𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 ━ transformers

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲

Maybe it's an apparition, a mirage I have created to give myself hope that my brother is alive. I blink once, twice, and then rub my eyes as I regard him, but Theo's face remains the same despite a few scars tarnishing his otherwise flawless face.

I take a step back, heart racing. My stomach churns; I heave onto the ground, clear liquid falling from my lips. There is no food in the vomit. I wonder when the last time I ate was. Absently, I graze my stomach, lifting up the shirt they put on me to feel the ribs protruding out of me. It is a wonder I did not die from starvation.

My eyes won't leave the sleeping face of my brother. I stare and stare until it blurs, and then I'm crying, rushing forward and touching the glass hesitantly, as though it will break with the slightest breath.

He is so still in there that I wonder if he is actually dead. Maybe he is, and they are preserving the body. Maybe it's just someone who looks exactly like Theo.

I was never lucid when they brought me out of the tanks, but I try to scrounge my memory for any clue as to how to open the container.

My brain rushes through every possible attempt until it lands on one that concludes the highest possibility of achievement. I do not hesitate as I wrap a hand under the tank, pressing a release button I shouldn't have known was there.

The tank gurgles for a moment, and I take it as a bad sign, but it is only flushing the liquids away until there is nothing left in the basin but Theo and Theo only. Then, it hisses as the opening parts a crack. I grab the handle and pull it hard, and it creaks so hard it comes off the hinges.

Confusion rattles me as I stare at the door in my hand. I chalk it up to rusty nails and throw it to the side in time to catch Theo before he falls to the ground.

My heart is in my throat as I wait for him to open his eyes. I run my hands over his face, and it's slimy, but it's warm, and it's pliant under my touch. I reach for his chest next, and there's heartbeat, faint as it is.

He's alive.

He's actually alive.

Everything burns as I stare at him. He looks the same as he did in my memories, only better. There is no more blood staining his skin, no more rain drowning out his words. Only his soft breathing and faint heartbeat. His warming skin, so familiar under my fingertips.

My eyes trail down his body and a gasp escapes my lips. The excitement, the relief, from earlier has disappeared, replaced by a sinking guilt. I can't help the sob that escapes my lips.

It wasn't supposed to be him. He shouldn't have had to go through this. He only wanted to take me to a convention, and the price he had to pay for it was a mangled body, his arms and legs replaced by metal prosthetics.

The metal glints of the glow of the tank, and it takes everything in me not to hurl again. I swallow the knot in my throat, wishing I could have done something different to save him from this fate.

It's not only the arms and legs that were made new; Theo's entire chest is riddled with metal, granted it is only on one side, connecting up to his right arm to bind his body together. The metal used for it is high tech, resembling Starscream's own armor. There are crimson cracks in the prosthetics, almost like snakes crawling through a canyon. Looking at them makes me flinch, so I avert my eyes back to Theo's face, glad that there's a part of him that is still normal.

Human.

His face twitches, and he groans, tossing in my arms. He clenches his eyes, lets out a breath, and then he's blinking his eyes open.

I watch with bated breath as he comes to, wondering what's going to happen. What comes next? Both of us can escape together, we can leave this place behind. I'll have to explain it to him quickly if he doesn't remember anything. He'll understand. We can talk about everything else later, about what happened on that day, about Starscream and Cade and the aliens. We'll have time.