chapter 4

I played along with them. Made them think everything was alright. But really, I just could stop thinking about my father.

"Listen to me." He'd told me before he left. "This is very important: because there will come a time when you will have to go on without me - whether it's now or years in the future - and I need to know that, whenever that time comes, you're going to be alright. I need to know you'll be ready."

These words echoed in my head whenever it had a spare moment. Of course a part of me already knew but something about hearing him say it just made it very real.

'I need to know you'll be ready.'

Well I certainly wasn't ready yet.

I played it off when I was with my friends, pushing the thought to the back of my head until the end of school.

Not long after I left the school however, I felt something. Some sort of feeling I couldn't explain but I knew it meant that my father was in trouble. I don't even think I thought about it. I just made to get to him, somehow finding my way even though I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going. It wasn't until I approached the edge of the town where the lake was that I actually saw them.

I could already tell something was wrong: the mettle man was standing with his back to me, weapon in hand; my father was a little distance away, crouched on his knees, head down. I didn't have to guess what had happened.

I remembered the story my father told us once, about the handful of people from our planet that held extraordinary power but using it came at the cost of using up their own energy. If they wasted it…

I stopped before I got too close, realising neither of them had seen me yet.

But as the Metoid came closer to my dad, he looked up. He saw me there. The look in his eyes made my blood run cold. I'd never seen him look so scared.

I only half registered as the weapon was raised to strike him down…

"Father!"

I realised my mistake only a second too late, raising a hand to my mouth as Iktheor turned to see me.

He straightened up. "So it is true." His voice was high pitched and kind of made me think of static or white noise. I also noticed his mouth didn't move when he spoke. "You are still alive. I didn't dare believe it when they told me." He was coming towards me now, blocking my father from view. "Your mother will be overjoyed to learn of your survival." Just like Troom has when he mentioned her, he paused after the world 'mother' but this time I was ready for it.

'close your heart to it.' "My mother's dead."

Ever so slightly, he moved his head to one side. If his mouth could move, I could've sworn he'd be smiling. "Is she?"

Two simple words but they made me think so much. Has anyone ever actually asked that before? Then the dream came back to me: of this man in a cave. 'I've made a deal, my dear Isynier.'

I was about to yell at him 'Tell me what you know!' When another voice came from behind me.

"You're a steaming pile of crap, ya know that." Jay was coming up behind me (I'd almost forgotten about him) glaring up at the Metoid.

"Ooh, another one of the young survivors." They sounded almost enthusiastic. "Wait, I recognise you. You have the look of a royal."

"And you…" Jay hadn't stopped advancing towards him. "You, messing with people's emotions to get under their skin so you can take them out." For a split second, his eyes darted from Iktheor to my father, lying unmoving on the ground.

The Metoid pointed his weapon at Jay. "I don't care for you, boy..."

"Good. That might make this easier." Once Jay was in front of me, I saw that he had his hand at the small of his back under his jacket - where he kept his knife.

"I don't much like fighting children." It almost sounded like Iktheor was warning him. "But I will fight you if I have to."

Once Jay was close enough, he took out his knife. Quick as a flash, he'd batted the Metoids weapon aside but even so, not only was it bigger and stronger than he was but there was also the fact of its metal skin. The knife barely grazed it. One moment, one of those big metal arms was around Jays torso and the next, it had tossed him aside.

"No!" I launched forwards. Suddenly I was looking at Iktheor was burning anger and hatred. Without even thinking, I pounced on him with a strength that came from I don't know where. "You coward. You bully. You evil, evil BRUTE."

He tossed me aside as easily as he had Jay. I began to hear sirens in the distance.

When Iktheor next looked down at me, his expression hadn't changed but there was something akin to pain in those eyes, like he was ashamed or trying to hold back. "I won't hurt you, girl."

Without another word, he looked in the direction the sirens were coming from and fled.

I looked over towards Jay - He seemed fine, just a little dazed - so I ran to my father.

He lay on his back, eyes closed. I knelt down beside him and held his hand which was on his chest. "Dad?" I could feel he was breathing. Could hear his heartbeat. But he didn't respond. The sirens were getting louder. I lowered my head onto his chest, sobbing. "Daddy. Daddy, please."

Ever so slightly, I felt a light touch on my hand. His hand over mine, his fingers curling around it.

"Cynthia." He breathed.

For some reason that only made me sob harder.

I was so focused on him that I didn't realise the sirens were getting louder. I didn't even notice it when they stopped.

I was only vaguely aware of people moving around us but when one of them tried to take hold of me from behind, that was when I fully registered they were here. I shrugged them away and leaned forwards again. By this time, things were starting to get a little fuzzy: bits of it blurred together while other bits are missing completely; but the next thing I knew, someone was crouched in front of me. Through tearstained eyes, I could just barely make out that it was Brain. Someone got hold of me again and I kept hearing the words 'going to be ok' being repeated over and over.

I don't remember how I got in the car.

I didn't know what had happened to Jay or my father.

It must have been several moments before I was able to fully comprehend things again but I became aware that I was being held on someone's lap, facing them, their arms around my back, my head resting under their chin.

The tears had gone but breathing still felt hard.

After I was able to take a deep, shaky breath, I opened my eyes and looked around.

The car was right outside Nabulas Rise.

Why hadn't we gone in yet?

Where were the others?

I felt whoever had hold of me shift and looked up to see that it was Zee, and she was now looking at me with a relieved smile. "Hey. You back with us now?"

'I think so' I thought, but I still wasn't quite operational enough to use words so I just nodded slightly.

She stroked my hair. "We can stay here as long as you like."

Did I want to stay here? Or did I really want to find out what had happened.

Now that the possibility was presented to me I started to think, maybe I did really want to stay put. It was warm there, and I felt safe.

But no. I needed to know what had happened.