Yay, family bonding! Also pirates.

4 2 0
                                    

Nat, Lane, and I turn to each other. "I'll go through Nat's." I say. "I'm going through yours. I wanna know what dangerous shit my girlfriend has managed to get into without supervision." Lane says. I laugh sheepishly. "Then I'll go through Lane's. I'm just hoping I see important events and nothing else." Natalie says with a smirk. Lane and I both go red. Nat walks away into the purple tunnel, laughing her ass off.
I stare at Lane.
"Just know most felonies were committed for money." "Most?" I laugh as I step inside the blue tunnel. Nat has never really talked about what happened when she was away from everyone. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm about to see.
I stare at the walls. The first couple of years I skip over. I've known her since we were toddlers. It's not like I don't know this stuff. I continue glancing over the walls until I reach a picture of Natalie alone, standing in front of a portal. The image shifts, promptly scaring the shit out of me. Natalie reaches into the portal without hesitation, disappearing before the image resets.
She...
She just went in.
I hesitated. Hell, I freaked out for a second.
But Natalie just stepped inside.
I tear away my gaze and continue through the tunnel. I pass most of the battles, only stopping at the three month period where I....
You know.
Then I reach the day of Starfall. After that lies the unknown three years. I press forward, scanning the walls.
And I notice a lot of computer work. I look closer.
Oh.
That's not computer work.
That's hacking.
I reach out and touch the wall. On contact, everything around me melts away into something new. I'm suddenly in a dark room, staring at a figure hunched over a computer.
Nat.
Natalie is the one hunched over the computer. She's grumbling to herself while messing with lines of code. "I can't let them lock onto their location. I wish they'd stop doing stupid shit though...." She grumbles.
She's... she's leading them off someone's trail. I glance at what she's messing with. It's a file on Hade.
The memory fades, sending me back to reality.
"She made sure none of us got caught." I whisper. I continue on. What else did she do?
I stop when I see an image of Nat fighting someone. The next drawing is off her figure laying alone on the ground.
My blood runs cold as I reach for the image, brushing against it.
I'm thrown into the scene. At first glance it seems like a fist fight between Natalie and some drunkard.
But then I see the sheen of a knife. "NAT-"
She stares at me. Did she...
Did she hear me?
The knife sinks into her side.
The scene shifts again, changing into a lonely deserted area. The drunkard drags Nat across the sand, abandoning the body. I stare at it in disbelief.
It's just a memory.
Just. A. Memory.
I watch the sun and moon chase each other across the sky, sped up. Three days. I see a strange shimmer in the air near Natalie's body.
Two shapes, arguing.
Then Natalie sits up gasping and panting, and the memory fades.
I need to get the fuck out of here.

I rush to the end of the tunnel, stumbling out into the next antichamber. Damien and Caleb are already waiting. "We already knew most of the history." Damien shrugs. "Most." Caleb grunts.
Oh.
He's salty.
Lane steps out of my tunnel, her blue eyes latching onto me.
Oh shit.
She stomps over. "Piracy? PIRACY????? OF ALL THINGS-" "Listen, after the L.O. Caught on I left. Ok? I understand it was dangerous. But I have allies in many dark corners of the criminal underworld. That'll come in handy." Lane considers this.
She nods begrudgingly.
Natalie steps into the chamber, her steps echoing around the cavern.
"You saw it then?" I nod silently. Lane raises an eyebrow. "Saw what?" "I got killed in a scrap with a drunk. Creation just let me... lie there. For three freakin days." Nat growls, staring at the rocky ground.
She glances at Lane.
"I think you had the least eventful three years."

Slowly, the rest of the group files out into the chamber. Creation suddenly makes themself present. And that's when it dawns on me.
They brought Natalie back.
And Damien, maybe even twice.
Lane wasn't dead long enough for them to even react.
So what about me?
"Were you just gonna let me die?" I ask quietly. The whole room goes dead silent. Creation is taken aback by the question. "Pardon?" "Do I need to make the fucking question clearer?" I snarl, starting towards them.
"You brought back Nat on your own. You brought back Damien on your own, and hell that might've been twice. Lane wasn't dead long enough for you to react, I'll give you that much." I look up, staring them directly in their weird ass eyes. "What about me?"
"Listen Delilah-" "No. I'm not gonna listen to your damn excuses. Were you gonna let me die, yes or no?"
Creation goes silent.
I guess that's my answer.
"Fuck this, I'm an atheist." I grumble, starting into the next tunnel.
"What?"
"It means she doesn't believe in higher beings, like gods."
A beat of silence.
"DELILAH-"

Star BeingsWhere stories live. Discover now