Chapter Text
July 5, 2017
Sean Diaz had been held in the tightest security since surrendering to the feds yesterday. He spent the night naked and alone in a solitary confinement cell. They didn’t know how Sean had been able to cause so much damage and destruction on his journey from Seattle, Washington to El Rey, Arizona, but they weren’t taking any chances.
He hadn’t received a phone call yet. No contact with his mother, or his grandparents, or even his lawyer, assuming they ever actually assigned him one, either. He didn’t know if they had. He’d never gotten his lawyer when he was being held in custody at that hospital in California, either. Not that he really cared. The only person he really wanted to see was Daniel, and he knew there was no way he’d be allowed to see him. Maybe in a couple months, if he was lucky.
Sean just hoped his brother was safe. The feds had promised he would be kept safe and that he wouldn’t be charged. Sean didn’t really believe them, though. There were lots of reasons that factored into his decision to surrender, but only one that actually mattered.
He knew that turning himself in was “the right thing to do,” at least in the eyes of society. He didn’t really care much about that, anymore, though. Society had only ever hurt him and taken away the things he loved. Society could sit and spin on his middle finger for all he cared.
No, the real reason he turned himself in was that he’d already watched his father get gunned down in front of his eyes and he couldn’t bear the thought of watching it happen to Daniel. He figured that Daniel could probably get them through the border with his powers. Daniel was crazy powerful, after all. But as he’d told Daniel when warning him about Big Joe, powerful and invincible are two very different things. He’d paid for Daniel’s hubris with his eye on that occasion. He forgave Daniel for that, even before he awoke from the coma. But Daniel’s life was more than he was willing to wager, even on a safe bet, so he went all in with his own.
He didn’t know what charges they’d hit him with. Probably murder for that cop in Seattle. Daniel did that, and it was an accident, but Sean had no intention of letting anyone know either of those things. They might find out about Daniel’s power and then his little brother would never be safe or free again.
Then there was the assault and destruction of that racist dipshit at the gas station. They had that one wrong, again. It was Hank Stamper who had attacked him, twice, not the other way around, no matter what the numb-nuts had told the papers. It was Daniel who had destroyed the store. Another accident.
And then, too, there was the destroyed hotel room. He felt really bad about that. He hoped Brody hadn’t had to pay too much for the damages, especially after he had been nice enough to help them. He had trusted them and believed them, even though he’d read those hit-job articles painting them as junior terrorists. Another bump in the road to Daniel’s mastery of his powers.
Then there was the explosion at the weed farm. Daniel again. That hare-brained heist scheme. Finn and Daniel went behind Sean’s back, despite his protests and warnings. Another of Daniel's ill-fated attempts at making his own decisions. Why couldn’t that kid ever just listen? Still, he had to protect his brother. He covered for Daniel as best as he could. He didn’t know if Agent Flores believed him or not. Despite her fake-kind eyes and her honeyed words, Sean could tell that she seemed pretty intent on making him out to be some sort of criminal mastermind, so he hoped that helped. As long as everyone was looking at him, nobody would notice his telekinetic brother.
He’d escaped police custody and stolen a car. It was pure insanity to slip out that window, given his lack of depth perception, but he did it anyway. He had to get to Daniel and he wouldn’t hurt or betray anyone to escape, not even that dickhead guard that spent most of his time sleeping outside his door. Those things, at least, he had actually done. He didn’t feel like it was much of a crime to go rescue your little brother from a cult, but that was apparently just one more thing that he and society viewed differently.
Speaking of that cult, he would probably be charged with two counts of arson on that one. He didn’t start either of the fires. Karen started one intentionally, and Daniel started the other one on accident. Still, he intended to confess to both. He still couldn’t honestly say that he loved Karen, or that he had forgiven her, selfish as she was, but he at least understood her. Even if he didn’t love her, Daniel did. Sean knew that he would probably get life in prison, anyway. Maybe even the death penalty. No reason for Karen to suffer, too, especially if it would make things harder on Daniel.
And then that just left the escape from the police station in El Rey. More counts of assaulting an officer and destruction of police property than Sean dared to count. All of them Daniel, but then, that was a recurring theme.
He wasn’t a bad kid, really. Sean still believed in him. Sean knew that his little brother was never the monster that he feared he would become. Daniel had struggled, sure, but then who wouldn’t, given the circumstances? Losing your father, your friends, your home, your grandparents, back to back to back. Forced into uncomfortable, even dangerous situations. Homeless, barely scraping by. Coping with supernatural forces you can’t comprehend. Forced to run again every time you had gotten any semblance of stability. Sean had done his best, but it was too much for him, as it would be for any sixteen year old. Little wonder things ended up as badly as they did.
Sean hadn’t slept. He’d been up all night stewing about what he was going to do. He finally reached a decision at some point in the night. He didn’t know when. No time pieces allowed in solitary and no windows to view the world outside. It didn’t really matter, anyway.
It was actually as the sun rose over the prison, unseen by Sean’s remaining eye, that he had reached that point of clarity, or at least desperation. He’d been engaging in a game of high-stakes poker with his and Daniel’s lives since that day in Seattle. Life had dealt him a truly shitty hand, but he had developed a great poker face and he still had one chip left to push into the pot. If he played his cards right, he could use it to purchase his little brother something that he would never have himself; a second chance at a normal life.