deathpixie: (you don't own me)
[personal profile] deathpixie


“There is no use running. There is nowhere to go.” Don paused to allow his statement to sink in. “You might as well sit down and rest. Then we'll head on back to the Centre. We'll go home."

Blue looked up from where she was supporting Gold, fire flashing in her eyes. "That place isn't home," she spat. "It's where you bred us. Made us. That's all." Gold whimpered a little at the anger in her tone and tried to curl in on himself. Blue's attention was immediately drawn back to him. "Shush, Gold, it's okay. I'm just mad, that's all."

Red chimed in, standing straight and looking Don in the eyes despite his obvious exhaustion. "We don't want to go back there, Don," he said firmly. "We want to live like normal people. Out there." He gestured to the lights twinkling in the valley below them.

Don sighed. "I understand, I really do. But... you're not normal kids. Blue's right, you were made. You can't survive out there. They'd tear you apart, just for being what you are. Different."

Orange shook her head. "No. People aren't like that. The television..."

"Isn't real, Orange. You saw what we wanted you to see." Don straightened, reaching for his radio. "We should go. I'll call in the retrieval team. They'll take you back."

Blue exchanged looks with Red, then looked down at the two youngsters. She wanted to rebel, fight tear Don to pieces, run. Keep running until she collapsed. But it wasn't just her. It was Orange and Gold and Red and the rest of them back at the Centre. All those talented, strange children, with no idea of what was out there.

She took a breath and squared her shoulders, stepping away from Gold so that she stood in front of Don. "We'll come back," she said, and behind her she could feel the incredulous stares of her fellows. "On one condition."

Don's surprise was perhaps echoed in the faces of the three behind her, but he quickly contained it. "What's that, Blue?"

"No more isolation," she said. "No more experiments. No more of this codename crap. We might not have started the same way as most, but we are people, Don. And one day, you're going to take us out. All of us. And you're going to teach the world to damn well deal with what we are."

Don opened and closed his mouth. Blue stared him down.

"No deal, we're out of here. And we'll go to the first TV station we can find and tell the world about the Centre." She put her hands on her hips. "Deal?"

The air around them stilled, even the crickets going silent. Red and Orange and Gold watched with wide glowing eyes.

Finally, Don nodded and held out his hand. "Deal."

December 2022

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