Consequences
Part 7 of 9
"Ken! Ken! Wake up, Ken! Wake up!"
Ken blinked in the darkness. Gwen stood beside his bed, looking only slightly more disheveled than he felt. They had been released from the infirmary two days prior and were sleeping in their own rooms, so he was a bit surprised to see her there. Her portable IV hung on a strap off her shoulder. "Gwen, it's like, late. What are you doing here?"
"Devlin's leaving! We gotta stop him!"
"Wha? What do you mean?"
"He's running away and we gotta stop him!" She pulled on him with her good arm.
He slowly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Why would he do that?"
Gwen pulled him into a standing position. "He thinks it's his fault we got hurt and if he leaves 11K won't hurt us again. Come on, let's go."
Ken was finally fully awake. He pulled on some shoes and followed her out. "How'd you know all this?"
"I can feel him, duh."
"You know where he's at too?"
"Yeah, going down the elevator. We gotta get to him 'fore he gets too far."
"Does it seem like everybody else is having a harder time dealing with our kidnapping than us?" he asked as they raced down the halls.
"Yep," she agreed.
They crossed the living rooms and family dining area to the elevators. They were usually locked down for the night. There were two tiers to this part of the system; one kept outsiders out; the other was set to go off if someone inside tried to leave. The adults had the security codes, but the kids didn't. The system had obviously been shut down to let someone else out. Ken recognized the tampering; it's was something that he, aka, Grey Matter, figured out, and then taught to Devlin and Gwen.
They saw the same thing at the security systems at the bottom of the compound. Though they didn't see Devlin, they could easily follow his path. Luckily, they didn't have to slow to disable the systems themselves, and when they exited the back doors into the dreary night, they finally caught up.
"Devlin!"
He turned around, startled, but cringed a bit once he realized he'd been caught.
"Man, what are you doing?"
Ken watched as Devlin readjusted his backpack over his shoulders and sighed. "Guys, go back to bed. This, well, it's nothing you should worry about."
"That's bull, man. You're running away! What are you thinking?" Ken moved closer to his friend. "Why don't you want to live with us anymore?"
Devlin sighed. "It's not about that, I just can't stay here anymore. It was a bad idea. I gotta go."
"What?"
"He thinks it's his fault," Gwen said quietly. Ken turned to her. She stood behind him, her hair mussed, pajamas wrinkled, and barefoot. Her face was scrunched in sadness and concentration. "He thinks 11K wouldn't have hurt us if he wasn't here. If he goes away, we'll all be safer."
Devlin stared at her, angry. "You don't know what you're talking about!"
"Yeah, actually, she does," Ken replied, looking between the two of them. "That's messed-up, dude. 11K has been after Dad for, like, ever. He went after us to get at Dad. That's got nothing to do with you."
"Yes it does!! The note said, 'Mess with mine, I mess with yours'! He did it 'cause I live with Ben now, and he's mad about it!"
Ken shook his head. "He woulda done it anyway. The first time I met him, when you let him out of the Void? He attacked me to get Dad right away. You weren't living with us then."
"HE ATTACKED YOU 'CAUSE I LET HIM OUT!!"
"We all make mistakes! You think he'll just leave us along 'cause you leave? He won't. You know him, you know he won't."
"At least it won't be my fault."
"No it won't," Ken replied harshly, "it will just be your fault we lose our brother."
Devlin looked down at his feet. "I don't think I can do this," he whispered, "I feel so bad. I can't even look at you guys, I feel so guilty. I don't know how to stay here when staying makes me feel so bad."
"It's part of being human," Ken said gently. "You gotta learn to feel stuff like this. 11K always took the easy ways out, his whole life. When stuff got hard, he just got angry. You told me you wanna be better than him. You gotta learn to BE better then. You gotta deal with this stuff. Talk to us or Mom or Dad or Grandpa or Aunt Gwendolyn or whoever, we'll help you. But you gotta try."
Gwen was at her brothers' sides. "We love you, Dev. It's not your fault, and we want you to stay. Please?"
Ken saw the conflict in Devlin's eyes slowly give way until they heard a loud noise to their right. The kids turned to see a portal open and their father fall through it to the ground.
Author's Notes:
Thanks again to Afigureofspeech!
One more part, then part 9 is the epilogue.
I've been vaguely surprised that no one has asked where Ben (or Gwendolyn for that matter) have been. Well, regardless of if you're curious or not, you're about to find out. :)
Volrath shape-shifter is a Magic: the Gathering card. I never played, or owned any cards, but my brother did, and it was something of a personal joke between him and me. That and Smash Brothers were both shout-outs to him.