There is only one thing left to do.
We have got to fly away.
There is only one thing stopping you.
Something you must throw away.
We can fall or we can fly ...

Escape

Once Braken had left, the others' attention turned to Echo. Echo stared back, unsure what to do.

"So ..." Puppet said awkwardly.

Echo quickly stood up and pushed out of the room, embarrassed he'd been put on the spot like that. No one called after him.

He wandered the building aimlessly, until he caught a glimpse of a lump of shadow slumped at a desk. He looked closer and recognized Braken's green scarf. He was still here? Shaking his head, he started to walk away, but then he paused.

Something had changed. He didn't hate Braken anymore. It wasn't worth his energy. Braken had given him the most sincere apology he'd ever heard. How could he push him away like that?

On the other hand, how could he let him back into his life? What was going to stop him from betraying him again?

"Help me trust myself again."

They didn't have to be best friends again. They didn't even have to like each other.

Echo shook his head. Why was he thinking like this? Braken didn't deserve his trust. No one but Alyssa deserved his trust.

But he'd joined Rogue and Puppet. They trusted him - did he trust them? Maybe. He wasn't sure. But Braken - he wouldn't trust him with anything, not after the betrayal to Her and Haven.

Yet Braken had seemed so sincere, so honest. Echo couldn't decide if everything he did was an act, or if everything was true. It was one or the other. He put too much of himself into what he did to be half and half.

Something inside him told him that it couldn't hurt. Something else told him that it could hurt a lot. Before he knew it, he was sitting in a mold-eaten chair next to Braken, noting his tear-streaked face, his puffy eyes closed as he slept. There was no way that was fake.

Echo gently shook him until he shifted and looked up at him with exhausted eyes. "Thank you for apologizing," he said. "But ..."

Braken's eyes filled with tears again, and he furiously wiped them away. "I'm not good enough," he said.

"I never said that."

"And you're not thinking it, either. But that's what you mean." Braken sighed and slumped over again. He rested his hand on the desk, his palm up. Echo could see massive blisters - newer burns that looked extremely painful.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

Braken glanced at him before his eyes returned to the opposite wall. "Nitro. Isaac, what changed?" He sat up once more as he spoke, as if he couldn't decide if he wanted to sleep or talk.

"Call me Echo. Only Alyssa can use my real name. And what are you talking about?"

"You used to be nice, Isa - Echo. You used to be really nice. You promised you'd be my family. You said I was just lonely and afraid, and I am. You were even nice to Noise, in the Alpha camp, remember?" Braken looked at him almost innocently. "What changed?"

Echo shifted his weight. He knew exactly what had changed, though he didn't dare bring it up.

"I know what you're thinking," Braken said, "but it's more meaningful if you tell me. Plus, you're full of surprises."

"You always say you can't help reading people's minds. Why?" Echo asked, changing the subject.

The other boy paused to think. "It's like waves. You know, like sound waves, but thought waves."

"What?"

"You know when you hear someone talking even if you don't mean to? I hear people's minds like that, only quieter, and then when I look at them or really try, then it's loud." Braken shifted in his chair and yawned, sticking his tongue in his gap tooth. Echo noticed that he did that a lot. "Except it's not like hearing someone talk. I get general ideas, like ... I don't know, I can't describe it." He stood up for a moment, but then sat back down. "I'm sorry for everything I've done. I'm a horrible person. I know that. But I think you can help me. Please, just ... I don't want to be hated anymore."

"I know, but ..." Echo sighed. "I want to trust you. Hate is wrong, but there's so much ... I can't describe it. Even before that ... you've broken my trust over and over again. So I'm not going to hate you anymore. I'm tired of hating. But I'm not ..." He let his voice trail off, unsure how to say what he wanted.

"You can't trust me," Braken said softly. "I know. You don't even want to be friends. That's okay. I'll be okay." He tried to smile a little. "Thanks for trying." He laid his head back on the desk and closed his eyes, his long hair falling over his face and casting his expression in shadow.

Echo stayed sitting where he was, thinking about how this conversation had gone. What made him forgive Braken? What made him want to let go of his hate, when he had every right to hold it?

He pulled the photograph out of his pocket, the one he'd made a habit of keeping with him, the one of Tristam and his brother. Gabe and Leo. He gazed at it for a long time, and then opened his locket to look at the picture of his own family. They weren't much different, he and Tristam. They'd both lost their parents. They'd both survived with their older sibling. They both had powers that made them freaks of nature. The only difference was that Tristam had lost his brother and let Solar take over.

Echo flipped the photograph over and could just barely make out the scribble handwriting.

Feb 26th
Happy Birthday, Leo!
Love, Mom, Dad, and Gabe

There was something else written there, but it was in another language and Echo couldn't read it.

"Braken, did you know Tristam had a brother?" he asked suddenly, surprising himself.

"Yeah," the small Raider answered. "But I'm not supposed to tell anyone."

"Why not?"

"He asked me not to. Where'd you find the picture?"

Echo paused to remember. "In this building, actually. In a desk another floor up."

"Must be his dad's office or something." Braken looked at him again. "I thought you said you didn't - couldn't trust me. Why are you talking to me about this?"

"I don't know," he mumbled. "Are you on Rogue's side, then?"

Braken shook his head. "No. I'm still with Tristam. I'm just ... I'm not going to hurt people anymore. Not the way he wants me to."

"You're going to be another Nitro, then? Too afraid to do the right thing?"

"Do you believe this is the right thing?"

Echo hesitated and dropped his eyes. He wasn't sure, honestly. "Even if I do," he said carefully, "you wouldn't believe me. You didn't believe me when you heard my prayers, did you?"

Braken shrugged. "True. But I'm curious. Remember when we talked the first night? I told you I liked your thoughts on the afterlife. That hasn't changed. I hope you're right."

"Do you believe in heaven?" Echo asked.

"Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"If I did, I'd go to hell, wouldn't I?"

Echo noticed once more how mature Braken could be, especially after he'd been torn apart emotionally. He'd said some scary things, and yet he'd said them like they were nothing.

"Wouldn't I?" Braken asked, standing up and stretching his arms. He gently touched his burns and winced. "That's where murderers go, isn't it?"

"You haven't killed anyone, have you?"

"I killed the guy at the Alpha camp and I killed someone at Haven, though those were self defense, I guess ... as for murder ... I've tried, haven't I? Isn't that the same thing?" Braken sighed and wandered to the window, resting his hand on the sill. The glass was shattered, letting the wind in. There was a slight breeze here, nothing like the gusts that would've been blowing in, had they been facing the wind. "Sometimes, I get these urges ... to jump, you know. To see if you're really right. About heaven, I mean."

Echo's eyes widened. "Wait - you mean -"

"Yeah. Sometimes." Braken started to climb out the window, and Echo ran over to grab him.

"Hold on -"

"I'm not going to jump now," Braken said, sounding slightly irritated. He sat on the edge, his legs dangling over the side, balanced precariously on the window sill. "What do you think about Tristam? Would you believe he's just like me?"

"No, not really. Please, get off there before you hurt yourself."

"See?" Braken smiled. "You really do care about me."

Echo remembered when he would smile, before going back to Haven. His eyes would light up, he'd show his teeth, and usually, he'd laugh a little, even if there was sadness buried behind it. Now, all of his smiles were either scary or sad. This wasn't one of those smiles.

"So," Echo said softly, "why are you on Tristam's side?"

"Because I want him to win," Braken said, as if it was obvious. "If he wins, he'll be able to get rid of Solar without worrying about Rogue. If Rogue wins ... I think he'll kill him."

"Kill Tristam? No, he wouldn't do that."

"How do you know? Have you been in a rebellion before?"

"Have you?" Echo countered.

"Yes. Or at least I think so. I don't remember." Braken stared out into the dark streets, swinging his legs childishly. "You know, there was a song my mom used to sing to me, before ..." He cleared his throat softly. "Do you know how it goes? I forgot the words." He started humming, and surprisingly, Echo recognized the tune. Alyssa sang it to him all the time as a kid.

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,
You make me happy when skies are grey."

Braken joined in, remembering the words now that he'd jogged his memory. Echo subconsciously noticed that he had a beautiful voice.

"You'll never know, dear, how much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away."

"But she didn't love me," Braken said softly, after a moment of silence. "None of my family. Not when they learned ..." He swallowed hard and cringed at the memory. "Why do they sing those songs when they don't really mean it? Is that all it is to them? Pretty words with a pretty tune?"

"Why do you want to sing this song if your parents ..." Echo cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Do you hate your parents? For ... giving you up like that?"

"No," he said without hesitation.

His answer surprised the Shifter. "Really? Why not?"

"They're my parents. I can't hate them. Plus, they were good when I was younger. Before the End."

"But really. Why? I'd hate mine."

"You said so yourself. Hate is bad. Plus ..." Braken sighed, ruffling a hand through his hair. "I would've done the same thing. No one wants something that knows all your secrets. They want a normal kid. Not some freak of nature like me." His voice cracked and he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, and Echo realized that he'd started to cry silently again. He may be brushing the events away, but they obviously hurt him a lot more than he let on.

"You should get some sleep," the Shifter said softly. "And get Fij to check on your burn. Maybe we can talk again in the morning."

Maybe.

"Okay," Braken said, catching the thought as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. He sounded disappointed. "Goodnight, Echo, and thank you."

Echo just nodded, and slowly backed out of the room. He paused by the door and listened, but Braken hadn't moved. Just as he was about to leave, the small Raider began to sing softly to himself.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wish you weren't so far.
Up there in the sky so bright,
Lighting up my lonely night,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wish you weren't so far.

Singing to the shining sky,
I would spread my wings and fly.
Up there to the stars I'd go,
Little star, I love you so.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wish you weren't so far."

The words made Echo's heart hurt. He knew that wasn't how the nursery rhyme went, and knowing that Braken had made up his own words was both beautiful and heartbreaking.

After he finished his song, Braken sighed and started to climb down from the window, and Echo quickly backed away, heading back toward the Raiders and his sister. Braken needed his privacy, and frankly, Echo had had enough with emotions for one day.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wish you weren't so far ..."