My Sister, Skylar

Twenty-two

Leigh wasn't sure where to go. She wasn't even sure if kissing Twelve had been the right choice. It felt like the right choice. Fitting, somehow. Not to mention she had quite enjoyed it. Could Twelve make it out? And Six? Leigh slowly moved out of the way, making sure to be out of the blast radius. Where were the rest of her fiends? On the horizon, she could make out a person being launched out of the window. The person in question was haltingly dropped to the ground, then released a little early and collapsed onto the ground. 

"Ow, Twelve."

She could hear Six's remark. Dashing forwards, she scooped him up and pulled him away from the building, which now had fire licking out of the windows. Once they were away at a safe distance, Leigh turned around again, ready to run back into the house to save Twelve. 

It was too late. 

The building had maximized it's breaking about with the flames. The lower portion collapsed, and then it exploded. 

"No!" Sobbed Leigh, dropping to her knees. 

The heatwave hit them, making Six groan. 

"Leigh, it's ok. I'm here," Six said, putting his arms around the weeping girl. 

"Twelve," she choked out. 

"He was already dead by the time I was out," Six replied, stroking her hair. "He gave his life for mine." His words shook, and she realized with a shock that he was crying too. 

Together they cried, hugging each other tightly. 

"Guys?" Asked a timid voice. Leigh's head snapped up, finding Ollie's dark eyes. "We need to go," he whispered gently. The pair nodded, collecting themselves off the ground. 

Hand in hand, they left the disaster behind them. Even though each step was heavy, Leigh felt a new sense of resilience burning in her mind. They were going to save all the kids in the Facility. They were going to find Hundred. 

**********

"What happened while we were gone?" Asked Madelaine, brash as ever. 

Upon inspection, the rest of Leigh's friends had been fine. A few scrapes and bruises, but fine. Leigh quickly caught them up to speed. At the current moment, they were resting in a bus stop. 

"What do you mean a new plan?" Asked Ash. "What plan did we have to begin with?" 

Leigh shrugged. "Oliver had the idea to out the Facility to the world, make everyone angry. Safety in numbers, you know? But that won't work. Sorry, Ollie,"she added after a quick look at her friend's face. 

He laughed. "Not a problem. What's the new plan?" He asked with a little much enthusiasm. 

"We're going to find my friend, Hundred," Six replied. "She's broke out a bunch of kids from the Facility. She was part of a mass breakout. If we can go to her, then she can help us plan a way to infiltrate the place. On top of all that, she has lots of kids. Some of them were part of the original mass breakout, some of them broke out on their own or were never part of the Facility to begin with. She can help us," Six said. 

The other three took that in, then nodded. 

"Sounds good. Better than the plan we came up with anyway," Madelaine said, smiling at Ash. Ash grinned back. 

What's going on?

"What plan?" Leigh asked, almost timidly. 

"We were going to send you in, as our intel. Then we were thinking you could take it down from inside, somehow," Ash explained.

Six and Leigh exchanged a glance. 

"Honestly, that would work," Six thought out loud. "But it's not a good idea. They'll realize Leigh is Nin - Skylar's sister. If they find that out, they'll quickly make each other their Superior and Minor. And that wouldn't end well. They might just kill Nine on the spot if they know," he furthered. 

Oliver, Ash and Madelaine exchanged confused looks. 

"Superior?" Oliver drew his brows together when he spoke. 

"Why would they kill her?" Madelaine asked at the same time. 

Six launched into a quick revision of what the Superior-Minor thing. 

"Ok, but why would they kill Skylar if they found out?" Ash questioned. 

"Simply because they can. If Nine's sister just randomly 'got caught' then of course they would know they're being infiltrated. They would kill Nine, then the rest, without question," he told the group. 

"Why haven't they just killed them all already?" Oliver remarked. 

"I'm not really sure," Six commented. 

"Do you think they could be using them for something?" I added to the conversation. Madelaine nodded eagerly. 

"They could be testing on them," she said. 

"Or using them for battles," Ash added. The two girls exchanged a look, each admiring each others guesses but not saying it. Leigh felt a small pang of jealousy. When had they gotten so close?

"Testing makes sense. They do that, sometimes. They're probably testing on them, and if they die it won't be a problem." Six sounded bitter, and Leigh could understand that. After all, these were just kids. Kids with abilities. They didn't deserve to be treated differently, just because of that. 

"Well," Ollie sighed. "I guess we'll just need to nap." He smirked as he said it, and Ash and Madelaine burst into laughter, like it was the most hilarious thing in the world. 

"Inside joke," Ash explained. Leigh just nodded and looked away. 

This was a weird feeling. She had always been with the group. Always shared jokes. Why were her friends suddenly so close with Ash? She seemed different. More at ease somehow. Was it stupid to feel jealous over her?

That should be me. 

Said a nasty voice in her head as she watched the three friends giggle over something. 

I knew Ash first anyway. Why are they so cozy with her? And Madelaine and Ollie and I have been friends for even longer. What the hell?

The voice continued. She tried to push the jealousy away. This was dumb. So they were sharing a few jokes. Whatever. Six sat down next to her, silent but comforting. 

"Don't you worry about a thing," he told her. "Everything's going to work out."

And for the moment, she believed him.