Family.

Had she ever been grouped with the word?

And soaked with the tears of a teenagers grief and her own lostness, there struck a momentary thought of nothingness. That there again, so quickly, nothingness could become something.

“Yeah.”

Why had she never thought of it before?
That it was not Them and Her, but simply—

Them.

“I guess we all are family, aren’t we?”

Why had it been so hard to see before?

Most of them had not asked to be, and yet they were. And she had seen it in many, where repeated acts that others deemed stressful and horrific caused those same people to forge tight bonds, to seek one another’s warmth in the comfort. Maybe she had repeated such things. But so often, and as she knew would happen too, those bonds were only momentarily. Fragile things that took only a singular anomaly to destroy, or for the very thing which had made all parties so distraught to be over with, and for their need for one another to fade.

But Aiesha saw a world where they could all call one another family.
Legend knew only patterns, and was hesitant to learn a new one.

But maybe this one wasn’t so bad.

“We’re gonna keep our family together. Might look a little different at some points, but we’ve made it this far. I don’t really know anybody here, kid, but,” Legend smiled. “We got each other now! Looks like you’re stuck with me! Just make sure not to let them change that. You’re Aiesha to me before whatever new title they throw at you.”

She’d never known this feeling before. Of wanting to run the world with another. And it was with Aiesha.

“We’ll figure it out. Hasn’t stopped us before.”

They would.

“Hope you weren’t planning to run away. I’m a good liar, but you don’t have nothing on me to use if I felt like snitchin’….I haven’t seen this much to explore in forever. I was always..cooped up before, despite going wherever I wanted. Always had to round back to a home I didn’t know. But the world hasn’t looked this enticing to me in forever.” There was a mischievous glint in the adventurers eyes. And for once, the smile was not coy. It was simply a smile. The yearn to wander was there like a hungering beast.

“Me and you? We gotta see what’s out there one day.”
Adventurers Aiesha and Legend, up against the world. When they weren’t busy.

“But if you were planning on goin’ out my style, I suppose no one saw you leave.”
Not even her.

If there was anyone to tell a secret to, it was Legend. And Aiesha..she did not blame, if she wanted to get away from all they had endured.