“Why go so far?! We can just disconnect our ship from Brick Bond. Even if you rampage, with no one there, you’ll most likely calm down quicker than normal, and once it’s over, we’ll track you and then?—”
“It won’t work. Theyneedthis ship, more than half of the food supply is being stored here now. And in case you forgot, the Bureau has the rest. That little fact was just discussed during the meeting, remember? You also helped with the move.
“And before you suggest the escape pods, we already know there is no planet close enough. If there was, we would have sent someone for the drugs I needed in the first place. As it is, bythe time the people Cyrus sent come back, it will be far too late. Those things don’t go fast. Though maybe it would be better if I did leave in one. I’d die instantly the moment I lost it.”
The man began to shake his head. “I can’t, Ender… I can’t…” Soren’s tears spilled over. “I can’t…”
Ender stared at the pain on his brother’s face, hearing how broken he sounded, and smiled sadly as he softly said, “I know. It’s okay. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you. But…I do have to find someone who can. You know that, right?”
With his tears falling faster, Soren just kept shaking his head in silent denial.
Ender stood and pulled the Harpy into a hug, the Cryptid’s arms coming around him quickly. “I’m sorry, big brother.”
“You shouldn’t even be here!” Soren’s hold on him tightened.
Ender rested his head on his brother’s shoulder, and for the first time in a long while, he just let himself be held. “But I am, and we have to deal with it.”
“This is all that damn Fate’s fault!”
“Mmm, a pain in the ass man for sure. But I suppose he is the best option. I need to talk to him anyway. I doubt he’d have any qualms about doing it, regardless of how weird he’s acting.”
“When…?”
“Tomorrow. I don’t think I can put it off any longer than that.”
Even though much still burned, hours of rain had driven the smoke away, allowing Ender to see well enough as he stumbled through the streets of the destroyed city. His legs were barely holding him up anymore, yet his body somehow managed to keep going under the dropping temperatures and exhaustion. Though he didn’t think he could get any colder.
Despite the rain, the blood and dirt kept the burns covering him hidden well enough. He was bruised, cut, and seared, yet the physical pain was almost absent. Ender would have assumed he was going into shock, if it weren’t for the constant stabbing agony in his chest.
As Ender turned down a road, he careened to a sudden stop when he caught sight of the end of it, clutching at his chest as another throb of pain sliced through him.
Coughing, Ender took a stumbled step forward, his eyes locked on what had him freezing in the first place. He hadn’t found him…his brother. Soren hadn’t been with them… He usually was…but Ender had searched and searched, and he hadn’t been there.
More tears broke free as he reached the end of the road and fell to his knees in front of the crater that was now all that remained of his brother’s house.
“S-Soren,” Ender whimpered. He tried to breathe in through his nose, just to see if he could smell anything that would tell him if his brother was really gone, if he had been there. But all he could smell was the burning scents that had plagued him since reaching the valley. “Ah…”
“Ender…”
His head snapped back around, eyes going wide as he spotted the tall man standing behind him. Halus Grimm was seven feet tall and muscular, with pale skin, a hawklike nose, a boxy yet slightly rounded jaw, black hair, and dark reddish-purple eyes that sometimes looked black in darker lighting.
“Halus, y-you’re alive!” he cried out as he stumbled to his feet, latching onto his friend. He started to sob harder when the Cryptid wrapped his arms around him, giving him the first bit of warmth he’d felt since reaching the valley. “Halus, t-they’re all gone! AH—they’re gone! Coop…m-my parents…my babies… I’m alone… I’m alone! It’s…it’s c-cold.”
“Shh, I got you, I got you,” Halus murmured gently. “You’re not alone, you have me. You’ll always have me.”
“My brother! I-I can’t find him! I c-can’t find Soren—ah!” He gasped, his breath stuttering before he managed to get out, “Please, please, help me find him! M-maybe he w-went on a tr-trip without telling us! H-he’s all I have left! I have to find him! Help me… HELP ME!”
Halus caressed the side of his face. “We have to leave.”
“Leave?! I can’t! They’re… I can’t leave them! And—ah—Soren! I haven’t found him!”
“You have to. It’s what’s meant to be.”
Ender jerked away from the man’s hold, stepping back as if he’d been struck. His eyes grew wide as the words repeated in his head. More than that, he now noticed the expression on Halus’ face. Empty… No pain, no hint of loss. The Fate’s face was blank and completely relaxed, as if the city wasn’t burning around them.
“W-what did you… What did you just say?” he rasped, his words a mere whisper.
Ender’s tears started to slow, even as more dripped down his face when the Fate didn’t answer. Halus reached out to touch his cheek again.
