When Peter wakes up, he is expecting to hear Alfred and Jet's not-so-hushed voices in the background, he's gotten used to it. Its the silence that wakes him fully. Peter tries to open his eyes, but the world is so bright it's blinding, and he squeezes his eyes shut again, panic rising in his throat.

"Alfred? Jet?"

Nothing. He reaches beside him in the sleeping bag where he knows Jet should be but there's nothing, no warmth or muffled breathing, just empty space beneath the cloth. Peter is struggling to remember to breathe, terror seems to be constricting his lungs. He tries to reach for the sunglasses Alfred gave him, the super-dark ones that help make the world dark enough for Peter to see, but he cant find them. Peter feels just as lost and scared and abandoned as back when the lights first went out in that place.

A voice in his head is whispering that they abandoned him, they took him outside and they left him here, that they lied to him. Peter tries to ignore it, he knows its not true, but he's so scared, he feels exposed and vulnerable. There's a cracking sound and Peter's nerves are on fire. He cant tell if its Alfred and Jet returning, or someone else, one of them.Peter wants to jump up and run and hide but he cant see, he doesn't know where to go. Peter feels trapped. Peter tries to call to them, one last time.

"Alfred!"

Please don't leave me.

"Jet!"

I'm scared.

He's crying and hiccuping and struggling to breath all at the same time, and he's almost forgotten what it feels like to be so scared. Then he hears Jet's curse.

"Shit!"

A moment later there's arms around him and someone is patting him on the back, and Jet is speaking to him but he cant hear the words, just the voice. Peter is shocked at how fast he goes from feeling terrified to feeling safe when he feels Jet's arms around him.

"You're okay, Mate, its okay."

A moment ago those words would have seemed laughable to Peter. Now they've never felt more right. There's another crunch of twigs and leaves underfoot, and then Alfred's voice.

"Crap! What happened?"

Peter tries to explain, really, he does, but he keeps coming back to the same point.

"I was so scared!"

It takes a moment, but then Alfred seems to understand, and then the sunglasses are being slid onto his face and the world is still too bright, but he thinks he can see Alfred's blurry form before Alfred too is hugging him, his hair tickling Peter's nose.

"I'm sorry!" Alfred babbles, and he does sound sorry. "I didn't think-" He breaks off then restarts. "We won't leave you alone again, I promise!"

It seems like forever until Peter feels calm again. Then he feels ashamed. Even though Alfred said they won't abandon him, even he wants to believe that, there's a voice in Peter's heart that whispers that he's nothing but a burden, and every show of weakness only proves it more. Peter wants Jet and Alfred to think he's strong, at least strong enough to be useful. Strong enough to keep around. Peter doesn't want to give them an excuse to abandon him.

Jet tightens his arms around Peter protectively.

Peter does his best to be helpful during their travels in the day, keeping a sharp eye to see where he's needed and being there to helpfully pass Jet the map, or Alfred the water bottle. It's still strange to Peter how open they are with precious resources like food and water. It was after the natural drain system was blocked that the 10s and 11s, children much younger than Peter, had set out after the adults. They were old enough to understand that no water meant they would die.

Peter had hidden away and not gone with them. They never came back, but a few days later, the water came back. The water was the only thing that hadn't run out since. First the power, then the food, then even the people had run out, but never the water. It was the water that kept the other kids there until there was nothing left. Peter had learned that water can't keep a person alive. Most of the children were already half-dead by the timetheycame.

There were only a few children left after they left. Peter takes a step closer to Jet, trying not to look weak. If Jet notices, he doesn't say anything. Peter can't help but be amazed at the state of the world as he trots after the pair with on of their backpacks over his back. He doesn't remember a lot of the world beforeit happened, most of his memories are faint and missing the details, but he does remember flashes. He remembers forests and cities burning, trees being razed to make room for more bunkers, some countries were falling apart because of riots, while others seemed to die in a different way as people refused to leave their house and the world seemed empty.

There was more than that, things his Mama tried to hide from him, but Peter remembers the feelings. The fear. Fear is the thing he remembers the most. Its seems like maybe that's the one thing that hasn't changed, and even though he trusts them, even though they seem to trust him, Peter keeps his eyes trained nervously on Alfred and Jet. He trusted people backtheretoo, but people quickly turn into monsters. Peter can'tmake himself relax.

Peter brushes his bangs out of his eyes again. His hair is longer than he likes it, falling into his eyes and around his shoulders, but he can't help it. There was no one to cut his hair for him, no one he could trust near him with something as sharp and dangerous as scissors, then the lights went out, and Peter didn't have time to worry about his hair. By the time he did, Peter didn't need to see anymore. Now he finds it annoying,and the bangs fall back into his face and he huffs.

Jet is watching him, and when Peter notices, he freezes. Jet hesitates, then stops, sliding the backpack from his shoulder, and Peter tenses despite himself. Jet waves him over as he digs into a pocket, and Alfred turns to see what's going on with confusion.

"Here."

Jet holds out a hair elastic, adorned with a bright red flower to Peter, and Peter looks from the flower to Jet with confusion. Jet flushes.

"My sister's." He explains, then gestures to Peter's head. "For your hair."

There's something about the flower that tugs at Peter's memories, but he can't quite remember. Jet takes his silence as approval, and Peter tries not to flinch when he feels the calloused fingertips against his neck and pulling back his hair. In a moment, it's done, but Peter can't relax, because Alfred takes a step back and claps a hand over his mouth to muffle his gasp. Jet looks like he's learned something he didn't like.

Peter doesn't know what he's done wrong, but the looks on Alfred and Jet's face is telling him clearly that something isn't right, and Peter takes a step back, ready to run if he needs too. The only thing that stops him from running is that Alfred doesn't sound upset, just confused, and the fact the name Alfred calls out isn't his.

"Arthur?"