A year from now we'll all be gone

All our friends will move away

And they're going to better places

But our friends will be gone away

Eventually, he had to go home.

It had been nice, seeing Iso, but Zero knew that sooner or later he would have to return to the Throat. Even if Ma wasn't there the boy still had family, sisters to take care of, sisters who were young and needy and would doubtless be confused by their mother's sudden departure. And even though he felt like it, Zero wasn't a child anymore. He was two, an adult, and he couldn't just hide from the things he feared. Tae and Grusha needed him, so it was time for him to be grown-up and brave.

So he went home, collected Squishy, and set out to find his sister.

Had he known just how perplexed Tae was he might have come home sooner. As it was he found his sister beneath a low-hanging sun, her small body a dark blight against the sloping red hills. He saw her before he heard her, and for a moment he paused, uncertain, a sudden dread falling over him at the prospect of telling his sister that Ma's not coming back for a while. So when her voice reached him - Zeeeeeeeeeerrrrooooo! - it was with no small amount of reticence that he put on a smile and prepared himself for the worst.

"Tae! Over here!"

The Lightning's son took off at a trot, picking his way down the slope to where his little sister stood. As he approached he noticed the two (wait, two?) wolves at her side; as always he avoided them, unsure of how to feel about his sisters' companions. Why did they have to do that? A part of him knew that there was something about Tae and Grusha that he'd never understand, and that bothered him. Still, Zero felt his smile soften as he neared his weird, mandible-marked baby sister, because no matter what she was family, and for the boy who'd felt so alone it was nice to remember that he still had that, even if Ma was gone.

"Watcha doin' all the way out here, little ghost?" Zero reached out with bright white teeth, aiming to pull playfully at Tae's forelock. "Where's Grush, huh?" He looked around, suddenly curious. "I don't think I've ever seen you two apart before."

He wished it could just stay like this, that he could play with her and smile and everything would be normal- but it wasn't. With another nip the boy stepped back, sunbeam eyes growing dim as he looked down sadly on his sister's face. "Tae... we gotta talk. I have to tell you something, and Grusha, too." Again he looked around, as though expecting the second twin to burst from the sand. Which wouldn't surprise him, honestly.

The sisters were weird, but they were also his.