Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

One week after the capture-the-flag war.

Keun Sup wasn't one to drag his feet, but on this particular day he was moving at a snail's pace. He didn't know what he dreaded most, the sight of the barren meadow, the anger of the horse girls, or the fact that he had to face his own actions. Whichever it was, he stopped halfway down the path, equally close to and far from the clearing in the trees that led to the meadow. It wasn't too late to turn back now. Then again, giving up was a cowards game, and he was no coward. He was an ex-champion of the king, and even if the kingdom was in shambles and their king banished (and rightfully so), he didn't earn that title for nothing.

So it was pride that spurred him onward, still slow, shaky with a lack of confidence. And man, if there was one thing he lacked after the fall of Xavier, it was confidence. What he had of it crumbled with the kingdom, with the realization that he was seen as a tool by his king, and only respected by his peers for his position in the hierarchy. His only friends were the ex-champions of the King, the only people in the entirety of the creek who actually like him for who he was instead of what he could do. That would shatter anyone's confidence, right? he thought to himself. Though sometimes, he looked back on his time as Xavier's cherry blossom champion and wondered if he ever had confidence at all, or if it had all been second-hand from people he thought adored him.

The grass was too short, stubbed and sharp where it had been cut. Keun knelt down and felt a few of the grass blades, feeling them prickle against his finger tips. When the grass was tall, it took on a pale yellow hue, but currently it was young and green. Green like the shirt he was wearing. He liked to alternate colors now, green, blue, purple, orange, red, repeat… Anything but pink or white. Those were cherry blossom colors, and he didn't want to be that anymore, not when being a cherry blossom only left him hollow and guilt-wracked and hungry for a past that hurt him.

He stood back up. No point in trying to delay the inevitable. He was surprised they haven't seen him yet, even if he was only on the cusp of the meadow. It was so bare now that nothing's hidden besides the grasshoppers. He could see them above him on the arc of one of the hills, somehow still smiling and whinnying despite the circumstances. They must have been having too much fun to notice him. He smiled when he saw it, though; he didn't ruin it all.

It took him two minutes to trek up the hill. It was two minutes to think about the split second trips he usually made, two minutes to mull over the fact that he hadn't done so this time, two minutes to conceptualize half a million bad ways for the upcoming conversation to go, and another half a million it could go right and still so wrong because he really couldn't wrap his head forgiveness right now. Two minutes too soon for him to make up his mind for what to say, whether or not to introduce himself, how to say sorry for something so egregious. Two minutes, and he's already on the arc of the hill across from the four girls. They look different without the tinted goggles obscuring his vision. They're more vibrant, more lively, less pink. The world looks better without so much pink.

The short, blonde one noticed him first. She huffed out through her nose, her nostrils flaring, and he swore he could see the spirit of a white horse glint in her eyes. "It's you," she growled at him, almost more wolf than horse, but for certain he could still see her hands balled up into hooves, that white horse inside of her, cream mane and tail, brown eyes staring straight through him. He opened his mouth to begin his apology, but then he was cut off, and the words were lost to the void of panic beginning to cloud his brain.

"You! You're the kid who cut down our meadow!" the brunette girl accused, her green eyes turning into a glare. She pointed out one of her hooves at him, and he could see it, the chestnut horse that resided in her heart. It was crushing to be so vulnerable; Keun Sup felt like he was being smothered by shame. He felt his cheeks heat up.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing your face around here!" the girl with cascading, black hair whinied. Her spirit burned hotly with a bay horse whose freedom could never be caged. He shrunk in on himself, trying to keep his gaze on them.

The last girl, clad in a gray hoodie, pointed out an accusatory finger, before shaping her hand into a hoove to match her friends. Her eyes darted to her friends for a moment, but they were all focused solely on him. Keun Sup noticed though; it was a weakness, something he'd been taught to identify for his king, a skill that he despised, and he quickly discarded the information. "Do you have any idea what that did to the ecosystem?" she shouted. It was faded, but some semblance of a dapple horse hides behind her hazel eyes.

Keun Sup hung his head. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"What's that?" the white horse girl hissed at him, cupping an ear with a hooved hand. The leader, he knew. Identifying a leader was a skill that was more helpful to him now than the former.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, louder, "I shouldn't have mowed the meadow and I shouldn't have underestimated the importance of the horses!"

"Oh? You're sorry?" she jeered, "Hear that girls? Flower boy says he's sorry!"

"MacKenzie, cut it out," the dapple girl cut in, her voice quiet, faded like the horse in her spirit, "Maybe we should hear him out."

"Hear him out?" the chestnut girl butted in, "We need to challenge him. You know, one of our horse trials of atonement!"

"No, guys, seriously-" the dapple tried in vain to interrupt.

"A horse trial of atonement, eh?" MacKenzie hummed, "Sounds good to me. What about you, Maney?"

The bay girl let out a horsey snort. "Sounds like a proper rite of passage to me," Maney agreed.

"Then it's decided," MacKenzie concluded, "Follow me!" She galloped down the hill, Maney and the chestnut horse girl following her. Somehow, that carefree dashing stuck in his mind, and when he closed his eyes, he could imagine the scene with the proper grass height, the pale yellow blending into the white pelt of MacKenzie, and making the bay, chestnut, and dapple of the other three stand out. On the thought of the dapple, he realized he didn't see her run down with the others. He opened her eyes to see her frowning as she watched them go. She turned her head to him and smiled when they made eye contact. He looked away anyways, cheeks flushed again, devastatingly shamed and embarrassed.

"Hey. I'm Marie," she introduced herself. "Uh," she sighed, "Look, the others are nice, they can just be abrasive sometimes. And impulsive. And a lot of things. They're angry, and I think they should be, but, I also think it took a lot of guts to come back here and apologize. So…" She held out her hand.

He looked at it for a moment. He lifted his hand, hesitated, then took hers and shook it. "I'm Keun Sup," he told her, "But just Keun is fine."

"Alright, Kuen," Marie offered, "If you really want to do the whole horse trial of atonement thing-" she did air quotes as she spoke its title "-Then just follow me. I can take you there."

"Yeah. I want to do it," he answered, following her lead as she walked down the hill. Even when barren, the meadow was big. He didn't want to get lost within it.

The walk was mostly silent, until they were halfway to their destination. Marie stopped suddenly. "So, why are you here, anyways?"

"To apologize-"

"No. Why are you really here?"

Straight to the heart then. Keun sighed. "Because I need to. It- it haunts me."

"Guilt. Been there," Marie muttered, beginning to walk again.

"Guilt, yeah, but not just that," Keun admitted, "I need to do something for myself this time. I kept doing things for him, no matter what I wanted. I felt like I had to. If I didn't… Well, I don't know what would have happened, but I was scared." And it might be what he needed to get back something valuable that he'd lost, but he didn't want to open that can of worms.

Marie glanced back at him. He could sense sympathy in her eyes. "Your king?" she asked, though it sounded more like a statement. He just nodded. She turned her attention back in front of her. "I'd be afraid of him, too," Marie admitted, "Heck, I was afraid of him just knowing he was around."

"At first, it wasn't even fear, honestly. I'm almost ashamed to say it, but I admired Xavier. A guy like that, he has it all. Personality, candy, power… He seemed like the perfect kid with the perfect life. I'd do anything for a kid like that." And he had. He had painted himself an unbearable shade of Pink to fit that rose-tinted world that Xavier seemed to exude- or at least he had been lead to believe Xavier exuded it.

"But as more time went on, as my rank climbed up the friendship ladder, If you can even call it that, I started to see more of him. And what I saw, well… He was far from the perfect kid. The threat of being pushed off of the friendship ladder became less of a side effect of ruling a kingdom and more like a constant threat he hung over my head to get me to do stuff for him. But it was too late by that point." Keun Sup wasn't sure why he was pouring his heart out to someone he just met, someone who really should hate him, and did up until a few minutes ago, no less! Marie had an aura of sympathy around her, though, so it almost felt safe. He shook his head to rid himself of the voice in the back of his head pointing out the weakness of lending him her sympathy, the weakness of him accepting it and opening up to her. They're just remnants of another person's influence, and he was gone now.

He stopped as they reached the other three girls. MacKenzie huffed when she saw him, her arms crossed. He could tell she was trying to intimidate him, and in any other situation, he would have thought it was too over the top and forced to work, but right now, it was working. His hands trembled, so slightly that no one besides him noticed. He felt so small compared to her, even though she was one of the few people that he was actually tall enough to be around the same height as.

"I hope you're ready to atone, flower boy!" she brayed.

Marie quietly informed her, "His name is Keun Sup."

"No one cares what his name is," MacKenzie snapped.

Keun Sup flinched back at that, and even Marie seemed indignant, but neither of them spoke up. He wondered if her silence meant that they were similar, or if it was something else. He took a deep breath. "I'm ready to make up for it, yeah," he agreed.

"Excellent!" MacKenzi exclaimed, "And we have already decided-!" Quickly, she and the other two girls twirled around into a huddle and began whispering amongst themselves. Marie sighed and facepalmed before Maney grabbed her by the wrist still dangling by her side and pulled her into the pile. After a minute, MacKenzi suddenly turned back to face him and finished, "-On a race!"

"A r- race?" he sputtered.

MacKenzi scoffed, "Yeah! Since you're so proud of your running, let's see you go up against the horses of the creek."

Keun Sup put his hands out in front of him in defense. "Woah, I don't race anymore. I'll do anything else, I promise. I'll do your other activities! Your hurdle jumps, or your-"

MacKenzi stamped. "You promised! You said you'd do it!"

Keun Sup grimaced. "Yeah," he admitted, voice wavering, "I did."

The rest of the way to the starting line was a blur. He was pretty sure he heard Marie ask are you okay? somewhere in there, but he could say for certain if or when she did. No, he was preoccupied with something bigger than himself. It was pretty common knowledge around the creek that there was something magical about it, whether that was the creek itself or a side-effect of being the domain of children. Not metaphorically magical either. He used to zip around from place to place in a matter of seconds, an ability he'd worked for, and apparently it was approved of.

Marie stood as referee at the starting line of the looping track. She'd be waiting for them there until they reached it again, as a finish line, which he'd probably find amusing if he weren't so worried. Marie blew a whistle (MacKenzi shot her a glare for using her hands instead of hooves), and they were off. He sprinted, and he was still fast, but not like the wind. He quickly surpassed the Chestnut girl, but the other two girls were faster than him in his present state. Whatever approval he once had, he lost it. He lost it when he lost the respect of the other children, lost the respect of the creek itself.

He pushed himself, leaned himself forward, ignoring the bitter taste of the memories of a time where he loved to run and race, and didn't feel guilty for having passion. This was one race he couldn't lose, not if this was what might make the heaviness of his guilt lift off of him. Maybe if he won, he'd get his speed back. Maybe if he won, he wouldn't hate his past so much. He gained on Maney though his own determination, passing her way too slowly for comfort.

He was so close. He was in second, he just had to steal the lead. MacKenzi was too far ahead of him, though, he knew that much. He'd never catch up, if he even was going faster than he now, which he doubted. He hadn't expected her to be anything but fast, but still somehow he felt he underestimated her. Please, I have to win back my speed, he pleaded internally, hoping that the magic could hear him, I have to win your approval back.

He could see MacKenzi veering towards the finish line. He couldn't tell if the pain he felt watching the gap between her and the line getting smaller was emotional, or a result of running as hard as he could. He squeezed his eyes shut. Okay! You don't have to let me use it ever again! he thought, a feeling of desperation clawing at his brain, Just let me make this up to them the only way they'll let me!

The feeling was like static flashing up from the soles of his feet to the top of his head, a mixture of temperatures, hot electricity and cold air. Wind whipped against his face- he knew this feeling. His eyes snapped open again to see the familiar tunnel vision of just the finish line and blurred lines. The feeling of his hair flying back like a mane- if he was allowed to think it, he really did feel like one of them at the moment. He was an appaloosa, black mane, white-speckled torso, white eyes. All of it- the approval, the feeling, the revelation- struck in a matter of seconds, and soon he whipped past the finish line, just in time to win.

MacKenzi stumbled forward over the line after him, pulled forward by the force of his speed, and Marie could barely puff out a note on her whistle before she was knocked over completely. Keun skidded to a stop, leaving behind a divot in the dirt track from where he had dug in his heels. He turned, and dashed back to Marie, making sure that he didn't super-speed himself over to her, if he even could super-speed again. He offered her a hand, and helped her to her feet. "Sorry for knocking you over," he mumbled shyly.

She blinked at him after getting to her feet, like it was the most absurd thing she'd ever heard. "You just- Harnessed the power of Slyde the ferret or something! she stammered.

"I'm a little surprised, myself," he admitted, "I guess I just… Really wanted to fix what I ruined, and that was the right thing."

MacKenzi was staring at him, mouth agape. "You can run like that?" she gasped after she processed what just happened.

"Yeah, I guess," he explained, "I mean, I could, and then I couldn't, and then I could again, and maybe I still can, but I don't know."

The other two girls joined them. "Woah!" Maney exclaimed as she approached.

"That was incredible!" the chestnut chimed in, "I've never seen someone gallop like that before!"

MacKenzi was flushed, from running or from being proven wrong, he couldn't tell. She smiled at him anyway, no matter which it was. "Well, I suppose you've won your atonement, Keun Sup," she told him. She and the other three girls flailed their arms in front of them and let out a hearty neigh. He could see genuine respect reflected in her eyes, both satisfied with his effort and impressed by his speed. "In fact, after that, I don't see why you couldn't hang out with us whenever you want."

Keun Sup beamed. "You know, I haven't really been able to find a place to fit in after our kingdom got dismantled," he tittered, "So I'd really appreciate that."

There was a pause. "Maybe we should start over- Like, introductions and such," Marie suggested. She turned to him and held out her hand again, "Hey, I'm Marie." He took her hand and shook it, almost laughing at the deja vu.

"I'm MacKenzi." She stamped again, this time to look tough instead of anger.

Maney nickered with a grin, "Maney."

The chestnut girl grinned, and waved a hoof. "I'm Melissa! Nice to meet you!"

He waved back. "I'm Keun Sup. People used to call me The Blur, but I'm not sure if that's who I want to be anymore."

Marie put a hoof on his shoulder. "Hey, we'll be here until you figure it out."

"Yeah, you're welcome to come gallop with us after that!" Melissa added.

Marie elbowed her. "It's not all about speed," she muttered to her.

"I mean, after you were brave enough to take our horse trial of atonement like that," Melissa corrected, "That was very noble, like a war horse."

Keun Sup looked down at his hands, which he had formed into hooves like the girls without realizing. Finally, for once after the capture-the-flag war, without even needing Jack or Aggie there, he felt safe, wanted. He looked back up at the four girls with a determined expression. "I just have to make sure that it's still here. I have to," he told them. He took a deep breath, and readied himself, then ran. The feeling of static electricity shot through him again.

Chapter Text

Two weeks after the capture-the-flag war

It wasn't with fanfare, nor was it with remorse, that Aggie approached the ten speeds one overcast afternoon. Her arms were crossed, accentuated by a jean jacket (one without torn sleeves that day, since it was chilly out). The other four children were seated on their bikes, each with a steadying foot out to keep themselves upright while they were still. Their eyes were narrowed but they were still too frightened of the large girl to properly stand up to her. After a moment of maintaining a stare and silence, Aggie spoke up. "You wanna new ramp?"

The small, freckled kid and the tall, black-haired kid both sat up straighter; however, the one she recognized from Keun's recounting of the capture-the-flag war as Cannonball, slouched forward, unconvinced. The leader looked ambivalent at best, her downcast eyes darting to the left and the right as she thought. Finally, she settled on, "Elaborate."

Aggie shrugged at that. "I mean, do y' wanna new ramp?"

The leader looked to the other three. Cannonball shook his head no, but the other two shook their heads yes. The leader turned back to Aggie, then sighed. "Okay, but how?" she asked.

"I can make you a new ramp," Aggie explained, rolling her eyes, "One that's safer than that other one you had. Do you want me to do that?"

"Uh," the leader droned out, looking back at the other three blankly.

Cannonball sighed, but relented, "It's up to you, Handlebarb." The other two boys muttered their agreement.

Handlebarb continued to ponder the idea. She shot a glare off to the side at nothing in particular. "'Kay. You can make us a new ramp if you want," she grumbled.

"Alright, then. I'll get working on tha-"

"But I'll be keeping an eye on you," Handlebarb interrupted.

Aggie shrugged, "I don't have a problem with that. Whatever helps you sleep."

Cannonball looked down to the dirt path, and paused. When he lifted his head again, he shrugged and stated, "If you think it's the right call, then I'll go with it, Handlebarb."

Handlebarb looked back in front of her. Aggie was turned towards where their ramp had been, and was knelt down, carefully inspecting the dirt underneath. Handlebarb dismounted their bike, leaning it against a tree they passed on their way to join Aggie. They arrived at her side just in time to watch her dip her hand into the loose soil, and let it slip away from between her fingers as she drew it up, blown away by the breeze. Aggie's brow furrowed.

"What's wrong with it?" Handlebarb asked, disconcerted with the look on Aggie's face.

Aggie shook her head. "I don't know how you made that ramp, but this isn't going to reform, not like this." She stood up with a grunt. "Lucky for you, I know how to make one of these that's a little more stable than the one you had before, but we're going to need some wood, sandbags, and pails that can carry water."

"What?" Handlebarb exclaimed, "What are you going to need all that for?"

"Well, the sandbags are going to be used as a foundation. Y'know, so next time someone tries to squash your ramp, it won't go down as easily." Handlebarb glared at her, and Aggie shot back an apologetic smile. "The wood is going to sort of serve as the sides, but we're gonna need dirt too. The wood's just gonna hold it in place. The pails of water are to make the dirt damp so we can get it to keep shape."

The tall kid raised his hand. "Uh, we could get the pails and stuff from the muddy buddies, and we could even get them to come here and help us out with forming the ramp back up! As long as you're okay with getting the wood and the sandbags."

"I'm down," Handlebarb agreed. They looked at Aggie.

Aggie shrugged. "I'm fine with it."

"I guess we should head over to the junkpile, then," Handlebarb told her.

"The junkpile?" the other three ten speeds exclaimed.

"But- But the Junklord hates you!" the freckled kid fretted.

Handlebarb pointed back at Aggie with a smirk. "I've got her," she reminded them, "You think he's gonna mess with her?"

The freckled kid wrung his hands, his teeth clenched like he wanted to say something he knew he'd regret. The tall kid spoke up for him, "It's not that we think he'll mess with her, it's that we don't exactly… trust her."

"What if she teams up with him?" The freckled kid shuddered.

"Todd, Warpspeed," Handlebarb began, "None of us trust her, but I really want our ramp back, and I know you do too, so I'm going to put a bit of blind faith into this. Besides, don't you think that I could hold my own? As long as I've got my bike, you know I'll be fine!"

Aggie shrunk away. Try as she might to not care, it stung. I suppose I do deserve it, she thought to herself, But I am trying my best! Maybe I should just give up and go back to my side of the creek. There's a lot less there, and I know Keun is doing his own thing now, but I heard that the tailor is still there, and I think Jackie might be okay with it. He hasn't really found a place here either.

"You coming?" Handlebarb called back to her, jostling Aggie out of her thoughts.

"Yeah," Aggie agreed, running up to meet her, "Sorry. Was thinking."

"'Bout what?" Handlebarb lifted her bike from where it rested upon the tree, and hopped onto it.

Aggie grimaced. "It's none of your business."

Handlebarb kicked off the ground and began to pedal, keeping their pace slow so Aggie could keep up. "Y'know, sis, my mom has this thing she says," Handlebarb told her, "If you keep it in, when it comes out, it ain't gonna be pretty."

"I don't need a lecture about my feelings," Aggie huffed, "I get enough of those from Momma already."

Handlebarb shrugged as best as they could while riding their bike. "Have it your way, but it may be that your mom is right."

"Why do you care, anyways?" Aggie growled, "I thought you 'didn't trust me' or whatever." She made air quotes when she said 'didn't trust me.'

"I dunno," Handlebarb admitted, "I guess I just don't like seeing anyone bothered by stuff even more than I distrust you."

"How do you even know what I am thinking about it bothering me, huh?" Aggie huffed, "I could just be thinking about what my mother is going to be cooking for dinner tonight."

"You wouldn't be so defensive over it if that were true." Handlebarb smirked at a particularly bumpy part of the path, and increased their speed. They whooped out as they went over the bumps, their voice sounding out like hiccups from the way they were jostled. They stopped after the path smoothed back out, waiting for Aggie to join back up with them. Handlebarb smiled at her with nonchalance as they began pedaling their bike again.

Aggie only looked back at them with disapproval. "How much farther to this junkpile place?" Aggie grumbled.

"Mm," Handlebarb hummed as they mentally gauged the distance, "We're around halfway there."

"Only halfway?"

"Hey, now you know to bring a bike next time you decide to hang out with the ten speeds," Handlebarb teased.

"We are not hanging out," Aggie shot.

Handlebarb tapped her fingers on her bike's handlebars. "Sure feels like hanging out to me. I mean, what else would you call it?"

"A favor!" Aggie argued, "I'm doing you a favor! And once that favor is done, I'm free! I don't have to worry about you, or your ramp, or everything else that happened with King Xavier anymore!"

Handlebarb thought for a moment. "Is that the thing that's bothering you?" they pushed.

"No!" Aggie answered too quickly. Handlebarb glanced at her, their eyes knowing. "Okay, fine! A little bit!" Aggie admitted with a pout, "But it's more like… What do I do now?"

"I mean, there's so much of the Creek to explore now, right? And you don't have some king to tell you what to do," Handlebarb pointed out, "I'm sure you'll find a place were you belong soon."

Aggie sighed. "You just don't get it."

"What's not to get?" Handlebarb wondered, "I mean, that's what happened, sha?"

"Before I had friends. I had a place to belong. I know that things are better for a lot of people now, but what if they're not better for me? Huh?" Aggie explained, her voice rising to a yell with every sentence, "And I know it's not right! It's not right to wish none of this had never happened, because it wasn't a bad thing! But now, I don't have anything to do, or anyplace to be, and I don't have Keun Sup, or Jackie, or Maya! I have nothing!

Handlebarb hit their brakes and stopped. They looked at Aggie with sympathy. Aggie looked back, eyes wide with the realization of what she had just told them. After a moment, she crossed her arms with a glare. "You didn't have to stop," she muttered.

"Naw, sis, sounds like you're really going through it," Handlebarb told her. They paused. With a sigh they continued, "I don't have any good answers for you. I just know that good things happen for no reason all the time. You just gotta wait for your good thing."

Aggie sniffled. "Waiting? That's stupid."

Handlebarb shrugged. "Stupid things aren't always bad things."

"That's stupid, too." Aggie glared at her. "Just keep going, biker kid," Aggie commanded.

"Suit yourself." Handlebarb continued to bike on.

The rest of the journey continued on in silence. Aggie was surprised by Handlebarb suddenly stopping in the middle of the path. Without a word, they leaned their bike against a tree, and secured it with a chain. Aggie cocked an eyebrow at them when they turned back around. Handlebarb just shot her a cheeky smile and shrugged. "Don't worry about it," they told her.

Aggie furrowed her brow as the two approached the junk pile. There were sticks with bike helmets hung upon them like they were skulls. "Um," Aggie lilted, "Are you sure I shouldn't worry?"

"It's fine," Handlebarb insisted, "But you should let me do the talking."

Aggie hesitated with further confusion. "Alright," she finally agreed.

Handlebarb stepped into the junkpile and paused in apprehension, and Aggie joined beside her, still not entirely certain what was going to happen. Like he had been waiting for a cue, the Junklord leaped out of a pile of old magazines, newspapers, and matted stuffed animals. He landed in front of them, face pointed downwards, but eyes cast upwards, crouched like a rabid raccoon. After a moment of uncomfortable, silent confrontation, he rose. "Handbarb of the Ten Thieves," he scowled, "What brings you here?"

Handlebarb gestured to Aggie. "Just showing my new friend around."

"Friend?" Aggie muttered, "But we're not-"

"Sh!" Handlebarb hissed back so Junklord couldn't hear, "Just roll with it."

Junklord was too busy scanning Aggie to pay attention. She noticed him pale when he took in her full size and scope. She looked at him, not in a threatening way, just so their eyes met, and his eyes widened as he broke from the eye contact. "That's your friend, huh?" He squeaked, "Alright. What does she want?"

Handlebarb looked at Aggie, and shot her a thumbs up.

"We need wood and sandbags," Aggie answered, a smirk curling onto her face. I know I shouldn't enjoy it. I shouldn't, she thought to herself, But something about intimidating this kid makes me feel like I'm on top again.

Junklord scowled at Handlebarb, and grit his teeth like he wanted to snap at her, but said nothing. He turned, flourishing his cape behind him. "Follow me," he commanded them.

The two exchanged mischievous grins as they complied. "You made this, like, ten times easier, sis!" Handlebarb whispered to Aggie.

"It's what I'm here for," Aggie tittered, voice equally hushed.

Handlebarb tilted their head to the side at that. "I mean, you're good for stuff besides that, y'know."

Aggie shrugged. "I guess." There was a pause between them. "Why's this guy hate you so much, anyway?" Aggie asked.

Handlebarb's grin turned sheepish. "We kinda… Used to come here to get new bike parts. It was before we knew the Junk Lord was here, but he still wasn't happy about it when he caught us."

"Doesn't seem like your fault. If you didn't know, then you couldn't know you were stealing. Plus, you were basically recycling, which seems like a pretty good deal to me."

Handlebarb shrugged. "It doesn't matter if it was right or wrong. It's his stuff, and once he claims something as his stuff, he doesn't let anyone have it."

"Uhg, royalty, am I right?" Aggie whined.

"You used to work for King Xavier. One of his champions, if I remember correctly?" handlebarb reminded her.

"I regret it."

Handlebarb only shot her a curious glance, interest piqued.

"As my Momma always says, hindsight is 20/20," Aggie continued, "Somewhere along the line, he became impossible to keep happy. He always wanted more, but more was never enough. Not the kind of playtime you want to have, you know? Which brings me back to this. Royalty: almost always just tyranny.

Handlebarb argued, "Not all rulers are tyrants. Sewer Queen is a nice ruler!"

"I'll believe that when I see it," Aggie argued back, "But so far, I've only met two rulers, and one was King Xavier, and the other one is this super selfish kid who won't share anything with anyone, even literal garbage."

"I guess he is like that, but only most of the time! Sometimes he can be reasoned with." Handlebarb held out her hand in presentation to prove her point.

In front of the pair, Junk Lord stood over a stack of wooden planks. Aggie could guess by the size that he'd been working on building the stack for quite a while. With a mournful sigh, he picked up half of the stack and turned to face them. "Here. The wood you asked for. I still have to find sandbags though."

Aggie took the planks from him. "Thanks. I'll return anything we don't use."

The Junk Lord's downcast expression lit up upon hearing that. "Really? Thank you!"

Aggie blinked, surprised by the sudden change in his demeanor. "Huh?" she wondered aloud.

Junk Lord didn't answer. Instead, he turned around, leading them deeper into the junk pile. "C'mon. There should be sandbags around here somewhere."

Aggie looked at Handlebarb incredulously. "I guess he doesn't get return offers often?" Handlebarb suggested, cocking one eyebrow and raising their arms in a shrug.

Aggie thought on that. "Do you think he'd be more willing to part with his stuff if we traded him for it?"

"Naw," answered Handlebarb, halfway laughing, "We tried that already."

"Oh."

"Ah ha!" Junk Lord cried out, cutting the conversation short. He began dragging out a sandbag from the pile. After it was fully out of the pile, he went for another. As he pulled, he yelped, "I knew I'd find them eventually!" As he went for a third, Aggie approached to join him. He dropped the corner of the sandbag he was holding and jumped away.

She didn't even glance at his apprehension, instead plucking the sandbags out of the pile, and stacking them on top of the planks she was carrying, before adding the previous two to her arms as well. Junk Lord stared with big eyes. "You could have crushed me for real," he breathed.

Now Aggie glanced at him, her expression unamused, though not threatening. After a pause, she shrugged. "Yeah, though I prefer the term 'squash,' personally." She walked back to Handlebarb with the supplies.

"And you really would have squashed me if I hadn't given you stuff?" He asked, tagging along behind her.

"I dunno, probably," Aggie off-handedly replied.

Junk Lord squeaked in response. He wrinkled his nose and frowned at the thought.

"Anyways, thanks for the stuff, bruh," Handlebarb intervened before Junk Lord and Aggie could continue with the topic, "We'll give you the leftovers after we're done, I guess."

"Okay," Junk Lord waved, "See ya." He slunk back behind a large pile of junk as quick as he could, an unsettled expression still upon his face.

Handlebarb was quiet until they got on their bike. Kicking off, Handlebarb asked in a hushed voice, "Were you really gonna beat him up if he didn't give us stuff?"

Aggie hummed with indifference. "Squash, not beat up."

"So then…" Handlebarb trailed off. The silence that followed weighed heavy on Aggie.

"Maybe, I don't know. You wanted my help getting this stuff right?" Aggie huffed.

"I mean, yeah, but I didn't think you'd actually consider- I just wanted to scare him, which we did," Handlebarb stammered.

"Usually, when someone wants my help, they want me to… Be their strength, so to speak," Aggie told them, "It's not often I'm asked to do much more than squash and/or destroy."

"I get that," Handlebarb nodded, their expression uneasy, "But you know, I'm not like Xavier."

"I didn't specifically say Xavier."

"You didn't have to."

Aggie went dead silent. She looked down at the ground, at the dirt path trampled by the feet of swarms of kids running down it daily. Swarms of kids, and yet I ended up stuck with… she thought to herself. She shook her head. No, that's all over and done with. Swarms of kids, and as of now, I can end up with any kids I want.

"Oh. Sorry sis," Handlebarb apologized, "I shoulda known it'd be a sore subject. Uh. How about you tell me about what you've been doing since the whole war thing ended. Where are those friends of yours?"

"Jackie and Keun Sup? Keun's at the horse girl meadows. Jackie, well, I'm not sure. Probably playing some kind of sport or something. He really likes those," Aggie explained, a grateful smile crossing her face now that she had something else to think about.

"I thought you'd all be hanging around each other."

"We do! Often, in fact! We just never really had much time to branch out, and do our own thing. Keun Sup wants a reason to run other than competition, and I think Jackie really wants to play an actual game instead of doing tricks to amuse others."

"So what about you? What do you want to do?"

Aggie faltered, continuing her step forward just short of freezing. She let in a breath like she was being constricted. "I don't know," she admitted softly.

Handlebarb hummed. "It's a good thing you're branching out, then, huh?"

"I guess."

Handlebarb paused. "You want to know something I haven't told anyone else in the Creek?"

Aggie looked up, her face aglow with surprise. "Sure."

"When I first went to the creek, I didn't know what I was going to do. Everyone seemed to be so excited for me to join their group, the ninja kids and the climbers especially. The problem was, I wasn't interested in what any of those kids were doing, all I wanted to do was ride. I had just gotten my first bike that year on my birthday, and when I first rode it, it felt like I was truly myself for the first time," Handlebarb told her, a wistful smile on their face, "I ended up finding that ramp while riding around the creek one day, and I decided to stay there and practice jumps. After a few weeks, Cannonball found me. He told me that he had friends that also liked to bike, and that I should teach them how to jump the way I was. And that's how the ten speeds were formed."

Aggie listened to Handlebarb, and then to the gentle quiet that followed. It was just her, them, and the sound of the bike's pedals turning. She looked up and watched the breeze turn the leaves of the trees into green waves, thinking on Handlebarb's words with care. "Everyone has a place in the creek," Aggie muttered.

"Yeah, basically," Handlebarb replied.

"I just have to find it," Aggie decided.

"And if you don't, it'll find you," added Handlebarb with a playful smile. They braked to a stop, having reached the area where the ramp used to be. There, Todd, Warpspeed, Cannonball, and the muddy buddies were waiting.

"Finally!" one of the muddy buddies whined, "I thought we'd just be standing here forever!" She threw out her arms in exasperation.

"It's only been two minutes, Ashley," the boy of the muddy buddies group pointed out.

"Exactly!" Ashley huffed, "That's so long!"

"I thought you'd enjoy a break after moving all that mud and stuff around with you," Todd mumbled.

"Trust me, we do," deadpanned a girl with dark brown hair and glasses, out of breath.

Aggie approached the group, Handlebarb hopping of their bike to follow. "So you got the stuff you need to help us rebuild? Mud and water and pails?" Aggie questioned.

"Of course," the muddy buddies boy answered, holding up a bucket clearly meant to build sandcastles on the beach. It was filled to the brim with mud.

The other three of the group also held up various buckets filled with mud. The girl in the white shirt with red sleeves added, "As if the Muddy Buddies would go anywhere without mud!"

Aggie smiled, not quite unlike the way she did when a plan for Xavier went exactly the way they wanted, though in this context the smile felt better than it ever did before. "Okay, so first, I'm going to line these sandbags up along the bottom-" as she spoke, she began to place the sandbags down, just as she said she would "-And when I'm done, I'm going to need the Muddy Buddies to start packing mud between them until they form a solid foundation." The Muddy Buddies already were shoving their hands into their buckets to scoop out mud. Once Aggie had finished, she gave the Muddy Buddies a thumbs up. The Muddy Buddies ran to the foundation with eager grins and started piling mud between the sandbags, and patting it down. The group of four kids made short work of finishing the foundation, to the surprise of Aggie and the Ten Speeds. The prideful smirks of the Muddy Buddies made it clear that they were well aware of how impressed the rest of the group was.

"Alright, so next we should begin lining up the wooden planks to form the siding of the ramp," Aggie informed the group. The four members of the Ten Speeds stepped in to help this time. It took longer for the group to finish the task than it did for the foundation to be completed, and once again the Muddy Buddies looked smug about it. Cannonball placed the last board around the bottom, and the group stepped back to admire their handy work. It really was a thing of beauty, in Aggie's eyes, with the way the planks were sparse near the bottom, but grew more sturdy as the ramp curved upwards. Not bad for a handful of kids! she thought to herself, feeling genuine pride for the first time in a long time. It felt nice to be proud without it feeling hollow.

"Now what?" Handlebarb asked, "That was everything we brought with us."

"Now, we build it back up with dirt the way it was," Aggie answered.

The Muddy Buddies practically screamed with glee. All four of them rushed over to the ramp to rebuild it back to what it was before. For all the Muddy Buddies did, it ended up taking all of the Ten Speeds and Aggie joining in to finish. They had just barely concluded construction when the dinner horn rang. All eager to ride on their ramp again, each of the Ten Speeds all groaned out in frustration as the low sousaphone tone sounded out above them.

"I wouldn't be so disappointed," Ashley told the Ten Speeds with a shrug, "You want to wait until that mud is all packed together and tight. You don't want to break it again, do you?"

"No, I guess not," Cannonball answered.

"Exactly!" Ashley hummed, "Anyways, gotta go!" She took off running towards her house.

"Yeah, I better get going too," Cannonball added. Warpspeed and Todd muttered their agreements, and all three boys hopped on their bikes and pedaled away.

There was a pause between the two still left. "Don't you gotta go home?" Aggie asked Handlebarb, "I know I do."

Handlebarb didn't answer. After another pause, they instead muttered, "Thank you."

"Oh, um- You're welcome? I guess?" Aggie stammered, "I mean, it was nothing. I broke it, so, y'know."

"I know that, but still, you didn't have to fix it. It could have been so easy for you to say that it didn't matter because you were just following Xavier's orders, but you still came back," Handlebarb pointed out, "And now the ramp looks better than it ever did before. If I'm being honest, that old ramp felt like it was ready to fall apart every time I used it the past couple of years." Handlebarb sighed.

Aggie huffed out a barely comprehensible, "Yeah, y'know, silver lining."

Handlebarb laughed at that. "You know, sis, I'mma tell people how good you did at this. Recommend you, you know?" Handlebarb continued, "Maybe help you find that place you're looking for."

"That'd be cool," Aggie answered, trying to appear disinterested despite not being able to hide her excited smile.

Handlebarb continued to laugh at the cool girl persona Aggie put up. "Now I gotta get going. My parents get anxious if I'm out too late."

"Yeah, I guess returning that stuff to the Junk Lord is gonna have to wait," Aggie nodded, "My Mother is going to be so mad when I'm late for dinner. I gotta get all the way back to Herkleston Mills."

"Oh man! I forgot you lived so far away!" Handlebarb exclaimed. They gave Aggie a small wave.

Aggie waved back before she took off running towards her side of the creek. Putting distance aside, this side of the creek has some really neat stuff, Aggie thought to herself, I think I'd like to explore around it more.

Chapter Text

One week after the capture-the-flag war

Sports, that's what Jackie was good at. Finding the place for sports players in the creek had been a cinch. It wasn't long before a girl ran up to him. "Hi! I'm Carly! Do you want to play pinecone bowling with my friends and me?" she asked.

Jackie smiled and nodded. The name of the sport sounded fun, so it was only natural for him to want to play.

"I haven't seen you before," Carly commented, as she led him to the spot she and her friends had set up their game, "Have you ever played pinecone bowling before?"

Jackie shook his head.

"We set up pinecones, and we try to knock them down like bowling pins," she explained, "Some kids like to also make it a rule that you have to make your own ball to compete against others, but my friends and I like to all use the same ball so we can test our skill."

Jackie nodded to show that he was listening. I respect that. I have a gift for aiming shots myself, he signed. Carly didn't notice.

Joining the group, Carly pointed to a boy who was setting up the pinecones into a triangular shape. "That's tad," she told Jackie. She moved her gesture over to a kid who was tossing a rubber ball up and down, "And that's Chrissy.

"Sup?" asked Chrissy. Jacie waved back with an amicable smile.

"And what's your name?" Carly asked.

Jackie, he answered in sign language.

Carly shot him a small smile, "That's okay, Tad's quiet too."

Tad waved, and, with an incredulous expression, greeted with a soft, "Hey."

But I am talking! Jackie signed back with a frown.

Carly didn't notice. Instead, she handed him the ball. "Show us what you've got, quiet kid!"

Jackie flinched at the nickname, but took the ball. He turned to look at the pinecones in front of him. He gauged the distance between him and them, noted the way the ground lumped and folded, and practically felt every flaw and perfection of the rubber ball in his fingertips. He let the creek work its magic in him. For a moment, all that existed was him and his goal, and then the ball left his fingers. It drove forward in a straight line and barrelled into the pinecones, knocking every single one of them over.

"Woah," Chrissy murmured in awe, their mouth held open with surprise.

Carly exclaimed, "You must be some kind of prodigy! Are you sure you've never played pinecone bowling before?"

Jackie nodded, his expression serious.

Carly laughed. "Well you should play it more often!"

Tad picked up the ball next. "My turn," he whispered, barely audible. He rolled the ball forward. It seemed to be a good toss before it hit an uneven patch of dirt and veered off course. There was no sound of pinecones being knocked over, just the sound of water splashing as the ball rolled into the creek instead.

"Seriously, Tad?" Chrissy asked, her cool voice edging into annoyance without sounding angry somehow.

Carly sighed with frustration. "Tad, that's the third ball this month!"

"Oh," Tad squeaked, looking down at the ground.

"It's fine, it's whatever, we'll fix it," Carly promised reluctantly, rubbing her eyes in disappointment, "Hey quiet kid, can you go ask for a new ball for us."

Jackie made it clear on his face that he was unamused with the nickname still, but gave her a thumbs up anyways. He ran over to the playground area where he'd been before. He spotted the foursquare kids, preparing for their next game, with extra rubber balls to spare. He walked over to them and waved.

"Hey," grumbled a boy there, who looked less than thrilled that someone new had joined.

Jackie's smile turned to a more apologetic one. He pointed to one of their rubber balls. May I have this? he asked.

The ornery boy huffed. "You wanna play with us? Fine. I guess."

Jackie shook his head. He pointed to the ball again.

"What do you want, dude?" the ornery boy growled.

Jackie picked up the ball.

The ornery boy wrenched the ball away from him in an instant. "No! You can't have that!" he yelled, "God, next time you want something, use your words!"

On any other day, this wouldn't have fazed Jackie. He would have been affronted, shaken it off, and then been on his merry way. However, today was not any other day, and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. He crossed his arms, his frown quivering. He sniffled.

A pigtailed girl who had also been ready to play foursquare walked over. "I'm so sorry about his behavior," she peeped, "He's a bit prickly."

Jackie sobbed silently in reply. What else could he say? It's not like they'd understand.

The girl tilted her head to the side in curiosity. "You can't talk, can you?" she asked.

The pinecone kids could get their own stupid ball. Jackie wanted to go home right now.

Three weeks after the capture-the-flag war

Jackie threw the basketball, and as he intended, the ball hit nothing but net. He grinned as Toman cheered, and the other two kids in the scrimmage groaned. He'd finally gained the courage to go back to the playground, and it finally paid off.

"Yeah! Two more points makes ten! We win!" Toman cheered, holding up his hand.

Jackie high fived him with enthusiasm.

"It's not fair!" whined the boy, Franklin, on the other team.

His teammate Winnie added, "That kid hasn't missed once! That's, like, impossible!"

"I call cheating!" Franklin accused.

"Aw, c'mon, you can't call cheating just because you lost to Toman, aka, the hoop hero, aka, the king of the net, aka, the basketball champion!" Toman told the pair.

"Uhg!" Winnie groaned, "Come on, Franky, let's get outta here."

Cupping his hands, Toman continued to shout after them, "And you lost to- uh-" he pointed to Jackie "-This kid! Aka, the swish master, aka, the prince of the court, aka, the other basketball champion!"

Jackie silently laughed at the impromptu nicknames that Toman had given him.

Toman turned back to him. "So, what's your name, anyways, whiz kid? I've seen you around here, and you're great at basically everything. It's crazy we haven't played together yet."

Jackie, Jackie signed an answer.

Toman stared blankly at the hand movements. "I just wanna know your name," Toman reminded him.

J-A-C-K-I-E, Jackie signed back, slower, trying his best to remain patient.

Toman pushed, "Your name?"

Jackie narrowed his eyes. Luckily, some girl from the playground yelled, "He's using sign language!"

Toman's mouth fell open in surprise. "M- My bad, I'm so sorry," Toman apologized, "I don't know sign."

Obviously.

"S- Stop! I don't know what you're saying!" Toman stammered, his face flushed, "Ah, geez."

Jackie heaved a sigh and turned away.

"Wait! Come back!" Toman yelled as Jackie walked away, "I still wanna play with you!"

Jackie replied, I just need a moment. He started to walk away.

"I still can't understand you!" Toman cried.

Jackie felt his feet leave the pavement and land onto grass. His pace quickened to a run, Toman still yelling out a stammered combination of apologies and excuses. He didn't know where he was going besides away, but he continued onward. He pushed back tree branches, and disappeared behind them. He wasn't certain where he was, but he didn't turn back. Instead, he slumped down against a tree to calm down and gather his thoughts.

That's one thing I miss the most, Jackie thought to himself, When I was still the King's Champion, everyone knew sign. They had to. King Xavier made everyone learn it once he realized it'd be necessary to communicate with one of his champions. Jackie still didn't know if it was a rare act of kindness by the ex-king, or another exercise of power from the tyrant, but he wasn't about to begin overthinking it now. He'd always considered it a blessing that anyone outside of his family had learned sign just for him; a whole fraction of the creek was a miracle. I guess miracles aren't meant to last, he thought to himself.

He lowered his gaze to his hands. He didn't remember picking up the rock he was holding, but there it was, clutched in his hands, round and smooth, perfect for throwing. He loved the feeling. It made him comfortable. When was the last time I even heard someone say they didn't know sign before the war? he wondered. He thought back, and though it was fuzzy, a memory came to mind.

He had been standing in front of the King, shaking, having been asked a question, but unable to answer. With trembling hands he signed back an answer- by now he didn't remember either the question nor the answer, but that wasn't important. Xavier had tsked once, and repeated the question, adding something along the lines of, "Do not fidget in front of the King."

Jackie had answered again, some mixture of fear and embarrassment, and just a smidge of resentment. What would the king do if some ambassador who spoke in sign had come to see the king before they had met? That question had always bothered Jackie, but it wasn't like there were any ambassadors to begin with. It had been Maya who had saved him from seeming like a fool in front of King Xavier. "It's sign language, sir," she had explained, before translating the answer.

Xavier had hummed in thought, before casually admitting, "I am not familiar with sign language. Rest assured, however, with my brilliant wisdom and all A's report card, I shall learn it soon enough!" With the declaration, he leaned forward with a victorious pose. He settled back into his throne with a more even-voiced, "Until then, Maya, you shall translate for me."

Jackie sighed at the memory. It was still unclear to him the genuine goodness behind Xavier's words and actions when it came to Jackie's muteness, but Jackie was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on at least this, for the sake of whatever shred of friendship remained between the two. He took a deep breath. Pushing himself to his feet, Jackie resolved to keep walking until he reached some place familiar. Immediately in front of him was a section of the creek too wide to cross without getting his shoes soaked, and wet socks were, in his opinion, one of the worst feelings in the world, and he wasn't ready to add "sensory problems" to the growing list of things going wrong today. Instead, he threw the rock he was holding and watched it skip against the surface of the creek water, counting one, two, three, four until the stone stopped skimming the water and sank to the bottom. Then he turned, and began following the creek.

There's a part of him that knows that wandering off path is a bad idea, even in such a safe place as the creek, but despite his common sense, he refuses to turn back. He tossed around a few ideas of where to go around in his head, and only came up with two: back to his side, or home. Home was a last resort. If he went home now, he wasn't sure he'd have the energy to come back, so he wanted to end the day on a high note. His side of the creek wasn't such a bad idea, though he couldn't think of much left on that side. Maybe in a few months, when the novelty of something new wore off, the kids of his side would begin playing in what was once the King's Keep again. For now, it was mostly just a few randos who had never been allowed into the Keep poking around in it, and the tailor, candy dealer, and weaponsmith taking advantage of the "tourism."

Onwards it was. He pushed past a tree branch, and learned that it wasn't much farther onwards anyway. He emerged into an open space filled with kids, most of them munching on snacks of some kind. He recognized this place; it was the trading tree. It seemed that the area had been restored to its former glory, now that the snack girl had been returned to her rightful place at the heart of the operation. It felt worse to him than if it had looked the same as it had when he had helped redecorate the place for Xavier.

He turned to leave again, feeling resentment for his blatant cowardice, but unable to find a justified reason to stay. He was abruptly stopped when he collided with something. Stepping back, startled, he saw that it was not something, but someone.

"My candy!" the small boy in green wailed, as a few of his sour gummies dropped to the dirt.

Sorry! Jackie signed, his teeth clenched in embassament.

"It's okay," the boy replied, "These things happen all the time." He tittered.

Jackie inhaled sharply. Hold on. Do you know sign?

The boy shrugged. "Yeah. I learned it from Raymond. It's very fun! Plus, it helps me get my candy when Ms. Alison is working at the candy store." The boy started picking up the candy from the ground and dusting it off to the best of his ability.

Who's Raymond? Jackie asked.

The boy tossed an unsalvageable sour gummy over his shoulder. "He's the captain of the baseball kids' team," the boy answered.

Jackie gasped. Could you take me to him? A hopeful smile crossed Jackie's face.

"Sure, I guess," the boy agreed, "But do be warned, they're very serious about baseball, and they don't like to be interrupted during playtime. Besides, if you don't play, they might not be very welcoming. It took me weeks of giving him free candy to get Raymond to teach me the basic alphabet alone." The boy looked up at Jackie properly, having saved as much candy as he could, which wasn't much. His eyes widened as he did so. "Wait a minute, you're that guy! That guy who throws stuff!"

And you're that kid who threw candy at me, Jackie recognized, And then afterwards you gave me some of the left over candy. That was cool of you.

The boy blinked. "So we're cool then?"

Yeah, Jackie signed with a nod.

"So, the Green Poncho told me your name is Jackie," The boy told him, "And my name is Bobby. I like candy."

Jackie shot him a thumbs up. I figured. You sure make the most of your candy. I mean, you practically transformed into an anime character during capture-the-flag, Jackie stated with an amiable smile.

"Oh yeah. That was Super Bobby," Bobby explained with a shrug, like it was a normal occurrence, "And you were pretty good too, with those water balloons. You would have totally soaked me if the Green Poncho hadn't grabbed me when he did." Bobby chuckled. "You know, that is exactly the kind of throwing hand the baseball kids would want on their team." He trailed off thoughtfully.

So you're going to take me to the baseball kids? Jackie asked, trying his hardest to keep his hands still enough to be coherent while signing. He wished that it was possible to stim while using sign language. He saved flapping his hands to match his excitement for after he finished his statement.

"Of course! Since we're cool now and stuff," Bobby answered.

Jackie hopped up and down a couple times, his hands now balled in tight fists. Thank you! he signed to Bobby, his smile now a large grin.

Bobby laughed, his cheeks flushed, "Yeah, man, no problem." He turned, and began to walk away from the trading tree. "C'mon, the baseball kids play over on this side of the creek."

Jackie followed beside Bobby. So you learned sign language for fun? he asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Well, kind of. I originally learned it because Ms. Alison who works at the candy store is deaf, and it just made things easier for us," Bobby clarified, "But even after Raymond taught me pretty much everything I needed to know to buy candy from Ms. Alison, I just wanted to learn more because I was having fun. Raymond was not happy when I asked him to keep teaching me. I started bringing him slushies from the Duck Mart, though, and then he was a-okay with teaching me more."

Wow, slushies from Duck Mart? But those are two dollars! And so everyday for a while is like… One hundred dollars or something! Jackie signed, How did you afford it?

"I paid in my blood, sweat, and tears," Bobby murmured, looking into the middle distance, "By doing twice as many chores at home."

Jackie laughed. All that just to learn sign?

"It was kind of like going on a quest," Bobby replied, "Besides, I got some pretty cool stuff out of it. Like, double the candy on Ms. Alison's days, because it wasn't as hard to talk with her, and a friend, because Ms. Alison apparently doesn't have very many people to talk to." He paused, then looked at Jackie. "Maybe even two friends?"

Jackie was surprised for a moment, but returned to smiling as the words sunk in. He nodded his head yes with delighted enthusiasm.

Bobby smiled back. He laughed, "Awesome! Here, have some candy, to commemorate our friendship." He grabbed a handful of sour gummies, and handed them to Jackie. He added, "I promise that none of these were on the ground. Probably."

Jackie chuckled, and took the candy after telling Bobby, Thank you.

"Not a problem," Bobby shrugged, "It'll give you something to do while we're walking, anyways."

Bobby's judgement proved correct. Jackie finished off the candy he was given just as they emerged onto a field. He heard the crack of a baseball against a wooden bat before he saw the kids playing. The ball flew through the air, a collision course set to divebomb Bobby. Bobby tucked his head under his arms in defense. Jackie reached up to stop the ball, his expression blank with concentration. The ball smacked into Jackie's hand, and bounced off his palm. His hand began to sting, and he shook it back and forth, inhaling sharply.

"Trying to catch the ball with no glove is pretty stupid, kid," a boy remarked, walking across the field towards them, "Also, that was an active ball you just interfered with, so thanks for that."

Jackie stared at the boy with the same blank expression. He wasn't sure how to respond.

The boy spoke again before Jacie could reply. "Bobby? What're you doing here? I already told you, there's nothing else I can teach you. We can't play with your uncoordinated butt on the field."

"Raymond! I, uh," Bobby stammered, before gesturing to Jackie.

Jackie grimaced at Raymond's additude. He's here because of me, Jackie jumped in before Raymond could get anymore snappy at Bobby.

Raymond looked at him with a bit of surprise. Why are you here? Raymond asked in sign language.

Okay, first of all, my ears work just fine, so can just talk to me if you want, Jackie explained, Second of all, I want to join your team.

Raymond's eyebrows rose. "You want to join our team, hm? You're gonna have to play pretty well to get on the Herkleton Firecrackers," Raymond scoffed, "And not to be rude, but that catch I just saw? Not good."

Let me pitch.

"Let you pitch?" Raymond hummed, pausing to think a moment, "I'd say it's hardly worth our time, but we do need a new pitcher ever since Darwin moved away. You've got three chances to impress us."

I can do it in one, Jackie promised.

Bobby added, "He really could."

"Interesting," Raymond noted, "Little knows-nothing-about-sports Bobby is vouching for you. I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad sign."

By then, a crowd of baseball kids had amassed around them. They watched in silence as Raymond led Jackie to the pitching mound. A girl with a confident glint in her eyes prepared her bat to swing. Raymond told Jackie, "That's Taylor. She's our best batter, so you better be prepared for a challenge." Taylor smirked.

Jackie took the ball in his hands. He felt everything at once, the weight, the shape, the texture. He wound up for the throw, then pitched the ball forward. Everything else happened in seconds. Taylor eyed the pitch like it was nothing, and swung. The sound that followed was not like the crack heard before, it was more like splintering. The ball fell to the ground beside her, and bounced once before stopping in the grass. Jackie could hear clapping behind him, followed by someone yelling, "Bobby, go home or something."

"You did great Jackie, bye!" Bobby quickly yelled out to him.

Taylor looked down at the bat she was supposed to be holding. It was now split clean in half. Jackie braced himself for anger, but it never came. Instead, she laughed. "Wow! I haven't broken a bat since the Tree Frog's somehow got that older kid on their team back in 2017." Then, there was further clapping, this time not from Bobby, but from members of the team.

Raymond was shocked silent through the exchange. Finally, after the clapping died down, he spoke, "Can someone get Taylor a new bat? And can someone get a glove for the new guy? I want to start training him for fielding right away."

Jackie turned to him, wide-eyed and smiling. Really? he asked in amazement.

"Of course. With a pitch like that, we could really give the other teams a run for their money," Raymond replied. He clenched his fist and glared into the middle distance, adding, "Especially those Tree Frogs." Returning his gaze to Jackie, he continued, "Anyways, if we could improve your catching skills, I'm sure you'd reach MVP status in no time. Welcome to the team- uh, what's your name."

Jackie.

"Welcome to the team, Jackie."

Chapter Text

Three months after the capture-the-flag war - Present

After the fateful night of Aggie's sleepover, Maya did not get grounded when she got home. Her parents were less than thrilled to find their daughter had snuck out the house in the night, but the fact that she'd been with her friends for the first time in months had greatly softened the blow. Her parents weren't stupid. Even though she hadn't told them a word of what happened, her suddenly refusing to go to the creek out of the blue was all they needed to know that whatever happened, it was bad. Most parents wouldn't let their child off with a warning under these circumstances, but for Maya's parents, through all the anxiety leading up to her return, learning where their daughter had been was a relief. They had been pushing her to go have fun with her friends, after all. They told her that they couldn't complain too much about the methods if she was feeling better at all.

She still hadn't shown up to the creek that day. She dressed in her most comfortable play-clothes, wore her cap, and put on her sneakers. Yet, when she stepped out the door, she looked at the path to the creek, and felt shame creep up over her. It was shame for betraying her best friend, for ruining the summers of so many kids, for setting them up to be taken over, for willingly and knowingly choosing to fight for the wrong cause. It covered her like the heat of the sun and seeped in under her skin like it was going to smother her. She ran back into the house.

She took off her shoes and cap, tossing them to the side with more force than necessary. She didn't know why, but the same feeling of shame was still burning in her, just less so now. Cowardice, loneliness, fear, they all still let the shame persist inside her. She flopped down in her bed and buried her face into her pillow. "Why is this so hard?" she groaned. She flipped onto her back, and took deep breaths until she was keeping a rhythm. She missed her friends so much already. She missed the creek.

The next day, she found herself lingering in the front yard again. She once again felt the temptation to turn back pushing against her. It didn't fix it last time, and it won't fix it this time, she reprimanded herself, I've spent far too long running away. She kept her head up to feign confidence, and continued walking towards the creek.

Her first stop was the King's Keep- or rather, what had once been the King's Keep, but was now just a castle in the middle of the creek. For what it was worth, nothing had been dismantled. The spiral staircase up to the throne room was still there, as was the archery range and the shops. In fact, it was still the same as before, just without Xavier, and with less kids in costume. It struck her as intriguing that there seemed to be more randos in the area than its usual floral guard. Where are all the others? she wondered, I know that Aggie, Jackie, and Keun Sup said that a lot of them were on the other side for now. Is it really that much of us?

She scanned the shop area, and managed to lock eyes with the candy shop clerk. The girl waved to her with a smile. Maya hesitated, then walked over to the booth. The girl was now out of her pine cone costume, instead in a green t-shirt, with long brunette hair now visible around her. It looked like she had just sprouted from pine cone to pine tree, in Maya's opinion.

"Greetings, Maya. It's been a while since we've seen you around here," she told her. She stuck her thumb up towards the tailor shop next to her booth, "Tiffy was getting worried that you might not ever come back to the Keep. The other side has been getting a lot of traffic these days."

Maya replied, "Well, I haven't been there at all since Capture-the-Flag."

"Where have you been, then?" the candy clerk wondered, "Making accommodations for our new king?"

"I don't think Craig's our new king," Maya pointed out, "We are all kinda doing our own thing now."

"Oh?" The girl hummed, "Well that can't be good for business. Oh well, Kit said that things might be slow at first."

Maya tilted her head to the side with curiosity. "You know Kit now?"

"Know her?" the candy clerk giggled, "She's helping me out now that Xavier's not here to stock me up! A portion of my earnings do go to her, but on the plus side, my store is still here! She's training me on the art of the trade and everything."

"So you exchange candy for other things now?" Maya asked.

"Yup! Much more profitable than giving away free candy based on rank," the candy girl explained, "This is a temporary location though."

"Temporary?"

"You remember those two Honeysuckle boys, right?"

"Yeah. What about them?"

"Well, this was pretty much their idea. They had already set up a place once. The Candy Bar, they called it," she explained, "They wanted to get it back up and running again, so they're working on setting that up again. While they're getting the place all up together and stocked, I'm working on spreading the word and making some trades ahead of time."

"So when The Candy Bar gets set up, you'll be going to work there?" Maya assumed.

"Mhm!" the candy girl confirmed, "I'm their first hire!" She placed a hand on her chest in pride.

"So then it'll just be you around here, then?"

"Tiff and Cooper are still around, of course. Though, Cooper's parents made him go out of town for the weekend, so you'll have to wait until Monday if you want to see his wares," the candy clerk told her, "You really should say hey to them when you have the chance. They've been wondering about you."

"People have been wondering about me?" Maya breathed, "Besides my friends?"

"Well, yeah. We know how much you did for us," the candy clerk told her.

Maya rubbed her arm. "It's just weird to me," she admitted, "I'm not exactly certain who Tiff and Cooper are."

The candy clerk blinked. "Tiffany, the tailor, and Cooper, who runs the armory?" she answered, "Do you know my name?"

"I'm afraid not," Maya muttered, flushing.

The candy clerk shrugged. "I guess you were always busy doing work for Xavier. I'm Coco."

"Nice to officially meet you, Coco," Maya greeted. She fished around her in pockets, and pulled out a couple of paperclips and a Bedazzle jewel. "Can I trade any of this? I'd like three bags of sprinkle paws."

"Paperclips! Those trade like wildfire among kids who like to build stuff!" Coco exclaimed, "And I don't mind a pretty jewel to bedazzle onto something later. Here." She took the paperclips and jewel from Maya, and replaced it with a bag of sprinkle paws.

"Thank you."

"I always thought you were more of a chewy candy kind of person," Coco noted.

"Oh, these aren't for me," Maya replied with a knowing smile as she walked to the tailor's store. She tucked the bag of sprinkle paws into her hoodie pocket as she crossed the threshold of the store. She saw the tailor working on a new costume, a commission of sorts, if Maya had to guess, based on the mound of chocorolls next to Tiffany. "Sup?" Maya asked.

Tiffany spun around with a smile. "Maya!" she squealed as she did so, "For a moment I thought maybe you'd had enough of us."

Maya shook her head. "If I'm being honest, I thought maybe you'd all had enough of me."

Tiffany tutted once. "We could never be sick of you. We all noticed, you know."

"Noticed?" Maya wondered, "Noticed what?"

"Oh, you know. As Xavier's rule went on, he only got more ruthless and strict," Tiffany explained, "And as he got more strict, you went easier and easier on us. We noticed that, and we're all grateful."

Maya smiled, but looked away, face flushed in shame. "I don't know if I'd call what I was doing noble."

"If you're expecting perfection from yourself, you're just going to be disappointed," Tiff told her, "For all you could do, you did a lot."

Maya opened her mouth to continue arguing, but instead, she looked back up at Tiffany and saw how much genuine admiration was in her eyes. "Thanks."

"I heard that you got rid of your bff hoodie," Tiffany continued, "I have to finish this costume because I'm on a deadline, but after I finish I could get to working on a new hood. I was thinking something even cooler, and more heroic looking." She smiled at Maya.

"Naw," Maya replied. Tiffany frowned. "Thanks for the offer, but I'd prefer just to be myself for now."

Tiffany nodded, her expression unchanged, but she didn't press the issue. "I understand. But if you ever want anything, even if it's not a costume- a dress or a- a cool shirt or something- Just tell me and it's yours."

Maya smiled and gave her a thumbs up. She waved goodbye to Tiffany, and walked out the front of the King's Keep. So much had changed since she'd last been here. She wasn't certain what she was feeling, but her brother had once told her about culture shock once, and she'd compare this to that. It felt like she was in a whole new place with a whole new set of norms, and though she knew everyone, she felt like they all knew something obvious that she did not. They knew each other's names, they knew how things worked now, they knew the things they were planning to make the creek into now- and here she was, existing just outside of that bubble.

"Hey!" a voice called out to her, breaking her away from her worries. She recognized the voice. It was Aggie! Maya darted her gaze all around her. She spotted her friend running towards her. The moment Aggie reached her, she lifted Maya up in a crushing hig. "Oh my goodness, I wasn't sure you were actually gonna come!" Aggie squealed, "When you didn't show up yesterday I was scared you weren't gonna come here after all, but then I figured that if I'd find you anywhere, it'd be around the King's Keep, and I was right!"

"S- sorry for being a no-show yesterday," Maya breathed, Aggie's hug constricting her to the point that her voice was strained.

"It's alright," Aggie assured her, "We've been looking forward to you. Keun Sup nearly ran the entire creek yesterday looking for you." Aggie chuckled as she continued, "And I'm fairly certain he's trying to run all of it again."

"He did that for me?" Maya muttered.

"Between you and me, I think he just likes an excuse to run around," Aggie whispered to her with a wink. She laughed again.

"Yeah. Yeah, that makes more sense," Maya nodded, without so much as a smile.

Aggie stopped smiling herself. She put a hand on Maya's shoulder. "I didn't mean that he didn't do it for you, though," she promised, "I mean, any of us would do that for you. You can't seriously think that we wouldn't when I found you by coming out here specifically to look for you."

Maya smiled now. "Alright, so maybe it does make more sense that he wouldn't do it just for fun. That doesn't mean he didn't have fun though. I'm sure he did."

Aggie shook her head, but there was a soft fondness in her eyes and smile. "That boy is somethin' else. No one should think running is fun."

Maya shrugged. "As long as he's happy, am I right?"

"He is," Aggie told her, "We all are. I'm hoping you will be too."

"I will be, as long as you guys are here," Maya replied.

"We're always here for you," Aggie promised, "Heck, I even heard that Jackie's free today. Something about half the team being out after a game with a particularly rough team. Of course, he's fine. Jackie's got a way of pulling through things perfectly fine."

"Like the dodgeball incident?"

Aggie laughed. "The one time no one complained when Xavier outlawed something."

Maya joined her laughter. "Or that time Xavier made us all train together by climbing a tree, and we all stepped on the same branch and it broke? We all fell to the ground, and you, Keun Sup, and I were all scratched up and bruised, and Jackie managed to land softly feet-first?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that. I think he slowed down by grabbing other branches and kinda guiding his fall? He has no right to be that tall and yet so small!" Aggie reminisced, "I mean, I don't know if you saw, but Jackie got through the Capture the Flag war without a scratch! You know why? Because when I was fighting a giant dog and Keun was trapped in Cannon Space, they attacked Jackie with bubbles!"

Maya practically howled with laughter at the idea of that. She stopped when she heard a familiar voice yelling.

"You're actually here!" Keun Sup cried, stopping abruptly in front of her, so quickly that she wasn't sure where exactly he had come from. Behind him, he was literally dragging Jackie, who had tried in vain to stay on his feet.

With a deep breath, Jackie steadied himself next to Keun Sup. We are never doing that ever again, not even if the world is ending, Jackie signed with trembling hands.

"What's wrong?" Keun Sup teased, "Too fast for you?"

Jackie looked down at his friend with a blank expression. He lifted one hand, and placed it over Keun Sup's face. With the other hand, he signed, short.

"Nyarg!" Keun Sup howled, uselessly failing his arms out towards Jackie, "Take it back! I'm not short!"

Aggie placed both of her hands on the top of Keun Sup's head. "I don't know about that," she teased, "I don't even have to lift the top half of my arms to do this."

"I'm not short! You're both just freakishly tall!" he insisted.

"While they might be tall for their age, I've been told I'm average height," Maya informed him, leaning down as she talked to him, "So, in no uncertain terms, you are short, Keun Sup."

Keun Sup crossed his arms. "No fair! You're all older than me."

Jackie giggled. I'm only older than you by a handful of months. We're literally both eleven.

"See, that ties back into you being freakishly tall again."

If you say so.

Keun Sup couldn't help but smile at his friends' antics as Aggie and Jackie both removed their hands from him. Maya gently pushed him. "See? You're smiling!" she hummed, smiling herself.

"I guess I am," he agreed, feigning reluctance. The group of children began to walk again.

"What is it you always say?" Aggie pretended to remember, "You mess with everyone you like?"

"I get it!" Keun Sup giggled, "You're my best friends."

"Darn straight," Aggie nodded.

Maya smiled at the simple sight of her friends' shenanigans, "I missed this," she muttered to herself.

Jackie turned to look at her. I didn't hear that. Repeat it?

"Oh, just talking to myself," she answered, "Where are we going?"

Trading tree, Jackie replied, It's a cool place to hang out.

"I'm familiar with it," Maya replied. She grimaced. Maybe she was too familiar with it. Where most children would associate the Trading Tree with snacks and fun, the Trading Tree reminded Maya of snow and cold, disguised as a snowman, waiting and listening.

Is there something wrong? Jackie asked, We can go somewhere else, if you want.

"No, it's fine. I did get you something already though." She reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out one of the bags of sprinkle paws.

Jackie gasped, a wide smile stretching across his face. He flapped his hands and hopped once. Sprinkle Paws! Maya, you're the best! He snatched the bag away from her, and ripped it open. He began to scoop out the frosted cookies and shove them into his mouth.

"Aw, it's nothing," Maya hummed. She turned to the other two. "Hey guys!"

Keun Sup and Aggie turned around. Jackie jiggled his bag of Sprinkle Paws for them to see.

"Catch," Maya suggested, tossing the other two bags of Sprinkle Paws to her friends. Keun Sup and Aggie caught the bags in surprise. Their eyes grew wide, and they smiled. The pair looked up at her.

"Wow! Thank you!" Keun Sup exclaimed.

"Yeah, this is awesome!" Aggie agreed, "Now we don't even have to go to the trading tree ourselves."

Maya weighed her options carefully. If she agreed with Aggie, she wouldn't have to face Kit after what she'd done. She'd be able to learn of all the different parts of the other side she hadn't seen before. She was fascinated by the painballer's forts, which she'd never gotten to see while Xavier was keeping her close to him at all times. The baseball kids that Jackie had found also piqued her interest. There was so much to do on this side! On the other hand…

"I think I'd like to get something for myself. I guess I totally forgot to get a snack for myself too. Whoops!" she tittered. She hoped she made the right choice.

Aggie joined Maya's nervous laughter with her own boisterous guffaws. "That's our Maya," she teased, "Forgot herself, she was thinking about us so hard." She put her arm around Maya's neck. "C'mon, we won't let you forget yourself again, 'kay?"

Maya had done a lot of things that scared her while working as Xavier's BFF. She had done things that she hadn't wanted to, and she'd even done things she couldn't actually do. Necessity was an almighty motivator, and Xavier made every command, even the smallest little detail, a necessity. Right now, if she didn't have Aggie to practically pull her forward, she'd be petrified to the spot. There was nothing that scared her more than admitting that she was wrong. It was too vulnerable, too honest, so much so that it'd destroy anyone under Xavier's rule to do so. Xavier may have been banned from the creek, but sometimes Maya felt like a ghost of his presence followed her wherever she went.

"Hey, Maya, you alright?" Aggie asked, "You got real quiet."

"Yeah, I'm just thinking," she replied, which wasn't a complete lie.

Aggie grinned, "Thinking of what snack to get, right?"

Maya nodded, deciding to play along. "Maybe Squi-"

"Kit doesn't carry Squishers," Keun Sup cut in, "But she does carry Sprinkle Paws, just like the candy girl from our side."

"Her name is Coco," Maya informed him quietly.

She also carried ice pops, if you've got a good enough trade, Jackie added.

"And she's got these things called Spicy Beefers that are awesome!" Aggie hummed, "I can't remember if you like spicy things or not though."

"Anything sour there?" Maya asked.

The three ex-champions grimaced. "She does, but…" Keun Sup answered slowly.

Aggie tried it. You should have seen the colors her face turned trying to beat that challenge! It was so sour! Jackie recollected.

Maya reasoned, "It can't be too bad. Aggie changes colors all the time, like when she's angry, or when she's crying-"

"Okay, that's enough!" Aggie interrupted, "It doesn't matter how often I change color, Kit's sour candy is on another level from Xavier's sour strings. Red told me that a kid once died trying to eat one!"

Red's a huge liar. Everyone knows it, Jackie pointed out.

"True, but like, what if someone did?" Aggie wondered.

"I don't think anyone died, or else Kit would've either gotten sued or would've stopped trading sour candies so she wouldn't get sued," Maya thought aloud, "I don't think someone as passionate as her would risk losing it all. It would be a flawed system."

Keun Sup rubbed his arm with a frown. He added, "It would be a weakness."

"Exactly," Maya agreed.

Keun Sup looked away, pursing his lips.

"Everything alright?" Maya asked him quietly, so that the other two couldn't hear. He nodded without speaking. "I don't believe you," she told him.

Keun Sup sighed. "You still think the way he wanted us to, don't you?" he whispered.

Maya's concerned expression morphed into shock. "Uh- Oh- I-" she stammered.

"It's cool, I do too. A lot," he confessed, "It's impossible to not, almost."

Maya hummed in agreement.

"Listen, if you ever need someone to talk to about… All of it, I guess, I'll be here," Keun Sup promised her.

Maya continued to look at her friend. The way he fidgeted with his hands was a dead giveaway to his feelings. "Do you need someone to talk to, too?" Maya asked him.

Keun Sup didn't break his gaze from where it was fixated, away from the rest of the group. He just nodded, his frown widening.

Maya smiled at him, doing her best to look reassuring when she herself felt so uneasy. "Hey, I'll give you a call tonight, and we can talk it out, alright?"

Keun Sup finally looked back towards her, and smiled himself. "That would be c- cool," he nodded, "Thank you."

"No problem."

"You two stop your sneaky whispering; we're here!" Aggie announced. Maya and Keun Sup couldn't help but giggle at her sudden interjection in spite of themselves.

"Well, I suppose that you'd better go get yourself a snack now," Keun Sup changed the subject.

Kit's chill, Jackie assured her, giving her a thumbs up after his words.

Maya appreciated the words of comfort, but it didn't quell the nervous buzz that was droning in her. "Yeah, I'll be back in a moment," she muttered, failing to sound as casual as she wanted to. She didn't want to tell them that she didn't have anything left to trade with. She knew why she really had come here.

She approached the trading tree. Kit, from behind the cooler that served as the counter, smiled at her. "Hello! Welcome to the trading tree," Kit greeted her, her fingers tapping rhythmically upon the top of the cooler, "What can I get you?"

Maya's nervous buzz manifested into what felt like a twisted knot in her stomach. She watched the drumming of Kit's fingers, a small, dull sound that seemed to echo in Maya's ears. She learned how to identify signs as Xavier's right hand. Stuff like wringing hands, curling hair around a finger, shuffling feet… Tapping fingers. Maya felt her face heat up. Kit probably had never come face to face with her, but she still knew enough about her to be afraid.

"Uh, you gonna order something?" Kit asked, the tone of her voice hesitant, "Or do anything?"

Maya stammered. Kit stared. Maya took a deep breath to collect herself. "I'm sorry," Maya finally forced out.

Kit blinked, before grinning in what looked to Maya like a silent laugh. "It's alright. Plenty of shy kids come to the trading tree. This is not the weirdest thing I've seen."

"No, I- It was my fault," Maya explained.

Silence hung in the air. Kit didn't have to ask her to elaborate. Maya could tell by the look in Kit's eyes that she understood. Kit broke the silence once the realization's impact waned. "So it is you," she muttered, "The king's old BFF."

Maya nodded, the blush on her cheeks burning back with full force. The knotted up nervousness in her stomach exploded into shame. She felt like she was choking. She couldn't say anything. She couldn't even think of how to speak.

Kit ruminated on the situation. She also seemed to have lost her voice, or at least had the integrity to take the news gracefully. Maya couldn't tell which. Without a word, Kit turned around and placed a bag of chips on the counter.

Maya looked down on the bags of chips. Then, she looked up at Kit with wide eyes, her expression blank with confusion, save the lingering blush across the bridge of her nose. She found her voice, though it was quiet, and she opened her mouth and spoke, "I don't have anything to trade."

Kit shrugged. "It's not a trade. It's a peace offering."

Maya blinked in surprise. "Huh?"

"I don't want to hold a grudge with someone like you," Kit tittered, "And it looks like you want to set this all aside, too. I figured this could be the start of that. Just don't get used to getting free stuff."

Maya laughed. It sounded almost like a croak, but it was genuine. "Trust me, this almost makes me expect free stuff less," Maya promised, "Considering what I had to do to get this."

"Heh, yeah. Don't do something like that again," Kit teased.

"I don't intend to." Maya picked the bag of chips up. "Barbeque chips. My favorite flavor. How's you guess?"

"Most everyone likes it," Kit admitted.

Maya shrugged. "Well, it makes a great peace offering."

Kit smiled at her, and for once, it didn't look uneasy. The shame that lingered in Maya ebbed away. First Omar, then her friends from the other side that she let down, and now Kit, the girl she helped get sent to Summer school, had all forgiven her. Something deep within her fluttered, and the previous nervousness and shame was replaced with a new feeling. The feeling was like a soft glow. It wasn't happy, but it was grateful, calm. Maybe she could define it as hope, but it felt a little different. It was something unique.

"Thank you so much," Maya muttered, "My friends are waiting for me, and I can't keep them hanging. I'll be back sometime, though, and next time, I'll actually have something to trade."

"See you soon, then," Kit told her with a wave.

Maya waved back as she turned away. She crinkled the bag of chips in her hand, just to hear the noise of the plastic bending. It made the moment feel more real. She looked at her three friends, and Aggie, Jackie, and Keun Sup all smiled back. The way the sun peeked through the leaves of the trees, leaving patches of light in certain areas felt like spotlights. She liked the way the golden light shone off of all of them. It was like the creek was promising to look out for them.

"So what now?" Keun Sup wondered as Maya joined the group.

I heard that the sewer kids are having a water balloon fight today, Jackie informed them, Randos allowed.

"They don't even believe in randos here," Aggie pointed out.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Keun Sup asked, eagerly bouncing up and down on his toes. It was clear what they were waiting for though. Their eyes were all on Maya.

"Let's go!" Maya agreed with a grin. The four children took off running. It felt nice to be wanted, and it felt nice to just be themselves.