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It was a long time before anyone noticed.
It was Brian, obviously, being the pilot and all. Should have realised how long it had been since he'd checked on Aurora's autopilot system. Not that he hadn't tried, of course, but every time he got close to the control room he would get distracted.
The Toy Soldier, offering tea, Ivy, with a new book to tell him about, one of his partners, causing some kind of chaos or wanting to be held. They were simply more important. And besides, He had asked Aurora how she was doing, and she'd told him everything was fine.
But he could feel it. The barely noticeable tilt to the ship as they sailed through the stars. Imperceivable to everyone except him.
He took the long way to the control room. Past the windows that looked out into space. Jonny was sitting in front of one again. He'd been doing that a lot the past few years. Kneeling on the ground, face and hands pressed up against the glass. Leaving foggy patches and little smears of makeup on all the windows.
He shot anyone who asked him about it.
Brian walked past quietly, pausing to give his boyfriend a little kiss on the top of his head. Jonny got startled and ran off down the hallway. Whoops.
Brian entered the room. Had someone been sleeping in here? There was a pile of blankets and pillows in one corner. He frowned and headed for the control panel, pulling up the screen that displayed their flight path.
That was… interesting.
Usually their flight path was almost straight. A few zig zags or squiggles if he or Aurora got bored, the occasional curve if they had to avoid a planet or something. Sometimes a sharp turn if they decided to stop at a nearby planet. But this was none of those things. He zoomed out. Why was it-?
According to the screen the ship had been flying in a spiral pattern, slowly, slowly, circling in on a central location, for… a while now. Almost 10 years. Well… time did sometimes get away from him.
He studied the path a bit more, zooming in on the center, which was marked with a little red dot. They were still a long way off it.
"Hey, 'rora?" He called out. "Is there something wrong with your steering?"
[No.] The word flashed across a nearby screen.
"Why are we going this way?"
[Classified information.]
"Classified? What do you mean classified?"
He shook his head and moved to correct their path into a straight line.
There was a sudden, loud bang and everything went dark.
***
Something was missing when Brian woke up. He shuffled into a sitting position and- where were his hands? He took a moment to connect to his hands wirelessly. Thank the gods for Raph and her science. He flexed them, grabbing onto something soft, and heard a little grunt from across the room.
Jonny was sitting in the pilot's chair, curled up in a blanket and staring out the wide window at the front of the ship.
"Can I have my hands back?"
He shook his head.
"Why not?"
"Don't want to give them back,"
Brian came over. "That's not an answer. Where are they? I want them back, please,"
Jonny glanced at him for a moment and then back out the window.
Brian frowned and wiggled his fingers, watching the first mate squirm.
"Are they down your pants again? I told you to stop putting them there, it never goes well," he stuck his wrist stubs into the blanket and tried to dig Jonny out.
"Piss of-!"
"Give me back my hands and I'll go away,"
He tried to push Brian off him but unfortunately his arms were very short in comparison, and Brian easily tore the blanket away, looking Jonny up and down to find his hands.
"Are they in your shirt?"
He moved his fingers again, seeing the oddly shaped lump down Jonny's shirt move with them.
He fought (carefully) with his tiny boyfriend until he regained access to his hands, turning away so he could attach them to his body.
"You fucking suck,"
"I know, I know," He sighed. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong."
"You've been acting weird lately, I'm worried,"
"I'm fine."
"Are you sure?"
He backed off when Jonny pulled his gun on him. Something was wrong with the guy, no matter what he said. His hands were shaking and his eyes kept flicking back to the window.
"Can you at least tell me what's wrong with the flight path?"
Jonny glared at him.
"That was you, right?" He continued. "Why are we going in that weird pattern?"
He stayed quiet.
"Jonny? Love?"
"Looking."
"You're looking? Looking for what?"
He shook his head. "No, me n 'rora are looking,"
"Looking for what?" He asked again.
There was no response.
He sighed. Jonny was going to be impossible, like usual.
"Maybe if you tell me I can help you look?"
"Mmn…"
He stepped closer. "That's why you keep looking out all the windows, right? It can't be easy to run back and forth like that,"
"I'm fine."
"And you look tired? Have you been sleeping? Maybe I can look while you rest a bit,"
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"Caring."
Brian frowned at him. "Why would I stop caring?"
"Because I told you to,"
"I- Jonny, I'm your boyfriend. I'm not going to stop caring, it's my job to care about you,"
"No, I'm the captain, s' my job to care about everyone,"
"You're the- how do what I said and what you said relate to each other?"
Jonny just looked at him, all exhausted and sad and angry.
Brian frowned and moved over to him, picking up his blanket and wrapping Jonny in it.
"No- s-"
"Shh…" he bundled Jonny up in his arms and sat down.
"I don't want to- I have to-"
"You don't have to do anything, love, close your eyes and I'll keep watch for… whatever we're looking for,"
Jonny squirmed and tried to wiggle out of Brian's grip.
"Put me down-"
"Not until you get some rest,"
"Put me down, Brian!"
And, oh… Maybe he should. Jonny was starting to look panicked and freaked out. Something which worsened dramatically when an alarm started going off.
"Put me down-! PUT ME DOWN!"
Brian dropped him, and he scrambled to his feet and ran to the window.
He pressed his face up against the glass and stared out, breath quickly fogging up the window.
"Where is she-?"
He frantically looked around.
"Jonny? She? Who are you looking for?"
Jonny's breathing stopped for just a moment before he bolted out of the room. Brian followed him, keeping up easily as the first mate ran through the hallways and dodged their crew members.
The ship turned sharply, making everyone fall over. She wasn't made for such sharp turns.
Jonny stopped in front of the airlock. The interior doors were open. Aurora hadn't let anyone open them in a very long time.
"What are you doing?" Everyone was coming to watch, staring as Jonny ran into the airlock and scrambled for one of the space suits.
"Jonny-" Brian chased after him, grabbing his arm. "What are you doing?"
"I've got to- she- I-" he had tears coming down his face.
"You need to tell me what you're doing. I'm not letting you go out there."
Ashes stepped in, taking a hold of Jonny's shoulders and shaking him while demanding to know what he was doing. That wasn't very nice of them, Brian thought.
"There's something out there…"
Tim had his face pressed up against the small window next to the airlock.
"Someone's out there."
Everyone turned to look.
"What do you mean someone's out there, Tim?"
"I mean someone is floating out there," He turned to look at them all. "Someone is-"
The doors of the airlock slid closed, locking with a soft click.
***
It was impossible to tell how long Jonny was out there.
Brian had watched him through the small glass pane in the airlock door. Saw him put on a helmet and check the cable attaching him to the ship wasn't going to come loose.
Saw his red, tear stained face disappear behind the dark glass and float off into the void of space.
Everyone just waited. Taking turns looking out the window. Watching. Whispering to each other as they stared.
At some point Ivy ran off, coming back with something bundled into her arms.
Brian was still watching the airlock. Ashes and Tim were either side of him. They were muttering about how stupid Jonny was, but based on how they both looked, they were just as concerned as Brian was.
"He's got her-"
***
It was cold. He knew it was cold. Everyone knew space was cold. He wanted to go back in. Everyone was in there. Watching him through the windows. They were probably hoping he wouldn't come back in. But he wasn't going to leave her out here.
He'd been tracking for years. Ever since Aurora had told him they were close to where she went Out. He'd been carefully keeping Brian away from the controls, made sure their route was good all by himself, prepared everything. They should all be proud of him, for being so prepared.
And now here he was. Freezing cold, in a space suit, and quickly remembering just how big space was. He didn't need the suit, not really, but it kept him warm enough that his body didn't freeze. He should have brought another. To put her in. So she wasn't so cold.
He stretched out his hands, reaching. Kicked his legs a bit more to propel himself forward. His fingers met fabric and he grabbed, holding on as tight as he could, pulling her towards him.
Cold. She was so cold. He had to make her warm. He pressed the button that would slowly pull him back to the ship and held on tight. He was crying a little bit. Just a little bit, though, not much.
He closed his eyes and waited. Let himself be pulled along, all the while holding on so tight his arms were starting to hurt. That might have been the cold, though. It was very cold.
The zero gravity shut off and he fell to the floor. Some warning would have been nice. He tried to tell 'rora this but he just croaked. The interior doors must have opened while he struggled to sit up, still holding onto his sister. He wasn't going to let her go ever again.
He felt hands on him, grabbing and pulling. He tried to get them away, kicking and squirming around. Someone pried his hands away from her, taking her away from him, and he screamed. He kept screaming while Ashes and Tim pulled him out of the space suit. While they wiped the snot from his nose and bundled him up into a warm blanket. Screamed until Ashes pressed his face into their shoulder, where he gasped and slumped forward, exhausted and shivering.
***
What the fuck had he done? It was obvious what he had done but- what the fuck was he thinking? No, it was obvious what he was thinking, too.
Fuck, they were worried about him, had been for gods know how long. Seen him sitting by the windows for hours on end, seen him forcing himself to stay awake until he hallucinated and then passed out on the floor somewhere. Been one of the ones who had carefully fed him soup while he sat curled up in front of a window, not moving his eyes from the glass.
And now he was bundled in their arms, sobbing and shaking and leaving snot all over their favourite shirt. He'd just- he- he'd pulled Nastya out of space, was what he'd done! Dove head first into the stars and come back clutching a dead person in his arms.
She wasn't dead, though. She was in front of them, held tightly in Brian's strong, metal arms, hand twitching slightly. Because she was one of them. And Mechanisms don't stay dead.
They sat down in a chair in the corner of the medbay, where Marius and Raph where already running around gathering heat pads and medical supplies. Jonny was squirming, trying to protest.
"I've got mm- did her- I cl- made her room nice-"
"You did what?"
"H-her ro-om- she wants her room-"
"Yeah and we'll take her to her room once we know she's okay,"
He sniffed angrily.
Marius came over, unwrapping Jonny from his blanket and spinning him around. Taking his temperature and listening to his heart or his chest or whatever else was in there. They didn't know. They weren't a doctor. Neither was Marius but that wasn't important.
"Keep him warm,"
"I know,"
He stuck a lump of fabric up Jonny's shirt and went back to Nastya.
Jonny curled up around it, leaning back into Ashes.
"Are you right?"
"Mm…"
"What is that?" They poked at the fabric.
"Warm…."
"Alright then," they wrapped him back up in the blanket and waited.
***
She had been cold for so long.
That's all she remembered.
The cold.
She had been curled up, but it hasn't helped.
She wished she had brought her jacket with her.
Maybe she would be warmer with it on.
She was warmer now. And comfortable.
Something warm pressed against her side. Aurora humming gently like she always did.
Aurora.
Her eyes shot open and she sat up, looking around.
What?
What was she? How? But??
She was in her room. Her own room. On the Aurora. Her girlfriend. Her girlfriend who she had stepped out of so long ago.
"Nastya….?" Jonny rubbed his eyes and looked up at her. Her brother. Who she always called little despite him being much older than her.
"Jonny?"
He smiled. "Welcome back,"
"How did I- how did I get here?"
"We found you,"
Aurora hummed louder, agreeing with him.
"We were looking for years and years and then we found you,"
"And you brought me back…"
"Home, Nastya, we brought you home."