warmth

“Good morning, firefly. You want anything for breakfast?”

Chandra looked at the woman who adopted her with a gleam of suspicion. It had been a week now since she emerged from the strange pocket plane known as ‘Blahblahland’, and been taken into this lush, plant-covered home that was apparently on Ancient Earth. In fact, were it not for those plants, the size of this place would give her uncomfortable Orokin vibes. It was so bright, white and gold… the pink of the lilies really did do wonders dividing the house from what she knew.

She didn’t know how she could trust another woman offering her a mother. One had, once before, and she died for it. Another had, after her, and she had been stolen away and then had stabbed her in the back. At least… it felt like it. Truth be told, she didn’t know.

It felt too calm for a child forged in the fires of war. A normal dining room table, with an Ancient Earth breakfast laid out for two people, with a third being prepared. A man with a long, chocolate-brown ponytail and a well-pressed suit vest and tie sat at one side of the table with a pile of papers, hmm-ing as he read them over. A normal life, with a normal mom and dad? When did the fates decide she deserved that?

When would these parents stab her in the back, too?

All that time searching, only to be told that she needed to kill someone she trusted. All that time, to be assured that she was never family. All that time, to be left utterly alone.

And now, this?

Chandra sighed and sat at the table. Even if she didn’t trust this, she was hungry. What if this was all another journey of the mind? Someone else trying to take over her body and lull her into a false sense of security. Would she really be surprised at this point? Maybe at this point she would let them.

There would be no New War. Let her die with the System, let the Sentients burn it to the ground, and let her live an afterlife on a quiet and calm Ancient Earth. She was so, so tired.

Her mind wandered back to the sword she had been given. What the hell did that man think he was doing, giving that to her? Still seeking a perfect death, knowing that he was horrible enough that she would kill him once more? She would leave him alive out of spite. She would never use that blade, she hated the very idea.

And once that was all over, she swore to burn it to the ground.

Knowing now what she did about her Ember, she took to the warring factions like a spark to fuel, razing entire ships in her fury. And when night fell on the Earth, she hunted. Sentient fragments, everywhere, ripe for the killing. She knew other fragments weren’t like that, but these? Easy prey. Good to take her fury out on.

But then she met the Eidolon, and then, suddenly, she was here. Separated from Ember and Umbra and her ship and Ordis. Doing a strange dance in a book in a place she had never seen. Being adopted by a woman out of nowhere who claimed to have experienced what she had. Being taken on a trip to the local arcade yesterday by the man who was with her. She liked that place. It was loud and full of things that pulled her mind away from her pain.

Suddenly, she was here, being served a plate with two perfect sunny side-up eggs and a few sausages arranged to look like a smile. With a side of pancakes, and a jar full of syrup.

This was sickeningly cute.

“How are you doing today, firefly..? Is everything comfortable?”

“It’s… fine, I guess.” Chandra sighed, choosing not to look her ‘new mom’ in the eyes and instead peering over at the man’s pile of papers. She really wished she could read them. Damn this Old-Earth script. She looked back away swiftly when the man caught her staring.

“What’s wrong, li’l bit?” He asked, in a voice uncomfortably reminiscent of the Void Trader that circled the relays. “Interested in the manuscripts?”

“… Maybe… not that I can read them.”

“Well… you know that’s alright, don’t you? I could teach you, if you like!”

Chandra blinked. He got very excited about teaching all of a sudden. “Well… I guess if I’m gonna be living here...”

“Jolly! How about breakfast, then I can give you a few lessons!”

She smiled half-heartedly and nodded, and turned back to her breakfast. She didn’t have the heart to tell them that this stuff made her feel sick. The effects of eating strange foods were well documented in her time and space, and some things just didn’t change. There was no way that they would ever possibly be able to access the same foods she was used to, so she would have to let her body adjust.

The worst part of all this was that she couldn’t dislike this couple. They had such a zeitgeist for life and a passion for each other and those around them that it was difficult to harbor that sort of distrust against them. In all honesty, she really was beginning to love them like parents.

But she knew she shouldn’t.

Because she didn’t know when the knife would twist again.