A/N: So, when I first read the Lost Files and I got to the Fallen Legacies, I really just expected it to be like Nine's and Six's, only shorter. A little story of their lives, only this would have all their deaths at the end. And then it was some Mogdorian kid talking about how he'll take over the world. Not gonna lie, I had a "What?!" moment and I was a little irked/disappointed.

And then I read the whole thing, and Adam's story was my favourite from the Lost Files. By now, I've read the Fallen Legacies more times than any of the actual books. Adam and One have replaced Sam and Six as my OTP, and Sam's now tied with him as my favourite character.

Anyway, I just love Adam and One and that's probably all I'll ever write about for this series. Especially because of the Search For Sam and how One...

(Can they get character slots PLEASE?)

One's sitting on the edge of the dock with her feet in the water. She's kicking it as far as she can, like she's trying to see if her Legacy applies to lakes. It probably does, but I don't think she's using it —if she even can inside my head.

She stops kicking when I sit down next to her, and instead swirls her foot around. It looks like she's drawing a Loric symbol.

"Having fun yet?" One asks sarcastically. She glances at where Ivan is standing on the beach, hesitantly dipping his foot in the water and then backing up several steps. He's been doing it for twenty minutes now. The General is not impressed.

I roll my eyes. "Tons."

One smirks as she watches Ivan, then she looks back at me. "You know what we should do?"

I catch the mischievous look in her eye, and the idea racing through her part of our brain. "Mogadorians aren't really known for swimming—" I blurt out, but it's too late. One pushes me in.

I come up spluttering, kicking wildly at the water. One materializes next to me.

"See? Fun." She winks and flips on her back, arms cutting through the water and propelling her backwards. I stare at her limbs, the way they elegantly curve out of the water. The lake doesn't even ripple, because to the rest of the world, she's not solid.

My legs are thrashing around desperately to keep me afloat. One laughs and rolls her eyes at me like 'You're pathetic, but I love you anyway'.

Or maybe that last part is just me.

"You know, it's a lot easier to actually swim than to just tread water, you know." She pauses. "If that's what you're doing. It's hard to tell, because you look so stupid." One shoots me a wry smile and dives backward under the water. Her part of the lake remains eerily smooth, while mine looks like someone's being attacked by a shark.

One pops back up right next to me, and I try to ignore how fast her closeness makes my heart beat. Of course, we share a brain, so there's no use pretending with her.

"Come on," She says. "Actually swim."

My head dips under the water. My arms and legs are getting sore from keeping myself up this long. I struggle upward, and One laughs at me.

"You look like a bird that can't actually fly," She teases. "Seriously. Swim with me."

I sigh, moving onto my stomach and doing a few strokes before ducking under the surface and treading water next to her again.

"You have to bend your arms," She tells me, exasperated. "Obviously. Watch me." One easily shifts onto her belly, moving her arms in and out of the water and kicking her legs. The movements are so smooth, especially the way her arms arc out and back into the water, and I know I'll never be able to replicate it.

"Try it," She says, giving me tips and making fun of my technique. "If I had a body, I wouldn't splash half as much as you." "You call that kicking?" "You have to make your forearm parallel to the water when you put it under; you'll go farther."

Eventually, she tells me I can stop. I heave myself up on the dock, and she disappears and reappears next to me.

Her hair is wet somehow, and clinging to her in dark blonde locks. I pretend not to check her out, but she probably notices.

One moves her hair to one shoulder and smiles at me. "See? That wasn't so bad."

"Besides the almost-drowning."

"I would've saved you," She says, winking and blowing me a kiss.

"Without a body? Good luck," I tease.

One pouts. "What? You don't trust me?"

"No," I say. She laughs because she knows I do.

One takes her feet out of the water and puts them up on the dock. She leans back, smiling at me. "You remember when you were dreaming about this kind of thing? A family trip to the beach? And I got mad at you because of Lorien?"

"Yeah," I say.

"You wanted to see if you or Ivan could swim out farther, and you knew it would be him."

"Yeah," I say again. It seems like a stupid dream now, especially since I know how horrible my race really is. I feel like an outsider in my family. The only reason this trip is even tolerable is because of One.

She grins. "Well, maybe now that you don't flail around like a dying squid, you might actually beat him."

I smile a little, wanting to put my arm around her. "Thanks, One."

"Well, only because I'm such a great teacher."

"Yes, I'm sure if Wade had actually done something with his life and become a lifeguard, you would've taught him how to swim." I say, half sarcastically.

She laughs. "Low blow," One snarks. "Like you could teach anyone anything."

I lean back too, staring out across the lake. "Maybe I could hold a class on how to be a traitor Mogadorian and try to save the Garde."

"Or," She says, bumping my shoulder with her ghostly one. "you could just join the Loric."

"Yeah," I say, but my stomach is twisting. "Right." I clear my throat, trying to clear the knots in my stomach. "Or how to fake being a 'model Mogadorian' and score incredible grades."

"I don't think you can teach that. That only happened because you're smart."

I freeze, turning to her slowly. Did she just give me a compliment? "Smarter than you?" I tease.

"Pshh. Obviously not. Smarter than Ivan."

"What an extreme achievement. You know I had to do his homework for him?"

"Yeah. I'm in your brain, idiot. I know everything about you."

I know everything about you. It echoes in my head for some reason, and for a second I imagine a world where One is alive outside my head, and the world is perfect.

But that won't happen. It makes me even happier than my daydreams of conquering the United States used to, but I know it's even less real.

The world isn't perfect. If One had a body and we were happy together, my people would be hunting us. I might have to watch her die all over again. I might be plugged into her brain again, and this time I might not wake up.

And even if we could find the Garde and convince them I'm not evil, the world is still at war. We could die. Lots of people could die. There is no happy ending. At least not for a long time.

"Adam?" One's looking at me, blonde brows drawing together in concern. She reaches a hand out to touch my face.

Ivan runs right through her, and One dissolves. He runs straight off the dock. "Adam! Get in here!"

One reappears next to me, arms crossed.

I take a few steps toward him, smirking. "Did the General get sick of you being scared of water?"

"No!" He growls, crossing his arms. His lack of arm movement, of course, means he starts to sink. Ivan splutters when his head pops out of the water.

Honestly, I'm kind of pleased that the General saw that I was swimming and made Ivan come too. It's not an "I'm proud of you," and we still don't speak; but the fact that he's upset because his perfect son is doing a crap job at something his kind-of-disowned son is excelling at pleases me. Of course he forced Ivan to prove he isn't a wuss and can swim as well as me.

"Really? You just suddenly felt like jumping in?"

"Shut the fuck up, Adam. I love swimming." He shivers as he says it. "And get that shit-eating grin off your face."

One smirks, cocking one hip to the side. She glances at me. "Are you going to show him up or what?"

I shrug and jump in.

"That's more like it," I hear her say before my head goes under.

"Whoever can swim back faster wins," I challenge Ivan, because even with One's lessons I think he'll still get farther. One scoffs as I think it.

"Whatever, Adam. You're gonna lose."

One laughs, and I throw myself forward. I kick as smoothly as I can and keep my hands parallel like she taught me. One stays quiet as I swim, like she doesn't want to break my concentration.

Finally, the water is too shallow to swim anymore. I struggle to my feet and run for the beach, whirling around to see if I won. I grin when I realize Ivan is two yards behind me.

One's leaning against a tree, arms still crossed, a smug look lighting up her face. "I told you,"

If I could, I'd hug her.

I grin instead, trotting over to the water Ivan's dragging himself out of.

"Nice job, I-van," I say, dragging out his name the way he hates. Ivan climbs to his feet and shoves me away by my face, muttering 'asshole' under his breath.

I glance at the General, who's watching with disinterest. Some part of me is still looking for approval, but I shove it down and look at One instead. She claps sarcastically.

"Nice job getting your face smashed in," She snaps, appearing over my shoulder.

"Shut up. I know you're proud of me," I mutter so my family won't hear. My mother looks up anyway, staring at me in confusion.

One scoffs. "I would've done better,"

She probably would have.

"Kelly! Time to go!"

"I'm coming! One second!"

I shove another towel into the car. The General is watching me expectantly, like I'm another soldier whose ability to clean up he has to oversee. It's a little unnerving.

Ivan snaps a chair shut and tosses it haphazardly into the trunk. "Today sucked," He grumbles.

I'm about to open my mouth to say that it wasn't so bad, but honestly? The only reason I survived today was because of One.

It was like a sick parody of my dream of going to the beach: no burgers roasting on the grill, no sandcastles, no laughter. I didn't talk to anyone but Ivan and One, and the former I was only competing with.

I'm pretty sure Kelly is carrying a dead fish.

"Yeah," I agree, fitting the cooler into the trunk. I don't think I even ate anything today.

"Kelly, is that a fish?" My mother shrieks.

Kelly holds it up higher and looks at it sideways before straightening and shooting my mother a grin. "Yeah. It's for my Build-a-Piken set."

"Put it back," My mother begs.

The General scowls. "Time to go."

Kelly shrugs and hurls the fish as far as she can. Our mother passes her a bottle of hand sanitizer and commands her to use it.

I'm the first one in the car, and I press myself against the window and close my eyes. Ivan slides in next to me, bickering with Kelly about something. I don't think One will ease the pain of the hour-long drive. She has trouble appearing in such tight places. I think it's because of the lack of space. Unless she felt like sitting on my lap, there isn't really anywhere for her to sit.

And even then, it's pretty cramped.

I keep my eyes closed the entire trip, rifling through One's memories until I fall asleep. I'm distantly aware of Ivan and Kelly fighting over something next to me and my mom intervening, but for the most part I'm gone.

"Adam, wake up."

I squirm, blinking in the starlight. There's a fuzzy silhouette of a woman in front of me, and for a heartbeat she looks like One, but then my vision clears.

"Adam, honey, we're home." My mother says. The General is standing over her shoulder, overseeing the unloading of the trunk.

I stretch under the General's steady glare-like gaze and go help Ivan and Kelly.

Eventually, everything's back in its proper place and the General has dismissed us. Kelly immediately grabs her Build-A-Piken set and situated herself in the living room, Ivan and my mother on her heels.

I'm already running up the stairs to my room, to lie in my bed and strategize before I fall asleep with One —my best friend and the only one I enjoy being around anymore.

"You're back," She grins, sprawled on my bed with her head propped up on one arm.

I push the door shut and lie down next to her. "Thanks,"

Her mouth twists the way it does when she's confused. "For what?"

"I don't think I would have survived today without you." I admit, even though she should know it already.

She shrugs, smirking. "What are friends for?"

For a second she looks sad, but she covers it quickly.

I don't ask and she doesn't tell me, and we talk until the sun rises and I'm not tired at all.

Is it bad that I started this in July and just now finished it?