NorthernMage here with chapter 5, Invisible! Just so you know, this marks the halfway point of this story, as I've only done 10 chapters. Also, I've used a quote from the Infernal Devices in this chapter. Hopefully I'm not the only one who thinks it fits this chapter perfectly.
Renina and N: NorthernMage doesn't own Pokemon or FTL.
Invisible: Renina and N are always treated as invisible. If they weren't there for each other, would they actually exist?
Age:
N: 8
Renina: 7
General POV
Without him, she was completely alone in the world. There was no one at all for her. No one in the world who cared whether she lived or died. Sometimes the horror of that thought threatened to plunge her down into a bottomless darkness and from which there would be no return. If no one in the entire world cared about you, did you really exist at all?
-Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel, "The Dark House", page 17
It wasn't good. It never was. Sure, they might be part of the most important family in the Plasma Empire, but how good could things be when your older brother was the only one who acknowledged you existed? Their parents? Yeah right. Their mother was dead, and their father...well, let's not go there.
Renina looked up at her brother. He was blankly looking around the room. She squeezed his hand she held under the table where no one could see. N looked at her and realised why she was doing it. It was days like these when they felt the most alone. She needed someone to realise she was there, someone to confirm she existed even. He had the same problem sometimes. It was the most confusing thing in their lives. They were supposed to be silent, and (technically, even though they were only about seven and eight) be like statues, not show any emotion or move. In short, if they were asked to describe their lives and their hobbies, they could do it in about a minute.
Who are your friends? My younger sister/my brother.
Outside your family? None/none.
What do you mean none? I take care of my sister/I'm all my brother has.
Do you know anyone your own age? Not apart from her/no, except for N.
What do you do in your spare time? Either talk with Renina or spend time alone/I might go and talk to N or if its in the afternoon watch the sunset.
You mean, you have no life, literally? Yes I do. I take care of my sister because we're always told to be silent and emotionless/I have a life. It's just different.
What about your parents? Our mother died when I was 1 and to our father we don't exist/I never knew my mother and our father ignores us.
They had nothing. Even what they would become didn't ensure anyone actually cared. After all, they couldn't do anything. Not at their ages, not yet. And until they could be of use to Ghetsis, he wouldn't care about them either.
Renina looked out a window. Outside was Atiris, but N and her were always kept away from the outside. It had become a separate place in their minds. She could see the towers, like metal spikes sticking out of the planet. Sometimes she wondered what had built them, even though she knew they were built by humans. They seemed too alien for that, too alien to be simply man made. She heard the sound of chairs moving and her reverie was broken like shattered glass. Renina felt slow and disconnected, and N, sensing his sister's weakness, tugged her along, making sure she kept up with him. Eventually the two split away from each other and went to their rooms.
N looked out at Atiris. He was out on the balcony his room had. It looked so strangely comforting. Especially the light purple above everything. Space. He wondered how long it would be before someone realised he existed, along with Renina. They had no friends, knowing no one their age. Somehow, he could feel that the day would come, but when? How long would they be invisible? How long can we be treated as invisible, before we are? How long can we stand it? The ignorance, the days with almost no human contact, how can we go through that and still be something for the world? he wondered. Inside himself, he was still determined. You've made it this far, he told himself firmly. You can't give up now. What about Renina? His thoughts were redirected at his sister. She had grabbed his hand today, and he had seen the worry in her eyes. React, they had been pleading. Tell me I'm here. Tell me someone cares whether I live or die, whether I turn eight, tell me you exist too. Tell me I'm real. And so he had, tightening his grip on her hand so she'd feel the increased pressure and know her life was real. One day, we'll be out there and not stuck in here. One day, we'll be able to live for the first time. There was just a long road ahead of them to get there.