Chapter Text
I’m more aware of the brilliant colors raining down on us than I am the thousands of tonnes of concrete in front of them. The Facility’s dull grey ceiling breaks apart and brilliant orange and yellow fire spills into the gym through the cracks. Sparks fall from the dull fluorescent lights as they fall away from the ceiling and the cold grey aesthetic vanishes for the first time since I can remember. I’m not even sure I have names for these colors beyond the crayons Appraisal lets me have if I’m good.
My sister is pulling on me to try and get me to move but I’ve got so much time to watch this. It’s far too beautiful not to. I’m fast enough to run us both to safety when it gets too close anyway. The falling ceiling parts down the middle and the explosion swirls away from us toward the walls of what used to be the gymnasium. This might make running a bit more difficult now that the doors are on fire. I may as well keep watching.
There are people in the new gap, two are falling and two are gliding safely downwards towards us. The sky behind them is so blue. When was the last time I saw that?
I think I recognize them; this is Alpha Squad isn’t it? Appraisal doesn’t like them which makes me think that they’re better people than he says they are. The first down is a short woman in blue armor, and she speeds straight down past the others into Acquisition feet first like she weighs a ton, but the Madam just grabs hold of her ankles, swings her around and throws her into one of the cracking walls.
With her own momentum against her, she hits the wall hard enough to leave an impact crater. The blue in her suit disappears as the wall as it collapses, but I think that was intentional. Vines erupt from under the floor, adding shades of green I have never seen before and suddenly Acquisition is restrained and struggling. Since when could anything do that to her?
“Adamantine, sound off!” the man dressed as a stage magician that’s gliding down—the new Major Arcana—calls and there’s shifting under the rubble. She actually survived that? She’s gotta be tougher than my sister.
The next one to come crashing down is a tall man in red body armor. I think his name is Stalagmight? He lands with a similar boom near Appraisal and our drill instructor, Gary. Appraisal runs while Gary gets punched across the face and goes down hard. Good; I hate that guy.
Out of the vines, a fifth person made of plants forms and immediately tries to help Adamantine out of the rubble but Adamantine just stands up out of the pile with a smug smirk as Acquisition tries to break through the vines holding her. The plant hero must be new; I don’t know them.
Major Arcana and his grey friend land softly near one of the service tunnels which is open now that the door has been torn apart by a chunk of concrete the size of a car. I don’t recognize the grey person either. They run into the tunnel without looking back and the Major stands guard over the entrance hands at the ready. The computer room I’m not allowed near is that way.
Now that the fire and concrete aren’t going to hit us, my sister changes her mind on running and tries to pull me in the opposite direction towards the door that leads to our room. Unfortunately, that door is right next to Appraisal. I really don’t want to go near him right now; he has that look on his face as he watches his base fall apart. I almost want to tell our five invaders to run but I can’t find my voice. This is all happening fast even for me.
I’m not sure they could hear me anyway. Major Arcana spots us and starts running towards us, leaving the service tunnel unguarded.
“Stal, there’s kids!” he shouts. Stalagmight turns towards us with open fear on his face—he’s not scared of us, is he? That doesn’t seem to be it. “Switch with me!”
Appraisal spots us too and sprints towards us, face full of fury. Nothing else matters to me except we have to get away from him and I go to grab my sister and finally escape, but she’s stuck herself in place again and nothing can dislodge her unless they break her focus. Only the Madam has ever managed to get her to let go. Stalagmight looks like he wants to chase Appraisal down but Major Arcana flies over him and he goes for the tunnel instead.
As much as I want to get away, I am not leaving my sister. Not ever. I put myself in front of her and whoever gets to us first has to go through me.
That doesn’t seem to be Major Arcana’s plan as he catches up to Appraisal and waves a hand. The air distorts in front of Appraisal, and he runs into it like with a loud crack and staggers back holding his nose. I know that shade of red more than I should but it’s so weird to see it on him of all people. Major Arcana takes the opportunity to run past him, shrugging out of his black coat as he runs and drapes it around us both. I’m too stunned to move.
“Stay here,” he says and turns back to where Appraisal is holding his face. He’s not running away; that can’t be a good sign.
“Oh, you’ll pay dearly for that,” Appraisal promises, and I believe him. Even if it’s Major Arcana, he can’t just make the Master of Appraisal bleed and get away with it.
“I’m sure I’ll live,” the Major retorts and pulls back his left hand like he’s holding something, and Appraisal’s legs sweep out from under him, landing him squarely on his back.
Appraisal grunts but covers it up with a laugh. “Oh I will guarantee it, Adam Ewert; you’ll need to watch after all. What’s her name? Your daught—”
I see the sphere of power form above where Appraisal is lying and I see it crash down onto him, denting the floor in the next second. That impact shakes the floor hard enough to distract everyone. Acquisition looks at where Appraisal is—there’s no way that was enough to finish him off—and shrieks high enough my teeth hurt for what feels like an eternity. The five of them have to cover their ears and whatever focus the green hero has on their vines breaks.
Acquisition leaps across the room in a single bound at Major Arcana who instead of trying to fight her turns and grabs us. Maybe it’s because she’s too shocked but my sister doesn’t stay rooted, and he sweeps us up and runs toward the hall his friends have just disappeared into. He puts us down through the threshold and stands between us and her in the doorway.
Acquisition doesn’t care and lines up to charge at him. The plant hero gets in her way—they shouldn’t get in the Madam’s way!
Acquisition swings wide as she approaches, trying to just swat her opponent away like I’ve seen her do to anyone who doesn’t move out of her way fast enough, but the hero grabs her arm in the vines again and tries to pull her down. These vines are different; they’re covered in vibrant red and blue thorns in a way that screams “Poison!” Acquisition doesn’t fight it this time and the hero actually gets their vibrant green hand on the Madam’s face where her mouth is. Sickly and purple bruising sprouts immediately across Acquisition’s chin and the Madam actually looks terrified for a very, very brief moment. I didn’t know her face could look like that. If it wasn’t for my speed, I would have missed it. The Madam of Acquisition showed genuine fear, and I actually got to see it. What could she possibly be afraid of?
Then Acquisition’s fury is back and focused entirely on her opponent who has managed to get their other hand on the Madam’s remaining wrist. At first, I think they’re evenly matched but then I realize that Acquisition isn’t trying to get free on purpose. I’m not the only one who sees it.
“Viridian, let her go!” Adamantine screams but it’s already too late. Acquisition’s face might be multiple sickly colors right now but grabs the hero by the throat anyway. I turn to cover my sister’s ears and block her sight but as I turn to protect her, the world goes completely colorless for far less than a second and all sound mutes to nothing.
The fire, the sky, everyone’s uniforms—everything goes black and white and utterly silent for about the same time as I saw the fear on Acquisition’s face. It makes that white coat of hers stand out as eerily bright. The hero starts to fall—she’s alive but something has changed about her. The Madam turns to me next and that just shouldn’t be possible. Her face is unnaturally angled on her body, and I shut my eyes and cover my sister’s face.
“You’d better keep quiet,” she warns.
I can hear her perfectly—it’s the only thing I can hear—then the sound of fire and combat and the alarms return, and I can see the blue in my sister’s eyes. She didn’t see; none of them saw or heard what just happened. I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as I can or speak fast enough that only I can hear. I carefully turn back but I don’t want to see her. I see some of the vines across the room. They’re withering away to a dull brown.
I hear Viridian hit the floor and suddenly there’s more yelling from Major Arcana and enraged screaming from Adamantine who skids on her knees to her friend’s side. I can’t help but turn all the way back to look. The Major blasts the Madam back a few feet but Acquisition doesn’t care. She’s staring at her hands like none of us even exist.
“Run, love,” Appraisal urges from the floor, and she does, jumping up through the hole in the ceiling and into the blue beyond. I’ve never seen her run from anyone before; I’ve never seen a lot of things from her before. Just when I think she couldn’t be any more terrifying, she finds a way to surprise me. When will I learn?
“Addie, the kids; get them out of here,” Major Arcana orders but she doesn’t move. “Adamantine! Secure Appraisal first—let me—"
He stops as Viridian has started moving slowly. They’re alive but something is still wrong about them, and I think Major Arcana knows it too because he doesn’t seem relieved that they’re okay. He tries to help them up, but their arm unravels back into the vines that made them. Faster than any of them can react, Viridian becomes nothing but weeds retreating into the earth.
“V-Viridian?” Adamantine asks. She tries to say something else, but it catches in her throat and it seems to confuse her. “I can’t—”
Major Arcana tries to put a hand on her shoulder, but she bats him away. “What was their name? Their real name—Major, we know their name. They told us the day we met!”
He nods, face paling. Hands shaking.
“Then why can’t I just say it?” Adamantine demands. “Major, what is their name?”
Appraisal starts laughing—and coughing up blood—and it catches both their attention.
Major Arcana stands up and strides over to him, sparks flying off his hands and the rubble parting out of his way before him. I back up two steps but it’s too fascinating to see Appraisal get pulled off the ground by his own tie by someone who is somehow scarier than he is. I’d be afraid of him but it’s so obvious that his anger is not for us.
“What did she just do?” Major Arcana growls.
Appraisal just laughs in his face. “You think I know?”
“You married her!”
“I don’t have to understand her to worship at her feet,” Appraisal scoffs. “Even if I see her better than most, she is still such a sublime mystery—it adds to the allure.”
I hear a voice on the intercom down the hallway where the two other heroes went. Since the PA system is gone in here, I have to strain to hear a voice declaring that to the whole Facility that the computer systems and door controls were under Ghost’s control now. That must be the grey hero I saw. Maybe grey isn’t such a bad color after all.
“He’d better rot in a cell for this,” Adamantine swears.
“Don’t…bet on it,” Appraisal smirks before going limp and dropping to the ground as the Major lets the tie slip through his fingers.
oOoOoOo
Mina yawns, which means my sister yawns, which means I yawn. Christine—Mom, I guess now—chuckles watching us by the mage light. The sky is getting lighter in the east and it’s cold even though it’s July.
“We’re minutes out,” Joseph—Grandpa?—announces, setting a large metal bowl on the ground right next to the barrier.
“Why did we have to be up at dawn?” my sister complains.
“Ah, because dawn is a powerful symbol of new beginnings and fresh starts,” Adam—Dad, I get to call Major Arcana Dad—explains past the huge smile. “So dawn is the best time to do this. You two are at a crossroads in your lives since you were rescued and over the last few months, we’ve all become something more to each other than what we were: we’ve become family. This is just making it official.”
“Right now, you’re still technically guests,” Mom continues the explanation. “You have Permission to get through the wards, but that permission can still be revoked. We’re going to add you to the wards as the sun comes up so that every day after this you aren’t just the kids we’re protecting, you’re ours. The wards will never keep you out and you can extend Permission to others on your own.”
“Which we will need you to be responsible about,” Grandpa interrupts. “This place will be yours to protect now too.”
“But I can’t do anything,” my sister objects. “I got the stupidest power ever.”
“Well now, that’s not true,” Grandpa gently disagrees. “You just have to find the best use for it; Adamantine and Stalagmight have some ideas for you.”
“We can talk about that later,” Mom warns. “Normally, these sorts of promises are sworn in blood, but…”
“No more needles, please,” I beg.
“I don’t bleed,” my sister adds.
“And so we need a way to forge this connection with something else, something that is a part of you, but can be connected to us,” Dad looks at us all. “What do you think, Mina?”
My new older sister thinks it over. “It’s Meaning over Material, right?”
An approving nod from Dad.
“Then…what about our hair? We’re all between hair cuts right now; we can braid it together. It’s something we’d have to make together rather than it simply being from us,” Mina suggests and pulls her dark hair forward, sliding it out of the hot pink scrunchie.
“An excellent suggestion,” Dad nods.
“We’ll have to be quick,” Mom warns and cuts several long strands of hair from her own head with a wave of a finger. “May I?” She asks me. I nod and she takes a chunk from the side. It has been getting kinda long. She holds it in the air and ties the strands end to end as Dad and Grandpa are doing the same thing. Dad finishes first and helps Mina and my sister with theirs.
Six strands of hair, one in my reddish brown, one blonde, three in dark brown and one snowy white. We each hold the end of ours while Mom starts weaving them together. I’ve never braided hair before but once I see the pattern forming, it’s easy to follow. I pass my end to Mina and taking up Mom’s, then passing Mom’s to Grandpa and picking up one of the dark ones. Once it’s done, she burns the ends together and puts it in the bowl as a ring.
“This next part is for the parents.” Grandpa trades places with Dad so Mom and Dad are practically leaning up against the wards, hands on the bowl.
“Remember what we told you about your true names,” Mom encourages. “Now is the time to change them. Leave the crossroads and choose for yourselves the path you want to walk.”
“It’s time,” Grandpa urges.
“Samantha Carol Ewert,” my sister says. She’d been agonizing on that middle name for days. I figured I’d have some idea by now, but I’m still stuck. Now it’s basically too late.
I panic. “Patrick Star Ewert!”
“From that cartoon?” Grandpa frowns.
Mom just laughs and she and Dad push the bowl into the wards right as the first rays of the sun hit the barrier. The whole dome shines briefly in gold and the bowl and the braid are gone.
“Well, little starfish, how about some breakfast?” Mom teases.
It might be from panic, but it still feels right. It’s comfortable somehow and the old name just feels clunky and awkward—not that it was much of a name to begin with. I’m pretty sure Sam is the same way—I’m not even sure I remember her old name. Based on her face, I’m guessing she feels the same.
“Weird,” I say.
“But does it feel like home?” Dad asks.
I look at the house behind us. We’ve been here for months but just existing here didn’t bring familiarity; it was just a nicer place to live than the Facility.
Now I see dawn hitting the blue walls and reflecting off of Mina’s window and I feel…settled. Warm. Not just protected but something more. I might have to try and paint this feeling for my therapist. I like it, I think.
“Yeah. I guess it does.”