Toy Soldier {ManxManxMan}

CHAPTER 9

Arthur and Malachi had basically adopted Raiden. His new bedroom was right next to the couple's, he was always with them, riding on Malachi's shoulders or in Arthur's arms hugging his neck. The only problem was he hadn't spoken since the night of the raid. Arthur said it was likely muteness by choice due to the trauma and left it at that.

The kid seemed happy enough, though he was wary of Orion and his group, clinging to whoever was closest when they showed up and staring at them fearfully. Unless it was Beckett, of course. I found that adorable. The first time Raiden saw Beckett he ducked behind Malachi's leg, and the two of them just stared at each other for the longest time before Raiden wandered over and grabbed onto Beckett's hand when he wasn't looking.

All the kids seemed to love him, which was nice to see. They all had adored Jayden, so they were devastated when he died, and Demi wasn't exactly nurturing, so for someone like Beckett to show up, with that same special presence Jayden had, was good to see. Even Beth seemed to like him, mainly because he was a softy and couldn't say no when she asked to hold his gun.

With his personality so similar to Jayden's, I expected Gale to become attached to him immediately, but he didn't. He was comfortable around Beck, but he never clung to him, never followed him around or anything like that. If anything, he spent a lot of time with Logan. It was kind of cute, the way he would try to interpret Logan's sign language. Weirdly enough he got it right nine times out of ten. Logan thought Gale was an intriguing guy, so he didn't seem to mind when the little doctor followed him around curiously like a puppy.

The funniest part of that was Carina seemed incapable of insulting him in any way. He tried, I saw it, but he just ended up with a face red from the strain of trying to think of a quip that would make Gale go away. Nothing worked, Gale just tugged on Carina's shirt with the usual dopey look in his eyes, and Carina was done. I guess that made Gale our secret weapon to make people not dicks.

Gale liked them all, which made the rest of the rebellion a little less uneasy about them joining us so suddenly. Basically, the rule is if the dog likes someone, they're trustworthy, right? In this case if the clairvoyant medical assistant likes someone, they're chill. We live in some weird times, that's for sure.

"How are you settling in?" I asked from where I was sitting on a bench just outside the schoolhouse, Raiden sitting on my lap with a stuffed rabbit in his hands.

Beckett was sitting next to me, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his hands folded, watching the kids running around in the first snowfall of the season.

"Fine," he answered me, "I mean... it's taking a little. I can't even remember a time where we stayed somewhere longer than a month or two. Once we had to hold up somewhere for like six months because Carina broke his leg, but we never really settled."

"And you guys never considered just putting down roots?" I asked, straightening the hat on Raiden's head to cover his ears.

"Not really," Beck laughed, "The way the world is, we never really thought it could happen. Even here, with the settlement, you were raided, people died. Orion never wanted to risk that happening, settling down only to get caught by the enemy."

"If you have a big enough group where everyone is skilled, it makes it possible," I said, "We lost people, but we're still here. We're strong. That's the point of the rebellion, to lay down roots, become something permanent, something sturdy that can't be moved no matter what. If we let groups like Fer-de-Lance or the Con Rồng push us around, then what kind of rebellion are we? We may be hiding, but we won't run if they come for us."

"Carina was right," Beck hummed, holding his hands up and setting his chin on top of his fists, looking at me from the corners of his eyes, "You're all insane. Maybe insane enough to actually succeed."