And You, My Father, On the Sad Height,

Just… get it over with.

The movie blundered on in the background. Charles and Henry sat together on the hotel room couch, Charles not-so-patiently watching Henry, and Henry hoping for nothing more than for the couch to open up and swallow him whole. "Charles, I… I need to tell you something." He kept his voice low, almost drowned beneath the chattering of the television. "You really aren't going to like it. But I want you to think about it before, you know, talking about anything else?"

"…yeah…?"

"Charles, you've pretty much always been in the government. Your family generations before you were even born were in the army and now, you're an ace pilot. I… I'm not, obviously. But my family is not in the tech business," Henry stated. "I'm not in the tech business. I was adopted when I was eleven years old, into the infamous Toppat Clan. By the then-second, now-Chief Reginald and his Right Hand Man. I was raised to be, and became, a Toppat. A well-ranked one, now, who is pretty involved in a lot of the action. I even got the Tunisian Diamon in a solo mission."

…

Charles just stared at Henry as if he'd started speaking a different language. Henry had been speaking English, right? He didn't switch to Russian? Why would he switch to speaking Russian and not know about it?

Finally, the ace pilot chuckled, though there was no humor in the noise, and tried for a faulty smile. "That's… heh, that's crazy. Toppat Clan."

"You know I'm serious, right?" Henry pressed.

"No, you're not," Charles scoffed and sat up straight. "Is-is this to get back at me about the nickname? I didn't mean to say it in front of Ellie!"

"It's not about the nickname. Ellie won't ever let go of that. But that's beside the point. I'm a Toppat, a criminal, not some average Joe who works with computers."

Charles blinked, the weird smile dissipating. "You are serious. How? How can you be serious? How-how can this be a thing?! Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Charles had gotten a little louder, but it was hard for Henry to find any hints of anger. If it had been anyone but Charles, Henry would have found that to be weird.

"Because, Charles, I was in the Clan before I even met you, and your parents would have probably arrested mine had they known!" Henry puffed. "So, no. I couldn't tell you then. Ever since then, especially after you became a government pilot, I've kept it a secret. I knew that if you knew, then the very best that could happen is that we wouldn't be able to be friends again. You're too much of a good person to hate anyone. But then if other people knew your friend was a criminal–a Toppat at that–something would happen to you. It would kill me if something happened to you because I couldn't keep my damn mouth shut. And now I just told you so never mind, I guess!"

Henry groaned and sighed, "I'm sorry, Charles. I wanted to tell you, but there was way too much on the line."

"Nothing would have happened to me," Charles tried.

Henry gave him a look. "Is that the truth, Charles? Or is there not something inherently wrong with befriending major criminals?"

"I was your friend way before everything," Charles denied. "But… a Toppat… you're serious. You're actually serious. This is happening. I don't understand." He ran his fingers through his shiny auburn hair, dislodging his scarlet headphones. "This is insane. This can't be happening… you're… no."

Henry elected to stay quiet.

Charles turned on him. "You're one of the criminals we were trying to apprehend when we sent you on the airship?"

Henry nodded. "I brought out some blackmail files and handed them over instead. I wasn't in any danger, and I know how to navigate one end of the ship to the other. Mainly, I was testing your knowledge of the ship."

"And… and we're–I, and the rest of the military–am supposed to find a way to arrest you. All of you."

"Mhm."

"Why?"

Henry shrugged. "Because I'm a criminal and you're not?"

"Why am I your friend, then? Am I your friend?" Charles' voice got quite low.

"Yes, of course." Henry set a hand on Charles' shoulder and grimaced. "Yeah, it sounds weird. But I still like you. I know what and who you are. Expecting you to be any different is like expecting me to not be me. That doesn't mean I don't like you. You're a great guy, Charles."

Charles shrugged off Henry's hand and looked away. "Henry, the Toppat Clan is wrong. Stealing and bribing and manipulating–they do that. Bad people do that sort of stuff. How could you?" Charles turned on him, then. "How could you do any of that?"

Henry kept his hands to himself. "Because I can, and I do. I was raised to do it. Honestly, by how I acted before I was adopted, by my stupid kleptomania, I was born to do it. I was a born, pure-blooded thief."

Charles shook his head again, "No, Henry, that's just–you can't. You're a good person. I've known you since we were kids and you're a great guy! But the Toppat Clan–they're not good people!"

"They are," Henry couldn't help but cut in. "My parents, my friends, most of my coworkers–they're great people to be around! Immoral at times, and some of them are downright bad, but you have those types of people everywhere. Bad people can follow laws, just like good ones can break them."

"No, that's not right," Charles countered. "The Toppat Clan is a criminal organization full of people that have ruined or taken lives. They're not good people!" He stared at Henry with such conviction he knew that Charles was being honest. He was so convinced of the lies fed to him, he was being honest. He was a good and honest man, a loyal and true friend. Henry didn't expect any different.

"And the military and police force and government in general–only good people are allowed there?" Henry countered. "Everyone you work with, they're good people who always abide by the laws and always do what's best for everyone?"

"Most, yes," Charles stated. "Most of them are there to make the world a better place. To serve and protect. Criminal organizations like the Toppat Clan, they don't do that!"

"The Toppat Clan is a great organization with great people in it," Henry crossed. "And there are bad people in it just like there are bad police officers and soldiers."

"You can't say they've been only good to you! Didn't you say your parents were police?"

"My birth parents were," Henry stated, his voice dry. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You said the Toppat Clan adopted you, or your fathers did, and they were Toppats. My parents were military. What if my parents were doing their job and protecting civilians and got hurt? Permanently? Or worse? What if your parents had been trying to apprehend a Toppat and got killed over it?"

Henry bristled and stood up, struggling to hide how hard and low that blow was. "Dad Reginald and Dad Right are my fathers, not whoever went off and got themselves killed when I was two! Don't try to drag them into this! I did my best never to find you, obviously! You and your parents never even knew!"

Charles jumped to his feet, too, defensive but not backing down an inch. "Just because they didn't know doesn't make it any better. Your dad is the leader of the Toppat Clan? Why would he even allow you near me?"

"He didn't want to," Henry scoffed. "I just proved I could take care of myself and the Clan. I showed I wouldn't turn against them, and I still won't. But–urgh! This was a dumb idea." He growled and hit the palm of his hand against his forehead. "I shouldn't have told you. This was a mistake."

Charles crossed his arms. "Well, I do know. What now, Henry?"

The door opened behind them.

Ellie walked outside, eyebrows contracted and eyes flicking between the two, one hand on her side. "What is going on?"

Charles shot a dark look at Henry. Henry didn't look away. Charles said, "Henry's a Toppat and he decided to tell me now."

Ellie stopped halfway through the living room. "What?"

Henry snorted, "I know I shouldn't have, but I wanted to be honest."

"You're a Toppat! How can you be honest?" Charles blurted out. He lost his prickly look immediately.

Henry blinked and then glared back. "By not lying and deciding that I didn't want to hurt you and trying to figure out how best not to. Good night." With that, he whirled around and stalked out the door, snatching his keys from the table.

"Henry!" Ellie called. Henry ignored her and stalked outside. He managed to get a few feet past the door before Ellie took him by the wrist. "Henry. Look, I don't know what's going on, but I can't let you drive."

Henry snorted and stuffed his keys back in his pocket. "I didn't even drink that much."

"You want me to call your cousin or…?"

"…I'll get him, I'll get him," Henry grumbled, taking his phone out with his free hand. Ellie let go.

"Henry?" Howie's voice came from the receiver, blurry.

Henry grimaced and looked up into the night sky. "Hey, Howie. Are you awake?"

"No. Why?"

"I need some help getting back home."

"You're with yer friends. Jus' ask one of them."

Henry glanced at Ellie. "Can you drive?"

"I'm not going to," she stated simply.

"She's not going to."

"Jesus. Where're ya?"

"By the Arizona border, in Nevada. I'll text you the address," said Henry.

"You owe me one, ya'hear?"

"Loud and clear, Cowboy."

"Jus' give me a moment to grab my keys and stuff." Howie's voice turned into a grumble and he could hear shuffling in the background.

"Alright. Bye."

Click.

Ellie asked, "Henry, what happened?"

"I told Charles I was a Toppat and he didn't thank me for it," Henry grumbled, finding the coordinates to their location, and texting them to Howie. "I knew he wouldn't."

"And for how long?"

"Since about two months before I met you at school." He glanced back at her. "Why aren't you snapping at me? Did you know?"

Ellie shook her head. "No. Henry, I can't predict you. Honestly, I didn't see this coming. But if this is your life, if this was your life before meeting us, what is getting mad going to do?"

Henry looked away.

"Henry, we're both your friends. Stay safe, okay?" With that, she went back to the hotel room where Charles still stayed.

Henry let out a long sigh and walked out to where the road met desert. He sat and looked up at the sky, marred by far off light pollution, but otherwise unscathed by clouds or planes. Stars glimmered high above. Stars–billions of them, most hidden by distance, atmosphere, and minor light pollution. Soon, Henry would get to the see stars without all of that. He'd be able to look out of his window in the middle of the day and see a sight no person on Earth would ever clearly see with their feet on the ground. What if the government found out about their plan? What if they tried to stop them? What if, amongst those soldiers, Charles was there? Henry couldn't let anything go between him and the Clan. Charles was his best friend, but the Clan was his family.

Henry groaned and buried his face in his hands. Today had been going so well, too.

Henry lifted his head upon hearing footsteps. Howie, hands in his worn jeans pockets, hummed. "Hey."

Henry got up and walked with him back toward the pod. "Hey."

"What happened?"

Henry bowed his head. "I screwed up."

"What'd ya do?"

Henry opened the pod door for them, though Howie typed in the command for the ship. "Charles confessed to me and I told him I was a Toppat."

Howie sat down across from him, though the space between was so small it hardly felt like it. "Ya did what now?"

"I told him I was a Toppat. He didn't like it."

"Why'd ya do that?"

Henry set a hand to the back of his neck. "It just felt fake. I've always kept this from him, but it's just… he wanted to take things further and I didn't, not until he knew what he was going to be setting himself up for. He's an amazing guy. I guess it's better he finds out from me now and not someone else later, right?"

"Maybe."

"Was it the right thing to do?" Henry blurted out.

"Ah dunno, Henry. Not my call ta make."

"Would you have?"

"Ah don't got any friends outside a' the Toppat Clan close enough that need ta know who don't already," Howie said.

Henry sighed and looked out the window. Well, he had Howie and Katie. He'd have them forever, probably. Just as long as nothing else happens, he'll be fine.