We’re leaving in the morning.
The words echo in Nine’s head as he paces through the penthouse.
He’s angry, he’s so damn angry, at himself, for luring that damn Mog to that damn elevator, and at Sandor, for just expecting him to up and leave his - his home. Their home.
He needs something to take his mind off this shit. He ends up in the Lecture Hall, just fighting and fighting and fighting because the adrenaline is the only thing which can make his mind go blank.
Somehow Sandor ends up in the Lectern’s seat. They exchange words and suddenly, Nine’s standing on the wall. Sandor lets out a whoop of delight and it makes Nine mad, so very, very mad. He isn’t really in his right mind when he uses his staff to shear the Lectern in half.
The room is dark and Sandor puts a hand on his shoulder, and Nine feels like running.
But he doesn’t, and he wonders why.
“Nine…” Sandor is saying. “I… I’m sorry,”
Nine didn’t know what he was expecting Sandor to say, but it wasn’t ‘I’m sorry’.
All of his anger fades. Now, he’s just sad.
Sandor says something else, choking on his words. “I was never meant… take care of you… my girlfriend…” Nine registers his tears with some sort of detachment. He just moves his arms robotically and pulls his Cepan into a hug, not saying a word.
He starts crying too, and they just stand there, hugging, crying, in one private moment that they will never share with anyone else, ever.
He doesn’t remember how they eventually separate, but it’s the middle of the night, he’s in his room, and he’s packing his things. Maddy is better off without him, anyway.
We’re leaving in the morning.
They’re both silent as they watch the city that’s been home for the past five years fade slowly into the distance as they make their get away amongst digested traffic.
Neither off them catch sight of a car entering the city, containing a Mogadorian General who is wasting his time.
They’ve spoken only one or two words to one another all morning. They don’t need to. Neither of them slept a wink, and neither of them acknowledge it.
They ride in silence, their only possessions a single laptop, Nine’s chest, his iMog, and their personal bags. Who knew what use it would be - it had pretty much saved his life just yesterday.
Nine doesn’t know what their destination is, nor does he ask. He’ll find out when he gets there. He should just try and enjoy the journey.
Somewhere along the road, he falls asleep, and when he wakes up the sky is starting to turn orange. Nine turns his head to stare out of the window, just in time to lock eyes with some blonde kid, probably about his age. A normal, blonde kid playing with a dog. He’s pretty sure it’s a Beagle, but he’s not entirely sure because before he can blink the boy and the dog are fading figures.
The kid is nothing like Nine.
A few minutes later, they pull up in front of a vacant house in some small town neighbourhood, and Sandor must have made some calls while he was out or something because inside they meet a woman, and Sandor must have mentioned something because she’s all quiet and sympathetic, and within minutes the house is theirs.
“Well,” Sandor looks at him. “Paradise, Ohio. What do you think?”
Nine can’t stand it. It’s nothing like Chicago. It’s tiny and it’s quiet, no cars zooming past at all hours of the night. But he doesn’t say that. What he says is:
“I think I’m more like Spiderman than Batman now, don’t you think?”
And he says this because he needs things to be alright between him and Sandor, because he’s the only thing that’s ever been constant in Nine’s messed up life.
Sandor cracks a tired, wicked grin, and Nine thinks that maybe, just maybe, they could settle down here. It might not be Chicago, but at least they are together.
Because a world without Sandor? Nine couldn’t even imagine it.
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