#YEAHHHHH PLOT ADVANCEMENT. WITH GRATUITOUS DISU

[razzle-zazzle]

Whumptober Day 11: Seeing Double

Convenience Store + Loneliness

3525 Words; Pooter Pile

TW for death mention

AO3 ver

Six stared up at the sky, old asphalt rough and warm beneath his back.

He’d seen it, in Zero’s memories, but never with his own eyes. The facility had no windows; at least, none in the areas Six could get into. He’d seen the sky in movies and pictures and memories, and now he was seeing the real thing.

(Five never got to see the sky.)

Six’ eyes slipped closed and he groaned. There was a small town down at the bottom of the mountain that Three and Gisu and Dion had stopped at on their way to the facility—it was where the six of them had stopped to find some food and a payphone, once they’d all picked themselves back up after the explosion and made the rest of the way down the mountain. Three had stayed unconscious the whole way down, apparently exhausted after that disaster of a night. Four had carried him down.

The sun had fully risen, now, and Three was still down and out, curled up in the shadow of the gas station they had all stopped at. Zero and Four were pestering Dion, Six was lying down in one of the parking spots, and Gisu was on the payphone with change from Dion’s wallet. If Six listened, he could almost hear what she was saying.

Ugh, how did Zero talk him into this? By saying he’d get to see the ocean? Well, there were no oceans around—just mountain, mountain, another mountain, and a dinky little mountain town that was nonetheless bigger than any town Six had been to.

(Bigger than any town Five could ever see.)

Six sighed. The asphalt was starting to become unbearably hot. He sat up, rubbing grit off of his sleeves, and stood, rubbing more grit off his legs. It looked like Gisu was—yep, she had just hung up. Six wandered over to the payphones, where Gisu was holding her levboard in her hands, loose hair clinging to her face from sweat.

Gisu perked up at Six’ approach, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Hey, Six, right?”

“That’s me.” Six confirmed.

Gisu smiled, then frowned. “You okay?”

+=+=+=+=+

“Heyyyy, Hollis?” Gisu greeted, exhaustion somewhere in the back of her mind beneath the elation she was currently feeling.

“Where are you?!” Hollis was to the point and direct as always, it seemed. Gisu winced—she and Dion hadn’t really… told anyone what they were doing. They had kind of just left. But hey, let it never be said that Gisu thought everything through! Sometimes thinking things through took too much time, and a girl just had to go ahead and act!

Regardless, Hollis had asked a question. Gisu rattled off the mountain’s name, though she didn’t actually know the name of the town they were in. “But hey! Good news!” She plowed on, ignoring Hollis’ shocked “Mount Lincoln?” to gleefully announce “We found Pooter!” Which was really good news, actually, and would totally make up for Gisu grabbing Dion and just running off. Probably. After a moment’s thought, Gisu added, “And Pooter, and Pooter, and Pooter!”

“Agent Narima—” Hollis stopped, as Gisu’s words registered. “...what.”

“There’s four of them!” Gisu explained. “Or, well—this isn’t really easy to explain over the phone…” She gripped her levboard in her free hand, focusing on the texture before continuing. “There was a lab, but it kind of… exploded.” She mimed an explosion noise, “And Ms. Naumann got away.” So maybe not a total mission success—but hey! She and Dion had found Raz, and gotten him, Three, Four, and Six out of the lab! Which was definitely a win.

The other end was silent for a moment, and then, “Agent Nariman, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, I still have a lot of questions, too.” Gisu agreed. “But payphones have a time limit and me and Dion only have so many quarters, sooooo do you think you could send the Pelican to come pick us up?” Gisu swayed a bit on the balls of her feet, “We could probably make the journey ourselves, except Raz and Three are both kind of wiped and if you sent some agents they’d get to pick at the exploded lab for clues.” And for any intact tools or machinery, which Gisu kind of wanted to go poking around to look for but really shouldn’t—let it not be said that Gisu never thought anything through. She could think ahead some of the time!

Hollis sighed on the other end. “You said you were in a small town near Mount Lincoln?” She confirmed. Gisu nodded, realized Hollis couldn’t see that, and said “yep!”

“Which means you’re in Colorado.” Hollis pointed out, as though Gisu was somehow unaware of the fact that she and Dion had traveled across multiple states chasing after—well, it hadn’t actually been Raz, had it?—chasing after Three. “A mountain town near Mount Lincoln…” Hollis hmmed, presumably looking something up on her end. “You might be in Alma.” She mused.

“That sounds right.” Gisu confirmed. She and Dion had only stopped here briefly, in their chase, and she didn’t fully remember the town’s name from the map they’d looked at—Dion had insisted on navigating, though Gisu had helped map out the bus routes. And provided the cool and awesome levboard that they couldn’t have possibly caught up to Three without. Because she and her levboard were awesome like that.

“Right. It should only take the Pelican a few hours to reach you.” Hollis’ voice was firm, calm and collected as though her earlier surprise hadn’t existed at all. “Keep in mind, Agent Nariman, that there will be disciplinary action once you’re back at the Motherlobe. You can’t just run off without warning; as a Junior Agent staying in the dorms, your safety is our responsibility—” She continued, and Gisu was half-listening, nodding along to the lecture like it wasn’t almost exactly like every lecture she had heard before.

After a while, the phone beeped, letting Gisu know her paid-for time was almost out. “Sorry, Hollis,” She interrupted the lecture, “I’m about to run out of call time. Talk to you later bye!” She hung up, grabbing her levboard in both hands and sighing. She’d say that went pretty well!

She perked up as one of the Razzes walked over. They weren’t all the same, now that Gisu had gotten a better look—though Three was pretty obvious thanks to the Sasha Nein cosplay. But this was one of the lab ones…

“Hey,” Gisu greeted. “Six, right?” Raz’ hair was a little longer, she felt.

“That’s me.” Six said. Yes! Gisu was going to be so good at telling the Pooters apart!

She grinned, only to frown when she noticed just how tired Six looked. All the Razzes were pretty tired, and Three was still leaning against the wall fast asleep a foot away from her, but Six looked… not great.

“You okay?” Gisu asked.

+=+=+=+=+

“What do you think.” Six snapped. How could he be okay? How could he be okay when he’d just thrown away everything he had ever known? Three and Zero were the only ones who had ever been outside the facility. Four had Three to rely on, and Six had Zero’s memories—

But there was still so much that Six didn’t understand. So much he wouldn’t understand.

So much that he’d get to learn about that Five would never get to see—

Six wanted some water to throw around. He needed to lose himself to it, to become seafoam in his mind and become one with the waves. If he really concentrated, he could kind of feel what must have been gas tanks underground—not quite water, but just close enough that if he reached—

Gisu’s hands on Six’ shoulders brought him back to reality. “Hey, buddy…” She stared at him like he was a puzzle to decipher—

(Six had thought life was a simple puzzle he’d already solved. And then Five was gone and Six realized he’d been ignoring all the hard puzzles right in front of him—)

“You ever ridden a levboard?” Gis asked. “When not fleeing an explosion, that is… though that is one of the cooler ways to ride a levboard…” She shook her head. “Do you want me to show you how to do a kickflip? Levboarding always clears my head.” She explained. The olive branch was so painfully clear that Six almost wanted to—take it? Refuse it? He couldn’t tell—

“I’m fine.” Six mumbled. He’d probably break her board, anyway. “I don’t wanna break my face.”

“Okay then!” Gisu slung her arm across Six’ shoulders and brought him up onto the little sidewalk in front of the store, keeping her good cheer. She let go, and sat down on the concrete in the shade, not too far from Three. After a moment, Six sat down next to her.

“Raz said you wanted to see the ocean?” Gisu prompted. She acted like Six couldn’t feel the undercurrent of discomfort and tiredness leaching off of her, like she could plaster a smile on her face and do her best to entertain a kid with the same face as one she’d only known for a bit and it would all somehow work out—

(But it wouldn’t work out, because nothing worked out. Not like that.)

“It’s neat.” Six conceded. After a moment of trying to remain aloof— “did you know that the ocean has 321,003,271 cubic miles of water?”

Gisu whistled. “I did not! What’s your favorite sea creature?” She asked. “Mine are octopuses.”

Six thought long and hard about Gisu’s question. “There’s so many… I think horseshoe crabs.” He decided. “They’ve been around forever.” Coelacanths and sharks were also really really old, but Six liked horseshoe crabs more, he was pretty sure.

(Unlike Five, who was gone gone gone forever and ever—)

“Neat.” Gisu commented. “You got any other sick ocean facts to share?”

“The Marianas Trench is deeper than Mount Everest is tall.” Six shared, and Gisu nodded as if she was wholly enraptured, so Six opened his mouth to share another fact—

The door to the store opened, Four, Zero, and Dion walking out with the promised snacks and drinks. Four went to sit next to Three immediately—of course—while Zero was nose-deep in a comic Six had only seen in his memories. There was a bag of crackers and two juice boxes floating above his head—Six reached out his telekinesis and grabbed one of the juice boxes, turning it over in his hand. Apple flavor.

Dion and Gisu were talking to each other—Six was too busy reading the ingredients list to really pay attention. He’d heard of most of these, but the juice that Ms. Naumann provided never came with nutrition labels or ingredients lists—she always served it to them in plastic cups; Six was pretty sure she bought it in bulk.

Zero’s voice took Six’ attention off of the juice box. “YOU’RE DATING?”

+=+=+=+=+

Dion glanced at the snacks on the shelf before him, mentally tallying prices. Gisu was outside using the payphones to call Hollis, but it had still been a long night and half a day, so Dion went inside the station with Raz and… Four??? that was gonna take some getting used to—to look for something cheap and filling.

With what he had in his wallet… Dion could maybe manage a small drink for everyone, so there was that. It’d be nice if everyone also got their own snack, too, but Dion doubted his pocket money would stretch that far—he only had a ten, a five, and a couple ones to his name, not counting the quarters Gisu had borrowed for the payphone. Partly because his parents could only give so much allowance, and partly because he and Gisu had had to pick up snacks for themselves while chasing… well, it hadn’t actually been Raz, had it? At least, not the Raz Dion had always known, which was kind of unsettling when he thought about it. So he didn’t think about it.

(“Sooo…” Dion had leaned back, attempting to affect a more casual stance, “Why are there… four of you?”

“Ms. Naumann specializes in clones.” Four had explained, carrying a sleeping Three on his back. At Dion’s lost look, he had elaborated. “We’re uh. Copies. Like twins.”

“Oh.” Dion had said, only a little less lost than before. He had five little brothers instead of just two, now—yeah, this was so weird.

Gisu hadn’t looked lost—maybe she could explain it in a way Dion understood later, once they were all off the mountain.)

“Three and I can share.” Four suggested, having heard Dion’s muttering. He was already holding two juice boxes, balancing two more on his head. Helpful.

“Okay.” Dion nodded. If Four and Three shared, and if Dion shared with Gisu—assuming she was okay with that, which she might not be, so maybe Dion should get her her own thing to be nice—Dion turned to Raz, who was at the end of the aisle, towards the front of the store, picking through the magazines for—yep, there were those psychic comics he liked. “Hey, Pooter.”

Raz turned to him, comic in hand—shit, could Dion afford to add that to the list? “Yeah?”

“Do you think you can share with Six?” Dion grabbed the cheapest bag of teriyaki jerky—a bit expensive, but one of Gisu’s favorite snacks, so it would probably be worth it—while Four grabbed a bag of sour gummy worms—

“Grab something with less sugar.” Dion nagged, and Four put the bag of sour gummy worms back. If Four’s stomach was anything like Raz’ then the gummy worms would make him—and Three—sick anyway. Better if the kid grabbed something filling.

Dion turned back to Raz, who was still holding the comic book. “If I have to.” He said, which was as much an answer as anything.

Dion looked at his little brother—at the way his curls were slightly unkempt, when normally Raz liked to straighten them; at the bags smeared under his eyes; at the way he was holding himself, so small and unlike both the annoying little shit he’d been before running away and the cocky little shit Three had been—and something in his chest tightened. “I’ll buy you that comic if you do.” He promised, and Raz lightened up a bit at that.

Four had grabbed a bag of trail mix. That… was better than Dion was expecting, actually. He’d had figured the kid would stay glued to the candy aisle.

Dion snagged two small gatorades for himself and Gisu—she’d prefer a monster, but there was no way Dion was gonna be able to afford that and the jerky. And the gatorade would be better, anyway—plus it was her favorite flavor. He went to the counter, Four at his heels, and Raz joined them with his comic and a bag of off-brand goldfish.

(At least some things hadn’t changed about him. At least Dion still knew his brother in some small ways.)

The cashier rang up their order—four juice boxes, two gatorades, jerky, trail mix, fish crackers, a comic, and a single cheap granola bar for Dion in case Gisu didn’t want to share—and Dion watched as the total raised with every item scanned. He was pretty sure he’d added it all up right, and he’d left some wiggle room because he was pretty sure Colorado was one of the states with a sales tax. But he worried he’d gotten it wrong anyway, or that the ten in his wallet was somehow actually a one—

“That’ll be $17.97.” Oh, thank god, Dion could afford it. It was taking a bigger chunk out of his money than he’d like—but Gisu was outside talking to Hollis, and if the Psychonauts couldn’t come pick them up Dion might be able to stretch his remaining ones enough for bus fares, maybe.

The cashier took the money and printed out the receipt. “Do you want me to bag this for you?” They asked. Dion shook his head, passing the juices, the trail mix, the not-goldfish, and the comic to Four and Raz. “I’ve got it.” He scooped up the gatorades, jerky, and granola bar. “Thanks.”

The three of them walked out the door, drinks and snacks in hand. Three was still asleep against the wall, and it looked like Gisu had finished her call; she and Six were sitting in the shade next to Three. They both looked up as the door opened.

Four immediately sat down by Three, two juice boxes and the trail mix unopened in his lap. Raz had already opened up the comic, devouring it with his eyes, off-brand goldfish and juice box floating above his head. Six snagged the final juice box with his mind, and held it, turning it over in his hands as he read everything written on it.

“I got you jerky.” Dion said, passing the bag and gatorade over to Gisu as casually and coolly as he could manage. Gisu squealed, the gatorade floating beside her as she all but tore the jerky open.

“You’re the best.” She declared, already chewing on a piece. “Oh, fuck yeah.”

Dion chuckled. Score! That had totally been worth the price! He opened his gatorade and took a swig, sitting down next to Raz and in front of Gisu.

Raz was looking at the two of them over with suspicion, then—

“YOU’RE DATING?”

+=+=+=+=+

Six watched as Dion sputtered and Gisu managed an impressive combination of laughter and sputtering that he’d never heard before.

“We haven’t really put a name to—” Dion started—

Gisu leaned over and grabbed Dion by his vest, pulling him into the most awkward kiss Six had ever seen. And also the only kiss Six had ever seen that wasn’t in a movie. So maybe it wasn’t awkward.

“Ewwwww.” Zero whined, pointedly holding his comic in front of his face. He scooted over, closer to Six.

Six’ eyes rolled as Gisu let Dion go and he fell back with a dumbstruck look on his face, before smiling like an idiot and leaning in again—

“Oh, yeah.” The bag of crackers fell into Zero’s lap, and he opened it up. “Dee said we gotta share.”

Six glanced at Dion—ew, nope, he and Gisu were now giggling and taking sips of each other’s gatorade, gross—and then around them at Three and Four. There was only one bag of what Six was pretty sure was trail mix between them, though it and the juices were both unopened. Gisu was offering a piece of jerky to Dion, who didn’t seem to have any snack unique to him—okay, yeah, looked like everyone was sharing.

Six looked at the crackers Zero was holding out to him. They were fish-shaped and burnt orange. He’d never had crackers like these before.

(The clones never exactly shared meals—they each got their portions and ate together. And it was all the same for each of them, because they all came from the same source even if they didn’t share the same tastes—)

Six blinked, his eyes suddenly stinging. Four and Three were sharing, because of course they were, because they were made together and worked together and existed to tether each other. And Dion and Gisu were sharing, because they were a couple or something like that—ewww—

But Zero didn’t come in a pair. He would have been the odd one out—

(Water crashing through the shared headspace, crashing against the torn walls of the testing range, crashing Five’s body to the floor—)

Six shoved the bag back at Zero. “‘M not hungry.” He grumbled. Zero was the odd one out, anyway, with his stupid comic and stupid being the original—

“Six?” Zero sounded so concerned—

(Like Five, who was always concerned about everyone and everything because he could so easily see from their shoes, who always needed to reach out and help to feel like he was worth anything because helping was what he did—)

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” Six stood, eyes wetter than he wanted them to be. He hadn’t meant to be that loud—everyone was looking at him, now, Four leaning to look around Dion and Gisu and Three coming to with a mumbled “wha—?”—

It was too much. All of the—everything was too much, because nothing was simple anymore—

(It never had been—)

—and everything sucked and hurt and Six wasn’t even sure why he was still trying—

Six turned—to run? To hide?—only to stop short when what must have been Dion grabbed his arm. Six yanked his arm free, and sat down hard, still facing away from everyone. He curled up, burying his face in his knees. It wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fucking fair.

The others made attempts, after a while of letting Six cry, to cheer him up. Zero had tried to give Six’ juice box to him, Three had given his helmet to Zero at one point and Four had then offered to share their trail mix—

But Six didn’t budge a single inch until the Pelican arrived, hours later, the sun past its apex in the sky.

(The sky Five never got to see.)