AN: Hi, thanks to everyone who read the last chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! I also hope you checked out SuicideSilence' 's fic, which tells the same story from Four's POV. She's uploaded it in the IAN4 book/movie crossover category and her first chapter was fantastic.
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CHAPTER 2: SOLITUDE
I quickly learned to stay away from the other warriors.
Dutiful as they were, they did not waste their time being outwardly hostile towards me - but I could taste their suspicion, for once the craft was clear of the dust and mayhem it became readily apparent that I was no elite solider. I was lanky, and dirty, my boots were worn at the soles and I moved in hurried bursts, glancing around like a nervous animal whenever I had to sit still. Soon enough they decided that I was a lower-ranked solider, a grunt who had landed this job by an unusual twist of fate. The alternative - the truth - would have been impossible for them to accept, I suppose.
They asked me questions, from time to time. Prying. I answered in lies, and I was a thankfully good liar - I spoke about a home in a neighborhood I'd only glimpsed in passing, and a pretty wife with long dark hair called Loralai. I told them my name was Brandon, because I'd known a soldier named Brandon once. I didn't have to lie about that, of course, but... it's hard to stop, once you start.
What would they have done if they had known the truth? There was after all no law here, amongst the stars. They couldn't jail me - they would have killed me, maybe. Tossed me into space with the refuse and leave the little blue-eyed boy alone, without a keeper.
And the boy. The boy.
He was the fourth of the nine. A tiny thing with little hands and a soft voice. He didn't seem anywhere near as terrified as me, and I took shameless comfort in that. On our first night in the too-loud ship we curled up together on a narrow bunk, and I ran my fingers through his soft blond locks and found that I was too scared to breathe - as if the movement of my lungs would shatter the circumstance, and the chain of events that had brought me here to this moment would unravel and spiral backwards until I reverted to a screaming death on the surface of Lorien.
But as my lungs began to burn I had to let in a gasping, shuddering breath, and he opened his eyes to blink sleepily at me.
"Are we coming home in the morning?" He asked, fair head resting in the angle of my arm. And... for all of the lies I had already told that day, I could not bring myself to do anything but shake my head.
"I don't think so." I said, tentatively, my voice hoarse - not knowing what I was expecting. Tears, a tantrum?
"Okay." He closed his eyes and went back to sleep, one hand feather-light against my chest.
***
By the third day, the soldiers had settled into a routine - which I was not a part of. This left me free to roam the ship, and together with the boy I spent one afternoon doing what I did best - sneaking around places I had no business in. This not only included every room and hallway but also every locked door, restricted tunnel and sealed hatch I could crack my way through - it wasn't as if anybody gave a damn, anyway. The ship was an antique and I was willing to bet the soldiers didn't understand it any more than some of the kids did. And very likely they didn't really care.
Not Four, though. He followed me every step of the way, blue eyes wide and curious as we unlocked rooms full of dusty machinery - all of it still functional, dials twinkling at us through the layers of dust.
"It's keeping us alive, you know." I told him, as he dragged his little hands through the dust over a monitor, drawing in a picture of two smiling suns. "It just works and works here, all alone, and everybody forgets about it. But if it forgot about us, we would die."
"That's sad." He said, wiping his hands off against one of my trouser legs. I nodded, then shrugged.
"But if it forgot us and we died, it would have nothing to do. And that would be even more sad, wouldn't it? Just to sit here alone and not have anything to do."
"That would be boring." He stuck out his tongue and made a sulky face, taking my hand and and tugging on it. "Let's go. I want to see another room."
We had been at it for hours though, and we had almost gone through them all. The other Cepans (as little as they liked to think about us) might even start wondering where we'd run off to - especially if we didn't come down for dinner. But... how could I say no to those wide eyes? I followed along and we soon found another door, small and tucked away down a half-sized service corridor. I knelt to work on the lock, using makeshift tools I'd scavenged from around the ship. Loric locks weren't particularly complex - most people didn't even have them on their doors. But that was no reason to get lazy and let your talents to go idle.
I heard the lock click, swung the door open for my little charge, and - I didn't expect anything more than another dusty room full of faithful machines, to be honest. But Four's eyes quickly told a different story - immediately widening, lips parting as he wandered inside. I quirked an eyebrow and peered inside myself - I can't lie, seeing the boy's excitement made me a little anxious myself.
And what we saw was definitely worthy of that excitement, for this tiny forgotten door lead onto a catwalk suspended high above the main engine room, angled glass sheltering it from the deafening noise the machines made. A million dusty lights twinkled around us - but there was a whole other twinkling which had caught Four's eye, the little Garde now running along the catwalk as fast as his legs could carry him.
"You're going to trip." I called out, but since I had not yet found the time to grow into an authoritative parental figure, he just ignored me until he got to where he wanted to be - standing, gaping at a large circular window that stared out into dark, starlit space.
I caught up to him and we settled wordlessly down in the dust, pressing our hands up to the thick, cool glass. We were quiet - you couldn't help it, that feeling, sitting on the brink of infinity that way. Lorien was a long, long way away now. And Earth - our destination - was so unfathomly far I could not even imagine the distance, the amount of vast emptiness that lay before us.
Empty of family, of friends. Empty of enemies. Empty of anything and everything except ourselves, sitting here, alone.
We were the last of our race, some desperate, pathetic hope pinned on... my shoulders? Mine? I was nobody! Why me? And it never occurred to me, at that moment, how vain that thought had been. Of course I was nobody. And this wasn't about me. Not in the slightest. It was all about him.
But despite my error, I still glanced down at the little Loric boy at that moment - and was startled to see tears rolling down those soft, fair cheeks.
"Hey - hey, why are crying, princeling?"
He looked at me balefully, sniffling in silence until I raised a hand to wave him over. And that was all the invitation he needed, crawling into my arms and burying his face in my shoulder.
"I miss them." He said, tiny voice muffled and choked. "I want to go back. I don't want to be alone."
I chewed on my lip - still nervous around the boy, still scared of moving when he held on to me, like I might accidentally break him. And never, never knowing what to say - because hell, I didn't know what to think.
"You're not alone." I finally said, wrapping one of my tan arms around his narrow shoulders. "Look, I'm here."
"Are you going to stay?" He replied, looking up at me through reddened blue eyes.
"Of course, silly. Where'd you think I'm gonna go? We're in space, 's cold outside and I didn't bring my coat."
He giggled a little at that, and I felt my mood lighten the instant that shy little smile cracked on his face.
"No, no, I mean forever."
I smiled at that, but - he had a good point. A few days ago we were strangers on a dying planet. A few days ago I had lied - I was still lying - to keep my place on the ship. But would I stay? Well... why should I? I had never sworn to protect this boy, never promised anyone anything. Once we got to Earth, his life would only threaten mine - it was him the Mogadorians would hunt. Me, they'd forget me. I could live there, in that mysterious place, alone and undisturbed. Surely there was no place in the universe where there was not room for one more thief?
But there was only one answer I could give to those wide blue eyes.
"Yes, princeling. Forever."