to: @morphogenetlc

from: @4ourleafclover

so I’m not your santa but I was going through the prompt list for writing ideas, and one thing led to the next and I wrote about 6000 words for the left clone carlos au. (i swear i don’t have a problem) I may do more individual drabbles for each C-team segment as well, this was so much fun to write.

it ended up focused more on pre-ZTD carlos but this au is a good idea??? i like it a lot omg

AO3 link 

‘Carlos’.

That’s what they’d told him his ‘codename’ was, and at the time he’d only been able to give a dull nod. They’d explained a lot of things, about a ‘true name’ and about his ‘greater purpose’, however he hadn’t really understood. It was his first day after all, and despite the knowledge that he came with there was a lot he just didn’t understand.

Everyone here had the same face, with no exception. Oh, there were differences- some would do their hair up, or let it grow long, but their faces all matched perfectly. He didn’t exactly understand why it was important, but from the way the others spoke it was what made them special.

What exactly was ‘special’?

He’d been told that he was special, that he’d been chosen for a very special mission. That he’d be getting special training, but he first needed to meet Brother. Once he met Brother, they said, He would understand.

He still didn’t, really.

‘Carlos’ found that he was a very good actor, however. He’d learned the lines he was supposed to say to fit in with all of the others, he knew the mantras and doctrines and rules well as the rest, but none of them held any real meaning to him. Hell, half of the words that he knew he didn’t even know what context they were supposed to be used in.

Brother had told him that as a special exception, he would be allowed outside. He was told that if he kept his ‘purity’, didn’t defile himself with the impure people outside the facility, that he would be allowed to go on the most important of missions, to the most holy site in the world. ‘Carlos’ didn’t understand what he meant, but agreed anyways.

---

They’d dropped him off at a park, leaving him entirely alone, and far too unprepared for everything around him. The first thing he’d seen were the faces- they were incredible. Each one of them was distinct, and it didn’t just stop there. People had different colours of hair, skin, eyes, everything! And all of their bodies were shaped differently as well- were these people really supposed to be ‘impure’? It didn’t make sense to him, but Brother wouldn’t lie. He could trust Brother.

Right?

He’d decided to simply sit on a bench, watching people with a somewhat bewildered expression, when a person walked up to him. They had blonde hair and blue eyes like him, but the body was shaped differently, and they were wearing some clothes that he’d never seen before. It was like the robes sometimes given for ceremonial purposes, but these were white, and looked flowing. The person reminded him of a bird, in a strange way.

“Are you ok, sir? You’ve been staring out there like that for a while…”

And they spoke, in a tone of voice that Carlos had never heard before. It was soft and light, different from the voices he’d listened to for all of his short life.

“Oh, um… yes. I’m fine.”

It was hard to speak to them- what was he supposed to say? He didn’t have a script to follow, not like before, so he floundered around with his words for a while before finally settling on just pointing at the clothes on their body and asking.

“What do you call that? I’ve never seen one before.”

The person laughed- it was almost musical, a vast contrast to the laughs he’d heard. This one felt… genuine. More alive.

“It’s a dress, silly. Are you serious, are or you just that bad at talking to girls?”

Girl- was that what this person was? He had the word, but he’d never had a reference before- ok, this was making a bit more sense now. So that must explain those differently-shaped people, then.

“Well, I’ve never met one before. Isn’t that normal?”

She laughed again, sitting down beside him.

“You’re weird. My name’s Maria- who’re you?”

Weird- wasn’t that normally an insult? And yet, the way she said it, it felt closer to the roughhousing he would see back where he came from- something familial. Was that ‘friendship’?

“They called me Carlos.”

“They did, did they?”

“Yes.”

“Who is they, then?”

“Brother, and the others.”

“That’s a pretty vague answer, but ok.”

Carlos didn’t think it was- the only ones he knew were Brother, and the others. There were no differences between them all- they were all Left, after all. So they were all the ‘others’.

“Well then, what’s your brother like?”

“I’m not too sure.”

“You’re not? How come?”

“We’ve only spoken once. He didn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

“Sounds rough… I don’t have any siblings, so I wouldn’t really know.”

Sibling- Carlos knew what that was, it was what Brother was supposed to be to them. They said Brother had lost his brother Left, which was why they were given the name. Were there really people with no siblings, then? It was a hard thing for Carlos to understand.

“I have a lot. I don’t think I could count them all.”

She laughed again.

“I thought you said you only had a brother?”

“And the others. There’s a lot of them.”

“That’s some pretty preferential treatment there, huh?”

“No, we don’t have preferences. We’re supposed to be equal.”

That was what they always said- they were a pure race, they were equal, there would be no discrimination (whatever that was) because they were better than the rest. Carlos didn’t get it.

Maria gave him an odd look, one that Carlos had never seen before. He couldn’t really describe it- it was perhaps a mix between the face you’d give it you were stuck on a puzzle, but had thought of a good joke. A sort of… confused, but amused face.

“Carlos, what sort of place are you from?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“Really? You can’t tell me anything about it?”

“This is my first time out, so yes.”

The confusion on her face seemed to double, along with a bit of surprise mixed in.

“Are you serious? But you look like you’ve got to be… what, twenty? No way you’ve never left before!”

“I’m not that old- maybe a month or two.”

“What?!”

It was pure surprise on her face, and Carlos wondered if he had maybe said the wrong thing. Was that not normal? He hadn’t been told what to say, or what not to say, so he was mostly running on his scripts, that were failing harder and harder by the second.

“Are you like, a tube kid then or something?”

“…Tube kid?”

“You know, like a clone! You hear about them in scifi all the time, but I didn’t know that science had gotten that far yet!”

“Yes, I am a clone- but what’s a ‘scifi’? I’ve never heard of that before.”

“It’s like, a fiction genre- Science fiction is what it’s shorthand for.”

“Science fiction?”

“You… you really don’t know?”

Carlos shook his head. Maria seemed to have had enough by this point, huffing and grabbing his arm.

“Ok, you’re coming with me. You’re either a crazy LARPer or the real deal, but either way I’m giving you some education.”

---

Maria had dragged Carlos along to an old brick building- she called it a ‘library’, but it looked incredibly different from the one where he was from- and pulled him up to the top floor, where the walls had been painted in bright colours and swirling patterns. A sign reading kidz corner had hung over the entrance when they walked in, and Maria led him along to a shelf labelled ‘science fiction’. She pulled a few books off the shelves- ones he’d never seen before- and handed them to him, before pointing at a couple of brightly shaped chairs that were too small for either of them to sit in.

He sat anyways, and so did she.

They spent the next hour or so going through picture books of space battles, and once Maria felt his ‘education’ was sufficient they’d moved onto fantasy, then mystery, then action. Carlos decided that the action books- ‘Comic Books’- were his favourite. They were all about saving innocent people, making the world a better place.

Wasn’t that what he’d been made to do? Make the world a better place?

It was past the time he was supposed to have been back in the park for pick up, but Carlos didn’t really mind. Maria was interesting, and she taught him about other humans- despite what he’d been told was a ‘brother’, Maria felt much closer to the real description than his Brother. He’d told her as much, and she’d laughed.

“Well then, I’ll be your sister now. I’ve always wanted a brother anyways, so welcome to the family, Carlos!”

Carlos smiled, but he found that it was a different smile than the one he was used to. It wasn’t something ‘default’, but rather it forced its way onto his face whether he wanted it to or not. It was a strange, forceful feeling, and he quite liked it- this must be what they’d described as ‘happy’.

“I’d like that.”

The smile stayed on his face even when he told her he had to go, and even after being picked up and going back to where he was from. Nobody payed him much attention anyways, so nobody noticed that anything was happening- but Carlos had changed. Perhaps most drastically, was the fact that he’d started sneaking out. That was expressly forbidden by their laws, and he knew it, but surely the outside world couldn’t be all that bad, right? It had all sorts of incredible things- birds, frogs, cats and dogs- and the people were nice as well. He’d tried speaking to others in that park as well, after meeting Maria. Some of them wouldn’t respond, or they’d run off, but others loved to talk to him. A girl he’d met- she looked wrinkled, like Brother did- loved to sit by the pond in the park, and talk about things. She’d chat about her ‘knitting’, about her ‘grandchildren’, about news and weather and anything that she wanted to, and Carlos found it fascinating.

But the best of all, was meeting his sister. Sometimes Maria would come and talk with him and the other girl (her name was Nancy), sometimes she’d take him back to the library to read more comics and joke about what was going on in them, and she’d even just taken him to all sorts of places around the city. There was a history ‘museum’ that explained all sorts of things about the past, events he’d never even heard off, an ‘art gallery’ that housed all sorts of beautiful paintings and sculptures that the place he came from could never hope to match, and there were many more parks- Carlos’s favourite places to go.

It was in one of these parks that Maria brought up the subject that would permanently change Carlos’s life.

“Hey Carlos, what would you think of coming to my place next time? I was serious when I said you could be my brother- and I’ve spoken to mom and dad too, they don’t mind. You always seem so lonely when you get here, and I know I’ve never been there, so I probably don’t have a say on it- but the place you’re from.. doesn’t seem healthy.”

Carlos could only blink. Did she mean for him to actually become ‘family’? He understood what a family was, but he’d never had one- and in the past month he’d stopped considering Brother as family. He would have to leave everything he’d known, everyone he’d known, but… that didn’t bother him. They shared a face, but not a mind- and besides, who would notice one less face in the crowd? Surely, nobody would.

And so, he agreed.

They decided to meet up in two days time, at Maria’s place this time. Carlos was incredibly exited to meet Maria’s (and who knew, maybe his too) parents for the first time, and it was increasingly hard to pretend that he’d never snuck out. The waiting was perhaps the hardest thing Carlos had ever been through in his life, but by the time he got out, he was convinced- he was leaving the place he came from for good this time, he’d have a chance to really understand humanity, and who knew? Maybe, if he put in enough time, he’d be able to do good just like those heroes from the comics.

Life was simply unfair.

When Carlos reached the scene, the only word that came to mind was ‘fire’. He’d seen it in the comic books, and he’d heard it described, but he’d never seen it before in person. The heat was so intense that it felt like he was burning, but nobody seemed to be noticing…. Until, Carlos noticed someone who shouldn’t be there. Someone who couldn’t be there.

“B-Brother…”

Horror drained all the colour from Carlos’s face as Brother simply watched the flames, face showing no emotion towards the people who were still inside.

“Wh-why….”

“They were impure. This is your punishment.”

“H-how did you-“

“I know everything.”

Carlos couldn’t say anything more. What was there to say? He should have known, after all- Brother knew everything, he was their leader. O holy Brother…

No, Carlos wouldn’t stand for it. He began to move towards the fire, only momentarily frozen once more by Brother’s voice.

“You’ll die.”

“I don’t care.”

What use was a hero who couldn’t even save one family? He had to try, dammit! Nobody was coming, nobody was here to save them, so he had to at least try. And it he couldn’t get Maria and her parents out, then that’d be proper punishment- what he deserved for letting his only chance at a family be killed because of his selfishness.

The heat was a million times more intense when he was inside the building- everything was loud, everything hurt, the smoke got in his lungs and it stung to breath, but he had to keep moving. He had to save them, he had to save them….

“Carlos! Over here!”

Him being able to hear her made no sense- some logical part of his brain knew that, but he wasn’t running on logic at this point. He was purely human instinct and a desperation to save his family, his real family, from the murderer standing outside the door.

Murderer.

No, no, now wasn’t the time to get caught up in those thoughts. He could deal with the confusion and betrayal after he saved them. Thoughts propelling him forwards, he eventually broke the door down to a small room, one person lying alone on the ground, unconscious.

“Maria!!”

Carlos’s scream was loud enough to be head even above the roaring of the flames, but still she didn’t move. There was no time to waste, no time for thinking, he just picked her up, and started running- he had to get her outside, get her to good clean air that wasn’t smoke and didn’t hurt to breath, they were so close…

He ran outside just as the fire fighters were arriving, collapsing to his knees and coughing after depositing Maria gently on the ground. The firemen were talking to him, but his hearing was still dulled after the incredible noise of the fire- and with the smoke in his lungs, it was all he could do to keep talking at all.

“P-parents… inside… s-save them…”

A coughing fit overtook his body by this point, he couldn’t see Maria anymore (some paramedics had hooked her up to an oxygen tank, but their faces were grim) and the firefighters weren’t going inside. Why weren’t they going in? Maria’s parents were in there! They had to save them!

Carlos tried to get up, to run back inside, but someone help him back.

“Are you crazy, Son? It’s too dangerous by now, that house is going to collapse any second now!”

“But.. her parents! You have to save them!”

“I’m sorry kid… but it’s too late.”

Carlos could feel his world breaking down. Something just broke inside of him, and he crumpled to the ground, tears streaming down his face.

He’d been too late.

He couldn’t save them.

It was his fault.

They’d died because of him.

He was the murderer.

He looked up at the paramedic with empty, heartbroken eyes, almost unwilling to ask his next question.

“M-Maria… is she ok?”

“She’s got a case of Carbon Monoxide poisoning- it’s not good, but she was lucky to have you. I can’t promise you anything, but without you, she would have been a goner. You gave your sister a chance, son.”

It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him. Maria had a chance to live, a chance to survive- Carlos swore in that instant that he’d do whatever anyone said just to ensure that she’d live. Even if he had to die a hundred times, so long as she could live… maybe that would make up for his sin, just a little bit.

“There is one thing you can do.”

The voice made his skin crawl. It was Brother, likely here to taunt him once more.

“I will see to it that little Maria has the best health care that she could be afforded. She’ll be allowed to live the rest of her life peacefully, and healthily. You don’t need to worry about her at all. However, in return, you must come to work on one of my projects- the Dcom project. You’ll probably be required to die, but you said you were willing to face that, weren’t you?”

Carlos turned to look at Brother, nothing but determination on his face.

“I don’t say things that I don’t mean. I’ll do whatever it takes, just don’t let her die.”

There was an unspoken threat to his words- perhaps it was foolish of a mere clone to honestly think he could actually threaten his ‘creator’, but he meant it. If anything happened to Maria, Carlos would not rest until Brother was dead- even if that meant taking every single person in the place he came from with them.

---

Carlos underwent intensive training for the next year. There was a lot of stuff to learn, before Dcom- he was supposed to be Carlos, a firefighter, who was there to pay for Maria’s treatment. Truthful enough, but that meant he had to learn what being a firefighter entailed. The physical training was intense, but the mental training was just as tough- he was constantly being drilled about every tiniest thing a firefighter could know, as well as the ‘backstory’ that had been made for him. He had to have it picture perfect after all, or the others would know something was up.

However, time eventually came, and Carlos arrived at the test facility. There were the seven others he’d been told would be there- but perhaps the most shocking, was the inclusion of Brother himself. He’d called himself Q for some reason, he even claimed he couldn’t walk, see, or hear- but Carlos knew better. Brother was watching, always watching, and always plotting.

That became incredibly obvious when they woke up in the containment rooms, locked inside, with a stranger in a strange outfit walking around- no, it wasn’t a stranger, it had to be Brother. Carlos couldn’t say it, that was the one thing he’d been absolutely forbidden from revealing, but that much he knew for sure.

The coin flip was naturally on him, as Brother surely wanted to torture Carlos just a little bit more, and naturally he got it wrong. Carlos would have already forgotten that though, but the time he next woke.

It was time for the decision game.

---

Waking up in a bomb shelter was perhaps the strangest part of what was going on, even more than the way Junpei and Akane talked. It was clear they’d both been in something like this before, but from the way Junpei spoke it had been more than that. Just what had gone between them?

He’d had his scripts prepared for any possible questions they could ask him, and now that there was only three people to talk with instead of 8 he found them asking a lot more about himself, along with the questions he asked them. The way they spoke reminded him a lot of Maria, actually- they were spontaneous, and he could never predict their next move. Despite their situation, despite everything, if he hadn’t been here to save her… maybe being with them could have actually been fun,

With the vote at 13:30, he’d gone to press the button as intended- he’d tried, he’d honestly truly tried, and yet, no matter how hard he struggled, his body had forced itself over the wrong button. Akane had yelled at him, but he could only stare dumbfounded.

“…How?”

“It’s simple- you just wanted an easy way out. I mean, it’s not like I can blame you.”

It was Junpei talking this time, his typically unimpressed nature not having changed, even with the circumstances.

“N-No, I’d never- My body just moved on its own!”

“You sure about that?”

“Yeah! I dedicated my life to helping people, there’s no possible way I’d do something that selfish!”

“Whatever you say, then. In the end, it’s probably not gonna be our heads on the chopping block regardless, so I can’t really be mad at you.”

Carlos looked down as Junpei spoke- it was true, yes, but it made him feel horrible. He’d already caused the deaths of two people, had he… had he really just killed three more? No, he had to believe that he hadn’t. Something had happened. Something. He just… didn’t know what.

He didn’t have much time to ponder on it, before he blacked out.

---

Carlos woke up again many more times, each time to make a choice, and each time the choice was forgotten. Sometimes he’d die, sometimes he was killed- there was even the time he’d killed himself (it was only right, if he’d really killed Junpei). As far as he was aware, things were getting reset each time- until finally, he could remember. He’d remembered a way to prevent the injections, to save them all, and to deal with that Force Quit Box- but he’d need a way to tell Akane and Junpei, subtly.

The method came so naturally to Carlos, that it almost sickened him. All he had to do was copy ‘Left’.

“Y’know, Akane… you’re really hot.”

The blush on her face was immediate, as was the confusion from both her and Junpei. He’d… probably have to apologize for this later. Like, a lot. Well, too late for regrets now- it didn’t matter if they hated him, he just needed to save them. He felt incredibly guilty when he pushed her down on the couch, and it took all his will to prevent the horrendously embarrassed blush from showing itself, and even more to keep his voice a steady whisper when he told Akane where to go to get the cards from the transporter room.

Akane pushed him off with all her might, like he’d asked her too, but that didn’t stop the burning hatred in Junpei’s eyes. Carlos was… definitely going to deserve what happened next. However, Brother would be watching, so Carlos needed to move. He ‘cleverly’ taunted Junpei some more, leading him out of the room, and really didn’t fight back as much as he could have when Junpei started beating him. In fact, he ended up just egging Junpei on more- he needed to remind himself to never try to channel this part of his memories ever again, because man did he feel like a dick.

After things cooled down a bit (and he had two generous black eyes and various other bruises, courtesy of Junpei), they finally made their way back to the lounge, where Akane was waiting. His plan had worked, they were finally going to avoid the injections and maybe now, finally, they could get out. They could meet with everyone, and figure things out… but he should have known better. Even with everyone showing up, even with them all trying to figure out how to solve this mess, Brother was there. He was always there.

Carlos felt his blood boil after Phi activated the force quit box, and Brother- no, Delta, told them all what it meant.

“Is this just a fucking joke to you?!”

He couldn’t stop the rage boiling over, as he screamed at the old man.

“Everyone here has died, multiple times! Do you not care at all? What the fuck is wrong with you?!”

He could feel everyone’s eyes burning into him, at the seemingly out of character outburst- but he’d had enough. Delta was convinced he could play god, convinced that nothing would go wrong, and Carlos was done.

“Amusing that you would say that, Carlos. Or should I say, Left?”

“I don’t fucking care anymore! Tell them whatever you want, but if you do, be sure to tell them everything! How many people have you killed, Delta? How fucking many?!”

“Raaagh, shut up!”

The yelling came from Eric this time- but from the look on his face, it was clear that it wasn’t really him. Delta was cheating, but wasn’t that to be expected? Carlos felt numb as the gunshot rang out and Delta died in front of him. Everyone was talking, yelling over each other about what to do. It seemed Junpei and Sigma really had it out for him now that they knew who (or rather, what) he was, but he could deal with that later.

“We need to SHIFT.”

“But that’s no different than killing those other, unsuspecting versions of ourselves! All they did wrong was win a coin toss!”

“Yeah, well all we did was lose a coin toss! Why are we worth any less than them?”

Carlos broke into the group discussion, face set with determination.

“You all need to live. You have to live.”

He needed there to be one- just one timeline where they could all make it out, where everyone could be safe, and know all that had really happened- he would do whatever it took to ensure it, even if they’d only see him as the bad guy. Even if he had to force their hands, he’d make sure they made it out.

Some hero he was, huh?

However, in the end, they’d done what he’d hoped. They shifted and things went white, before finally realizing where they were.

“We made it…”

Carlos wasn’t paying attention to who’d said that- no, there was only one person who he needed to find.

Brother.
Delta.

The person who’d given him life.
The person who’d ruined his life.

He found Delta simply standing there, A revolver resting in his hands. The old man apathetically tossed the gun to the ground at Carlos’s feet, waiting for him to pick it up before saying anything.

“You know, I must say that you quite exceeded my expectations. For a failed clone, you performed admirably.”

“I don’t care about what you say any more, Delta. I did my part- I took part in your little experiment, I didn’t tell anyone who you were, so you’re keeping your half of the deal.”

“But of course. Little Maria will likely have recovered by now- lucky, aren’t you? And now, thanks to everything that’s happened here, the world will be saved.”

“Saved? What the hell are you talking about?”

It was Junpei speaking up again, disgust on his face.

“The only reason the world is saved is because we prevented you from ruining it!”

“Those lives were necessary to prevent the deaths of th-“

“The rest of humanity. You said as much. But we’re not going to just take what you say at face value. You’re insane enough to create and release radical-6, I doubt it’d be much of a stretch for you to make up a lie about a terrorist.”

Sigma this time, his face completely and utterly cold as he looked at Delta.

“Well, you can think of me what you will. But for now, we still have one more, final decision game to play.”

“What are you talking about? Isn’t the game over?”

Diana’s voice was soft but stern, a carefully guarded worry in her words.

“Almost. Carlos, the gun you’re holding right now is fully loaded. I won’t use mind hacking on you, so you’re free to do as you choose. But, do pick carefully- the lives of me, you, and the entire human race hang in the balance.”

Carlos took a breath, raised the revolver, and fired.

The bullet whizzed past Delta’s head, missing easily.

“Don’t think you’re getting out of this that easily. You’re going to jail for all this.”

“But, there’s nothing to convict. I already explained, did I not?”

“Arson, and two counts of manslaughter.”

It was the first time Carlos had ever seen surprise on Delta’s face.

“That was you. You set their house on fire, knowing they were inside. Then, you let me believe it was all my fault, just so you could set all of this up. Not to mention, you’ve lied to, tricked, and manipulated who knows how many people. You aren’t getting off easy, Delta. You’re going to pay for your crimes for the rest of however long you have left.”

“Do you hate me?”

“You’re pathetic.”

It was strange, but Carlos really didn’t hate Delta. He looked at the person before him now, and all he could feel was pity. Pity for sad, sad old man who’d never been able to do something right, and maybe would never even have the chance.

Things after that happened pretty quickly- they’d managed to contact Dcom staff and get rescue squads sent, and not even Delta’s mind reading had given him the foresight needed to know that his getaway vans, with all the traps of the decision game, had been intercepted. He’d be going to jail for the rest of his life, however long that was going to be.

Now that everything was over, he finally turned to Junpei and Akane. The rest of the group had broken up into smaller clumps, talking about everything that had happened, but they’d stayed there, silent behind him. He didn’t really know how to talk to them- even if he’d joined the experiment to save Maria, he was still technically a Myrmidon. One of the very people Akane and Junpei had spent endless timelines trying to defeat.

“Left, huh?”

Carlos looked down, ashamed of the name but no longer able or willing to hide anything from them.

“Yeah.”

“Honestly, I didn’t even recognize ya. The other ones like you have blue eyes, not green.”

“What?”

Junpei crossed his arms, and Akane giggled a bit, despite herself, before answering for Junpei.

“Did you not know, Carlos? You have green eyes, not blue.”

“W-wait, are you serious?”

“What, have you never looked in a mirror or something?”

“No!”

Junpei and Akane were both laughing now, and Carlos feeling increasingly flustered- that must have been what Delta meant by a ‘failed clone’- so he had been different, all along. Weird.

The laugh had cleared up the tension in the air, but Carlos still felt like he needed to talk a bit more.

“Look, I… I know I lied to you guys, but I just want you to at least let me explain. Everything I told you about Maria, about coming here to save her- that was all true. She’s not my biological sister, but she’s still my sister, even if only in spirit. Delta said that if I joined the Dcom project, he’d ensure that she was safe for life. I.. I didn’t have much of a choice…”

Carlos was surprised that it was Junpei who spoke up, hiding just the faintest hint of an embarrassed blush from his face.

“Yeah, we get it. I mean, You’re not actually that bad of a guy, Carlos… You really wanted to save all of us. You’re a dumbass for thinking you couldn’t trust us, even after we all died that many times- but you’re not actually a bad person.”

“Junpei… Thanks for understanding.”

Junpei looked away to hide the increasingly red blush on his face, and Akane giggled- a familiar girlish laugh that reminded him a lot of Maria’s, in some ways. It was a happy sound, and he liked hearing it.

“Well, we should be heading back, shouldn’t we? We’ve all got a lot of things to sort out.”

Carlos and Junpei nodded, and they started heading towards the nearest of the emergency vans. It’d be a long ride back, but they deserved the rest.

---

Carlos was almost too nervous to enter the hospital room.

Junpei and Akane were there with him, trying to convince him to just go, but he’d been struck with a case of the nerves.

“But- what if she can’t forgive me? What if she hates me for everything? She was in a coma for a year, she’s probably-“

“Oh, just go in already!”

Junpei was having no more of Carlos’s nerves, and he pushed the taller boy inside the room. A very shocked, but very excited looking girl sat on the lone hospital bed, eyes shining when she saw who had come to visit.

“Carlos? Carlos, is it really you?”

“Um… yeah. Hi, Maria.”

He’d gone over to the side of the bed, not really knowing what to do, but he was quite surprised when she practically jumped from the bed with far too much energy for someone who’d been in a coma for a year, clinging to him in a bear hug that was impressively strong.

“I missed you!”

“…I missed you too, Maria.”

There was a sad smile on his face as he helped her back down onto the bed, with a moment’s pause before he spoke again.

“Look, Maria… there’s something I need to tell you.. about the arson.”

“I know.”

“Huh?”

“I… I saw it all, Carlos. When I was in the coma, my mind couldn’t stop jumping. It was only bits and pieces, but… after a whole years worth, I managed to piece together most of what happened back then.”

Carlos looked down, fists clenched.

“Well, I… I just wanted to tell you that he’s in Jail now. He’s already pleaded guilty, but he’s not going to be getting out for a long time. So, uh, I don’t blame you if you don’t ever want to see me again- I’ll get out of your life now.”

Maria only looked at him, with an almost disappointed look on her face, before it broke into a smile.

“You dummy, do you honestly think I would have hugged you like that if I wanted you out of my life? You’re my brother, so you’re stuck with me. You’re the only family I have left, now.”

Carlos felt tears prick at the corners of his eyes, and he had to swallow to keep them from spilling over.

“Maria… thank you… I-I.. I’ll be the best big brother you could wish for.”

“Hold on, big brother? Aren’t you only like, two years old right now? I don’t care what you are physically, you’re my little brother. So you can depend on your big sister, alright?”

Carlos smiled, nodding as tears started to stream down his face.

“Alright.”

It was a fairly touching moment- but it was ruined by the sound of laughter from the back of the room, coming from Junpei. Maria blinked a moment in confusion, looking at Carlos to explain.

“Oh, uh, right. This is Akane, and Mr. Moment Ruiner there is Junpei. They’ve both helped me out a lot.”

“It’s wonderful to finally meet you, Maria!”

“Yeah, nice to meet ya.”

They came further into the room to talk more to Maria, and Carlos stood back a bit to watch. It was funny, he’d hardly really known them, but being here, all of them laughing together like this… it felt natural. It felt like a family, a real family just like he’d been chasing after a year ago. Life was hard sometimes, he was painfully aware of that, but nothing was hopeless. Together, they’d be sure to make the best future for everyone- he was sure of that.