Chapter Text
It had been an impossibly long week with overtime galore, entirely too much drama between her co-workers, and enough paperwork to make even the gods weep. Honestly, it truly wasn’t so much worse than usual- which really should let everyone know how unglamorous working as a Hunter can be- but knowing she had time off just as soon as she made it through Friday made the week drag by so much slower than normal. And after all that came the long trip to Skyhaven so her vacation could truly begin.
Minty wished Caleb had moved back to Linkon…
She arrived in a daze late that afternoon, Caleb ready and waiting to fly them home. All she has are hazy memories of the flight and Caleb helping her bring her things in. Dinner was waiting- how he could always plan everything out so well will never not astound her- but it all fades into a blur.
At least until consciousness slowly starts to return to her as she feels a soft blanket being tucked back around her, Caleb’s softer laughter filling the room.
“You fight for the blanket when you sleep with someone, but you kick it off when you sleep by yourself.” He quietly chides, grinning down fondly when Minty lets out a garbled sigh, hugging one of the many pillows that cover the bed to her chest. “Such a troublemaker aren’t you, oh my darling Clementine.” She makes a displeased little grunt at the softly sung refrain of the song she hates most. In her defense, it's a fucking weird song! And Caleb knows her feelings about it- he has had to sit through several rants about why she dislikes it over the years- but that’s probably why he’s always teasing her with it.
“I don’t think I’m the troublemaker, you menace.” Minty grumbles, finally prying an eye open to halfheartedly glare at him, though there’s no heat behind it.
“Sorry, Pipsqueak, I didn’t mean to wake you up.”
“S’fine. How’d I end up in bed, though? I thought- I mean, I don’t remember much after grabbing my bag at the airport.”
“How do you think you got here? I carried you.” Well, yeah, that makes sense. To be fair, she’d only just woken up, she’s never really with it after getting up if there’s no coffee around, it’s not her fault. “Duh.”
Ah, so Caleb wants to start a war tonight.
“Better watch yourself, Colonel.”
“Uh-huh, sure thing. You know, I just didn’t have the heart to have you sleep at the dining table all night.” Caleb’s heart melts a little when Minty immediately goes boneless as he massages her scalp, his nails gently scratching just the way she likes. “Your face almost fell into the bowl when you were halfway done with dinner.” Of course, he isn’t not going to tease her about it. If not for his quick thinking and his Evol, she would have landed face-first in her bowl of her favorite fried rice.
“Should have just woken me up.” She doesn’t get to spend as much time with him as she’d like- their jobs keep them apart most of the time, and the sheer distance between Linkon and Skyhaven doesn’t help anything- so Minty is a little upset she already missed a whole evening with him.
“It’s rare for you to willingly go to bed so early, why would I wake you up? Besides, you’ve been so busy lately that a little extra sleep can’t be a bad thing.”
“Still…” Minty’s a little more awake now, rolling to the side so she can look up at him. He looks tired too. He’s always so busy, always trying to handle everything by himself. If she should get extra rest, then he should get some too.
“Though, I gotta ask, do you sleep with your rice bowl like that when I'm not around?” She should have known he was going to tease her some more, he got that mischievous glint in his eye when she rolled over.
Little does she know that he’s got a picture saved on his phone of her head on the table, cheek all squished against the wood, her arms wrapped around her bowl as if it were one of her pillows. He’d left her alone for just a minute or two to make sure her room was warm enough and he came back to that, how could he pass up the chance to snap a quick picture?
“You’re such a little shit, go away!” She whines, turning back away from him and snuggling back into the pillows. They… they always smell like him. Sweet apples and summer, warm vanilla and cinnamon, and just a little bit of something dark under it all. She’s tried using the same laundry detergent as him, but it never quite smells the same.
“Is that how it is? You want me to leave you alone?” Caleb laughs, but there’s something in his tone that makes unease skitter down her spine, Minty unconsciously tensing up as she waits for the other shoe to drop. “Well… you’ll get your wish soon enough. I’ll be leavin’ in a bit-”
She knew it! Of course, the Farspace Fleet can’t manage without their Colonel for a single godsdamned night! She ought to just-
“Lie down, Pipsqueak.” Caleb sighs, gently pushing her back down onto the mattress. He figured that’d get a reaction out of her, and he’d reached for her shoulder the moment she tried to jump up. She doesn’t like the Fleet anymore than he does, and he can’t deny there’s a tiny part of him that warms every time she gets protective over him, every time she gets outraged on his behalf. “I'm going on a night operation, you don’t need to see me off.”
“But-”
“Go to sleep early tonight, then… maybe you won't sleep in tomorrow morning.” He watches her brows furrow, confused at where he's going with this. Caleb hesitates for a moment before continuing. The last thing he wants to do is make demands of her, and there is no small part of him that’s terrified of unintentionally driving her away with his twisted personality. But- but he can ask for this much, right? “And you can pick me up when I return?”
“Of course, I’ll pick you up, Caleb, but it’s different!”
“How is that different?”
“How is seeing you off on a potentially- almost assuredly! - dangerous mission- because I swear that’s the only kind you ever get! - different from welcoming you home after you’ve safely returned? Really? You’re seriously asking me that?” He’s stunned for just a heartbeat at the impassioned little rant. Her heart aches at the sad little chuckles that he forces out, a pained little smile tugging at his lips as he sighs, shoulders slumping.
“Alright, alright, it’s different.”
Ugh, now Minty feels guilty, she doesn’t wanna part on a bad note.
Again.
“So, I’ll obviously pick you up in the morning, but that’s not enough. We’ll have to have a parting ceremony too.” That perks him up a little, but he still looks entirely too much like a kicked puppy for her liking.
“You want a parting ceremony? How grand.”
“I know, right? You’re welcome.” Minty pulls him down, Caleb allowing himself to be moved around until she is happy with their position. He lays beside her- neither one of them caring that he had his shoes on the bed- and a moment later she’s wrapping the heavy duvet she’d nearly kicked off the bed earlier around them both. Once they’re covered, she happily snuggles into his side, her cheek resting on his shoulder, her hand holding on tightly to a fistful of his shirt.
“Be honest, Minty, is this a ceremony or a trap?” Caleb snickers, doing his best to keep himself calm, cool, and collected with the love of his life all warm and cuddly snuggled up against him.
“Can’t it be both?” She grins, rubbing her cheek happily against the soft fabric of his shirt. “Come on, being trapped here forever wouldn’t be too bad, right?”
“You won’t let go?” Minty snuggles a little closer, her knuckles going almost white as she grips his shirt. “What are- whoa! Are you trying to smother me?” Clearly, he isn’t getting the message that he isn’t going to be leaving this room so easily after falling into her trap, so Minty steps it up. In a flash, she’s lying on top of him, gripping the edges of the duvet as she hugs him and tries to squeeze the desire to leave right out of his body.
“And if I am? What are you gonna do about it? I’ve got you beat, Colonel, it’d be better for you to just admit defeat now.”
“Really? You think I can’t handle you?” His arms suddenly lock around her, Caleb snickering at the surprised little squeak she makes. “It’s more than just a trap under this blanket, Pipsqueak. Your weak spot is here too, dummy.” He whispers, and she can hear the smile in his voice. Minty wonders for only a moment what he’s talking about before she feels his fingers tap her sides.
Her very ticklish sides.
“Wait, Caleb, don’t-”
“It’s perfect for a tickle.”
“Caleb!” Minty shrieks as he starts to ruthlessly tickle her, squirming to try and get away but he’s got her hopelessly trapped. His own laughter- warm and real and perfect- makes something soft spark in her chest even as she vows to get her revenge for this attack.
“I thought you were going to bed, Minty, are you restless again?” He teases, continuing to tickle her, though she’s close to wiggling herself free. “What are you-” Seeing her put her Hunter training to good use will never not make him proud, but he is a little bummed not hearing her bright laughter anymore as she- in a move almost too quick to follow- manages to get his wrists in hand and pin them beside his head.
“You big dummy, I almost peed myself! How many times do I have to tell you not to tickle me?!”
“Couldn’t help myself, Pipsqueak.” He says with an unrepentant smirk.
“You’ll pay for this, Caleb, just you wait.” Minty wishes he were ticklish too so he could suffer the same kind of torment, but unfortunately, he’s about as ticklish as a rock. She scowls halfheartedly at him for a moment before flopping down against his chest, wrapping her arms and legs around him and squeezing tight. With her cheek on his chest like this, she can hear the slow steady beat of his heart, and some of the restless unease she always feels when he’s about to head out on a mission melts away.
“Oh, I guess there’s a koala under the blanket now. You’re very determined to hold on to me, huh? But I’m not gonna run away now.”
“You literally just said you were running away. The moment I let my guard down you’ll escape and head off to goodness only knows where, doing goodness only knows what, and I’ll be stuck here worrying!”
“Aww, I didn’t say that.” Caleb tries to tease, trying to move past the admission that she worries about him when he’s gone. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the time to do anything with that statement, he really does have to leave soon. “I can stick around for… ten more minutes.”
“Oh, wow, down to the minute huh?” Minty snips petulant, pouting even though there’s no way he’d be able to see it with her on top of him like this.
“Yeah, it’s a tight schedule.” His hands carefully settle on her lower back, careful not to tickle her again. The warm weight is a comfort, though it’s not enough to banish the gloomy cloud gathering around her in the face of Caleb’s last-minute mission. “Do I have to promise you a sweet dream before I go?”
“I mean, that’d only be polite.” She grumbles, irritated that despite everything, she is still pretty damn tired. It won’t take much to make her drift back off again, and then he’ll sneak off to go get into trouble like the menace he is.
“How ‘bout a bedtime story?” Minty leans up just enough for him to be able to make out her unamused expression, not needing to say anything for him to get the hint. “What’s with that look? Is my storytelling really that unimpressive?”
“Yes, yes it is. Don’t quit your day job is all I’m saying.”
“Harsh, Pipsqueak. You know, a long time ago, you used to grab my sleeve to get me to stay and tell you stories-”
Minty quickly leans back, snagging one of the nearby pillows to thwack him with, but he easily dodges to the side, yanking the pillow out of her grasp before she can attack again. But seriously, what does he expect her to do bringing up something so childish and embarrassing from their past?!
“Make sure your aim is correct before trying to hit me next time.”
“Yes, sir.” She snips with a sarcastic little salute, flopping back down against him to begin hugging him with a vengeance. Maybe she can squeeze all the embarrassing memories right out of him. Honestly, why’s he always gotta bring it up? “Ahem, you know, you’re hugging me so tightly, it reminds me of a time when you fell and skinned your knee on the way home from school-”
Alright, squeezing him to death isn’t working, time to try plan B!
With flushed cheeks, Minty sits up, straddling him as she reaches out to try and cover his mouth. He can’t spout such nonsense if he can’t speak, right?
“First, you restrict my movement, now you’re telling me to be quiet? What’s next? Are you gonna make sure I can never leave you again?”
“That’d be great, thanks for agreeing. Are you going to inform the Fleet, or should I?”
“Oh, no, no, no, no. I’m not gonna let you win that easily, Pipsqueak.”
“Why not? Come on, just give in!” Instead of trying to silence him- it obviously wasn’t working anyways- Minty instead starts to squish his cheeks, grinning down at the sight of him. Her delight is short-lived as a moment later, he tries to bite her hand. Of course, her impressive reflexes have her yanking her hands away before he can. Caleb laughs, his hands sliding to rest on her hips, his thumbs rubbing softly over the fabric of her sweats.
“Why did you pull back so quickly? I wasn’t going to actually bite you.”
Yeah, she’ll believe that never.
But, well, if biting is on the table…
“Hey!” His reflexes aren’t too shabby either so he easily dodges her attempt to bite him back. “Did you really just try and bite my neck?”
“You would’ve been able to hide the mark if you needed with that stuffy uniform of yours.”
“Is that right? I gotta say, Pipsqueak, you’re bold.” Minty doesn’t know when he slid a hand up her back to settle on the back of her neck, but he gently urges her down to lie back against him. “Bold yet cautious.” He whispers, and she can hear the smile in his voice. Something in his tone makes her sure that if she tries to bite him again right now, he won’t move to dodge.
She… shouldn’t want to mark him as much as she does.
“We have six minutes left, be a good girl.” How does he always know when she’s planning to cause trouble? Maybe he’s thinking about the same things she is, maybe he’s wishing he hadn’t dodged, maybe- ugh, these are dangerous thoughts she shouldn’t be having right now. She’s exhausted and he’s leaving soon and- and they shouldn’t. But she wants to. Gods help her, she wants to so badly…
“That’s it?”
“Yup, six minutes. It’s just enough time for me to give you a real hug.” Caleb squeezes her, and Minty goes boneless against him, the exhaustion all returning to her in an instant. Judging from the long sigh from the man beneath her, he’s just as upset with the short timeframe. “You gettin’ sleepy?”
What a silly question, of course, she is. She can’t remember the last time she wasn’t tired.
“Close your eyes then.”
“Don’t wanna fall asleep yet. Gotta stay awake to see you off.”
“Alright, I’ll keep talking so you can stay awake.”
Honestly, his talking will probably just make her sleepier, but she doesn’t say that. She likes listening to him talk, even if he sucks at storytelling.
“Imagine you’re sitting in front of a massive floor-to-ceiling window.” Minty sighs, eyes falling shut as she listens to the steady beating of his heart and the soft rumble of his voice. “The night sky outside is a deep blue, while the clouds are an… inky blue.”
“Deep blue and inky blue?” She teases him with a sleepy smile, not bothering to open her eyes. Caleb huffs, softly pinching her side. “Sorry, sorry, but come on, that’s just-”
“Hush, Clementine.” Caleb laughs, holding her a little tighter under the blankets. “Now, where was I? Let’s see, below the window is a runway that stretches as far as the eye can see. Waitin’ for their next set of orders, a lot of planes are lined up. They’re preparing to take off.”
“No, I don’t want them to. You’re about to leave too, you’re gonna go where I can't hope to follow, don’t make them leave too.” Minty sleepily mumbles, brows furrowed as she imagines Caleb taking off and never returning.
“Then… the plans are in the sky. They’re gettin’ ready to land. One. By. One.”
That’s better. Everyone coming home, that’s a much better story.
“A plane safely returns from the Deepspace Tunnel, hovering in the night sky; it gradually descends and continues to descend.” Yeah, storytelling really isn’t a strong suit of his, but she loves it regardless. She loves him regardless…
“What if I feel weightless? Like floating?”
“Hmm, then you’re on the plane that’s landing, of course.” She only likes flying when he’s the one doing the actual flying. She never really trusts other pilots. Minty always likes it best when he comes to get her from Linkon and flies them all the way back, but it’s hard for him to find the time with all his Fleet nonsense. “The plane lands smoothly, following the runway lights and taxis down the runway.”
Minty hopes they can go flying together this week. She hopes the Fleet leaves him alone after this so they can have a normal vacation. She hopes he comes back safe and sound. She hopes he’s able to get some proper rest.
“When the plane slowly comes to a halt, your heartbeat becomes steady.” It’s already steady, it always is when she’s around Caleb. He always keeps her safe. Always. “High up in the sky, in a place you can’t see, are ninety-nine other planes. They’re waitin’. Once you count every plane, I'll push open the cabin door and return to your side.”
Minty knows what he’s doing, knows he’s making her fall back asleep so he can slip away, but she can’t bring herself to care. There’s no way to push off the exhaustion when she is all snuggly and warm, listening to his heart beating strong and sure beneath her ear.
“One plane, two planes, three planes, four planes…”
It only takes three planes for Minty to drift off again, but Caleb keeps going, running his fingers through her hair and down her back before repeating the circuit. He doesn’t wanna go, he’d worked his ass off to be able to get some time off. Of course, there was always a chance he’d be called in for something- he’s the new Colonel after all- but barring any emergencies, he should be able to spend the entire week with Minty just like they planned.
Quiet moments like these always bring up old memories. He hasn’t helped her drift off like this in years. He kind of missed it. She always used to have trouble sleeping- still does, not that she usually tells him, but he can see the signs- and for several years the only way she’d be able to really drift off was when he’d tell her stories or count planes.
Caught up in the hypnotic repetition, Caleb lets himself get lost in the memories, the treasure trove of every moment he’d shared with Minty.
The first time he’d seen her in that awful lab, he’d known she was his fate.
~
“Five planes,”
~
It hadn’t been more than a passing glance in the hallway, but it was enough to change everything. They were dragging him off for another round of agonizing tests, and for once he wasn’t fighting. He caught a glimpse of a young girl in a similar gown wandering peacefully after a few researchers. A 001 sewn on the collar of the gown and the sleeve, just like the 002 he had on his. Her wide eyes darted around everywhere as she walked as if everything was new to her. But if she was 001, it couldn’t be. She’d have been here longer than him, and he’d been here for almost two years already.
It didn’t take long for the curious eyes to jump to him, the girl's head tipping to the side as she blinked owlishly at him. As their gazes met, he felt something shift into place in his soul. Dramatic, maybe, but true. Everything in his world sharpened into focus, every fiber of his being screaming out for her.
He… didn’t know her name. But he wants to. Names aren’t important to the researchers, the first thing they do to their test subjects is assign them a number, but names are important. He doesn’t remember much about his parents, but they tried to call him Alec. But that wasn’t his name. He was Caleb. He doesn’t know why, doesn’t know how he could just know something like that, he just knows that’s his name.
He’s Caleb, and he’s supposed to protect her.
And he will, whatever it takes.
~
“Six planes,”
~
It was a month before their paths crossed again. The research lab was expanding at a startling rate, with new test subjects and projects overwhelming all researchers. It meant that the tests they put him through were more brutal than usual in an effort to get the results they wanted faster, but it also meant there were sizable gaps between them.
And in those gaps, he- and many of the other young kids- are tossed together into a large room with random toys and activities. One tired researcher would always be close at hand should anything happen, but for the most part they were left to their own devices.
Caleb finds her sitting at one of the tables coloring a picture with bright blues, purples, and oranges.
He walks up to her, ignoring all the other kids and the curious gaze of their ‘caretaker’, sitting beside her with a small smile.
“Hi, I’m Caleb.”
“Hi! Wanna color?”
“Sure.” He grabs himself a piece of paper, drawing a large plane, peeking at her out of the corner of his eye. “What’s your name?”
“I’m 001!” She cheerfully responds, pointing to the number on her sleeve before returning to the chaotic mess of colors. It looks… almost like space, a galaxy like he’d read about in books before he’d been brought here. It makes something heavy sink in his chest, some forgotten memory tickling the back of his mind.
“That’s what they call you, silly, not your name. See? They say I’m 002, but my name is Caleb. What’s yours?”
“I…” He watches as the smile slowly fades, her brows furrowed as she gets a faraway look in her eyes. He almost wishes he hadn’t asked, but he doesn’t want to call her 001. She deserves a proper name. “I don’t remember. I- I can’t remember anything. I woke up yesterday and they said I- I think I…” She trails off, losing track of her thoughts before focusing back on him. “I’m just 001.”
They must have taken her much younger than they took him.
It pisses him off.
“I’ll just call you Pipsqueak then, you’re so much smaller than me after all.” They grin at each other, and Caleb feels that same settling feeling in his chest but it shatters all too quickly.
“Subject 001! It’s time to leave, please exit the room.” Caleb fights not to scowl over his shoulder at the ‘caretaker’ who snaps at the girl. She jumps up, handing the scribbled picture to him with a small smile.
“Here, you can have it!”
“Thanks, Pipsqueak. See you later.”
“Bye Caleb!”
Pipsqueak rushes out of the room, quickly pulled away by some guy in a white coat who gives Caleb a strange look over his shoulder before running off. Caleb stares- more like glares, really- at the supposed caretaker, sure that the old guy ratted him out for something.
Well, whatever, it’s fine. He’ll see her again.
Chapter Text
~
“Seven planes,”
~
It’s a week before they both end up in that same room again. She’s at the same table, coloring another swirling picture of vivid blue, purple, and orange. Caleb still has the last one she’d made, he’d kept it hidden from the nosy researchers. It was his, they had no right to take it from him.
“Hey, Pipsqueak, coloring again?” He plops next to her, but the smile on his face falls away at the confused smile she gives him.
“Hi! I do like coloring! What’s a pipsqueak?”
“Well, you said you don’t remember your name, so I’m just gonna call you Pipsqueak. You gave me your last picture.”
“Oh, sorry, I don’t remember. What’s your name?”
“I’m Caleb.” It stung that she didn’t remember him- it had only been a week?- but it was fine. They’d only had a second to talk before those jerks took her away. Who knew what they’d done to her after they grabbed her? “Can I color with you?”
“Sure!” She hands him a blank piece of paper and pushes the crayons she wasn’t using between them so he can have his pick of colors. Not that there was a huge selection. “I like these colors most, but I don’t mind sharing if you need to borrow them.” The blue and purple crayon she held in one hand while she added touches of orange to the picture.
“I like red. Reminds me of apples.”
“Apples?” Had she never had an apple before?
“You know, the fruit? They look kinda like this.” Caleb draws a quick apple before showing her the picture.
“Fruit?” Had she never had fruit?
“Like, ah, sweet food? Better than vegetables for sure. I like red apples the most, but the sour green ones are good too sometimes.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had one before. Where can you get apples?”
“Nowhere here, they only give us those crappy nutrient blocks. We’d have to go outside.”
“… outside.” She whispers, eyes going distant again as she frowns, her hand with the orange crayon slowly stopping its erratic strokes. Eventually, she focused back on him, whatever she’d been thinking about vanishing as quickly as it had popped up. “I want to try apples. Can you show me where they are?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go.”
“Thanks, Caleb!” Pipsqueak is back to smiling, practically beaming up at him. “I wanna try all kinds of things. Are there fruits that glow?”
“Glowing fruit? I don’t think so, but maybe? Why?”
“I don’t know, I just- I feel like I really wanna try glowing fruit! Doesn’t that sound fun?”
“001!”
The crayon he was holding snaps, but Pipsqueak just jumps up with a smile, once again pushing her picture towards him.
“Here, you can have this! It kind of looks like your eyes, don’t you think?”
Caleb reverently takes the picture, trying to name the emotion that overwhelms him. He wants to give her something too, but all he’s got is a lame picture of an apple. But, well, maybe if she has it it’ll help her remember him.
“Here, you can have this then.” He passes her the picture, his heart stuttering at the blinding smile she gives him in return, and Caleb vows that he’ll have a better gift for her next time. “See you later, Pipsqueak.”
“Bye, Caleb!”
~
“Eight planes,”
~
It’s only a handful of days before he sees her again this time, but it’s different. He was already sitting at the table, the blue, purple, and orange crayon in hand like he’d done every other day he’d been here waiting for her to appear. After all, if he’s holding them, none of the other kids can steal or break them. But when she was ushered into the room, he immediately knew something was wrong.
She wasn’t bright and cheery, looking around at everything. She looked dazed like someone had whacked her over the head before tossing her in, like she couldn’t focus on anything around her.
“Pipsqueak?” Caleb jumps up, crayons still in hand to protect them from the other kids, but she doesn’t look at him when he calls out for her, she just continues to stare blankly at the floor. “Hey, Pipsqueak, what-”
“Who are you?” She quietly asks as he stands before her, tightly gripping the crayons, something in his chest cracking as he realizes she’s forgotten him. Again. “Do I know you?”
“I’m-” He swallows hard, forcing himself to smile and introduce himself. Again. “I’m Caleb.”
“What am I doing here?”
Something's wrong, something’s very very wrong. What have they done to her? What have they been doing?
“They put us in here so they can work on other stuff. You can play or whatever.”
“Play…” Her brows furrow and his heart sinks, but he presses on.
“Yeah. You wanna color with me?” He holds out the crayons in offering.
“Color…” She mumbles the word again and again, staring at the crayons before eventually looking up at him, a tiny spark of life in her eyes. “Do I like coloring?”
“I think so, yeah. I mean, I’ve always seen you coloring. Come on, I’ll show you.” He turns to lead the way back to the table, but he freezes when something small and warm wraps around his hand. Caleb turns around to see Pipsqueak holding onto his hand, staring at their hands like she’s just seen the sun for the first time. Eyes wide, her mouth a shocked little ‘oh’, and her cheeks flushed. Compared to how dead she looked walking in, it’s like she came back to life.
“It’s so warm!” She whispers, clearly delighted.
“Yeah.” He rasps, squeezing her hand a little tighter, watching a bright smile light up her face.
“I like it!”
“… me too, Pipsqueak.”
~
“Nine planes,”
~
From then on, every time they met in that little room, Pipsqueak started to show up in worse and worse shape.
Caleb was pissed, and he wanted answers. But it’s not like he could just go up to the bastards tormenting them and demand they tell him what’s going on. No, he had to be a little more subtle than that.
He started to pay attention to what the researchers would whisper about between them when they thought the kids couldn’t hear. Most of it didn’t matter- or rather, it was about other kids that Caleb didn’t so much care about- but eventually he’d started to pick up on whispers about a girl they called ‘Unicorn’.
A dumb name, but then again, it’s not like Caleb expected a lot from these monsters.
One researcher- the guy who usually comes to get her from the playroom- jokes with some of the others, calling Unicorn ‘Little Bomb’ instead. Caleb is almost certain that Pipsqueak is the Unicorn they’re always talking about, and he finds himself straining his ears every time he leaves his cell or the playroom, sifting through all the whispers to try and get some confirmation.
“- killed again last night. Rogers is getting sadistic about it, I’ve talked to Leon and Josephine about removing him from the study. Anyway, Unicorn should be waking up soon, but both leads are busy with documenting that twins study and asked me to cover it. She never changes when she wakes up, and I need to catch up on some paperwork. Just toss her in with the others, one missed day of post-resurrection observations won’t kill anyone.”
Caleb misses a step as he trails after the old lady usually in charge of his experiments.
He knew they were doing terrible stuff here, but killing someone? Someone who came back to life? And has multiple times?
And- and they said it was Unicorn.
Gods, he hopes Pipsqueak isn’t Unicorn.
And if she is, he’ll- he’ll take her away from here. He’ll destroy this entire building, he’ll kill all the researchers, he’ll do whatever it takes to save her.
~
“Ten planes,”
~
Dazed doesn’t even begin to describe Pipsqueak as they usher her into the room and quickly shut the door behind them. She’s barely able to keep her eyes open, and Caleb doesn’t hesitate to walk up to her. He hurts, every inch of him hurts from the last round of experiments, but he ignores it all.
“Hey, Pipsqueak, come over here.” Caleb holds out a hand to her, grinning when she only hesitates for a moment. She always wakes up faster when he holds her hand, so he’s started doing it every time they meet.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Caleb, I’m your friend.”
“Friend?”
“Yeah! And you’re Pipsqueak, my friend.”
“I think I forgot you.”
“That’s okay, I’ll remind you as many times as you need. Wanna make planes?”
“Planes?” There’s a curious spark in her eyes, but it’s so much dimmer than it usually is. So much dimmer than it ought to be. She doesn’t deserve this life, even if she isn’t the Unicorn the researchers always go on and on about.
“Yeah! I’ll show you how to make a paper airplane and then we can have a race with them!” Caleb explains the process, helping her when her hands clumsily try to follow the instructions. Eventually, they end up with two planes and they stand at the edge of the room. Pipsqueak is smiling again, though she still looks a little dazed, but she’s determined to win.
“Just you wait, Caleb, my plane will fly the farthest!”
“We’ll have to wait and see. I’m gonna be a pilot one day, so I bet mine will win.”
“Ready- go!” She shouts, throwing her plane, laughing when Caleb sputters and throws his own a heartbeat later. “Go, plane, go!” She loudly cheers, jumping up and down. She’s too preoccupied to notice Caleb using his Evol to keep her plane in the air far longer than it should have, long after his has already landed. After a minute or two of flying, Caleb carefully directs it back to her, Pipsqueak reverently catching it before smiling smugly at him “I won! I really won, Caleb!”
“Good job, Pipsqueak. Guess I’ll have to work on my flying skills.”
~
“Eleven planes,”
~
He’d finally got his answers.
He’d seen them kill her.
His Pipsqueak.
Strapped down to a table, crying for help, for Caleb.
They injected her with something, and she immediately started to strain against the straps, a suffocating energy exploding out from her a few moments later before all the monitors went silent.
Caleb screamed. He fought. He crushed every single researcher he could see before they activated that stupid collar and knocked him out. At least he’d take a couple of people with him, but now he’s just sitting in his isolation cell, angry with himself because now he won’t be there for her when she wakes up again.
His Pipsqueak will be tossed into that stupid playroom in a daze, who knows what the other kids will do?! Or if the bastards killing her again and again will try and retaliate against her for his outburst.
He needs to get her out of here, he needs to make some kind of a plan.
Once they’re free, he’ll take her anywhere she wants to go.
They’ll get apples and ice cream. He’ll take her on the swings and show her how fun the slides at the park can be. They’ll build snowmen in the winter, and flower crowns in the spring. They’ll have popsicles by the ocean in summer, and jump in giant leaf piles in fall. They’ll pet cats and dogs and any other kind of animal she wants. They’ll be free and he’ll protect her and everything will be great.
He just needs to get them out.
Chapter Text
~
“Twelve planes,”
~
It was chaos. He’d been about to try his hand and unleash the full brunt of his Evol on the isolation door when the whole building shook. Just a little at first, but then it was like something exploded, an energy storm of some kind tearing through the building, doors ripped from their frames, walls shattered, people screaming.
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Caleb ran. He had to find Pipsqueak and take her far away from here.
Caleb will admit he wasn’t above crushing anyone wearing Gaia Research Center badges clipped to white lab coats. And he took vindictive pleasure watching as the rubble claimed the life of the old woman who put him through so much agony. But he couldn’t spend too much time exacting revenge, Pipsqueak needed him.
Other kids have the same idea, scrambling to find their way to freedom in the chaos, but he can’t find her. The room he’d seen her in last is empty, the equipment tossed around the room in disarray, and the bed they’d had her strapped to somehow ended up in the hall.
“Pipsqueak! Where are you, Pipsqueak?!” Fuck, she probably wouldn’t even remember the name Pipsqueak, much less Caleb himself. Ugh, how is he supposed to find her!?
“Hey, you’re Caleb, right?” A young boy asks, poking his head into the room. “You always hung around that weird girl? I saw her running that way, some kind of… thing was chasing her.” Icy terror fills him at the thought of Pipsqueak running away from some kind of monster.
What was it, though?
A researcher?
Another test subject?
Something else entirely?
Caleb pushes past the kid, running in the direction he’d pointed in.
He’s almost sure the front of the massive building is there. He has to find her before something bad happens. Before something else tries to take her away.
He has to.
~
“Thirteen planes,”
~
Everything is wrong, and he can’t find her.
The world is falling apart, and there are monsters everywhere, and there’s some kind of hole in the sky, and Pipsqueak is nowhere to be found.
It’s been days since it all started, and Caleb has covered a lot of ground in his search, but between dodging the police combing the destroyed research center- and the surrounding areas- and running from the weird monsters, it hasn’t been as thorough as he would have liked. Every time he tries to rest he just sees Pipsqueak crushed under rubble or killed by a monster or dragged away to a different facility.
Hopelessness begins to weigh him down, Caleb wracking his mind for ways he could find her when he feels a familiar shiver of energy ripple through the air. It was just like what he’d felt when he’d seen them kill her only stronger.
Which was terrifying.
Caleb ran and ran and ran until he couldn’t anymore, noticing a small city through the quickly thinning forest. He hadn’t found Pipsqueak yet, but she must be in that city. He’ll find her, and they’ll run far far away from here.
The city isn’t any better off than the research center, with everyone in varying stages of shock and grief over what had happened. Caleb finds himself being ushered to one of the shelters, given a warm blanket and an apple by a young lady. She points him towards where a bunch of cots are set up, but he can’t sleep just yet.
He needs to find her. She must be here somewhere, he felt it, he knows he did-
There!
With a blanket of her own wrapped around her shoulders stands Pipsqueak. She’s covered in dirt and scrapes and bruises, but she’s alive! Alive and- and holding an older woman’s hand.
A woman Caleb recognizes from the research center, even without her ID badge and white coat.
~
“Fourteen planes,”
~
“Your name is… Caleb, isn’t it?” The researcher asks, her tone deceptively calm and kind, but Caleb doesn’t buy it for even an instant. He just stands there frozen, only a few feet away from Pipsqueak and the older woman. He doesn’t know what to do. She’s holding her hand, they’re surrounded by people, it’s not like he can push away- or kill- the old woman and run. People would chase after them, they’d arrest him or something, and gods only know what they’d do to Pipsqueak.
“I remember James talking about a young boy making friends with her every time she visited.”
“Let. Her. Go.” He snarls between clenched teeth.
“Grandma? Who’s this?” Caleb feels sick to his stomach. That lady is making Pipsqueak call her grandma? After everything they’d done to her?! How sick and twisted are these people!?
“He’s a friend. Why don’t you go wash your hands quick and then we’ll leave.” Pipsqueak gives him another curious look before shrugging, ginning up at the woman, and racing off. “I did not tell her to call me that, that is simply what she chose to call me when our paths crossed.”
“‘Your paths crossed’? Don’t gimme that crap, you took her-”
“I did not. I found her wandering around the outskirts of the town. Though I will admit I was looking for her. Much like you were, I imagine.”
“Yeah, just like me.” Caleb snaps, continuing to glare. “Only difference is I haven’t killed her before.” He spits out the accusation with as much venom as he can. “I’m taking her away from here, and if you try to stop me-”
“Where will you go?” She asks- not unkindly, he hates to admit- looking at him with sad eyes. As far as he’s concerned though, she can keep her sadness and guilt and go pretend somewhere else. She killed Pipsqueak gods only knows how many times. She’d done terrible things to her, and him, and countless other innocent people.
“Far away, somewhere none of you will ever find.”
“And how will you get there? Running?”
“I’ll figure something out-”
“She’s in no state to be hitching rides and walking across the country.”
“Who’s fault is that?!” Caleb hisses, feeling treacherous tears burning behind his eyes. He just wants her safe and happy and away from anyone who might try to take her back.
“Mine.” The woman softly admits, not that Caleb is buying the act. “It’s my and my colleague's fault. But the research center is gone, and I have no doubt most of my coworkers and superiors are dead in the rubble. I’m under no illusion that this will make up for the things I’ve done, young man, but I am going to try.”
“I won’t let you take her-” Caleb is silenced when a small hand finds its way into his own, the blanket he’d been given having fallen to the ground at some point. Pipsqueak stands there, her hands cold and wet from wherever she’d washed them, but she seems more than happy to be holding his hand.
“Your hand is very warm!” He tightens his grip, nervously looking between Pipsqueak and the woman. The last thing Caleb wants to do is frighten Pipsqueak, but he can’t just let that woman take her! “What’s that?”
“An apple.” He answers automatically, used to this game of point and question. They used to do it for hours in the playroom.
“Is it sweet?” Does she remember him telling her that?
“Usually, yeah.”
“Ahem, Caleb, would you perhaps care to join us? We were just about to head home.”
“Yeah, you could come with us!” Pipsqueak beams up at him, and Caleb is helpless to resist. He might as well see where the lady will take them. He can always escape with Pipsqueak if it looks bad.
“Alright, let’s go home, Pipsqueak.”
~
“Fifteen planes,”
~
“You can have it.” Caleb hands her the apple as they settle into the backseat of the lady’s car. She said her name was Josephine, but Pipsqueak’s insistent on calling her grandma which is… fine. He doesn’t like it, but she’s happy and- for the moment- safe, so he’ll let it slide.
“Don’t you like apples?”
“Yeah, but I’m not hungry. You eat it, it’s better fresh.”
“How do I eat it?”
“Just take a bite outta it, the peel is okay to eat.” Pipsqueak takes the apple in both hands, lifts it up, and opens her mouth as wide as possible. “Pfft, not like that!” He laughs when her teeth get stuck, the bite she’d tried to take way too large for someone so small. “Take a smaller bite, like this.” With her wide eyes watching his every move, he takes a tiny bite, chewing carefully before handing it back.
He’s so hungry, but he’d rather she enjoy the apple.
Maybe the first apple she’s ever had.
“When we get home, I can cook us something to eat. Does that sound good?” Josephine looks at the pair of them in the rearview mirror, Pipsqueak too focused on the apple to respond and Caleb too mistrustful to take what she’s saying at face value.
“Where do you live?”
“A small cabin to the north, a half hour away so long as the roads are still passable.”
Sketchy.
Maybe she’s secretly a serial killer.
Well, he supposes it wouldn’t really be a secret; he knows she’s killed Pipsqueak dozens of times.
“Fine.” He quietly agrees, moving to hold onto the edge of the too-large jacket Pipsqueak wears. Her hands are busy and probably sticky, but she looks happy and that’s all that matters.
~
“Sixteen planes,”
~
Caleb looked everything over with a hypercritical eye, but by all rights, it did just appear to be a simple cabin in the woods. Cozy even. It took a little longer to get here, those weird monsters had made a mess out of the main road, but Josephine had gone right into the kitchen like she’d said she would. Caleb could smell toast and bacon and eggs cooking and gods it smelled so good.
He’d almost forgotten what real food was like, after so long in that prison eating those awful nutrient blocks. Add that to the fact that he hasn’t eaten anything proper in a few days, and his ability to resist the temptation is growing more tenuous by the moment.
“What’s this, Caleb?”
“It’s a whistle. You blow on it and it makes noise.” Pipsqueak has no reservations about handling all the random nicknacks in grabbing distance, running up to him with each one to get answers. Caleb grins as he watches her brows furrow and then oh so carefully blows on the whistle like she was trying to cool it off. “No, like this.” He takes it, takes a deep breath, and blows. Both of them jump at the loud train whistle sound it makes, Pipsqueak dissolving into delighted giggles, chanting for him to do it again.
“The food is ready, children,” Josephine calls, and Pipsqueak pouts as she puts the whistle back but then ambles toward the small table in the kitchen. Caleb hesitates, his stomach rumbling painfully, but what if she put something in it? What if she poisoned them? What if she’s trying to lure them into a false sense of security-
Josephine gives him a sad smile before pointedly taking a bite out of the scrambled eggs.
“Are you coming, Caleb? It smells so good! What’s this?”
“Bacon and eggs.”
“Is it yummy?”
“Yeah.”
“Do I like it?”
“I- I guess you’ll have to try it and find out, Pipsqueak.” She nodded thoughtfully to herself as she climbed up onto one of the heavy wooden chairs. Gods, she was so small, how old even is she?
“Why do you call me Pipsqueak?”
“Because you’re tinier than me.”
“But what’s my name? I think I forgot.” She doesn’t look broken up over that fact, just starts kicking her legs back and forth while she waits for an answer.
“I don’t-”
“Clementine.” Both of them look over at Josephine, Pipsqueak- Clementine- curious, and Caleb furious.
“Clementine.” She repeats, brows furrowing as she no doubt tries to find some non-existent fragment of memory about the name. “I don’t know, I think it’s too long.”
“We can just call you Minty then.”
“Minty?” She looks at Caleb, and he thinks her eyes look older than they ought to. Like there was a great weight there just beneath the surface, forgotten time and again. “I like it!”
Chapter Text
~
“Seventeen planes,”
~
The guest room Josephine showed them isn't anything special, but it’s nicer than their room at the research center so Caleb doesn’t complain. The bed should be big enough for both of them, and they’d been given some old t-shirts to change into until they could get some proper pajamas.
Once Minty is tucked into the bed with extra blankets because it’s a little chilly in here, Caleb walks across the room to turn the light off. He’s already made sure to lock the door, not that he thinks it'll really stop Josephine- or anyone really- if they want to get it, but it makes him feel a little better.
He hits the switch, though he quickly flips it back on when Minty lets out a soft cry.
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t- I don’t know. But I don’t think I like the dark.” She says in a tiny voice.
Without a window in here, it does get very dark without the lights on. Maybe there might have been a sliver of light from the one in the hall that could shine under the door, but it certainly wouldn’t be much. But it’s not like they have a nightlight, they don’t even have proper pajamas!
“We can leave it on, I don’t mind.” He eyes the bed, the tall headboard against the wall, nodding to himself. “Why don’t we make a little fort? Here, let’s just take this one, tuck it over here and this side too…” Caleb takes the thin and entirely too-large top sheet, tucking it at the foot of the bed and the other side at the headboard, letting a long flap of it drape over the edge of the bed like a door, also blocking out some of the light. It would be by no means dark in there, but hopefully a little easier to fall asleep in.
“Wow, this is amazing, Caleb! You’re the best!” A blush colors his cheeks at her praise as a pleasant warmth fills his chest.
“Permission to enter the fort?”
“Permission granted!” She happily chirps, hugging him the moment he crawls in under the blankets. “Good night, Caleb.”
“Night, Pipsqueak.”
~
“Eighteen planes,”
~
“Hey Caleb, wanna race planes again? Maybe you’ll win this time!” Minty’s smug smile makes him laugh, but he easily agrees. There’s not much to do around the cabin. Josephine talked about moving to Linkon- farther away from the research center and anyone who might be looking for them- but it’ll take time with all the chaos.
He’s still not convinced she’s not going to sell them away or something, but he’s trying not to be so obvious about it, he doesn’t want to worry Minty.
Just like always, Caleb helps her make a flyable paper airplane, though Minty doodles all over it with the blue pen Josephine had given her.
“Want me to make yours pretty too?”
“Nah, we’ve gotta be able to tell them apart, you know.”
“Grandma, do you have a red pen?” Minty yells towards the cabin, it’s not long before the woman in question walks out with a handful of pens and highlighters for them.
“Red?” He asks, almost afraid of her reasoning.
“Yeah, red like apples, I think it’d be perfect for you! But mine’s still gonna be prettier.” She never remembers anything after she’d die- was killed- but maybe it’s all in there somewhere.
They race planes for a while until Minty gets distracted looking at all the different plants in Josephine’s little garden. He takes the planes inside, carefully hiding them away in the room he shared with Minty. When Josephine appears in the doorway, he tenses up, ready for anything.
“You used your Evol.”
“Yeah, and?”
“And nothing. You exhibited remarkable control. It was nice to see you both smiling.”
~
“Nineteen planes,”
~
“Caleb!”
His head snaps up at the shrill cry, the large book of planes that Josephine brought back with her from her last trip into town forgotten on the table as he races outside.
Minty is up in the big oak tree whose branches stretch out to almost touch the roof of the cabin. She’s clinging to one of the branches way too high up, tears running down her cheeks as she wails for him.
“What happened? How’d you get that high?!” He just showed her how to climb trees the other day and she’d been terrible! Could barely pull herself up onto the lowest branch! And now she’s somehow way up there?!
“I just- I just wanted to practice! Then I felt like I’d done it before and I was moving higher and it was fun but now I’m stuck and I can’t get down!”
He could get up there with her, but there’s no guarantee that he’d be able to help her down like that. But if she just lets go and falls from that height she’d break something for sure, if not something worse. But he’s never tried using it on people before! Or, well, not something like this!
“Caleb, save me! I’m gonna fall, my arms hurt…!”
“Okay, Pipsqueak, when I tell you, you let go of the branch, alright? And I’ll catch you.”
“Y-you promise?”
“I promise. It’ll be like a magic trick.”
“Like when you made the apples fly?”
“Yeah, just like that. Ready? Now!” Caleb's heart leaps into his throat when she doesn’t even hesitate, unlocking her arms and legs from the branch she’d been clinging to like a sloth. She falls and it almost feels like everything is moving in slow motion, but the air below her distorts as he activates his Evol. Just enough to slow her down, he wasn’t going to try anything like actually grabbing and moving her anywhere.
The people at the research center used to tell him how great he was at destroying delicate things, but this is the one thing he absolutely can’t risk hurting. Not his Pipsqueak.
He evidently doesn’t slow her down enough because once she passes through the field and into his waiting arms, the force is enough to send them both- harmlessly- falling back onto the ground. Minty clings to him, the terror of getting stuck overwhelming her as she’s flooded with relief.
“I’ve got you, Pipsqueak, it’s okay, everything’s okay.”
~
“Twenty planes,”
~
For the first time in far too long, Caleb wakes up warm and content to the sound of poorly muffled laughter. He pretends to continue to sleep as he feels small hands carefully comb through his already messy hair, making sure all of it points in a different direction. Not that it probably needed much help.
His parents always used to tease him about it…
Caleb pretends to start to wake up, barely managing to contain his grin when Minty gasps and flops back down onto the bed, taking exaggeratedly slow breaths though she continues to giggle.
“Awfully loud this morning, aren’t you Pips?” She makes some fake snoring sounds- still laughing- and Caleb can’t help but want to play along. “Huh, still asleep? I guess she was pretty tired.” More muffled laughter. “Come on, Minty, wake up. I can already smell the breakfast cooking.”
Gods, she really is a terrible actor he not so quietly thinks to himself as she pretends to stretch and yawn, snorting out little bursts of laughter whenever she looks at him. He ignores it all and shuffles out of the room towards the kitchen where Josephine is already cooking.
“Good morning, Caleb- oh.” She turns to greet them, pausing when she catches a glimpse of him, her eyes going wide as she takes in his wild hair.
“What’s wrong?” He asks, feigning obliviousness though he can’t keep the smile off his face as he listens to Minty’s muffled laughter behind him.
“N-nothing at all, dear. Breakfast is just about ready, can you help set the table?”
“Sure, no problem.”
Caleb catches Josephine trying to hush Minty’s laughter with a smile of her own, nodding to the small girl with a conspiratorial wink. He doesn’t mind being the butt of the joke if it keeps her smiling like that.
~
“Twenty-one planes,”
~
They were sitting outside near the edge of the forest when Minty unconsciously resonated with him for the first time. She was chattering excitedly about the little bird's nest she’d found in the branches of her favorite tree- not the one she’d gotten stuck in- as she listened to them chirping. The wind was strong that day, swaying all the branches, but for a long time, the nest remained secure.
Until a strong gust came tearing through the clearing at just the right angle to send it- and the baby birds within it- tumbling toward the ground.
Minty let out a shrill cry, reaching her hands out towards it, and Caleb felt an impossible warmth wash over him before he felt something pulling on his soul. Connecting with it. Making it stronger. Caleb sits in the gross frozen as he looks up to see Minty standing there, arms still outstretched, using his Evol as flawlessly as if she had been born to it. The nest and the birds hang in the air, the tiny creatures anxiously chirping, no doubt just as confused as he is.
“Oh gosh, oh no, what do I do now?! Caleb?! Caleb, help!”
But he’s too busy gasping for breath to do anything. Too busy watching entire past lives rush by between each hurried heartbeat. He sees laboratories and endless wars, ruins and spaceships, and- and Minty. Then he sees a golden and marble court filled with- with gods! He feels as his wings are torn from his back and he’s cast down from the heavens, Minty’s screaming in the background. More and more past lives filled with sorrow and grief and bright shining moments of love and peace all too quickly snuffed out.
As quickly as the visions come, they’re gone, leaving Caleb a gasping, shaking mess on the ground left with nothing but vague impressions and flickers of hazy images.
“Come here, little birdies, I just wanna help you down!” Minty is trying to jump up to where she has the birds suspended in the air still. With a shuddering breath, he takes back control of his Evol, shaking as he focuses enough to safely bring the birds and their nest back up to its spot tucked between the branches of their tree. “Oh, thank you, Caleb! I was worried they’d hurt themselves if they fell, and then I wouldn’t be able to listen to them sing or see them grow up and- Caleb? Are you okay?”
He’s not.
He’s very much not okay.
He opens his mouth to say as much, but dark spots fill his vision as the world starts to tilt. The last thing he hears is Minty shrieking for Grandma.
~
“Twenty-two planes,”
~
Caleb wakes up in bed, his head resting on something warm, Minty quietly humming above him as she gently strokes his hair. For a while he just lays there, trying to process what had happened when she resonated with him, but it just ends up confusing him so he’s quick to push those thoughts away. They don’t matter, not here and now.
“Hey, Pipsqueak, what’s-”
“Shh, Caleb, Grandma says you need rest.” Minty keeps running her fingers through his hair, hesitating for only a moment before carefully leaning over to retuck one of the blankets around him that’d he must have kicked off during his rest. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you this time.”
He… wants to cry. He hasn’t cried in so long, hasn’t even felt the urge to give in to tears in ages, but right now he can feel them burning the backs of his eyes and clogging his throat.
“I’m supposed to be the one taking care of you, Pips.” Caleb rasps, squeezing his eyes tightly shut to keep the tears at bay.
“We can take turns, silly. You take care of me, and I’ll take care of you. That way we can stay together forever.”
Forever.
He wants forever, but something makes him feel like that’s impossible. A dark voice whispers from the back of his mind that they’d been cursed, that a soft happy ending would never be theirs. They were destined for darkness and sorrow and death, nothing more.
Caleb vowed then and there that he would change their fates no matter what.
Notes:
I finally got around to the editing, lol. I don't know why it's so hard to work up the energy to do it (it never takes very long), but it's gotta be one of my least favorite things to do when it comes to writing/posting...
Chapter Text
~
“Twenty-three planes,”
~
His Pipsqueak is still awfully forgetful. The first time she woke up confused about where she was, Caleb had shot Josephine a look so venomous that he’s a little amazed she didn’t drop dead on the spot. But it was different from before, she hadn’t forgotten everything. She remembered he was Caleb and she was Minty, so he assumed she hadn’t died again or anything.
If Josephine dared to try that again, Caleb wouldn’t show her any mercy.
He wonders if she’ll always have these memory issues. If she’ll have to live the rest of her life suffering bouts of confusion and anxiety, getting lost and turned around with startling ease.
“Caleb, have you seen my pens?”
“The glittery ones?”
“I have glittery pens? I thought I just had red and blue.”
“Grandma bought them specially for you, a whole pack of ones in all different colors. I’ll go grab them, you left them on the table.” Caleb, reluctantly, has started to call Josephine Grandma too, at least when he talks to Pipsqueak. He doesn’t want to risk confusing her even more.
Instead of staying outside at the picnic table waiting for the pens, Minty hops down and trails behind him. She doesn’t hesitate even for a moment before slipping her hand into one of his, swinging it back and forth as she chatters about how pretty the sky looks today.
“Do you know how to cook, Caleb?”
“Not really, no. Do you?”
“I don’t think so. Is it fun, do you think?”
“Maybe. Probably depends on what you’re making, though, right?”
“Do you think Grandma would let us try making something?”
“I don’t see why not. What do you wanna make?”
“Something with apples, you love apples!”
~
“Twenty-four planes,”
~
“I don’t know if there are berries right now, Minty.” Caleb dutifully trails after her with a bucket in hand. They’d watched an old cartoon that Josephine had in a box of old things, and Minty in particular had loved- almost- every second of it. A few of the shorter stories scared her, but by and large, she was thrilled by the video, insisting they watch it over and over again.
Today, she is determined to recreate a particular scene. In the movie, mythical creatures had gone and gathered grapes and whatnot, bringing them back to a massive vat. There, they stomped on the fruit to make juice and chaos devolved from there. Minty had been in the mood for juice, and since Josephine couldn’t make it back to town just yet with the monsters- called Wanderers these days- continuing to accost the highways, the young girl has decided she’ll just make herself some.
Caleb doesn’t think those creatures in the cartoon were making juice, but he keeps that to himself.
“No, I saw some the other day. Little red ones, they were good!”
“You- you ate them?!” This draws Caleb up short, stumbling over the roots of a tree he’d been climbing over. When had she snuck out to find berries?! They could have been poisonous or something, how could she just eat them without knowing?!
“Yeah! I think they’ll make great juice!”
“You can’t just eat random berries you find in the woods, Pipsqueak! They might make you sick!”
“Really?” She glances at him for a moment before shrugging and turning back to her search. “But it’s okay because they didn’t!”
“No, no, no, hang on, Minty, you need to promise me you won’t eat any old thing you find in the woods.”
“But how will I know what berries to make more juice out of if I don’t try them? I don’t want gross juice…”
“It’s not the taste you should be worried about, you should be worried if they’re poisonous!”
“Poisonous?”
“You could get sick or die if you eat certain types of berries or leaves or mushrooms!”
“Oh, but I-”
“Promise me, Pipsqueak.”
“What if- what if I show them to you first?”
“Why do you want to eat everything so bad?”
“Trying new things is fun!” Caleb just groans, idly wondering if Josephine could find him a book about plants that are safe to eat and those that aren’t. At least if she brings him the stuff first, he’ll probably be able to keep her from getting sick or worse. Probably.
“Alright, fine, it’s a deal. You bring me the stuff you find first, I’ll figure out if it’s safe, and then you can try all the new stuff you want.”
“You’re the best, Caleb!” Minty beams at him, giving him a quick hug before going to search through the bushes once more.
Ugh, he’s probably going to regret this…
~
“Twenty-five planes,”
~
Josephine is equal parts amused and horrified at Minty’s plan. On the one hand, it’s hilarious that she’s going to try stomping on a big bowl full of berries- currants she’d called them, perfectly safe to eat- to make juice. On the other, Minty had gone off on a tangent when they got back about all the different things she’d tried in the woods, and Josephine- like Caleb- was suddenly far more worried for the young girl’s well-being than she had been that morning.
“See, Grandma, we even got the big bowl down! Caleb helped me with his magic-”
“His Evol.” Josephine quietly corrects.
“Right, his Evol. So all I gotta do is put them in and jump on them, and then there will be juice! I made sure to almost fill our bucket with berries, so there will be plenty! I don’t mind sharing, Grandma, you and Caleb can both have some too.”
“That’s… very kind of you, my dear. Are you sure you don’t want to make some jam? We could have jam on toast, jam cookies, jam-”
“Jam’s boring, I wanna make juice like those guys in the movie! They were having so much fun!”
Caleb won’t lie, he wants to see if Josephine will choke down whatever berry mush Minty is going to be making with this little experiment.
It’d only be fair because he knows he’s going to have to try it too.
“I’ll wash the berries, Pipsqueak, hows about you go wash your feet?”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, Caleb!” Minty runs off towards the bathroom, happily humming a tune as she goes. Caleb grins at the queasy look on Josephine’s face before heading towards the kitchen to do his half of the washing.
…
The mostly dirt-free foot-mashed berry mush didn’t turn into juice like Minty had hoped, and thankfully, she didn’t make anyone try it.
She was delighted by her pink-stained feet, though, so at least she didn’t cry.
Caleb counts that as an overall win.
~
“Twenty-six planes,”
~
“Sit still, Pipsqueak, this is harder than it looks, you know.” Minty’s been getting progressively more fidgety the longer she sat here waiting for Caleb to finish braiding her hair. He had remembered some of the girls in his class at school- way before he’d gotten taken- used to wear braids and colorful clips in their hair. Josephine didn’t have any kind of barrettes, but she had some hair ties she let him steal.
Unfortunately, she always kept her hair short and didn’t ever learn how to braid, so Caleb has been trying his best these last few days to get it down. He’s close, he thinks. At least they don’t look as tangled and lumpy as those first few attempts.
“Caleb, why is our hair different colors? Why is mine darker than yours?”
“Um, I think it has to do with our parents? Like, your parents must have had really dark hair, but my dad had kinda light brown and my mom had hair the color of chocolate.”
“My mom and dad?”
“I mean, yeah, it’s not like you were hatched from an egg.” Caleb teases, though to be fair, he doesn’t know for sure where she came from. Judging from the heavy expression Josephine always gets when Minty brings up her forgotten past, it’s surely nothing good.
“I wish I had hair like yours instead.”
“Why? Your hair is beautiful. All shiny and silky.”
“But mine can’t stick up like yours can! And sometimes it gets in my mouth when I’m trying to eat!”
“That’s because it’s long. We can cut it if you want.”
“But you can’t braid short hair, can you?”
“I mean, I can barely braid long hair, Pipsqueak.” She seems to ponder his idea, her hand gently coming up to trace over one of the braids he’s already finished.
“I like your braids, I don’t wanna cut my hair short and lose them.”
~
“Twenty-seven planes,”
~
Caleb and Minty had gotten so used to living in the peaceful little cabin that they forgot that Josephine had been making plans to move them into the city. For safety reasons, supposedly, though Caleb is still unsure of the old woman’s intentions for them. The woods were no place to raise kids, she’d say. They needed a proper school, they needed more space between them and the research center, they needed a clean slate.
Minty is downright distraught at the thought of leaving their home. She remembers so little from day to day as it is- practically nothing on the bad days- but lately, she’s been at least able to retain memories about the cabin and forest as they do not change in the slightest. She remembers which trees she likes to climb, which side of the cabin has the best grass to nap on, which doorknobs you have to wiggle just so to get them to work properly.
She’ll lose that if- when- they move.
His Pipsqueak might be a happy little ball of sunshine who’ll talk to anyone and anything ninety percent of the time, but she has a darkness within her. A doubt she can never quite shake. A weight on her soul that she can’t remember but feels nonetheless. Of course, she’s only mentioned it a few times to Caleb, usually in the dead of night when she wakes up from a nightmare.
He wishes he could take that burden from her. He wishes he could help beyond keeping her distracted.
“Don’t leave me, Caleb! Please don’t leave me here…!” Minty whimpers in her sleep, her tossing and turning growing ever more erratic.
“Shh, Pipsqueak, I won’t leave you. I’ll never leave you.” Caleb carefully pulls her into his arms, holding her tightly as her struggling starts to lessen. “We’re bound together, you know. In life and in death we’ll be together until the end of time.”
The words feel familiar, though he knows he’s never said them before.
Not in this life, at any rate, a dry voice reminds him from the depths of his memory. And those words hadn’t done either of them any good in any lifetime. They were always tormented, always separated, always killed. Again and again and again.
No more.
This time will be different.
It has to be.
Chapter Text
~
“Twenty-eight planes,”
~
Minty is pouting, and it’s adorable, but Caleb knows he can’t just let her stay like that the whole time. It’ll be a long drive to get to their new home in Linkon, and he’s certain she’ll enjoy the trip if she gives it a chance. She loves seeing and trying new things, at least from the comfort of her own space.
New things like this will always be scary- even to him- and he can’t even begin to imagine how scary it is for Minty with her memory issues.
“What if I want berries to make jam?” Minty pouts, rattling off another excuse for why she doesn’t want to leave. It’s a sad excuse because both Caleb and Josephine know that, for some odd reason, she hates jam.
“We can plant berry bushes in the backyard- whoa, look at that, Pipsqueak!” Caleb, with more enthusiasm than he feels, excitedly points out her window. They’re currently driving along a stretch of highway that winds near the coastline. Dotting the glimmering waves are all kinds of tiny boats, people on the beach flying kites, and running around.
“Wow, look at everyone! I’ve never seen so many people before! What are they doing, Caleb?” Successfully having distracted him, Caleb does his best to explain everything he can remember about going to the beach. “Can we go? Please? Pretty please?”
“Of course, but we must get things settled in Linkon first, my dear.” The reminder almost ruins all of Caleb’s hard work, but Minty doesn’t crumble under the thought of a new home, at least not completely. “You know, Minty, there’s actually a large lake near Linkon that’s perfect for swimming and all kinds of fun in the spring and summer. I think our house will even be close enough that you and Caleb would be able to bike there.”
“Bike?” This question she turns to Caleb for. He always gets a petty and vindictive little thrill that she turns to him for answers and not Josephine.
“A bike is a thing you can ride, it’s got two wheels, and it’s way faster than walking.”
“We can have bikes?”
“Of course, my dear.”
“Do I know how to ride a bike?”
“I can teach you, Pipsqueak.” Caleb rushes to say, completely ignoring the smug, knowing look Josephine sends him through the rearview mirror.
“What if I’m bad at it?”
“Then we’ll get one of those two-person bikes and I can do the biking for you, silly. Then we’d be able to go anywhere you like!”
~
“Twenty-nine planes,”
~
The new place is nice. Almost too nice, but Caleb won’t complain about that. What he will complain about- at least to himself- is that he and Pipsqueak both have their own rooms now. Which is great and all except he hates it, and more often than not, he and Minty end up having impromptu sleepovers in the attic.
Even with little fairy lights everywhere and a projector to light up the ceiling of her room like a galaxy, Minty just doesn’t feel safe without him. She can’t sleep, and he can’t sleep either. But Josephine- meddlesome old woman that she is- insists it’s for the best that they learn to sleep and function on their own. That being too codependent will only hurt them in the long run.
Fuck that and fuck her!
Minty’s already struggling to adapt to everything else that’s new; she shouldn’t have to worry about anything else right now! It’s not until Minty wakes up screaming bloody murder one night, before he’d been able to sneak away into the attic with her, that Josephine finally relents.
“For now.” She said, and Caleb almost does something he’s almost certain he’d regret by tossing the old hag out a window. It’d upset Minty if something happened with her Grandma…
They get bunk beds in Minty’s room- it’s slightly larger and already has tons of lights set up- but most nights they make a little fort out of the bottom bunk for them both to sleep in.
“You’re the best, Caleb.” His Pipsqueak sleepily mumbles as she curls towards him under the blankets. He just grins, a warm pride filling his chest. “I’m gonna stay with you forever and ever.”
Forever and ever.
Whatever it takes.
~
“Thirty planes,”
~
“Caleb!”
Someone is whispering, but he’s too tired to focus. He just wants to sleep a little longer. The nightmares these last few nights have been brutal, and he’s so tired.
“Caleb!”
He’ll get up soon, just a little longer-
“I need your help, Caleb!”
Pipsqueak?
“Please, I don’t know what to do!”
There’s a quiver in her voice, and dread settles heavily in his chest as he forces himself to wake and push away the fog of sleep. A pained little whine makes his heart kick into a frantic pace. She’s supposed to be safe here, safe with him, what could have possibly-
“Minty? What’s wrong?” He tries to scrub the blurriness from his eyes, but it takes a moment before he can truly focus. She’s standing beside the bed, the blanket wall they usually have up torn down. But she’s not standing there alone. In her arms is a muddy towel that… wiggling? Caleb hears another whine, but it’s not from Minty; it's from whatever is hidden within the towel.
“I heard him outside, Caleb! He was all alone, and he was hurt, and it was raining so hard that I couldn’t just leave him! But I- but I don’t know what to do!”
A few times now, though Caleb is never sure if Minty remembers the times before, she’s asked Josephine about getting a pet. When she saw the house across the street had two dogs, or saw the cats lounging in the windowsills of their neighbours to the left of them, or when they saw a family down the street helping an excited little boy carry in his new fish. But every time Minty asks if they can get a pet too, Josephine responds with a resolute no. Caleb was a little shocked the first time, given how easily she tends to give in when Minty asks her for something, but there wasn’t even a moment of hesitation before she denied the request.
“We- let's get it cleaned up. Come on, it’s still early, Grandma won’t be up for a little bit yet.” They quietly tiptoe into the bathroom, and though it takes some care finagling, they eventually get the gangly little puppy mostly cleaned off in the sink.
“He hurt his leg. At least I think so. He was limping when I found him out back.”
Caleb barely knows how to take care of people; he’s clueless when it comes to taking care of animals. But, well, it’s not like they can take him to a vet. Not without Josephine’s help and knowledge. To say nothing of covering the cost of whatever they might do at the vet’s.
“Can you help him, Caleb? Marshmallow is a good boy. I don’t want him to be in pain.” Minty gently strokes the wet puppy’s face, soothing him as best she can while Caleb tries to blindly figure out what’s wrong with his legs. Nothing’s bleeding, and nothing feels broken, but then he’s not sure what broken bones in a tiny puppy would feel like anyway, so it probably doesn’t amount to much.
“Marshmallow?” Caleb can’t help but tease. It’s such an odd name for a dog, much less one with soft golden fur.
“You told me marshmallows are golden brown, I thought it would be a good name.”
“When you roast marshmallows, getting them golden brown is best. But regular marshmallows are usually white. Like, completely snow white.”
“Well, I’m still calling him Marshmallow.” Minty pouts, her eyes never once leaving the puppy’s face.
~
“Thirty-one planes,”
~
They kept the puppy secret far longer than Caleb thought they would. And he learned that Minty is a truly terrible liar, which will probably be good to know for future reference.
One thing Josephine had been good at was never entering their room without express permission to do so. So keeping Marshmallow hidden there was easy. Ish. But eventually, Marshmallow heals- though he still has a slight limp- and his mellow attitude can’t hold out against his curiosity forever.
One afternoon, when Josephine is supposed to be taking a nap, Minty tries to sneak Marshmallow outside to go to the bathroom. But the puppy has other plans and happily wiggles past her, darting away from her grasping hands before she can rein him in.
“Marshmallow, no!” She shouted before slapping her hands over her mouth, turning back to look at Caleb with wide eyes and pale features. A moment later, Josephine is poking her head out from down the hall, looking curiously at where Minty is standing, absolutely horrified at what she’s done.
“Minty? What’s the matter-” Marshmallow, with a tennis ball in mouth- though Caleb has no idea where he even found it- decides to come barreling back through the house and tackle Minty in his excitement.
“H-he’s a good boy, Grandma.” She whispers, her arms tightening around the happily wiggling puppy. “We saved him- Caleb and I saved him, you can’t just take him away!” Tears quickly spill over her cheeks, cheeks that Marshmallow is already slobbering all over, not that Minty minds. Caleb carefully steps over and around her, placing himself between her and Josephine. He meets the woman’s unimpressed gaze with an icy look of his own.
“She is highly allergic to pets, Caleb,” Josephine says softly, her eyes flickering to where the dog is sitting with Minty.
“No, she isn’t. Marshmallow’s been hiding with us for almost two weeks, and nothing’s happened.” It settled a little of the rage Caleb had been feeling to know that Josephine wasn’t just being cruel for the fun of it. The older woman raises an unimpressed brow at the revelation before sighing.
“We can discuss this later, I… need a nap.”
That’s as good as they're likely going to get for now. She goes back into her room, and both Caleb and Minty wait a few minutes before daring to relax. Marshmallow yips, climbing over Minty to get to Caleb and push his wet nose against his hand.
“Yeah, come on Marshy, let's go outside and play.”
~
“Thirty-two planes,”
~
“You shouldn’t give him so many treats, it’s bad for his teeth.”
Caleb pokes his head over the edge of the playset to look down where Minty had been playing with Marshmallow. He likes it best up here and has spent many a day reading his airplane books in the sun while listening to Minty mess around.
A young boy stands at the edge of their yard, his expression rather serious and cold for a kid that’s gotta be about the same age as him, maybe a little older. Caleb is almost certain he’s the kid of their other neighbours, the ones without any pets and who they rarely see. The boy is staring at Minty, his eyes flickering occasionally to Marshmallow.
“Is it really? Do your teeth hurt, Marshmallow?” Minty earnestly asks, carefully grabbing Marshmallow’s face to look him dead in the eye.
“He’s young; there most likely aren’t any impending health concerns just yet. But it will be an easier habit to break now as opposed to several years down the road.”
“Are you a doggy doctor? Caleb told me doctors make people feel better, but I can’t remember what the word is for a doctor for dogs. Caleb-”
“Veterinarian.”
“Right! A petrenamian! Is that what you are?” Caleb fights not to laugh as he watches the solemn boy slowly blink as he stares at Minty’s oh so innocent and excited smile. No doubt the boy is trying to determine if he should correct her or not. Caleb thinks he looks like the type to be a stickler about such little details.
“I am not a veterinarian.” The boy says just as softly as before, though he’s sure to enunciate the word veterinarian carefully. See, Caleb knew it! “After I get through my schooling, I will be a doctor, but for humans. My parents are the ones who more often than not care for animals.”
“Wow, that’s so cool! Caleb’s gonna be a pilot someday!”
“What will you be?”
“Dunno yet, maybe I’ll be a peterinarian!” Minty laughs, picking up Marshmallow’s slobbery tennis ball to throw again. Caleb snickers as he watches the boy's eyes twitch, but hey, at least Pipsqueak was closer to saying it right than the first time. “What’s your name? Do you live in that house over there? Do you have any pets? What’s your favorite-”
“Geez, Pipsqueak, take a breath and give him a chance to answer before you bombard him with more questions.” He turns his eyes to the boy as he hops off the playset, holding out a hand to him. “I’m Caleb, she’s Minty.”
“Zayne.” His hand is colder than Caleb feels it should be, but he shakes it anyway. Caleb is already looking forward to watching Minty drive this studious kid insane.
~
“Thirty-three planes,”
~
“Caleb, can you please find Minty? It’s supper time.”
“Sure thing, Gran.” He hops up from the desk, his model plane almost complete. They’d settled into this new house- the sleeping arrangements are still a point of contention- but everything else has been surprisingly okay. Marshmallow is almost always with Minty, keeping her from getting into too much trouble. Or, sometimes, helping her get into it.
He finds her asleep on the floor next to Marshmallow, the pair lying in a patch of sunlight.
“Wake up, Pipsqueak. It’s food time.” It takes a moment before Caleb’s shaking wakes her up. She blinks slowly up at him, brows furrowing as she glances behind him for a moment and then back at his face.
“What would you do if you had wings, Caleb?”
“What do you mean, what would I do? I’d fly around everywhere, dummy. Why? You gonna make me a pair?”
“I had a dream you stole mine. I was- I was sad, and you left. Don’t leave me, okay? Promise?” Caleb can see it flash by before his eyes, those memories of lives gone by. One where they were nothing but weapons, one where Caleb tried to save her by sacrificing himself, one that ended in both their deaths anyway.
Minty doesn’t ever remember anything after dying, and she’d died so many times in this life alone. She probably can’t remember her past lives like he could after they resonated, at least she never said anything about it, but are the memories still there? Will they pop up in her dreams like this? Will they forever haunt her, just out of reach?
Caleb really hopes not…
“Of course I won’t leave you, Pipsqueak. And if I ever steal your wings again, you can just use me as your personal chauffeur to take you anywhere you want to go.”
“What a chauffeur?”
“Someone who takes you to different places.”
“You can have my wings, Caleb, you can have anything, you just can’t leave me, okay?”
“Okay, I promise.”
Chapter Text
~
“Thirty-four planes,”
~
He thought it was going rather well. Minty seemed to have a great sense of balance and was eager to give riding a bike on her own a shot. So Caleb helped her up, pointed her in the direction of their backyard, and let her go. She was a little wobbly, but she was having the time of her life, her laughter ringing out loud and clear.
“Does she not know how to bike?” Zayne quietly asks as he joins Caleb on the sidewalk.
“Nah, I’ve been teaching her all day, though, and I think she’s almost got it!” He was proud, his chest puffed out a little as he turned to grin at Zayne.
“Uh, you might have spoken too soon.” He says with a grimace, pointing towards where Pipsqueak had taken a sudden turn and is now heading towards the large pine tree that sits near the border between their lawn and Zayne’s.
“Pedal backwards, Minty! Backwards!” Caleb takes off running, but he isn’t going to make it in time. “Turn the handlebars! Go away from the tree!” Either she can’t hear him over her own crying or she’s too overwhelmed to try and listen. She hits the branches head-on, tumbling to the side as she wails.
If he could have used his Evol he could have saved her, but Josephine had been insistent that neither of them use their Evol’s out in the open. That if even a whisper of their powers got out that the people who used to experiment on them would no doubt hunt them down. Minty is sobbing on the ground, probably more scared than hurt, but her knees and palms are scraped up pretty badly.
“It’s okay, Pipsqueak, I got you, it’s gonna be okay.” Normally, she’s quick to cling to him when upset, but right now she doesn’t even move, just holds out her injured hands and cries. “I know it was scary, I’m sorry. I should- I should have been watching you closer. I’m sorry, Pipsqueak, I- I-”
“I brought this out just in case. Let me see her hands.”
Minty just continues to cry and not move.
“Pipsqueak, Zayne’s gonna fix you up, but you gotta show him your hands.”
More sobbing.
“You hold her, I’ll work on cleaning the wounds.” Zayne calmly orders, and Caleb eventually gets her into his lap, his arms wrapped tightly around her as he quietly talks to her, trying to calm her down. “It’s going to sting a little, Minty, but we have to make sure it doesn’t get infected. Would you like to see a magic trick while I work?”
Minty doesn’t respond, but she’s not wailing like she had been as she leans against Caleb, so he’ll count it as a win- oh. Well, that’s something.
Glittering in the summer sun all around them are flurries of snowflakes. Minty gasps, going completely still as she stares in wonder, Zayne quickly and efficiently cleaning the dirt from her palms before dabbing on some medicine and bandaging them up. Caleb turns away from the sudden snowfall to look at Zayne as he moves on to clean and bandage Minty’s knees. The solemn boy wears a soft smile when he glances up at Minty’s shocked delight, his hands not faltering as they methodically tend to her wounds.
Maybe Caleb should have Zayne on standby whenever he tries to teach Minty how to bike. If she’ll even learn after this.
~
“Thirty-five planes,”
~
“Faster! Faster!” Minty excitedly shakes his shoulders as she laughs. Getting her back onto the seat of a bike wasn’t in the cards, and for almost a week after the incident, she couldn’t even look at the bike without getting all teary-eyed. But she’s been more than willing to stand on the little pegs jutting out of the sides of the back wheel of his bike, clinging to him, and letting him take them anywhere. Zayne isn’t far behind them, having finished his summer lessons early today. He laughs whenever Minty’s excitement makes Caleb wobble and swerve. “Let’s go to the park! Pretty please, Caleb?”
“Sure thing, Pipsqueak. Hold on tight!” Caleb is no doubt grinning like a fool as he listens to Minty’s delighted shrieks of joy as he takes a sharp left towards the old park in their neighbourhood. It’s a little run-down, but still plenty of fun.
She barely gives the boys a moment to put down the kickstand before grabbing their hands and pulling them towards the jungle gym.
“Last one to the top is a rotten egg!” Minty tries to leap forward, but Caleb fully expects her to try and cheat, and he makes sure to keep her firmly in place until both he and Zayne are standing next to her. “No fair, Caleb, you’re cheating!”
“I don’t think me keeping you from cheating counts as cheating, Pipsqueak.”
“Ready? Set. Go!” Zayne, not one to pass up an opportunity, begins the race fair and square. While his competitors were squabbling. That’s clearly more of the ‘them’ problem, though, and he quickly races towards the jungle gym with a little smirk at the outraged squawks he hears from the pair behind him.
Caleb is tempted to freeze him in place like he had with Minty, increasing the gravity around him enough to keep him stuck in place, but he already used his Evol once here; he really isn’t supposed to be doing that. After watching Minty crash the bike, he’s been fervently practicing at using it discreetly, in ways where no one watching will be able to see what is happening.
It’s almost a tie between him and Pipsqueak for who is last, but she recklessly throws herself up towards the last platform and wins by the skin of her teeth. Her tenuous grip starts to slip a heartbeat later, and it’s only because he’s such a nice person that he gives her a little weightless boost to keep from falling all the way back down.
“That was kind of scary!” She laughs as she sits on the ledge, grinning at him without a care in the world. “You’re a rotten egg, Caleb, but because you saved me, you’re also a good noodle!”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You can have a shiny sticker when we get home! I’ll even let you pick which one!”
~
“Thirty-six planes,”
~
“Beat it, you little brats.” Minty is huffing and puffing up a storm, trying to run back and forth to push both Caleb and Zayne on the swings, when a group of older kids stomp up to them.
“We’re… using… these… swings…” She pants, not even sparing them more than a glance before racing back behind Caleb to give him another great push. Or, well, as great a push as her tiny arms can manage.
“That’s why I told you to get lost. Those are ours.”
“No… they… aren't… oh… are… you… done… Zayne?” She takes big gulping breaths between each word, and it’d be cute if Caleb hadn’t been growing murderously angry. He drags his feet in the sand, coming to an abrupt stop, but not fast enough before one of the older boys sneers down at his Pipsqueak and gives her a hard shove.
“Leave her alone.” Caleb snarls, ducking under one of the other older kids’ arms to stand before the one who attacked Minty.
“What are you supposed to be, her brother? Oh, I’m so scared.” He and the rest of his friends laugh, which only makes Caleb angrier. “This playground’s ours, if you don’t want us to mess you up, you better get lo-”
“Don't you dare touch my Caleb!” Minty shrieks with more fire and fury than Caleb’s ever heard before. The biggest of the older kids' hands had been reaching out for him, but Minty moves quicker, scrambling up and kicking the kid in the shin with a feral expression.
“Ouch! What the-?! You little-”
“You touch her and I’ll kill you.” Caleb snarls, snapping out of his shock when one of them moves to grab his Pipsqueak.
“W-what the hell is wrong with you freaks?!”
“I believe it would be best if you left,” Zayne says in a stern tone, his hazel eyes cold as ice as he glares at the kids he probably recognizes since he’d grown up around here. He does reach out to grab Minty’s hand and hold her back from kicking anyone else. Though from the way she’s baring her teeth, maybe they should be worried about her biting someone instead.
“You brats, just wait until I tell my dad about this!” They take off running, casting scared looks over their shoulder at Minty and Caleb’s murderous expression.
“I think that’s probably enough time at the park today, we should go back and inform your grandmother and my parents. Just in case.” Zayne doesn’t show it on his face, but Caleb can see a wary curiosity in his eyes as he glances between the two of them. He liked Zayne- Minty did too- but he would fight anyone who tried to hurt his Pipsqueak.
Anyone.
~
“Thirty-seven planes,”
~
Sure enough, later that evening, a handful of adults came knocking on their door, the older kids from the park hiding behind them with pitiful expressions. At least until they saw Caleb looking down on the whole fiasco from the second-story window. Then they sneered up at him like they were going to win this.
Josephine had been exasperated about what happened, but she didn’t seem upset. She even said she was proud of him defending Minty without using his Evol. If they had tried something more serious or if they’d attacked Minty again, he probably would have.
Zayne had another tutoring session that night, but his parents were with Josephine on the porch. They seemed more riled up about it than her. Caleb’s a little curious as to what Zayne had told them had happened to get them in such a tizzy, but he isn’t going to bring it up. The bike back had been mostly silent, apart from Minty’s complaints about their fun day being cut short. Zayne had acted as he always did, though, quiet and thoughtful and he didn’t press them for answers.
Caleb’s still a little shocked at how quickly Minty had risen to his defence. They hadn’t even done anything to him, but she looked ready to tear them apart.
Maybe it’s from those dreams she has. The ones she can never quite remember, outside of a few details right when she wakes up, before her normal day-to-day stuff whisks those away too.
He’s… glad she can’t remember anything, though. What little flashes he remembers are rarely pleasant. He’s fine carrying all the darkness if it lets her continue to be light and carefree.
“Caleb?”
“What’s up, Pipsqueak?” He turns away from the window, yanking the curtain back into place.
“Should I not have kicked that boy earlier?” Marshmallow looks as sad as Minty where he stands behind her as if he’d done something wrong too.
“I think it’s fine. You were protecting me, plus I think it counts as self-defence since they pushed you first.”
“What if- what if Grandma doesn’t want me anymore? What if I have to go away?” Her voice trembles as she wrings her hands nervously, tears welling up in her wide eyes.
“Then I’ll go with you, of course. But I don’t think she’s gonna send you away. Come on, we promised we’d help clean up all of Marshy’s fur around the house. If you sweep, I’ll handle the vacuum.” He doesn’t like seeing her like this, sad and small and terrified.
He wishes those kids hadn’t bothered them today.
They’d better not bother them again, if they know what’s good for them.
elysian_dreamer on Chapter 2 Mon 21 Apr 2025 01:39AM UTC
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Here_To_Be on Chapter 2 Tue 22 Apr 2025 12:16AM UTC
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elysian_dreamer on Chapter 2 Tue 22 Apr 2025 04:10AM UTC
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Here_To_Be on Chapter 2 Tue 22 Apr 2025 02:35PM UTC
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elysian_dreamer on Chapter 2 Tue 22 Apr 2025 02:58PM UTC
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Here_To_Be on Chapter 2 Tue 22 Apr 2025 03:27PM UTC
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kairessence on Chapter 2 Mon 21 Apr 2025 10:01AM UTC
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Here_To_Be on Chapter 2 Tue 22 Apr 2025 12:18AM UTC
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FouH on Chapter 4 Sun 08 Jun 2025 10:25PM UTC
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Here_To_Be on Chapter 4 Thu 12 Jun 2025 01:20PM UTC
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