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"Klee, wake up."
A faint voice reaches her ears, followed by a beeping noise.
She sits up, groggily bringing her hands up to her eyes to rub them in an attempt to clear her blurry vision.
"Big brother Albedo...?" she murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper as her vision, slowly but surely, adjusts to the lighting. She can still hear the beeping noise.
"Quick, pack your things." he arises, his movements swift as he made his way to a nearby desk that seemed to be an abandoned till. "They've found us."
Klee opens her mouth to say something, but then closes it shut again as she hears the sound of shuffling, deciding not to disturb whatever her big brother was doing. After all, he seemed to be in a hurry.
Though, she wondered who 'they' were. With the way big brother said it though, they sounded like bad guys. She tried to set that thought aside, but the one thing that was impossible to ignore was the constant beeping noise that seemed to come from that device big brother had on the left side of the till.
It wasn't the loudest thing ever, but she still disliked it, and couldn't help but lower her ears slightly in an attempt to muffle the sound a little.
Big brother had told her to pack her things, but there was a slight problem — she didn't know what to pack.
She couldn't tell if it was due to her having just woken up, or if she'd genuinely had some sort of memory loss. Because it felt like she didn't know why she was here, or what they were running from, exactly.
Her surroundings were nothing but bland, she could make out a few things, a table or two and a couple of tipped over chairs, but nothing exactly noteworthy.
That was when, of course, she noticed a familiar backpack not too far away, and she scoots closer to flip the flap open to see a couple dozen landmines within, aswell as a bottle of water and what seemed to be a walkie-talkie, all tucked neatly inside.
"Ready to go?" she turns to see her big brother, adjusting the strap of his satchel that was hanging from his shoulder and across his torso, and she nods, flipping the flap closed again before carrying her backpack.
Just as he reaches out for the sensor, however, its pings intensify, both in frequency and in sound, and Klee almost immediately brings her hands up to her ears, shielding them from the constant noises that came from this very device.
"It's... flashing," he hesitates for a second, as a distant noise seems to reach his ears, and without a second thought, he grabs the sensor, shoving it into his satchel — that was filled with all the necessities they could find in this run-down and abandoned mall — before taking ahold of Klee's wrist, and darting out of the shop they'd temporarily decided to reside in.
"Big brother?!" Klee manages to sputter out as they begin to run at lightning speed, her tiny feet trying their hardest to keep up as they bolt past shop after shop.
"No time to explain, Klee. They've—" his gaze seems entirely focused on the area infront of them, until the distant noise seems to slowly fade away, replaced by a different, much louder noise that cuts him short. It was a nextbot, and it was charging straight towards them, repeating its chant as if to warn them of the incoming danger. She can still hear the device from within her big brother's satchel, its beeps more intense than ever, albeit a tad bit muffled. "This way!"
Before she can react, she's dragged in the opposite direction of the rapidly approaching nextbot, her feet slowly growing tired, but she knew she couldn't give up. She'd keep running, for herself and big brother Albedo.
The entity's chants seem to grow more and more distant by the second, but it remains on their tail, refusing to give up as long as they were in its line of sight, apparently.
Soon, they arrived at what her mind registered as a 'parking lot', although she had no idea what both of those words meant, and her big brother finally seems to come to a halt. He seems to rummage through his satchel, before pulling out two black poles, and placing them on each side of the door they'd just entered through, before fiddling with some sort of device, as a blue force field seems to appear between the poles, and he lets out a sigh, either out of fatigue or relief. Klee didn't know.
"This should hold them off for awhile," he leans on the wall, before sliding down and burying his face in his palms, letting out a muffled groan before allowing his arms to drop to his side once again. Klee nods at this, plopping down beside him and bringing her knees close to her chest as she watches him open his satchel again to pull out a bottle of water, aswell as a granola bar that seemed to be sealed within a plastic wrapper, and handing it to her. "Here, I found this in the old supermarket last night. You need the energy more than I do."
"Ooh, a granola bar!" her eyes seem to light up at the sight of the treat, gratefully taking it from him before opening the plastic that kept it sealed, and taking a bite. Surprisingly, it was still edible. "Thanks, big brother Albedo!"
At her words, he seems to smile subtly, before storing the bottle of water back into his satchel and turning to keep watch as she took small bites out of the granola bar.
As she eats, however, she notices how different her big brother's clothing was. The colours were quite similar to his usual outfit, white, blue and black with golden accents, but something about it gave it a... futuristic feel?
She seemed to be wearing something different, too. It wasn't her usual spark knight outfit, but it consisted of a puffy-sleeved blouse and red overalls, aswell as brown boots that reached up to her ankles. She also had a pair of red goggles on her head, though she didn't know what those were for.
A few moments later, she's done eating and they set off once again. It's quiet, a little too quiet. There are no idle noises to be heard whatsoever.
Any normal person would take this as a blessing, as it would mean the nextbots are nowhere near them, but Albedo couldn't help but feel a sense of suspicion. After all, they'd just been chasing them earlier, so they couldn't just have disappeared, right? Their sole purpose, for some unknown reason, was to kill. So, if they knew there were people here, they wouldn't back down that easily. Albedo would know.
They've walked a decent mile from the parking lot by now, and there's still no sign of any danger.
"Big brother?" she suddenly speaks, earning the attention of the one beside her as they continue to walk in search of the exit.
"Yes, Klee?" he turns to face her, a curious expression on his face as he wonders what she had to say.
"Do you think we'll ever be safe?"
Her words cause him to stop in his tracks, followed by her coming to a halt aswell, her gaze innocent. Had she said something wrong?
"I... don't know, Klee." he mumbles at last, an expression full of uncertainty plastered across his visage. "I don't know." his gaze seems to wander, as silence engulfs the two.
Soon, their peace and quiet is interrupted by the all too familiar chants, and Albedo is quick to react.
"Come on, we shouldn't linger here." he extends a hand out for her to take, but notices that Klee's mind is elsewhere. "Klee?"
"Klee?"
"Klee, wake up."
A faint voice reaches her ears.
She sits up, groggily bringing her hands up to her eyes to rub them in an attempt to clear her blurry vision.
"Big brother Albedo...?" she murmurs, her voice barely above a whisper as her vision, slowly but surely, adjusts to the lighting. She was in her room, in the Knights of Favonius headquarters.
"Good morning," he greets warmly from the other end of the bed, a subtle smile adorning his face as he spoke. "Aeth and I are planning to hike up Starsnatch Cliff, and we were wondering if you'd like to come with."
"Starsnatch Cliff? Big brother Aether...?" Klee mutters, still quite literally half awake, before gently shaking her head to wake herself up. "Klee wants to go!"
"Perfect, let's go get ready then, your highness." Albedo chuckles, before arising from the bed, Klee following suit.
"Hey, big brother Albedo?"
"Yes, Klee?"
"Klee had a reaaaally weird dream."