didn't. Gray Voice kept a barrier between his mind and those around him, and Crystal Eyes' mind was a labyrinth of locked doors. They only allowed a few drops of themselves to enter the mindscape, just enough for Samus to know who they were.

It was all too much at once. The questions she had all retreated away, overtaken by the urge to leave. To be by herself, where no one could see or hear her. In an instant, she felt the three pull away from her, until her mind echoed with only her own thoughts. But the screaming remained.

Just behind the towering Chozo, she saw the light of an open door. The room had become too dark. Too suffocating. She rushed past them, out the door, and under Zebes' waning sun.

"These things take time," Old Bird said, his talons clacking against the floor as he walked towards the door. "But we thank you for your help, Crystal Eyes."

"I trust that you know what you are doing," Crystal Eyes replied, choosing to walk over to her desk. "Keep her safe from harm."

Splintered futures had invaded Crystal Eyes' mind, her hand reaching for a pen with which to furiously scribble words and images as they came. She would make sense of them later, when the moment left her.

"I must speak with Mother Brain," Gray Voice announced, leaving Crystal Eyes to her own devices. "She will learn about the child's existence regardless. It is best for all of us that she hears it from me."

Old Bird followed, the door sliding closed behind them. "And if she doesn't take it well?"

"I will handle it," Gray Voice insisted. It wasn't like Mother Brain could do anything about it. All decisions had to go through their Great Elder. Including this one, but he knew Old Bird didn't have to be told that. Platinum Chest would understand where Mother Brain might not.

Old Bird could only shake his head as Gray Voice left him to walk towards Tourian. Samus, meanwhile, was nowhere to be found. He reached out with his mind, to find where she had gone.
She needed to be alone, and he would respect that. But he couldn't leave her completely unattended. Zebes' wildlife was perfectly adapted for the harsh world they lived on. He didn't want Samus encountering any of it.

He frowned as much as his beak would allow when he thought about the zoomers. He never had pleasant encounters with those spiked creatures, and he didn't think Samus would fare any better.

Gray Voice could spend eternity in Tourian if he wanted. Old Bird would rather spend his time making sure the child was safe.

Old Bird sensed Samus' presence still within the city. Good, he thought. She was safe inside the city, and he could easily catch up with her if he needed to.

Confusion emanated from the other Chozo that Samus ran past, and Old Bird pondered the now wasted chance to have told everyone about her beforehand. He supposed it wouldn't matter in the end. He'd explain everything to them later.

Samus stopped in front of a fountain that sat in the center of the street. She watched the water pour from the Chozo statue's bowl like it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen.
Old Bird stopped walking, standing underneath the shade out of sight from Samus. If she were to need him, he would be there. He would not intrude.

Samus' focus drifted from the falling water and down to the pool, her own reflection staring back at her. In that moment, she couldn't recognize herself. She didn't normally look like this, she thought, with the spark in her eyes diminished and her face frozen in place like a statue.

Her mind still raced with questions. She didn't know what the Chozo wanted and wished that Virginia was still there to tell her what to do. Could she trust the Chozo? Should she tell them to take her back home, or to find Adam? Virginia trusted Adam.

All her conflicting emotions bubbled over into a shriek of despairing rage, and she smacked the water in her fit of anguish. Her reflection broke from the impact, and then steadily reformed. She hit the pool again. And it came back. The face she didn't recognize.

She raised her head, taking in the city around her. Gigantic stone bricks formed each building, and scenes of history and legend were intricately carved into the rock. More statues of Chozo had been placed throughout the streets and on the tops of pillars, ever watchful.

It was a beautiful city. It wasn't home.

But there wasn't anything left on K-2L to go back to, however much she wanted to believe otherwise. Whether she stayed on Zebes or returned to Federation space, she would be among strangers.

Old Bird hoped she would stay with them. She felt that, deep in her heart. He held a warmth about him that reminded her of Virginia.

Chozo walked around the street, casting quick glances at her but otherwise continuing to leave her alone.

She wanted to go to her and Solomon's hiding place, to escape everything for at least a little while. But she had no such place here, on Zebes.

She would have to find one, then. Somewhere not even the Chozo could find. There had to be a place on Zebes that suited that purpose.

Old Bird held a talon to his beak. Yes, he could help her with that, if she was willing to accept it. Through the link between their minds, he reached for her attention. A soft voice in the quiet.

Samus paused, feeling as if Old Bird was near but unable to see him. He spoke to her, but not in words. Rather, in feelings, in ideas, in thoughts as they had only minutes before. She waited, listening and making sense of what Old Bird was communicating to her.

It wasn't exactly like the secret place she had shared with her little brother, but it would be enough. She knew now where to go, but she didn't know how to thank Old Bird, if he really was talking to her. She would thank him later.

Filled with a renewed sense of being, Samus stood up and ran, cutting off a red-feathered and drab-robed Chozo that had been carrying a pile of scrolls taller than he could see. She heard scrolls fall to the ground and roll ahead, but had put enough distance between herself and the Chozo to only faintly hear him cry out, "My scrolls!"

"Worry not, Red Quill, there is still time to catch them," Old Bird said to him, watching the scrolls roll away and knowing he could do exactly nothing about it. "They haven't all gotten away from you yet."

Red Quill's eyes followed the scrolls until they rolled off into different directions, far beyond his reach. He sighed, gingerly grabbing the closest scrolls and holding them to his chest.

Old Bird watched Samus disappear, happy at least to know she wouldn't be wandering too far. He'd done what he could, or rather, he'd done as much as the child would allow for the time being. He could only hope it was still enough.

Old Bird, or what she had begun to believe was really him, had directed her towards a tunnel dug into the side of a mountain where less traveled portions of the city resided. It was too small for a Chozo to crawl into, but a human of any size could fit through it. A small human child didn't even have to crawl. She could crawl if she wanted to, though.

Which made it the perfect thing to investigate.

A nagging voice in the back of her mind told her it was dangerous, but she felt numb to the concept. She had experienced danger already, and nothing seemed like it could be worse. Simple wanderlust had taken over now, and she was going to follow it. Anything to keep the memories at bay.

On the other side of the tunnel, she stepped out into the bottom of a massive sinkhole within the mountain surface, a pond in the center of it. When she looked up to the top of the waterfall, she saw the blue sky. Vegetation lined the stone walls, growing in and out of cracks. The pond flowed into a smaller tunnel, barely visible behind the waterfall.

It was beautiful. It was secret. And it was hers.

She smiled, sitting down just at the edge of the pond. She wished she could share this place with Solomon.

Solomon.

The stabbing pain in her heart was back again. Always there. She couldn't imagine a time where it wasn't there. Sobs reared their head, but she stubbornly held them back, watching the water fall from the top of the cliff.

Just outside, Old Bird hung his head in helplessness. He knew he couldn't fix it, but he had hoped he could give her an actual respite. He wanted to lay a comforting talon on her tiny shoulder, but separated as they were he could only stand there and wish it.

He would wait for her there.

"So you couldn't even obtain a single crystal of Afloraltite?" Mother Brain's voice would have sounded disdainful if that had been part of her function. But Gray Voice sensed it all the same. "Humankind is as greedy as ever, I see."

"Chief Aran said even if he was allowed to trade it, he wouldn't give us any of it," Gray Voice walked in, his head held high in spite of the waves of contempt that radiated from Mother Brain. "But it makes no difference now. The colony is gone. Destroyed by Space Pirates."

"How unfortunate," Mother Brain mused, her single eye focused entirely on Gray Voice. She kept her feelings guarded in that moment, such that he could only guess. "But not to worry. Silver Tongue and Diamond Crest have informed me that they've found a much more promising source of Afloraltite."

"K-2L wasn't just a source of Afloraltite," Gray Voice said, "those people mattered."

"Of course they did," Mother Brain's tone stayed impassive as usual. "But we can't do anything for them now. There's no logic to dwelling on it."

"There was one," Gray Voice took a cautious step forward. There was nothing in the great hall of steel plates and cables except them and the whirring of machinery, but he had long since become certain that Mother Brain needed to be approached... carefully.

She had grown beyond her original creators' wildest dreams. And Gray Voice couldn't say if that was actually a good thing. But without Mother Brain, Zebes would no longer function.
Mother Brain's pupil narrowed. "One... what?"

"A Human child survived the attack," Gray Voice explained, bracing himself for the anger he was sure he would ignite. "A child with great psionic power. I... decided it would be best if we brought her to Zebes and cared for her here."

He would take the full blame for it. He could handle whatever Mother Brain decided.

"A Human child... here?" Mother Brain tried to adopt a questioning tone. She could only do so much. "Have you forgotten that Zebes' atmosphere is toxic to Humans?"

"I handled it," Gray Voice said. She would piece together that Crystal Eyes had done it. "She can survive here."

"And what purpose does keeping it here serve?" Mother Brain's mind was barricaded from him again.

"She wouldn't survive in the Federation," Gray Voice kept his mind closed off from her, too. Two could play that game. "We had no choice."

"Fine, then, I see you thought of everything," Mother Brain's voice echoed throughout the room. "Whatever. Enjoy your little curiosity while it lasts."

Gray Voice couldn't feel relieved, but he started to turn and walk away.

"I wasn't done yet," Mother Brain huffed.

Gray Voice stopped, looking back at her. "I've told you everything. What more do you need to know?"

A chilling silence, and then, "Bring the Human to me."

Chapter Text

Samus didn't like Mother Brain, and she got the sense that the feeling was mutual.

Gray Voice told Old Bird that Mother Brain wanted to see Samus, and Samus had, for reasons neither could comprehend, insisted she could handle it.

She still knew she could, but she couldn't tell what Mother Brain even wanted. All she knew for sure was that she didn't want to see this brain in a jar more than necessary.

"Remarkable, I suppose," Mother Brain's voice was impossible for Samus to read, and her mind was a fortress of memories and thoughts that she would need a thousand lifetimes to sift through. "I was not aware that humankind was psionic capable. I will commit this to memory."

Mother Brain was a master at hiding things, but even with the walls that kept Samus out, not every secret could be concealed. Time seemed to shift and push against the boundaries of their current moment, granting Samus a glimpse into the greater universe. A flash of understanding struck Samus, gone so fast that she might have imagined it.

She realized in those precious seconds, deep within every cell of her body, that she and Mother Brain would next meet as enemies.

And Mother Brain knew it, too. Understood it so deeply that she felt transported to that yet to be reached place in time, already dying and already dead and yet still very alive all at once.

"I have seen enough," Mother Brain announced, her voice much too loud for Samus despite her speaking in her default tone of voice. "Take the child with you and carry on as you were. She and I will not need to speak again."

And I will not help create the architect of my demise, is what she kept to herself.

"Of course," Gray Voice bowed his head. "Come along, Samus. Please."

Samus needed no convincing to step down from Mother Brain's pedestal and rejoin Gray Voice and Old Bird. But as they all walked out of the room, she paused and turned back to look at Mother Brain one last time.

She saw fire, heard the bubbling of acid and the shrill whine of melting steel, and felt the burning of limitless hatred welling up within her, so strong and powerful she didn't realize at first who's it was.

Not Mother Brain's.

Hers.

Samus chose not to stay with Gray Voice and Old Bird for long, seeking refuge at the pond only she could reach. If they had seen the same things she had, they didn't say a word of it. She didn't try to hide it, didn't really understand how to do such a thing. None of it made sense.

The steady flow of the waterfall gave her a sense of calm again, gradually bringing her down from the world beyond and into the world that was. But it couldn't wash away the dull ache that still persisted inside her heart, waiting to ignited in a flash of anguish all over again.

She wanted to be alone, and yet she couldn't stay alone forever. She would, eventually, have to rejoin the world outside and the stars beyond it. She couldn't even begin to imagine what lie ahead except the promise of more fire and bloodshed.

With only her thoughts to keep her company, Samus fell back into the stage of denial, wishing she could close her eyes and then K-2L would still be standing when she opened them again.
She hadn't even seen Rodney or Solomon die, but she knew they must have. Everyone else had died, so there was no reason to believe that they would be different. And she held on to the belief that despite whatever had created that chasm between them, Rodney would have been looking for her if he had survived.

The fact that he wasn't yelling at Chozo in the present seemed like ironclad proof of his death to her.

Samus knew she shouldn't let her mind wander to such things, but she wondered what, exactly, had happened to Rodney. Did he go like Virginia had, fighting to protect everyone? Or was he obliterated in an instant, like s several of the townspeople must have been? Her skin crawled just thinking about it.

Whatever had become of Solomon was her fault and hers alone, she thought as tremors went through her body. She was supposed to protect him, and she had failed, and now he was lost. Lost forever, gone to where she could never find him, and if he had somehow survived, he would surely hate her just as much as she hated herself.

Hate was a curious, unpleasant thing.

But if Solomon had survived, then surely the Chozo would have found him? She couldn't imagine Old Bird not wanting to also bring Solomon back if they had found him. He didn't seem the type to abandon those in need.

Her thoughts turned completely to Old Bird and Gray Voice. They could have left her in the ruins. She didn't know what would have happened if they had, and she preferred not to think about it.

They couldn't replace Virginia, or Rodney, for that matter, she supposed. But Old Bird and Gray Voice could help fill her heart where she felt the absence of her family. The pain would never fully heal, but they could help her grow around it, until it didn't hurt her so readily and so constantly.

She felt a longing in her heart then, although not an uncomfortable one. The hope that rose and fell like a breath was digging its way to the surface, steadily pushing aside the sorrow. But she still hadn't made complete sense of it.

Samus' gaze turned to a small animal that was hopping around the edges of the pond. It looked like some sort of alien frog, with extra limbs and eyes and colours like nothing she had seen in books on Earth.

"I bet you don't have anything to worry about," Samus said to the creature, catching its attention when before it had been seemingly content to ignore. Sitting there in silence looking at each other, the frog eventually seemed to grow bored, lazily licking one of its eyes and then hopping off. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

The frog landed in the pond with a splash.

With the frog gone, Samus picked up a pointier rock and began to dig pictures into the dirt. The process automatic, she drew four stick figures into the dirt before she stopped to consider what they represented. She had circled back again. Two tall figures. Two shorter figures.

She frowned at the stick figures, staring at them for a moment before screaming and brushing away three of them, leaving only one of the shorter ones. She kicked up some dust and coughed.

The thought of erasing the final stick figure came to mind, but Samus instead drew a stick figure of a dragon roaring at no one, with a line meant to be a sword piercing right through it. She glared at it and brushed it away.

"I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Samus said to the surviving stick figure. "I'm all alone, too."

She received no response except the howl of wind blowing across the top of the mountain. "But... it's not all bad, you know."

Picking up the stick again, Samus began to draw new stick figures larger than the ones that had represented Virginia and Rodney. She sketched lines of feathers and sharp beaks, drawing the Chozo around the remaining human stick figure. "We aren't so alone anymore. We have them now. Everything will be okay."

She paused, looking at the two Chozo figures. The tallest one, Gray Voice. The other, Old Bird. "...Everything's going to be okay."

"You know that Mother Brain cannot be trusted," Old Bird didn't phrase it like a question, only a fact. "You sense the same things that I do. The secrecy. The arrogance. The work of our ancestors has gone down a path none of them could have foreseen."

Or maybe they had and thought it impossible. Or they thought it necessary.

"The situation is, for now, under control," Gray Voice didn't really believe himself as he said it, but he clung to the words like they actually brought some measure of security. "I am aware that Mother Brain is keeping secrets, but for now, it remains... preferable that she not realize I've secrets of my own."

Old Bird worried. He always worried when it came to matters such as this. It was simply in his nature. "It is a dangerous game that we are playing, Gray Voice. All of us here on Zebes... None are more aware than we of the control Mother Brain holds over the planet. If she were to turn against us..."

"She won't," Gray Voice said immediately. "Not yet. If I could only learn what she seeks, then perhaps..."

"Isn't it obvious?" Old Bird shook his head. "She desires power."

It always came down to power in the end, didn't it?

"You should concern yourself with the Human child," Gray Voice said after a lengthy silence. "I will handle Mother Brain."

"It's not just me who needs to help Samus adjust," Old Bird pointed out, his cane tapping against the stone walkway.

"A fact I am keenly aware of, yes," Gray Voice admitted, even as his mind swirled with thoughts of Mother Brain. Samus had taken meeting her better than he expected, but something had still gone wrong and neither one made it clear what it was. "I assume you know where she is?"

"Yes, she is where none of us can reach, but she is safe," Old Bird answered, eyes turned on the darkening sky. "Ah, the sun is setting... We should go get her. I don't think she would want to be left in the darkness of night."

Such a metaphor the sunset was, Gray Voice thought to himself as he followed Old Bird. The sun was setting for the Chozo, and one day, it would not rise again. A once great empire, fading into the night, becoming mere whispers of the wind.

Where before they couldn't count the stars, now only a precious few remained.

"I think we will not have to go far to find her," Old Bird spoke up after what had become an uncomfortably long silence. "She's on her way to us right now."

"Do you sense her, or are you guessing based on the sound of Red Quill's yelling?" Gray Voice asked.

Old Bird hummed. "It could be both."

Further away but rapidly closing the distance, Samus ran past other Chozo as she sought out Old Bird and Gray Voice. She ran in front of two Chozo as they had started exiting one building. She didn't notice them, looking ahead instead.

"Silver Tongue, what do you suppose that was?" Asked the white-feathered Chozo, a crest of shining blue feathers atop his head.

"Whatever it is, Diamond Crest..." The silver-feathered Chozo watched Samus disappear into the darkness of the falling night. She frowned as much as her beak would allow. "I am quite certain that Old Bird is to blame, and Gray Voice let him."

"Well, if you think so..." Diamond Crest could only shrug, both he and Silver Tongue walking in the opposite direction as Samus.

Samus' search for Old Bird and Gray Voice brought her to parts of the city she hadn't fully explored yet. But she could sense them. She was getting close.
She would find them before the last of the sunlight vanished into the night.

"There you are!" Samus shouted when she finally saw Old Bird and Gray Voice ahead of her. "I've been searching all over for you!"

"Have you?" Old Bird's eyes gleamed with the smile his beak couldn't fully form. "It is getting rather late, but you seem to have something to say, so what is it on your mind?"

Her mind wasn't swirling with thoughts of Mother Brain or the Space Pirate attack, for the time being. A positive change.

"I was thinking... that I want to stay here," Samus answered, stopping in front of them and looking up at both of them. She thought for another moment, and then added, "as long as I don't have to see Mother Brain again."

"You do want to stay here, on Zebes?" Gray Voice had expected otherwise, but there was no reason to argue it now. "Very well, then."

The illusion of a choice where there had never been one. At least Samus hadn't made it hard.

"Yes, I want to stay here with you two," Samus told them as seriously as she could muster at her age. "You're my family now."

Family.

It still felt odd to use that word for people who weren't Virginia, Rodney, or Solomon. But it felt right to use it for Old Bird and Gray Voice.

They would be her family, too.

Chapter Text

Samus couldn't remember why she had gone outside in the first place, only that no stars gleamed in the night sky and that the streets were completely empty. In fact, the city itself looked like it had been abandoned for some time... but that couldn't be right. Her mind was only playing tricks on her again.

"Hello?" She swallowed back a lump in her throat and her voice echoed in her head, pounding with her heart. "Old Bird? Gray Voice? Someone? Anyone?"

The cold wind knocked a vase off a shelf, and it shattered on impact, the sound cutting through the silence like a knife. She then noticed Red Quill's scrolls rolling across the streets. Had he been there recently? But where was he?

"Red Quill?" She called out, to no answer.

Samus looked up at the sky, and noticed not even Zebes' single moon shone in the void above. It felt familiar to her, her mind flashing to splintered memories of smoke obscuring the sky. She didn't want to remember that, so she ran, calling out for the Chozo even though none of them answered. Terror crept up her spine with each step she took through the empty city. She saw no one. She heard no one. Nobody saw or heard her.

Until she heard a low growl. Blood now ice cold, she forced her body to turn around and look in the direction of the noise. A draconic shadow loomed over the city, smothering everything it passed over in darkness that she couldn't see through. Its eyes were a pale yellow, but it wasn't looking down at her.

She rushed into one of the buildings, sealing the door behind her and cowering against the wall, away from the windows. She slid down to the floor, pulling her knees up to her chest. She still heard the low growl and the whistle of the wind, but the shadow hadn't seen her.

Lightning flashed outside, lighting up the room, and Samus realized with new horror that she wasn't alone.

The humanoid figure stood in the corner, staring directly at her. Misshapen metal and charred flesh made up its body, and when it began to move, each step was a struggle to support its own weight.

Its face was obscured by melted, opaque glass that dug into the flesh around it, rendering it unrecognizable. But Samus knew. Its head leaned to the side, resting on its own shoulder, barely hanging on.

Samus screamed until she felt like her throat had been stabbed with hundreds of needles. The thing, because she wouldn't call it by the names it once had, swung a skeletal hand at her. She ducked and ran back towards the door. If the shadow still roamed outside, she would have to outrun it, because staying inside was no longer an option.

She heard the thing shuffle behind her, but it made no other sounds as it tried to reach for her and drag her to who knew where.

Outside, she saw the shadow rising up towards the sky, the single eye she could see gleaming where the moon should have been. Whether it noticed her or not, she couldn't be sure. She ran in the direction that she thought it wasn't looking, hearing the thing shamble behind her until she couldn't anymore. She tried to call for help, but her own voice seemed to fail her.

The wind howled, the shadow hissed, and she heard a scream ring in her ears.

Samus felt the wind shift, and she looked behind her to see that the shadow was, in fact, turning around. Its eyes glowed right at her.

Her running came to a startled stop when she heard the sound of crying from one of the nearby buildings. A voice she hadn't heard in over a year. Heedless of the shadow looming behind her, she dared to seek out the source of the voice, finding it and regretting it almost immediately.

Solomon stood in the doorway, staring at her with eyes just as empty as the streets around her. In the darkness, Samus wasn't even sure if Solomon had eyes, but she knew he was staring at her all the same. She felt like her insides had turned to ice the more he stared at her.

Solomon lurched forward, closer to her, yet Samus didn't actually see him walking. She ran before he could reach her, and the shadow turned to pursue her, the darkness it created creeping up behind her steadily.

Up ahead, Samus saw one of the city's exits, normally guarded by two Chozo in armour in case any of Zebes' more dangerous wildlife got the idea to try sneaking into the city. Only the Chozo weren't there, and the gate was wide open, electronics sparking in the darkness. Had something broken inside... or out?

It didn't matter, Samus realized, as the shadow began to close in around her. She started to run, only to find that her limbs had become like lead and refused to obey her call.

"That is far enough..." The shadow hissed.

A wall of inky darkness blocked the broken gate, and Samus could do nothing except turn and face the shadow as it took a more defined shape on approach. She didn't yet know the name of the dragon who had stolen her life from her, but she recognized his face.

He rose higher and higher, blocking out any light as he stared down at her.

Samus backed away, against the wall of shadow that she quickly found she couldn't pass through. She was trapped here, with this monster. The shadow growled something else that she couldn't understand, as an orange glow traveled along its throat until it set the entire city alight.

Bright orange light obscured her vision, forcing her to cover her eyes, but when she dared to look again, the shadow stood over her amidst all the fire until the Chozo city no longer looked like it should have. It looked like... It looked like...

"I haven't forgotten about you," the shadow told her as it stalked closer. Its voice seemed to echo, and even if this was only a terrible nightmare, it carried with it a terrible truth that she wouldn't understand until later. "Do you see? Do you see what I am capable of? Do you see what is in your future?"

"I'm not afraid of you," Samus dared to say her, her quivering voice betraying her.

The shadow grinned at her, with teeth that were longer and sharper than the dragon's had actually been. "Is that so?"

It opened its jaw impossibly wide, and Samus heard the snapping of bones until its teeth engulfed her like a cage.

She could do nothing but scream.

Samus was woken up by the sound of her own screaming, and her eyes shot open to be greeted by the gentle darkness of what had been her room for about a year's time. No fire, no shadows in the shapes of dragons, and no monsters wearing the faces of her mother and brother. Just the small house she now lived in, and her.

Her heart pounded so hard she thought her chest would burst, and she could barely control her own breathing, but she leaned back into her pillow. Only a dream. Only a terrible nightmare and nothing more. Even so, she had to prove it to herself first, and so she climbed out of the bed and up the steps to a nearby window. The steps had been placed there by Gray Voice, so that she could look outside the window.

A year later, and everything that was perfectly sized for a Chozo child was still much too large for a Human child.

Samus saw no shadows outside, except for those cast by the dim lights of the city. All was well.

But that didn't do enough to make her feel better. She made her way through the darkness of her own home and stepped outside into the warm, humid air. No shadows, and no walking dead. Just her and her own thoughts.

Standing within the city, the real city, she took it all in. The gate, closed. The streets, empty but not ominously so. And so big; bigger than the town of K-2L. The Chozo were enormous, and she hadn't gotten used to it. She didn't know if she ever would, or even could.

"I thought that you would come," Old Bird's voice filled the air on her approach, as he stood in the open doorway. "And so I waited."

I sensed your hurt, went unsaid verbally, but was communicated all the same. That was all the reason he needed.

He towered over her, yet every movement of his served to make him more like a gentle giant. "Come inside."

The warmth of Old Bird's home chased the chill away once she stepped inside. Everything that was Old Bird filled the space; a sanctuary to Samus' troubled mind.

She sat down across the table from Old Bird, sitting on a stack of cushions so she could be somewhat eye level with him. He slid a cup of tea over to her. "You always come to me when you cannot sleep."

Rarely ever Gray Voice, because it was not often that he stayed with Old Bird at night. In times long before Samus' parents had even been born, she knew that things were different. When they didn't have an unbearable weight on their shoulders.

"What troubles you, child?" Old Bird asked even though they both knew he didn't need to. Samus hid nothing, and even as her mind tried to break the nightmare apart, he saw what she had seen. But the sound of his voice, that simple act of communication outside of the psionic and the arcane... It was a comfort that the Human needed in that moment, the ways of the Chozo still new.

"A bad dream," Samus murmured, holding the cup of tea with both hands like an oversized bowl. "I don't... I don't want to talk about it."

She knew that Old Bird already knew. Telling him would not help her feel better.

"You do not have to if you don't want to," Old Bird lifted his own cup, dipping his beak into the green liquid. "Whatever you saw... It cannot hurt you. I would not let it."

"But why does it still hurt?" Samus asked, as her thoughts trailed back to Virginia, Solomon, and Rodney. As they always did.

"This kind of pain never truly goes away," Old Bird answered, and Samus felt the centuries of hurt he had lived within his voice. "It does not grow smaller... But you will grow around it. You will still feel the pain, and there will be days where it will feel like a fresh wound, but you will be able to live in spite of it."

Samus listened. She would understand, eventually. "And the nightmares?"

"The nightmares..." Old Bird set his cup down. "The nightmares you can change, but it does take time. Dreams are fickle, and have a way of digging into our deepest fears and desires, taking us places we may not wish to go. But a skilled mind can recognize the dreamstate and control its outcome, and make even the worst nightmare into the sweetest dream."

Rest. Real rest without fear. "Really?"

Old Bird hummed. "It is not an easy skill to master, but it can be done. I can teach you."

Samus went silent, looking into her cup of tea like a seer staring into a pool of visions. Like Crystal Eyes and her murky waters, she supposed.

"But, I do know that when you return to sleep tonight..." Old Bird spoke up again, smiling at her as much as his beak would allow. "You will dream of nothing except fields of green and gentle animals. You have nothing to fear from the rest of this night."

A year spent among the Chozo meant that Samus didn't need to ask how Old Bird knew that, nor did she feel compelled to doubt his words. She knew they were true, and the tension fell from her body for a precious moment.

"But that is not all that troubles you, is it?" Old Bird asked her, carefully keeping the worry he had begun to feel out of Samus' reach. She was not holding her feelings back; not this time.

"It is nothing," Samus said.

It was not nothing.

"No, not troubles you," Old Bird corrected himself. "Not quite. You wish for something, and you don't know if you can ask for it. Please, tell me what it is that you want. I will not judge."

"My mom kept people safe," Samus replied, and that was only a half-answer. That Virginia had died trying to protect her didn't need to be said. "I want... I don't want people to have to protect me. I want to protect myself. I want to keep other people safe."

"That is not a bad thing to desire," Old Bird's voice still held that warmth, but Samus didn't miss the careful way he chose his words. "Your mother was a brave woman. It is only natural to want to be like her."

But it went further than simple childish admiration, and he knew that all too well.

"I know they're still out there," Samus continued, her eyes unfocused even as her mind sharpened itself like a knife. "The Space Pirates, and people like them. They'll just keep hurting people if no one stops them."

A slippery slope if Old Bird had ever seen one, but Samus' fatigue had quashed any reservations she might have possessed. "If I was big and strong, I wouldn't let people be hurt. If I had armour, no one could hurt me again."

Old Bird knew that he wasn't supposed to speak of it. Gray Voice had in the past year made him swear to never breathe a word of the god, or else they would have to reach out to the only remaining followers of that being.

Followers that no one on Zebes could trust.

But he knew Samus would not be deterred from it, and eventually the Zebesian Chozo's collective resolve would crumble. And... and he owed it to the universe, didn't he, to grant it the bright star that he knew she was meant to be?

He could see it all now, and feel it as if that future had already come to pass. He saw her, clad in the armour of the god of war; great and terrible. A shining beacon that would pierce through the veil like an arrow, striking at the heart of evil.

Entire armies would shatter in her wake, and she would be a queen of a thousand enemies. As long as the the universe still glowed with the light and warmth of the stars against the dark, she would be hunted in turn. She would know no true peace, ever molded by the bloodied hands of fate and torn asunder by the universe's immeasurable teeth.

Old Bird did not wish to see more.

It didn't have to be her. It didn't have to be anyone. The future hadn't yet been written. But she would carve her own path, with or without the Chozo of Zebes.

"I believe it is time for you to go back to sleep," Old Bird chose to change the subject altogether. "There will be time to speak of such things later, when the sun is risen and the remnants of the nightmare have gone."

And you are still too young to understand what you are trying to take for your own, he would have said, had he the strength in that moment. But his voice and his thoughts all failed him.
"Okay," Samus finally said, her voice soft but still, distressingly, determined to see it all through.

But for now, she would dream of cloudless skies and fields of green.