Four Spirits, One Soul

A Trap Set and a Friend Lost

TW: knives, guns, hallucinations, panic attacks, cussing, torture, blood

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POV: Poltergeist

I looked over at König, who's eyes widened in shock at seeing me. Reaper was standing a few feet away, eyes and mouth open at seeing my burned form, covered in bandages thanks to Soap and Archer. Speaking of Soap, he rushed to my side as I wobbled, exclaiming, "What te hell do ye think ye doin?! You're supposed to stay at the camp, ya wee daffy!" I clung as best I could to Soap so I didn't fall, managing to say, "I heard Ghost and König, I-I wanted to see them too.." Soap sat me down in the middle of the group, something I only came to appreciate when König sat next to me and pulled me into a gentle but tender embrace. 

Relaxing into his arms, I sensed rather then heard Reaper, Soap, Roach and Archer sit down around me. Eventually Soap spoke up. "Okay, so now that everyone's here together, Poltergeist could you tell me what happened?" Flashes of the Twins, of the flashes of the guns that shot us all down, of the fire that seemingly consumed everything, ran through my head as I felt myself start to shake. König's gentle hand on my back calmed me down a little, but tears still pricked my eyes at the memories. Of the Twins on their 12th birthday, sharing a celebratory cake with me, Flame, and the rest of the Sparrows. Of them taking up the mantles of my second-in-command when Flame passed. 

More memories assaulted me as I shook more, I could sense König and Soap touching me, their voices seeming to reverberate through me, as if I was both underwater and the water itself. Flashes of me helping them through so many assassination missions as their supervisor, them efficiently killing when it was necessary, me teaching Terrance how to braid his hair sister's hair to make it easier to tie up, Sylvia coming to me when she found Terrance cutting his hair off. The day they got their hair dyed with those silver streaks, how happy Terrance was when he awoke from gender confirmation surgery. Images of how grouchy he was during the recovery period, how Sylvia denied all missions to stick by his side as he healed, how the entire Sparrow nest cheered for him during the party that followed. 

Darkness consumed my vision as more memories wrapped around me like ropes. That time Sylvia had been captured and Terrance flew off the handle to save her. All the former labs we had raided, all the children we had freed. The day they had come to save me for a change.. saving me, Soap, Ghost, and König. Three people they didn't know, yet they risked their lives to save them with me because they knew I cared for them. My entire life was spent alongside them, I considered them little siblings. I considered all the Sparrows as family, from Teeny from lab 6, to Goliath from lab 3. Large, small, young, old, I viewed them all as family. "And that family is in danger." 

My breath caught in my throat, my head whipping to the side to see Sylvia and Terrance standing a short distance away. Tears now freely flowed as they approached. "T-Terrance? Sylvia..? H-How-?" Terrance cut me off with a hand, his and Sylvia's eyes full of sorrow. "Shh big brother, save your strength. You need it." My breath was coming in short gasps, I was struggling to keep my eyes on them, but I still managed to gasp out, "I-I'm so sorry.. I-I was supposed to protect you two.. I promised I would.." Sylvia's head shook sadly, her voice managing to reach me as she said, "But we all knew this would happen. Don't blame yourself big brother, blame Graves. Blame Shepherd. Blame the ones who burned us, not the ones under the gas along with us." 

My breathing steadied slowly as Terrance knelt down next to me, gently saying, "Take care of yourself, take care of your team. You can still save the rest of the Sparrows, you can still get revenge on Graves and burn Shepherd like he burned us. Use your mind, use the gifts you have. You've gotten through worse, Zero. We'll only be the beginning if you don't warn the Sparrows." I blinked tears out of my eyes, glancing between the two of them. "B-But you two.." I was shushed once again - why couldn't I move? - as Sylvia knelt down with her brother. "Don't worry about us, brother. Save what you can, save yourself. It's too late for us. Besides, you always knew we wanted to be buried naturally. Let the beauty of the surrounding nature take care of our bodies." Terrance pointed at their Sparrow tags, now secure next to mine and my dog tags. "We'll always be with you, just keep moving. Don't let us die in vain, brother."