Well, it's 11:23 as I'm posting this, but I don't know if it'll go up before midnight. Sorry!
This is the first chapter that really "Diverges" from canon. I hope it seems natural- the "Twist" gets expanded on in the next chapter, don't worry!
Chapter 4
Dew
She was standing there in the hangar
The hatch was open then
There's no one there
He was drifting along in the universe
That was the last time I saw his face
She felt the dew struck grass between her toes. It was cold and alive- she liked the feeling. Without realizing it, she closed her eyes and retreated back into her mind, unconsciously reached out for the thunderhead in her mind… but there was nothing there. She snapped her eyes open. Of course there was nothing, there hadn't been anything for almost a month. She thought she'd trained herself to stop doing that- every time she looked for him, she felt lonelier when she found nothing (But never as lonely as that first night, the first time it was quiet and she was alone, truly alone, for the first time in her three months of life. She'd even thought he could come back then, but the silence terrified her, and she searched her consciousness for comfort for so long she'd deactivated her mim on accident, and when she woke up she heard the news, and he was Really Gone.)
She took a shuddering breath. How had she not noticed, those first few weeks? She hadn't even been the one to realize it, Lin was;
("Where's Lao?" Elma asked.
"At the diner," Cross responded automatically. Lin was standing behind Elma, giggling.
"He told you he was going to the diner?" Elma prodded.
"No." Cross flicked the whetstone across her blade carefully.
"Then how do you know he's at the diner?" Cross frowned. How did she know?
"Because she ALWAYS knows. She's got, like… a Lao-dar!"
"Lin, there is no such thing as a... Lao-dar."
"Oh yeah? Then how come she always knows where he is?"
"She dosen't. He's not even at the diner right now, I'll bet."
"I'm not lying," Cross protested. "Call Doug, they're together!"
Elma smirked, and dialed Doug.
"Hello?"
"Doug? Where are you?"
"At the diner with Lao. Why, something up?
"Not really, but- you told Cross you two were going to the diner, right?"
"Uh, no. Were we supposed to meet up or something?"
Elma frowned. "No, but you told someone, right?"
"Not really, it was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. We haven't been here long, but do you need us to come in?"
"If you didn't tell anyone, and you haven't been there long, then how the hell does Cross know you're there?"
"Hold up, Elma. Does she know We're here or Lao's here?"
"Lao!" Lin piped in.
"Holy shit! You hear that, bro? Your Stalker Sense goes both ways! How cool is that!?"
"Shut up, Doug," said Cross and Lao simultaneously. Cross followed it up with a startled grunt.
"Elma, you know what this sounds like?" Lin whispered. "Soulmates!" She mouthed silently.
"It sounds like a mim glitch to me. Lao, meet Cross and I at the Maintenance Center in twenty?"
"Sure." He sounded startled.
Elma was right, of course. "crossed wires," they called it. Mim consciousnesses were broadcast on a frequency unique to their biological makeup- sometimes, close blood relatives ended up overlapping frequencies, and could in a sense, read each other's minds.
"But we aren't related!" They corrected (Simultaneously, much to Lao's chagrin.)
"You must be." Said the doctor, who then proceeded to check their medical backgrounds:
"Lao Huang- Chinese- Black hair-Grey eyes- 5'3"-31 years of age"
"D#***!%a=ERROR CRoss- Cherokee-Black hair-Grey eyes- 5'10"- 22 years of age"
Throw up his hands, and declare "I have no idea why! Maybe it's because you have the same eye color- grey is a recessive gene."
"Grey"? Cross wondered. "But, my eyes are orange!"
Lao smirked. "That's not a human eye color. You didn't even know what color your eyes were?"
"I didn't know I was seven inches taller than you, either." Lao's face fell as she felt her smirk replace his.
"That can't be… Seven? Really?" He looked down at her. "How tall is your mim?"
"Five-foot one. You… look more than two inches taller than me." Before she could ask, the answer came to her; "Your mim is five-foot six!"
He felt embarrassed, and she felt embarrassed for outing him- or maybe she just felt his embarrassment. The whole "sharing thoughts" thing was new to both of them- it seemed knowing it was there made the connection stronger.
Cross overheard an echo of a thought; "Why does she get to be taller than me?" She laughed while his scowl deepened.
"Is there any way to stop… this?" Lao asked.
"Not completely, but I believe Brainjack training helped the Lara brothers block each other out of receiving random thoughts, like I'm assuming you two just did."
"Irina," They agreed. No more words were needed.)
A cold, wet nose on her hand snapped Cross back to reality. The Labrador snuffled happily as she rubbed his ears. This little guy had bothered Lao back when he lived in NLA- Cross had invited him into the barracks, and Lao had fed him table scraps one time- which, of course, forever turned him into "Food Man." "I miss him too," Cross said.
There's the time we cannot go back
All the way to our father's land
Now we're fighting hard in common land
It's a cycle of karma
There's a chance we've found our wonderland
As we reach to the promised land
We were struggling in the underground
We'll find ourselves
Now as we dream
Next time: Sweat, or "This chapter is as long as the first four chapters what the fuck"
"Because funerals are to say good-bye, Lin, and she isn't ready for that."