Leaves of blue and purple hues danced through the air as Frank and Gerard continued to navigate the forest landscape. They moved slower than the previous day, with Gerard frequently looking back at Frank. A frown was set on his lips each time.

Frank tried to ignore the looks. He also tried to ignore the occasional pings of pain that flared in his chest, but it was hard. He didn't know why the mark appeared in the first place, only that it caused him pain. He had never seen anything like it, but he hadn't yet asked Gerard if he knew what it might be.

His stomach growled loudly, diverting his attention briefly away from his chest. When was the last time he ate?

"Did we have any rations?" Frank called out to Gerard, who was further ahead.

"Eh?" The red head spun around with the tilt of his head.

"Food." Frank patted his stomach. "We didn't take anything from the vehicle, did we?"

Gerard pursed his lips. "Didn't think there was anything to take." He shrugged, "I know I didn't load anything in it."

Frank opened his mouth, but shut it without a word. He was the Force soldier, he should have known. Even without recon experience, he should have known docked vehicles might not be equipped to venture out. They should have made a stop at the cafeteria or the kitchens before leaving. Why hadn't he thought this though like a decent soldier? "What can we do for food?"

"That's not too much of an issue." Gerard replied, gesturing to the land around them. "For her children, the mother provides."

"The mother?" Frank closed the gap between them.

"The planet." Gerard paused. "Well... Kinda the planet. She was one of the great magic holders that guided us through life." Gerard turned away from Frank and began to trace his eyes over the foliage around them.

"Why in the past tense?" Frank asked quietly as Gerard stepped over to a low hanging tree with pale leaves of pink.

"She disappeared a long time ago." Gerard replied. He brushed some leaves to the side with one hand before bringing his other hand up to grab something from a hidden branch. "Before I was born. Before a lot of us were born. Before your Force came down and started thinning our numbers." He plucked something from the hidden branch with a soft snap. He retracted his hand from the leaves to reveal a deep blue fruit. "In hindsight, she was lucky." He tossed the fruit in the air, arching it to Frank's direction.

Frank hurried forward, barely catching it between both hands. "We didn't land here specifically to kill." He rolled the fruit between his hands and avoided Gerard's gaze. "The Force was spread across space..."

Gerard snapped another fruit from the tree. "Were they?" Gerard questioned. He didn't look at Frank, instead keeping his gaze on the fruit in his hand. "Do you know for sure? Were you there to witness it?"

Frank shook his head. "I was born here. The first of this planet's colony."

Gerard's head snapped towards him. "You were born here?" He questioned, taking a step towards Frank. A faint haze of pink burst from his eyes before fading into the air. "Then what of your lineage? How do you think they lied to you?"

"My father is a respected official." Frank straightened himself, "He's served his entire life to keep us functioning until we can reconnect with our allies."

"Lies!" Gerard shouted, stepping closer to Frank. More of the pink shade covered his eyes. "How do you not see through it?"

"He wouldn't lie to me!" Frank shot back, taking a step towards Gerard. "It's in our written history!"

"Stories!" Gerard argued, "All lies that your mom read you to sleep with!"

Frank felt his shoulders drop. His fists balled at his sides, squeezing the fruit in his hand and causing juice to drip between his fingers. "Stop."

"What? Mad you were raised by a propagandist?" Gerard egged on.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Frank glared at Gerard. The edges of his vision darkened as he stared the pink eyed boy in the eye.

"I get that a lot from you." Gerard glared back at Frank, "I don't know, but do you really know? You don't ever seem to have a good rebuttal."

Frank squeezed the fruit tighter. "This I do."

Gerard took another step forward. He was practically back to where he had started next to Frank. He leaned in. "Do you?" He managed to ask before Frank's fist was colliding with his cheek.

Gerard, caught off guard, fell to the ground with a grunt. He shook his head, looking stunned as the pink faded from his vision.

Frank shook where he stood, his hand frozen in the air still balled in a fist. He felt the pain creeping into his chest again, but it was momentarily dulled by the sting of his knuckles. Slowly, Frank unballed his fist, letting the crushed fruit fall to the ground with a bounce, and lowered his arm. Despite Gerard being on the ground and his own body's position, he wasn't sure he had even done the action of a punch. He shifted his gaze to the ground near the fruit that had fallen.

"Because I never met her." The words somehow found their way out of him. "She died, and my dad made sure I knew it was because of me."

Gerard's eyes widened as he looked up at Frank, but Frank didn't notice. Frank's focus was still on the ground. Saying it out-loud brought a different pain to his chest than whatever the black marking was. It was a pain, but it was also an exhaustion that made him drop to his knees. He couldn't pull his eyes away from the ground. "It was all my fault."

There was a silence between the two of them. Even their drawn out breaths dared not make a sound.

"If you never met her, how could you have killed her?" Gerard broke the silence, but didn't move from where he was.

Frank blinked suddenly. He lifted his head, unsure of where he was for a moment.

"Frank?"

Frank turned to Gerard. When Gerard repeated his question, Frank's brow furrowed. "I don't remember." He mumbled, turning his gaze forward. His thoughts felt murky. There was a darkness in anything he tried to recall. "I don't know." He remained still as he could hear Gerard move.

Gerard moved into his field of vision and knelt down. His brow was furrowed as he looked over Frank's face. "Are you okay?"

Frank blinked. "I'm..." He didn't feel normal, but he didn't necessarily feel bad.

"Maybe he didn't lie to you," Gerard spoke slowly into the empty air Frank had left open, "but it doesn't sound like he told you the entire truth. No one there did."

Frank shut his eyes. He could see the shadowy vision of his father in his mind. He could practically feel the disappointment.

"Hey."

Frank opened his eyes as he felt a hand on his cheek. Gerard had reached out to him, eyes glowing a light pink once again.

"What's wrong with you?" Gerard muttered.

A tingling feeling spread over Frank's cheek where Gerard's hand touched it. Frank leaned into it, feeling a wave of exhaustion sweep over him. He mumbled something, but it came out jumbled and incoherent.

"Whatever it is, the seer should be able to help if we can just get there." Gerard brought his other hand to hold against the dark haired boy's other cheek. "Can you follow me?"

Frank's vision went fuzzy for a moment. Follow. Just like a soldier was meant to do. If that's what he had to do, he would.

"Frank." Gerard's eyes glowed brighter, "If that's what it takes, I order you to follow me to the seer. Just... Just do something!"

Frank nodded slightly, caught in Gerard's hands cupping his face. "I'll follow." He agreed.

————
Gerard

Gerard squinted at Frank as he slowly tilted the force soldier's face. It was almost like he had turned himself off. His expression was blank and there was a lack of focus to his gaze.

When Frank had thrown his punch, there had been an instant of fire that pierced through the gaze of Gerard's magic. Now, however, there was no sign of that. It was like it had fried his brain. Even when Gerard tried to look inside his thoughts, it was just dark. What kind of brainwashing had they done to those Force soldiers?

"Stand up then." Gerard instructed before pulling his hands away. He rose to his feet and waited for Frank to do the same.

There was a delay before Frank rose to his feet as well.

Gerard nodded. At least he was conscious enough to continue forward. "Okay. Now follow." He turned and moved forward a few steps before looking back to see if Frank would follow. Though there was once again a delay, Frank did slowly step in Gerard's footsteps to follow.

Though he hadn't fully used his magic to take control of Frank like he had that soldier back at the Force base, he had tapped into Frank's brain. Nothing made sense in there, but he could feel a soldier's mentality... which made sense. Just like the rest of them, basic instinct was to follow instructions.

"We need to move faster than that." Gerard stepped back and grabbed Frank's wrist. "Just keep pace."

Frank nodded.

Gerard sighed. He began moving again, keeping his hand around Frank's wrist as he went. He wasn't sure what was wrong with the soldier. He had never done anything like this during any of his interrogations. Maybe that shot had done more damage than he thought...

Gerard could feel the magic within him bubble at the mere thought of guilt. He rolled his eyes. "I told you we shouldn't have done it." He muttered, "You never listen." His vision flashed magenta momentarily before fading away. He sighed before shaking his head.

"Not much further." He directed these words to Frank, though he wasn't sure they would get through to Frank in the state he was in. There was still a distance to go but, just on the horizon, the twisting branches of their destination cork tree was becoming visible.