AN: Just so you all know, I didn't put too much effort into this. I wrote this purely for fun, and I hope you enjoy it as well.
Gunner and Papi
On the steps of what could've been a museum in what may've been a highly populated city sit two kids.
The girl has honey blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, and gray eyes the color of rain clouds. Her tank top may have been white at some point, and her shorts could've been light blue. Her entire body is covered in a thick layer of grime, and her shoes have many holes in them. She's ridiculously skinny, her ribs poking out beneath her shirt. In her left hand is a moldy sandwich, and it's gone in seconds.
The boy sitting beside her is in no better shape. The two look almost exactly alike, except the boy is slightly taller. He's reading a tattered and torn book with the label "Big Papi" on the front.
The girl gives him a look. "Whatchu doin'? You can't read." She moves to steal his sandwich, but he slaps her wrist and grabs it first.
"So? I can read some things. And I can read the numbers." The girl rolls her eyes.
"Too bad the library's broke'd, you could be looking at all kinds a numbers."
The boy pulls her ponytail, and the girl responds by punching him. They soon get into a huge fight, paying no attention to the other duo that comes up behind them.
"Mind if we take these?" A brown-haired girl asks. She's holding up the bag of food the kids have, dangling it in their faces.
"Gimme that!" The girl yells. She tries to grab the bag, but fails. The brunette laughs. "You'll have to do better than that!" The kids stand up, too distracted by the brunette to notice her brother taking everything else the kids have.
The brunette's brother laughs a deep, throaty laugh. "C'mon, sis! I got their stuff!" The brunette drops the bag of moldy food at the kids' feet. They stare at her in shock as huge, brown and white wings suddenly appear from their backs. "See ya!" The girl laughs, taking off.
…
"What a waste of time!" The winged boy exclaims, sifting through the backpack he'd stolen from the kids in the city earlier. "All they had was this dumb book and a half empty water bottle! And who knows what diseases they had?"
The girl shrugs. "Try reading for once. You might like it." She stands up and unfurls her wings. "Alright, I'm going flying. See you in the morning."
"See ya." The boy watches his sister leave, and only after he's sure she's gone does he take out the book he'd stolen earlier. He stared at the cover. "B-I-G. Big! P-A-P-I…pay-pee? No…Poppy!" He opened it up and began to read. It took him almost all night to read the first three pages, but just the introduction made him feel depressed. He'd seen posters of baseball players before, he'd heard legends of the greats…Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Lou Gehrig…he even had baseball cards that he kept in his back pocket. But anything relating to the old civilization was long gone, including baseball.
Amazing how fast the world can end.
…
The girl ran her hands along the wrecked remains of something called an "RXH Gunner." It looked like a tank, but smaller and as she knew all too well, capable of packing a bigger punch. She shuddered, thinking about all the destruction this may have caused.
She heard a loud siren and didn't even turn to look at what may have set the alarm off. She took to the sky, but was soon bathed in a blinding white light. "Come down with your hands up!" Panicking, the girl dove into the forest, hearing shots fired behind her. She landed in a tree, but knew she wouldn't be safe for long.
After catching her breath, she burst out of the trees, but stayed close the canopy. She heard barking for a while, but eventually the Watchers must've given up. They had more important tings to worry then a supposed "hallucination". That's what she always was, "A Hallucination." No one wanted to believe she could exist, though she knew all too well she was fully alive, and not alone.
…
She flew back to the cave where her brother was, and caught him reading the stolen book. She said nothing, just smiled at him.
"What?" He asked, worried. "Glad you got some dirt on me?" The girl shook her head. "Nope. I was just thinking about how we don't have names."
"Think we should make them up ourselves?" His sister nodded, and the boy seemed to consider this. "Alright…you first."
She smiled. "Gunner. Call me Gunner!"
Her brother gave her a confused look, but didn't ask. "Okay…call me Papi!"
Gunner laughed, loving her new name.
But now she just had to live up to it. Though she'd use her power for a different cause….