A/N: Once again I'd like to thank Vanessa Masters for their help!
Chapter 34: Erasing All Perceptions
(Alternative Title: Isn't there something...missing here?)
Rad yawned as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. His alarm clocked blared angrily at him, the letters blinking brightly against the light coming in through the window curtains. Rad grumbled as he turned off the clock, frowning as he stared down at his lap. It seemed so far away, but each morning it felt like a stab to the gut each time he remembered what Sideways did. 'I can't believe he used me. That he tried to have Megatron kill Hot Shot just to get the Star Saber.'
Beeping drew his attention, and High Wire tilted his head. "How are you feeling today?"
It was nice, if always in the background, that the mini-con never brought up how right they were about Mirror and Sideways.
"I'm…doing okay." Rad said quietly. "Though since I just woke up, ask me tonight." He added, and shooed High Wire out of his room, where the mini-con beeped and leaned against the wall across from Rad's room. The blond rolled his eyes and grabbed a change of clothes before washing up in the bathroom.
In the kitchen, Kero was eating a pudding as he stared at the television. "Rad." The guardian said, eyes never leaving the T.V.
"Kero." Rad replied. He furrowed his brow when his phone vibrated. It had a strange notification he couldn't remember putting on. 'Have Sweet make Rachel's birthday cake.' The blond looked at the calendar, but the date, June 2, was blank. "Kero, do I know a Rachel?"
Kero furrowed his brow. "No, do you?"
Rad shrugged, putting his phone away before he got his cereal breakfast. He sidestepped the coffee maker, and wondered why he had it, he didn't even drink coffee! The blond washed his dishes before grabbing his backpack and High Wire followed him to the door. "Remember not to eat all the cookies, I want some for later!"
Kero waved it off. "Yeah, yeah." He said dismissively.
"Come on, Rad, you promised to buy me oil!" High Wire said, and pulled Rad excitedly from the apartment.
There was always a dour mood underneath the strive to keep going. Scavenger might not have been a Decepticon after all, but the loss of the Star Saber weighed heavily on everyone. It was like some twisted, bitter irony in this situation. Worst of all, the last few days of searching for mini-cons always ended in defeat – for the Autobots. Create could make Hot Shot a Sword replica, but it couldn't give him the prowess.
It was something Starscream couldn't help rubbing it in. Hot Shot clenched his fists. Sideways probably blabbed about all of the cards and their powers to the Decepticons by now.
There was a second set of footsteps that clanged against the floor, and Hot Shot glanced back to find Scavenger walking down the hall. Hot Shot grimaced. Great. Not only was it still awkward to see him in the base, but more so that his personality wasn't an act.
"Are you still moping over the last defeat?" he asked brusquely.
Case in point. Hot Shot vented deeply. "Losing a mini-con to the Decepticons is nothing to scoff at." He muttered.
Scavenger did just that though, snorting. "Perhaps if you had spent more time actually practicing with the Star Saber than letting that boy give you a power-up, you might not have lost the Saber."
Hot Shot's confusion overrode his anger. "What? Even for an insult from you that doesn't make any sense." He snapped. "Sideways tricked Rachel into going into the forest with the Star Saber when she and I swapped bodies with Change."
"That's how you explain your failure?" Scavenger retorted belligerently. "And you think I'm going senile, maybe you're the one who needs their wires checked. None of the organics you affiliate with are named Rachel."
"What?" Hot Shot's optics widened. He stared incredulously at him, and shook his head roughly. "No, you're the one who's losing it." He said waspishly as he stormed down the hall. Indignant anger drained out, replaced with uncertainty. He looked around for someone else, and spotted Jolt with Spiral and Oval. "Jolt, hey buddy!"
Jolt beeped, nodding at him. "Good morning, Hot Shot."
"There's something I need to know – you know Rachel, right?" Hot Shot asked.
Jolt tilted his head, and conversed with his companions, but Hot Shot's spark sank when the mini-con replied to him. "No, you mean Rad? He's the only one with an 'R' sound in front of his name."
"Y-yeah, that's who I meant." The yellow bot said faintly. "I need to go check something, see ya later."
"See you!" Jolt called after him.
Hot Shot hurried to the command room. "Maya!" he called worriedly. The girl's form appeared over the console, blinking at him. "Can you bring up the footage from when – when Sideways betrayed us?"
Maya raised a brow. "Yes, is there a reason?" she asked, the footage appearing on the screen.
Hot Shot didn't reply for a moment, going through the footage until it reached the evening, midnight to be precise. His digits froze, his stare growing more and more disbelieving as he saw where Rachel should have been – was nothing. He remembered being in her body, going through the entire day as her and hating every second knowing he couldn't cut it as a human – where was she?
"Hot Shot?" Concern creeped into Maya's normally stoic voice.
The yellow bot vented deeply, and winced as he called up Rad's phone, hearing it ring in his head. "Rad?" he asked once the line picked up.
"You're really lucky I'm in recess." Rad grumbled. "What is it, Hot Shot?"
"Where's Rachel?" Hot Shot asked without prompt.
There was a long stretch of silence on the other line. "Rachel who?"
Hot Shot's spark sank. "Wh-who's Rachel? She's your cousin!"
"My cousin? I don't have a cousin. Are you alright?" Rad asked in concern.
"I'm alright, but clearly you and everyone else isn't." Hot Shot retorted. "Something's wrong. I can remember someone the rest of you can't."
"Are you serious?" Rad asked, then his voice faltered. "How is this possible? Wait, what am I saying, of course there's only one explanation."
"Can you get here soon?" Hot Shot asked.
"I'm at-never mind. I'll try." Rad said, then hung up the phone.
Hot Shot noticed Maya had crossed her arms, and he rubbed his neck sheepishly. "You heard that, right?" she nodded. "Well, can you see if there was anything weird going on last night? Maybe another Sakura Card got in here?"
Maya glanced to the screen, and the video began playing from the previous night. Only a few minutes went by before the whole video cut out, static filling the screen. A crease appeared in Maya's brow. "That's strange, I can't find anything more about last night. It's as though…it was just deleted."
"Well if this isn't suspicious I don't know what is." Hot Shot said. "What I want to know is why I can still remember this stuff." He paused, feeling his shoulder heating. Hot Shot opened his shoulder compartment, and pulled out the Create card.
It pulsed faintly at him, blue light emitting. Hot Shot's optics widened as in a burst of insight he realized it. "Did you keep me from losing these memories?"
The card pulsed again, a sense of anger and annoyance, and Hot Shot got another flash of Rachel in his mind, of her crossing her arms and huffing. It was not a flattering image, but it made sense given Create's opinion of her.
"So that's it," Hot Shot said, grasping at these abstract feelings, "huh? Never thought your anger would be helpful."
This time the annoyance was towards him.
Rad was left with a feeling of despair as he stared at the ground, his arms crossed as he sat on the ground, back to a tree. He couldn't believe what Hot Shot said – was he really not able to remember someone, his own cousin? It sounded fantastical, but the truth of the matter was that it seemed right up the alley of a particularly angry Sakura Card. He breathed in deeply, and called Kero.
"Hey, Rad, what is it?"
"There's a card on the loose, it apparently made us all forgot my cousin – someone named Rachel." Rad explained. "What kind of card does that?"
Kero was silent for a moment. "None, actually. No card can erase memories."
Rad frowned. "Really? Then where is this Rachel?"
Kero sucked in a sharp breath, cursing. "Erase – she can erase things, people and probably stretched it to blight Rachel from everyone's memory. This is bad, things Erase gets rid of stay gone once 48 hours have passed!"
Rad jolted, his eyes widening as he gaped in shock. "Are you serious? How am I supposed to find Erase then in just two days? I don't even know where to start!" he said, hand running through his hair.
"I'll try sensing her, but maybe you can lure Erase out by trying to make people remember her. If Erase went to this length to wipe out Rachel's existence, she's probably going to be mad if anyone can still remember her." Kero explained.
Rad nodded, before halting. Hot Shot could remember Rachel, but from his words it implied the other Autobots didn't know who she was. It looked like he needed to get there after all. "I need to get out of class. If the school calls, then just say I'm allowed to leave-okay?"
"Sure, but be careful – even I don't know what Erase could do next." Kero said.
"That really isn't helping." Rad muttered, and ended the call. He took a deep breath, and went up to the teacher chaperoning recess. "Excuse me, but I don't feel too well." He murmured, holding his stomach. "I think I'm catching something, my stomach is acting up."
The teacher sighed. "Head to the office, and have the nurse check you out."
Rad nodded, and hurried into the school. He made sure no one was watching before he took his key from his neck and ducked into the broom closet. "Key of the star, with powers burning bright," he chanted, the glow of the seal underneath him, "reveal the staff and shine your light – release!"
His key elongated into a staff, and Rad twisted to toss out a card, it hovering in the air as he pointed at it. "Dash!" Rad opened the door, and sprinted faster than the eye could see through the hall. It let him evade the cameras, and once he reached the exit, he recalled Dash before tossing up another card. "Fly!"
It was Rad's first time using Fly, and he was reminded of his dream as the wings on his staff glowed and grew, becoming two giant wings and he hopped onto the staff like he was riding a witch's broom. "I need to get to the mountains without being seen." He told himself, and hopped off the ground.
He went soaring into the air, higher than the buildings or where people would be looking up. Rad wouldn't have used Fly but he doubted Dash could last long with the epic run it would need to give him all the way to the Autobot base.
Rad felt the breeze and current around him, ruffling his hair and jacket. Despite hanging on by little more than a pole, it ironically felt safer than when he'd jumped onto Fly's back in trying to catch it. The buildings thinning out, Rad came closer to the forest. The lake glinted in the sunlight, sparkling from the high altitude. The blond suddenly envied birds if this was what they could see every time they flew around.
Shaking his head, Rad steered to the mountain ledge that led to the cave of the Autobot base. He landed with a soft thud, his knees bending. With a thanks, Rad recalled Fly and shrank his staff back down to key form, and raced through the cavern to the base. "Hot Shot!" he called.
"Rad." The blond nearly fell over with Maya's sudden appearance. She blinked lethargically at him. "Hot Shot is in the command room. The others just left on a mini-con search and he can't stay long."
The blond nodded, and hurried to meet up with the yellow bot. He gasped for breath once he found the bot, and waved him over. "How-did you-keep your memories?" he asked out of air.
Hot Shot tapped his shoulder compartment. "Create. Turns out in some strange way, it's anger towards her means it apparently can't stop thinking nasty things about her, and I get to keep my memories-"
"-because it's always made at her." Rad said in realization. He didn't know whether to be happy or frustrated – he settled for uneasy. "Can Create help me remember Rachel? I need to lure Erase out or Rachel will stay gone forever."
Hot Shot looked at his shoulder, and took out the pink card, which was glowing viciously. Rad was met with an overwhelming hostility that even made the yellow bot wince. "I don't think it cares."
Rad found himself shaking. "Create," he said, his voice strained, "you don't have to like Rachel, or like me, but I can't let Erase do this. It isn't right, and she could keep erasing things until she wipes everything out." He said earnestly, because honestly, he had no idea the extend these cards could go to. "Just this once, please, help me – you can go back to Hot Shot once it's over. I won't stop you, or make you stay with me. I just want to fix this."
Create's glow died down, a heavy silence in the room. Machinery whirled in the background, the only sound beyond Rad's own chaotic breathing. Finally, after a long stretch of time seemed to go by, Create pulsed – its answer a mishmash of reluctance and irritated.
It would still do it though, and Rad smiled widely as Create floated down from Hot Shot's grasp to his own. Rad flinched though when Create pulsed, and Rad found himself remembering an image of a blonde girl, several years older than him with a smile on her face. The name came to him instantly, affectionate desperation clinging to the memory. 'Rachel. It's her birthday today.'
"Uh, Rad…" Hot Shot trailed off, and pointed down.
The blond's brow furrowed, but then he noticed he wasn't wearing the clothes he'd changed into that morning – instead it was something completely different. "What the…" he muttered, looking himself over.
It was a red, white and yellow costume, with various red stars on it. Rad touched his head, feeling a cap on his hair, white from the coloring. He also had a white cape around his shoulders that was red inside, with the top of the cape leading into a short jacket that went across his chest, yellow along the front and a red star smack dab in the middle. Underneath was a longer, open white jacket lined with yellow and ended at his wrists, also lined in yellow cuffs, while underneath that was a red leotard that ended at his thighs and from just above the knees were a set of white and yellow boots.
Rad had no idea why he was wearing this, or why Create put him in this costume. It felt bizarrely smug about it, but Rad could only shake his head. "I'd better get going. I need to go lure Erase out."
"Be careful." Hot Shot said.
Rad nodded. "I will." He replied, and hurried to the entrance.
If getting Erase after him meant having people remember Rachel, then he knew where to start. Calling Fly, he flew back to the town, wing ruffling the cape – it was still strange feeling these clothes on him and knowing it was real and not an illusion.
'What did Create do with my clothes? Just morph them?' he thought, but the line of thinking was put on hold as he landed behind the school and out of sight. Rad looked around, before sprinting to the front where High Wire was. "Hey."
"Rad, what are you wearing?" High Wire asked bemused.
"I'm not sure really, Create made it." Rad replied.
"Isn't that the picky card with Hot Shot?" Sureshock asked. She and Grindor were parked next to High Wire. Even if Alexis and Carlos weren't alright with Rad at the moment, it was nice seeing the two still let the mini-cons be together.
"Yeah, not right now though. I'm only using Create until I can get Erase sealed and bring Rachel back." Rad explained.
"Who's Rachel?" The three minis asked.
"Guess there's no better place to start with getting Erase mad." Rad muttered. "Create, can you make them memories of Rachel?" he asked. A flash of annoyance, but the mini-cons began beeping, Rad feeling their surprise before it turned to confusion.
"Did…your clothes just change?" Grindor asked, sounding disbelieving.
Rad blinked, before he looked down and found himself wearing another costume. It was more Christmas themed, of red and green. Rad touched his head, feeling the hat split into twin tails that went down his back. He was wearing a red jacket with cut outs that went down past his sides and ended in jagged points, and clasps across the chest that kept it closed, while underneath was a green long-sleeved shirt, and green shorts before from the knee down was long socks that ended in ankle-high red boots. His hands were covered in green gloves.
"I'm not sure, Create seems to be doing it – don't get why though." Rad replied. That seemed to irritate the card, who went silent. Rad sighed. "Anyway, just be on the look out for anything strange. I'm not sure what Erase looks like – which I should really ask Kero about." He pulled out his phone, but frowned as the guardian didn't answer. "He'd better be meditating." He muttered. "High Wire, we need to get home."
"Right." High Wire replied, and Rad climbed onto the seat as the mini-con cycled down the street.
Rad might have been focused on the street, but he pulled High Wire to a stop when he noticed the curly mop of black hair. He flushed as he looked at Marty. "Uh, hi."
Marty raised a brow, hefting his heavy-looking grocery bag. "Rad, what are you wearing?" he asked, his brow creasing in confusion. "Isn't it a little early for Halloween?"
Rad flushed redder. "Yeah, but I'm just getting a head start." He said, rubbing his neck. He flinched when a flash went off, and he saw someone had taken a picture. He groaned, and rubbed his face. "Anyway, nice seeing you."
"Wait, shouldn't you be in school?" Marty asked.
Rad stiffened up. "Um, uh-bye!" he shouted, and High Wire took off. "That was so embarrassing. I sounded like such a -ahhh!" he groaned, slumping in the seat. Create gave off a pleased wave, and Rad rolled his eyes.
Once High Wire reached the apartment, he dragged the mini-con through to the elevator, waiting impatiently for it to reach his floor. He tugged the 'bike' along with him to the apartment room, and almost kicked the door down to get inside. "Kero!"
The guardian jumped from his spot on the coffee table, whirling around. "What?!" he shouted, but then his mouth twisted as though he'd swallowed a lemon.
"Did you find Erase anywhere?" Rad asked, closing the door so High Wire could transform back into bi-pedal mode.
"No, where did you get that outfit?" Kero demanded.
Rad frowned. "Create made it, why?"
Kero gaped at him. "Why? It's one of your predecessor's costumes!"
The blond froze, and took another look at the outfit in a new light. "W…what?" he said stunned. "Create, why would you do this?" he froze again, in his mind getting a flash of a younger Sakura, who looked just as strikingly like Kelly, smiling and beaming as though looking into a camera. There was a sense of loss and anger – mostly towards the blond. "I see." Rad said quietly. "It's trying to humiliate me; Create doesn't think I'll ever be as good as Sakura."
Kero tensed up. "You know?"
Rad glowered at him. "Yeah I know, I met her." He snapped, but rubbed his brow. "I don't have time for this though. Create, can you restore Kero's memories of Rachel?" He asked, and Kero blinked slowly as the memories likely came back.
Rad looked down, again finding the costume had changed. It was more muted in colors, of just gray and white – aside from the pin on the jacket that was gold and engraved with a star outline. He had a gray cap on his head, a small ribbon on the side of it. The white jacket was held closed by big black buttons down the front, with two tails that went out past his waist. The main suit under the jacket was a long gray shirt, and a skirt attached with gray and white pleated rows. At the knees down, was long gray boots, and his hands were covered by gray gloves.
By now, Rad belatedly realized what Create kept doing. "Are you seriously going to keep changing my clothes each time I have you get Rachel remembered?" There was a pulse of annoyed affirmation, and Rad rolled his eyes. Talk about petty.
Kero looked up suddenly, brow furrowed. He closed his eyes, and his body shone with a golden light. "I can finally sense Erase. She's nearby, but it's still hard to pinpoint where she is exactly."
"Maybe I can help." Rad said. He sat on the floor, and crossed his legs before closing his eyes. He focused on trying to search for a signature he couldn't sense, going deeper and deeper into his own mind as he sought out a magical card signature.
"Rad White.."
Rad looked around in the darkness, wondering who was calling, his brow furrowed.
"Rad White, you must be wary..."
"Who are you?" Rad shouted, looking around. "Erase?"
"I am within you, I am around you, you must be careful..."
Rad spun around, but he could find nothing in the darkness. Nothing to help or hint at what was going on. He was supposed to be looking for Erase, but why would she be warning him?
"She won't stop, she's mad, but she's out to save herself and she'll hurt them, Rad." The voice said desperately.
"What? Who are you talking about? Where are you!" Rad asked.
"They're just little children! They didn't ask to be made," the voice said in sad tone, "but if she has her way, they won't be asking to die either. Please don't let her hurt them, Rad. Even if it means the end, don't let her hurt the...the..."
The voice trailed off and Rad could hardly hear it anymore, confusion and worry flowing through him. "Who? Hurt who? What is going on here!"
Rad was suddenly spun around and was horrified to see High Wire suspended in the darkness, the mini-con's arms had been ripped out of its sockets and a pair of pink glowing eyes with vertical black slits appeared on either side of its body, before it exploded.
"Nooo!" A scream ripped itself from Rad's throat, his eyes snapping open as he found the world tilted back.
"Rad? Rad!" High Wire, whole and safe, shook the blond's shoulder. He beeped, startled as Rad launched at him, wrapping him into a tight hug as his heart pounded hard in his chest.
"You're okay!" he said.
"What? What happened?" High Wire asked, sounding and feeling so confused.
Rad opened his mouth, but could find the memory already leaving him. He was glad, for once to be left without it. Rad breathed heavily, his grip tightening. He flinched when a sudden burst of pity came over him. Rad felt Create's presence in the back of his mind, as though giving him a metaphorical pat on the head. It was patronizing, but Rad would take whatever positive feeling Create mustered for him.
"It's just…a bad dream, or a nightmare." Rad mumbled. "I tried looking for Erase, but I couldn't find her."
"Well, before I freaked over you freaking out, I managed to get a pinpoint of where Erase is hiding out." Kero said. He floated over to the blond, patting his shoulder. "I'll go with you, she could be moving even now."
Rad sighed, shaky as he nodded and got back to his feet. High Wire transformed back into a bike, and once Kero clutched tight to Rad's shoulder, the blond rolled High Wire out of the apartment and down to the lobby.
The trail Kero provided led Rad speeding through town, before his stomach dropped as the closer to the border of the town they got, the blond frowned as they continued through the forest.
"You've got to be kidding me." Rad muttered, and lo and behold, Kero pointed to the Autobot base. "Right back here. Guess it makes sense." Create was happy though, no surprise there.
Unlike earlier, when Rad got into the base, he found the bots in the command room, sans Smokescreen. Hot Shot noticed him first, and looked relieved. "What's wrong?"
"Smokescreen disappeared when we got back." The bot explained. "Optimus thought it best to stay in here until, well, we would have called you." He said, and Rad nodded.
Scavenger glanced down at him skeptically. "And one of your magic tricks is supposed to save us?"
Rad frowned, before sighing. "Create, please make them remember Rachel." One more would have gotten Erase's attention.
All the bots and Maya froze up (besides Hot Shot), and Rad looked down at himself once more. The costume this time was bright pink. It was like an outer dress, with long sleeves that went to his wrists and white gloves over his hands. There was a music symbol in the middle of his chest, and ruffles of yellow around his shoulders. Clip on, plastic ballet flats covered his feet, while under the pink dress was a ruffled lavender skirt. On his head was a matching pink hat that also held a music note.
"That was strange." Red Alert said.
"Weren't your clothes different just a klik ago?" Scavenger asked Rad.
The blond shrugged. "Not important." He elongated his key, and tossed a card into the air. "Lock!" he shouted, and a pulse of magic went out. "There, now Erase can't escape from the base."
"You mean you trapped this thing in here with us?" Scavenger said incredulously. "Can you not think strategically?"
Rad glared at him. "Hey, I'm the one who tripped you with my magic tricks, so don't doubt me!" he snapped, but inside was nervous.
"Enough," Optimus said, glancing between Scavenger and Rad, "let's be on our guard. Is this card near?"
"And getting closer – Erase is peeved." Kero said, and began looking around.
"I really hope you have an idea, Rad." Hot Shot said.
Rad gulped, and looked through his cards for a plan to form. He stopped at several, and breathed in deeply as he clutched the pole of his staff tight. "Okay, I got this." He said, trying to reassure himself. When he finally felt Erase's presence, a bank of gray fog came flooding in through the ceiling vent.
"Scrap!" Hot Shot yelled. He covered over Rad, High Wire and Kero.
Rad flinched as he ducked. Fog covered the room, graying out everything around him – but one thing hit him the most. Everyone was gone. His heart clenched as he stared around the empty room. Even Maya had disappeared – he was the only one left. Rad clutched his head as his mind began to wither, feeling the presence of Erase trying to tear through his memories.
Rad's throat tightened, despair prevailing as piece by piece he could feel his mind slipping away under the pressure. Would he disappear too? What would happen if he did? His resolve began to weaken, his reason for fighting leaving as it was harder and harder to grasp.
A pulse of assurance filled him – his mind flooding with memories of everyone he loved and cared about. Erase snapped back in surprise, and Rad through out a card. "Shadow!"
Inky blackness seemed quickly from the ground, twisting as the fog was corralled into one area. Holes began appearing in the blanket of ink and Rad tossed out one more card. "Shield!" Shadow fell away as Erase was trapped inside the sphere of light that made up Shield's dome. Erase tried to punch against the walls, but Shield was made of sterner stuff.
Rad staggered over to Shield, raising the wand. "Return to your power confine, Sakura Card!" he yelled, the seal illuminating the empty room around him as Shield fell away and Erase began to get sucked into the shell of its card. Rad narrowed his eyes against the wind blowing around him, and everything went still as the card finished sealing up.
Rad collapsed to his knees, Erase coming to float down in front of him. He picked up the card, the familiar pink and gold bordering housing the image of the card – a tall woman in a white and black patterned outfit, making her look like a jester. She had wide sleeves with balls attached to the end of them, her hands holding a cloth to her side. Around her neck was a large ruffled, with a dark blue jewel in the middle. On her head was the same patterned jester hat, with two long twin tails splitting in the center that trailed nearly to the bottom of the card.
Rad was so focused on the card, he almost missed the groaning. He glanced back, and his heart leapt into his throat. Though they seemed dazed and confused, Optimus, Smokescreen, Red Alert, Scavenger, Hot Shot, Kero, Maya and High Wire were all back and looked unharmed.
"Did we fall asleep?" Kero muttered.
Rad lunged for High Wire, pulling him and Kero tight into his arms. "I almost thought you were gone!"
"I take it this means you sealed the card?" Optimus asked tiredly.
Rad nodded. "Yeah, this means – " his eyes widened, and he looked at High Wire. "We need to get back home, this has to mean Rachel's back!" High Wire transformed, but Rad stopped. He noticed his clothing was back to its original state, and pulled Create from his pocket. "A promise is a promise."
"Rad…" Kero said, but the blond shook his head.
"Even if it takes another day, or a year, I won't force Create to come with me." Rad said, and handed the card to Hot Shot.
There was a strange pause, and Hot Shot glanced at his hand, before the pink card slipped through his fingers, and floated back to Rad. The blond's eyes widened, and he gently caught the card.
"You mean…you'll come with me?" he asked quietly.
Create pulsed. It didn't like Rachel, but it was willing to trust him. Rad supposed that was a start. His blue eyes watered, and Rad clutched the card close.
"I'd better get home then." Rad said thickly, and slipped Create into his pocket along with the other cards.
Kero hung onto Rad's shirt as High Wire almost broke the sound barrier to get him home. It was almost a race through the hall, Rad nearly breaking down the door as he got inside.
His cousin nearly jumped from her seat at the table. "Rad, what's wrong? Why aren't you at school?" Rachel asked.
Rad never realized how much he missed her voice until now. The tears really did fall as he pulled her into a hug. Rachel stiffened, but hugged him back, a clear confusion in her eyes. "I'm so happy to see you."
"You…saw me last night." Rachel said, tilting her head. She wiped the tears from his eyes. "Seriously, what's wrong?"
The blond let out a mix of a laugh and a sob. "It's a long story." He sniffled. "I still owe you a birthday cake." He said, and hugged his cousin again.
Things were still messed up, but at least one thing was right in the world again.
