They've been running for a while now. The smoke coming from the settlement is but a distant blur at their backs. They're tired, filthy and bleeding. Two children with soot on their clothes, bloody hands and disheveled hair, running through abandoned fields, going nowhere.

Twelve stumbles, losing his footing for a just a second, but that's enough for his tired legs to give under him a couple of steps ahead, and he falls face first to the ground.

Nine stops, panting, his vision blurry as the beat of his heart hammers at his ears.

He hears a whimper, muffled and miserable, but when Twelve pushes himself up he's not crying, he just looks exhausted and scared.

"We can't...we can't-" he wants to say they can't stop now, not if the smoke is still visible, no matter how far away it seems; but he can't draw enough air to speak.

Twelve shakes his head, sitting up to catch his breath.

"Co-come on. Move."

His mind had been blessedly blank as he and Twelve ran; his only goal to get as far away as he could, and now, now that he is stopping, even for a moment, it's all catching up to him and he can't deal with it right now. He can't. All that cool, all his composure so far, is crumbling with each wheezing breath he takes.

"Nine?"

He doesn't know if it's sweat or tears running down his face but he can't make them stop, he can't wipe them off, he can't see. Before he knows it he's working himself into a good panic attack.

"Ni-Nine!" He feels Twelve's hand on his arm, trying to keep him steady and on his feet. "Calm down, breathe, you're scaring me."

He must have blacked out for a second because when he opens his eyes he's sitting on the ground, Twelve holding his shoulders and calling to him.

"We left her... we left Five behind." His voice sounds tiny, weepy, and he realizes that the whimper he had heard before hadn't come from Twelve.

There's silence for a moment but then Twelve squeezes his shoulder.

"It happened too fast. You called to her and she just stayed there, I don't think... I don't think she wanted to come with us anymore. I'm sorry, Nine."

"No, no, she tripped. She was probably hurt. I didn't go back to help her. She tripped."

"There was no time. It's not your fault."

Twelve stands in front of him now and shoves a portion of his shirt on Nine's face, awkwardly wiping at the tears and sweat with it. When he starts stepping back Nine holds onto him.

"It's really not your fault, Nine." Twelve repeats and kneels in front of him. He lets Nine rest his head on his shoulder and his hands clench into tight fists against his white shorts.

When Nine finally looks up at him, Twelve is crying as well.

They are just children. Nine, ten years old? Nine isn't sure anymore. Birthdays were never celebrated at the settlement but they caught glimpses at their medical charts now and then. Regardless, Nine is aware they are out of their depth. How can two children survive in a world they don't entirely know? What are the rules? How do they escape the people that kept them at the institution for so long? Who do they trust but each other?

Nine doesn't know where to start in their long list of problems.

He pulls his scraped knees against his chest and he's every bit the scared ten-year-old child he's supposed to be. Traumatized and frightened.

He's not a genius, he doesn't have all the answers, he doesn't know a thing or has any idea what to do.

Twelve rubs the tears off his face with his hand, leaving streaks of soot on it "It seems like too much, doesn't it?"

Nine doesn't respond.

"But this is what we wanted, right? Maybe this is what freedom is about, that's why it feels like this, because we can do whatever we want and we've never had that. Maybe this is what it feels like to have options?"

"We're just children. Dying children."

Twelve shrugs one shoulder, although the motion is weak "We made it here."

"It's going to get harder."

"We will figure it out."

"We have to find a place to stay, money to buy food, water, clothes..."

Twelve shrugs again and Nine grinds his teeth. "How can you be so calm?"

"Because you're with me."

"Don't do that!" Nine gets up, fists bunching up his clothes at his sides, and glares down at Twelve.

Twelve looks back at him patiently

"Stop, don't put all the responsibility on me! Don't look at me as if I had all the answers. I can't take care of you. I can't take care of anyone."

"You are so smart and yet so dumb." Twelve admonishes, making a face. "We take care of each other. We're a team. We broke out of that place together. You couldn't have done it without me and I couldn't have done it without you. We will be fine."

"I can't..."

"We, Nine, we. Don't make me spell it out for you anymore. And I think we can."

Nine shakes his head at Twelve's stubborn tone, but his mind is already clearing. "We will tell the world about them; about everyone we had to leave behind. Promise me."

Twelve stands up, turns his face to the sky for an instant and then offers him a smile in response "Let's go, Nine."

Nine nods and takes the hand Twelve is offering. Twelve tugs on his arm, and they start running again, this time with something other than fear boosting their pace.

A word forms in Nine's mind, right in the center of all the plans already taking shape in his head. Twelve is right. They can do this if they're together. They will live however long they have left and make sure that Five...that Five and the other children aren't forgotten.

Hope.

He tightens his grip on Twelve's hand and feels his friend return his gesture, he can now make out a distant road ahead and through the fear and excitement he is convinced they will be okay.

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Dolce S.- I know it's been forever and I'm sorry. I got a couple of prompts from a lovely person on tumblr and this is the result of one of them. This is the first time I focus solely on Nine and Twelve, I believe; and it was so hard. Mostly because there's no levity to be found in their situation right after they escaped and it just made me really think about how hard they had it. My poor children.