Art by DogInATuxedo

Also, this chapter is the chapter that kinda deals a bit more with the sexism of the rebellion. No, De does not support this, but for the sake of the story and future conflict, there is some implication in this chapter.

You have been warned.

Oh yeah, TW: vomiting, forgot that

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When Commander Thirteen went missing, kids started to grow frantic. It was only six months after Oracle Eleven was found dead by the riverbank, leaving a rather... inexperienced Oracle in her place.

Obviously, Rain was trying her best. She told her brother about how even the stars was taking it easy on her. They were trying their best to be supportive, like they normally were to newbies, but were obviously still crushed over Eleven's death.

But even they didn't really give her advice on who to chose as the new Commander. It was required to be a boy, obviously, they were much stronger and smarter, born leaders so to say.

The highest ranking girl position was Oracle, but even than, Rain wasn't allowed to speak out to the older kids unless given permission. Thirteen didn't really care if Rain slipped her opinion on a matter in during their conversations, he always said it would be nice to have more opinions rather than war on a single matter, whatever that meant.

So, now, here she was, standing in her brother's room, pacing a trench into the ground below her as Seven tried to sketch something at his desk.

"I don't know what to do, Sev... I mean, this is a big decision, if I choose the wrong person, who knows what will happen! We could have a dictator, or an evil supreme overlord, or someone who's a slob at his job-"

"Rain, the more you freak out, the great chance of your heart giving out again," Seven groaned. Rain looked over at him.

It was normally a well kept secret between the twins of both of their health conditions. It was never smart idea to reveal poor health, as other kids normally took it and used it at their advantage.

While Seven's condition was more noticeable with his poor mental health, Rain suffered a lot more with a matter of physical health. She had been born with a bad heart, one that got tired easily and normally skipped beats quiet often. It was a wonder she even survived being a scout for as long as she did.

But after they had both seen what would happened to them if they showed anything like that to the rebellion... well, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.

"Hush before someone hears you," Rain quietly scolded.

"Look, if you want my opinion on who you should pick, just say it instead of tiptoing around the problem. I have a lot to do to get ready for a supply run to the hospital," he replied back with a snap in his tone.

Rain had been too busy worrying to realize her brother was now up and walking around, strapping a sash of empty vials around his shoulder and chest and fixing a rope belt of Molotov bottles around his waist.

The girl in the yellow button up coat frowned slightly. "Who... should I pick?" Rain whispered.

Seven looked over, previously tying an anklet of firecrackers around his right leg. "Well, my best bet would be Mono or Four. Four because he's experienced with what he does, and Mono for the fact he's actually of age to take over," he answered.

"Right, his birthday was last week..." Rain mumbled under her breath. Four was smart and stern, someone the kids of the rebellion could look up to easily.

But, Mono was younger, he could serve longer, plus his newfound weird static power could protect the hideout if anything were to occur. Rain remembered how shocked she was when Mono showed her his ability.

It was on an old TV that was in the forest that suddenly turned on. The piercing buzzing noise made her head and ears ring loudly, making her stomach feel sick for some odd reason. Rain wanted to curl up and just die as the TV shrieked whatever it was going on about.

Mono had braved through the loud ringing, and at first, Rain had thought he was going to hit the off button, but was a bit taken aback as he placed his hand onto the screen, the static forming into a picture of a choppy, glitchy hallway.

It all happened so fast and ended just as quickly. The next thing Rain knew, Mono had been placed on even more scouting patrols, to the point the three didn't have much time to hang out anymore.

That kind of power, no one in the rebellion had heard of a kid being born with. Yes, sometimes there was the occasional, 'special' child, those born with abnormal abilities, but they were far too rare and were normally kept by adults, seeing those type of child as the next higher ups.

Rain tried to hold back a snort at the thought. Of course, only the gifted kids got the attention from adults, the Abandonment Policy never said anything about them not being allowed to keep them. She was sure they didn't even dare try to see their survival skills, too scared of hurting their poor, brainwashed, smooth brained, dimwitted, goody-to-shoe power child.

"Well... I'll think about it. 'Course, I don't have forever, but... I'll come up with something," she mumbled. Seven just gave her a nod as he passed by, picking up a backpack that was on the floor, slinging it around his arm and onto his shoulder.

"Whoever you choose, I know they'll be a good fit. Don't let the others get to you, keep your chin up, Rai," he spoke, finally able to join his sister's side. He held his arms out, Rain giving a smile, happily taking the other's invitation for a hug.

Rain squeezed her arms around her brother, feeling a bit of her small bit of anxiety melt away. Seven would normally always try to end a conversation like this with a hug to help her ease her nerve. Rain couldn't count how many times in the recent past events that had happened she always looked forward to speaking with him. She knew Seven probably only paid her half attention, but no matter the time he always tried to have some time left for her.

They were the only family they had left after all.

Seven patted her back, the two separating from the embrace. The boy in blue fixed his straps, looking over towards Rain as he made his way out.

"I'm gonna ask Mono if he can get me and Bread inside the hospital. If we're not back by dinner feel free to come look for our mangled corpses!" He called over, giving a wave as he moved his curtain out of the way, walking down the tunnel, making his way down another tunnel across from his.

Rain watched him leave, waving goodbye to him. After a moment, she gave a sigh, grabbing her arms as she crossed them. Whoever she chose had the life of the rebellion in his hands... she couldn't mess this up.

***

Seven looked at the large building in front of him, a wavering uneasiness filling him as he gripped his backpack's straps. His apprentice, Eight (or Bread as he normally called him because of his love for it and his freckles reminding him of bread crumbs), was close to him, looking up with excitement and awe.

Eight was only seven years old, almost two and a half years younger than him. Seven had only just started taking the young boy under his wing just a month ago after seeing the other's love for fire just as he had his age.

Mono stood to the other side of him, looking up at the building just like the others. His trenchcoat's tail flicked behind him as a breeze passed them by.

A brown paper bag was over his head, something he had wore willingly in the past few days since spring began. Seven shivered as he remembered the fox attack, not to mention what had happened to his dear friend.

Mono had a friendly face, soft and lightly scarred cheeks from twigs and sharp thorns he could sometimes have to crawl through. Now...

"Well, let's get going. If Twist realizes I'm up and out he's gonna rip my ear off," the paper bagged boy muttered, starting to make his way to the large doors.

Seven followed behind, Bread trailing behind, looking around at the tall dark building. The two older boys slipped through a tight walkway between the building and the next, hugging the sides as they carefully and quietly crept between the buildings' walls.

Mono looked up, stopping as he listened to the sounds around them. "TV up ahead, I can take us up in no time. Where to exactly?" He asked.

"The morgue should have lighter fluid and other flammables; Bread, you can go there. I need to get more rubbing alcohol and a few other things. Mono, I'm gonna need you with me just in case I need an emergency exit, we're heading toward the upper levels, there's some bandages and bottles I can use for my special Molotov prototypes," Seven stated, the three coming into what looked to be an outside break room for any nurses working.

A small set of picnic tables were placed on the ground beside the hospital building. On one of the tables sat the TV they had been hearing, broadcasting a show the children were unfamiliar with.

'It's time for Animaniacs!' The TV speakers sang, black and white dog-ish esk like characters running around on the screen, occasionally showing a new character every few seconds.

Mono placed his hand onto it, the screen suddenly changing. It became a fuzzy image of a choppy hallway, the same scene that always played when Mono placed his hand on the glass.

He held his other hand out, grabbing Seven, who in turn, grabbed Bread's. In a few more heartbeats, the three were sucked into the TV, flipping and turning in the fuzz of the transmission.

With no time, they were spat out in another room with a TV. Seven slowly pushed himself up off the ground, proud of himself for how quickly he recovered from the teleporter aftershocks.

The hospital wasn't a safe place to linger in anyways, so it wasn't a smart idea to stay long at all. Seven looked over to Mono, who had just gotten up, before glancing to Bread, who took a few more seconds to recover, groaning and whining slightly as he held his head.

"You'll get use to it. C'mon, the morgue is down that way, just lay low and if you hear something from above, hide," Seven told him, giving his apprentice a small pat on the back before sending him off to the side.

Bread slowly went off, his backpack making little noise as its contents shuffled inside. Now left alone, Seven looked toward his partner.

"This way, let's go," the boy in blue said in a flat tone, already making his way to a flight of stairs. Mono trailed behind him, looking around the room.

It looked to be a lobby of some kind, the bottom floor having two empty wheelchairs facing the TV screen. The room was tall, with a second floor, which the two were now standing on. An operating elevator was in center of the wall of the second level.

Seven stepped over, pulling a switch down, the elevator making a noise as its buzzer told everyone in the facility it was in working order. It was nighttime, no one was here, so they didn't worry as much about it. Just... don't wake any adults up.

They entered the elevator, going down to the lower levels. Mono crossed his arms, looking up at a small screen at the top that showed which floor they were on.

"So, how's Eight been holding up?" He asked, trying to stir up a short conversation.

Seven groaned, "I'd rather eat rotting rabbit meat if I'm being completely and utterly honest. I appreciate his heart in his work, but by the stars, that kid is going to kill someone if he isn't careful."

"What about those Molotovs you were talking about earlier? Something about a prototype?" Mono looked over, eyes scanning up and around the elevator, beginning to tap his foot at they waited.

Seven felt a small smile on his face grow. "Well, I'm working on a-"

Mono cut him off, suddenly shushing him. "Wait," he said firmly. Seven looked at him, before looking up at what he had noticed.

A small camera looked down at them, a small red dot blinking in the corner. They were being watched.

"Shit," Seven hissed under his breath. In all his times sneaking in, he never thought of they ever being security. Right next to the camera, Seven noticed a small metal box with holes in it. A speaker maybe?

Before anymore could be said, a loud buzzer noise went off, making the two cover their ears. From the small metal boxes came clouds of some sort of gas.

"Don't breath!" Mono shouted, the two quickly taking their last gulp of fresh air, before covering their mouths and noses (Mono having to slightly bunch up his paper bag to cover his).

Their eyes looked up to the screen, watching desperately as the small number went up at a gut wrenchingly slow pace.

With each heartbeat, Seven could feel his lungs slowly begin to burn more and more. It felt like they were tightening even more inside his chest, after another moment or two, it began to pound painfully as his body started to grow desperate for air.

He could feel his face burn as he tried to hold his breath for as long as he could. For all they knew the gas could be toxic and kill them the moment he took a gulp of air!

Finally, he couldn't hold it anymore, his mouth opening as he quickly began to gasp and pant, wobbly on his legs from the lack of clean oxygen. The gas filled his lungs, and for a moment, Seven felt his heart skip a beat, thinking he was going to die.

But after a few moments, not happened. "It doesn't seem toxic-"

The two froze as they registered as to what they heard. A high pitched, squeaky voice. Wait, was the gas-

"Is this helium?" Mono asked, his own voice becoming squeaky and higher in pitch. Seven looked at him, a small snicker escaping him.

"You sound funny," Seven giggled. Mono gave a chuckle of his own.

"Me sounding funny? You sound funny!" He laughed. The two boys found themselves bursting out in uncontrollable laugher, Seven even falling on the floor, holding his stomach.

The high pitched laughter sounded throughout the elevator, the two boys slowly feeling themselves growing a bit loopy. What was this stuff?

When Seven opened his eyes, the world was a little fuzzy, all of his senses growing numb. His brain turned foggy, mindlessly giggling as he rolled onto the floor, looking up at the ceiling. It felt like he wasn't in control of his own body, just a mindless mess of giggles in the blue jacket.

"Man, I haven't felt this good in a long time," Seven mumbled, a soft chuckle following after. Mono nodded, the boy now laying next to him, staring at the ceiling.

"The gas is probably killing us, but by the starrrrsss this stuff feels great. Feels like I could just blurt out everything and not care about it," Mono said, eyes swirly just the tiniest bit.

"Shit, if we're going out like this, might as well get stuff off our chests," Seven said, taking another huff of air.

"Agreed. I'll go first, when I was about... three or four, I use to have this pet cat named Oreo. My dense toddler self didn't understand cats didn't like water, and I threw her into the pond behind our house over and over until she finally clawed me when I picked her up for things besides the pond. Being an only child was wild, man."

Seven gave a small laugh, "Man, I never got the chance to even think about having a pet. Before me and Rain got kicked out, she's use to dress us up in some of our mom's old dresses so we could have tea parties. I-" Seven put his hand to his chest, emphasizing his next few words, "-was a tea party *queen*."

Mono started giggling again. "There was one time, I decided I didn't want a bath. So, to get out of it, I decided to hide in a chest in the attic. What I didn't account for, was the locking being bad. So I was trapped in a chest for about three straight hours, still didn't get out of bathtime though."

The boy in blue couldn't stop his sudden outburst of laughter, picturing his once small, naive, sweetheart of a Mono pulling a stunt such as that.

"Wooo, I can't feel my legs," he said, enjoying the fuzziness in his mind. He felt absolutely great too.

"Mono, I love you, man," Seven muttered, a small dopey smile lazily making its way to his face. Mono chuckled, "Love you too, Sev."

"No, I mean like, I love ya, love ya. I mean, you're such a great guy, you're smart, caring, you're just- such an amazing guy," Seven rambled on, feeling his body on the verge of passing out.

Mono went quiet, unknown to Seven if he had passed out already or was too delirious to say anything back. His eyes grew heavier, eyes starting to flutter close and becoming a drag to open again. Sleep felt nice right now...

Suddnly, the elevator buzzed again, opening up, fresh air rolling into the small room.

As soon as Seven breathed the clean air in, he seemed to snap out of it. He sat up, fully awake, mind reeling as to what he had just said. What the hell just happened?

Mono sat up behind him, slowly getting up to his feet. Seven was too busy chastising himself to notice the other holding a hand out to him. Eventually, he looked up as he heard the other clear his throat.

Nervously, the boy in blue looked up. The bag on Mono's head blocked out his eyes, but he could tell by the other's relaxed shoulders he wasn't upset.

Slowly, he took the other's hand, being pulled up to his feet. A rock seem to settle into the boy's belly, averting his gaze from looking at the other. He opened his mouth to speak, but his sentence only came out in jumbles.

"Mono, I didn't- I mean, I don't- you're-"

Mono shook his head, and despite the bag, Seven had a feeling he was softly smiling at him. "It's okay, Seven, don't start getting all flustered. I'm... not going to judge you, but... I just don't... feel the same, you know? You're a great guy, but..."

"I know," Seven began, "you don't feel the same. I'm sorry, the gas-"

"I know," Mono cut him off. Seven felt his cheeks burn with embarrassment. Mono took mercy on him, starting to go ahead and lead them out of the elevator. Seven took the lead shortly after, gathering the supplies as quickly as they could.

They entered into an examination room, Seven looking at the medical cabinet, judging and planning how he could get up there. He came over to the spinney chair, rolling it over to the counter and climbed up.

Mono left his side to go explore, the boy in the bag finding himself in a hallway. It seemed oddly well kept, except for a bed knocked over and a few misplaced tables. Towards the back, something caught his eye.

It was a child. Mono rushed over, seeing the boy face away from him, dressed in fully black, twitching as he looked away.

"Hey, are you okay, it's dangerous here if you're not-"

Mono froze as he reached out and touched the child's shoulder, a feeling of electricity zipping up his spine, taking his breath away. The child disappeared, the trenchcoat cladded other holding his head as his ears rang with a static like noise.

He slumped to his knees, whimpering as the pain in his head grew worse. Suddenly, it was all over, but something didn't feel right, like he ate spoiled food or something. He got to his feet again, wobbly as he stood up right.

His stomach suddenly churned, and he quickly took his bag off, tossing it to the side as his stomach squeeze, vomit splashing onto the tilts. His throat burned, his fingers felt numb, and his brain felt far too foggy to just be pushed off as an after effect of the gas from the elevator.

Mono coughed, cringing at the horrible after taste of bile on his tongue. He look to the side, not wanting to look at the mess he made on the floor. What the hell just happened?

"Mono! I could use some help in here!" Seven's voice called from the room he had left to go exploring from. Still a bit shaky, Mono made his way back to the other.

His vision started to grow dark all of sudden, his legs numb and wobbly. His chest beat unevenly from whatever happened, even breathing felt hard. The sound of static buzzing began to slowly fill his ears, becoming louder and louder with each unstable heartbeat.

He turned the corner, looking up at the boy in the blue jacket, and all at once, the wrong feelings went away.

Seven looked at him, worried by his disheveled looks. "Mono? You okay? Where's your bag?" He asked, trying pour a large bottle of rubbing alcohol into the bottles, but was making a small mess.

"Yeah... yeah, fine. I'll get it in just a second. Let me help you out there."

***

Rain took a few breaths, she could do this, she could do this...

Her unsteady heartbeat quickened as she stood on a small wooden ledge that was meant for Oracles and Commanders to make announcements on.

Just... just do it.

"Kids of the rebellion," she started, closing her eyes to not see all of the watchful, judging, staring gaze of the children on her.

"By the rules settled by Commander Siren, it is said that... a new Commander must be made before two days of the first Commander dying or dissappearing. It has been that long of time, and I have come to my decision as Oracle as to who will lead us. It's with great pleasure, our new Commander will be-"

The room stopped and turned as the sound of footsteps caught the kids' attention. Rain gave a small gasp, seeing the Bread and Seven help Mono walk inside, a hand to his head. All at once, worry over came her, and before she could even think of what she could say, she didn't notice she finished up with her announcement,

"Mono!"

The kids let out loud cheers all of a sudden, scaring the boy who Rain had accidentally chosen. Mono was taken aback, before being shoved to the front, being ripped away from Seven and Bread's grasp, pushing him forward to join Rain on the ledge.

Mono looked out with concern, his head still pounding from earlier. He looked down to his hand as he felt Rain wrapped hers around his in worry. He looked up, seeing the concern look on her face.

He didn't expect this, but both knew now he couldn't back out. Once a Commander was named, they could not back down or refuse the position.

"Thank you, Oracle Rain. I'll lead the best way I can in hopes of make our futures bright," he stated, hiding the pain in his voice as best as he could.

From the back, Seven could see how nervous Mono had turned. His normal brave and slightly boastful self now gone. His lips twitched in a frown, but he didn't speak.

Slipping away from the crowd, Seven made his way towards his work space. He had more work to get done.

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Finished - Feb. 26th, 2021

Been a bit since I updated, sorry about that. This chapter is a bit of the a filler, but I hope everyone liked it.

Next two chapters will hopefully be a LOT more entertaining, I assure you.

Anyways, hope you all enjoy!

Take care!

* Edited Mar. 21st, 2021 *

De is tired and sick, so she figured it would be a good time to update this again.

I fixed more of the typos, rewrote just a few tiny scenes, and that's pretty much it.

Hope you all enjoyed!

Take care!

* Edited May 25th, 2021 *