Amery is not supposed to be on the dropship.
She isn't one of the hundred delinquents being sent down to a radiation-soaked planet. She's just a Zero-G mechanic making some last-minute adjustments to a project nobody will tell her anything about.
I...
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✧】i. some kind of undertrained ninja【✧
[ pilot ]
"IS THAT GOOD or bad?" Keaton asks nervously, his fingers drumming along the fabric of his jeans in a clear display of anxiety and impatience. Amery's gaze shifts from Keaton's wide-eyed expression to the boy who had spoken, surveying him with muted interest. His dark hair is falling into warm brown eyes, and a curious little smile tugs at the corner of his lips as he elbows the lanky, goggle-clad kid next to him. Although his quick notice of the lack of machine hum indicated mechanical knowledge, Amery has never seen the kid around Mecha or Tesla, or even Go-Sci.
Before Goggle Kid or his machine buddy can answer Keaton's question, Abby's daughter is out of her seat and panicking over whether Spacewalker and his companions are alive.
"Finn, is he breathing?"
Amery's heart falls at the sight of two boys splayed across the floor, unmoving, a distraught looking Spacewalker– Finn, Griffin had called him– kneeling by one of the bodies. They never even made it outside, she thinks, closing her eyes momentarily to gather herself.
She's jolted from her reverie by Keaton jumping from his seat and bounding across the aisle. Grinning, the redhead clicks the buckles of her seatbelt meets him halfway, falling into his arms and letting him lift her from the ground. He laughs into her hair, warming the nape of her neck with his breath as she sighs into his shoulder.
"Keats," she whispers, tears stinging her eyes again at his touch. "I'm– I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry," she mutters, pulling away to hold the boy at arm's length. "I shouldn't have let them take you, I should have told the truth. I didn't want you to– you didn't deserve, I mean, I should have–"
"Mer, hey. Amery. Hey," Keaton laughs, putting his hands on the girl's shoulders and leveling her with a firm look. The quiver of her bottom lip only makes his gaze harden, leaving no room for argument. "That was my choice, okay? It was my decision, and I have never once regretted it. Do you understand me?" His thick brows pinch together in the way they always do when he's concerned, and Amery can't even hold back her smile. "Besides, who do you think I trusted more to take care of my old man?"
A giggle forces its way past Amery's lips, breaking her pensive expression into a gleeful one. "You never were very level-headed," she hums, triggering a noise of offense from Keaton.
"Hey, how's Dad?" he asks hesitantly, eyes sparkling with hope.
"Great," the girl responds truthfully, offering Keaton a smile. "Still the smartest man I know. Still... still misses you every day," she says softly, looking down at her shoes. "I really am sorry, you know."
For a moment, Keaton takes a step back and studies the girl before him in silence. His bottom lip disappears between his teeth, and dark eyes filled with depth beyond their years look Amery up and down. She tenses, clasping her hands into tight fists behind her back. This is it. This is where he comes to his senses, where he lashes out and gives her what she deserves. This is the end of the friendship they've been building since they could walk, the end of her four years of regret and the beginning of a treacherous journey of single-sided pining for reconciliation, a–
