Work Text:
Pomme was overwhelmed by a mixture of confusion and terror as her whole world crumbled around her. The imminent threat of the Federation hung like a sword of Damocles over her family, forcing them to ran away in haste. Her thoughts were a whirlwind of questions and anxiety as she frantically scanned her surroundings for her loved ones. But in the frantic bustle, only the familiar silhouette of one of her fathers, Antoine, hurriedly loading their makeshift boat, stood in front of her. Her heart clenched with anguish as she realised the absence of the other members of her family - Aypierre, Baghera, Etoiles - where could they be? Before she could form a coherent thought, her mother's shrill cries pierced her, her desperate plea echoing through the tension-filled air as she rushed towards Pomme, a mixture of fear and determination in her eyes:
“POMME ! RUN, DON'T LOOK BACK!”
The shrill cry that split the air pulled Antoine abruptly from his task. His anxious eyes turned from what he was doing to Pomme, his precious little girl, then to Baghera, then to a point behind the silhouette of the hybrid duck. A mixture of contrasting feelings danced in his eyes as he struggled to complete his task as quickly as possible. He shouted to his daughter:
“Pomme, in the boat, NOW!”
Pomme nodded her head in agreement. She obeyed without hesitation, hurrying towards the boat. With a leap, she climbed aboard, leaving the solid ground behind her. At her side, Antoine and Baghera followed her example. “Etoiles arrives. He's trying to keep Aypierre away, but the Federation isn't far away.” Baghera murmured, so that Pomme couldn't hear, as he tied a rope to hold the planks of their makeshift raft together.
“We can't wait for him forever.” Antoine murmured. “We have to leave as soon as possible!”
“I know!” Baghera's voice rose into the air.
The tension was high. Pomme could feel it, but she didn't know everything that was going on. She hadn't been able to say goodbye to Dapper, BBH, Richas, Empanada, Sunny, all her brothers and sisters, her aunts and uncles... She had to wait in hiding with her father, Antoine, for several days, without being able to see anyone. So she wrote diaries to everyone on the island. Baghera and Etoiles were responsible for delivering them during the day.
They waited a few more minutes, the tension in the air pervasive, suffocating. Pomme was stressed. She played nervously with the strap of her rucksack. After minutes that seemed like hours, Etoiles finally arrived. He was running, Aypierre hot on his heels. Pomme was reassured that her last two parents had finally arrived.
“START THE BOAT!” Etoiles shouted as his sand tornado unfurled.
Antoine obeyed. He pushed the boat and Baghera began to row. Aypierre shouted at them to stay there, that they had no right to leave. Pomme didn't understand. She looked at all her parents. Aypierre drew a bow and started shooting at them, ready to do anything to stop them. Etoiles defended them as best he could. He managed to wound Pierre enough so that he could no longer attack them. He eventually joined the others on the boat, collapsing from exhaustion. He was hurt, but nothing too serious, at least Pomme hoped not. She looked at her parents in disbelief. Antoine was at the helm of the boat, his gaze scanning the horizon. At the other end of the boat, Etoiles had retreated to a corner, his piercing eyes constantly scanning the surroundings, a silent sentinel ready to react to the slightest threat. Baghera, seated nearby, was watching the island of Quesadilla disappear slowly astern, her gaze seemingly plunged into a distant beyond, perhaps contemplating memories that were fading with the horizon.
In the midst of this scene, Pomme stood uncertain and troubled among her three parents, searching for answers in a sea of uncertainty. She slipped silently in beside Etoiles, carefully patting her leg in a gesture of care and comfort. Etoiles' attention turned gently to Pomme, a tender smile stretching his lips as he felt the soothing warmth of the gesture.
“What's going on, champ?”
Pomme looked at the ocean in front of her before looking at her father and signing to herself: "Papa... Explain to me what's going on. Why didn't Papa Aypierre follow us? Why do we have to run away?” Etoiles sighed. He turned his attention to his sword in his lap.
“It's complicated, Pomme... But we had to run away because we were in danger. The Federation wanted to lock us up for things we didn't do. And your father, if we can still call him that, betrayed us by selling his ass to the federation, for his own personal gain. He preferred to put you in danger rather than protect you. That's all I can tell you because it's all I know.”
Pomme didn't know what to say to that. She looked at Etoiles, her eyes wide with astonishment. It took her a while to get over it. She sighed as she rested her head against her father's arm. Aypierre had betrayed them...
The crossing was long, very long. Pomme even had time to write a logbook in which she noted down every piece of information she managed to get from her parents about the situation they had fled from. Baghera had told her that the Federation wanted to lock them up because together they were too dangerous. Antoine, on the other hand, had preferred to leave it in doubt that it was perhaps because of him and his status as a god and that if they hadn't ran away, he would probably be imprisoned in another dimension. Etoiles was much quieter about all this. He had already said what he knew. Pomme wrote it all down in her diary, adding her feelings, her fears and her doubts. She already missed the island, her friends, her other family members... Pomme had trouble sleeping. She couldn't stop thinking about Dapper, BBH, Richas... She spent most of her time looking at a photo of them all... She kept it preciously, slipping it into her diary.
One morning, as they sailed uncertainly across the ocean for days on end, Pomme was woken by a burst of laughter vibrating through the air, sounding like a joyful symphony. She was startled, her eyes opening to find her mother standing by the bed, a broad smile lighting up her face, her gaze filled with a gleam of excitement turned towards the horizon.
“We're back home!" she exclaimed with infectious excitement.
Antoine, in turn, burst out laughing, his heart filling with a familiar warmth at the sight of the silhouette of his earthen tower looming on the horizon. A wave of nostalgia suddenly swept over him, a tender memory of their lost moon making its way through his thoughts. But despite this gentle melancholy, he couldn't deny the comforting warmth of returning to this tower, this home he had loved and missed so much. As for Etoiles, his smile was imbued with a quiet wisdom, an expression of inner peace that seemed to radiate from him.
Pomme watched her parents in turn, letting herself be enveloped by the emotionally charged atmosphere. Although she didn't yet fully understand all the details of the situation, she felt intuitively that something new and significant was about to happen. It was as if the universe was offering them a blank page, ready to be filled in. And in her heart, a feeling of excitement mixed with apprehension began to germinate, instilling in her the certainty that the time had come to write the new chapter of their lives, with all the passion and determination they were capable of.
“Guys, we're back..." murmured Etoiles. “We're back home…”