A fraction of a heartbeat

made us what we are

A brother and a sister

For better or for worse

Covenant, "Call The Ships To Port"

The school office was big, but with four adults and two small children -- six and seven years old, both very nervously sitting in seats across the room from their parents -- it was a bit cramped.

"You must be Luc's parents," said one woman. She had long, black hair and deeply tanned skin. The man sitting next to her stared at the wall across from him, as if he were the one who had been sent to the principal's office and not his child.

The woman of the other couple nodded, smiling. "I'm sorry we haven't met before; did you know we live two blocks apart?"

Mina's mother looked surprised. "I didn't," she admitted.

"I was very surprised to find Luc had visited you a few weeks ago," Luc's mother went on. "He told me where he'd gone once he came home, of course. He's a very independent boy."

"I was just happy Mina had a visitor. She never talks about friends. She does tend to set herself apart from the group."

Luc's mother smiled. "Two of a kind, then. I'm somehow not surprised anymore that they were called here together." She held out a hand. "I'm Marianne."

"Celeste."

The two women shook hands.

"My husband speaks only a little English," Marianne explained. "We moved here from France so Luc could meet the American side of his family."

"My husband never liked the principal's office," said Celeste sheepishly. "Marcus, would you introduce yourself please?"

Marcus sat up, leaned towards Marianne, and shook her hand. "Marcus, as she said."

Marianne said something to her husband in French. He looked momentarily surprised, then smiled and leaned towards the other couple. "Luc," he said, taking Celeste's hand. "Enchantee."

"Oh, so your son is Luc junior?"

Marianne shook her head. "Not quite. He's named after his father, but his middle name is from me."

By the time they were called into the principal's office, Luc and Mina's mothers were fast becoming friends.

"I wanted to talk to you about your children's performance," the principal began, as they all took seats in front of her desk. Marianne began translating in hushed tones for her husband's sake. It was considerably more cramped in there than the office they'd waited in.

"Ordinarily, I would address parents individually, but it seems your children have been working together in this." The principal lifted a write-up form, squinting her eyes to read the writing. "There have been some concerns in the past from their teacher that they don't get along well with the other students. She's reprimanded a few of them for referring to Luc and Mina as..." She hesitated. "'Team Freako', it says... and although neither child has issued a complaint, their instructor suspects this persists when she's not in hearing range.

"With that in mind, please know that we are aware your children have been bullied. Because they haven't come to a teacher about it, we don't know to what extent. However." She set down the piece of paper. "This does not excuse the fact that they engaged in a schoolyard fist-fight against the students bullying them."

"Who won?" asked Celeste, then blushed; now was not the time to ask.

The principal tried to give her a stern look. "Your children. Two of the students went to the nurse's office with black eyes. Two more had been pushed to the ground and kicked. The actual events are a bit confused, but it seems your daughter has quite the right jab."

Celeste tried not to look pleased.

"Surely," said Marianne, "You're not blaming our children for this incident?"

The principal sighed. "Because circumstances suggest they were a target and not the instigators, I won't be writing this up. This does not excuse the fact that they were involved in a fight, and -- regardless of circumstances -- this violence does need to be addressed." Her professional tone changed to a more personal one. "Please talk to your children about fighting. Encourage them to speak to a teacher. I can't have them taking matters into their own hands like this. They're both very intelligent, but if they don't build good behavior patterns now it might jeopardize their futures."

They were dismissed shortly afterwards. Luc and Mina -- still seated in nervous silence in the first office -- stood up and followed them out. No one spoke until they got to the parking lot.

"So," said Marianne, "There was a fight."

Luc and Mina glanced at each other, then nodded.

Celeste asked, "Those other kids were picking on you?"

Again, they nodded.

"Did you make them cry?"

Mina looked at her mother in surprise, then nodded slowly.

"Good. Don't do it again."

Marianne agreed. "There are better ways to get back at bullies." She looked to Celeste, smiling. "Want to go for ice cream?"

--#--

Mina's cell rang minutes before dinner was about to start. The caller ID identified it as Odd.

"What's up?"

"XANA," he said. He was panting -- either he was running, or he'd just stopped. "We need someone to keep an eye out for a crazed baker with funny-looking eyes. Ulrich's looking for him, but in the meantime, me and Aelita are going to Lyoko."

"I'll tell Luc," Mina said. "One of us will join you at the factory in a few minutes."

She hung up the phone, flung open her bedroom door, and knocked anxiously on the door across the narrow hall.

"Luc?"

"It's open."

Mina let herself into Luc's room and closed the door quickly behind her.

"There's been an attack. They need you at the factory; I'm going to help Ulrich track down a XANAfied baker."

They ran downstairs, not bothering to hide the noise.

"I forgot something at school," Mina called. "Very important, need it for homework!"

"I'm going with her to chat with one of our friends while she takes forever to look for it!"

Mina reached behind her and hit him on the chest before running out the open doorway.

Marianne took a breath to call after them, then let it go without a word, smiling wistfully after them. The two were inseparable, after all; insisting Mina could do it alone just fine was like saying the tides didn't need the moon to flow.

And besides -- since when did they have friends outside themselves?

When they reached the park, Luc stopped. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather go to Lyoko?"

Mina's insides had been icy since Odd mentioned the place. "I'm sure. Go on; I'll talk to you when all this is over."

He touched her shoulder encouragingly, and only then did she realize how scared she looked. She smiled, rested her hand on his, and squeezed.

"I'll be fine," she promised. "See you in a little while."

Luc ran towards the manhole, and Mina dialed Ulrich.

"Backup's coming. Where are you?"

--#--

Mina had been sleeping in the Bouquet's spare bedroom for two months already. She'd stayed the night there several times over the previous six years, and practically lived there the rest of the time. During the last year and a half, she almost never went home until bedtime unless she had to.

Her parents were divorcing. Her father had explained they tried to stay together for her -- that it was right for a child to have two parents around -- but in the end, they just couldn't.

In a way, Mina blamed herself. If she'd actually been home to be cared for, maybe they could've done what they were trying so hard to do. But then, she never wanted to be home because her parents were always fighting. If they weren't fighting, then the atmosphere was too tense as they waited for the next argument.

It was never like that with the Bouquets. At Luc's house, his parents were warm and friendly, and they taught her to speak French. Marianne invited her to help cook, and everyone talked during dinner.

And there was Luc, of course, the only close friend she ever had. To all the other students, they were still the ill-fitting members of the class. In school, Mina spoke to Luc with what French she knew, and even if she didn't know all the right words, he understood. They could talk in class and no one would understand what they were saying. It separated them further from everyone, but to them, this was fine.

Mina's twelfth birthday passed, and she celebrated it with the Bouquets. When Marianne asked if she wanted her parents to come, she said no. "I don't want to choose," she said by way of explanation.

Marianne nodded sympathetically.

In the back yard later, after she told Luc, he said, "I don't think I could choose which of my parents I'd ask, either, if I only could choose one."

"It's not like that," Mina said hesitantly. "I don't want either of them."

Then she told him what her mother had said the last time she spoke to her: that Mina would have to choose which parent to live with, and when the divorce was final, she would live with that parent.

"Dad called and said the same thing. Both of them said what we'd do if I lived with them -- we'd go on vacations and I could have my own TV in my room... all sorts of stupid stuff."

"Wow," Luc said. "They don't know you at all."

That was when Mina started to cry. Luc put an arm around her shoulders.

"They don't know me at all," she said, and for the first time in their short lives, they both understood: only Luc really knew Mina, and only Mina really knew Luc.

The night of her birthday, after the remains of the cake had been put away and Luc's parents had gone to bed, Mina heard a knock on her door. She got up and opened it.

"Let's go out," Luc said, standing in the hall.

"Go where?"

He shrugged, but there was a mad gleam in his eye. "I don't know. Out. Anywhere. I'm too awake to stay inside."

Mina silently blamed the cola they'd had with dinner. "If we get caught, we'll be in so much trouble."

"We won't," he promised. "Please? I'll teach you some French swear words."

That got her attention. "Where'd you learn those?"

"Dad. He used to use them all the time, but when I asked he wouldn't tell me. I found a French dictionary, though, and when I couldn't find a couple of them in there I looked it up online." He grinned. "They're really cool."

Luc had convinced her to do things with him before; most of it had been limited to revenge on schoolyard bullies (their bullies or, sometimes, someone else's, if that person had been nice to them), or distracting a teacher while he grabbed for them both an extra snack. Never, though, had he suggested they'd leave the house after curfew. This was new territory altogether; Mina knew that, once this boundary was broken, there was no going back.

"It'll be a great way to end your twelfth birthday," Luc said. "Twelve years old, and a late-night expedition in search of adventure."

"And French swear words," she added. She was already pulling on her quietest shoes.

Luc went downstairs ahead of her, holding her jacket out so she could slip her arms in.

"I learned a new word," she whispered to him, as she adjusted the jacket around herself.

Opening the door as slowly and quietly as he could, Luc let her step outside first before closing it behind them again. "What's that?"

"Surrogate."

"What's it mean?"

"Well." Mina felt a little nervous. "It's like... you're my surrogate brother. You're not actually my brother, but..."

"I may as well be," Luc finished, smiling broadly at her.

It was probably then that Mina decided: If her parents made her choose, she would choose Luc.

--#--

The return to the past took Mina from narrowly dodging a slashing breadknife to laying in bed the morning of that same day, about an hour before her alarm went off.

She kicked the covers off and opened her bedroom door, not bothering to knock before opening the door to Luc's room and stepping inside.

"Good morning."

"Morning. It's really bizarre to go from electric-whipping a monster to waking up in your bed."

Mina sat down at the foot of Luc's bed.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Telling Mom who I wanted to live with."

Luc chuckled sleepily. They had been doing battle only minutes ago, but chronologically, they were barely awake. "That conversation was a show-stopper."

Mina hugged her knees. "I don't think she realized she and Dad weren't the only options to me."

"You got the best end of the deal," Luc confided. "What made you think about it?"

"I got a letter from her today." She paused. "Actually, I WILL get a letter from her today. It'll arrive this afternoon."

"What WILL it say?"

"That she loves me and misses me, and that she talks with Marianne once in a while. She wishes I'd email more often." She smiled half-heartedly. "When I first moved in with you, I still saw my real parents all the time."

"Do you miss them?"

"...A little. I love Mama and Papa, but sometimes I think about Mom and Dad." After a few quiet minutes, she added, "I don't regret being adopted by your family. I'm happier here. I'm just sad things didn't work with my parents."

Minutes passed. Just as Mina thought Luc had fallen asleep again, he said, "I'm glad we moved back to France."

"Why's that?"

"Now, we have friends as well as family."

"Heehee, yeah..."

When they got to school to go through the day all over again, both of them were smiling more than usual.

"You know what the best part of today will be?" Luc announced, as they approached Jeremie and Aelita. "We won't have to skip lunch again."

"I agree with you completely," said Jeremie.

"You know why I'm glad we moved to France?" Mina said suddenly, looking at Luc.

"Hm?"

She beamed. "We're finally with people who speak our language."

Luc looked momentarily surprised, then he burst out laughing. "You're absolutely right."

Jeremie and Aelita shared a look of confusion, then Aelita shrugged and smiled, as if to say, "Who knows?"