Scott's POV:
I still remembered when Alan was little, after the accident.
Alan had only said one thing, before he was silent forever.
"Mummy's too cold."
At the funeral, he hadn't been looking at the coffin, more something to the right of it.
He wouldn't say what, but then he gained a nighttime routine of patrolling.
First he'd check on each of us in turn, putting a hand on our chests, before moving throughout the rest of the house.
We thought he'd stop when we moved to the Villa Dad had built, but apparently not – several times I had to carry him back upstairs when he'd stop in the rec room, where there was the one photo of all of us together before Grandpa and Mum died, and he'd sit in the same spot every time, little legs crossed and eyes on something to the right of him. None of us could get him to snap out of it, we tried the whole shebang; bribing, scolding, fitting and locking a small gate on the staircase so he couldn't get downstairs during the night, the "we'll leave you here" trick…
Thankfully, he grew out of it, by the time he was six he was back to talking and dropped the routine, acting like the baby brother we all loved…
I never thought it would return.
But for about three weeks after Dad's disappearance, he did, though he decided to not wake us and instead use the back of his hand to see if we were breathing.
I never got it, and of course I always woke up, finding him standing out on the patio, looking up at the sky, passing through the rec room on his way back upstairs, glancing at the photo…
Gordon's POV:
We had let our guard down, and Alan paid for it.
The Mechanic had shown up again, though more discreet this time.
He'd been going after a small, ancient box which the sand had preserved in the site the group we were saving were cleaning. Alan had been too close, so got hit to the side by one of the robots the Mechanic had, whacking him into the side of the craft roughly with a buzz, Alan's coms system becoming static as he fell unconscious.
Apparently the water dog the family had was useful at this point, diving off the rescue platform and swimming down as I tried stopping the Mechanic, grabbing Alan's upper arm and pulling him to the surface.
I got away a short while after, quickly zooming after them to check Alan.
It wasn't good, he had several cuts, the worst two being a gash on his side and his head, where it had impacted his helmet, which had been cracked at the back, allowing water to enter.
I had quickly removed the helmet, yelling for Virgil to get us up as I tried saving my brother…
It was too close for comfort; at the depth we had been the cold almost stopped his heart with the shock, and the hit to his head was a bit too close to his temple.
Virgil had to take over with the survivor's medic, John taking control of Two to fly it to the nearest hospital…
When Alan came round, he had to be put on painkillers, and he was still too pale for our liking.
At least he could be moved back home…
Alan's POV:
I woke up in the familiarity of our own medical bay, on the island, my nose telling me before I opened my eyes.
When did…
A shock of blinding pain through my head stopped that train of thought, and I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut for a moment longer, before opening them.
"Alan?"
I blinked, as I realized Kayo was leaning over me, Scott on my other side.
"When did you…" I croaked, before I was offered a cup of cold water, being sat up carefully so I could drink it without choking.
"We had you moved here; I didn't feel comfortable with you being half way round the world while recovering." Scott replied.
"I was that far away?"
Kayo nodded, as Scott sighed.
"Alan, can you tell me what you remember? You got a pretty bad knock to the head." Kayo asked.
"Um-" I was cut off by another shock of pain, and I reached a hand to my head, hissing. "Once it stops feeling like a supernova's happening inside it, maybe?"
Scott frowned, and I tried to smile in reassurance.
It came out more of a grimace.
"Shall I get Virgil?"
I shrugged.
Kayo left, returning later with Virgil and Gordon in tow.
I gave him a hug as he moved to my side, before watching Virgil add the painkiller to my IV.
It got to work about two minutes after, as I felt myself get sleepy…
