Pet: Revelations - Chapter Two (Patreon)

Iris

“Iris!” Sky crashes into me, her arms engulfing me tighter than I’ve ever been held before. The force that she jumps into me knocks me back slightly, and if Remus hadn’t healed me before, we would probably go tumbling to the ground.

“I didn’t know what to think—or what happened, I thought… I thought she…” she trails off, her sobs filling the air as she squeezes me so tight that I can barely breathe. I know how she feels. Being plucked from the surface was jarring for me. One second, Sky was by my side, and the next she wasn’t. I’m sure from her perspective, she thought I had died somehow.

“I-I’m okay,” I whisper.

She slowly pulls away from me, and I am shocked to see tears spilling down her cheeks. I know Sky, and I have had our differences over the course of our time knowing each other, but it didn’t occur to me until this moment that we’ve actually developed somewhat of a friendship. And as I smile, trying to reassure her that I am okay, I note that the world slowly blurs, until tears roll down my cheeks as well. The emotions running through me are overwhelming, manifesting themselves in the form of tears.

I grip her hands in mine, squeezing. She’s warm, the temperature a human should be. And she looks like she’s been healed as well, her clothes a simple gray set, and the injuries she had from the battle gone. Just seeing her puts me back on the surface of Xyrannis, making me relive those almost final moments. 

“We’re both okay…right?” I whisper.

She slowly nods, her smile beaming but still accompanied by tears. It’s unnerving to think of where we began in all of this. Me, on Earth fighting to survive in a blight, and her, in the resistance where she grew up and aided in so much of humanity's fight. Now, we’re both aboard a strange ship, our fate in the alien who guided me’s hands.

It takes me a moment to remember that Remus is here as well. I look behind me, and he stands quietly with a blank expression, watching our exchange. But he doesn’t speak, nor does he greet Sky. He’s a quiet observer.

“How is he?” I ask, looking back at Sky.

She pulls her hands from my grip to wipe her tears as she speaks.

“I was hoping you would tell me. I haven’t been told anything, and no one ever comes by. It’s like this is a ghost ship,” she says, shifting her attention to the door behind her.

I note that she also refuses to look at Remus. And whether or not Remus is aware of Ezra’s condition is a mystery to me. He said nothing as he led me through the eerie halls of the ship. Unlike Remus’s ship, there was nothing to light the way. And I don’t know if that is the ship's design, or something put in place so that Sky and I cannot go anywhere without supervision.

I slowly wrap my arm around Sky’s, gesturing to the door.

“Lead the way,” I say.

As we walk through the arch, the first thing I notice is how dark it is in here. It’s not as dark as the hall, but the lights are out on this side of the glass. On the other side lies Ezra. I swallow my gasp as I take him in. I’ve never seen him look so weak before. Not even when the rebels had “captured” him. His body is underneath large metal frames that gently pulse a light signal over the parts of him it covers.

His veins, however, are black through his clammy flesh, and it doesn’t look like he’s breathing. 

It’s hard to see him this way. He’s always had an energy about him. But to see him completely incapacitated makes this situation even more confusing. Especially since Remus has decided it is in everyone’s best interest that we return with the Celestivine who did this to him.

I shift my attention from the glass to Remus. His attention is on Ezra as well, and I still see no emotion in his gaze.

“Is he going to be okay?” I whisper.

Remus keeps his gaze ahead as he speaks. “Yes.”

I flinch from his tone. It’s cold.

“What happened to him? What did that…creature do to him?” Sky asks, stepping past me. I admire her for her bravery in the face of Remus. She’s only ever seen a destructive side to him, and even now, he is less himself than he’s ever been. And yet, it doesn’t seem to faze her. Her feelings for Ezra outweigh her fears.

Remus shifts his attention away from the glass to her. His expression is terrifying, his glittering gaze darkening as he looks at her in irritation. Still, she doesn’t back down. So, I slowly reach for her hand, pulling it into mine. I squeeze it in comfort, letting her know that I am here, and I support her.

Remus’s eyes follow the motion.

“Is that out of our depth as well?” I ask.

If Remus is affected by my words, he doesn’t show it. He simply looks back at the glass and speaks.

“The energy within his body has been disrupted. The weapon used on him was meant to kill him instantly. It would have if he didn’t have the blood of a Celestivine—my mother’s blood specifically. Unfortunately, Ezra is not a full-blooded Celestivine. So, he is struggling to live.”

I gasp, and Sky stumbles next to me. He says the words so callously, as if he isn’t speaking of someone she cares about, or even his brother. But that isn’t all that catches my attention. It’s also what Remus says about Ezra’s existence. He isn’t full-blooded Celestivine? What does that even mean? How is that possible? But I know I can’t ask that now. Remus would barely tell me anything when I awoke. I doubt he’ll reveal more information in front of Sky.

“But…you said he will be okay,” I say.

“If he is as strong as I believe he is, he will be,” Remus says, revealing that he actually cares in his own way.

“Can’t you just heal him?” I ask in confusion.

Remus once again holds his response, as if deciding what information to trust me with. He looks back at me, then to Sky. I swear, I see his expression soften only slightly as he takes in the pain in her eyes. But it’s so brief, and so different from how he’s been since returning, that I can only convince myself that I imagined it.

“No,” he says. “I will come back for you in an hour.”

He doesn’t say anything more, nor does he wait for us to respond. He leaves Sky and me alone, ensuring the door closes behind him.

He’s barely out the door when Sky collapses next to me. Her hand is over her mouth as she squeezes her eyes shut, tears spilling relentlessly down her cheeks. I know that position all too well. She’s trying to staunch her pain, to quiet her sobs.

I take a deep breath, gently pressing my hand against her back. Her body shudders violently under my touch, and I feel myself being drawn into her pain. So, I slowly wrap my arms around her, pulling her into me, and she lets me. I know her pain, somewhat, seeing someone you care so deeply for and being unable to do anything to help them.

We are all each other has. We are all that’s left of our home world, all that there is to prove humanity as a whole ever existed. I am sure she has been reliving that while sitting near Ezra, waiting for him to wake up—feeling guilt for caring about him even though he is the cause of her situation.

“He’s going to be okay,” I murmur. “We all are.”

I continue to comfort her in the way I wish I had someone to comfort me when our world was initially taken, or when Remus was taken from me. With the way he’s been acting since I awoke, I don’t know that he has truly come back. I pull my bottom lip between my teeth as I try to quiet my tears as well.

At this moment, Sky and I are all each other has.

* * * * *

Sky hasn’t left Ezra’s side since she was brought aboard this ship. Apparently, she has a room, but doesn’t trust anyone, especially Remus. So, she has remained near Ezra, praying for him to awaken.

“He looks so weak,” she says, standing near the glass. Her fingers press against it longingly, her eyes slightly hooded. She must be exhausted.

“Sky, step away from the glass for a little bit,” I say, gesturing to the seat next to me. It will only hurt her further to watch him like this, unable to do anything for him. She hesitates for a moment before reluctantly moving away from the glass to join me.

“Ezra’s been like this before. In the resistance, remember? And came out of it okay,” I say.

Sky laughs, wiping away her tears.

“He was never like this in the resistance. It was all an act he put on to lull us into security—false hope,” she says, looking back to the glass.

“And here I am crying over him,” she adds.

I remain silent, letting her breathe through her frustrations. After a moment, she finally speaks, looking at me.

“Has he told you anything? Where we're going? Or why this happened in the first place?” she asks, forcing me to face my own problems.

I slowly wrap my arms around myself, looking away.

“All I know is that we are going to their true homeworld. Remus won’t tell me anything else. He’s… different, ever since that day,” I say.

Sky laughs.

“Back to square one,” she murmurs.

I laugh along with her, feeling my hysteria bubbling to the surface.

“Did you know that Ezra was not a full-blooded Celestivine?” I ask, recalling what Remus said minutes ago.

Sky shakes her head.

“He never told me. I don’t think he knew himself,” she says. “But it explains why his DNA was somewhat decipherable—why it worked on the Leviathan, but not on Remus,” she says.

I shiver as I think of the night I fired that weapon at him. It feels so long ago at this point. And knowing everything I know now, it feels so immature.

“Why would that Celestivine attack him like that? Why put him in this state? Why him, when Remus and Xion were near, and clearly much more powerful?” she asks.

She’s right. It’s strange that instead of attempting to incapacitate Remus first, the Celestivine went for Ezra. But I am sure it has something to do with their mother. She seemed to know the Celestivine who attacked in the brief moments I was able to remain conscious.

I gasp as I suddenly recall Xion at the mention of her name.

“Xion! Have you seen her?” I ask.

Sky’s expression is grim as she shakes her head.

“No one other than Remus has come to visit Ezra,” she says.

I don’t show it, but I am relieved that Remus has shown some concern over Ezra. Visiting him means there's a piece of his old self still there. He still cares for his brother. Xion, however, I haven’t seen since the celebration. Xion was never really a friend to me, or an ally. But I can’t imagine her pain right now if she is aware of Noah’s death.

I shift my attention to the door.

I can’t even seek her out if I wanted to. We are all at Remus’s mercy, traveling to another strange place with no one on our side this time around. He’s closed himself off from me, deciding to keep from me what has happened.

I pull in a deep breath, slipping my hand in Sky’s.

“Whatever happens, we have to be there for each other, okay? We can’t let this divide us,” I murmur.

Sky squeezes my hand back, leaning against me.

“Okay.”

We sit in silence, watching over Ezra’s unconscious body. It’s all we can do—wait. Wait for Ezra to wake up, wait for our future to be revealed to us, and wait for whatever danger looms ahead.