hello my friends!

sorry it's been so long since i posted! I've been super busy with school (junior year is crazy!) and just life in general! Don't worry, though, I'll post my collab with my sis soon, and after this story is done, i have another one coming up that i think y'all will enjoy!

sorry this chapter is a bit short...I wanted it to be longer, but i couldn't think of a better place to end it. I hope you guys still like it, though, because I have very much enjoyed writing it! I actually think i'm almost done with this story...a couple more chapters should do it!

please everyone read and review! I would love feedback on this story, but I would also really enjoy your thoughts on Resistance, my previous fic...I don't have a lot of feedback and i'd really like to know what y'all think!

thanks everyone!

peace out!

—KAI—

"Kai!" says a voice. "Kai, you have to wake up—we need to find Pippin and Kona—"

"Ow," I groan, struggling to open my eyes. "Wha—Nora?"

"Pippin and Kona are missing," Nora says worriedly, her face swimming above me. "We have to go find them—it's not safe—Kona's unconscious, and she and Pippin just got buried or something under a rockslide—come on, Kai, get up—"

She grabs my arm and hauls me up to standing, and I sway on my feet, dizzy and disoriented. My head is throbbing where it hit the rock, and I wonder vaguely how long I was unconscious.

"You've only been out for a few minutes," Nora informs me, pulling my arm over her shoulders to support me. "You can't have that bad of a concussion—I hope. Any serious injuries?"

I put my other hand up to the back of my head to find what feels like a tender, throbbing bruise, undoubtedly where I got knocked unconscious. "I—I don't think anything's broken, but I can't really see straight."

It's true—my vision is spinning and I can't seem to walk in a straight line. Nora sighs and adjusts her grip on me. "Just lean on me. It'll feel better soon."

"You okay?" I mumble, my speech slurring a little.

"I'm fine, Kai, it's you I'm worried about—oh my gosh, get down!"

Nora yanks me to the ground, and I wince as a jolt of pain shoots through my head. The rock beneath us suddenly shakes violently, and then I hear it—a massive rumbling, rolling through the ground toward us.

The ground splits, crumbles, rocks tumbling down the mountain toward us. I curl into a ball and cover my head, and Nora does the same as the world falls in all over again, the eruption having caused such powerful shaking that it's basically an earthquake.

I lose track of how long we stay there, curled up on the ground in the fetal position. All I can think about is Pippin and Kona, lost out in the heaving, tumultuous landscape. I pray as hard as I can, begging God to keep them safe.

After what seems like an eternity, the ground stops shaking, and I tentatively raise my head, watching the ash drift through the air. Nora catches my eye, and we stand up, my dizziness having abated somewhat.

"Pippin!" I yell. "Kona! Can you guys hear me?"

But no answer comes.

What if it never does?

—PIPPIN—

two hours later

Ash settles in my hair and on my skin as I come awake with a weak cough, the motion causing my head to ache. For some reason, both my head and my eyelids feel a lot heavier than normal.

I struggle to get up, but my trembling, exhausted body refuses to cooperate and I sink back to the ash with a groan. My shoulder throbs painfully, and I pull aside the fabric of my hoodie to see it slightly discolored and swollen, undoubtedly sprained. I'm really lucky it's the worst injury I've sustained.

Still lying on the ash, I listen to the sounds of the volcanic environment—a soft breeze plays over the burned skin on the back of my neck, soothing the stinging skin. I can hear a sluggish bubbling noise, probably a lava flow, and the whispers of the wind whistle through the crevice. Apart from that, all is silent, and I wonder if my friends are okay.

After several minutes, I've mostly stopped shaking, and I tentatively lift my head, then roll over onto my back and slowly sit up, wincing at the ache in every muscle I possess. It feels like I've just exercised all of them to the point of being sore for several days. They probably will be sore for a while—I can barely move without wincing or gasping in pain.

The sky is still dark, the gray clouds of smoke tinged with red and purple. It'd be really pretty if a supervolcano hadn't just erupted. I hope it hasn't caused a second Great Destruction—but no, it couldn't have, or we'd have been killed instantly.

"Ow," I whisper as I get to my feet, my legs shaking slightly. Thankfully, I can put weight on both of them, but they still hurt. Although the whole rest of my body hurts, too, and the pain in my legs is no worse than the pain everywhere else. Seriously, everything hurts.

"Kai?" I call, wondering if I should climb out of the crevice again. "Nora? Kona? Is anyone there?"

When no answer comes, I sigh and sink back down onto the ash, wanting to rest a little. I don't think I have a concussion—there are no throbbing spots on my head—but my whole skull aches dully, probably from passing out. I think Kai said that if you pass out, you'll have a headache even if you don't hit your head.

I flop backwards onto the soft ash, staring at the smoky gray sky. I hope this eruption doesn't mess it up permanently.

After several long minutes, the tension in my muscles has loosened enough to allow me to stand up with less pain, and I cautiously get to my feet again. My headache has subsided a little, but my throat is raw and scratchy, ravaged by the smoke.

"Kai!" I yell again, but my voice is cut off by a choking cough, causing me to double over. When the fit passes, I straighten up again, calling, "Nora! Kona! Is anyone there?"

Still, no answer comes, and so I begin to wander down the length of the crevice, wondering if anyone else fell down here. Kona, maybe? I was dragging her when the rocks fell.

The crevice turns out to be very long, and its width fluctuates, from about ten or fifteen feet wide where I fell in, to three feet in several places, to about seven or eight inches in one spot. I squeeze painstakingly through this, letting out a small gasp when my backpack snags on the sharp rock, wedging me between the walls. Trying not to panic, I slowly wiggle my way out, tearing myself free and continuing on.

As I stumble over the broken rocks, my foot catches in the crack between two of them, and I yelp as I fall forward, the rough stone tearing the already bloody scrape on my knee wider.

"Ow!" I gasp, tears pricking at my eyes at the stinging pain. Pulling my foot free, I sink down on the ash, inspecting my injured knee. "Oh man—ow—Kai, where are you?"

The scrape on my knee is pretty deep, trickling blood down my leg. But I stand up again, gingerly testing my weight on it, and discover that, while it stings ferociously, the injury isn't bad enough to keep me from walking. I'll be okay.

Trying to keep the tears in my eyes and the whimpers in my throat, I limp along the crevice, running my hand over the wall. My head still hurts, and my shoulder throbs with pain. Am I ever going to get home?

Suddenly, a sound echoes through the chasm, a sound I was afraid I'd never hear again. The sound is my name, yelled through the still and smoky air.

"Pippin!" the voice calls again, and I recognize it as Kai's, echoing from the top of the crevice. I scramble over to the edge of the crevice and start climbing, my shoulder aching, but relief sweeping through me at the news that my brother is alive.

When I get to the top of the cliff, Kai's hand closes around my wrist, pulling me up. I look into his wide, terrified eyes and feel an unexplainable urge to burst into tears. Kai does exactly that, throwing his arms around me and pulling me against his chest. I allow myself a few tears and sniffles—after all, I'm only ten, who says I shouldn't cry?—as I press my face into Kai's ash-stained hoodie.

"Are you okay?" Kai sniffs as he pulls back, putting his hands on my shoulders. I wince at his touch, and Kai notices. "You're pretty beat up, Pippin—did you hurt your shoulder? Can you move it?"

I flex the joint gingerly, relieved when no terrible pain shoots through it. It's mostly a dull ache—it might be sprained, but if it is, it's not bad. I think I'll be fine.

"I'm okay," I reassure Kai, offering him a weak smile. "I didn't hit my head again—I think I passed out from all the smoke. Mostly it's just a buncha scratches, and I'm sorer than I've ever been in my whole life, but I don't think anything's broken. Promise. Didja get hurt, Kai? 'Cause you were passed out earlier when Nora was carrying you."

Kai rubs the back of his neck ruefully. "I think I've got a concussion—it's not a bad one, but it's kind of annoying. Apart from that, I think I'm okay."

"How's your ribs?" I ask. "They're almost better, right? Didja hurt them worse?"

"I don't think so," Kai says, sounding relieved. "But I got kind of burned—not bad, my clothes are just all singed and my face is stinging. Did you get burned, Pippin?"

"A little bit," I admit, turning to show Kai the back of my neck. "Does it look super bad?"

"It's really red," Kai says worriedly. "And your hair's singed—so's your hoodie, but it doesn't look like a bad burn. We should still probably bandage it, though. Hey, did you know there's more burns on your legs?"

"Nope," I say truthfully, turning to look at my calves, the backs of which are bright red, as if I've been sunburned. Now that I think about it, they do sting a little. So does the scrape on my knee, which is still trickling blood. I'm rather amazed I'm alive, to be honest.

"Oh, yeah—I left Nora back there," Kai tells me, gesturing toward the bottom of the supervolcano. I realize suddenly that almost half of the mountain is gone, blasted apart by the eruption. The massive, gaping hole is still on fire, lava shining in its depths. I'm incredibly lucky I escaped major injury.

"Is she okay?" I ask worriedly.

"I think so," he replies. "Nothing seems broken. But we can't find Kona."

"Oh man," I moan, putting a hand to my forehead. My fingers brush the still-healing cut from the fire, which Kai took the stitches out of several days ago. "I was tryna get Kona to the other side of the crevice, Kai, but I accidentally dropped her—she was passed out too—and I lost her when all the earthquaking happened—I'm really sorry!"

"It's okay, Pippin," Kai says kindly, gently putting a hand on my shoulder and leading me toward a large pile of rocks. "You couldn't have held onto her—the earthquake was really strong. No one blames you. We'll find Kona, don't worry."

When we walk around the pile of rocks, Nora comes into view, combing through the stones. She's obviously looking for Kona, her eyes wide and scared. As me and Kai approach, Nora looks up. "Pippin! You're okay!"

To my surprise, she flings her arms around me and plants a kiss on each of my cheeks, which flame red as she pulls away. "I'm so glad you made it—oh, Pip, I was so scared—"

I give Nora a smile. "Don't worry. I'm okay."

"We didn't see Kona," Kai tells Nora worriedly. "But I'm sure we'll find her—she's got to be around here somewhere."

"I was over by the crevice when I lost her," I add. "Maybe we can go look for her there. Her face was all bloody—I bet she needs stitches. I think when you hit your head it bleeds a lot."

"You're right," Nora confirms. "I hope Kona's okay. Oh, yeah—sorry, guys, but I think we lost the Jeep. It's kinda melted."

I glance over to where I'm pretty sure the Jeep used to be and see a melted mass of molten metal. That was kinda fun to say. Alliteration is awesome.

"I feel bad," Kai says gloomily. "I wanted to return that Jeep—now we're gonna have to pay the owner back. I don't know how we can do that."

"We'll figure it out later," says Nora. "We've got to find Kona."

We set out, looking near the crevice and in the piles of rocks near it, calling out Kona's name. After several minutes, Kai gives a shout. "Over here! I found her!"

Nora and I hurry over to Kai as he gently lifts Kona into a sitting position. Her face is still streaked with blood and ash, and I can tell now that there's a gash on her forehead that is probably the source of all the blood. Kona looks pretty banged up, with tears in the fabric of her bodysuit and scuffing on her blades' sheaths, but I don't see any deformity or obviously broken bones, so I decide to hope that she's not badly hurt. But if she's still unconscious, she's got at least a grade three concussion—which is kind of a major injury.

"I've got a first aid kit," Nora tells me and Kai. "Let's get you guys patched up, and then we can figure out what to do."

"I'm okay," Kai tells her. "Treat Pippin first—he's pretty beat up."

"Excuse me, you have a concussion," I retort. "And I don't. So I think it might be better if you get fixed first."

"He's right," Nora agrees. "You're a nurse, right, Kai? Do you know basic first aid?"

"Of course I do," Kai huffs. "I can treat a concussion—can you help Pippin? I promise I can take care of myself—and I can treat Kona, too. I just need a couple of wipes and some gauze. Bacitracin wouldn't hurt either."

After Nora hands him the supplies, Kai turns to Kona, pulls her into his lap, and starts dabbing at the blood on her face with an antibacterial wipe. Nora takes another out of her first aid kit and glances at me, silently asking if it's okay to clean up my scratches. I give her a little smile, and Nora reaches out and rubs the cooling wipe across my cheek.

"It doesn't look too bad," she reassures me. "Just a few scratches. Mostly a bunch of ash. Are you okay? Does anything feel broken?"

I shake my head. "I think I mighta hurt my shoulder but it's not that bad. What happened to you—did you get hurt?"

"It's only a few bruises," Nora replies, now cleaning the ash off my forehead. "Nothing serious. You're really sweet, Pippin, you know that? And brave. When you were gonna go get Kona—" She glances down. "I was so scared for you. But you made it back."

"You didn't hafta be scared," I say as Nora smears bacitracin over my cheek. "I was okay. I just inhaled a buncha smoke—at least I don't have another concussion. Kai says that would be bad."

"It would," Nora agrees. "You'd have second impact syndrome, which can be really dangerous—I'm glad you don't have another concussion."

She tapes a Band-Aid over the bacitracin, then looks at my scraped knee, sucking in a breath. "That's pretty deep. I'm gonna clean it out, okay? It'll hurt, but there's a bunch of ash in it."

I nod timidly, hoping the pain won't be too bad. And it isn't—Nora pours a steady stream of water over my knee, gently cleaning the wound out with a scrap of gauze. When she's done with that, Nora rubs more bacitracin on my scrape and wraps gauze around the injured joint.

"I'll just give you ibuprofen for your shoulder," Nora tells me after inspecting it. "It's a little swollen—it's probably sprained, but it can't be that bad if you can move it. We don't have a sling, so Advil's gonna have to do."

She hands me a few small red capsules and the rest of the bottle of water she poured over my knee, and I take the pills, then tell Nora, "Thanks a bunch! I feel lots better now."

"It was no problem," Nora replies, a smile spreading over her face as she begins to dab at her own scratches with the wet gauze. "How's Kona doing?" she asks, jerking her head towards Kai.

"Not bad," Kai tells her. "I think she's waking up—slow, yeah, but she's probably got a pretty bad concussion. Kona, you in there? Can you hear me? Do you remember what happened?"

Nora and I scramble over to Kai and Kona as the injured ISTP's eyes flutter open, blinking up at us. Kona immediately whips out her graphene blade and leaps up out of Kai's lap, but the blade falls to the ground with a clatter as Kona sinks back down to a sitting position, a hand clamped over the gash on her forehead as she growls softly, obviously in pain.

"It's okay," Kai soothes, offering Kona a faint smile. "You're safe. How does your head feel?"

"Like I have recently been hit by a truck," Kona deadpans. "Are all of you relatively unscathed?"

I shrug. "Not really, but no broken bones. Kona, you look sorta confused—are you okay? Do you need stitches?"

"Most definitely," Kona sighs. "But we have no suturing thread. If you would hand me the gauze, Nora, I will bandage myself. I believe the gash will require cleaning, though, so if you wouldn't mind passing the ointment and water as well—"

"I can clean it up," Nora offers. "I can see it. You can't. I'll do it."

Grudgingly, Kona allows Nora to clean the gash further and bandage it, and then we all sit there on the edge of the crevice—which is much deeper here—battered and exhausted but at least together.

"What do we do now?" Kai whispers, his eyes wide under the gauze wrapped around his forehead. "What does the metal detector say, Kona? Is there any ReBCO left?"

Kona pulls out the metal detector and frowns. "It's all gone from the volcano—the heat has likely destroyed it. But the detector is showing a small amount of ReBCO three feet away, right where Nora is sitting."

All of us turn to look at Nora, and she whispers, "I'm sorry."

And then I feel a small prick at my neck, and Nora is raising some kind of silver gun, and darkness falls as I collapse onto the ash, wondering what on earth could possibly be happening.

All I know is that something is terribly wrong.

The world swims back into focus, and a bandaged face leans over me, yelling, "Pippin, get up! We must go!"

"Wha…where…Kona?" I mumble, pushing myself up on my elbows and trying to dispel the dizziness by shaking my head. My neck throbs where it got pricked, and I suddenly realize that Nora must have tranquilized me.

"Nora's gone," Kona says, yanking me up to standing. My knees give out, the world swaying and tilting strangely, but Kona keeps a firm grip on my hood, keeping me upright.

"Where'd she go?" I ask, my vision slowly clearing. The sky looks like it's gonna pour rain any minute. "Where's Kai?"

"She must have taken Kai with her," Kona surmises. "I'm uncertain of what is going on, but I know I do not like it. Nora has ReBCO, she has Kai, and now she's gone. I fear that Nora has betrayed us, Pippin."

She releases me, and I manage to stand on my own, still a little shaky but otherwise alright. "She can't have betrayed us. She left the rebellion, right? I though you both left."

"I thought she did too," Kona whispers. "But it appears as though she has gone back to Abigail. We have been unconscious for half an hour, Pippin—I do not know how far Nora has gotten in that time, but we must assume that she is taking Kai and the ReBCO back to Abigail. Kai said you two had a sister—can you call her, Pippin? We desperately need a ride back to San Fransokyo."

I pull out my phone—yes, I have one, my parents trusted me—and pull up Momo's number, hoping she'll answer. She does, and I launch into my explanation before she can do anything more than say hello.

"Nora—remember I told you about her, Momo?—she has the ReBCO, she kinda sorta tranquilized me an' Kai an' Kona—an' now she's gone an' Kai's gone too an' we think she's going back to San Fransokyo an' we need a ride so could you drive out to the supervolcano?"

"What?" Momo splutters. "Pippin, if she's bringing Kai back to Abigail, I'll never make it to you in time! Tell you what—I will commission a helicopter. Hiro and I will fly out to you—it will be dangerous, but we will get there. We must go as fast as possible."

"How fast are you able to get here?" Kona asks, leaning over. "We are in a terrible rush."

"Three hours, tops," Momo assures her. "I expect you must be Kona. Fear not—I will be there. We will steal a helicopter if we must. Begin walking, and Hiro and I will meet you on the way. Go as fast as you can."

The call cuts off, and Kona and I start walking. My heart pounds against my ribs, my brain struggling to make sense of everything that just happened. Why did Nora take Kai and ReBCO back to San Fransokyo? Was she working for Abigail this whole time? Kona told me Abigail and Nora were sisters, but I didn't think Nora was still working for the governor. Was all her kindness, every time she helped me, an act? Did she ever really care about us, or was it just so she could get Kai and the superconductor?

"Are you alright, Pippin?" Kona asks as we climb over a jagged wash of obsidian.

I shrug, then wince as my sprained shoulder aches. "I guess. I'm still kinda sore, but mostly I'm just mad. And kinda sad too."

"Why is that?"

"I thought Nora was our friend," I mumble. "Why did she run away? It kinda feels like she might be betraying us."

"I am uncertain," Kona admits. "We will have to question her when we return. I hope that Kai is still alive by the time we get there."

Shuddering at the thought, I continue stumbling across the jagged rocks, scanning the darkened skies for any sign of a helicopter. For three hours, there is none, but then, finally, at about eleven o' clock in the morning, a chopper comes into view. It touches down a few hundred feet away from us, and Momo and Hiro explode out of it, running across the ash toward me and wrapping me in a hug.

"Are you okay?" Hiro asks worriedly, pulling back and scrutinizing me. "You're kind of banged up, Pippin—what happened?"

"Volcano exploded," I explain hastily. "It's okay, we had a first aid kit—we've gotta go now!"

I leap into the helicopter, and Kona follows me. Momo climbs into the pilot's seat, with Hiro in the passenger's, and Kona and I sit in the back. Momo takes off, and we speed across the Wasteland into the gathering storm.

—KAI—

My eyes open to the chopping of rotor blades, and I struggle to sit up, my vision spinning again. There is no way that helped my concussion.

"Hey, Kai," Nora's voice whispers from the seat next to me. "I'm really sorry it had to be this way. Are you okay?"

"What's going on?" I mumble, managing to get into a sitting position. I'm in the backseat of what appears to be a helicopter, the Wasteland flying by beneath us. "Are Pippin and Kona okay? Where are we going?"

"Pippin and Kona…aren't here right now," Nora says uneasily. "I'll go back for them after we're done."

"What are we doing?" I ask, panic building in my gut. "Why am I in a helicopter? Why'd we leave Pippin and Kona in the Wasteland? Did you tranquilize me, Nora?"

"I did tranquilize you," she admits, her gaze flicking to the floor. "Abigail asked me to bring you and the ReBCO to her. She knows you know Hiroshima Rising, and she wants their location and anything else you can tell her."

"Wait," I interrupt, holding up my hands. "You've been working for Abigail this whole time?"

"I had to," Nora whispers. "She's my sister, Kai—I couldn't just let her carry on Dad's legacy alone."

"So you weren't my friend?" I mumble, my head still swimming a little.

"Of course I was!" Nora exclaims, then hangs her head. "At least…I wanted to be. I really do care about you, Kai, and I wish I didn't have to do this. But I want Abigail to be happy, and she wants to continue Dad's legacy. So we're reinstating the old Testing system."

"But—you can't!" I gasp. "Do you know what happened to people with your dad in charge, Nora? People died because of everything he did! He didn't care that they were more than just their Type—he only wanted to be in control, he didn't care who people were—he was ready to kill them just because he lost his wife! He was willing to commit murder, Nora, just because they got in the way!"

"And I am not like him," Nora whispers, her turquoise eyes full of fire. "My father was misguided, but he had a vision—to make the world a better place for his people. He wanted to protect them—he wanted to keep them safe. You have to understand that, Kai—you're an ENFJ. You know what it feels like to want to protect the people you care about."

"Yeah," I admit, "but I can't just let you help your sister kill people! Nora, give me the ReBCO, and we'll destroy it—you don't have to do this!"

"But I do," Nora says softly. "I believe that Abigail's plan is for the best. Sometimes sacrifices are needed for the greater good—all we want to do is keep our people safe, Kai. Why can't you understand that?"

"You're gonna commit murder!" I yell, standing up in the helicopter and realizing that it's on some kind of autopilot—no one is flying it. "I can't let you do that, Nora!"

"I'm not a murderer," Nora hisses, her choppy black hair contrasting sharply with her flashing eyes. "I'm not gonna kill people, Kai—I'm bringing the ReBCO back so Abigail's robots can function. If people are smart, they won't be killed. That's entirely different from committing murder. The robots will only kill those who actively oppose Abigail."

"Then you're gonna have to kill me," I snap. "Because I'm never gonna let her get away with this."

"I'm not killing you, Kai," Nora protests. "I'll talk to Abigail—I won't let her hurt you."

"You can't let her hurt anyone else, either!" I beg. "Not Pippin, not Kona, not my family—just give me the ReBCO, Nora, and we can stop Abigail—please, this isn't right! Haven't you ever wanted to save the people you love?"

A flash of silver, a raised gun, a soft pop, and suddenly, another dart hits me in the neck, and I succumb to unconsciousness for the third time in a day. As my world goes black again, the last thing I hear is Nora's soft whisper.

"Haven't you ever believed in the greater good?"