Biker Mice From Mars - Somewhere I Belong

Blood Of Your Blood

As the bright light slowly turned into the image of what Charley later learned was a cave, the first sounds broke through the veil as well.
Surprisingly enough, it was music.
For some reason, she hadn't expected that.
It was a song she didn't recognize, but the melodies were remarkably friendly to the ears.
Her vision, or actually Vinnie's, sharpened, and Charley quickly took in as many details as she could before he moved on with whatever he was about to do in this memory.
The room they were finding themselves in was, indeed, inside a cave that was carved out of the characteristic red stone that she now knew defined Mars.
Furniture was scattered throughout the room, some also made out of stone, and others made out of a whitish wood she hadn't seen before, which wasn't really surprising, of course.

However, before she could take a real good look at how Martian Mice housed themselves, Vinnie's gaze landed on an odd-looking radio standing on the wooden dresser.
Two white-furred hands reached out, and Charley would have gasped if she could when she saw how small those hands were.
Like, child-size small.
Also, the black woolen fingerless gloves he usually wore nowadays were nowhere to be seen, and neither was the small scar on his right index finger she knew was there in the present.
She, or in reality Vinnie, peered at the little furry fingers turning the two dials attached to the radio, and the beautiful song went lost in the sound of static.
With his tongue now between his teeth, Vinnie pricked his ears while his fingers kept playing with the strange-looking buttons.
Soon, the sound of guitars was faintly audible through the static, and Charley once again amazed herself how well-developed the hearing of a Martian Mouse was.

After a little while, the sound became clearer, and soon, the for those who were home in the world of metal familiar tones of Metallica's Masters of Puppets blasted out of the speaker, almost blowing up the poor radio.
"Ahw yeah", Vinnie grinned, and after turning up the volume even more, he stepped back.
Before Charley could even realize what was happening, or notice how different his voice sounded, or fully realize that she was on Mars listening to Metallica, she was suddenly hanging upside down as Vinnie, apparently, made a backflip before using his tail as a guitar while he banged his head on the rhythm of the music.
Which was intense, to say the least.
Kind of like riding a roller coaster, which she hated.
At least she couldn't get sick during a Mind Walk.
Definitely a silver lining.

Lucky for her, after bouncing through the room a little while longer, he eventually halted before something that came close to a mirror, though it wasn't as clear as the ones she knew.
Strangely enough, her heart seemed to skip a beat when she looked into the mirror, which shouldn't even be possible during a Mind Walk and yet it happened.
If she had to guess, it probably had something to do with the person looking back at her.
A little boy with snow-white fur, tiny buck teeth, and bright red eyes twinkling in the dim light of the cave.
He couldn't be older than five years, his wee body wrapped in black dungarees and a red t-shirt and scuffed sneakers at his feet.
His tail was shorter than it was now, it barely touched the ground, which was the opposite of his flappy ears as they were a little too big for the size of his head.
Oh my gosh.
This was by far the cutest thing she had ever seen.
She would have cried if the situation let her, but it didn't.
Something she was somewhat grateful for.
She had shed enough tears for at least the rest of the year.
Amen to that.

But still.
Despite being completely numb to her own emotions, seeing young Vinnie did something to her.
Even though she couldn't really feel it, she just knew it was there.
Sympathy.
Sadness, even, maybe.
He just looked so innocent.
So... scar-free, literally.
If only he knew what his life would become.
How hard it was going to be.
How he was going to be forced to grow up too soon and too fast, all because of this useless concept called war.
It was probably a good thing that he didn't know.
But she did.
And that's what made seeing him looking back via the mirror so heartbreaking.
If only she could hold him.
To keep him hidden from the cruelty of the outside world.
To keep him safe.
Carefree.
But she couldn't.