7 Family Ties

It's not long till I wake up to the sound of the battle almost starting. I get up and go out of my tent and someone hands me a kit of stuff.

"Ready yourself. We start soon." I go into my tent again and change into the clothes and look at the weapons given to me. It's one of the guns I mentioned forever ago, the one with 'a high enough hertz to be able to light things on fire'. Yup. I sling it over my shoulder with the strap across my chest and go out, walking to where the battle is, and I sigh. I had wanted to avoid this for the entire time I was going to be here. But I can't do anything about it now. Xa-... General Black walks to the front of the group of all of us gathered.

"Alright men. This," he yells, "is what we've been preparing for. Are you ready?" All the men around me all respond with various ways of saying yes. "Alright men, let's do this!" We all start moving forward, and I hesitantly comply. I feel as though I'm about to kill my own family. But it's too late for me to turn back now. I have to do this.

We don't make any kind of noise, and we sneak into the tunnels. I walk through, having ended up with going through the one me and X-... General Black escaped out of. I review the orders I've been given. Go in, stealth kill or attempt a stealth kill, and move onto the next one. Repeat until we manage to get most of them and then retreat to the surface, where the cannons will start backing us up. I take a deepish breath and keep moving onward. I pulled out a sheathed knife that is made of the strongest metal we were able to get our hands on, from a small hidden sheathe in the belt of my pants. I crouch slightly and keep walking, as silently as I can, and I get to a part where there is a divot in the wall. I lean and look at it and see a Gragzul curled up and sleeping. My motion falters, and I take a deep breath and creep towards them. I walk over and am about to take my knife to their throat, but I stop, seeing something in their hand.

I swallow and slowly reach down towards it and try to see what it is. They move slightly and I freeze, waiting to be sure that they are still sleeping. I go back to trying to see it and I manage to get the thing visible. I realize it's a picture, but I can't tell what it's of. I keep slowly moving it and then I slowly take it from them. It's small and looks as though it's been crumpled up before. I slowly uncrumple the picture, having only been able to tell that it was a picture judging by the corner of part of it. My breathing falters when I uncurl it, seeing the picture. I take a small step back, and then put the picture in my pocket and I start going to the surface, panicking.

As soon as I get halfway through the tunnels, the ground shakes violently and an explosion goes off somewhere. I scramble up and keep running. I burst out into the surface, and immediately ran into a full on battle with the Gragzuls right in front of me. 'I'm in deep shit now..' I think to myself.

I swallow and look around. I spot several ways to be able to sneak through the Gragzuls, but I would end up running into one anyway, because this is a battle of course. I slowly make my way to slightly higher ground to be able scope out the area. I look around once I'm up a little higher and I can see the battle going on and brace myself for another cannon strike, which almost knocks me off of the sandy terrain. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the landscape here is red and sandy, because this war has been going on for so long it has messed up everything in the terrain. Anyway, I look around, and I see some sort of path between all the fighting and I take off towards it, and I get basically crushed by a person being thrown by a Gragzul. I hit the ground and my breath was knocked out of me. The person tries to get off of me, but then a Gragzul pounces on him and me, crushing my leg partially, and tears the guy's arm off and I flinch as the blood splatters all over me. The Gragzul proceeds to tear the man's limbs off, but it moves it's leg enough for me to crawl out from under it, and manage to get out of this nightmarish fight.

I manage to get up and limp my way over to the medical tents that were set up and I walk into one, and realize that I'm a lot more beaten up than I originally thought. But I see Jaxx nearby and I stumble over to him and grab his shoulder and say, "I need some fucking help." He looks at me and nods. "I was alone so I didn't hear the signal to leave," I say as he makes me get onto a table and cuts off part of my pants that is soaked in blood, and grimaces when he sees my leg, "and as I sneaked out of the fight, a Gragzul just so happened to have thrown someone on me, and then it landed on me, so..."

"I can tell. How bad does this hurt?" Jaxx says, and he touches something and my vision gets spotty. "Judging by the look on your face, a lot. I need to set... whatever I can set. You are going to need this." He gives me something similar to a rag and I look at it.

"What for?" He sighs.

"Bite on it. Unless you want to lose your tongue, then go right ahead and not do anything." I put the rag-like object in my mouth.

"Ready?" He positions himself to set what he can, and I nod. He pulls upward and there is a very painful grinding noise and I flinch and cry out, but the object mutes out most of the noise. Jaxx immediately starts working on my leg, and Jaxx calls someone over and they take out the rag and put a mask over my mouth and I slowly drift off into a medicated unconsciousness.

I slowly am woken up by Jaxx as he takes off the mask, and his lips are moving but I can't hear him, but eventually I slowly get a distant sound of his voice and after a few seconds I hear him clearly.

"Adraxian, are you able to hear me?" I nod, feeling like my head's in the clouds. Jaxx smiles and sighs contentedly. "Thank Zuli. We thought you were about centimeters away from slipping into a coma." I smile slightly and sigh.

"God I feel as high as a motherfucking sky." Jaxx laughs.

"That is good! Otherwise you would be feeling like you got your entire body pummeled." I smile slightly.

"Oh Jesus Christ... where's the rest of the men... and what happened..." Jaxx's expression shifts to one of slight worry.

"Nevermind that now. I need you to tell me what this is." He holds up the picture I had in my coat pocket and I realize I'm basically wearing a shirt and shorts. I swallow slightly.

"Why..." I say, my throat feeling dry.

"I know you took this when you were at the Gragzul camp. But I took the courtesy of not looking at it. But why did you take it?" I swallow dryly.

"Can I get some water?" Jaxx sighs and puts the picture down on my chest and gets up to get me some water. I sigh and relax and pick up the picture. My bed is slightly tilted forward, and I tilt it up more so I can sit up slightly. I unfold the picture and look at it again. It sends chills down my spine, and I shudder slightly. I fold it back up and look at Jaxx as he walks over and hands me a cup of water. I start drinking it immediately, and then sigh contentedly.

"Now," Jaxx says quietly, "why did you take that little piece of paper?" He taps the picture that I had set on my upper thigh, and I look at him.

"Look at it. Then you'll know why." I say quietly. Jaxx gives me a questioning look, but he picks it up and carefully unfolds it. He looks at it, and for a moment he's confused, and then his eyes widen slightly when he realizes it. He looks at me, and then back at the picture. "Zuli entara..." He says, speaking his normal, natural language, which no one understands or knows anymore. I slowly take the picture from him and fold it up again.

After a while Korax comes to see me. "Hey buddy," He says calmly, smiling slightly, "I heard you got caught up in the thick of it. And," he looks at the cast on my leg, "they weren't kidding, Jesus Christ. But, that's besides the point. How is your family? I thought General B gave you the letter from your family the other day." I shrug.

"I haven't had the time to read it." Korax looks around and then whispers low enough so that only me, him, and Jaxx can hear him. "I know about the whole.... Thing. The... changing... thing." Jaxx shoots him a questioning look but Korax ignores it.

"How did..." I say, my voice trailing off.

"I have my ways. Connections in the right places. But," he taps the picture that I had put back on my thigh, "what's this?" I look at Jaxx.

"Should I...?" Jaxx's expression doesn't falter from being the most hardcore resting bitch face I've seen in a long time.

"It is up to you. It is your... information." I nod and consider it for a moment.

"You can look at it if you really want to." I say quietly, holding out the folded up picture. Korax looks from me to the picture, and then slowly takes the picture and unfolds it. He studies it for a moment and then the realization strikes him, and he looks at me, shocked. I nod, and take the picture back. I put it under my blanket when I notice a group of three people are walking over. I smile at Korax and Jaxx.

"It's good that you decided to visit me, Kor. It's rather uneventful around here." Korax smiles and laughs slightly, catching on quickly.

"Hey, it's probably for the best." I laugh and Jaxx smiles, catching on instantly. A couple seconds later, the group of three people arrive at my bed. I look up at them and try not to express any sort of emotion on my face. It's General Black, and the two people that I've heard are like his right hand men. General B looks a bit beaten up, with some cuts and forming bruises on his face. He does not look happy.

"I heard about your mishap. Why did you go in alone?" He says, his voice more or less unchanging.

"I didn't mean to. I thought that, I don't know, my fellow soldiers would have backed me up if I got into a pickle, and told me that the signal is being sent out." I say. General B takes a deep breath, agitated slightly due to my extreme sass.

"I told everyone that we were going to sneak into the right side of the camp. You went left. It was your own fault, because, as I was told, you weren't at the debrief meeting last night. Why was that?" I look him dead in the eyes.

"Once I got to my tent, I spent my night reminiscing about my family and then fell asleep. You never gave me my letter, by the way." My tone matches his now, one of mostly sass and frustration. He takes a deep breath and pulls an envelope out of his coat pocket, and drops it onto my lap. I notice it has a bit of blood on it, as if something had bled into it. I look at him. "Is this blood yours? Are you okay?" I say, my emotion flaring up finally. He is taken by surprise of my emotion, and blinks a couple times.

"Yes, I'm fine." I look at him and he dismisses the two men with him.

"I can still tell if something's a lie when I hear it." I say quietly.

"Judging by the look you're giving me, I can tell." He says quietly, a faint smile on his face.

"Well?" He rolls his eyes slightly and unzips his coat and tosses it onto my bed, and then starts to take off his shirt. Jaxx looks at me with a teasing expression, and I roll my eyes at him. General B puts his shirt on my bed on top of his coat and I look at him, immediately noticing the deep cut on his chest. "That explains the blood." I say quietly. Jaxx goes off to get something, and he brings Korax with him to give him a quick lesson on stitching people back up, leaving me and Xanthos alone. I lock eyes with him.

"Look...," Xanthos says quietly, "I... I'm sorry about the other day... when I..." I hesitate for a moment.

"... Don't be. I'm the one that stormed out on you." Xan smiles awkwardly.

"No, I was pushing you. I should've stopped. I just... the whole information on our new... selves..." I smile.

"Yeah, it's rough information to accept. I'll agree with that." Him and I laugh, and then Jaxx comes back with a needle and thread.

"You should sit down so that if you move I will not mess up." Xanthos sits down in a nearby chair that Jaxx had previously been sitting in. Jaxx starts stitching him up. I lean back slightly, and Xan looks at me out of the corner of his eyes, and I smile, blushing slightly. I look down at the envelope and open it. I see my name written on it in my mom's handwriting. My heart skips a beat. I unfold the letter with slightly shaky hands. I start reading it.

My dearest Adraxian,

We miss you dearly at home. Ruben misses you, and he desperately wants you to pet him. And... you're no longer going to be an only child! No matter how surprising that is, it is the truth, my dearest son. I hope you are doing well, and not getting in too much trouble. Your father says that if you die he's gonna bring you back to life and make you wish you were dead again, but I managed to tell him that he can't do that even if you live. And... the CCFF leaders came to our house yesterday. They said that there is something weird happening out there on the battlefield, and we thought we should tell you about your past. You-

I stop reading, having a feeling I already know what's coming. I fold up the bloodstained letter and crumple it up and throw it across the room, tears starting to blur my vision. Xan, Jaxx, and Korax all look at me as if I just spoke in Jaxx's language. I sniff and don't look at them. Jaxx finishes stitching up Xanthos and decides to lead Korax away, thinking that he should give him some advice on post-battle injuries. Xanthos looks at me.

"Adraxian, are you okay?" He says softly. I nod, blinking quickly. I wipe my eyes and take a deep breath. He glances at the crumpled bloodstained letter and looks back at me. "Do you...?" His voice trails off as he rethinks his question. I blink again and sniff. "What did it say?" He says calmly, trying not to make me nervous about his questioning.

"... Nothing of importance..." I say quietly, my voice cracking and full of emotion. Xan blinks and looks away calmly. I calm down after a while, and I look at him. "Can you... pick it up... for me...?" Xan nods and gets up, picking up the letter, and handing the small ball of it to me. I slowly uncrumple it and start reading it again.

They said that there is something weird happening out there on the battlefield, and we thought we should tell you about your past. You have probably always noticed that you look different than me and your father. And we know that you have always felt different. Your father and I have de-

Part of it is drenched in blood, and I can't make it out.

-I hope that you are okay with only just now knowing the truth. We hope that you can understand, and that you aren't forced to leave. Your family was... they had to... it was for your own good. I'm sorry. I can't do this, I hope you can forgive me.

Sincerely,

Ream

I swallow, figuring the part I already know is in the blood stain. I sigh, and fold it up and put it back in the envelope. Xan watches me as I do this, and he looks at me. I look back and he smiles gently, but I look away. I see his expression change to one of slight worry out of the corner of my eye, and I lick my lips slightly. I take a deep breath and let it out. I feel my nerves creep out as I look at Xan, thinking I should tell him about the picture. But if I do... would he send me back, even though he could probably already figure it out? I feel all sorts of emotions run through me, panic, fear, worry, confidence. I lick my lips again and Xan looks at me.

"Adraxian?" He says quietly. I feel my face get hot and I glance at him then at the envelope, studying it as if it has a pattern. "Adraxian, is something wrong?" He says quietly, leaning toward me. I feel my face get warmer.

"N-no." He smirks slightly.

"I know a lie when I hear one, Adraxian." I look at the bed nervously, and glance at him every now and then. "What's wrong?" He says again, calmer this time, and he gets out of the chair and he crouches next to my bed, and I feel myself blush more and I swallow again, my nerves skyrocketing. I suddenly tense and I look down at my hand, which Xan is holding slightly. I look at him and back at our hands, and I pull my hand away suddenly, unsure of how to react. Xan looks away slightly and leans back into his chair, saying, "Sorry if... I didn't..." I shake my head.

"No no... I just... I..." Jaxx comes back and looks at my leg and then back at me.

"How do you feel Adraxian?" He says, getting a small flashlight.

"Fine," I say as he shines it in my eyes, "why?" He turns the flashlight off and looks back at my cast. He takes a small chisel and cracks at it, splitting a part open. He looks at it closer, then back at me.

"You should be fine in a couple days, maybe a week or two. Have you always healed quickly?" I nod slowly.

"Yeah... I thought it was just a normal thing... isn't it?" I say, looking at him and Xan.

"Quite frankly," Jaxx says, "no. It is not. Maybe it is the whole-" Kor jabs him in the ribs quickly, making him stop with a feisty look. I smile, and Jaxx gets up to go get something, and Kor goes with him.

After a while, Jaxx lets me get up, testing the boot that he found for me. I take a few steps and wobble slightly, but I keep going, and after doing a lap around the Med Center, Jaxx says, "I think you are good. Xanthos, are you feeling good enough to be in charge of him?" He nods, and Jaxx leads me and Xan to the door.

I sit in the cot as Xan sits on the sleeping bag. It's an extremely awkward silence. After a while, I say, "How did we do?" Xan makes a confused face for a moment, and then realizes what I'm talking about.

"Oh, we did alright, I suppose. We definitely put a dent in their force. But there are other fronts that have been forming, and others that are being abandoned. We haven't been able to figure out where they are moving though. It doesn't seem to have a pattern." I tilt my head slightly.

"Huh. Wonder why." Xan shrugs, and looks near the entrance of the tent. The lighting makes him look slightly mysterious. I smile slightly. I lean to the side and lay on the cot, with my left leg on it, and my right hanging off, figuring the boot would be a bit much for it. I see Xan look at me out of the corner of my eye, and I think I see him blush, but it could just be the lighting, and it seems more plausible that it's the lighting. I start thinking of all the things that could be, especially after the war ends. I let my mind wander through all the scenarios, pausing at some of them to think on them longer, and slowly thoughts of Xan and I creep into them, and I try to get my mind off it, but no matter how hard I try, they keep coming back.

I start thinking about my parents to try to get my mind off it, and flashes of my mom and dad, mostly happy memories. And then slowly things that never happened start creeping in. Them arguing, my dad hitting my mom, and several other things. But then, it flashes to them, laying on the ground, dead, their throats slit and several stab wounds all over them, and it slowly drifts to someone holding a knife, with blood dripping off of it, and then it backs up, and you see the back of the person. They turn, and it's me.

I wake up, breathing hard, startled. Xan looks over at me.

"You okay?" I take large gulps of air.

"Y-yeah I'm o-okay." Xan gets up and looks at me, walking over.

"You're pale. Nightmare?" I nod, trying to calm down. Xan sits on the ground, and still looks at me, as he did before when I had nightmares.

"Wanna talk about it?" I shake my head.

"I don't think I c-could describe it without..." my voice trails off. Xan nods calmly. After a while I calm down, and look down at Xan. "You don't have to do these things... for practically a stranger..." Xan smiles.

"You're no stranger. You are Adraxian motherfuckin Jones, for cryin out loud! You are one of the bravest people I know, and yet you're really small, like, I dunno, maybe like a small dog paired against something much larger than it. A Great Dane or something. I would regret not meeting you!" He suddenly realizes what he's said and he turns bright red. I smile and try not to laugh. "Shut up!" He says, covering his face with his hands, laying on the ground, partially laughing. I smile wider.

"I didn't say anything." Xan laughs.

"Shut up anyway!" I burst out laughing, and almost fall off the cot, but I catch myself with my hands while my left leg is still on the cot. I slowly bend my arms so I'm laying mostly on the ground, and then I struggle for a moment but manage to get my leg out of the cot, and I laugh again. Xan laughs as well, and then we both just lay there on the ground silently. I look at him, and he looks at me, and I smile. He moves so that he is facing me more, and we just lay on the ground.

Xan stops messing with the sandy ground in front of him and says, "Adraxian, have you ever liked anyone?" I pause. "I mean, you did ask me, so I feel like it's fair enough that I ask you."

'Oh christ...' I think to myself. "Um... I dunno." Xan laughs.

"You lie!" I lick my lips slightly.

"Well... I..." Xan looks at me, and I glance at him.

"It's not like I'm gonna tell anyone." He says calmly.

"Fair enough..." I say, looking back up at the post holding up the top of the tent. "I... I mean... I have, I just..." My voice trails off. Xan doesn't say anything, and I lick my lips again.

"That must be your nervous habit." I snap to attention.

"What? What is?" He rolls his eyes slightly, smiling.

"Licking your lips, silly." I look back up at the post and smile.

"Yeah. I just... never really tell people things like this... not even my parents..." Xan nods.

"I suppose." I swallow slightly. "Well, I suppose I should ask you something else." Xan says. I nod.

"Yes, please do." I say frantically. Xan laughs. It's silent for a moment, and then he speaks.

"Has someone ever admitted to liking you?" I think for a moment.

"As friends or more than friends?" Xan thinks for a moment.

"More than." I keep thinking.

"No." Xan looks at me like I'm crazy.

"Seriously?" I nod. He looks stunned. "Seriously?"

"Yes!" I say, "What makes you think I'm lying?" Xan shrugs.

"Everyone has been told at least once in their lifetime that someone likes them, so I figured you have." I shrug.

"Guess I'm just lucky, in my opinion. Sometimes people like other people that they know they have absolutely no chance with, and try as they might, it'll never work out for them. I'd rather not deal with that sort of drama, especially since, you know, no one has admitted they liked me. How about you Xanthos?" He tilts his head, thinking.

"Hmm... several times. All the girls in my class thought I was like some sort of god or something, and actually, now that I think about it, some guys even admitted it. I'm not sure why they all liked me so damn much." I look at him, a skeptical look on my face.

"Why wouldn't they like you? You're amazing! Besides, now you're a general, commanding your own troop. They have got to like you now." Xan laughs and I smile and look back up at the post.

Xan and I talk like this for several hours, and then we can see the sun starting to set outside the tent. I move so I can see it. The sunset isn't like the on on original Earth. Our's is as if the sun is changing color completely. It turns purple, then dark blue, shifting to several other colors, and then it turns a deeper purple, almost black, and it disappears over the horizon. Xan lights the lantern, and then sits down next to me. I shift around so that I'm sitting up, and we sit there, looking at the remnants of the sunset. Xan looks at me.

"Adraxian, what would you think if a guy ever asked you out? I'm not meaning to pry or anything, I'm just wondering." My heart skips a beat and in my mind I can envision him making me look at him- I lick my lips.

"I don't know for sure. Depends on the person." Xan nods.

"Reasonable." He leans back slightly, and I almost hear him sigh. I pause for a moment.

"How would you react? I mean, you did mention that you are gay, but still. Can't say I've ever seen anyone's reaction to it, nonetheless by the same gender." Xan shrugs, then smirks.

"Depends on the person." I smile and laugh slightly. Xan sits up again, leaning forwards and crossing his legs, and he rests his elbows on his knees. "Well, gender doesn't really matter much these days. I know on origin Earth that they freak the fuck about things like being gay and such, but that doesn't mean we have to. I know some people that prefer to be called the opposite gender, or with no specific gender constricted pronouns, like him and her. I've always accepted them, and always will. Just one step closer to making this place even more different than origin Earth." I smile.

"That was... pretty deep." Xan looks at me.

"You think so?" I nod. We sit there and look at the darkening sky.