Starkid Oneshots

8- California (Black Friday AU)

'I'll get you to California Lex, then you don't gotta cry so much no more'

"Ms. Foster? Ms. Foster!" Lex snapped her head up, realizing she hadn't been paying attention to the colonel. She pulled Hannah closer before answering,

"Sorry Colonel Schaffer, what were you saying?"

"These are your new identities. You are no longer Hannah and Alexandra Foster you are Kendall and Angela Lang. PEIP has given you an apartment in California, near a local public school. PEIP will supply funds for rent and food for a few months, after that it is up to you Angela to find work to support yourselves."

Hannah and Lex nodded, neither of them could imagine doing this without Ethan. Hannah knew the only reason she was alive was because he was dead.

The apartment wasn't particularly big, but it was bigger than the trailer they were living in before. Lex and Hannah turned the key in the door and walked inside. Lex walked into the first room and found a fully decorated bedroom with posters of her favorite bands, movies, actors, and her idols up on the wall. There was a guitar sitting in the corner of the room as well. Lex hadn't played guitar since freshman year. That feels like a lifetime ago. Needless to say, PEIP had done their research. She set down the backpack that she had full with clothes and stuff she could salvage from the trailer before she heard a squeal from another room. 

Lex walked out into the kitchen/living room area to find Hannah with her door open. No doubt she was just excited to have her own room. But from where she was standing, Lex could see a floor to ceiling bookshelf, filled with all the books you could imagine. Lex left Hannah to fawn over her new room as she went into the kitchen to find something to make for dinner as it was already eight thirty. She opened the fridge and it was full with fresh ingredients and with a little look around the kitchen she also found recipes for dishes that Lex had no doubt were delicious. Lex threw together grilled cheese and a salad and called Hannah for dinner. 

Hannah emerged from her room, nose still stuffed in a book. Lex had to pull it out of her eyes before she ran into a wall. Both the girls sat down and gobbled down the salad and grilled cheese, an uneasy silence hanging over the room. They both knew what, or rather who, was missing but neither wanted to say it. So they ate in silence. 

When Lex got up to clear the dishes she finally attempted at conversation,

"So are you nervous about going to school on Monday banana?" both girls flinched at the use of the nickname, not sounding quite right without him there. 

"Yeah, I don't know what I'm going to do when kids start asking why I transferred in so late in the year though"

"If you want we can go over the backstory PEIP provided for you, or rather Kendall Lang." 

"Yeah, okay" Hannah gave a weak smile from where she was sitting. Lex finished with the dishes and went to get the files from her room. Hannah was already curled on the couch when she came out.

"Okay so, what is your name?"

"Kendall Lang"

"Who were your parents?"

"Joey and Lauren Lang"

"Why are they never home?"

"They died in a fire and that's why my sister Lex-"

"Angela."

"Right. Angela and I moved out to California, she looks after me"

"Good. How old are you"

"Wait what that didn't change?"

"I know I just may have forgotten..."

"Leeeex" Hannah said dragging out her name

"Okay okay fine, moving on. Where are you from?"

"Washington D.C."

"Hannah, you're going to do just fine on Monday." Lex sighed. Hannah paused, taking a few deep breaths to calm her nerves,

"Okay. Thanks Lex."

"No problem, go get ready for bed"

Hannah got up from the couch and Lex took this as an opportunity to truly look around their new home. It wasn't super large, but PEIP had done a good job. Lex was just happy to have a roof over her head. She still couldn't believe she was in California. She was living her dream, just apart of it was missing. 

Lex went into Hannah's room to say goodnight before retreating to her own. By the time Lex had finished getting ready for bed, it was ten thirty and she collapsed on her new bed. 

Lex had been sleeping restlessly recently and knew tonight would be no different. She let a small sob escape her lips as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wrapped herself tighter in Ethans' sweatshirt, it was all she had left of him. Lex knew that burning down the mall was the right thing to do. But she couldn't help think that maybe Ethan was alive and burned in that mall, maybe he crawled somewhere in a janitors closet hiding for his last moments. Maybe he was out looking for Lex and Hannah before it all came crumbling down. 

Maybe Lex had killed him.

Lex stared at the ceiling, tears rolling down her face. She knew that she hadn't killed Ethan, those crazed men had kicked in his head, Hannah said. Everywhere Lex goes she sees Ethan, his laugh, a witty catchphrase, or his scent coming off of the sweatshirt she was enveloped in. Lex remembered all those nights when they were just kids, laughing under the bleachers and kissing under the stars. Lex turned and curled into a ball, knowing she wasn't going to get much sleep without Ethan there to hold her. She couldn't get much of anything done without Ethan there to hold her. But Lex has to keep going, for Hannah. Because now they only had each other. Black Friday had changed Lex forever, she was no longer a child. She just had to let Hannah be one for as long as possible.

And with that, Lex drifted off to a restless sleep plagued by nightmares and sad memories. 

~~I'm not dead! Whoooo! Sorry y'all my phone broke so I lost my login there and then I had to switch computers I was using so I lost my login there, so essentially i had to create a fake account to figure out my username lmao. anyway here, again, is another hatchetfield fic. what can i say i love TGWDLM and Black Friday. btw did you get the easter eggs in there? i honestly couldn't think of other names. and oh my god joeys trying to kill us with proposal stuff that puzzle was so cute!!! i might do a sequel to this, who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ thats all ive got so pls comment, vote and keep reading cause we're in this for the long haul. if youre reading this, get some sleep, drink water, eat something, change clothes. take care of yourself!! <<33~~

-Peanuts the Hatchetfield pocket squirrel