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As soon as they leave, Milo slumps back against the bars of his cage. Suddenly, the room feels colder. Emptier.
He hugs himself tightly, chokes back the tears that rise to his throat as easily as a balloon. He never expected to see Melissa again. He resigned himself to a life trapped here, a life as a caged monster. And Melissa? Why would she show up here? Melissa was a piece of his old life, one of the blurry little pieces of a puzzle growing far too fuzzy. A piece from his old puzzle should never have been forced into his new one.
It makes sense, now that he thinks about it. Even when they were little, Melissa loved the monster keepers. She forced him to sit through hundreds of documentaries, spent her days paging through dozens of books. She always planned to be one, and he knew that with her fiery ambition she could achieve anything she chose to. He just didn’t expect her to be his keeper.
Melissa is exactly like he remembered. Temper as fiery as her hair, fiercely protective and loyal to a fault. Willing to risk everything for him even after years of separation. A fond chuckle rises to his throat, accompanied by more tears. He shoves them back down. He missed her so much, and now, even if just for a little while, he has her back.
He has her back as long as she doesn’t get too focused on that rescue idea. He can’t let her do that, he has to steer her away from it. After what happened to Cavendish and Dakota, he can’t let Melissa try to rescue him, and pay the price. He learned his lesson.
The boy, Zack, seems calmer. Less likely to burn the world down, certainly. But he was clearly horrified when he saw Milo, and that kind of horror has a tendency to lead to attempted heroics. Which tends to lead to death. He winces. He needs to stop both of them, then. Get them to see reason, that the tiny possibility of actually saving him isn’t worth their lives.
Time ticks by slowly. Even slower than normal, and normally time likes to drag it’s feet. Melissa and Zack will be back tomorrow, they promised. Melissa practically had to be dragged out the door by Savannah today. So he just has to wait, and soon they will be back. And he won’t be alone.
At least, for a few months, while the internship program continues. And then they will leave forever and he will still be alone.
He shakes his head roughly. Thinking about the future is a bad idea- his future is nasty and cold and seemingly endless, a stretch of white walls and bright lights as far as the mind’s eye can see. He will think about Melissa and Zack, instead. His friend, and his maybe sort of new friend (he can’t imagine Zack is falling over himself to befriend the weird kid locked in a cage for everyone’s safety).
A little bright spot of hope, a few months where his world is a little less nasty, a little less cold.
———
They do come back, after time kicks, screams and drags it’s heels for a while. He hates the way Melissa looks when she sees him- her eyes widen with pity, even as she smiles. “Milo!” She calls, rushing over. She abandons her visor, and plops down as close to the bars of the cage as she can be. Milo leans against the bars so they are almost touching. The bars still separate them.
Zack sits down next to Melissa. He smiles sadly, a smile that doesn’t quite touch his eyes. “Hey, Milo.”
“Hi guys!” Milo smiles brightly. “How’s the internship going?”
A shadow passes over Melissa. He curses himself. Finding him, finding out the truth about the people she admires… it must have ruined this for her, something that she dreamed of. But she doesn’t say anything like that. “A lot of coffee making and running to the printers.” She says simply.
Brick and Savannah are going through their checklist, checking out any damage the room accrued from Murphy’s Law over the evening. Zack visibly searches for something to say. “Is your leg broken?” He asks, pointing at the splinted leg.
“Oh, yeah.” Milo smiles. A topic that isn’t difficult. “Some of the roof collapsed, and it brought down part of the cage. I cut my arm-“ He shows Zack the new scar on his arm. Zack’s eyes widen. “-and I broke my leg. It’s healing pretty well though!”
“No cast?” Melissa assesses it sceptically.
“It doesn’t need a cast. I’m honestly surprised that I got a splint!” Milo laughs. “When I broke my foot, I didn’t get anything so it healed funny. I limp a lot when I walk.”
The way their faces fall makes him squirm. What did he say that was wrong? When Melissa speaks, the shadow on her face transfers into her voice. “Why? Why aren’t they looking after you properly?”
So it was a difficult topic. Great.
“I dunno. Because they don’t care? Expenses? So I can’t run?” He waves his hand dismissively, hoping the motion will brush the pain away from them. It doesn’t, staying stuck like misbehaving dust. “Really, it’s ok. I’m ok.”
“You’re not.” Melissa is as blunt as ever. She lowers her voice now, hides it under the shadow. “Listen, we’re working on a plan to get you out of here. It’ll take some doing, but I swear-“
“No!” Milo exclaims, too loudly. He lowers his voice to join Melissa’s under the shadow. “I told you, it’s too dangerous. The last guys-“
“Got killed, I remember.” Melissa interrupts. “Which is exactly why we need to get you out of here. These people are awful, I can’t leave you with them. I won’t. They’re treating you like garbage, for no reason. What they’re doing to you…”
“I know it’s bad.” Milo admits, scratching his head. “I’m not pretending that it isn’t. But my freedom isn’t worth your lives. I’m not doing it again, not after what happened last time.”
“You are.” Melissa says simply. “We’ll make a plan, and you’ll see. You deserve to be safe and happy as much as anyone else, and I’m gonna make it happen if I have to burn down this whole facility.”
“But we’re saving burning everything down for plan B.” Zack adds hurriedly.
Milo snorts. He really likes Zack. “Its not gonna happen. I love you too much to let you.” He says. “But… thank you anyway.”
Fire meets stone, he reflects as he and Melissa shift back into their previous position, heads trying to touch through the cold bars. She hasn’t given up, she never will. It’s not in her nature. But he…
Well, he supposes, he has given up. And that’s the thing.
———
A few days pass, days that are just a little bit warmer and softer than the days that came before. Days that involve jokes, conversations, as much touch as is possible through the bars. Days that involve friendship.
Days that, on Melissa and Zack’s end, involve plotting and planning. He changes the subject every time they try to bring it around to their escape plan. He won’t let himself think about that, and eventually they have to see reason. They’re smart.
They don’t seem to be seeing reason. They keep talking, keep planning. He wants to grab them by their collars and scream. Don’t they understand? Don’t they get it? They could die! He doesn’t want them to die! Why can’t they understand that he would rather be locked up forever than see them die?
One day, they come in with a notebook. Melissa starts going through her plan in a low murmur. Milo stares for a few moments before interrupting her. “I told you, no.”
“And I told you, yes.” Melissa just keeps going. He wants to shake her. He can’t shake her because she is separated from him by the bars, by those stupid bars.
“Melissa, please!” Milo is surprised to find his voice is choked when he interrupts again. Melissa stops talking, both of them stare. “Melissa, I don’t want to. I don’t want you to die. Please stop, please don’t do this. I can’t do this.”
“Milo…”
“I know it’s because you care, I know you’re trying to help. But you don’t… don’t understand, you haven’t seen what… what I’ve seen…” Milo’s fingers hurt from how tightly he is gripping the bars of his cage. “I love you, I care about you, I can’t watch you die. I can’t let them kill you. You’ve gotta let it go, you’ve gotta… gotta let me go.”
Melissa stares at him. Her eyes are wide. Shiny. She’s crying. He didn’t mean to do that, he didn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want her to be upset, in pain, especially over him.
He feels something shaking down his face, and realises that he is crying too.
“Milo, I can’t.” She touches his fingers with her own. “You’re my best friend. Seeing you like this hurts me, and the thought of you being alone in this situation hurts me more. I need to rescue you, because I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t.”
“I’ll never forgive myself if you die.” His voice is small, choked up.
“I won’t. Milo, we’ve got plans. We’re… we think we can get Savannah and Brick to at least overlook us, even if they won’t help. We know that we can do this, we just need you to come. Please come. You can’t… you can’t give up, you’re a Murphy. You’re Milo. It always works out, right? It doesn’t matter what, you always have a way.”
Milo glances away. “I tried that. Over and over again.”
“You didn’t try with us.” Melissa cajoles. “You didn’t try with outside help. We can do this, Milo. I know that we can. You don’t deserve to be here.”
Milo stares at her, eyes shining with tears.
“Milo, she’s right. We’re gonna do it, we’ll get you out of here.” Zack adds.
Melissa’s finger curls around Milo’s. He rests his tear stained face against the bars, a million thoughts swirling around his heads. He can’t bear the thought of this friends, his brave, loyal, wonderful friends being hurt for him. But they are looking at him with hope in their eyes, heads full of plans and hearts full of caring. It’s enough to make him hope again too.
As he nods slowly, he just prays that it doesn’t all go wrong.