Chapter Text
Delta never slept well in the van. Lux said it was because she wasn't used to being uncomfortable, whatever that meant, but a very very loud explosion was a great excuse to drag Bo on a night time exploration. (not only to stretch her legs but because a big explosion happened. totally) In all fairness, it wasn't really an explosion, more of an extremely loud thud, like dropping a fork while trying not to wake up your roommates at 3 in the morning but every sound is amplified to an atomic bomb level because it's 3am.
overly specific comparisons out of the way, Delta dragged Bo out of their hammock and into the forest, the direction of the boom thud explosion thingy. Bo really had time to grab their jacket and put on pants before Delta pulled him into the trees.
“you woke me up because you heard a noise?” Bo asked, stumbling over a stray tree branch, then nearly fell over a whole tree.
Delta nodded, “yes, but a really loud noise, like dropping a fork in the middle of the night”
“that is… so specific. Delta, what is wrong with you?” Bo fell over another branch and landed flat on his face.
“Karma.” Delta stated simply, “what's up with all the branches”
“it's like something fell through the trees, hard,” Bo spit into the dirt and paused to run his tongue over his teeth, “shit I think I chipped a tooth”
“bad luck, Let's go!” Delta heaved him up by their arm. Bo yelled a curse, and a slur before wiping the dirt off his pants.
“Yeah okay, calm the fuck down, christ.”
As they walked there were more and more tree branches, then a completely empty patch with a crater, upturned trees surrounding it. Moonlight drifted in through the break in the canopy.
Bo hung back by the treeline, saying something about a cigarette, while Delta slid down into the crater. It was mostly dirt, rocks, tree pieces. Poor trees. but in the middle, at the point of impact, a small red and black curled ball.
“ALIEN!” Delta yelled, scrambling down the wall faster until she landed, ass first, on the ground next to the ball. she turned and poked it. It uncurled and jumped up. What stood in front of her was a spiky little creature. It looked fluffy.
“holy shit” Bo, who had now appeared at the edge of the canyon stared down.
The thing looked bewildered and angry, looking back and forth before Delta managed to ask it a question, “Are you a porcupine?”
The little creature then proceeded to pass out.
____
Shame on him. Shame on him for thinking that an impact that hard would kill him. It wasn't from SPACE or anything. No no, just the stratosphere. Shadows whole body ached, he didn't know he could hurt like this. Curling into a ball was the only thing he could do at the moment. Pitiful.
He heard voices. He hoped it wasn't G.U.N. But still, he couldn't force himself to move, to even look up out of his little crater. He heard curses, and secretly words he wasn't sure anyone should say. And then sliding, rocks clacking.
and then a girl's voice shouted, “ALIEN!” She sounded excited, delighted even. The scrambling increased, and then something landed right next to him. The person poked him and that's when he moved.
He jumped up, Looking down at the scrawny girl sitting next to where he had been laying. The first thing he noticed was her jacket, spiky, dangerous, sewn together and barely hanging on. She stared open-mouthed. Then another voice spoke from above the crater.
“holy shit,” awe, amazement, and surprise were the only things Shadow could identify. This human had a large sweatshirt and pants similar to the girl's jacket, half his hair was spiked and the other half flat.
he looked back at the girl who finally spoke, “Are you a porcupine?”
Shadow felt himself sway, he opened his mouth to answer with an insult, but hit the ground before he did. He closed his eyes and heard the humans start talking between themselves.
“Look at this…”
“I'm looking”
“Can we keep it?”
“what the fuck- Delta...”
“lux... but…its so pathetic…cute”
“...pathetic?”
“please… leave… let it”
“fine…”
“YES!”
Suddenly he was being lifted off the ground and spikes were being pressed into him. He tried to push back, away from the discomfort.
The second voice again “Delta your jacket”
then quietly, from the arms he was in, “oh… take it”
he was passed off to another pair of hands before he fully lost consciousness. In his dreams, for once, he wasn't haunted by blue eyes and golden hair, a laugh that ended so sharply, but by pure, blissful darkness.
waking up to a bright light was not fun. Shadow groaned, rolled onto his other side, and pulled up the blanket wrapped around him. Blanket?
He kept his eyes closed when he heard movement and then voices.
The girl from last night, “come on Lux! poor little man probably needs more sleep, taking off the van cover is just mean!”
“We need to drive, Delta, seriously, you pick up a strange creature and don't expect me to wanna book it?” A new voice, female but raspy.
“I think you assholes are gonna wake it up” The other voice from last night. Right next to him. He could move. He could fight. but he didn't want to risk G.U.N finding him.
“What do you think it is?,” The girl, Delta, asked.
“I'm on your side with aliens,” The one close to him said.
the new voice, presumably Lux, spoke up, “yeah, I'm saying government experiment, fucked up”
“on brand” the close one mumbled. Delta laughed and then the world around him lurched. A cheer from next to him, “Holy shit the van actually started!”
“I'm just good like that,” Lux said simply.
The vehicle struggled over what he assumed was a ledge. The unpredictable jerking of the car as it struggled to get onto the road made his aches worse. Once the ride had smoothed Shadow sighed, relieved that the bumps had mostly stopped.
Then there were sirens.
Someone up front whistled, Delta, “That's a lot of PoPo. Who the fuck names an organization gun? that's gotta be the dumbest-”
Shadow sat up and teleported. The person beside him swore and nearly fell onto the floor. The driver, who he assumed to be Lux, slammed the brake hard. Shadow had only managed to get a few inches, just off the chair and standing on the ground before the sudden stop caused him to tumble over. He had no energy to get up.
“Shit they are turning around! Lux why'd you have to brake so hard like that jesus!” Delta yelled.
from his angle on the (dirty) car floor, Lux had bright pink hair, shaved on both sides and was still in her sleep clothes. Everyone started to yell as the car stalled, Lux turned the key frantically while Shadow tried to climb back up to his resting place. This was shameful.
Shadow managed to sit up and yell one word in the Chaos, “Drive!”
Lux hit the gas so hard that Shadow fell back again and hit his head on the back of the seat he had been on. He crawled up back onto the seat he was laying on and adressed the driver, “let me out.”
“Lux Drive, Lux stop, Everyone shut up!” Shadow opened his mouth to protest but Lux sped up, she sounded angry, and insane, “you will get out after I pull over for these asholes because I am not getting another ‘evading the law’ charge!”
Shadow, reluctantly shut up. The van veered to the side and Shadow realized that Lux was pulling over for G.U.N. He needed to hide if he couldn't get out. He would go out on his terms not theirs.
“I need to hide!” He addressed the Spiky one next to him.
they blinked, “yeah okay little man.” They said searching around the back of the van for anything, a blanket was thrown over shadow, and then he was picked up.
“What are you doing?!”
“Hiding you, little man” The spiky one answered before Shadow was tucked between two large objects and then his head was pushed down, “curl up!”
He couldn't see but he could hear. A window rolled down painfully, slowly, Lux gave a sharp order to the spiky one, “Bo keep your hands on your lap.”
a new voice, from outside this time, “Hello ladies, gentleman. Having some car trouble?”
“No sir, my friend here saw an animal on the side of the road and screamed at me to stop, I just panicked and hit the brakes too hard,” Lux
“I swear to god it was a porcupine,” Delta added.
“did you kids see anything suspicious last night?”
“no, we heard a loud noise but that was about it, we stopped to sleep just down the road there,” Lux again.
“So nothing?”
“no sir”
“Alright kiddos, Get to where you're going safely”
“Thank you, sir, hope you find what you're looking for”
The window rolled up, and the Van started to move. Shadow deemed it safe to come out of his hiding spot. He had been stuck between a box of clothes and a box of random stuff.
Delta turned towards him, “so what are you, little man?”
Shadow gave the only answer he knew, but when he spoke it was more hesitant, a question more than a statement.
“I am the ultimate life form”
“sick.”
_____