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Chapter 4 - Rain

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"Raph, hurry up!" called Zoe. "We want to go again already!" 

Raph rolled his eyes in the kitchen and finished floating the thin chocolate flakes in his milkshake. "Coming!" 

He was careful not to spill it, watching his feet as he manouvered his way to the table his mum and Zoe already sat around, ready to continue. He was mid-way through placing his drink when a loud clap of thunder rocked the walls around them, almost making him drop it over the board. 

"Storm's here," said his mum, glancing at the windows. "You mind closing the windows before you sit down, Raph?" 

Raph groaned again and, drink placed, marched himself over to the glass panes and pulled them shut. The latch clicked into position, locking the storm outside their haven. 

"Can we start now?"

"Anyone would think you had two minutes to live with your patience, Zoe." 

"Raph's too slow!" 

His mum leaned over to Zoe, keeping her eyes on Raph as he settled into his pillow around the low coffee table and picked up his empty plastic diamonds. 

"He can't help it," she whispered. "He's a male--they can't multitask like we can."

Raph shook the diamonds in his hand. He liked the spherical ones the best--they rolled further than the triangular or the square set his mum and Zoe had. 

"I'll show you just how well I can multitask when I win this, mum!" 

"Oh really?" 

"Yep. I got this," said Raph with a confident nod.

His mum smiled. "Well then." Placed her hand on the activation pad. It lit up. "May the best person win!" 

Raph watched the board carefully, keeping his eye on the pieces as they whizzed around the board, dodging various obstacles. The idea was to fill your seven diamonds with 'colour' and create a rainbow that would ultimately win you the game, but it was rare they could finish a game in one night. 

The 'colour' was synthetic from what Raph had been able to gather, like the kind they used to power most kids toys because it had low reactivity with minors. It looked like liquid inside the diamonds and would easily transfer from one diamond to the next given the right circumstances. 

In all honesty, he didn't really care what it was. All he had to do was get it inside his diamonds, which was another matter all together. 

 When an event triggered--either the pieces collided or interacted with an obstacle instead of passing it by--each player had to throw one of their diamonds at it in the hopes that the colour would leech into their diamond. The whole thing ran on a small battery they'd never had to recharge in the six months of owning the game, but it chose which diamond to infuse based on the distance of the diamond to the event and the actual colour of the diamond itself the players chose. 

Once you had a diamond with colour inside it, the game really began. During events, you could attack other player's diamonds to steal their colour or defend your own. There were elemental wildcards, interactable obstacles, the pieces and the board itself that all came into play in ways Zoe and Raph were still trying to pick up on. They loved the challenge, even if his mum usually won. 

The first event triggered--a blue fighter piece activating inside the runed section of the board. 

It was an easy choice to make. Raph threw down his blue diamond as fast as he could, willing it to skid closer with his mind. Since Zoe's blue diamond was already filled from the previous night she didn't bother throwing down, and it was Raph's diamond verse his mum's. Hers landed slightly short while Raph's diamond brushed the surface of the piece, winning him the colour. 

It matches my red diamond nicely, thought Raph, taking note of how Zoe was eyeing it. 

"Damn," said his mum, retrieving her diamond. "I thought I had that one."

"Told you I got this," said Raph. "I'll catch you both, you watch." 

"Y'no," his mum said all too casually. "It would have been nice to have another player on the board. Rainbow's is best with four people."

"She had to go. You heard her." 

"I know," sighed his mum. "I just hope she made it home before the storm hit. It was nice of her to return those bags." 

"I'm sure she's fine," said Raph. 

"Where does she live, anyway?" A green event triggered. The diamonds went down on the board, the colour leeching into Zoe's diamond who gave a cry of victory. "Did you two meet her at school, or did you find her at the playground?" 

"We met her the night before last," said Zoe, unaware of Raph's glare as she organised her filled diamonds in a defensive position and went back to scanning the board. "She was in the alley when we were walking home." 

"Speaking of which," began the question Raph was dreading. "What were you two doing out so late anyway?" This time, Zoe was as reluctant as Raph was to answer. His mum would not be deterred. "Kids, what happened? I left it alone then because you both looked exhausted, but I want to know." 

Zoe chewed on her lip and looked down at her knees, leaving Raph in the firing line of a mother's gaze. 

"Um," Raph squeaked. "We were kinda late getting back, because, you know, the shops and things. It really wasn't our fault, I wanted to--"

"So you didn't stay late at the arcade playing games," said his mum. "And leave the shopping too late."

She knew. 

"We...might have," said Raph, hoping it'd be enough to drop it. 

It wasn't. 

"Raph," said his mum. "You know better than to--"

Raph's finger shot out. "Zoe did it too! She wanted to stay when I told her we had to go!" 

Zoe's face scrunched up in denial. "Did not! We both stayed!"

"Yea, well, I wasn't the one that wanted to investigate the alley, was I?" said Raph.

His mum raised her hands, one directed at each of them. "Okay, okay. Cool it. Why were you in the alley to begin with?" 

"Zoe heard a noise." 

"Zoe?" 

"I thought it might have been a bird trapped in the dumpster again!" said Zoe, folding her arms. "I didn't want it to just die in there, so I thought we could get it out! So, cos the lights were out, I used my colour to light it up and we went in there and the girl--Athira was in there, going through the dumpster! I gave her some food because she looked hungry and then some jerks showed up!" 

"You used your colour," his mum said slowly, a frown stretching across her face. "And some jerks...men I'm guessing, followed you into the alley? What did they want?" 

None of them made a move as an orange event crossed the board. 

"They saw Zoe's colour," he said. "Told us we weren't going home if we didn't make a 'donation'." 

"They didn't say--" began Zoe. 

Raph kept going, not willing to explain to Zoe what would have happened if Athira hadn't intervened. He wasn't sure how far they would have taken it, and he didn't want to think about it. 

"But Athira claimed to be the one with the colour before they could do anything. She did something and broke their machine they were going to use to take the colour, then she just...I don't know. She did something with colour and just pinned them down and told us to run." 

"And you ran home," said his mum, hitting the pause button finally on the game. The pieces froze, liquid colour settling within them. "And that's when you burst through the door, yes?" 

Raph hung his head. "Yes."

The sound of the rain battering against the window outside was the only sound for a long second as Raph waited for his mum to give him that disappointed look. She never yelled, which was worse in a way. At least then he'd know what she was thinking, how she was going to re-evaluate her opinion of him. He wouldn't be sitting here wondering how much he'd failed her again in looking after Zoe. 

"And this girl," his mum said at last. "She was looking for food in the dumpster you said, Zoe? Was there anyone else with her, did she have anything?" 

"Just her clothes and the cloak she was wearing," mumbled Zoe. "Mum, are those men going to come find us? Find...me?" 

His mum's face transformed, warmth spreading across it as she reached across the table and poked Zoe in the arm. "You'll be fine, silly. Just make sure you two are home a bit earlier and staying within the boundaries, okay?"

Zoe seemed to take her words at face value and brightened immediately. Raph looked a little deeper, sensing the unsaid threat his mum didn't want to admit. The guilt piled up as he remembered setting foot in those forbidden neighbourhoods searching for Athira earlier today. A rule that was only there to try and keep them safe. 

She can't watch us all the time. 

"Anyway, there's much more serious things to think about," his mum said, the serious tone completely gone from her voice as her eyebrow raised conspiratorially. "Like for example... who's going to get the colour from this purple event!" 

In a flash, her hand was down and the game unpaused. As she'd predicted, a purple event zoomed into existence, forcing Raph and Zoe to scramble trying to get their diamonds down. It didn't work, and his mum scored the colour. 

However, as she went down to retrieve her filled diamond, Zoe's hand shot in the air. 

"Wildcard!" she announced, revealing her chip with the pictures on it. "Elemental! Your purple colour is blocked and it becomes miiiiine!" 

Zoe tapped the chip on the newly filled purple diamond. It emptied immediately, leaving them all back in the situation they'd been in thirty seconds earlier. 

Raph tried to be happy about it, he really did. But as the game went on and the girl's diamonds filled with colour, he fell even further behind, his mind distracted with things he told it not to be.

I ran. I left her behind in that alley by herself to fight those men.

I was as scared of her as I was of them. More even, and all she did was help us. 

I ran. I left that girl behind. 

In his memory, Athira's face turned to Zoe's. 

And if it'd been me or her--I would have left her too. 

Outside, the rain refused to halt its assault against the world. 

*+*+*+*

Athira slid her fingers under the window panel and tried to shove it open, but the metal frame got caught halfway on its runners and refused to budge. 

She couldn't help it. Athira kicked the wall, purely out of frustration and dug her fingers into the thin section of frame that extended past the wall. A clap of thunder masked the strangled noise that escaped her throat as Athira let herself hang, holding on only by her fingers, body against the wall of the deserted building, nearly twenty metres above the sidewalk below. Each drop of rain against her face felt like a frozen needle. 

You knew you'd be alone. She tightened her grip, feeling herself slip the slightest bit. You knew you were alone when you left. Why the hell is this a problem now? 

The rain mixed in with the tears, stinging and blurring her eyes as the colour flooded back, pulling her body up through gravity's grip. Athira brought her foot up and smashed the glass in one swift kick. 

The fragments clattered to the floor a few metres below. It only took her a few seconds to clear the remaining shards and slip inside, glad to just be out of the freezing rain. 

Being out of the rain didn't keep her happy for long. She was still soaked through, could still feel the icy touch of the water clinging to her clothes that refused to let go and she didn't have any extras. 

Didn't occur to you to bring anything when you ran away, did it? A shiver wracked her body. Might have to just...borrow some from a shop...somewhere...

Athira released the colour keeping her afloat and dropped to the ground. Standing on her own two feet, she found she no longer possessed the will to remain upright as she let herself crumple to the floor, hugging her cloak around her body in the hope it'd give her some warmth. 

Stealing? Athira shook her head. Trian would kill you for even having such a thought.

It was Trian who told you to run, she answered herself. Trian who didn't let you back to the house. Trian who said you didn't have time. 

And who knows where I'd be now if I hadn't listened to him? A sobering thought took hold of her mind. Who knows where he is now because he told me to?

Athira sat among the shards of glass, ignoring the way they cut her legs through her pants. The constant trembling of her skin drove them deeper into her flesh until she was forced to acknowledge that this probably wasn't the best idea. 

She adjusted her gaze to the rafters, the small nest of safety she'd managed to find in what she figured was a warehouse that'd been out of use for several months. The attic of it was the perfect place. The only way up from the ground floor was an automated elevator that no longer worked, unless you could fly. 

It was an effort to bring her colour under her will enough to make it lift her. Her body refused to stop shaking. All Athira wanted to do was sit there, shivering until someone came to find her but she knew no one was coming. If she didn't do it, she'd sit there for the rest of the night. 

Somehow, she managed to stand and pick the shards from her legs. Managed to push herself off the ground towards her elevated nest of metal beams and a piece of material she'd found--likely an old crate cover left behind. She had no idea why the roof was so high, but she didn't care. It was her home, for the moment at least. 

An image of Zoe's home flashed through her mind, accompanied by longing. It was warm there. They'd had things to eat, blankets, more clothes than the ones they wore, and each other. Someone who cared whether they were dead or alive. 

Athira shut it down. She'd seen how the other one, Raph, had looked at her. She wasn't welcome in his space, and that was fair enough. He could probably see what she'd done, what she'd do in the future if she didn't keep up with her meditations...like she should probably be doing now. 

Athira placed her cheek on the floor of her nest. Screw the meditation. She closed her eyes. I'm too cold.  

She didn't deserve what they had, anyway. She'd hurt people. Accidentally, but she'd hurt them nonetheless and the monks had made sure she understood the fact. 

It was with that thought that Athira, huddled in a ball made of her body and soaked clothes, curled up and went to sleep. 

*+*+*+*

A/N - Sleeping in wet clothes is never a good idea, Thira. Silly munchkin T-T 

On a side note, hopefully that Rainbows game doesn't seem too ridiculous lolol XD IT MAKES SENSE IN MY HEAD.