*crawls out of rabbit hole, covered in dirt and with leaves and twigs stuck in my hair*
So, um…I may have fallen down a rabbit hole while working on Casey’s present, and now I have an AU of my AU where Rye has a half-sister
What can I say? Arin and Euphrasia are SUPER cute together
“I’m not gonna let go,” I promise, giving her an encouraging smile. “C’mon. Just a little more. I wanna see you get off the ground this time.”
She scrunches her eyes shut and grips my fingers tight enough to cut off circulation. The tiny breeze circling her sneakers picks up a tad, swirling into visible wisps around her feet, but it’s still not enough to get her off the floor. Her brow furrows as she summons a little more power into the air, and her feet finally lift a couple inches above the ground.
Her body tenses, and she wobbles a bit as her control grows shaky. In an effort to correct herself, she increases the airflow, lifting herself a little higher and causing her already weak balance to become even more unsteady. Immediately, she panics.
“Don’t let go, Rye! Don’t let go!”
“I couldn’t let go even if I wanted to,” I laugh, internally wincing at the pressure in my knuckle joints. Dang. Her grip strength ain’t no joke.
The wind suddenly evaporates as her control fizzles out, and she touches back down on the ground. Within seconds, she’s buried herself face-first in my hoodie, trembling terribly with shaky breaths.
“Hey, that was pretty good.” I wrap my arms around her, squashing her just enough to make her quaking stop. “You did good, Dee.”
“That was horrible. I never wanna do it ever again,” she mutters into the thick fabric. Still, she eases up a little and melts into my hug.
I pat her back with a grin. Hug works every time.
“Your brother’s right.” Uncle Lloyd gives her a smile from his seat on the wooden steps when she finally pops her head up from being swallowed by my hoodie. “Control is something that takes time to develop, but I think you did very well today, Destiny.”
“Thanks, Uncle Lloyd,” she mumbles, clearly still freaked out by her brief levitation.
My phone dings somewhere in my hoodie pocket, and I maneuver my hand around her to fish it out, checking the notification. “Aw, shoot. We gotta get going. Mom has to be at work in half an hour.”
“That’s alright,” Uncle Lloyd grunts, pulling himself to his feet with his staff. “I think we’re done for today.
“Keep practicing, Destiny,” he adds with a soft smile. “You’ve done so well in such a short time.”
With one last grin at us, Uncle Lloyd turns and shuffles inside the monastery to do…whatever it is that he does all day. Master stuff, I guess.
Shoving that thought to the side for now, I beam down at her still latched onto my middle. “You ready to head home?”
Her head instantly pops up with a big, excited grin. “Can I drive?”
“You? Drive?” I try to frown at her, but her smile burns straight through it. Are all little sisters this irresistible? Or is she just extra adorable somehow? Twirling the keys into my palm, I let them slip into her hand and sigh. “‘Til we reach the city limits.”
“Yes!” She pumps her fist and practically flies over to my off-roader, scrambling into the driver’s seat.
“And not in mech mode,” I warn. “Don’t think you’re quite ready for that yet.”
After I’ve climbed in behind her, and once she’s boosted the seat up enough that she can see out the windshield, I unlock the front seat controls. “‘Kay. Remember to go easy on the throttle until after we’re out of the courtyard.”
“Just makin’ sure. You remember where the boost button is?”
I can hear the grin on her face, and I snort as the memory of her randomly pressing buttons, trying to figure out how to get the off-roader to stop, enters my mind. Of course, she hadn’t realized that there was a brake pedal instead of a button and had sent us rocketing through the desert for several miles before I’d finally managed to show her how to get it to stop. Heh, good times.
With practiced grace, she boosts us over the monastery wall (really glad she figured that one out. I was getting tired of having to rebuild the wall all the time) and drives down the side of the mountain. The wheels slip a couple times on the way down, but she manages to stay in control of the steering. Once we’ve reached more level ground, she blasts us over a natural rock ramp with a whoop.
“Nothin’ too crazy, Dee,” I remind her, but a proud smile decorates my face anyway.
Destiny and I have been besties pretty much since she was born. I’d been pretty excited to learn I was going to be a big brother, even though she’s only my half-sister. In my eyes, it just meant a bigger family with Dad 2, Aunt Mom, and Dee. And I couldn’t love my crazy family any more than I already do.
“Good job getting up in the air today, Dee. Really proud of you.”
“Yeah….” She grips the steering wheel a little tighter and sighs. “Only got a few inches though.”
“Better than I could’ve done.”
“You don’t have wind powers, silly,” she giggles. Her lighthearted tone falls flat as she continues. “But if you did, you’d be much better at using them than me.”
“That’s not true. You’re awesome with your powers.”
“I can lift stuff, not myself,” she corrects. “I just…it’s scary being up high, and what if I fall? I could get really hurt.”
“Y’know, I think that’s the cool thing about your powers. If you fall, you have the ability to catch yourself.” I smile even though she can’t see. “Not like me. If something goes wrong, it usually explodes. Catastrophically.”
She lets out a short laugh before her face falls again as her own disparaging thoughts return. “But what if…what if I can’t catch myself? What if something happens, and I’m unconscious? Or what if I’m too scared to catch myself?”
I gently squeeze her shoulder and flash her a grin in the rear view mirror. “Then I’ll catch you.”
Her grateful smile fills my heart with all sorts of fuzzy feelings and reminds me for the thousandth time why I love being a big brother. I love being able to chase all her bad thoughts away, to encourage her to break her limits and reach for the sky. I love seeing her be the eager, passionate girl I know she is. ‘Cause what else are big brothers for?
The city limits soon come into view, and I take the opportunity to switch the controls to my dashboard. With the off-roader now in my control, I launch us off another stone ramp and press the button to transform into mech mode. We roll through the Crossroads, avoiding cars and pedestrians with the grace of a breakdancer, every twist and turn ingrained into my memory. At the town square, I shoot out my mech’s tether beam, swinging us over the entire plaza and up onto the rooftops.
“I don’t know how you ever got this good,” Dee comments as we hop effortlessly from rooftop to rooftop, dodging every tv antenna and flock of birds that sits in our way.
I burst into laughter. “Tons and tons of practice. Plus lots of groundings. I missed the entire tenth season of Nitefall because I crashed into the mayor’s flat.”
“Yeah….” I grimace. Not one of my proudest moments. Not by a long shot.
After flipping over a few more alleys, I land us smack dab in the middle of my workshop behind my parents’ place and transform back into vehicle mode. “Perfect park,” I say as the cockpit cracks open. Sliding down to the ground, I land just in time to catch her when her foot slips on the slick surface.
“See? Told ya I’d catch you,” I quip, shooting her a wink.
She hugs me tight, a little shaken but otherwise safe. “Thanks.”
I set her down, and the two of us head to the back door, slipping through the sliding door and stepping over Kiki’s body lying across the floor. My goofy cat bats at my feet with all three of her paws, trying to sink her claws into my shoe, before jumping up and meowing loudly as though demanding I pet her for the inconvenience. I roll my eyes and drag my hand along her spine to placate her.
“Hi, Keeks. Glad to see you too.”
“Kiki! How’re you, girl?”
A hearty meow and headbutt is her only reply as Dee loses herself to the clingy tabby. I shake my head with a smile and instead focus on locating Mom.
I find her in the kitchen, putting the final touches on dinner so it can cook in the crockpot. She turns and smiles at me from washing her hands in the sink before turning her attention to somewhere in the living room.
Minutes later, he toddles into the kitchen, speeding up as fast as his little legs will take him when he spies me. “Daddie!” he cheers, grabbing onto my pants and hopping on stiff legs.
“Hey, bud!” I hoist him into my arms and give him a big, sloppy kiss on the cheek. “How’re you?”
“I see,” I laugh, shuffling my little gaming buddy to the side and tousling his wild hair. “We’ll ‘pew pew’ here in a bit, ok?”
He nods and snuggles into me, sticking his thumb into his mouth.
Dee, having finally let my cat return to her own devices, swoops in and snags Mom in a giant hug. “Nani Sue!”
Mom is quick to return the hug, adding in an extra squeeze for good measure. “Hi, Dee! How did training go?”
“Not too good.” Dee scuffs her shoe on the floor. “Still scared.”
“She got off the ground though,” I chip in, flashing her a proud smile.
“Hey! That’s still really good!” Mom lifts her chin and strokes her cheeks, a glimmer of motherly pride shining in her eyes. “I’m proud of you, Dee.”
With a bashful grin, Dee buries herself back into Mom’s arms. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie.”
After another moment, Mom finally lets her go and glances at the clock above the stove. “Ok, I need to get going. Your dad –” she points at Dee “– said he’d be here at six to pick you up.”
Mom turns her attention to me. “I’m probably going to be late tonight, so you and your dad can eat whenever, and I will eat when I get home.”
“‘Kay.” I plant a kiss on her cheek. “Good luck at work.”
She smiles and kisses me in return. “Thanks.
“Do I get a goodbye kiss?” she asks Alex, who immediately scrambles to give her the biggest, messiest kiss ever. Complete with a loud “mwah” at the end.
“Oh, thank you!” Mom wipes the drool off her cheek with a chuckle. “I’ll see you later, ok?”
Alex enthusiastically waves, almost smacking me in the face, his cheeks nearly split open from his wide smile. “Bye!”
“Bye, buddy.” She sternly points between me and Dee. “You two behave.”
“We’ll do our best,” I promise with a cheeky grin. I don’t even flinch at her dangerous glare, too used to her “Mom face” for it to be very effective anymore. I know it’s just a front anyway.
“Bye, Nani,” Dee chirps, snapping Mom out of her sternness.
After one final hug, Mom grabs her purse and disappears around the corner. A few seconds later, the front door shuts firmly, signaling that she’s left the house. We now have free rein.
Chuckling, I give Alex a light squeeze, heart growing soft from his sweet smile. “Alright, bud. We can pew pew now.”
I flash a grin at Dee. “You gonna join? One of my squad mates isn’t playing tonight, so there’s a spot open.”
Her bright smile holds that competitive spirit she’s so well known for. Even if she’s not the greatest at shooter games, she’ll still give the other players a run for their money. And my buddies are pretty chill with her playing with us on occasion.
Fishing my phone out of my pocket, I unlock it and toss it to her. “Downloaded the latest update, just for you.”
The three of us migrate upstairs to my bedroom, Kiki darting ahead with an impatient meow, and settle in our respective spots: Alex and me in my gaming chair, and Dee flopped on my bed with Kiki tucked all cozy on her back. As I boot up the game and fix my headphones over my ears, I can’t stop the smile from stretching my cheeks. There’s no better way I’d rather spend an afternoon than playing with my two favorite gaming buddies.
