Interning on the Aronnax

Six Years Ago

A/N: Okay, this was a hard chapter, but I got it done! Let me know if anything's unclear, and I can explain. And while I was writing this chapter, I realized that if you haven't read my other stories, you might not have realized that Pete is basically a big brother to Finn. Finn only called Pete his best friend earlier in Interning, which I wrote before any of my other stories with Pete. Finn, Pete, and Maddie's relationship has grown stronger in my mind since then.

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"When Mom got sick, Dad was out on a raid like normal. It happened suddenly. She woke up tired and kept holding her head, but Mom kept assuring us that she was fine. And we believed her."

Finn swallowed hard. Not for the first time, he wondered if Violet could have been saved if the kids had disobeyed her and called for help.

"She got worse. Very quickly. By the end of the day, she was burning up and could barely sit up. Pete wanted to call Dad, but Mom wouldn't let us. Kept telling us to not bug Dad because he was on a big raid and she was fine."

"But she just kept..." Finn shook his head.

"Finn?" Fontaine said tentatively.

"It's been six years, and it's no easier," Finn said, looking away.

"You don't have to explain if you don't want to."

"I want to." Finn squeezed his eyes shut. "I have to. Just... just give me a second."

Finn heard rustling, then a hand took his. He opened his eyes, staring at Fontaine's hand while she tugged him gently to the bed and made him sit down. She sat beside him, still holding his hand.

"Take as long as you need," Fontaine said as she wrapped a blanket around his shoulders.

Finn took a breath, then forged on. "Pete and I took turns watching her through the night, thinking she would start to recover, but... she just wouldn't. She kept getting worse and worse, and by morning, she was so weak she could barely talk."

"We begged her to let us call Dad, but she kept telling us 'no, no, don't call Dad, he's busy and it's going to be fine.'" Finn shook his head. "I believed her because she was so calm about it. I think Pete felt the same. Besides-" Finn coughed, blinked, "Nothing could ever hurt Mom..."

Finn stared at his and Fontaine's hand. "I was the last one to talk to her before she died. Pete was distracting Maddie in her room, and I was watching Mom when she seemed to lose her breath. I told her I was calling Dad, but she grabbed my hand and... and I told her to stay. I begged her. I didn't want to say good-bye, not to Mom."

"She-" Finn's breath hitched. "She told me, 'Ergo haec haud vale. Iterum autem videbo vos rursus, mea Niteo.' She told me it wasn't good-bye. That she'd see me again."

"Her-" Finn blinked suddenly blurry eyes. "Her eyes closed and she just... she just stopped. At first, I thought she really was better, but... but she wasn't breathing, no matter how much I shook her and screamed, then Pete was there-"

Finn took a shuddering breath. He rubbed his eyes, remembering Pete's horror and fear when he saw Violet. Maddie was still so young that she didn't fully understand what was happening or why the boys were crying.

"Oh, Finn," Fontaine whispered, wrapping her arms around Finn.

Finn leaned into the hug, feeling hot tears running down his cheeks.

"It was a long time before any of us could move," Finn said after collecting himself. "I don't know how long, really. But then the intruder alarm went off, so Pete and I automatically ran to the docks. We found the Dark Orca."

"I've never seen the Dark Orca in such a state," Finn said pensively. "It was smoking and the engine was grinding. I thought the Dark Orca was being chased."

"But then Dad came out, and he was just fine. Except... he was confused. Dad never shows when he's confused, but I remember how lost he looked. Like someone had snatched a map out from under his nose when he was chasing treasure. He asked where Mom was... all Pete and I could do was lead him to their room."

"Dad never looked surprised. When he saw Mom, he was confused at first... then he just looked horrified. But never surprised."

"I think... I think he knew that Mom was gone before he stepped foot in the base. Danny Boy told me years later that Dad had stopped in the middle of the raid the previous day. Almost left half the crew behind in his rush to get back to base. He'd known something was wrong. But not what until we showed him Mom."

"Dad cried then." Finn felt Fontaine flinch, her first movement in a while. "Yeah, Dad cries... well, he's only cried once that I've seen. And here's the odd thing. The really odd thing. His tears glowed."

"That confused me six years ago. Almost as much as how calm Mom was that day. But it makes sense now."

"Mom was protecting Dad from the curse. Hiding her sickness and pain from him. And the glowing tears... I think that was the curse releasing Dad."

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A/N: Coming up Saturday: who's ready to see what Hammerhead's up to?