John could find no rest.
Gordon was missing.
Virgil was aching.
The ache in his brother's wings was a physical thing and it wafted across their empathic connection and made his own wings just hurt.
Virgil was not going to come home until he found their brother. John didn't really want him to either, but there was this primal fear that if Virgil didn't stop looking soon, he was going to be lost as well.
Scott and Alan were on their way back. Scott as pissed as possible and Alan worried sick.
John knew Scott's anger was a defence mechanism to protect himself against the terror of a missing Gordon, but Virgil would be the target for what Scott would perceive as recklessly endangering his own life in his method of search.
What Scott didn't understand was that the only way Virgil felt he could find his brother was to be as unhindered by mechanical interference as possible. There was a big difference between skipping over waves with only wings and water between them, compared to the noise and presence of a Thunderbird.
John still wished Virgil had taken Two.
Admittedly, his brother hadn't expected to have to fly so far. Gordon may have been angry, but he wasn't stupid. Tracy Island existed as a lone mountain in an open ocean. Not the safest place for any sea lifeform. Their aquanaut brother usually kept close for safety.
Why Virgil had had to fly such a distance and still hadn't been able to locate his brother, they didn't know.
John was receiving nothing from Gordon. This sometimes happened when his brother transformed into some of the least mammalian species in the ocean. Gordon had surmised that it had something to do with brain function or structure.
John was no biologist. He just knew he didn't like it.
Virgil hated it with a passion.
John wasn't one to reach out much to his connected brothers. He preferred his own space. But their presence was a comfort. They had always been there. They were his brothers. The lack of Gordon was just wrong.
And Virgil was hurting.
Exasperated, he pushed himself to his feet. Well, one foot. The other was in a cumbersome cast thanks to a nasty rescue the week before. He was lucky it was only a broken ankle. The chunk of spaceship bulkhead that had first pinned him and then bent his foot in a direction it was most definitely not meant to bend, could have, should have, punctured his suit. But it didn't, and he had been able to hang onto the rescuee he had fished from the wreckage long enough for Alan to come get them.
It was not his greatest moment.
Scott was just happy he was okay. Virgil fussed over him. And Alan…hugged him within an inch of strangling him.
He really wished his little space brother didn't have to keep saving his life.
Grabbing his crutches, he could imagine Virgil's frown at him getting up, but he had to move. His brother's pain was like an itch under his skin.
The lack of Gordon was like a black hole.
He shuffled over to the steps and slowly made his way up one by one. Of course, that was the very moment Grandma decided to walk into the room.
"John Glenn Tracy, what do you think you are doing?!" She hurried over and grabbed one of his arms.
"I need to move, Grandma."
"You're not supposed to be on your feet, young man. I knew we shouldn't have given you those crutches yet. I'll get the hoverchair-"
"I don't want the hoverchair, Grandma. I need to move." He gently shook her off and pushed himself forward, the crutches clicking on the hardwood as he made his way slowly out onto the balcony.
The afternoon was fast turning into evening. C'mon, Gordon, where are you?
He stared out towards the ocean, to where he could feel Virgil's aching presence.
A more familiar ache all of his own welled in his mark. He longed to lift and join his brother.
"Don't you even think about it." Grandma stepped into his field of vision. "You're not flying if you can't land. If you land on that foot, you'll only injure yourself further."
Yeah, yeah, he knew that. His shoulders dropped just a little. "I know, Grandma." He hated being stuck on Earth, but being unable to fly was even worse.
Still, he wanted to lift.
So, he did.
Seven and a half metres of white feathers sprouted from his mark and phased through his shirt. It was like an exhalation. A relief.
Virgil sent him a query, but a whisper of reassurance across the ocean quietened his concern.
It was almost ecstasy to unfold his span and stretch it out. He hadn't flown properly in an indecent amount of time. He had neglected himself in favour of staying on Five those few days longer and then his injury had screwed everything up.
The breeze teased his flight feathers.
"John, don't."
His grandmother's voice was whisper quiet.
"I'm not going anywhere, Grandma. I promise."
She loved him. He loved her. But she didn't have wings and she would never quite understand what it felt like.
He closed his eyes just a moment and ignored his hands clinging to his crutches, the pain in his ankle, and just imagined the breeze had him floating on a thermal.
Terror flashed across the ocean and took his breath away.
Gordon!
An echo as Virgil stumbled mid-flight, his reaction of sudden fear and desperation washing over John.
He stumbled, his balance off, gravity its usual annoying self, and he would have fallen if Grandma hadn't steadied him.
A single flap of his wings kept him upright.
"John, what is it?"
Her hand cupped his face, but his mind was miles across the ocean.
"It's Gordon." He folded his wings hastily and let them go, before turning awkwardly on his crutches and hurrying back to the holoprojector in the middle of the room.
The emotions emanating from Virgil were volatile. Worry and desperation, but then came a wash of relief that had John stumbling on the steps.
He fumbled for his collar, but Virgil beat him to it.
"John, I've found him."
He stumbled the rest of the way down to the holoprojector, Grandma trailing worriedly behind him. "You have? Where?"
"Can you locate me? About fifteen to twenty metres below."
A wave of his hand, a prod at the hologram and John zoomed in on Virgil's position. "You're over hundred kilometres out!"
"Am I? Something happened. Did you feel it?"
John blinked. "Something…?"
Virgil sighed and the lap of water in the background emphasized that his brother was in the sea. Lifting from submersion wasn't easy, if nigh impossible. His brother was going to need help.
"I need to get down to him again. Report momentarily."
And with that Virgil signed off.
John immediately pulled up Kayo's position. Damn. She was still in Alaska. He had contacted her earlier, but she had signalled that she couldn't talk.
He eyed the distance between TBS and Virgil.
Well, the urgency had just reached emergency level.
He hit his comms.
-o-o-o-
It was dark when Kayo returned with an injured Gordon.
Thunderbird Three was on approach and Scott had been growling in John's ear for the last fifteen minutes.
And Virgil was still out there.
Between Gordon's injuries and Virgil's exhaustion, the ache was horrible.
Gordon was half awake and calling Virgil's name as Kayo dragged him out of Shadow's cockpit as gently as she could manage. Hastily applied and sodden bandages were turning pink as she manoeuvred him onto a stretcher.
The Island was shaking with the roar of Three as she lowered herself into her silo.
It was a matter of countdown before Scott would be demanding answers.
Grandma took charge of the hoverstretcher and ushered Kayo back into her 'bird. A hand in hers. "Bring him home." Grandma's eyes latched onto Kayo's for just a second before she let her go.
His sister was launching Shadow so fast, John had to hurry to get off her launch platform or go with it.
"Virgil, no." It was little more than a whisper from Gordon as their grandmother hurried the stretcher in the direction of the infirmary. "No, Virg, stop."
The ache in John's back suddenly spiked and he flinched.
Gordon echoed it with a whimper.
Grandma frowned at John.
His lips thinned. "Virgil is very tired."
"Virgil, stop, please." Gordon didn't seem to be aware of the fact his engineer brother wasn't here.
Perhaps it was fortunate that they were in the infirmary when the pain flared and John was suddenly awash with panic. He stumbled and tripped on his crutches as Gordon cried out in fear.
He would have fallen if it wasn't for the sudden appearance of familiar strong hands attached to his eldest brother.
As it was, his heart climbed into his throat and whispered between his teeth. "Virgil."
-o-o-o-
TBC