Mikey listened to Gerard with a straight expression. He hardly moved as Gerard explained his transport back to the Force base and subsequent imprisonment. He shared how he had been injected with the magic suppression before a lapse in doses allowed him to break free and inject that same substance into his torturer, incidentally sending their current predicament into motion. When Gerard finished, he looked to his brother for a response. Still, he was greeted by that expression that gave nothing of his thoughts away.

"Do you need a minute to process all of that?" Gerard asked, crossing his arms as he tried to gauge a hint of what his brother may be thinking.

Mikey sat quiet for a moment longer. He let out a breath through his nose before straightening his posture. "You do realize what you're saying, right?" His eyes narrowed slightly. "That the mother abandoned us for a soldier from the stars that would betray her and destroy our people? When you of all people should be singing her praises for being one of the last ones she blessed with her gift."

"Mikey, I didn't want to believe it either." Gerard uncrossed his arms and leaned forward, "My full trust is in Patrick and he says he heard her voice in a piece of Frank's timeline."

"Brother, how can I believe that?" Mikey questioned, "You go missing after being captured by the Force only to come back with the same Force soldier that tortured you? When I spoke to him, the Seer never mentioned the possibility of another coming with you. Especially one of them!"

"There's something different about this guy." Gerard argued, "He showed mercy, which isn't a trait those soldiers typically come with. Not just that, he was affected by the magic suppression in a way that the Force didn't even seem to understand."

"You brought a force soldier into our ranks!" Mikey hit his fist against the ground, "What if it's all a trap? What if he's been playing you?"

Gerard rolled his eyes. "I'd hope you'd have more faith in me than that."

Mikey glared at Gerard "This isn't a game, this is our lives! How can you be so sure he's trustworthy?"

"Mikey, I've seen him go through... a lot because of that one injection my magic hijacked my body to administer." Gerard spoke low, hoping an even tone would help calm the rising emotions in the room. "Not just that, Patrick saw into his head and timeline. I would trust the Seer with my life... Which also brings up another point."

"Oh, I can't wait to hear this one."

Gerard sighed. He should have tried to smooth the situation over more before bringing this up, but it was too late now. "Patrick shared a prophecy that seemed to center on... Frank."

"A prophecy?" A flash of surprise broke through Mikey's frustration. As quickly as it had appeared, however, it was gone. "Care to share?"

"Do you trust me enough to show you?" Gerard extended his hand to his brother. "I promise, no influence. It's just easier to share it the way it was shared with me."

Mikey stared at Gerard's hand, saying nothing. There was a long stretch of silence where Gerard considered pulling his hand back but, just as he was about to, Mikey reached out and grabbed hold of Gerard's wrist. "Show me." He said with a nod, "But nothing else."

Gerard nodded. He shut his eyes and called on his magic, despite its exhaustion. It whined, but rose up within him to bring a recreation of Patrick's vision to the front of his mind. The scene played out in a mixture of yellow and pink as Patrick's voice echoed his narration. When it concluded, Gerard's magic sunk back down and Mikey pulled his hand away. Gerard rubbed his eye, feeling weighed down by his magic's need for rest as well as his own.

"What does it mean?" Mikey's brow furrowed. "Unintentional pain could be their undoing, or the influence of another that left something brewing? Will they fly or will they fall?"

"It comes down to him." Gerard replied before yawning. He tried to shake away his exhaustion before continuing, "Born of both the sky and land. If Frank is actually hers..."

"Then where is she?" Mikey's question was soft, as if he didn't want it to be heard.

Gerard looked down. He had the same question, but no real answer. He didn't want to think about the possibility of what may have come of her. All he had was the now and Frank.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Mikey asked, "Are they looking for him?"

"If you look to the sky from the direction we came, I think it would be safe to say yes." Gerard nodded, covering his mouth with his hand. He wondered how much ground they had gained since he and Frank had arrived back with the group.

Mikey pushed his hand through his hair. "So we need to move again. We'll have to call back the scouts."

"How long will it take?" Gerard rubbed his temples, "I can't use more of my magic right now to help."

"We'll ask the-" Mikey started strong, but faulted on the last word. He cleared his throat, "We'll ask what resources we have. I can get started immediately."

Mikey rose to his feet and offered Gerard his hand. He helped Gerard up, but kept his gaze at the ground.

Gerard sighed. "I'll leave you to it then. I need to recharge." He took a step back, but didn't move to fully leave the shelter. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry again."

He heard a short laugh come from his brother at that.

"You may be, but I know you'd do it again in a heartbeat." Mikey sighed.

Gerard felt a smile tug at his lips. "To save you, or anyone in our group, yes I would."

—-
Frank

Frank hugged his knees close to his chest as he watched the white cracks continue to slowly pull back from Ryan's face. Ryan seemed exhausted by the slow process, eyelids held half open as he rested against the ground. He had only managed to get out that short warning before he fell silent. Frank couldn't bring himself to fully reach out to him, still afraid that the cracks may stretch onto his own skin if he did.

He gulped, feeling his heartbeat accelerate at just the thought of it, let alone the brief flash of it happening just across the waterway behind him. He shut his eyes and hugged his legs tighter. It happened so fast... but it wasn't like the other times. It didn't hurt. Then, he was able to ask for the cause to be destroyed... and it worked. How had it worked?

He reopened his eyes with a sharp breath. It actually hadn't hurt. Despite everything he could remember, it hadn't hurt him. Why hadn't it hurt him?

Once again he was left with questions he had no answers for. He groaned in frustration, straightening his legs and pushing his hands through his hair. He used to have answers. Nothing could have prepared him for how things had spiraled so quickly out of control between rediscovering blacked out memories and this other force that kept rising inside him since being stabbed by the magic suppression serum. How had that been the trigger to discovering he had magic? Why hadn't it shown itself before?

Ryan groaned on the ground beside him. Frank dropped his hands and turned to look at the other boy, who was pushing himself up. The white cracks weren't visible anymore, but Ryan still looked dazed as he swayed slightly in his new upright position.

"Are you okay?" Frank asked.

Ryan's brow furrowed. "I... someone's looking... head fuzzy..." He rubbed a palm against his eye before pushing it back through his hair. "I'm..."

"It's okay, I've been like that a lot recently too." Frank gave a reassuring smile, despite Ryan's earlier message. "Hard to focus?"

Ryan nodded slowly, keeping his eyes on the ground. "Like... The first time..." He shut his eyes and shook his head.

"You were injured when they took..." Frank saw a flash of the memory of his and Gerard's first meeting before he could finish his sentence. He gulped, beginning to twist a hand around his wrist. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that again."

Ryan released a breath through his nose and shook his head again. "It's different... There was only one."

Frank felt a chill run through him. There had originally been two in the water. He spun around to face the waterway, eyes growing wide. If the first one had shot at Ryan before lighting up and being destroyed, what happened to the second one. "We should get away from the water." The words rushed past Frank's lips so fast he could barely hear himself say them. Despite that, Ryan nodded in agreement.

Frank scrambled to his feet, stumbling a bit and feeling a sharp pressure against his leg. He whipped his head in the direction of the pain, but only found a gnarled root that came to a point near where he had been positioned. He shook his head and continued to rise to his feet. He extended his hand to Ryan, but quickly realized that Ryan didn't seem to be fully able to get up yet.

"I'll carry you." Frank crouched beside him so he could look him in the eye, "Just wrap your arms around my neck, okay?"

Ryan nodded. Frank crouched in front of him, locking his arms around Ryan's legs once he had wrapped his arms around his neck. He shakily rose to his feet before setting off towards the direction they had come. The light bug followed, keeping their path lit as he carefully tried to remember the path they had navigated earlier. Ryan rested his head on Frank's shoulder as they continued on. After some time, the field of clovers and light bugs came into Frank's vision. He sighed with relief before picking up his pace to get to it.

As he began to slow and step into the clovers, a pain stabbed in his chest. He sucked a breath through his teeth, muscles tensing. It was a small spot of pain, but it was enough to pause his movement completely.

Stop it. He thought, forcing himself forward again. He was almost somewhere safe. That little thing was destroyed, it couldn't hurt him. There was no need for any kind of pain to start again. Despite that, the pain held itself in place.

When they made it back to the shelter, they were encased by a comforting warmth. Tyler was obscured by the clovers where Ryan had originally been resting. Frank carried Ryan over to the opposite corner before crouching to the ground. The clovers shifted, pushing towards the boys. Ryan lifted his head, but didn't immediately pull away to support himself.

"Frank, who's looking for you?"

The question was soft, but hit Frank like a slap. He knew exactly who was looking for him. The same thing that haunted his previously blocked memories. He knew, but he didn't want to admit it out loud. "I don't know." His response was a croak.

Ryan pulled his arms from around Frank's neck and maneuvered himself into a sitting position on the ground. Frank turned to face him, just catching the clovers reaching out to lightly tap against his face. Ryan's nose scrunched, but he didn't pull away. "Whoever it was... it didn't feel good." He brought his gaze up to Frank's. "Is that why you're with Gerard? He's protected us too."

Frank gulped. "I guess it's a reason." Maybes it wasn't the case at first, but now he wasn't sure where he was meant to go given his newfound history.

Ryan looked like he wanted to ask more, but two figures walked into the shelter, pulling both boy's attention.

"You look paler than usual, rose pest." Brendon sauntered over next to Ryan before plopping himself down. He brushed some of the other boy's curled hair behind his ear. "You okay?"

Frank turned away from them, looking to the other figure that walked in.

"The clovers steal your color, Frank?" Gerard asked, a smile hooking at his lips.

Frank rose to his feet and stepped over to Gerard. "Can we talk?"

Gerard crossed his arms, giving Frank a curious look. "Aren't we talking now?"

"I need to talk to you." Frank insisted, grabbing hold of his wrist and squeezing."I'm... please?"

Gerard's eyebrow's raised. "Yea, of course, Frank." He placed his hand on top of Frank's. "Are you alright? Let's sit." He gestured to the back of the shelter before beginning to lead the way.

Frank made a soft sound of protest, but allowed himself to be pulled over before sitting by Gerard. "Privately?"

Gerard raised a hand, waving it with a twist. A faint trail of pink mist followed the movement. "I think I have enough left for that." He replied, though he seemed to flinch with the movement. He brought his hand down from the air to hold against Frank's cheek. Frank could feel the soft, but tired twinge of magic against his skin. "Now tell me what's wrong."

Frank released a sigh. He shut his eyes, allowing himself to just focus on the feeling of Gerard's magic. At this point, it was familiar enough to be the most constant thing in his life at the moment. "Ryan and I were at the river. We got some of the berries. It was fine but then there was something else in the water. It shot towards Ryan and then..." He sucked in a sharp breath. Just thinking of what happened made him want to start shaking. He just had to focus on Gerard's magic. "When Ryan talked, it wasn't Ryan. It was him."

There was a moment of quiet between them. "Who, Frank?" Gerard asked.

Show him.

A soft voice whispered inside of Frank as he opened his eyes. The same softness that had brought comfort earlier. He brought both of his hands up, pressing them against Gerard's cheeks. He could feel a sensation moving up his arms as he tried to think of how he could show Gerard like the voice had said. He locked eyes with Gerard, catching so many emotions in his colorful eyes as he did. It was like he could hear his heartbeat right behind his ears getting louder and louder the longer he looked.

Suddenly, it was just the two of them. The shelter and the other occupants inside were gone. Their surroundings were now a blinding white void. He never tore his eyes away from Gerard's, but tears built up in Frank's eyes.

"Him." The word was a breath as he saw Gerard's eyes wander around the space. He kept his hands on Gerard's cheeks, just trying to focus on the hand Gerard had on his own. "Always him."

Gerard finally brought his eyes back to Frank's. "Frank, there's nothing here." He whispered. Frank could feel Gerard's thumb moving in small circles against his skin. "Who is it?"

A dark crack appeared in the white void behind Gerard. No sound accompanied it, the crack just appeared and began to grow. Frank could see it on the edge of his vision, but he didn't want to look away from Gerard.

"It wants me to show you." Frank shook his head, "I don't know how. I don't think I want to."

"Hey." Gerard leaned forward, "You have the control here, not it."

Show him.

Frank gulped as more tears rolled down his face and the cracks behind Gerard grew larger. "You've seen him. When I first met you. You would have seen him, at least."

"Oh." Gerard nodded. "I already spoke to my brother, we'll be moving soon. I'll keep you safe."

"But I don't think I can keep you safe." One of Frank's hands dropped from Gerard's face. "It's trying to get me."

Gerard smiled at him. He seemed unaware of the white cracking and breaking down around them. "Let it. I am not afraid, and I don't want you to be."

Frank shut his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, they were back in the shelter. Gerard still smiled at him. "You used your magic without getting lost." He commented, leaning his head into the hand that still rested against his cheek.

"Did I?" Frank asked. He was suddenly once again aware of the loud beats of his heart against his ears. His own cheeks felt hot as he and Gerard continued to look at each other.

Eventually, Frank found himself sitting beside Gerard's sleeping figure. Everyone in the shelter was asleep except for him. He twisted his hand around his wrist as he thought through the day, trying to make sense of it all. He could hear the whispers inside of him, but he couldn't make them out anymore. Despite that, he found himself looking towards the entrance of the shelter. He could picture the surrounding clover field and bits of forest so clearly around it.

He slapped a hand over his eyes with a sharp inhale of breath. He didn't like how that felt. It was like he was weightless, flying through pieced together images of a puzzle someone else was making. He slid his hand down his face and sighed before lowering himself to the ground. He instead focused his gaze at the ceiling, hoping that would keep him grounded.