"...It's been days..." I grumble. "At least they should tell me no if it's a no..."
I know that, objectively, it hasn't actually been that long, but. I'm bored and restless. It doesn't feel short at all.
Eric looks up at me and sighs. "You need to be more patient. Just be glad they haven't been making you push that rock for a couple days, now."
"Maybe they forgot." I cross my arms.
"Are you still getting lessons?"
I groan. "...Yes."
"Don't think they've forgotten, then."
"But I hate it." I whine. I hate sounding so childish. "...It's. So. Frustrating."
"I know." He reaches over, his hand on the top of my head.
"I've been here for so long. So long." My hands are shaking and my voice is trembling, and I hate that too. "Why. Why can't I learn this stupid, stupid, language?"
I don't even realize how loud my voice has gotten, until Mia is suddenly standing beside me. "Hey. Hey, hey. Shh." She puts her hand on my head, too, and rubs it, soothing. "It's okay. You don't need to worry so much. I promise it will happen eventually."
Eric's arm is around my shoulder now. I don't even remember when that happened.
My breath is shaky and my chest hurts, but I can't help it.
I shouldn't be babied. I can't be. I need to carry my own weight.
So why can't I understand this damn language?!
Mia's arms wrap around my shoulders and pull me in tight, and she hugs me firmly to her chest, her chin resting on the top of my head.
It feels so nice. It feels like home. I can almost forget the rest of this world. It's like being back with Mom.
Mom.
Who is still on Earth. Waiting for me.
I -
I....
I think I...
Miss her.
I've never been homesick before. Not once.
But now, when I think of my mother and home and the life I should be living, my chest hurts, it's tight, and I just want to cry and go back to her. I want to run home.
I can't stand the idea of being here anymore.
It's just...so...
I don't belong here.
And I want to go back home so, so, bad.
Mia holds me close until my crying has subsided to just sniffling and whimpering, and my arms are around her, clinging to her for dear life.
Eric's arm is still on my shoulders, and he's rubbing my arm comfortingly.
Hestia's hand is in my hair, combing through it.
When Mia finally speaks again, her voice is soft, her words barely more than whispers. "I know. I miss my family too. But...we'll make it through. We'll get out of here. We'll get home."
I nod, swallowing down the rest of the tears and pushing myself to sit up on my own.
I can't keep crying. I need to be stronger than this. I'm not going to get to see my family again if I'm stuck being so weak I can't even manage a few months on this planet without completely falling apart. "Sorry. Sorry."
Mia pulls away, her eyes kind, and rubs at the corner of one eye. "It's alright. I promise."
Eric pinches my cheek and smirks at me, before leaning back and taking a seat again.
"Thanks."
"Hey, no problem. It's fine to be a little emotional sometimes. Even I get homesick every now and then." He says it so casually, as if it doesn't bother him in the slightest. "...But we're getting closer to getting out of here every day."
"Right." I wipe the corners of my eyes again. "...Thanks. Again." My face flushes with embarrassment and I can feel my ears turning red. I'm supposed to be stronger than this, but it still happens to me all the same.
He grins at me and shrugs. "It's alright. You don't need to apologize so much either. We all need someone else sometimes, Sarah."
I stare at him a long moment. "When. Did you get mature?"
He aggressively flicks my forehead.
I yelp, holding it with my hands. "Ow! What the heck!"
He snickers, but says nothing.
Mia laughs.
I sigh.
But.
It does feel better.
After I've finally calmed myself down enough, the last few sniffles dying out, Mia stands and gives me another small pat. "So. Let's get going." She smiles, then reaches over and grabs my hand. "Come on."
"Where are we going?"
"I just said." She smiles, winking at me. "Come on."
"...You didn't."
"You weren't listening to me at all, then." She laughs. "You were too busy crying. It's okay."
My face burns and I turn my face away. "That's not fair."
She laughs, but then she grabs my hand and squeezes it tightly, her expression serious. "It's okay. You just missed what I was saying, is all." Her smile is soft and sweet. "...You have nothing to worry about now. I'm going to show you something. You'll like it."
I stare at her, unsure of what that means or what to think. "...Okay." I mutter.
She pulls me to my feet and starts dragging me toward the door. I follow behind her without hesitation, my feet moving faster than they usually do in an effort to keep pace with her.
Eric trails along behind us. And if he's following that means Hestia is too, somewhere behind him. She wouldn't let all of us just get up and leave without her.
Not that. We're going anywhere, anyway. We're still just on this compound.
Mia pulls me along to one of the huts that have an outside stairwell leading up to its roof. It's not a particularly high roof, but it is the only building I've noticed with such a staircase.
Once we get there, she lets go of my wrist and starts walking up the stairs.
I follow behind her without a word.
She keeps going up and up, and eventually she gets to the top. She doesn't slow down as she reaches the roof, she just continues to walk forward.
Then she turns around and smiles at me again. "Come on."
"Coming, coming..." I murmur, and climb up after her.
Once on top of the roof, she takes a deep breath of the air. "...Feels so good. To get away from those damn lessons and just breathe." She says with a heavy sigh of contentment.
I laugh softly and look around. It's not exactly like the view of the forest or anything.
But I'm not so sure that'd be calming at this point. Not after that chase.
Still, it's elevated a bit so we can look over the compound walls and look at the clear, flat horizon. There are some small trees here and there, and a few plants growing in patches near them, but otherwise there's nothing but open fields as far as my eye can see.
"...So-"
"Shh~! Shh. Wait."
I frown and turn to her. "...Wait? For what?"
"You'll see." She smiles.
I frown. "I don't-"
She shushes me again. Then, a few moments later, her finger lifts up, and points out to the horizon.
My eyes follow her finger, and...
The sky is changing.
At first, I thought it was a sunset, but...the suns aren't in the right place. They're both already below the horizon. It's not that.
It's...the sky is just...changing color.
From yellowish blue, into...something else.
I watch, mesmerized, as the colors shift and swirl. They keep moving and shifting as I watch.
"It's...beautiful..." I murmur.
"Everything has a little beauty in it if you look hard enough." Mia says. Her voice is quiet. "You've just gotta find it." Her words are soft and warm. "Just don't give up, and one day you'll find it. Even when you're trapped in the ugliest world."
"...Yeah." I mutter, staring at the colors.
We watch them shift for a long while, until they settle into something resembling the sky we'd have on earth at dusk - a purple-blue that stretches across the heavens.
When my gaze finally turns back to Mia, she smiles and holds up a paper to me. It's folded in half.
I take it, my eyebrows furrowing. "...What is it?" I open it up, and then pause.
It's...
Gibberish.
Absolute nonsense.
I recognize it's the alien language, but I can't read a word of it.
I direct a flat stare at the smiling woman in front of me.
She's unaffected. Instead, she just continues to smile and says, "You've been assigned a work duty."