Archive of Our Own

When Phil looked in his rearview mirror, he realized they were being followed.

The car was small and covered in enough defensive spikes to make it look like some kind of fucked up porcupine. It was hanging back for the time being—staying far enough away that even if Phil were to suddenly slam on his brakes he wouldn’t get rear-ended—but it was close enough to make its presence known. It wanted Phil to see that it was there.

In total fairness, the car would have to be really far away for Phil not to notice it. It was kind of difficult to tail someone discreetly when you were driving through a flat, desolate wasteland. But it was for that same reason that Phil knew the car was in fact following them. There were dozens of miles of empty desert all around them. There was no reason for this car to be behind Phil’s unless it wanted to be there.

“Lullah wants me to tell you that she’s glad you finally noticed the car tailing us,” Chayanne suddenly said.

Glancing in the rearview mirror again, this time Phil focused on the two kids sitting in the backseat of his car. Lullah had twisted around in her seat to stare out the rear window, watching the trail of dust the car behind them was creating. Chayanne, meanwhile, locked eyes with Phil in the mirror, nodding once. He understood that a car tailing them wasn’t a good sign.

“Lullah, did you know that car was following us the whole time?” Phil asked, struggling to keep his speed steady so the car behind them didn’t suspect that he’d noticed its presence yet.

Because he was driving, he couldn’t see Lullah’s response and had to wait for Chayanne to tell him, “She says she noticed it ten minutes ago but wasn’t sure if they had bad intentions until now.”

Biting back a sigh, Phil took a beat to think about which part of that answer he had to tackle first.

“Look, guys, I know you’re still a bit new to the wasteland and all but you both need to understand that if someone is following your car, especially if you’re nowhere near a settlement, then they definitely aren’t trying to be your friend.” He paused and debated whether or not he wanted to ask his second question. Sometimes with these kids—Lullah especially—Phil found it was easier to just go along with things instead of worrying too much about the specifics.

Still, he should probably know these specifics.

“Now, Lullah, how did you figure out they had bad intentions?”

From the corner of his eye Phil could see more signing between the kids in the back. In the mirror, Phil noticed the car was starting to speed up and sped his own car up in return.

“She says she can’t explain it. She just knows,” came Chayanne’s answer.

Another cut off sigh. Yeah, that was usually Lullah’s answer for questions like that.

“Alright, fair enough.” Phil continued to speed the car up as gradually as he could, only for the car behind them to do the same. His grip on the wheel tightened. “Kids, do you both have your seatbelts on?”

He heard a soft click! “Now we do!”

“Okay. Make sure you’re hanging on. I’m gonna lose this tail.”

With that, Phil slammed his foot down on the gas. The car lurched forward and they were off.

The car behind them gave chase. Phil sped through the desert, swerving the car left and right and watching the car in the rearview mirror do the same. He made a sharp right, the entire car tilting as they spun the opposite direction. He heard the screech of tires as their tail did the same.

The flat desert landscape began to change. Soft orange dirt changed to rocks beneath the tires, making the entire car shake as they raced over it. He made the car zig zag, trying to feint to get the car off track. But the bluff didn’t work. The tail followed them steadily and despite the fact that Phil’s foot was nearly to the floor, they still weren’t going fast enough. The car grew larger in the rearview mirror.

Slamming on the brakes fast enough to make both Chayanne and Lullah gasp, Phil swung the car left. He sped out of the way just before they got rear ended. They drove off the rocky ground and back onto the dirt. Phil swerved the car between proud cacti and random rock formations, waiting for the telltale crunch of metal against stone to tell them that their follower had finally made a mistake in their driving.

Instead, Phil heard the deafening sound of glass shattering. Lullah screamed.

“Fucking-” Phil couldn’t take his eyes off the road, but he glanced in the mirror and saw a crossbow had broken through the back window. Both Lullah and Chayanne were covered in glass, but the crossbow bolt had landed harmlessly between them. “Are you guys okay?!”

“We’re okay!” Chayanne called back. At the same time, Phil could only catch glimpses as Lullah picked up the bolt in her hands. She stared at the metal for a moment and Phil was about to tell her to put it down, but then she twisted her body around and chucked it out the broken window.

Although Phil wanted to admonish her for picking up a dangerous weapon like that, he decided he had more pressing things to deal with at the moment. Like not crashing the car.

He swerved again and again. This time he wouldn’t let those fuckers get a clear shot at his car. They weren’t going to get a chance to do anything because this wasn’t a chase anymore.

No, now he was pissed.

Phil slammed on the brakes again. Chayanne and Lullah yelped as broken glass rained down from the window and Phil winced, hoping neither of them got cut. He heard the other car slam on its brakes and waited, watching it get closer and closer in the mirror.

Then, right as it was coming to a stop, he took off again. But before they could chase after him he was swinging the car around. His tires drew a huge circle in the orange dirt until that circle placed him right behind their car.

The other car took off. Phil sped up to follow them.

“You think you can break my fucking window?!” Phil shouted despite the fact that he knew they couldn’t hear him. “I’m chasing you now, motherfuckers!”

This time the car tried the same tactics Phil had to lose him—more dodging and weaving between the cacti. But Phil knew these deserts like the back of his hand. He kept up and the car picked up speed. It was clear that whoever was in that car didn’t want anything to do with him now that they were the ones being pursued. But Phil wasn’t going to let these assholes get away with shooting a crossbow at the kids. No fucking way.

The car led them towards the rock plateaus, and Phil had a pretty good idea of where they were heading. The deep red cliff faces were pockmarked with dozens upon dozens of caves and tunnel systems. They must’ve had some kind of safe house in one of the caves and hoped they could lose Phil there.

Sure enough, as soon as they fell under the shadow of the red stone, Phil spotted the entrance to a cave. The car sped towards it, tires screeching as it slid right up against the entrance. They were creating a blockade with their car.

Phil slowed his own car as he watched two figures crawl out of the car and run into the cave. If Phil wanted to get inside he was going to have to climb over their car, which would leave him vulnerable if they were waiting by the entrance.

Logically, Phil knew he should leave it here. These guys weren’t chasing him anymore. If he drove off now they wouldn’t pursue him. If he floored it, he could make it to Pleser before nightfall to get his window repaired.

His car slowed to a stop. He glanced in the backseat and saw shattered chunks of glass stuck in Lullah’s dark hair, glittering like diamonds in the afternoon sunlight.

“Chayanne,” Phil said, looking at the boy, “I need you to shield the front of the car, like we practiced, okay?”

Chayanne didn’t seem surprised by the request. “Got it.”

His brows furrowed in concentration. Turning back around, Phil saw the air in front of the car ripple as Chayanne’s shield formed.

“Alright. Lullah, hold onto your brother, okay?”

Phil slowly reversed the car. Then, when he was directly behind the car blocking the entrance to the cave, he floored it.

Despite trusting Chayanne’s shield, Phil still braced himself for impact as the front of his car slammed into the bumper of the other car. The impact never came though. The other car was launched forward, spinning out before crunching against the rocks. But Phil’s car was completely unharmed.

“You two stay here,” Phil said as he climbed out of the car. “If anyone tries to get in-” He paused and met both Chayanne and Lullah’s eyes. There was no fear in either of their gazes. Only steely determination. “-kill them.”

Chayanne tightened his grip on the baseball bat Phil had given him. Lullah reached for the crowbar down by her feet. Phil nodded at both of them once before slamming the car door shut behind him.

The cave was dark. Phil hugged the rough stone wall, unsheathing his sword and listening for any signs of life. He followed the tunnel away from his car and further into the shadows, knowing that at any moment his assailants could jump out and attack him.

There was no doubt they heard him knock their car blockade out of the way. Even though it had been fast, there had still been some time for them to hide and ready themselves.

But as Phil made his way further into the cave, he began to worry. There was no sign of the people in the car despite the fact that he’d seen them run in here. Maybe there was another cave opening he didn’t know about and those two were long gone. Or maybe, just maybe, they were setting up an elaborate trap for him.

Right as he was debating whether it was time to turn back, the tunnel began to open up. He turned a sharp corner and the tunnel opened completely into a small room lit by torches, where two wide-eyed faces were waiting for him.

“Look man, we don’t want any trouble,” the first one said, holding his hands up by his head.

“If you didn’t want trouble then why did you shoot a fucking crossbow into my car?” Phil snapped, hanging back in the tunnel with his sword at the ready.

“Because we didn’t recognize your car until you started chasing us!” The guy exclaimed while the other person tensed.

Phil frowned. “How the hell would you know my-” Suddenly, recognition struck him like a bolt of lightning. “Wait, you’re the assholes who stole my jacket!”

It had been four months since that fateful day in the abandoned gas station. Four months since Phil knocked out the two idiots standing in front of him only to find Fit tied up in their backroom. Of course, this led to the two of them getting Tubbo’s radio message about a job, which led to them breaking into the Federation, which led to the fact that Phil now had two kids sitting in the backseat of his car, covered in broken glass and ready to kill whoever came near them.

“Fuck me,” the other person muttered. “Shit, fine, yeah, that was us. Well, us minus Ingrid, she took off not long after we had our run in. But like my friend said, we didn’t recognize your car. If we had, we would've left you alone.”

Huffing, Phil took a step into the cave room, pointing his sword at both of them. “And what, I’m supposed to just go, ‘oh so it was just a misunderstanding, that’s fine.’ Really?”

“We can give you-”

The guy was cut off by a low groan coming from somewhere behind him. Phil frowned while both the people in front of him winced. Although it was difficult to see in the low torchlight, somewhere over the guy’s shoulder he could make out a solid shape hanging from the ceiling. He stared at it for another second before realizing what it was.

“What the fuck? Why do you have someone tied up and hanging from your ceiling?!”

“None of your business,” the other person said, glaring at Phil despite the fact that he was the only one with a weapon drawn.

“The last time I ran into you assholes you had my friend tied to a chair for days. What, do you just kidnap people for kicks?” Phil asked, bringing the point of his sword close to the person’s throat.

They glanced down at the sword and struggled to hold their composure. “We have our reasons.”

Although Phil didn’t want to take his eyes off of the two people in front of him, he shouted back to the kidnapped person, “Hey mate, do you know why these dumbasses kidnapped you?”

There was a heavy pause before a hoarse voice asked, “Wait, are you talking to me?”

Phil briefly glanced over his shoulder at the figure. He was hanging upside down, his hands tied behind his back and feet bound with chains.

“Yes, I’m talking to you, the guy hanging from the fucking ceiling. Why did these guys kidnap you?”

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen them before in my life!” The guy cried out. “Please get me out of here I’ve been tied up for-”

“Don’t worry. I’m gonna get you out,” Phil said, earning himself a sharp look from the person he was still pointing his sword at. “Consider it payment for breaking my window.”

The person clenched their jaw. “We’ll give you anything in here you want.”

Phil jerked his head towards the tied up man. “I want him.”

While Phil didn’t know this man, he knew from the moment he saw him that he was going to get him out. Maybe it was because he knew these guys had a history of kidnapping people for no good reason, like with Fit. Or maybe it was just because he was still holding a grudge for the time they stole his jacket. Either way, he wasn’t leaving the poor guy with these two shitheads. That he was certain of.

“I don’t think we should argue with the guy holding a sword,” the guy told his friend when they opened their mouth to protest Phil’s choice. “He wasn’t giving us any good info anyway.”

The person huffed. “Fine. Go untie him then.”

Phil laughed. “And let you pull out a knife the minute my back is turned to you? No thanks. Your friend here is going to untie him for me while I stay right where I am,” he said, pressing the tip of his sword against their throat.

Annoyance flashed over their face but they nodded to their companion anyway. The guy hurried over to their victim, using a rope pulley system they’d set up to lower him to the ground. The man made a sound of obvious relief, grabbing his head and wincing as the blood rushed back down into the rest of his body.

“Give him his stuff,” Phil instructed as the guy who untied him stood up again.

A few minutes passed as the man got his bearings. It was only when he stood up and properly faced Phil that Phil realized he was wearing some kind of skull mask over the top half of his face. When he took a few steps towards Phil, he realized the guy was limping.

“You’re injured.”

The man glanced down and grimaced. His pants were dark but Phil could still make out the faint sheen of blood against the fabric. “I don’t even remember how I got that.”

Phil shot a glare at the person he was still holding his sword to. “Gee, wonder how that happened.”

The person rolled their eyes. “Are you going to leave us alone now?”

“I am. But this is the last time. If you fuck with me again-” Phil pressed the tip of his sword hard enough into the person’s throat to draw a few drops of blood, “I will kill you. Got it?”

To their credit, the person didn’t flinch. “We understand.”

“Glad we could come to an agreement.” Dropping his sword, Phil made his way back towards the tunnel. He gestured for the man to follow him. “And for fuck’s sake, stop kidnapping people.”

With that, he headed out, keeping his pace slow so the injured man could keep up. Neither one of them spoke as they made their way out of the cave, both presumably listening for the sound of Dumb and Dumber chasing after them.

Thankfully though, the only footsteps Phil heard in the tunnel were their own. Soon enough they found their way back into the sunlight.

“I’m guessing you’re gonna need a ride somewhere?” Phil asked the guy as they walked towards his car.

“Really? You’ve already done so much for me- you would do that?”

Phil huffed. “Mate, I’m not just going to leave you in the middle of the goddamn desert. Besides, you need to get that leg patched up sooner rather than later or else you’ll be really fucked.” He jerked his head back towards the tunnel. “But let’s get away from these assholes first.”

“Oh thank you! Thank you so much!” The man said as he limped around to the passenger side of Phil’s car. “You are-” Suddenly, the man cut himself off. “You… have kids?”

Glancing over, Phil saw the man had finally noticed Lullah and Chayanne sitting in the backseat of the car. They were unharmed and from what Phil could tell, had even managed to get most of the glass out of the backseat while Phil was gone. The fact that they had been handling broken glass unsupervised didn’t make him feel great, but considering he’d also taught them both how to kill people a few months prior he wasn’t that concerned. From what he could tell, neither of the kids were bleeding, so that was a win in his book.

“Yup, these are my kids,” Phil said for lack of a better way to explain how he ended up with them. “They’ll only stab you if you give them a reason to.”

The man’s eyes went wide behind his mask and Phil resisted the urge to laugh as he got in the car.

“Uh, who’s this?” Chayanne asked as the man climbed into the passenger seat.

“He’d been kidnapped by our friends in there,” Phil explained, gesturing to the tunnel. “Didn’t want to just leave him stuck with those shits.”

Chayanne narrowed his eyes at the man. “Why were you kidnapped?”

“I don’t know. They kept asking me if I knew where someone was but didn’t believe me when I told them I didn’t,” the man explained, flinching when Phil started the car.

Lullah’s dark hair appeared in the corner of Phil’s eye as he drove away from the cave. She signed something to the man that he couldn’t see, but Chayanne quickly translated.

“She’s asking what your name is.”

“Oh! My name is Missa. Is she, uh, I don’t know what you call it in English but-” The man gestured to his ears, “¿Es sorda?”

“Lullah can hear what we’re saying right now if that’s what you’re asking,” Phil cut in. “Her hearing isn’t the best, but she’s got hearing aids that make up the difference. For the most part, at least. But she still prefers signing to talking.”

Lullah signed something else Phil couldn’t see, but he could tell she was very excited by how energetic her hand motions were.

“You speak Spanish?” Chayanne asked. Phil wasn’t sure if he was translating for Lullah or asking himself. He saw Missa nod and Lullah clapped her hands together. “We both understand Spanish, but I only know a little. Lullah is fluent though.”

“Oh!” Missa looked over at Lullah. “Lo siento, no sé la lengua de señas, Lullah.”

“She says it’s okay. She just likes hearing someone speak Spanish again,” Chayanne translated.

Although neither of the kids had ever mentioned knowing other languages, he supposed it made sense. Richas could speak English but he seemed to prefer speaking Portuguese with Pac and Bagi, Pomme spoke French with Etoiles and his group, and while Leo could understand English she was only comfortable speaking Spanish.

Was that the Federation’s doing? Did they purposefully raise the children in different language environments as part of their experiments? He would have to ask Jaiden the next time he saw her.

“What about you?” Missa’s voice startled Phil out of his thoughts. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Chayanne,” the boy introduced.

“It’s nice to meet you, Chayanne and Lullah.” Phil then felt more than saw Missa’s gaze flicker to him. “And-”

“Phil,” he said before Missa could ask. “You can call me Phil.”

He looked away from the road for a moment to see Missa flashing a warm smile at him.

“Well, thank you for saving me, Phil.”

“It’s no problem. I have a history with those two so I was happy to screw them over again.” He slowed the car down as they approached an outcropping of orange stone. The sun was just beginning to set over the horizon. While they could spend the next few hours driving to the nearest settlement, he wanted to get Missa’s leg looked at sooner rather than later. “We’re gonna stop here for the night, if that’s alright with you.”

“I’m fine with that. I’m just glad to be out of that cave,” Missa said as they rolled to a stop.

Phil cut the engine and looked back at Chayanne and Lullah. “Get the stuff out of the trunk to make a fire. Missa’s hurt so I’m going to need the light to patch up his leg.”

Both kids nodded so quickly Phil thought their heads were going to pop off. If there was one thing he could always count on the kids to want to do, it was starting fires.

As they ran out of the car, Phil turned back to Missa. “Do you have any first aid supplies in that pack?”

Missa peeked in his bag before nodding. “I have a small first aid kit they didn’t take, but someone else in my group held onto our larger one.”

Phil grimaced at the mention of Missa being part of a group. “Do you know what happened to your group?” Then, he tensed. “Those two didn’t-”

“No no, they didn’t kill anyone,” Missa quickly said. “There wasn’t even a fight. We were camping at a gas station when I woke up to someone pressing a rag over my mouth. I fell asleep again and suddenly I was in that cave.”

“They managed to grab you without alerting the rest of your group?” Phil questioned.

Missa shrugged. “I guess so.”

Just then, Chayanne called out that they’d gotten the fire started. Phil gestured for Missa to get out of the car. Once he was out, Phil took a moment to find the first aid kit he kept hidden under his seat before climbing out as well.

Within a few minutes they’d all settled by the fire. While Chayanne and Lullah snacked on some canned beans Phil had given them, Missa’s leg was stretched out in front of him, the dried blood looking black in the dim light.

The sky above their heads was a deep shade of pink now. Stars were starting to pop up in the darkest corners. A cool breeze blew between the rocks, making a chill run down Phil’s spine. Thankfully, the fire kept him warm.

“I’m gonna have to clean this off before I can stitch you up,” Phil warned Missa. “I won’t lie, it’ll hurt like a bitch but I’ll be fast.”

Although Missa seemed tense, he nodded. “Do whatever you have to do.”

Phil glanced over at Chayanne and Lullah who were watching the exchange with wide eyes. Maybe someone else would tell the kids to get in the car so they didn’t have to see something gross like this, but Phil knew they’d seen far worse. A little blood was nothing to them.

Using a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol, Phil did his best to clean the dried blood off the gash in Missa’s leg. Missa stiffened and made a few pained noises, but he didn’t pull away.

“So,” Phil said as he dabbed the cloth against Missa’s skin, “you said the people who kidnapped you were looking for someone?”

Missa nodded through a grimace. “Yes. They were looking for a guy called Quackity, but I had no clue who that was.”

Phil’s hands froze. “They were looking for Quackity?”

“You know him?”

Resisting the urge to groan, Phil let out a breath between his teeth as he resumed cleaning Missa’s wound. “Yeah, I know him. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen him though.”

“What do you think they wanted with him?” Missa asked.

“No fucking clue. Q always had a talent for pissing off people though so it doesn’t surprise me,” Phil explained as he set the cloth aside and reached for the bandages. “We weren’t exactly friends or anything, but I hope he’s still kicking.”

Missa hummed at that and the two of them fell into silence. With Missa’s wound now clean, Phil took out the needle from the first aid kit and began to thread it. After sterilizing it and securing the thread, Phil held the needle up to show Missa what he was about to do.

“Like I said, do what you need to do,” Missa told him despite his pained expression.

To his credit, Missa didn’t cry out as Phil began stitching him up. He flinched a few times and seemed to be struggling to keep still, but that was the extent of his visible discomfort. However, after a particularly sharp tug that had Missa hissing under his breath, Phil decided it would probably be better to keep him distracted while he worked.

“So where were you and your group heading before you got taken?” Phil asked.

“We didn’t have a set place, really,” Missa explained in a tight voice, still wincing around each stitch. “We just wanted to get somewhere else. Find more people.”

Phil glanced up and raised his eyebrows. “Were there not many people where you were before?”

“There were. But I think here you all have, um, separate towns? Right?”

“Yeah, there’s a few settlements scattered around the desert here. There’s Sullivan, which is the largest and is kind of the main trading hub. Pleser is a lot smaller and barely qualifies as a town, but I like the bar there. The Third City is the best place to find merc jobs if you’re looking for that, but you gotta be careful you don’t get robbed there. Then there’s the Red Circle Camp, but that’s less of a proper town and more just a small settlement. They’re usually happy to let traders spend the night though,” Phil explained, his hands steady as they held the needle and thread.

“What about that giant wall down that way?” Missa asked, gesturing vaguely behind Phil. “Is there a city behind that?”

Phil couldn’t stop his face from twisting. “That’s the Federation. You’ll want to stay far away from them.”

Missa furrowed his brows. “Why? Are they hostile?”

“It’s militarized,” Phil began, bitterness leaking into his voice. “They have an entire city built around a huge uni campus behind that wall. They use greenhouses to grow fresh crops and have massive water purifiers they built themselves, but no one from the wasteland is allowed in.”

When Missa tensed, Phil knew it wasn’t from the pain. “They can clean the water?”

“Yup. No one gets radiation sickness in there.” Phil huffed. “Fucking bastards. They have a lot of science shit going on as well. In the past they used to send crews out here into the wasteland to run experiments on the environment, claiming they were trying to ‘restore’ things back to the way it was before. But they only made things worse.”

“And they tried to kill us!” Chayanne added.

“What?” Missa snapped his head back towards Phil. “They tried to kill the kids?”

Phil grimaced. “It’s, uh, a long story. But basically if you see the Feds out patrolling in the desert, stay far away from them. You can usually pick them out because their cars will look brand new and they’ll be wearing these stupid worker vests.”

Missa nodded, although he still seemed concerned. “Thanks for letting me know.” He paused then, looking as though he wanted to say something else but was unsure. Phil was finishing the stitches now, looping the thread as he prepared to tie them off.

“The town I was in before was, um, kind of like that,” Missa admitted after a moment.

“A military town?” Phil asked as he reached for the scissors.

“Kind of. We didn’t have water purifiers or anything, but it was run by a small military. Not actual soldiers, but everyone knew how to use weapons.”

“Like a militia?” Phil offered.

“I think so. Where I’m from was originally like this desert. Lots of small towns. But the militia wanted to expand. Soon, they controlled everything. It was safe but none of us got a say in anything the militia did. You couldn’t go out unless you were sent to get something for the city. You had an assigned job and you couldn’t change it. And if anyone got sick or injured and wasn’t able to get better…” Missa trailed off and Phil winced in understanding.

“They got kicked out,” Phil finished. Missa nodded. “That’s fucking shit.”

“That’s why my group left. We didn’t want to be part of it anymore.”

Phil reached for a bandage to wrap around Missa’s now stitched-up wound. Once that was done, he set about putting his supplies away while Missa let out a breath of relief.

“Thank you, Phil,” Missa told him. “You’ve done so much for me.”

“Don’t mention it, mate. Things are fucked up enough as it is.”

Setting the first aid kit back in the car, Phil made his way back over to the campfire where Chayanne and Lullah had already finished their beans. He groaned as he sat down next to them, reaching for the third can the kids had left out for him. Before he could use a knife to open it though, he paused and glanced back at Missa.

Since his leg was no longer bleeding, Missa had retrieved his bag from the car and was sorting through it. Phil couldn’t make out the contents from where he was sitting so he called out, “Did they steal the food from your pack?”

Missa’s head snapped up. “Oh, um, yes. I think so.”

Phil held out the can of beans. “Get over here and have these, then. I’m sure you weren’t getting much to eat hanging upside down in a cave.”

“Oh, no no no, I can’t, Phil. You’ve already-”

“Mate, they’re fucking beans. It’s not a five course meal,” Phil cut him off. “We have enough to share.”

Although Missa seemed doubtful, Phil didn’t lower the arm offering the beans. After a few moments, he sighed and dragged his bag closer to the campfire. Phil flashed him a small as he took the can.

Before Missa had even opened his can, Lullah was shoving another can into Phil’s own hands. Phil signed her a quick ‘thank you’ before stabbing his knife through the top.

Phil and Missa both fell quiet as they ate. Since Chayanne and Lullah had already finished their food, the two started debating which type of beans were the best to eat out of the can. Lullah put a strong case forward for black beans, while Chayanne insisted that black beans had to be heated to be enjoyable but garbanzo beans tasted great just how they were. The entire conversation was signed so while Phil was able to follow along, Missa watched Lullah’s dramatic gestures with obvious confusion.

Missa finished his food first. After setting his can aside, he reached for his bag again and began to rifle through the contents. Phil tried not to make his curiosity obvious—he didn’t want Missa to think they were considering robbing him—but he found his eyebrows raising when Missa pulled out a harmonica and a long, thin instrument case.

“Were you and your traveling buddies in a band or something?” Phil found himself asking.

“Oh, no no, we weren’t a band.” Missa shook his head. “I’m a musician so whenever I find instruments I try to take them with me.”

“A musician? So you can play both of those?” He gestured to the harmonic and the flute.

Missa laughed. “Harmonica, yes. I’m still figuring out the flute.” His laughter faded as he glanced back towards his bag. “I’m best at the guitar, but I think my guitar got left behind when I got taken from my group.”

“Do you think your group would take the guitar with them?” Phil asked.

Missa shrugged. “Probably? But I have no idea where they are. Like I said, we didn’t really know where we were going. They could be anywhere by now.”

Phil grimaced. “Sorry to hear that, mate. But worst comes to worst, I’m sure you’ll be able to trade for another one. Not a lot of people know how to use those things these days.”

While Phil and Missa were talking, Lullah had inched her way towards Missa’s flute until she was sitting right in front of it. Missa noticed her at the same time as Phil, and Lullah yanked her hand back from where she’d been reaching for the flute the moment she realized she’d been seen.

“I’m sorry! I wasn’t going to take it, I just wanted to touch it,” Lullah signed at Phil, her hands fluttering around her face.

Phil sighed. “Lullah, you know you need to ask before you touch other people’s things,” he told her.

“It’s okay. She can try it,” Missa said, pushing the flute case closer to her.

Lullah glanced at Phil again, clearly unsure. When he gave her a nod of encouragement, her eyes lit up and she grabbed the flute case. The flute itself was wooden and smaller than Phil expected it to be, but somehow managed to be the perfect size for Lullah to hold.

“Here,” Missa said, shifting closer so he could show Lullah what to do, “hold it like this.”

He readjusted her hands before he began to speak to her in Spanish, gesturing to each of the small holes on the body of the flute itself. Although Phil had no clue what he was saying, he was able to guess that Missa was explaining to Lullah how to play it. Lullah nodded along to everything Missa said until it was her turn to actually try it out.

Phil and Chayanne both winced at the screechy first note Lullah blew out of the flute. Lullah flashed them an apologetic look before trying again, this time the note sounding far more gentle. With Missa’s guidance, Lullah was soon able to play a short melody.

As Lullah repeated the melody over and over, her smile stretching from ear to ear, a warm feeling grew in Phil’s chest. Missa was gentle with Lullah, correcting her in a soft voice and beaming at her every time she nailed a perfect note. Even if Phil couldn’t understand the words he was using, he could feel the kindness in them, and found himself increasingly glad that he had gone with his gut and saved this man from those kidnappers.

At one point, Missa looked away from Lullah and met Phil’s eyes. Phil, who hadn’t even realized he’d been staring at Missa until then, quickly focused back on Lullah. The next time he risked a glance at Missa, he noticed a red flush against the skin peeking out from under the edge of his skull mask.

When Lullah put down the flute, Phil and Chayanne both clapped as loud as they could. Lullah’s smile was the brightest Phil had seen in a long time.

☢

They headed out late the next morning.

Since they weren’t sleeping in the car and were instead exposed to the desert, Phil had decided to stay up all night keeping watch. Missa had protested this and insisted that Phil get some sleep, and after a bit of back and forth bickering Phil relented and agreed to wake Missa up in a few hours.

Of course, Phil didn’t end up waking Missa. While he wanted to say it was because he didn’t know Missa well enough yet to trust him with the watch, in the back of his head he knew it was mostly because he figured Missa needed the sleep more than he did. After all, he had been hanging upside in a cave for fuck knows how long.

Besides, Phil was used to running on little sleep. When the sun rose and the kids woke up, Phil decided to take a brief nap, knowing from experience that it would be enough to get him through the day. Since it was daylight and Missa was still asleep, Phil figured the kids could handle things for one hour.

(Chayanne ended up letting him sleep for two hours instead of one, which he wasn’t thrilled about but couldn’t deny made him feel significantly better.)

Each of them got a breakfast of dried prickly pear that Phil had picked up from Sullivan. Then, once the remains of their campfire had been scattered and their sleeping rolls had been packed up, they all piled back in the car and drove out into the desert once more.

It was only late morning and the sun was already punishingly bright. Sweat broke out on Phil’s forehead from the light slanting in through his windshield as he steered the car away from their camp. In the passenger seat beside him, Missa was quiet. Although he said he understood why Phil didn’t wake him, he seemed almost… sad about it? Phil wasn’t sure. He was probably just fatigued from his ordeal.

It’s not as though Phil regretted his choice. Missa needed the rest.

“I’m going to drop you in Sullivan,” Phil told Missa as he used the sun as a guide to steer them in the right direction. “Like I said last night, it’s the largest settlement in the desert. It’s a trading hub but it also has places to stay and plenty of opportunities for work. Even if your group didn’t end up there, asking around Sullivan is your best shot at finding out where they went.”

Missa nodded. “That makes sense. My group wanted to trade so they’ll probably be there.”

Humming, Phil focused back on the road. As annoying as it was to get his rear window shattered, he also found himself glad they’d gotten chased that day. If they hadn’t, Missa would still be in that cave which he certainly didn’t deserve. But also he was glad to have met the guy. With the state of the world, Phil found it all too easy to fall into the trap of assuming everyone he didn’t know was an asshole. And while that was true a majority of the time, there were still good people out there. Missa seemed to be one of them.

It was while thinking about parting ways with Missa that Phil realized there was one thing he had to know before they got to Sullivan.

“Wait, can I ask you something?” Phil started, turning the car onto a stretch of empty desert so he could turn to look at Missa.

“Sure. What is it?”

“Is there a reason you wear that, uh-” Phil gestured towards Missa’s face. “That mask all the time? It doesn’t matter if there is or isn’t. I know a lot of people these days just have their things. I’m just wondering, that’s all.”

“Oh! I kind of forgot I was wearing it,” Missa laughed, bringing his hands to the edge of the mask. “Well, you see-”

“LOOK OUT!”

Chayanne’s shout made Phil snap his head back towards the road. He veered the car to the right just in time, barely missing the large, white van that had come barreling towards them.

The car began to spin. Phil fought for control of the wheel and pumped the brakes to slow it down. Missa was screaming. Lullah and Chayanne were both silent as they held onto their seats.

When the car stopped, Phil didn’t bother checking in with the others. Instead, he looked in his rearview and saw the white van speeding towards them once again. This time, he was able to recognize what, or rather who was after them.

“Motherfucker!” Phil cursed.

He slammed on the gas again. Missa cried out as he was shoved against his seat.

“What’s happening?!”

“Federation!” Phil shouted over the roar of the engine. “Remember I told you to stay away from those fucks? This is why!”

As if on cue, the Federation van picked up speed. Phil did the same.

“Kids, grab the harpoon!”

“You have a harpoon?!”

A glance in the rearview mirror told Phil that Lullah was already on it. She loaded the arrow while Chayanne made sure the rope was secure. Although Phil was sure it was going to snap with what he had planned, he hoped it would at least last long enough to scare these fuckers off.

“Like we practiced,” Phil told them.

Chayanne took the harpoon from Lullah. He perched himself in the rear window, making Phil grateful he and Lullah had cleared the glass from it the night before. Then, Phil tried to keep the car as steady as possible as Chayanne aimed.

“On my mark,” Phil said, “Lullah, hold onto him.”

Lullah wrapped her arms around Chayanne’s waist to hold him in place.

Then, Phil slammed on the brakes.

The van was gunning it towards them. It didn’t have time to slow before it was so close, the workers in the van were visible behind the windshield.

Well, they were visible. Until the harpoon’s arrow lodged itself in the glass.

“YES! Great job, Chayanne!” Phil exclaimed.

The harpoon had pierced the windshield, sending spiderweb cracks throughout the glass. It hadn’t been enough to shatter the windshield entirely, but their visibility was next to zero. And more importantly, now Phil had them on a leash.

“Latch it where I told you guys,” Phil called out.

Lullah and Chayanne secured the harpoon to the metal frame Phil had Tubbo install on the ceiling of his car a few months back. The van was already trying to reverse to get the arrow out, but Phil wasn’t going to let them go that easily.

As soon as everything was attached, Phil slammed the gas again. His car groaned with the additional weight of the van. He made a sharp right, sending the van spinning out behind him. He continued to turn, sending the van straight towards a cluster of cacti.

The rope snapped. The van careened into the cacti. Although it didn’t seem to do any major damage, it scratched the hell out of the paint job which was better than nothing.

Before the Federation workers could get their bearings, Phil was driving again. He figured that would be the end of it. That the workers would know not to fuck with him after that.

He’d barely been driving for twenty seconds before he heard the van approaching again.

“Can they even see?” Missa asked, twisting around in his seat to stare at the van’s cracked windshield.

“Probably not,” Phil grunted as he made another sharp turn. He heard Missa smack his head against the door and winced. “Sorry, mate.”

In Phil’s opinion, two car chases in the span of two days was far too many car chases to deal with. He did the same routine as before, weaving between the rocks and cacti as he tried to lose the van. But the workers were relentless.

Although he was pulling out every trick in the book to stay ahead, the van was gaining on them. They crept up to the side of Phil’s car, veering closer and closer to force him to the right. For a moment, Phil was confused about what they were trying to do.

Then, he saw the rocks.

He tried to avoid it. He tried to keep going straight. But before he could consider the merits of slamming on the brakes again, the van tapped the side of his car just hard enough to send them into (another) spin. But this time they were going too fast. Missa was screaming again. Lullah was trying to protect herself and Chayanne. Phil had no control of the car.

The rock wall got closer and closer-

Phil squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact. But the impact never came. The car came to a sharp stop, but there wasn’t the sound of metal crunching against stone like he expected.

He opened his eyes again. The car had stopped parallel to the rock wall, barely an inch away from hitting it.

Phil glanced in the rearview mirror. Chayanne’s bloody nose gave him his answer.

“Chayanne, did you-”

Phil was cut off by the screech of brakes as the van stopped in front of them. Cursing under his breath, Phil reached for his sword. Missa and Lullah’s side of the car was against the rock, meaning the workers would only be able to get to them through Phil’s side.

“All three of you need to stay here,” Phil ordered. “Chayanne, move to Lullah’s seat. Stay as far away from this side of the car as you can.”

“But I can-”

“Chayanne, remember what I made you both promise?”

Despite the fact that months had passed since Phil first agreed to let Chayanne and Lullah come with him, he could see from Chayanne’s expression that he remembered the conversation perfectly. When he’d made them both promise to always do exactly what he told them.

Chayanne frowned but moved into Lullah’s seat. He gestured for her to sit behind him, acting as a barrier between her and the exposed door.

“If anything happens to me, get the fuck out of here. Got it?”

Lullah shook her head behind Chayanne’s shoulder, but Chayanne was grim-faced as he nodded. “Okay.”

“Wait, no no no-” Missa was shaking his head. “Phil, these people tried to kill us! You’re going to go out there? Are you crazy?”

“They won’t leave us alone otherwise,” Phil said, his eyes fixed on the van. The workers hadn’t gotten out yet and Phil had a feeling it was because they were waiting for him to climb out first. “If shit goes wrong, the kids know what to do.”

“Don’t go out by yourself,” Missa insisted. “I’m not very good at fighting but I- I can watch your back.”

Phil shook his head. “I can’t be distracted worrying about you and myself. But Missa-” He turned to meet Missa’s eyes. “Whatever you do, do not let them take the kids.”

Then, before Missa could ask anything else, Phil was unlocking the door and climbing out of the car. Although his ears were ringing from the chase and his throat ached where the dry, desert air scraped against it, he held his head high as he stared at the van, waiting.

Two workers climbed out when he did. They wore the typical Federation security uniforms, their faces blank as they took in the lack of damage on Phil’s car.

“You know what we want,” the first worker said. “Hand the experiments over.”

Tightening his grip on the sword, Phil shook his head. “That’s not going to happen. So either you can fuck off right now with all your blood still in your body, or I’m going to have to use this thing.” He held up the sword for emphasis.

While the second worker paled, the first one seemed unphased. They reached into their pocket and wordlessly pulled out a baton.

“Guess we’re going with option two.”

Phil swung first. The worker blocked his sword with the baton, while the other made a dash for the car. Shoving the first worker away, Phil spun around, slicing open the second worker’s back. Blood stained their vest as they collapsed.

The first worker attacked him again. They went back and forth, Phil blocking every attack and being blocked in turn. He wanted to drive the worker back towards the van to force them inside, but this one was well-trained.

He lunged, aiming for their side, but the worker redirected it with their baton. Then they twisted, almost making him let go of the sword as his arm was twisted in turn. Pain shot up his arm, making him gasp. The worker pulled back, the pressure on his arm disappearing. But before he could retaliate they were lunging again.

Suddenly, pain was radiating through his side and echoing into the rest of his body.

All of Phil’s muscles seized. His teeth chattered so loudly he could feel it in his skull. Seconds felt like eons as Phil froze. It was only when the worker pulled back again that he felt the lock on his body release, his legs turning to jelly beneath him as he fell to the ground. Barely managing to turn his head, he spotted an arc of blue lightning spark from two small, metal rods sticking out the end of the baton.

Fuck. A taser.

As his faculties returned to him he tried to push to his feet, his body trembling violently at the effort. He couldn’t see where the worker had gone but he could hear screams from the car behind him. Gritting his teeth, he had just managed to get to one knee when something slammed into the back of his head.

Stars danced across his vision. His entire body went limp as he collapsed to the ground, feeling as though someone had planted an explosive device in the back of his skull and set it off. Nausea made his stomach twist as he struggled to keep down the prickly pear he’d eaten only an hour before.

Blinking several times, it took Phil far too long to realize he couldn’t see. Not properly, at least. While he could still see the desert and the worker’s van, it was as though the information was too much for his brain to process. He couldn’t make sense of what was going on. It was all too bright. Too vivid.

Someone was screaming. The sound grated against his skull, causing him to wince and squeeze his eyes shut. Phil knew he should be concerned about that, but the screams kept mixing in with the ringing in his ears and it was hard to focus on either sound without wishing he could pass out completely.

“Let go of her!”

That was the first set of words that made sense to Phil as he came back to his senses. His eyes were still closed but he listened to what had to be some kind of fight going on near him. There was a lot of pained grunting and incoherent shouts. Then, there was the sound of a high-pitched screech Phil immediately recognized as Lullah’s.

His eyes snapped open. The pain in his head spiked at the brightness of everything again, but he forced himself to keep them open as he tried to figure out what was going on.

A flash of bright purple caught his attention. His head was throbbing as he lifted it up to see Lullah thrashing in the Federation worker’s arms. Panic seized Phil. He had to get up. He couldn’t let Lullah get taken.

Before Phil could even try to get up though, there was another flash. A blurry figure ran at the Federation worker, swinging a bag at their legs to make their knees buckle. Lullah dropped from their arms and onto the ground, and as the figure picked her up Phil finally recognized it as Missa.

Chayanne, meanwhile, took the opportunity to jump on the downed worker. He latched onto their shoulders like some kind of demon child, yanking at their hair as they began to flail to try and get him off. While they were distracted by Chayanne though, Lullah ran back up to the worker with her crowbar in her hands. If Phil’s head wasn’t killing him, he would’ve laughed when Lullah slammed the crowbar right into their crotch, sending them to the ground with a pained groan.

Then, Chayanne jumped off the worker and Lullah took the opportunity. She swung the crowbar again, this time connecting with the side of their head. They crumpled to the ground, blood seeping from their skull and onto the orange dirt beneath them.

Everything fell quiet. Regardless of whether they were alive or dead, the workers were out of commission for the moment.

Phil decided now was as good of a time as any to try and stand. Except when he tried to get to his knees, his vision began to spin and he fell to the ground again.

“Phil!” Missa and Chayanne shouted at the same time.

“I’m good,” Phil tried, although speaking made the headache worse. “Just- need some help getting up.”

“Here, let me,” Missa said, kneeling down next to him. “We should get out of here before they wake up.”

This time, Phil got to his feet using Missa for support. His head was pounding and the moment he put weight on his legs, the world began to spin again. He stumbled but Missa held him upright, even when he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment to try and get his bearings.

“Fuck,” he muttered. “My head’s killing me.”

“That guard hit you really hard,” Missa told him as he began to guide Phil towards the car. “I thought you were unconscious.”

They hobbled towards the car, Phil reaching for the door to the driver’s seat once he was close enough. But before he could wrap his hand around the handle, Chayanne and Lullah both put themselves in front of him.

“You shouldn’t drive,” Chayanne said, folding his arms over his chest.

Phil wanted to argue. This was his car. These were his kids riding in it. Of course he was going to drive. But the longer he stayed standing for, the more difficult it became to keep his senses working. The world was getting too bright again and his ears hadn’t stopped ringing yet. A cold sweat broke out on his forehead as the nausea came back with a vengeance.

“I can drive,” Missa offered when he noticed Phil struggling to formulate a response.

Both Chayanne and Phil shook their heads, despite the pain it caused Phil to do so.

“Chayanne,” Phil forced out as black dots started to dance across his vision. “He knows the desert.”

Before Missa could respond to that, Phil’s knees buckled again. Lullah and Chayanne both lurched forward to grab him, and although Phil wanted to insist he was fine, he couldn’t find the words as the group guided him towards the backseat.

Lullah climbed in first before Missa and Chayanne worked together to get Phil in beside her. As soon as he was sitting, Phil felt himself tip over, his vision still spinning as he laid down sideways on the seat.

There was something warm pressed against the top of his head. Small hands began gently tucking the hair out of his eyes, and it took him a moment to realize he was laying right against Lullah’s legs.

He heard more than saw Missa clamber across the car to get back to the front passenger seat. Chayanne took the driver’s side, grunting as he had to force the seat closer to the wheel so his feet could reach the pedals.

“You know how to drive, Chayanne?” Missa asked as Chayanne started the car.

To answer his question, Chayanne shifted the car into ‘drive’ and slowly began to pull away from the rock wall they’d been pressed up against.

“Phil taught us both how,” Chayanne explained as the car began to pick up speed. “He wanted to make sure we could get away if anything ever happened to him.”

Although Phil couldn’t see it, he imagined Missa nodding. “That’s smart.”

The car fell silent for a while as they drove. Phil distantly wondered where Chayanne was taking them since he didn’t know the way to Sullivan, but after a few minutes he blinked open his eyes and saw Lullah signing at Chayanne above his head.

The car made a few turns, Chayanne taking care not to make them too sharp. It was difficult for Phil to make sense of where they were going. His thoughts were slower than they usually were, as though a thick fog had settled over his mind. At some point his eyes had slipped shut again without him realizing. Although he knew he needed to keep them open, to be aware of what was going on, he found he couldn’t summon the energy to do so.

Phil wasn’t sure how long they drove for. It could’ve been minutes or it could’ve been hours. He might’ve fallen asleep, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that at some point, he felt Lullah lean forward to tap Chayanne on the shoulder.

“Alright, Lullah says it’s safe here,” Chayanne said, slowing the car to a stop.

“What?” Missa sounded confused. “How does she know?”

Phil would’ve laughed if he had more energy.

“Trust me, she knows,” was the only explanation Chayanne gave as he cut the engine.

The next few hours Phil spent flickering in and out of consciousness. Missa, Chayanne, and Lullah seemed to decide it was best to leave him in the car for the time being while the three of them set up a camp. At one point, Lullah came back and started tapping on his temple, making him wince as he forced his eyes open.

“Drink,” Lullah signed before pressing a water canteen to his lips.

During his brief moments of lucidity, Phil knew he should be more concerned about his current condition. The fact of the matter was that he was completely helpless right now. He couldn’t stand, let alone protect the kids if something else came at them. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they still had a total stranger hitching a ride with them right now. Even though Phil had taught Chayanne and Lullah well, if Missa really wanted, he could steal the car without too much trouble and leave them to the mercy of the desert. Phil knew it.

But despite all of this, Phil’s worries couldn’t take root. Either the concussion was numbing the constant, low-level anxiety he had thrumming through his body at any given moment, or he’d somehow come to trust Missa with the kids in the span of twenty-four hours.

It didn’t matter either way. Phil was too out of it to do anything besides lay in the backseat and try not to throw up.

The next time Phil opened his eyes, he was laying on his bed roll and looking up at the stars. He wasn’t sure when he’d been carried out of the car, but the night air was cool on his face, while a nearby campfire warmed his body.

“Can I ask you guys something?” Phil heard Missa ask, his voice barely rising above the crackling fire.

“Depends on what it is, but sure,” Chayanne agreed.

“The Federation is after you two, right? That’s why they attacked us this morning?”

There was a pause and although Phil didn’t want to move his head to look, he imagined either Chayanne was hesitating to respond, or Lullah was signing something for him to translate.

“Yeah, they are,” Chayanne finally answered, telling Phil it had been the first option.

Missa was quiet, clearly waiting for more of an explanation. Chayanne didn’t offer him one.

“Okay,” Missa continued after a long stretch of silence, “can I ask something else? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

Chayanne didn’t say anything and Missa seemed to take that as his cue to continue.

“I noticed that you called Phil, well, Phil earlier. I thought he was your dad. Is he not?”

This time, Chayanne was quicker to answer. “Um, no, he’s not. We’ve only been traveling with him for a few months.”

Missa made a noise of surprise. “A few months? That’s all?”

“Yeah. But he takes care of us.”

For a moment, Phil worried that Missa was going to ask what happened to their parents. Instead though he said,

“Well, I think he really loves you guys.”

Another long silence.

“Lullah wants to know how you know that. You only just met us,” Chayanne translated.

“I don’t know for sure. But you saw how much he did to protect you today. He was still trying to get up after he got hit in the head,” Missa pointed out.

This time Phil could tell the pause was because Lullah was signing again. He wasn’t sure how, he just knew.

“Really?” Chayanne asked Lullah instead of translating. “Why haven’t you asked him yet?”

Silence again as Lullah presumably answered the question.

Missa made a confused sound. “What’s she saying?”

“Lullah, is it okay if I tell him?” Chayanne asked. A beat passed as Lullah gave her response. “Alright. She told me she’s been thinking about asking Phil if she could call him dad.” Then, in a quieter voice he added, “I almost called him that earlier. When we saw him get hit.”

The words didn’t send a shock through Phil’s system like he expected they would. In fact, he struggled to have much of an emotional response at all right then, although he attributed that to the concussion dulling his mind more than anything else.

In the days following Phil would think back to this moment and be filled with an indescribable emotion. Something both warm and terrifying at the same time. He would look at Lullah and Chayanne and think of how he called them his kids. His. They weren’t just kids he was taking care of because it was the right thing to do. It was more than that. There was a bond Phil had with them that he’d never felt before. A bond that changed that way he thought about what exactly he was to the two of them.

But right then, Phil was still too out of it for the reality to fully sink in. Still, he was aware enough to know this was a conversation he shouldn’t be eavesdropping on, even if he had been doing it unintentionally.

So he groaned. He groaned loud enough to make sure they knew he was awake as he attempted to roll over. The pain that echoed through his head this time was duller than before which Phil took as a good sign, but he still knew he wouldn’t be able to stand on his own if he tried.

“Phil, you’re awake?” Missa asked, his face suddenly blocking out the stars above Phil’s head.

“Kind of,” Phil said, his voice hoarse. “Can I get some water?”

Lullah was shoving the canteen in his face before he could even finish the sentence.

Phil managed to stay awake for the next hour or so. Chayanne tried explaining where Lullah had guided them, but Phil’s mental map wasn’t as clear as it usually was so he didn’t really understand. He managed to sit up at one point and Chayanne tried to feed him some garbanzo beans, but his nausea only let him get a few bites down before he had to stop.

For a while he just laid by the fire while Lullah wove small braids into his hair. Eventually, Chayanne and Lullah both grew tired and Missa encouraged them to go to bed. Chayanne was reluctant, insisting he could stay up to guard the camp, but Missa protested this.

“Chayanne, I’ll watch over the camp,” Missa promised. “You go to bed.”

Chayanne seemed unsure and glanced at Phil, who was struggling to keep his eyes open.

The logical part of Phil’s brain that was fighting to come back online knew that this was a risky choice. They still barely knew Missa. But at the same time, he knew that if Missa had any ill will towards them he would’ve enacted it already. He could’ve let the Federation workers take the kids. He could’ve stolen the car at any point. But he hadn’t done either of those things.

“It’s okay, Chayanne,” Phil told him, casting aside the distrust and suspicion of strangers that had kept him alive for years on end. “Missa will guard us.”

This must’ve been what Chayanne was waiting to hear. As soon as Phil said that he relaxed and nodded, making his way over to the sleeping bag he shared with Lullah to crawl in beside her. Once the kids had said their goodnights, Phil let out a sigh of relief as his eyes fluttered shut again.

“Try to get some rest, Phil,” Missa said, his voice soft. “I’ll keep them safe. Don’t worry.”

And for once, Phil didn’t.

☢

The next morning, Phil woke at dawn.

His headache had significantly improved from the day before. While there was still the ache behind his eyes, it was far easier to manage as he blinked open his eyes to a slowly brightening, dove grey sky.

He sat up, waiting for his muscles to protest and the nausea to swell again. While his body was sore, the nausea didn’t reappear and his vision remained still. He looked around the camp, tension in his chest loosening the moment he spotted Chayanne and Lullah’s heads peeking out from the edge of their sleeping bag. They were both sound asleep.

When Phil turned his head to the other side of the camp, he found himself locking eyes with a man he didn’t know. He stiffened, taking in the man’s dark hair and eyes, before realizing who it was.

“Shit, Missa,” Phil breathed, “almost didn’t recognize you without that mask.”

Missa laughed softly. “Sorry. I don’t take it off that often.”

“Why is that?” Phil asked, keeping his voice low so as not to wake the kids up.

“At first my group wore the masks so we wouldn’t be recognized if we ran into anyone from our city. Eventually though we just got used to it I guess?” Missa shrugged. “It’s hard to explain but it’s… nice, I’d say. I’m bad at hiding my emotions so it helps with that. Especially when I’m scared.”

Phil huffed out a laugh. “Mate, I hate to break it to you but you’re still pretty easy to read even with the mask.”

Missa’s eyes went wide. “Wait, really?” When Phil nodded he groaned. “Mierda. I didn’t know.”

“You’re fine. You don’t need to act like a robot out here or anything,” Phil reassured him. “Besides, I like seeing your face. It’s nice.”

At this, Missa sat up a little straighter. He looked as though he was trying not to smile. “You think my face is nice?”

Shit. The fact that Phil still wasn’t 100% there in the head was making itself known.

“I didn’t mean it like- well, your face isn’t bad or anything but I wasn't trying to-” Phil cut himself off with a groan. “I’m digging a hole for myself here, aren’t I?”

“It’s okay, Phil. I think your face is nice too. Muy bonito,” Missa told him. From his tone, Phil couldn’t tell if he was teasing him or not, but he was smiling so Phil figured it was meant in a good way regardless. “Are you feeling better?”

“Way better than yesterday, yeah,” Phil said, wincing as he rolled his neck out. “Still have a bad fucking headache, but at least I can think again.”

Missa nodded. “You were really out of it yesterday. I was worried you had a, uh-” He paused, furrowing his brows. “I don’t know what it’s called in English. We say ‘conmoción cerebral’ in Spanish. It’s when you hit your head really hard and you’re out of it for a while.”

“A concussion,” Phil provided. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I have one of those right now. I’ve had one before and they’re not fun.”

“I’m glad it wasn’t worse though. That Federation person hit you really hard.”

“Me too. That guy’s a fucking bastard,” Phil said. Missa nodded in agreement as Phil thought back to the fight the day before. His smile faded as he focused on Missa again. “I wanted to thank you though, Missa. You didn’t have to stick with us and you certainly didn’t have to help drag my sorry ass out of there, but you did. I appreciate it.”

“You saved me from that cave. I wasn’t going to leave you after that,” Missa explained. “I wasn’t going to let them take the kids either. I don’t really get why the Federation wants them but I’m sure it isn’t for a good reason.”

“No,” Phil agreed, watching their sleeping faces peeking out of the sleeping bag, “it’s not.”

The sun continued to rise, the sky shifting from gray to pink and then to blue as the desert began to warm. Lullah and Chayanne woke up not long after, both of them beaming when they saw Phil sitting up and talking to Missa.

Although Phil insisted he was feeling better, Lullah made them take a slow morning. Chayanne shoved double of Phil’s usual breakfast into his hands, arguing that since he didn’t eat last night he needed to eat extra now.

After he finished he went to stand and had three people all trying to help him up at the same time. Phil rolled his eyes and once again said he was okay on his own, but the others still hovered near him as he walked back to the car to make sure he had all of his things. Thankfully, Lullah had made sure to grab his sword when they left the Federation workers behind. His coat had survived unscathed as well, so all in all Phil considered it a win.

Even if Phil was up and about again, he’d dealt with a concussion before and knew he wasn’t going to be able to go back to his usual activities for a while. But they couldn’t stay out here in the middle of nowhere while he recovered either. Besides, Phil still needed to get Missa to Sullivan. The last thing he wanted was for Missa to miss his group passing through.

Despite Phil’s protests, Chayanne drove again, pointing out that Phil could pass out while driving and kill them all. Phil sat in the front seat this time though, telling Chayanne which direction to go to get them to Sullivan. During the drive, Missa ended up giving Lullah more lessons on his flute, and Phil couldn’t help but grin every time he glanced at the two of them in the backseat.

It was early afternoon by the time they pulled into Sullivan. The town was bustling as it usually was, market stalls crowded by people in colorful clothes with makeshift weapons hanging off their backs. Since they weren’t staying in Sullivan for long, they didn’t need to find a car park and instead were able to stop at the first empty stretch of dirt they saw.

“So, I guess this is it,” Phil said after he, Lullah, Chayanne, and Missa had all climbed out of the car.

Missa had put the skull mask back on when they left their hiding spot in the desert. Strangely enough, Phil found he missed being able to see Missa’s face while he spoke to him, even if he was still able to read him with it on.

“I guess so,” Missa agreed.

“Well, um,” Phil looked over Missa’s shoulder to the building behind him. “That’s the general store behind you. It’s kind of the main hub for everything going on in Sullivan. Even if you’re only passing through, everyone stops in there at some point, so if your group was here they almost definitely would’ve gone in. I’d say your best bet is to ask around in there to find out where they went.”

Missa nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

A brief silence fell over the four of them. Phil wasn’t sure what else there was to say, but he didn’t want to say goodbye yet either. Chayanne and Lullah weren’t bothering to hide how sad they were that Missa was leaving, but Phil had already explained to them both that Missa wasn’t a pet they found on the side of the road that they could just keep. He had his own people to find.

The kids understood. But it didn’t make it any easier on them.

“Thanks for helping us, Missa,” Chayanne said after a few moments.

“Of course. Thank you for letting me stay with you guys,” Missa said as he crouched down in front of Chayanne. “You’re a really brave boy, Chayanne. But remember, you don’t always have to be the strong one. It’s okay to be scared sometimes.”

Chayanne seemed surprised by the advice but didn’t brush it off. Instead, he nodded once before giving Missa a hug. Missa smiled as he hugged him back.

After Chayanne pulled away, Missa turned to Lullah. He said a few things to her in Spanish that she nodded along to, giggling when Missa said something while gesturing towards Phil and Chayanne. Then, he held up a hand while he dug in his bag, Phil realizing what he was doing at the same time as Lullah.

“Toma, quiero que tengas esto, Lullah,” he said, pressing the flute case into her hands.

Lullah began shaking her head but Missa nodded and pushed the flute towards her.

“Sí, sí, tómalo.”

Lullah cradled the box in her hands as if it was the most precious thing she’d ever held. She glanced up at Phil, the question clear in her eyes.

“Missa, that’s very sweet but you don’t have to-”

“It’s okay. I want her to have it, Phil,” Missa insisted. “She’s already better at playing it than I am anyway.”

Phil didn’t like being indebted to people. It was one of the ways he had survived for so long on his own. Whenever he owed someone something—gas, food, a favor—he tried to repay it as quickly as possible. Leaving debts hanging was just asking for trouble to come your way in the future.

But this was a gift, not something Phil would owe Missa for. And even if it was, Phil knew now that Missa wasn’t the kind of person who thought that way. Instead, Missa was kind in a way few people were these days.

Phil nodded at Lullah and Lullah squealed with excitement, clutching the flute case to her chest as she bounced up and down on her heels. Then she ran at Missa, wrapping her arms around him in the tightest hug she could manage while still holding the box. Missa laughed and hugged her back, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he let go.

“We’re going to see you again, right?” Lullah signed once she handed the flute case to Phil.

Chayanne translated while Missa and Phil shared an uncertain look.

“I’d really love to see you again, Lullah, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to find you guys.”

And just like that, an idea sparked in Phil’s concussion-addled brain.

“Hold on a second,” Phil said as he opened the car door and leaned inside. He heard Missa make a questioning noise as Phil began to dig through his glove box, wondering if his memory had been fucked up by the concussion until his hands closed around a small, black screen. “I knew it was here somewhere.”

“What is it?” Chayanne asked, furrowing his brows.

Phil grinned as he held out the device. It was only a little larger than the palm of his hand and after he flipped out the miniature solar panel attached to the side, the screen flickered to life. It displayed a rudimentary map of the wasteland, a few darkened pixels singling out all the main settlements: Sullivan, Pleser, the Third City, and the Red Circle Camp. There was one additional map marker that was unnamed, but Phil knew as Tubbo’s place.

Along with the town markers, there were other dots scattered around the map. Each one was labeled with a number between one and nine, with the exception of number two, which was missing from the screen.

“This is the tracker thing Tío Tubbo made for us!” Chayanne exclaimed.

“Tubbo?” Missa questioned. “Wait, a tracker?”

“It’s hard to explain. Basically, there are some other kids out here in the wasteland Lullah and Chayanne have history with. Obviously one person can’t support that many kids out here, so they’ve all split up. But my friend, Tubbo, built these trackers so we’ll always know where the other kids and their caretakers are. And because I have two kids,” Phil held the device out to Missa, “Tubbo gave me two trackers.”

Missa's eyes widened as he took the tracker in his hands. “Your friend made this? How?”

“Tubbo’s the genius, not me,” Phil shrugged. “If you look at the numbers you’ll see I have both tracker one and two. The one you’re holding is two, which is why it’s not showing up on the map. But if I were to pull out tracker one I’d be able to see exactly where you are at any given moment, assuming you’re still in the desert. There’s no messaging system or anything so we can’t communicate with it, but if you want to find us you’ll be able to.”

“You… You’re giving this to me?” Missa whispered. Then, he shook his head. “No, no I can’t take it. Not something this valuable. You need both for the kids, right?”

Phil shook his head. “Nah, I’ve never needed to use the second one since they’re both always with me and never split up. Sure it’s nice to have, but I’d rather you take it so we can find you again.”

For a moment Missa could only stare at him and Phil began to worry that he had overstepped. Then, he was being pulled into a tight hug.

“Thank you, Phil. For everything,” Missa said, his breath ghosting against Phil’s ear.

“Of course, mate. I’m just really fucking glad we met you.”

As Missa began to pull back, he hesitated. He moved back just enough to meet Phil’s eyes. Then, in rapid-fire Spanish he said, “Te lo digo en español porque no quiero que lo entiendas, pero creo que me enamoré de ti la primera vez que te vi y estoy deseando volver a verte.” Before Phil could ask him what that meant, Missa was leaning forward again and pressing a kiss to Phil’s cheek.

So caught off guard by the gesture, Phil started laughing without even meaning to. Missa gave him a curious look but Phil waved it off with a smile. Reassured, Missa returned the smile as he lifted his bag onto his shoulder.

“Don’t be a stranger!” Phil called out.

Missa nodded. “I won’t!” Then he looked down and Phil followed his gaze, where Lullah was staring up at him with wide eyes. “No traduzcas lo que dije.” Lullah nodded and mimed zipping her lips.

With one final wave, Missa made his way across the road and into the general store. Once he disappeared inside, the kids and Phil climbed back into the car, Chayanne taking the driver’s seat yet again.

“Where to?” Chayanne asked as he started the engine.

Phil groaned as he leaned back in his seat, his muscles aching from all the activity of the last two days. “We’re heading to Pleser. We can fix the window there, plus Tía Niki can get us a cheap motel room for a few days so I can sleep off the rest of this damn concussion.”

Lullah let out an excited noise hearing they were going to see Niki again. Phil smiled and let his eyes flutter shut as Chayanne drove them out of Sullivan, where the open desert was waiting to swallow them whole once more.

Two days. It had only been two fucking days since Phil found Missa in that cave. It was difficult to believe, especially since Phil could already feel his absence in the car.

But as the dirt turned orange beneath their tires, Lullah took out the flute Missa had given her and began to run through the notes he showed her. If Phil kept his eyes shut, he could almost believe Missa was still here.

Maybe that would be a reality soon. After all, Missa had the tracker. He could find them whenever he wanted.

It was only a matter of time.