Archive of Our Own

Baghera was doing her best.
It’s what she had always done, she had never known anything else. Her leader hardly needed to suggest a new mission to her, that she plunged head first into the desert, she left their underground base and she faced any danger with her head held high.
She always had this need to be useful, the impression of not belonging anywhere, of having to win her place in a certain way.

So she was doing her best, more than anyone else, she was proving her worth day after day. She tried, missed, tried again, won to the point of plucking her feathers out.
Seeing her team slowly climb into the scores was her reward.

She had already been watching the fire for several minutes, maybe it’s actually been hours. There was no real sunrise over the arid, sandy expanses where they had planted their base, it was easy to quickly lose track of time. Her eyes were crying as the heat was strong, but far from wanting to avoid it, the young woman, on the contrary, felt herself get closer to it, extending her hands towards the fire.

This flames, they were beautiful, nibbling on the wood, projecting a reddish color on its surroundings.
She liked red. It was the only color she could still see now.
And the ashes on her feathers, on her feet, on her hands, on her cheeks. She smiled for a moment, telling herself that if they had ever bothered to bury their bodies, there wouldn’t even be enough dirt to do it, they would have to use this ash.
The world would only be fire, only red, only death. Her mind failed to remember the most important things, peace had left her a long time ago now.

The crackling of flames was the only thing she heard, her friends' conversation was distant. Even by closing her eyes, she couldn’t fool her mind, the heat of the flames had nothing to do with Quesadilla’s sunrays.
This morbid silence wasn’t comparable to the singing of the birds, the sand couldn’t compete with the grass. And yet, Quesadilla was far from being a place of paradise. But it was her home, in a way.

For Baghera more than anyone else, she was born there.
The more she tried to come to terms with the evidence of that, the more she felt like it was just one of her smoky dreams, the kind of stories that are told to make oneself interesting.
She burst out laughing.

Laughter is the way she preferred to forget. It is also one of the first pieces of advice she gave, a long time ago, to a small silhouette wearing a beret.
She had told her.

"In life Pomme, if you don’t understand what’s happening, just laugh loudly."

She laughed at the loss, laughed in the face of all those who had betrayed her, she laughed to feel so empty where she should have felt everything. She laughed so hard that she ended up alerting even her friends.
But they were no longer quite friends, when one crosses something so strong, when one tricks sadness with such fervor, it is undoubtedly a stronger bond that weaves.

Her family. It was her family.

And the first one who came to sit in the ashes and the remains of common sense next to her was, almost ironically, Jaiden. The young woman was also in a pitiful state. The thick mask around her neck, bloody bandages wrapped around her arms, tattered clothes covered in sand and blood, her long blue hair tousled and dirty.
And seeing her like this, Baghera wondered if it was this vision that the Watcher took great delight in.
And it made her laugh even harder.

“Why are you laughing?” despite the serious situation, even Jaiden wanted to laugh, it was visible in the way she smiled.

“We’re all going to die”

Not only was it her friend’s turn to burst out laughing, but so did Foolish, behind them. His characteristic sharp laugh mingled with the girl’s symphony, before holding his ribs, he was making sandstone blocks for their base. Upon hearing the laughter echoing in the empty desert, Slimecicle, who was scouting further away, approached.
It only took a very short time for them all to end up around the fire, their feet in ashes, shouting their hilarity.

"You know what?" the young Swiss woman interrupted the bursts of madness that came out of her mouth to watch her companions, "We must be the worst team that this damn Watcher has never seen in their whole life"

"The best of the worst" nodded Foolish, smiling, holding back a burst of laughter.

“You bet, Foolish” upon hearing the voice of their leader, all the members of the red team turned to him.

Philza was walking towards them, the last rays of the sun left on his silhouette not beautiful orange reflections but rather a light of a bright ruby. It gave his appearance of a plague doctor even more credibility. At his side, two men, Cellbit and his serial killer look, always proudly showing off the red vest tied around his waist, and Carre, piercing cat-like eyes, a blue hoodie and a sword almost bigger than him, greeted them with a small shy wave.

“Today, I can guarantee you that the BOLAS team has once again dominated the score!”

Following his speech, everyone stood up and applauded their victory, including Baghera. Turning almost too naturally around the fire, they began to put on their masks. Soon, only their muffled cries more or less resembling a cacophony of “BOLAS!! BOLAS!!” were heard.
The young woman liked to play this role, to laugh like a maniac whenever she wanted and to accompany these madmen in their strange cult. To tell the truth, it was surprisingly simple for her, and she preferred that a thousand times more than the agonizing days on Quesadilla Island.

She preferred madness, violence a thousand times to absence and guilt.
The absence of the only thing that made their world makes sense. The small beings with small wings and large, naive eyes who erased, in a smile, the greatest pain.
Quesadilla, it had only been that for the last few months.

But here, there was no guilt.
She had felt nothing when she had to kill, one by one, the other islanders whom she considered as friends, she hadn’t flinched once while meticulously building her chainsaw. And not once had she felt this feeling yet so familiar.
When she had said, on the first day, that they only had to kill Pomme, and that she didn’t care much about it, since then, she hadn’t felt the slightest ounce of abjection.

And yet Baghera was just that.

When Philza gently handed her portion of tea, when Carre brandished his catch to cook over the fire, she said to herself that she had never been anything other than that. She was born in guilt, and she knew, deep down, that if she ever died permanently on this island, it would be her last thought.

Just after a thought for her daughter.

Eggs were one of the most taboo discussions within the red team, and Baghera found it hard to believe that this was not the case for the other teams either.
Yet, when they were all so gathered, almost huddled together around the fire, this is the kind of conversation the young woman would have liked to have.
And, as if her thoughts had been spoken out loud, Slimecicle finally took the floor.

“Cellbit, listen man, I wanted to apologize for the other day” the American wiped his mouth as some crumbs from their meager meal still remained at the corner of his lips.

“About what? To have flirted with me while I am married or ...” replied the Brazilian, a smile on his lips.

“No, no, the other thing obviously, come on” it earned some laughter from the two young men.

“What are you talking about?” wondered Philza, knowing very well, given his expression, that it mustn’t have been very serious.

“Damn it, how embarrassing to admit that in front of his leader...” muttered Slime, looking away for a moment.

"Consider me as a friend, Charlie, just as a friend" scoffed a little Philza, encouraging him to confide.

Baghera took the time to look at his two teammates. Slime’s thick round glasses were so dirty that she wondered how he could still see with them. It was also the case for their leader’s hat, the green had a slightly aging look and the white had turned gray. Both of them had their skin encrusted with dirt, sunburn, pitiful bandages and scars.

“There was a mission where I had to...” the brunette started, scratching his neck. It was almost impossible to know if it was another sunburn on his cheeks or blushes, “Kill ElMariana”

“Ouuuuuuuuuh” Baghera couldn’t help but whisper as she leaned forward, chuckling as she already felt the juicy story coming up.

“And I didn’t, guys” the young man took on a dramatic look as he slowly shook his head from left to right.

“You could give more details” Jaiden intervened with a smirk.

“Ah yes, yes, don’t be cheap!” continued to encourage him, Bagz joined her friend next to her to force him to tell the whole story. These kinds of small anecdotes were all they had to occupy themselves with. That and killing, of course.

Slimecicle glanced at his teammates and there wasn’t one who didn’t look at him with interest. Even the Brazilian, who happened to be there at the time of the story, didn’t seem bored to hear more details.
Slimecicle being what he was, cleared his throat and took on an air as serious as possible.

“The sun was high in the sky when I approached the Spawn to be able to retrieve the precious items that were still in my warm corpse …” in a few words, the whole audience was already eager to hear what happened next, “When I returned, he was standing there... And, oh …” he placed a hand on his forehead and let himself fall against Foolish who rolled his eyes, "I have never seen a more wonderful vision, he was ... hot”

Baghera placed a hand on her mouth to giggle in silence, and she felt Jaiden at her side tensing, because she was also holding back from laughing. Cellbit had crossed his arms with a somewhat disapproving expression, but his smirk erased any trace of authority on his face. Philza lent an attentive ear to his story while passing more small pieces of meat to his teammates.

“We talked for a long time, he gave me some stuff you know?” he turned to Foolish again, the American sniffed with an unconvinced look, “Good stuff too! I put everything in the chest downstairs in the base” Slime turned to his leader, and deep in his eyes it was easy to see that he was waiting for his approval.

“Thank you Charlie” replied Philza with a smile.

“And we continued to talk, again and again. We argued then we laughed, then he complimented me, then I told him off. I totally made a fool of myself and he laughed” he repeated, and although his gestures had everything of an eccentric actor in a shitty play, his smile contained all the sincerity in the world, “And I couldn’t do it”

“Bouuuuh!” Baghera heard herself booed, soon joined by Foolish and the bursts of laughter from Carre, “I am sure that Cellbit wouldn’t even have hesitated”

“Kill ElMariana? I would have done it without flinching” he took a piece of meat that Philza was handing him, biting a bit before shrugging his shoulders, “Kill Roier? Never”

“No but you don’t understand!” protested the brunette with glasses while moving in all directions, a hand on his heart, “Between him and I, there is something, it’s special” before anyone could interrupt him, he gave a long dreamy sigh and looked at the red sky with languor, “The things I’ll let that man do to me ...”

“Ew, can’t you keep that to yourself ?” the Brazilian gave him an almost disgusted look and a recoil.

“So you don’t want to hear about the intense lovemaking session we had right after?”

Another fit of laughter took possession of the small group when Cellbit almost spit out what he had eaten earlier. Even Carre, who had been quite discreet until then, couldn’t help but chuckle as well.
The fire was still burning in front of them, and Baghera liked to spread her wings a little so that the heat could dry the blood and the sweat. Her feet sank back into the sand and ash.

“Guys, I think I’m still in love with him” it was a bit more serious, and when the young woman turned to Slimecicle again, she saw that he was smiling tenderly.

Tenderness, love, it was something that had no place on the island of the Purgatory.
And his other friends knew it very well, that’s why the bursts of laughter gradually faded.
There was like hope, a silent prayer when Slime spoke again.

“And when we’ll be back to Quesadilla ... I don’t know, we might be able to ... start over” he had brought his legs back to him, embracing a little as his green gaze was lost in the flames, “He and I, with Juanaflippa”

The silence that ensued was long, and it resonated with the deepest part of their hearts.
Returning to the life they had before, that’s what they all wanted, without any exception. But was that really something they could dream of having? That, none of them was quite sure. They look at each other, one after the other, silent.
Baghera finally lowered her head slowly towards the fire and her eyes seemed to sting for a few seconds, but no tears flowed. Her cheeks were only immense arid deserts, where tears would eventually evaporate before they even appeared.

“About that ...” she began, leaving her short hair, that resembled more feathers, hiding her eyes, “I always wanted to ask you ...”

Was it Slime’s heart-to-heart conversation that made her speak? Or was it curiosity that finally got the better of her? She couldn’t say.
But Baghera didn’t stop. She looked up, and her eyes first fell on Jaiden by her side, then on her leader, Philza.

“Your wings ... How did you get them?”

It wasn’t a trivial question, certainly not. Just by the way the purple eyes of the American widened, she understood that it wasn’t just her curiosity that was at stake. Baghera had never seen Jaiden’s wings as a whole, only feathers here and there, from a black cascading to a magnificent blue. Her friend had always made sure to hide them, suffocating them with bandages to press them against her back.

Baghera knew it, because she was doing exactly the same thing.

The blond, on the other hand, made a long sigh before giving a shrug and turning towards Jaiden as well.
She tensed a little when she understood that she was going to have to speak first.

“I’m just curious ...” Baghera defended herself as best she could, understanding well that her friends were a bit reluctant to talk about it, “From what I know ... we are the only ones with bird features, so …”

She swallowed her saliva while looking at the two avians in turn.
The other members of the red team didn’t dare to speak, out of fear of disrupting the conversation, maybe. Cellbit in particular, always eager to have more information, leaned forward, legs crossed, respectfully silent.

“Well, I ... I can’t tell you how I got them, I don’t really remember” began Jaiden with a small smile, “They’ve always been there, I suppose, but I was just too scared to expose them in broad daylight” she cleared her throat a little and the young Swiss woman felt her wings tremble under the bandages, “But before we ... Ended up here, Cucurucho encouraged me, so that I could show them more ...

“Cucurucho?” wondered Baghera, both confused and a little worried.

Of course Cucurucho was going to come and put his dirty paws in this story. It’s as if, despite all her efforts, he was going to remain a shadow in the dark places of her existence. Whether it’s in the cloudy edges of her failing memory or in the corners of her vision, watching her silently.
Jaiden didn’t seem to have the same opinion at all, since she nodded with a big smile.

“Yes! He’s pretty cool once you get to know him, you know?”

“Cool? That’s really not the adjective I would have chosen for this psychopathic bear...” mumbled Cellbit as she looked up at the skies.

“It’s not because you were chased down by him while he was holding a chainsaw that you can criticize him” she raised a finger quite seriously but soon her laughter accompanied those of the red team.

“And you, Philza ?” after having heard his few giggles, Baghera turned to her leader.

He gave a small smile and took off his striped hat to run a hand through his hair. For a few moments, he searched for his words in the abstract dance of flames.

“I risk disappointing you, it has absolutely nothing to do with the story of Jaiden” he shook his head and his two tired blue eyes landed on her, and the young woman almost felt in his gaze a kind of apology, “Our memory has been greatly altered by the Federation and everything that has happened since our arrival here but ... I am convinced of it, I have been human before, a few decades ago”

Her eyes widened almost too dramatically and she gave Philza a look completely and perfectly confused.
It was not just her case, moreover, Carre tilted his head to one side while frowning, Jaiden’s mouth made a small "oh" and even Foolish must have turned his attention towards him. The latter even ventured a comment that immediately relaxed the atmosphere.

“You are even older than we thought”

“With all the respect I owe you Foolish, fuck off” he replied with a smirk. “My wings were offered to me by someone very important to me, she thought I had earned them” despite the fact that he remained as evasive as possible, Baghera wanted to know much more, but he quickly concluded, “I am sorry, my wings have no close or distant connection with the Fed”

“Oh ...” she finally said in a sigh.

Her gaze drifted to the side. Her thoughts consumed her, and the questions suddenly seemed so loud that she didn’t even hear her other teammates laughing and questioning their leader.
It’s precisely the voice of the blond who took her out of the bag of knots that her problems had become.

“And you, Baghera? Do you remember how you got your wings?”

Her little yellow wings just crumbled, as if they weren’t used to being the center of attention. They had never been very large, unlike those of Philza, and she was convinced that they always had this aspect a bit broken, pitiful, ruffled, unlike those of Jaiden.
Without knowing why, she suddenly wanted to hide them.

“We don’t need to talk about it if you don’t feel like it”, gently warned Cellbit, sending her a small smile.

“It’s nothing, it’s just that ... Well, I never really talked about it to anyone before” she lowered her eyes for a moment, an embarrassed grin inscribing on her face, “But ... we are a family, right?” once again, her eyes met the gazes of her teammates.

“Of course, a very dysfunctional family but a family nonetheless” Jaiden in particular, covered her with a soft look.

“Bound by the gas mask, forever” nodded Foolish while taking a big voice that made the rest of the red team giggle.

They looked at her again, with encouraging eyes. Around them, a bubble was created, and she never felt safer than at that very moment. All around the fire, tightly seated against each other.
Then Baghera opened her mouth.

And she explained everything.

She explained the book placed in front of her castle at the time when they all still lived on the island. The amusement first, seeing that for once, it was her who was going to discover secrets, and not the Brazilian with the white lock of hair. She spoke of the confusion that had slowly risen within her, like a geyser ready to explode. She described the room she entered, the familiarity that invaded her.
The room was small, she still remembered it perfectly and it made her shiver. From the cold slab on the ground, some faded flowers in the corners, large walls with hazardous but dull colors. An old sofa, a TV. A real piece of doom. In a second room, a bedroom, the floor strewn with purple stones, like amethyst, which made such a characteristic crystal noise when she entered. Some drawings, she had stopped in front of them for long minutes.

With a trembling voice, she spoke about the books she had found.
In the fire in front of her, she saw a little girl with yellow wings, barely three apples tall, writing a book, hoping wholeheartedly to be able to flee from the people who were persecuting her. Those who always asked her for more tests, who plucked her feathers so much that the two small wings never fully grew.
She blinked and she saw her, in the waves, on a makeshift raft, fighting against the winds and tide to survive.

One thing leading to another, she couldn’t keep quiet. She explained everything, she explained the research she had done, the theories she had founded, she couldn’t shut her mouth.
And they looked at her, wide-eyed, they remained silent, her words echoed in the red and empty desert.

“I was created by the Federation” Baghera finished her story, motionless, eyes open and still, trying in vain to show a small smile that must have looked more like a grimace. “I was used by the Federation, I was raised by the Federation”, her breath short, she looked up at the flames, “I ran away, I forgot everything, then they found me and brought me back” a small laugh escaped her, sarcastic and sharp, “I am almost sure that this is the reason why all my friends ended up on the island ... They wanted me, so they crashed the plane I was on ... It’s all my fault”

When she finally managed to close her dry mouth, she had a bitter aftertaste at the back of the palate.
All the looks were different, compassion, fear, empathy ... But only one looked at her with an intensity she hadn’t suspected. By her side, lips slightly open, Jaiden didn’t say a word. The way she had leaned a little towards her, the shadow in her eyes, everything suggested that she wanted to say something. But she changed her mind at the last moment.
Instead, she did something that Baghera hadn’t even considered.
She took her in her arms.

“I don’t think it’s your fault” she murmured, the voice hoarse, her face resting on her shoulder as the young woman stepped off to place her hands on the back of the American, “Or anyone else’s”

Baghera swallowed a sob and she responded to the embrace, so strong that she felt like it was the first hug she had had in years.
Before she had time to dry her tears, she soon felt other arms surrounding her.
The red team remained close for a long time, simply holding each other in their arms.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

That night, she couldn’t sleep, and she could very well have gotten out of the base in no time. She could have slipped into the icy air of the night, sat on a dune and contemplated the empty and red sky of the island.
Part of her knew that it might have comforted her, in a way.

Strangely, she had realized it quite quickly, of her differences compared to the others.

When she had started taking care of Pomme, she had surprised herself with the number of things she didn’t know.
Where Baghera preferred to sleep in an empty room, silent, sometimes on the floor, Pomme had to sleep in a comfortable bed, surrounded by stuffed animals, closing her eyes only once her mother sang her a little lullaby.
It was only one example among many, but it had struck the bird woman more deeply than she wanted to admit.
While the late conversations of her teammates around her seemed distant, she observed the stone ceiling of their underground base. She felt her wings, pressed against her back, the damaged feathers brought her no softness nor comfort.
The following realization made a gaping hole in her heart.

The Federation had failed Baghera exactly like she had failed Pomme.

She had spent such a dark childhood and so devoid of the slightest love that she hadn’t been able to protect her own daughter.
Feelings, it was something that had no place on the island of the Purgatory, these complex threads of sensations and emotions, she had abandoned them on Quesadilla, without really having any hope of finding them one day. So, what she was feeling there wasn’t exactly regret, nor guilt.
When she turned to the side, and saw the silhouettes of her friends slowly getting ready to sleep, she said to herself that it was pure pain.

If there was anything that belonged on this cursed red island of blood and chaos, it was pain.

So, without knowing why, she started to sing.

“Est-ce que tu m’entends, est-ce que tu me vois ?”her voice was fragile at first, filled with false notes and inaccuracies, “Qu’est-ce que tu ferais, toi, si t’étais là ?”

She felt her friends around her tense a little when hearing her. Foolish raised his head without saying anything, even though he had a sharp tongue. Philza gave a simple sad smile and he lowered his hat over his eyes. Cellbit moved a little closer to her and also closed his eyes. Carre found a more comfortable position and he closed his eyes in turn, listening to the sweet melody.
Only Jaiden, sitting as straight as a ramrod, observed her with surprise.

“Est-ce que ce sont des signes que tu m’envoies ?” it was a vain question, vain, and unnecessary, which no one in his team could understand. And she couldn’t help but imagine a small red sign responding to her, "Qu’est ce que tu ferais, toi, si t’étais là ?"

But that Pomme didn’t respond to her, and her smile, like a stain of paint to which water had been added, began to blur and fade.
When she opened her eyes again, she was still there, in the cellar that served as their base, on an island that was not hers, but above all, she was without her.

“Je me raconte des histoires pour m’endormir” she continued to sing, the tears took their place back in her eyes and she made a long sigh, “Pour endormir ma peine, et pour sourire”, a bitter smile bloomed on her cheeks, but it only caused her to cry even more, “J’ai des conversations imaginaires, avec des gens qui ne sont pas sur la Terre”

Baghera didn’t know if she was addressing a corpse or a lost soul. She didn’t even know if Pomme could hear her, if she were there somewhere, curled up, lost, sobbing.
She almost preferred to think that she was at peace on the other side, rather than in this one, to suffer and doubt.

“Je m’en fous qu’on est peur que je tienne pas le coup” the worried faces of her friends appeared in a flash. Secretly, she knew well that they were sparing her more than she would have wanted, even if they never admitted it “Je sais que t’es là pas loin, même si c’est fou”

Fou.
If there was a word to put on this adventure, on this mess of chaos and blood, it was that one.
Fou.

“Les fous c’est pour faire fondre les armures ….” she said in a sigh, running a hand through her hair, “Pour faire pleurer les gens dans les voitures...”

Baghera didn’t know the end of this song.
Nor the beginning, to be honest. It was a bit similar to her story.
A difficult beginning that she had fortunately mostly forgotten, and an end that she will not manage to control anyway, and which was already beyond her grasp.

“It’s a pretty song” a voice next to her whispered.

She tensed completely and her eyes rose, her breath short.
It was when she saw two purple eyes watching her gently that she understood that everyone was still listening to her. Looking around, she saw that some had fallen asleep, others were dozing off. Jaiden was the only one to look her in the eyes, wide awake.

Baghera was almost ashamed.

Yet, she had never been ashamed to sing, and certainly not at full voice. But there, she knew it was different, it wasn’t another music she was reading on a screen, and that would end up making her friends laugh out loud.
It was something that came from elsewhere, from further away. The melody modeled itself on her heartbeat.

“Why are you still awake?” she asked in a low voice, so that no one heard her.

“I could ask you the same question” Jaiden stepped back until her back was pressed against the stone wall. She curled up her legs, “Where did this music come from? It’s not really your kind of song, usually”

“I don’t know” she admitted, before getting closer to her, her back also resting against the rock. She made sure with a glance that everyone was sleeping well.

In the half-light of the base, the light rays that the dying fire projected suggested that the Bolas team was sleeping soundly. All more or less crowded on each other, Slimecicle slept in a very uncomfortable position, but his mouth was slightly open, letting out his deep breathing. Next to him, Foolish took up almost all the space, his head tilted towards Cellbit who had curled up not far from Carre. Philza, on the other hand, had the same position as before, half-lying down, his hat on his eyes, like a solitary cowboy.
He was the only one that Baghera suspected of not quite sleeping.

"This melody ..." she continued, looking at Jaiden again, "I don’t believe I invented it. It’s as if ..."

“You have heard it before” she completed with a small smile before nodding, “I understand”

Baghera made a small sigh and she let her head slide until it landed on the shoulder of the American.
They said nothing, for several minutes.
She couldn’t say why she felt so close to Jaiden. It was something that had happened as soon as they met, on Quesadilla. Had they both recognized an equal in the other ? Did human half-birds have this kind of instinct? She ignored it.

“And what is this music about?” finally asked Jaiden, in a simple and calm tone that characterizes her well. “My French is a bit rusty” she added with an amused smile.

“It’s about someone who is lost and sad” Baghera began, her voice lowered, trying to detach her feelings from the music she had just sung. The two formed an almost indivisible bond, “She is talking to a loved one who had disappeared, and she asks them what she should do” closing her eyes for a second, she almost felt safe there, head against her friend’s shoulder, legs curled up.

Jaiden didn’t answer anything, not right away.
Baghera felt something soft brush her shoulder and when she opened her eyes, she saw that the American had stretched one of her wings around her, in a form of embrace.
Without knowing why, this simple gesture had suddenly relaxed all her muscles.
It was a sensation that she had already experienced, but she couldn’t say from where.

“I think I heard it too before” a confession said in a sigh, but the worst part is that it didn’t surprise Baghera in the least, “It’s familiar, but I don’t know where I could have heard it”

“Do you think what I think ?” replied Baghera, feeling her breath stuck in her throat.

“Of course” Jaiden’s cheek landed on her friend’s head, her voice now a bit hoarse, “But how could it be, I ... have no proof. My wings are fine, my memory is a bit blurred but …”

“Cucurucho seemed to particularly appreciate you, and he usually doesn’t like anyone” listed Baghera with a small smile.

“I just think that you misunderstand him” from the tone she had, it was easy to guess that it was a matter close to her heart, “The enemy is not him, it’s the entire Federation, he only executes orders”

“The orders asking him to create a half-bird, half-human monster and to torture her for years”

Her whole body tensed, Baghera felt it and she immediately regretted her words. But the wing that Jaiden had placed on her friend’s shoulder didn’t lift, quite the contrary.
She hugged her a little tighter.
This simple gesture, the simple fact of not having pushed her away, almost made her want to let a tear flow.

“I just don’t understand” Jaiden spoke again, the voice even more determined but also lower, “If I really come from ... so why do I have no memory of it? And why do my wings ...” she doesn’t finish her sentence.

“Why are they in such good condition?” completed Baghera with a long sigh. She understood this type of question more than anyone else. Those that start with ‘why’ and never end. “Maybe ...”

Once again, it was like a common premonition, like a silent acquaintance that they both shared.

“Maybe you are an experience of the Federation too, but maybe in the absence of me you are ... succeeded” when Baghera finally dared to say it out loud, Jaiden turned two round eyes at her, and his eyebrows furrowed, “Maybe he didn’t need to experiment on you because you were … good enough in their eyes”

“Baghera, don’t say that” when she dared to look into her eyes, the young woman saw in it a form of anger, of indignation, “What the Federation considers good enough is very far from the truth”

Jaiden straightened up and stood in front of her. With an almost abrupt air, almost as if it were now vital for her, she took her shoulders in her hands.
Her beautiful blue, purple, and black wings unfurled a little, as if by reflex, and even the sand and blood didn’t make them lose their beauty.

"Whether it’s true or not, it doesn’t matter” the American continued, "They may have created you, but that doesn’t make you who you have become. Your birth and your wings may come from them, but you have managed to grow outside this mold. The Federation may be your starting point, but it will not be your arrival”

Baghera felt a weak but so liberating smile bloomed on her face.
She sniffed pathetically to avoid the sounds of sobs that would, she knew, be all the more grotesque.
To fill the void, to say something, but especially because it was the first words that came out of her, Baghera confessed.

“I always wanted to have a sister like you”

Jaiden didn’t answer right away. She remained emotionless for long minutes, and it was difficult for her friend to understand what was happening in her mind.
Then, the American cleared her throat and looked away, hesitant.

“I don’t know if ... well, we’re not really sure about ...” biting the inside of her lip, she turned again to Baghera.

There must have been something in her expression, in her eyes, since the reaction of the one with long blue hair changed.
She relaxed and gave a small smile, Jaiden sat back comfortably against the wall.

“We should go to bed, tomorrow is going to be another long day” she ended up saying in a low voice, slightly folding her legs against her, but leaving a place by her side.

“A long day full of slaughter and blood” a place that the young half-bird half-woman hurried to take, huddling by her side.

A small laugh replied to her, and silence returned in the base of the red team. All his discussions, theories and revelations had exhausted her.
As she closed her eyes, Baghera made the strange reflection that she had always felt like she was alone. That this gaze constantly focused on her from the depths of darkness only looked at her, but maybe it was more complex than that.
Maybe Jaiden, too, always had this impression. The long hand of the polar bear closing firmly on her arm, the feeling that it would still be there, ready to grab her and to lead her to a large, white and sinister room.
In a flash, she saw the silhouettes of the two children that had been the young women, replaced by an even smaller shadow, blonde hair like wheat, frightened but fierce eyes and a beret on the head.

This simple vision froze her entirely.
And she made a silent prayer.

The Federation, the Watcher, or any other demonic entity could do anything to her, she would end up surviving one way or another.
But the idea that they laid their cruel and bloody hands on her daughter gave her shivers.

They had to win, imperatively.
And Baghera promised to leave aside her tumultuous past and her endless interrogations.
For her family, for the victory.
For her daughter, she would.