#to bits

not to doubt you madam odile but that sounds like bullshit. why would a section on it even exist if it wasnt documented yet? SOMEONE thought of it, at some point in time, proposed a theory, did experiments, recorded his findings....

even if its Just theories. some insane people wouldve tried to do it. if king managed it, how high are chances that a plethora of people will try as well?

not to mention its a 'recent' invention... like colors? that you forgot how to see?

The truck is small but its okay, their arms stick together as they fight for space on the center seat. Dell keeps his eyes on the road, laughing as Soldier loudly sings to the radio. The stink of motor oil and sweat, theyre baking in the southern sun. They could drive for days, endless expanses of flat red desert, never tire of each others company.

Tonight, camping under the stars in the back of the truck, they'll love, red faced and dizzy, like they were the only two left on earth.

In the morning, before the break of the sun, they'll be gone, the ghosts of their pasts hot on their tails as they run from New Mexico.

And lord, Montana is cold. Ghost towns, booney, cardboard houses that shut Soldier up for the first time since they set out. Come Scobey, to stretch their legs, wild eyes watch them from broken blinds. animals occupy this land, the sort Sol' hails from; freak and brute, the rough-handed type, he calls 'em.

Dell's back in the car before he registers getting out of it in the first place, a bottle shoved in his hands when he protests, "need'a piss."

"Tavish moved to Canada," Soldier says over fire. Idaho proves unforgiving, and they're close enough together for Engie to see the cagey look in his eyes.

"Yeah?" he prompts, rising Soldier from his two day silent spell.

"Makes sense. Canada..America, just without the America."

It doesnt make sense. Dell reads between the lines.

"That where y'wunna go? Canada?"

Soldier slumps against his shoulder, pokes the embers.

It keeps Engie awake, trapped beneath Soldiers sleep-heavy body. A far cry from the sunny, cow wrangling ranch he grew up on. Far cry from the weight of the Conagher name. Mann Co. Her.

-

Chayanne and Tallulah

-

When Tallulah wakes up it is late at night and Chayanne is gone. Her face feels icky from all the crying and the last thing she wants to do is get out of bed. She looks over to Chayanne’s side of the room and finds his bed empty, which is odd at this late at night. The moon is just above their window shining a light glow into their room. Everything feels cold tonight, more so than usual.

Sometimes it feels like the world is laughing at Tallulah, seeing what it can take from her next. She’s young still, and it feels like people keep coming in and out of her life more often than she can remember. She’s been abandoned again and again, left to rot alone in countless orphanages and attics. No matter what she does, or how nice she acts, no one stays. Soon everyone gets tired of her, they send her to the next home or throw her out into the streets to die. It was a miracle the emperors wanted her.

Tallulah was found one breath away from death. She doesn’t remember much, but she remembers a man with blonde hair and giant wings holding her. She remembers a long journey in which she spent the majority of the time sleeping. She also remembers a little boy with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. He wouldn’t leave her side, even took it upon himself to hold her throughout the journey. But the one thing she will never forget is his eyes.

When Tallulah first met Chayanne she swears his eyes glowed. They called to her, mesmerized her in a way nothing else ever has. She was only 6 when she met him. Phil and Missa say that for the longest time, they couldn’t get her to stop crying, but Chayanne could, he always could. Tallulah distinctly remembers it was the eyes, something about them calmed her down.

She thinks maybe it was her just imagining things, maybe some trick of the light. Either way, bright blue eyes or not, Chayanne’s ability to calm her down has remained. Through every nightmare and bad dream, he’s always been there. Every scrap and every bruise. Even when she’s gotten into trouble and grounded, Chayanne would always be the one to sneak her in cookies or treats she was banned from having.

He knows her, knows her better than anyone else ever has. And just as he knows her, she knows him too.

Cautiously she makes her way out of their chambers. This part of the castle seems quiet tonight, even with the extra guards she can see down the hall. No one else seems to be asleep, probably trying to figure out where apa Missa went. Quietly she sneaks down the hall and around the corner to the doors of her parent's bedroom. She opens the doors and surely enough, there is Chayanne.

He is wrapped up in the blankets, lying on apa Missa’s side of the bed. She makes her way around to his side, closer, she can see him clutching tightly onto his duck plushie.

The moon's light is perfectly situated on his face. Tallulah swears she can see bright yellow and blue specks in his eyes. But under the light, she can also see faint marks of dry tears down his cheeks. She feels her heart shatter.

Tallulah thinks the world has been incredibly unfair to her. Time and time again she’s been abandoned, left to rot by her parents who believed her to be a curse. She believed she could be happy here, she believed she had parents that would stay. But the world was unkind and decided to take one of them away from her. And yet through it all, there’s been one person who has stuck by her side, one person who hasn’t left her. For the first time, Tallulah has someone to cry with. She has someone to hold her and dry her tears. It hurts, but at least she’s not alone.

Tallulah makes her way around the bed onto papa Phil’s side. He must still be awake, trying to find out what happened to his husband, her other dad. She climbs into the blanket and gives Chayanne a tight squeeze.