I wrote most of this today and the words flowed wonderfully. Happy Mum’s Day to me :D
As always, many thanks to all those who left comments, reblogged and liked the last bit. Also to the amazing @the-original-sineater@onereyofstarlight and @katblu42 for reading and amazing support ::hugs you all tight::
There is a big angst warning on this one. No one is in a good headspace in this at all.
I hope you enjoy it anyway.
-o-o-o-
Thunderbird Two was gentle and strong. That was what the news channels claimed. There had been many a documentary that discussed the International Rescue operatives and all the work they did, and each brother had been described to the best ability of those who had been rescued. There was almost a cult of grateful people out there and their commentary on Thunderbird Two was that he was gentle and strong.
At this moment, Virgil Tracy felt neither.
Grandma’s alarmed call had Virgil at Scott’s side within seconds. His big brother was unresponsive and all scans were screaming a decline of vitals steeper than their already ill little brother.
A bed was set up beside Gordon and they were all left helpless to watch Scott decline with him.
Grandma kicked every Kryptonian out of the infirmary for fear of infection.
She had arguments from both John and Virgil, but her word was law on this Island, hell, this planet, and they had no choice but to obey.
John returned to his determined search for a reason, poor Eos taking the brunt of his enquiries.
Virgil…
Virgil had his own determination and went over and over and over Gordon and Scott’s movements leading up to this hell.
He had never moved so fast in his life. Their computer network, already burdened by John’s efforts, struggled to keep up despite Eos’ ‘improvements’ over the years. It was when his carpet started smoking that Virgil broke.
Falling to his knees alone in the middle of his room, he felt the world falling around him. All his strength, all his knowledge, and he couldn’t stop it from happening.
All those years ago, it had been the same. For all he could do, he couldn’t save his grandfather. He could still see those blue lips as he broke ribs trying to revive him. They were as cold as the snow, the only warmth tingling as Virgil leant over desperately trying to breathe life into him.
But Grandpa was gone.
Gor.
Kal.
His plea was in a language not of this world.
Hunched on the floor, distracted by grief, he didn’t hear her approach, but Grandma’s hand on his shoulder was soft. “Virgil?”
Only years of habit restrained his reaction.
The worry for him in her eyes broke what little heart he had left and suddenly he was in her arms and crying on her shoulder.
It had been Grandma who he had to face after his failure to save Grandpa. Grandma who had held him when he didn’t deserve it. Grandma who told him he had done his best.
He didn’t have words.
Grandma’s strength was so much greater than his own.
She rubbed circles across his back just like she had then.
“They are still with us. There is still a chance.”
He pulled away gently and was caught by her blue gaze. Eyes that couldn’t produce heat and were limited to such a tiny fraction of the light spectrum, but somehow they saw deep into his soul.
Her hand reached up and cupped his wet cheek. “This isn’t your fault, honey.”
He closed his eyes. “I can’t…” But there was so much he couldn’t, he couldn’t put them into words. Dad’s words bounced about his brain, ‘You can’t save everyone’, but his brothers weren’t everyone. They were his brothers. Two of four refugees from a planet that no longer existed.
He couldn’t.
But suddenly on the other side of the house, John broke. There was the sound of furniture disintegrating followed by…Vir closed his eyes…a wall. There would be no keeping Jon on Earth if they lost their brothers. Not for some time at least. Alan, Dad, Grandma, Tanusha, Kyrano and Hiram. Family kept them grounded, but Jon always sought the stars. His brother was looking for something and had been all his life. Virgil wasn’t sure what it was, but something pulled at him.
The loss of Kal and Gor…
Virgil drew himself together. With Kal down, Vir was Eldest.
The thought hurt more than anything he had ever experienced. But as Eldest, John was Virgil’s responsibility, even if they barely remembered the culture that demanded it.
Virgil stepped back from his grandmother, her gaze following his every movement.
“We all love you, Virgil, don’t forget that.”
And he saw fear in her eyes. Fear of more loss.
He reached out and touched her cheek. “I know. We know. And we love you more than you can know.”
His face was wet again.
But he turned towards the door to his balcony. Half a blink and he was in the sky, chasing down his broken brother.
-o-o-o-
Time was a thing to be manipulated. It varied depending on the amount of energy applied. Thought adapted to speed and speed equated energy.
Slower speed enabled more time and thought could laze away. The faster he moved the faster he thought, so time was elastic, slowing to his exertions.
It took him the same length of time it would to cross his bedroom to reach Thunderbird Five. Despite his ability to locate the wandering satellite being far from as precise as that of his space brother, he still managed to lock onto it faster than Three ever could.
The satellite sat silent and calm, her lights bright in the darkness. He flew around her twice, wincing at the cold death of vacuum on his skin.
He finally found his brother sitting on the lip of Five’s gravity ring. It was slowly spinning and Virgil had to match its rotation to face his brother.
Hovering in front of John, Earth passed in a lazy circle around them as if they were the centre of the universe.
John was dressed in his usual cotton shirt and shorts, the material now burnt, brittle and leaking the last of its oils and moisture into the unforgiving vacuum around it. His brother was haloed in a barely visible comet’s tail of disintegrating cotton.
Virgil had no doubt he looked similar. Another reason to hate space. He should have changed his boots before leaving the atmosphere, they were his favourite pair.
Another reason was the lack of sound. Virgil had no doubt that was one of the reasons why John was outside his ‘bird rather than in it.
But although sound was as much as breath to Virgil, he did speak other languages.
He drifted closer and closer to his brother, wary of him skipping off into parts of space Virgil would have difficulty locating him in – the Moon was a definite hidey hole that Virgil despised.
And John knew it.
Perhaps this was the reason why he was on Five and not in some lunar cave like last time. John was here because he wanted company.
Maybe.
There was so much hurt of Virgil’s own, it was hard to see through it.
John looked up, aquamarine lit by the passing Earth in a rainbow of blues.
In space, there were no tears, no breath. Everything that made them appear human, fell away and only the Kryptonian remained. Hard-shelled, strong, resistant, fuelled by an adopted sun.
Virgil lifted his arm and part of his shirt disintegrated, floating away and leaving his bicep naked to space. He reached over and drew his brother into a gentle embrace.
John resisted at first, but it was little more than habit and he eventually let go, falling off his ‘bird into Virgil’s arms.
No longer connected to the force of Five, their trajectory drifted and they clung together slowly spinning away into the darkness.
John was holding him as much as Virgil was. There were no words, but the love was there.
It wasn’t until Virgil instinctively shifted their movement into a more terrestrial direction that John pulled away. He didn’t let go, but he forced Virgil to look at him and shook his head.
Virgil pressed his lips together. They were needed. Their time was limited. Letting go, Virgil signed in ASL. “We’re needed.”
John’s eyes flared as he signed back. “To do what?! There is nothing!”
Virgil’s heart stopped. His hands shook as he signed the truth. “Our family needs us.” A tremble. “I need you.”
John grabbed his hands and brought them to his bowed forehead. The motion was intimate, between family, and the grip John had on Virgil would likely have crushed human hands.
But he needed those hands to speak.
He slipped them carefully from his brother’s and made the signs he didn’t want to. “This is not like Before. This is Kal and Gor and we are loved.” The shake in his hands was back. “Not the same.”
John grabbed his hands again and Virgil let him. What they had experienced Before coming to Earth had affected them all differently. It had given Kal the urge to drop his name forever, and a defensive skin of so much depth Virgil feared he could not reach through it to his brother some days. Vir chose not to think of Before. Jon had no choice as nightmares continually reminded him. His age made him particularly vulnerable at the time. Gor claimed to barely remember, but Vir had comforted him in the night enough to know red light haunted his dreams as much as it did the rest of them.
The blues, greens and yellows of Earth were blessings on so many levels.
John was shaking his head again, his forehead rubbing erratically against Virgil’s knuckles.
Virgil was imprisoned by his environment, no sound, only light.
Pressing his lips together, he dragged them closer to Five. A flicker of red light and he etched his heart into the shell of his brother’s Thunderbird with his heat vision. “You are needed.” He wrote it in Kryptonian script. Only his family could read it.
Especially John.
John, whose eyes were wide, caught between outrage at the damage to his ‘bird and the risk taken…and the emotion in those words.
Virgil took the opportunity to take back control of his hands and sign vehemently. “I need you, Jon! I can’t do this without you!” And the wave of emotion he had been holding back threatened to crash down and destroy him, his hands shook so badly he could barely make out the words. “You are needed.”
-o-o-o-
Landing back on Tracy Island with his brother in his arms was far from any kind of victory. Barely decent, the remains of their clothes doing little to help after a determined re-entry Eos would be explaining away for the next week, Virgil stumbled off the balcony into the lounge and into the arms of their family.
Grandma wrapped him in cooling blanket as Dad took John from his arms and did the same. Murmured words in his Dad’s deep voice rumbled across the room as he led his brother away.
The air stank of ozone and burnt hopes.
“How are they?”
Grandma’s voice was quiet. “Still in decline.” She said nothing more, leading him to the showers and a clean set of clothes.
He didn’t waste time, held up only by the speed the water could fall on him. Clean, he donned another comfortable flannel shirt and jeans, leaving his feet bare in denial of the loss of his boots.
Grandma was waiting for him in the hall. He didn’t beat around the bush. “I want to be with them. There is nothing I can do out here.” He dipped his head. “I need to be with them.”
His grandmother straightened, a mixture of defiance and fear in her eyes. “We still don’t know what is causing this! Scott was with your brother when it took him. What if it takes you too?!”
The fear in her voice spiked and he instinctively gathered his hands around hers, holding them first close to his heart and then to his forehead, almost exactly like John had done to him earlier. “Grandma, I can’t sit around and do nothing while they die!”
“Virgil!”
“I love you, Grandma.” He held her hands to his forehead a solid moment before gently letting go, turning and walking off to the infirmary.
Perhaps it was foolish. Perhaps it was his form of fleeing to Five. Perhaps he had chased down John because Virgil knew he was going to have to do this. Perhaps he wanted to save at least one of them…in case… But he couldn’t sit apart from brothers who needed him.
Even if he couldn’t help them.
His ill brothers were exactly where he left them as he quietly closed the door. A glance at the monitors revealed that Scott was actually worse than Gordon.
Virgil sighed as he stepped in between the two beds and picked up the chair there. Sitting down, he eyed Gordon. His little brother’s pale skin was almost translucent. Virgil reached out and touched his cheek. His skin was cool to the touch and there was no reaction at all. Oxygen hissed through a cannula attached to his nose and he was being fed through an intravenous drip that a couple of days ago would have been impossible to install.
Then Virgil forced himself to look at Scott. And yes, his name was Scott, Kal was a dead name.
But Virgil couldn’t help but see his defiant leader of a brother, even here, pale and wan. He, too, had a nasal cannula and drip, put there by Virgil himself some hours ago.
He reached out to touch Scott and found him as cool as Gordon, and just as unresponsive. Both seemed determined to just slip away, never to return.
Never to smile again, never to laugh, never to sigh at the other’s joke or poke fun in return. Just gone…leaving Virgil behind when he had vowed to follow his brother anywhere he chose to lead.
The Before time, when his big brother had first confided their father’s plan to send Kal to another planet because this one was doomed.
Only Kal.
Kal had told only Virgil at first, his big brother’s immediate reaction one of defiance and argument, horrified that his three brothers were to be discarded and left to die.
It had been Virgil who suggested another way - contact one of the ancients, find out what was really happening before confronting their parents.
The ancients were a group of AIs developed long ago who had stepped away from their biological progenitors in favour of creating their own civilisation.
Their history was full of determination and conflict both within themselves, but also with their creators’ descendants. Currently the two species were at peace, but considering why Kal was contacting them, that was not likely to last.
What he didn’t expect was to find most of the intelligences gone. Only a few remained, enough to keep up appearances, along with a few who refused to leave.
Eos was a young ancient, one who knew what was happening, one who believed the biologicals deserved to survive despite the entire situation being their fault. It was she who revealed the truth to Kal, it was she who chose to help them, she who infected their family home and the capsule Jor was preparing. The calculations could only support one person and that person was to be Kal. Eos didn’t agree and neither did their firstborn.
What followed had rent their family apart and that capsule, altered beyond recognition was what had left Krypton that last day.
Eldest was his everything and he had Virgil’s everything in return. While he adored his Earth family and would protect them with his life, there was a bond between Virgil and Scott that defied even that.
So there was a small, ever so small, part of Virgil that hoped that whatever was taking his brothers, would take him too.
It was an hour before he realised that was what was likely going to happen.
He had been resting his head on Gordon’s bedside – he had been taking turns sitting with both of them, talking, humming, once even singing a Kryptonian lullaby in the vague hope he might get a response. Grandma had obviously decided to let him have this time by himself, though no doubt Eos was in the servers watching like a hawk. The AI did love all of them in her own way. She was just as Kryptonian, even if no longer in flesh.
But lifting his head was suddenly so much harder than it should be. He persisted despite the sudden realisation that this was likely it.
He looked up at Gordon, loving him as much now as ever, despite the screaming in Virgil’s head. A glance over at Scott, his brother was exactly as he had been moments before.
Virgil turned back to Gordon. Still pale, still unresponsive, still far too quiet. Hell, the only sound in the room beyond the faint breathing of his brothers, was the scratching of the two crabs in their glass bowl.
Virgil blinked. When was the last time those two had been fed?
Gordon would kill him if his pets suffered while he was ill.
Discarding the obvious idiocy of that statement considering his own sudden condition, Virgil pushed himself to his feet. Nothing responded as it should. Everything was slow and weak, including his thought processes. He couldn’t recall if these crabs needed daily feeding or less. Gordon would not be impressed. But considering they were agitated, a little food wouldn’t hurt, would it?
He cursed his sudden infirmity.
Regardless, he stumbled over to the bowl. A small jar of food sat beside it and Virgil frowned at the instructions. He squeezed his eyes shut as they blurred repeatedly, shifting between the visible spectrum and those outside it.
His heart thudded in his chest.
He dropped a few food pellets into the water. A shaft of sunlight had caught the edge of the bowl refracting through the glass and bouncing off the ornamental rock at its centre. Concerned the light wasn’t good for the marine crabs, Virgil leant over to move the bowl a little.
A wave of weakness washed over him and the bowl didn’t budge.
The green rock flickered at him in the sunlight as if to taunt him.
He frowned even more as that rock faded in and out of spectral range. What the-?
He reached into the bowl and grabbed the rock out of the water. Holding it up to the sunlight, he struggled to focus at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum. In the visible spectrum it was little more than a spotty rock. In ultraviolet light it glowed a sickly green, its crystalline interior so much more than what it appeared.
Virgil didn’t know what the hell it was. Nothing like this existed in all his mineralogy experience.
Another wave of weakness washed up his arm and over his body.
Oh god, was this it? Was this what was making them all ill?
As if in answer, Virgil’s legs folded under him, throwing him to a floor harder than it had ever been. He narrowly missed hitting his head and barely kept his grip on the damned rock.
If this was what was causing this, there was something he could do. Finally something he could do.
He pushed himself up onto an elbow and grabbing the chair from this side of Gordon’s bed, dragged himself to his feet.
The door, he had to get to the door, and get whatever this was away from his brothers.
It fought him.
Where earlier he had flown into orbit at the speed he could cross his room, the distance to the infirmary door seemed more distant than the stars themselves.
But he could feel the illness radiating out from the rock. Green, sickly, and life-sucking.
He stumbled into the wall and found it was all that was keeping him on his feet.
Water dripped from his hand to the floor as if teasing him to follow.
He pushed on the door handle.
And he was falling through the door.
He landed hard and took out a side table as he fell, a vase crashing on top of him, blue shards of glass flying everywhere.
An alarm went off, but all Virgil could feel was the pulsing heat of the rock in his hand matching his heartbeat.
He had to get it away from his brothers.
Falling onto his side he pulled himself along the floor. Pain spiked in his hands, his knees, it was a frightening sensation that took him back to his childhood and Before. Red rock and crystal shards. “I’m sorry, mother, so sorry.” He had to keep going. Kal was depending on him, his little brothers needed him. Little Gor-El was only small, Jon-El not much bigger, they needed him.
“Virgil!”
And John was there. “No! No, get away!” He attempted to push Jon away. He needed to be protected, he shouldn’t be here, it wasn’t safe.
Strong arms, ever so strong, grabbed his wrists, far too tight. Something snapped and the rock fell, clattering across the hardwood floor.
Virgil groaned collapsing into those arms as they caught him. The rock flickered green as it rolled away, taking him with it into darkness.
I’ve had the most horrendous week at work. I started back after lockdown with a new regional and departmental manager, and both walked out without serving out their notice a few days ago. I am now the most senior person in my department and am basically propping everything up. I’m trying to juggle an insane amount of pressure while keeping the morale in what little remains of my team high, but got it all thrown back in my face earlier when I divulged to a colleague that the stress is getting to me, only to be harshly told, ‘if you think you’ve got it bad, imagine how I feel.’
Instant invalidation.
I also heard on the grapevine this evening that two more colleagues (from different departments) are also leaving, which will push my schedule to breaking point. My team is small by most business’s standards (18 at last count), and 4 have left in 3 weeks. It’s a train wreck complete with burning passengers.
I had a horrendous bout of anxiety that led to a mini breakdown in 2019, however have managed to get the worst of it under control since then. This last week has been the first time in nearly 2 years that some of the old symptoms have started returning. I’m not sleeping through the night, my pig-like appetite isn’t as pig-like as usual, and I’m constantly battling the urge to cry.
I also found out the other day that my godmother has Covid. She’s fully vaccinated and isn’t showing symptoms, but catastrophic thinking is making it hard for me to rationalise her situation.
I’m sorry to dump this here, but I’m starting to feel a bit directionless, and that in itself is scary. I know my situation isn’t that bad and I really shouldn’t complain, but it’s cathartic to type stuff out. I’m aiming to leave my current post within the next couple of months, but patience is something I don’t have much of right now. What’s most upsetting is the fact that the stress is preventing me from interacting with the fandom and the boy that literally keep me afloat some days
I also hate that I lack the brainpower to engage with all of the amazing content that’s been posted here recently I used to look so forward to coming on here of an evening, but now all I do is scroll without seeing stuff and I hate it
Okay, this is likely a sign that Nutty has had a little too much work and not enough play today, or at least writing, because this makes zero sense. It also occurred to me in the carpark of my supermarket.
It is also crack and written far too fast.
I apologise in advance.
-o-o-o-
The Tracy family doesn’t shop like the average family. This is a group of brothers who use a long haul cargo ship to lug their purchases home, often in crates.
So, the Tracy brothers don’t get to use the everyday shopping trolley.
It is obvious that all five brothers would be incredibly considerate and return their shopping trolleys to the trolley bays after use.
Whether or not this is a good idea remains to be seen.
You see, first we have Scott Tracy, the eldest, the busiest, the one to make it across the parking lot the fastest because why do anything slow, he’s a busy man.
Unfortunately, he gets a phone call halfway across, hurries to answer it and accidentally gets hit by a car.
Now, Virgil Tracy is all the squishy kindness in a lumberjack shirt. He returns his trolley, sure enough. Even makes it across the parking lot without incident. However, on the way back he encounters an older lady with a cane, finishing up putting her shopping in her car and he offers to take her trolley back. She thanks him profusely and he takes the trolley and returns it. Unfortunately, there is more than one older lady in the parking lot and he appears to be a magnet for them. It starts with a polite query to help another and then suddenly, every woman in a fifty-metre radius is in dire straits and needing his help.
Gordon has to wade in with a long stick and prod them off his brother in order to drag him away.
John Tracy, totally fails to notice the eyes that follow him around. He is so used to tight spacesuits, the skin tight jeans barely register. He has been fiddling with his trolley the entire time it has been in his possession. It needs improving and by the time he returns it to the trolley bay, there is a distinct possibility he took it a little too far because now it wants to follow him home.
Gordon Tracy quite enjoys returning his trolley. The parking lot has a bit of a slope to it and while everyone else is fighting to keep their trolleys going in the direction they want, Gordon has launched himself trolley surfing down the length of it.
He knows all the tricks, including the double flip and does a decent job of skiing on two wheels.
The screams in the parking lot just make it more exciting.
Alan Tracy, ever idolising his immediate older brother, attempts to copy Gordon and usually ends up being hit by a car.
Or more rightly, several cars being hit by him. Scott has purchased several new cars for various outraged supermarket customers.
So, in short, the Tracys don’t do supermarket shopping. Grandma banned them the last time one of them got hit by a car. At least with Two in the parking lot, there ain’t much room for anyone else.
-o-o-o-
*puffs frantically into a paper bag*
Can’t. Breathe….So. Hilarious!
My boi trolley surfing…why can I picture this so clearly?
Trope: A person who can heal other people’s wounds by taking them onto themselves. Oftentimes when they heal someone else, they get the exact same injuries or ailments. Sometimes, though, they just get really sick or feel great pain. The point is healing others causes them to feel pain or sickness themselves, making it a real sacrifice every time they heal.
Warnings: Major accident, Self-Sacrifice
There had always been healers in their family. It was something Sally had been so proud of when she was one, and watching over her grandsons as they grew, she had not been surprised when Virgil looked set to follow in her tracks.
From about the age of six he’d always been fascinated by medicine and would try to practice on his long-suffering brothers. Scott was more than happy to oblige him, and even Gordon and Alan were more than happy to let him wrap them up in bandages or ‘play doctor’ in other ways. John was the only one who flatly refused to let Virgil practice on him, but he was quite happy to spend hours researching even the most obscure medical knowledge.
As time passed and the boys grew into men, that passion became a vital part of the role he was to play in his father’s dreams.
But Virgil had no idea just what kind of skill he had inherited until it almost killed him.
Sally had kept a close eye on him, but not once did her favourite grandson look like he was going to be the next one. Didn’t stop her from teaching him everything she knew, herbal and alternative medicines included. Homely Remedies her grandmother had called them. Virgil was a quick study, and he helped his brothers when they were injured.
And Sally began to suspect he was tapping into that sacred part of himself without even realising it.
Healing hands. Gordon called them his healing hands. Virgil could and did work magic with them. A touch here soothed, a kneading here eased, a pressure to this point there and ahhhhh…magic.
Virgil laughed at him every time, citing training and expertise, and continued to soothe and ease his brothers’ aches and pains from their life as International Rescue. If he appeared to be a little achy after such sessions, well, no one ever asked about it because Virgil threw his all into everything he did.
Then there was a rescue that went south very quickly.
Scott had been on the top floor. He’d evacuated everyone but one victim, and he’d just managed to get the woman’s leg free, scooped her up and jetted up to fly out of the window when the building decided that it had stood long enough.
Virgil was just making his way to the entrance when the building rumbled. He looked up at Scott’s shout in time to see the window shatter as the roof caved in.
‘I’m not gonna make it out!’
The comms resounded with all four brothers yelling for Scott, and Virgil charged towards the building.
‘Virgil – Stop!’
‘John, Scott’s in there…’
‘I know, I know. You need to wait for the building to stop falling, otherwise we could lose you too.’
Virgil knew that – he was the engineer, but the overwhelming need to get to his brother had overridden that knowledge. Putting himself at risk just as Scott would do for them was second nature (even if he grumbled about Scott’s self-sacrificing idiocy), but he would wait. It wouldn’t be long.
Sure enough, less than 30 seconds later the ground stabilised and Virgil was in, exosuit being put to its’ fullest use as he cleared a path to where John indicated their brother was buried along with his rescuee.
As expected, Scott was lying on top of the woman, shielding her from the rubble. She was absolutely fine, if very shaken, but Scott was a different matter entirely.
Both Gordon and Alan appeared to help, Alan using a hover stretcher to take the woman away while Gordon helped Virgil with Scott.
They worked in silence. The Medscanner flagged up red after red after red. The scans went straight to John and then straight to Grandma. By the time they had a backboard and neck brace fitted Sally had already decided what they needed to do, what they could do. What they could onlydo.
‘Bring Scotty home, boys.’
No one commented at her tone of voice, and the journey was made in silence. Nor the fact that John was down and Kayo was home.
Virgil and Gordon brought Scott to the infirmary and transferred him to the waiting bed, then Grandma and Virgil set about doing what little they could.
They left Virgil keeping watch.
It was a quiet, desolated family that barely touched the meal before them and trouped off to bed.
Sally checked on them all in the middle of the night, unsurprised to find the three boys asleep together on Scott’s bed. Even Kayo was there, sleeping in the chair at the foot of the bed, although she cracked open an eye and smiled at her.
Her next stop was the infirmary. Sally firmly expected Virgil to be asleep with his head on the bed, holding Scott’s hand. She wasn’t prepared for what she did find.
Virgil wasn’t asleep. He was standing beside Scott’s bed. One hand on Scott’s forehead, the other on his chest.
Virgil was glowing.
That glow was spreading slowly over Scott’s body. She stood in the doorway and watched.
Virgil was starting to shake, but the glow remained steady. Sally didn’t need to see the machines to know that the medic was healing his eldest brother from the inside out.
She’s hoped so much that Virgil would be the one, but he’d shown no indications at all. Perhaps he just needed to have the right incentive. And while she’d never wish for the level of injuries Scott had sustained – virtually killing the eldest or at the very least leaving him severely and permanently disabled – it was also the only hope Scott had.
He was buckling even more, pain spreading though his body. Sally watched with both hope and dismay as Virgil began bleeding in places she’d only a couple of hours earlier stitched up on Scott.
Empathic healer.
Not something that surprised her at all, but she’d hoped Virgil would be just a healer. Empaths draw the hurt into themselves to heal, and her grandson was going to kill himself if he was healing Scott completely that way.
‘Virgil, honey, you need to slow down and limit the scope of your healing.’
But Virgil was too far gone in his healing trance to hear her. Her grandson would end up sacrificing himself to save his brother, so very like Scott it hurt. So Sally did what she – and grandmothers all around the world – did best. She stepped up to help, to take the strain, to support him as only she could.
Sally’s own powers had dimmed with age, but with that age came experience. Positioning herself beside Virgil, she placed both hands on his left bicep, and immediately she was engulfed in the golden glow. If anything, she made it brighter.
While Virgil healed his brother, literally taking each injury into himself, Sally healed him.
When Scott woke up the next morning the first thing that registered was that he wasn’t in his room. Then he frowned as awareness spread to realise not only was he in the infirmary, but both Virgil – not a surprise – and Grandma – total surprise – were asleep on chairs beside him.
He couldn’t remember why he was here at all, but as he moved a little the hand clutching his tightened and Virgil murmured in his sleep, and Scott broke out into a fond smile.
The crashing of broken pottery made him jolt upright, in turn waking both sleepers.
Gordon was in the doorway, eyes wide in shock, shattered remains of the cereal bowl at his feet. Before Scott could ask his brother bolted from the room and returned quickly pulling a yawning John along behind him.
When John had the same reaction Scott decided something serious had obviously happened, although he felt absolutely fine so he couldn’t work out what.
John cleared his throat.
‘So. I guess we need to talk.’
‘That’s probably a good idea, John. Gordon, close your mouth and be a dear. Go fetch your brother and sister.’
Impromptu meeting convened, everyone listened with increasing awe as Sally explained and demonstrated just what kind of medics she and Virgil were.
Time for another chapter! A little bit of family fluff mixed in with some feelings, from Kayo’s POV. This wasn’t originally part of the story, however when someone mentioned Kyrano I just knew I had to explore how Kayo would feel about him. Enjoy!
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Gordon had grumbled all the way to the doctor’s office. Kayo had just raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. The injury, a relatively minor one, was examined, poked and photographed. A copy of the examination would be sent to International Rescue, who would pass it to their lawyers to handle. They would be the ones to decide whether to pursue a case or not. There was yet another groan from Gordon when he realised he would be going the whole way home in the pod.
“You know with your erratic flying style I could have made it appear worse.”
“Considering the cameras that caught the incident were still rolling, it would have just gotten your case thrown out.”
“Can you at least fly a little steadier? It doesn’t look good to have an aquanaut throw up due to motion sickness.”
Kayo smirked at the idea, though she had noticed the pod was swinging a fair amount during the ride over.
“I’ll try repositioning the clamps. The waves made it hard to get them evenly spread.”
“Thanks Kayo.”
Kayo watched the green pod swallow up her brother before jogging over to her craft and agilely jumping into the pilot’s seat. The pleasure of an individualised cockpit couldn’t be understated. Her hands naturally and comfortably landed on the controls, everything was at the right eye level for her and her body moulded into the seat allowing her to become one with the stealth ship. Shadow rose from the ground smoothly and the gentle vibrations from the ultra quiet engines radiated through her body. Once above the pod, she released the worst two magnets. She carefully manoeuvred the Thunderbird to tug on the cords and reposition them. With the magnets as even as she would be able to get them, Kayo guided her craft towards the sky. The engines complained at the extra weight, but she knew her Thunderbird could handle it. Sending more power to the engines, the pod slowly rose from the ground. Once at a safe altitude she turned the controls so the craft was pointing toward the designated path home. It wasn’t long until she deposited the pod onto the runway before docking her own ship. She didn’t rush, knowing Brains’ and Grandma would have the pod moved and Gordon bustled up to the house. Post-flight checks complete, she took the elevator to her room and changed. Having heard Grandma Sally call out that she was going to put the pizzas on, Kayo headed straight to the kitchen to check on them. A smile grew across her face as she caught sight of the spicy vegetarian pizza Grandma put in for her. Kayo turned down the temperature and switched the setting from one to three hoping it wasn’t too late to save the food. The edges were already burning but the middle somehow appeared still frozen.
“How are they doing?”
“Hopefully another five minutes and we can eat.”
“Fantastic, and how about yourself?”
“Me? I’m fine.”
The woman put her hands on her hips and Kayo knew that meant trouble. She’d given the wrong answer.
“Really now, Kayo. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Kayo had had enough teenage standoffs with the woman to know when she was going to win or lose the battle. This was definitely a losing situation. Checking the pizzas again, she spoke to the oven.
“Dad hasn’t reached out yet.”
The loving sympathy that softened Sally’s face made Kayo feel like a teenager again. It was like that week all over again. Sally had supported her throughout, very much like what Kayo thought a mother would do. Kayo found herself being held, a faint familiar scent of lavender wafted from the jumpsuit as she rested her cheek against a warm shoulder. Her own arms reached around lightly to reciprocate.
“I’m sorry, Kayo. The Kyrano I knew would have by now. He’d have wanted to mend bridges.”
Kayo squeezed the woman harder, her heart hurting just as it did over eight years ago when he’d first left her here. Her father knew exactly where she was, she hadn’t left. Part of her knew she was still waiting for him to return. She desired to have a blood relative who wasn’t trying to destroy her family, but he hadn’t shown his face since. Like the boys, her father was the only parent she had left, but unlike Jeff who couldn’t return, her father deliberately didn’t. The warmth of Sally’s hug was soothing and Kayo was glad to have shared her thoughts, but she had to break away. She turned off the oven. Grabbing large plates, she slipped the pizzas onto them and deposited them onto the island counter. The edges were a little on the crispy side but the centers were now bubbling. A few snips with a large set of scissors had them in triangles. With a jug of water in one hand, she carried one up to the living room where Gordon and Jeff occupied a sofa.
“Is that a Hawaiian pizza I smell?”
Gordon’s eyes glistened as Kayo put the plate on the round table. A deep red bruise was forming around the socket of what was going to become a black eye. His hands had a slice in them before she could answer. Grandma placed the other two down, before heading downstairs for glasses. Kayo grabbed a slice of her favourite as Jeff took a piece of the pepperoni one. They all munched away in contented silence, only interrupted by John giving them an update, a jealous eye on the food. Pizza didn’t do well in space.
“There’s plenty in the freezer if you want one.”
John was about to respond when his name was called from behind him. It appeared Scott was in need of some assistance and John gave a curt FAB before vanishing. Kayo collected up the empty plates and put them in the dishwasher, taking a detour to the freezer before heading back up. Dumping the tub of vanilla ice cream, bowls, spoons and array of toppings on the table they all started to help themselves to dessert.
“It’s a shame Penelope had to nip to New Zealand this evening, it would have been lovely to have her join us.”
“Penelope’s a little fussy when it comes to pizza, Dad. Only the best Italian style will do, anyway she’ll be back tomorrow.”
“I’m sure she’ll adore your black eye.”
Kayo received a glare from her brother, who then turned back to his sprinkle coated ice cream.
“As long as it’s gone for the gala we’re attending, I’ll be okay. Bruises are not a gentleman’s friend. Last time she covered it up with makeup, so I looked great, but I’d rather not have to go through the hassle again.”
“I don’t see any medical reason why it’ll still be there for the gala, Gordon.”
Gordon beamed at Sally, his eyes sparkling as they often did. He was the most expressive of her brothers, his demeanour often a reflection of his mood. There were still subtle cues that let you know there was something else happening beneath it all, which Kayo knew by heart. She didn’t always act on them. Gordon would normally talk when he was ready, and like everyone else on the island, he had different people he went to depending on the problem.
“So ladies and gentleman, what’s the plan for tonight?”
Jeff clapped his hands together in anticipation. It was the man’s first weekend home and he was so eager to be part of everything. Kayo couldn’t blame him, this was his family and home which he’d longed to see again. She was certain there must have been times when the man’s hope had wavered. Even if his determination would have come back stronger, there must have been times out there on the edge of their solar system when doubt crept up on him. Yet those blue eyes still sparkled.
“How about a good old board game? I know I’ve got a few programmed into the holoprojector.”
Gordon groaned from his sofa, but one glance at his father made him go through the holosettings.
“As long as it’s not Monopoly.”
“I have a new deck for Trivial Pursuit!”
“I wouldn’t stand a chance, Mum. I’ve missed eight years of the latest gossip.”
“Cluedo?” Kayo suggested.
“You’re way too good at that one.” Gordon retorted.
“The Game of Life it is then!”
After everyone surveyed the circle waiting for someone to dispute the choice. Though no one was particularly enthusiastic there was no shooting it down. By John’s next update, the four of them were battling it out to see who could have the best life. Almost two hours later, Jeff was a divorced millionaire with one daughter and a fish while Gordon had four children, a burnt down house and was basically broke. Kayo had managed to forgo marriage and filled her house with two dogs and a cat, though Sally came second with a comfortable retirement fund, thanks to the untimely death of her insured husband, and two daughters who she was adamant visited every week.
It was getting late so they decided it was time to relax in front of a movie. After some muttering and debate on action over thriller, the four of them settled down to watch Macy’s Crime, a thriller released four years ago that Jeff had put in his ‘to watch’ list. Cold cola was served, the sweet stash raided and the living room transcended into quiet, with only the odd cracking wrapper distracting from the film. Kayo and Sally had seen it before, it was an interesting premise with an intriguing and not entirely obvious twist at the end. She knew it wouldn’t be Gordon’s type of film and half an hour in he started to fidget. Thankfully he wasn’t too loud and Jeff had fallen asleep just before they were halfway through. Gordon paused the film. Every eye was on the old astronaut. He didn’t stir.
“Shall we leave him be?”
Sally nodded, waving her hand to shoo the pair away so she could tend to her son. Kayo and Gordon scarpered to the 'games room’. It was really a second living room but had been lovingly named by the occupants based on how often Alan had been found there with a VR headset over his eyes and shouting at someone else in a game. Gordon immediately turned on the projector and flicked over to the discovery channel where a documentary on sea life was being broadcast. Soon the presenter’s soothing tones filled the room.
“I know you like thrillers, but that really wasn’t my thing.”
“I know.”
“Dad wanted to watch it so badly though. I’ll never understand why. Haven’t we been through enough weird stuff already?”
“Let him like what he likes. He’s probably seen all the fluffy ones at the facility.”
“I just don’t understand thrillers.”
“I don’t understand Buddy and Ellie, but I still let you watch the show in my presence.”
“You have no taste.”
“Says the man who munches Celery Crunch bars.”
As if to make a point, Gordon reached beneath the seat and retrieved a bar. He bit down on it harder than necessary, only to wince slightly.
“Please don’t tell me you’ve broken a tooth.”
“No, just jarred my jaw.”
The room fell silent for a few minutes, both of them focusing on the silvery fish that filled the projection. Kayo had always been happy to indulge in a documentary with Gordon, particularly because his obsession with water meant they never displayed a butterfly on-screen. Had he been into land based ecology, she wouldn’t be so accommodating.
“Do you think Dad has changed?”
Gordon’s face beside her was serious, a hesitancy could be seen in his eyes. There was a little tension in his arm muscles as he gripped a red cushion to his chest. Kayo was surprised he’d opened up to her and not Virgil.
“Yes,” Kayo knew that wasn’t what Gordon had wanted to hear, “but who wouldn’t? He’s been alone for years, not knowing when someone was going to come for him, trying to survive on the little resources he had available.”
“What do you see that’s different?”
“He’s not as confident as he used to be. Despite this being his home, he’s sometimes hesitant. He listens more and often he struggles to follow along, however I’ve seen him improve over the past month..”
“He seems friendlier, less uptight and demanding.”
“I agree.”
“There were times when I was scared to admit things to Dad. Like when I wanted to swim seriously, but now it feels like I could marry a whale and he’d be happy with it.” “I doubt he’d be that okay with it, but his priorities have changed.”
“You’ve been talking with Grandma haven’t you?”
“I have,” Kayo gritted her teeth at the statement, “but she’s known Jeff the longest. She knows how he’s always been and can see how he’s changed. She has the most free time on her hands, and thus has spent the most time with him.”
Gordon didn’t respond, his face turned to the documentary that she was sure he’d seen before.
“He’s still your Dad. Yes, he’s not quite the same, but neither are you. Last time he saw you, you were a teenager, still wildly testing his boundaries and discovering yourself. Now you’re a young adult with a stable job, a girlfriend and more experience of the medical system than one person should have. You’ve matured and grown without him seeing the steps that got you there. You were a seedling he’d nurtured when he left and now you’re a tree with fruit. It’s hard for him to put the two together sometimes.”
The raised eyebrow and quirked mouth told Kayo he found her explanation amusing.
“A seedling to a tree, ay?”
“Don’t push it.”
Hands were thrown up in surrender.
“I know when not to poke a bear.”
“I’m a WHAT?”
“It’s just a turn of phrase, like let sleeping lions lie.”
Her brother was ready to flee, ready for the 'bear’ to chase him away. It wouldn’t be the first time Kayo chased him around the villa, screaming profanities at the aquanaut’s back, but today she didn’t fancy it. She’d let this one slide, as long as he toed the line for the rest of the night.
“Look, just be glad he’s back. You’re luckier than most.”
Kayo knew Gordon would hear the meaning in her words, he had an annoying habit of picking up her undertones. She also knew he wouldn’t push her on the topic, knowing she would have spoken it aloud if she wanted it acknowledged. The pair settled down to watch the next documentary from the start, occasionally exchanging words about what was happening. The rest of the evening was a calm one.
