Pixels, Falling Stars And Brave Hearts

Pix's Bravery

(Pix's POV)

I notice my friend Braveheart gazing at a pair of Striker clones wandering past. We both know they aren't Starfall. I hear someone enter the room and I fall startled, alongside Braveheart. We wind up tangled up. I'm afraid... I'm going to die... I'm never going to see the surface again... I'll never know what sunlight looks like again... I'll never be free...

"Hey, Hawkeye? Could you give me a boost?" Hawkeye nods in response. We're both stunned that someone actually cares about us. She untangles us and helps us down onto the floor below with Hawkeye's assistance and I ask if she'd be alright with us on her team. "Sure thing, just try not to get tangled up. I'm Nancy, but please, call me Nan." I smile and nod.

"Pixel. Just call me Pix." I state and I notice someone on the rafters above. They're whimpering. I hear them singing. They sound so much like Starfall... I miss him... I recognize the melody they're singing. I hum to their melody and they peer over the edge and gasp. I look up to see Starfall gazing back at me. I feel tears well in my eyes as I lose command of my actions. I climb onto the rafter beside them and they clamber over. Yep, he's still the same clumsy kid from before. Man, I missed this. Hanging out with someone who was like my little brother... I hear Nan talking to Braveheart and Starfall smiles as he sees him. He leaps down and I clamber down yet again. I hear Nan and Starfall shooting puns back and forth and it's a pretty good set of puns too. With every pun Starfall makes, Nan retaliates with a better one. I noticed Braveheart and Hawkeye were conversating too. I guess I'm alone again...

I see someone run down the stairs and see not just one, but a horde of searchers chasing her.

I see one of them grab her ankle and she screams. Everyone looks to her and starts freaking out. I see a few other clones starting at her. She's the one perfect Alice. I see something different about her. She's wearing someone's jacket. It's got a hood and has two pockets. She has it zipped up and is crying as she's struggling to escape them. I see a wrench next to me and remember who I'm supposed to be. A calm collected fighter. Man, I hate that role... I pick it up and see the searcher holding her ankle. I see my chance to defend her and I run to her. I hit the searcher on its head and it screeches in pain, recoiling. Alice runs over to Nan and the others. The searcher tries to grab me and I dodge. I force a small grin as I fight back. I get hit in the face the next time it swings at me. I feel my blood flowing from my face. I retaliate with a hard blow to its neck. I hear a loud snapping noise and see the searcher fall to the landing dead. I glare at its corpse and walk away.

I feel my soul shatter when I hear a small shout of surprise from behind me and a lost one walks over to the dead searcher and whispers "Dad? Dad, please... Wake up... Mom still hasn't returned to the safehouse... This place really isn't the best place to sleep... Please..." I see the wrench slide out of my hands. She sees Alice and shouts "Mom!" and runs to her. Alice hugs the lost one. I see something I never expected happen. The lost one's ink-covered form slips off and reveals a young girl with skin as pale as old paper from a book from years past, eyes like the ocean, hair as black as ink itself, wings that look like Alice's, and ears and a tail that resemble Boris's.

"Sasha... That searcher? He isn't your father. He tried to kill me." Alice states, hugging her. I'm amazed at how much a child can go through and still remember their family.

"Sasha? Alice? Where are you? It's me, Sage..." A man's voice shouts from around the corner. I run down the stairs and stand next to Nan shaking like a leaf in the mid-summer wind. The man enters and he's another clone of Boris. I stop shuddering and walk to a crate and sit on it. I begin to try to calm my nerves through memories. I remember finding Starfall. He was very shy and yet brave nonetheless. He was like this because of Mr. Drew.

Mr. Drew had taken Starfall's upper arms and his lower left arm and replaced them with mechanisms that hardly ever worked. There were others like us. Broken by Mr. Drew's cruel hands. He said we were never meant for heaven's light and I believed him. When Braveheart walked into my life, I felt something stirring within me. I think this might be heaven's light itself. I felt happy for once in what felt like an eternity. The timelessness of that memory still makes me smile. It's the enigmaticness of joy itself that makes me want to feel it more often. My views changed. I went from the glass half empty view to the glass half full view. I want to find out why he trapped us.

I'm snapped back to reality by the feeling of having a leg again. I look down to see Sasha tinkering with a few spare parts and she's making a prosthetic leg for me. I feel tears well in my eyes and she looks up at me and smiles before returning to work saying "I really like your stories, sir. Please tell more of them!"

"Wait... How long was I telling them for?" I ask.

"About how long it took for me to construct this prosthetic leg which took about half an hour maybe." Sasha replies, tightening a screw.

"Alright, I'll tell you about my memories. I remember which job I was given by Mr. Drew himself. It makes my soul ache thinking about what I did, but it had to be done for me to be kept alive. I had to go out and kill others who were "defective". This meant I had to kill those I considered my friends and family. I always told them why I had to kill them and that I was sincerely remorseful for having to kill them. I was always forgiven by them, but the weight of my sins will always cling to me and will constantly remind me that I am another flawed one that was spared. I never forgave myself for killing them. I eventually grew tired of killing them and stopped. I made fakes versions to give to Mr. Drew. Fake limbs, fake eyes, fake souls, you name it, I've made it." I tell her solemnly.

"That's amazing! How did you manage to make fake souls?" Sasha exclaims.

"Well, I usually looked at the person who I was supposed to kill's soul, and basically used ink to make the soul seem real and usually I had to use bioluminescent items to make it glow their soul's color." I explain.

She smiles and nods. "So, can you teach me how to make a soul using magic perhaps?"

"I can't promise anything, but I can try to teach you." I reply.

"Great!" she responds. I'm glad she's so enthusiastic about learning magic. I remember the same enthusiasm in Starfall's eyes when I told him about magic and how to use it. Heh. Good times...