Picture: Edge of the World by Dreamin-8-bit

Lost

Once the giant was out of earshot, the slight wind and the moaning of the metal scraps were a lot more unnerving.

Braken was exhausted and fell asleep soon after the rumbles died away. Echo knew that making jumps like that took a lot of physical energy, so he let him sleep. The small Raider had curled up on his side, his back against Echo's leg, the star mask covering his face, and Echo noticed that he slept very protectively. He was curled up tighter than he thought was humanly possible, his legs crossed and his elbows tucked into his lap. After learning what had happened to him, he didn't blame him. You're more vulnerable when you sleep. He'd known that for a while, especially after he and Alyssa had been attacked one night, while they were both sleeping.

He watched the small Raider sleep and noticed how peaceful he looked. He looked like he was eight again. Echo was glad for the time to think by himself, without Braken knowing. He thought a lot about what he'd told him about Her, the things She'd done to him.

Echo hated that word: rape. It was a horrible thing and he couldn't imagine how people could do it. He'd always thought of it as some alien thing after he and Alyssa had found that girl, but it was as familiar as the sky to a boy sleeping right next to him. It could happen to anyone, he realized, but one thing was sure.

It wasn't Braken's fault.

When he'd been explaining in the tent, Echo had noticed in the way he spoke and acted that he blamed himself. He acted as though if he'd been different somehow, it wouldn't have happened. That wasn't true. She would have done it to anyone else if he wasn't there. It was never the victim's fault. Echo hoped that Braken understood that, someday.

Someday, Echo wanted to show the world that they didn't need to fight anymore. They didn't have to do horrible things. After all, they were only trying to survive. They weren't animals, though it seemed like they were becoming them. The human race was becoming another species of animal, a new kind of beast, craving blood and murder, only living for battle and intimate relationships, with or without consent. Echo didn't understand that. He didn't think he ever would.

He sat for about an hour, alone with his thoughts, before he started to doze off, lulled to sleep by Braken's soft breathing. Only minutes later, Braken bolted upright, slamming Echo backward onto the wall. Echo realized that he had fallen over, draped over Braken's back, with his arm on the other boy's stomach and the chain on the back of his neck.

Braken kicked him away with a frantic cry and scrambled to the other side of the vehicle, climbing over the decaying seats. "Get away from me!" he ordered, his voice shaking.

"Braken, it's me," Echo said softly. "Sorry. I fell over on top of you."

For a moment, all he could hear was Braken's quick breaths, but eventually, the Raider climbed back over the seat and muttered an apology.

They sat in a tense silence for a while before Echo attempted to climb out of the vehicle - his chain caught on the side and he tugged hard until it finally came free. He picked himself off the ground where he fell and stood up. "I'm going to try and jump us home. Hold on."

"Home?" Braken mumbled. He chuckled softly. "None of us have a home, Echo."

"The Raider camp is my home now, whether I like it or not. Come on, hold on to me."

"You sure have a funny idea of home," Braken said. "You act like home is where you live."

"Isn't it?"

Braken let out a humorless laugh. "Then I guess Haven is my home."

Echo shifted uncomfortably. "That's not what I meant."

"Then what do you mean? Home is where your heart is."

"Then where is your home?"

"I don't have one," Braken said simply. "Never have. Maybe it's the sky. Maybe that's where my heart is. Up in the stars."

Echo looked up, but the smog in the air blocked out the stars. "Come on, let's get back."

"I don't want to go back to the place where I'm wanted only when I'm needed. I want to go home."

"But you said you don't have a home."

"Exactly. I want to find my home."

Echo sighed and stayed quiet. He gently took Braken's hand and closed his eyes, and after a moment, he drew the power into his body again and felt the now-familiar rip as he was thrown into the Vortex, the space between the dimensions.

This time, he felt as though they were taking longer to jump dimensions than usual, though he still wasn't sure what was normal and what wasn't. Still, he couldn't help but feel nervous.

Braken suddenly screamed and his hand began to slide out of Echo's grip. Echo panicked - If he lost Braken in here, he'd never find him again. He'd be lost forever. The Shifter held him with both hands, as tight as he possibly could, and then they were both yanked hard off course and thrown into a new dimension. Echo immediately recognized it. It was Moonland, the place with the stars. The place Braken had wanted to go.

Braken immediately crashed to his knees and hugged himself tightly, shaking in fear, and Echo was sure he saw a hand - an enormous, shadowy hand - pull away from his shoulders, dropping his scarf on the ground. It hit with a wet slap and Braken flinched.

"This isn't ... what happened?" Echo asked no one in particular. There were stars all around, like before, but whenever Echo reached for one, they winked out before he could touch it. "Braken, are you okay?"

"Yeah," he whispered. "Yeah, I think so. There's just ... there's someone else here. I can hear them, but they sound ... different."

"Different?"

"They sound like Karma. Like a robot."

"Braken," a loud but gentle voice rang out, echoing through the darkness. It sounded like Karma, only older and more female. "Mmm ... Braken."

"Hello?" Echo called cautiously. "Who are you?"

"Stella," she said.

Braken's expression brightened. "The star goddess. She really exists! I knew I wasn't crazy!"

"The what?" Echo said in confusion. He remembered his thoughts about death and the afterlife, and rubbed the chain on his arm.

"The star goddess. I've believed in her for as long as I can remember." Braken sighed and drew an invisible line on the ground with his finger. "Everyone always called me crazy, but I remember always hearing something, a little shimmer, I don't know. Maybe that part was crazy."

"Braken," Stella said again. "The mind reader. The power siphoner. I have heard much about you, many ... disturbing things from the Haven."

This time, Echo saw Braken's face pale. "It wasn't my fault!" he cried. His hand pressed against his scar as if trying to hide it.

"Of course it wasn't," the goddess said gently. "Luna has been craving something like you for as long as she has existed."

"Luna ... is that Her name?"

"No. Luna is living inside of the woman you call Her."

"Inside? How is that even possible? Where are you?" Echo asked, feeling as if he was intruding on a personal conversation. "And how come I didn't know you were here before? And what are these stars? And why am I supposed to keep them away from Braken?" The Raider flinched at the last question, and Echo almost regretted asking it.

"Too many questions," Stella laughed, and Braken smiled, but Echo just felt angry. "Braken is a Siphoner. He siphons power away for his own temporary use."

Echo stared at him, and the other boy ducked his head in shame, trying to cover his face with his mask. That's what he'd done to him to be able to jump. He'd stolen his power, just like he'd said. Braken actually told the truth more than the others had made him sound. They acted as if he was a liar and a thief who wouldn't bat an eye at beating someone down to get what he wanted - at least, that's how Echo had taken it. Braken was nothing like they said. He was just lonely and afraid, doing whatever Tristam asked and hoping that he'd get some love in return.

Braken looked up at him and smiled a little, sensing his thoughts. "Thanks you," he said. "Thank you for understanding."

Echo nodded back and smiled just a little, and then brought his attention back to Stella. He realized she had stopped talking while he was deep in thought.

She continued when they were finished. "The stars heal in Moonland, and in Moonland only. Everywhere else, they destroy. Depending on who has it, they destroy differently with various degrees of damage. Braken has a tendency to destroy a lot in a very short amount of time with these stars. I felt this as soon as he touched one and woke me up. Yes, I was asleep, and that is why you and Puppet did not realize I was here. I have no physical body, but my consciousness, my soul, if you will, lives here."

"If you're the star goddess," Braken started softly, "then you know everything, right?"

Stella chuckled. "Well, I am not exactly what you would call a goddess, but I know many things."

"What's wrong with Tristam? Why is he so different? Why did he try to kill Echo?"

This time, the goddess paused. "Just like Luna lives inside of Her, something lives inside of the one you call Tristam," she said softly. "He is influencing him to do things he wouldn't normally do; however, he did not try to kill Echo. He was doing something else."

"What does he want?" Echo asked. "What did he do if he wasn't trying to kill me?"

"You will have to find that out for yourself."

"Why'd you take us here?"

"Braken," Stella said. "He needs to stay here."

"What? Why? No, I'm not leaving him," Echo said.

"But it's nice here," Braken said softly. "It's warm, it's quiet, and no one's coming after me."

"You're trusting your life with this thing you just met? She doesn't even have a body! Alyssa told me that - "

"Alyssa said this, Alyssa said that, enough with Alyssa!" Braken screamed, suddenly furious. "She's all you ever think about! Well, guess what, Echo? Alyssa is dead! It's time you finally figured that out!"

Each word slammed into his heart like a knife. Echo staggered back as if physically hit, tears blurring his vision. "You're wrong," he whispered.

"I'm right! I'm always right, and no one believes me! I have never said something that hasn't been right, have I?" Braken was on the verge of tears, too. "All everyone wants me for is their own selfish needs! Maybe you should all respect my wants for once. I have wants, too, you know! No one seems to care!"

"Braken - "

"Don't you Braken me! I'm staying here and that's final!" The Raider hiccuped out a sob and then tried to control himself and steady his voice. "I'm not going back to where they treat me like garbage. I'm sorry. You can't make me."

"I only want what's best - "

"How do you know what's best for me?" Braken demanded. "That's what She said, too. Did She want what's best for me?"

A deep feeling of guilt settled into Echo's chest. "Braken, I'm sorry. I ... I don't know what to do."

"Leave me here. Let me do something I want to do for once. Please." Braken looked at him with pleading eyes. "Please, Echo."

Echo just stared at him with tears in his eyes, and they stood in silence for a long time. "I hope you're happy here," he finally whispered. He closed his eyes and turned his back to his only friend, letting the Vortex surround him and take him home.