[closed to antitemporal and lightofthestars] The child is grown

[systematicsupport]

S-4 always thought he’d go back without being aware of it. He wasn’t aware of coming to the castle in the first place, after all. He just woke up one day, free of the stasis pod, gentle sunlight shining into his eyesockets instead of harsh florescent light, soft ground beneath his feet instead of cold metal. Why wouldn’t he return back to the facility the same way, waking up not to Estu mumbling to him to close the curtains but Gaster gently helping him out of the glass tube with one hand and holding a schedule of the day’s tests with the other?

But that’s not the way it works. The day he returns to where he’s meant to be unfolds just like any other day, with him out in the courtyard, sitting beside his ‘family’. Tauriel is sewing what will probably be another vest for Estu, who is doubled over in front of a pad of paper sketching something very important. Esfor is fumbling with the stems of a few flowers, trying his best to focus on the instructions Grune gave him.

Cross the stems over like this, and… Esfor suddenly sits up with a bright grin, holding out his completed project: a circular crown of flowers.

“Look! I did it!”

His celebrating is cut short by a strange tug in his gut, one he tries his best to ignore, even as his hands tighten around the crown.

Comments

[antitemporal]

This is where they're meant to be. Estu believes that with all his soul, now.

This is where they belong - surrounded by friends and family, free to play and have fun and hold on to each other as they experience so many new things. They belong with food that tastes good and clothes that look nice. And they belong with their pets - the very important thing that Estu is trying to sketch is Puddle. It's also the second thing he's drawn today - the first was a valiant attempt to draw Tauriel's face, signed quite neatly with his much-beloved signature.

They've been here for months, and so much has changed. Surely that means they won't ever go back, doesn't it? Their world has probably moved on without them, and Estu is glad of it.

He's been getting strange headaches, lately, and it feels as though he's been sleeping a lot more than he used to. But only when he's by himself. As long as he's with Esfor, his head is clear and everything is okay. So that's just been more reason to stay with his brother.

He looks up when Esfor speaks, and laughs with delight at the sight of the crown. "good job! you should wear it, and then..."

...i'll draw you! he almost says, but stops as something takes hold of him. No, not one something - two. It's as though he's been seized by both arms and tugged to one side and tugged to the other until he's

ripped

in

two.