Chapter Text
NOTES:
Song the title is named after: moving up in the world
Artist: Dagames
AAAYYYYY welcome to the first chapter this is the first time i've done anything like this so constructive criticism is helpful.
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Fair skinned hands run anxiously through matted brown locks, she sighs, fingers intertwining with strands of hair. This... this wasn't good. They haven't been able to find food in days, nothing but leftovers of already scrapped food greeting them when sought out.
Grabbing an unopened burger from the dumpster she was digging through a moment ago- mia begins her climb back out, and scans the alley for her sister. The brunette sees nothing, worry making her nose scrunch. "This kid, where did she even go?" She mumbles brows furrowing, a cough crackles out of her mouth, but it doesn't stop her from calling out for her missing sibling.
Minutes tick by, still no sign of her, mia huffs, she'll show up eventually, just gotta have a little faith is all. she moves about her alley quietly, moving some pillows she scrounged up into the farthest corner possible. The siblings had set camp up in which wasn't much of a few- rot and water damaged blankets and clothes they managed to find spread about their little tunnel, " where did you go? " Mia calls out, starting to head towards the exit of the dark pathway "Cade I swear if you don't come back here right now I'm gonna!- wait-" the brunette is cut off quickly, a loud bang and the sound of hundreds of tiny feet bolting towards her, eyes widening in what could be classified as disgust or sheer terror. mia sees what looks to be an entire swarm of rats making a be-line right for her.
With her sister riding the wave of rodents.
Smiling downright ferally at her.
letting out a shrill scream- mia takes off back to the dumpster she was just in. Her neck cranes back over her shoulder, hurriedly looking back to see cade skidding around toppled trash cans and boxes, all while still herding the rats. Screaming again- mia claws her way on top of the dumpster, terrified of the sea of rats and very possible disease, she hears a cackle, lifting her planet sized baby blue eyes at the cause of her distress. All she can see is Cade. With her trademark grin, one canine missing, the other being oddly sharp- and gums showing with the widness of it.
"Mia!, d-did you see that!, did you see me!" Cade excitedly asks, skidding to a stop right at the edge of her older sister's feet- giggling like a mad woman. Mias face is morphed into a deep frown as the platinum blonde finishes watching all the rodents squeeze through a sewer drain. The child wheezes, hunched over, hands on her knees.
mia continues to stare in horror, eyes wide and now glaring towards cade, she finally blinks
"how?"
Her hands flail upwards
"How did you find so many rats?!" she screeches, hands flying around the air above her head.
"Jeesus its like you call them to you! Where are you even getting them from" mia croaks, exasperated hands now in her hair, cade looks up still smiling, "-like them" she says looking at the grate next to her feet, kicking away some gravel " s-s-sometimes when I not hungry any more or sick of trash i gives it to them and they sometimes give s-stuffs back" she looks up "they are friends" the blonde finishes. Moving to grab hold of the edge of the dumpster, and pulling herself up to sit next to her sister,
that was oddly wholesome,
mia sighs, now staring up through the buildings the sibling sat between. The mood turns somber, and mia can feel a question burning the end of cades tongue.
A few seconds pass
"mia?"
Cade's voice has gone quite with her name, and quiet was never good with the feral child. "yeah?" Her head turns, features now twisted in concern, "Whats wrong kiddo?" She asks, cade getting her full attention. Her younger sister looks troubled, " i k-know we arn't doing ok" she says eyes finding more interest on the ground than her older sisters eyes "you're sick, a-and we don't gots any food" cade looks back up, and there's a kind of desperation she has not seen before swirling in the child's cobalt irises, mia unwillingly chokes up, a ball like steel forming in her throat. "we need help, you need help", Cade states her blue eyes surrounded by creases of worry. The brunette tenses, snapping her head down to glare at her hands. She should have known cade would find out at some point. It's not like she was hiding it that well either.
The platniette always had been far to observant. Huffing out of her nose, Mia lifts her head and fully turns towards her younger sibling again. Grabbing her sisters much smaller hands and holding on to them firmly, "sometimes I forget how smart you are." She chuckles " i'll figure this out Cade, we'll be fine, i'll try to find some help at one of the restaurants around here tommorow, ok?" Mia says, A thin smile on her face. But the grin is tight, and her shoulders are bunched together like knots along her neck and back. Cade can see this, could sense the unease that tunneled along her elder sister nerves.
And she did not believe her one bit.
Mia can see she isn't convinced. In fact, she might even look more concerned than she did beforehand, and realizes why.
Damn kid can smell fear.
She can see how tense you are dingus relax, make her believe you're okay.
Mia inhales shortly, her shoulders and neck relaxing as she focused on breathing. closing her eyes to think, and show cade that she was alright for now.
Running her thumb over cades knuckles- she tries to coax the younger girl into relaxing with her. her mind reeling with the few chances they had if they even managed to get someone's attention.
She huffs out of her nose, causing cade to squint and scrunch her nose with blatant disdain. The teen chuckles, There was that pizzaplex a few blocks down the road. She always saw a security guard walk outside in the morning when she herself was out gathering some food to store. That could be a good starting place for them, Maybe her and cade could get help right away.
No, she knew they would get help right away. Especially if they snuck in and made it to the daycare.
Eyes opening, Mia smiles, and her sister tilts her head questioningly "tell you what- we can try that giant pizza place you've always been curious about." She drawls, thin fingers moving to pick a few pieces of torn trash from Cade's hair, "I've got a friend in there anyways, He'll help us out, and we'll get that potentially nice officer to help too!" Her tone lightened, bringing an intrigued spark to her siblings eyes, but cade remains stoic in her worry, not truly in with her plan.
But it doesn't take long for her trademark grin to break through that tough mask she wore around strangers, mia cackles- "can we get pizza?" The blonde asks quickly, leaving no room for an argument in her question. Mias cackles rise to delightedly wholehearted laugh, shoulders shaking, "of course we can!" Cade lets out a short giggle, going in for a hug with her sister "we d-do deserve pizza". Pecking the top of her sisters head Mia says "agreed, rat."
later, they have settled down to sleep. Both have had a long day. Mia had found some more unopened burgers and cade found some more pillows and blankets to finish their strange nest with. Tonight- after all, was supposed to be cold.
After fluffing up the torn blankets for the 10th time mia, finally lays down. Cade violently stomps her feet from a distance, then hurried steps sound, and mia is twisting to the side of their shared bed as cade comes at her with the force of four separate swarms of rats and lands as gracefully as a seven year old can when belly flopping onto pillows way to hard for anyone's liking.
With a hearty oof- the blonde mimics Mia's earlier movements, snuggling right up against her left side. This was their favorite part of the day or night in any case. There are no lights in the alley they had chosen, And that was for a reason,
That reason being the stars.
Mia smiles gently, seeing a few faint constellations dulled by light pollution. Humming she turns to look at her sister, "why do you love the stars so much again? hmmm?" She quips easily, knowing cade, who continues to look up- would always answer her gladly " they are blue like your eyes. " she says lowly, now turning to look at mia, who shakes her head "you have blue eyes too, nerd" she teases, "yeah but y-your eyes are bright a-and shine like them-" she points to the sky " i love them 'cause of you. W-well they remind me of you." She states, dropping her arm and starting to curl further into her older sibling, "t-they are bright a-and warm" cades eye lids begin to droop "like you." she's asleep before she finishes the sentence, eyes fully shut.
And mia can't help but be glad. Moving slowly to lay on her side- she too, curls herself around her sister, tears falling onto the ruined pillow below their heads, " i love you too.... Rat" she whispers.
They didn't have a lot of time left, but she was going to make sure they made it.
they were going
to get through this, even if it kills her.
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