Chapter Text
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” a small voice spoke, tugging lightly on Erik’s jacket. “I can’t find my dad, can you help me?”
Erik spun around, looking down at the kid standing in front of her. She put an arm out to catch Pyrite, stopping them from walking further. Pyrite stumbled, looking around wildly before spotting who Erik was talking to.
“Sure,” Erik nodded, glancing around before kneeling. “What’s your name?”
“Jade.” the young girl spoke, her voice muffled by the gas mask she wore.
“What’s your dad look like?”
“He’s got glasses, one side of it’s broken though… He has big poofy hair too like mine, in a ponytail.”
“Half-broken glasses, big poofy hair in a ponytail…” Erik nodded. “Is he tall? Or is he short?”
“Not very, he’s a lot shorter than you.”
Pyrite watched the bustling streets, trying to spot someone by that description while Erik talked to Jade.
“Is there anything special about him?”
Jade hummed, thinking for a moment. “He’s got a robot eye!”
“Alright, when was the last time you saw him?”
“Just a little bit ago, I let go of his hand to pick up a coin and when I got back up he was gone.” Jade’s voice warbled, clearly trying to not cry.
“Hey, it’ll be okay,” Erik placed her hands on Jade’s arms. “We’ll find him.”
Jade sniffled, nodding.
“How’s about this, I’ll put you on my shoulders and we can go walk in the way your dad was going. I’m sure he’s worried sick about you.”
“Okay,” Jade nodded again.
Erik pulled her hair over one shoulder before she turned Jade around, picked her up by her sides, and lifted her onto her shoulders. Jade settled down, clasping her hands together under Erik’s chin.
“What’s your name, miss?” Jade asked while the trio slowly walked.
“I’m Erik Xavier,” Erik spoke. “And that’s Pyrite.” She tilted her head towards them, Jade glancing down towards them.
“Woah… you look super short from here!”
Erik stifled a laugh as Pyrite deadpanned. “I’m short from most points of view,” A robotic voice answered, coming from their mask.
In the distance, Erik could hear 2 overlapping voices yelling Jade’s name.
“Hey,” Erik interrupted the giggles from the young girl on her shoulders. “I think I can hear someone hollering your name.”
Jade paused, straining her ears. “I think it’s my dad! And my uncle!”
“Let’s hurry up, then.”
Erik quickened her pace, Pyrite having to jog to keep up with her. By the time Jade pointed out the two adults in the distance, Pyrite was practically out of breath.
“There they are!” Jade yelled, pointing ahead of them. “DAD! UNCLE SULFUR! I’M HERE!” She waved frantically, catching the attention of her dad.
The young man sprinted towards the small group, the much taller one tailing quickly behind. Erik gently set down Jade, watching from a distance as her dad slid to his knees and hugged her.
“Oh, god, Jade, there you are,” his voice shook as he clutched his daughter. “Oh, thank god,”
As he checked her over, her uncle caught up to them.
“You’re okay?” her father asked, pulling back to look her over. “Did anything happen?”
Jade shook her head. “The nice lady and her sibling helped me look,” She turned around, guiding her uncle and her dad's attention to Erik and Pyrite.
Pyrite waved as Erik nodded, Jade’s uncle approaching them both as her father went back to shakily holding her.
“Thank you so much for helping her,” the man spoke, offering his hand out to Erik to shake.
“Of course,” Erik smiled, shaking his hand. “I’m Erik.”
“I’m Sulfur, that back there is my younger brother Citrine.”
Erik’s eyes widened as she immediately looked toward Pyrite, who wore an equally shocked expression.
“Can I ask your last name?” Erik did her best to play it cool.
Sulfur furrowed his brows, looking between the pair. “I don’t know if-”
“My name’s Pyrite,” the robotic voice from Pyrite’s mask interrupted.
Sulfur’s face formed many different expressions in a matter of a few moments, looking back to his younger brother who was oblivious to the conversation.
“No way.” Sulfur shook his head. “This… you can’t be-”
Pyrite fished their dogtags out of their pocket, handing them to Sulfur with a shaky hand. “I’ve had these since I was little. Please, trust me,” The robotic voice wrung out again, painfully unable to express their emotion.
Sulfur accepted the dogtags, running his fingers over their full name engraved in the metal. Pyrite A. Konzumer.
“... Peep?” His voice broke, tears welling up in his eyes as he clutched the dog tags.
Pyrite nodded rapidly, quickly getting pulled into a hug by the much taller man. A quiet sob escaped Sulfur, holding Pyrite as if he wasn’t even sure they were there.
Erik took a step back awkwardly, watching the unplanned reunion. Citrine stood close by, holding Jade.
“Sulf? What’s-”
“Cit it’s her,” Sulfur spoke, his voice a combination of miserable and elated. “It’s Pyrite.”
Citrine froze, clutching his daughter. “What?”
Sulfur reluctantly let go of Pyrite, letting them pull back and unclip their mask. Pyrite smiled, wiping away tears with their organic hand as they clutched the mask in their prosthetic. Citrine studied their face, following every scar and every freckle.
His free hand went to cover his mouth, the elation he wanted to have overshadowed by every single injury covering his baby sibling. One of their eyes was entirely scared over, from just below their nose to into their hairline. They had a scar on the opposite cheek, spanning up towards their other eye, with a few other thin scars littering their face. Their left hand was replaced by a prosthetic, and visible burn scars spanned up that arm and onto their stomach. It made his heart plummet.
“Pyro?” Citrine’s voice warbled. “What happened to you?”
Pyrite’s smile broke, as they looked over to Erik, looking for some sort of help. Erik clenched their jaw, stepping forward between Citrine and Pyrite.
“That’s not something you should be asking,” Erik spoke bluntly, watching the smaller man carefully.
“Cit-” Sulfur sighed, quickly getting interrupted by Citrine.
“What happened to her?”
“It’s not my information to share,” Erik explained, a little harshly. “And I don’t think they want to share all of their trauma with you in the middle of the street.”
Citrine frowned, looking over to his older brother who shook his head.
Pyrite tapped Erik, starting to sign as soon as her eyes were on them.
E-R-I-K, ME OKAY. Pyrite signed. TALL MAN NICE. SHORT MAN LITTLE WEIRD.
YOU SURE? Erik signed back. WE GO, IF YOU NEED
OKAY.
Erik watched warily as Pyrite clipped their mask back on, enabling the speaking feature again.
“Hi, Citrine,” The robotic voice wrang out, gaining the attention of both men. “I’m sorry about that,” Pyrite shrugged. “Erik’s just looking out for me. I’m sure you didn’t mean to intrude when you asked.”
Citrine eyed Erik, who shot back an unpleased expression. “Of course I didn’t, I was just… worried…” his voice lowered, speaking in a whisper to Pyrite. “Does she hurt you? We can help-”
“Oh, god no!” Pyrite reeled back.
“Citrine!” Sulfur scolded. “We just got her back, can we please try to not make her and her guardian hate us?”
“I’m just worried!” Citrine snapped back.
“Erik’s great, they take good care of me,” Pyrite defended. Erik stepped closer to the group, standing just a few feet behind Pyrite as her expression turns more sour. She doesn’t intervene in the conversation, but instead makes her presence more well-known.
“Of course!” Sulfur says nervously. “Citrine’s just… he’s wary, since…”
All of them go quiet, uncertain of where to carry the conversation.
“Pyrite, can I give you my phone number so we can set up a time to talk, preferably somewhere that’s not the middle of the street?” Citrine asked, adjusting Jade on his hip.
“Oh, sure!”
Citrine listed out his number as Pyrite tapped it into their screen, quickly saving it.
“I’ll text you.”
“Alright,” Citrine nods. “We’ll figure out something soon.”
Sulfur offers one more hug to Pyrite, who accepts it. He squeezes them quickly, letting them go before he gets emotional again.
“Bye, guys. Bye Jade!”
Jade giggles. “Bye Pyrite!” She waves as Citrine and Sulfur walk off.
Pyrite looks back to Erik, who did her best to hide her concerned expression.
WE GO HOME? They signed. I TIRED. AND HUNGRY.
Erik lightly smiled. YES. I MAKE DINNER WHEN HOME.