Beyond Space & Time

"Whoa!" Atlas staggered when they landed and fell over onto her ass, laughing but also looking really discombobulated. She'd never been teleported before and it threw her off. But she was up on her feet again a moment later and did a little spin. "Hey, I recognise this place," she said, looking around at the scenery. "I use to come here sometimes with..." Zilla. Ahh. No wonder they were here.

Atlas giggled and sat down, crossed-legged like he said. And she closed her eyes too. But even though they both had their eyes closed, Wolfie could still hear and feel Atlas twitching with pent up hyperactivity. She really was still just a child - that or her energy was hardly containable and this was her way of showing that.

It took Atlas a long time to calm down, she was a restless young soul and kept wanting to leap off and do something that seemed more worthwhile. But as energetic as she was, she was also a good girl and knew to do what Wolfie told her to. Her mother had instilled in her great respect for the other immortal. She didn't want to annoy him either, because she planned to stick with him for a while. All these conflicting thoughts of living up to mother's expectations, missing her mother and subsequently her whole family, and wanting to not get on Wolfie's nerves - it was making her internally restless rather than fidgeting visually. Wolfie probably felt it. They sat there for hours in that field, until finally, Atlas reached a unique kind of equilibrium within herself.

If Wolfie's voice had not already thrown Atlas' equilibrium out of whack, him saying 'finally' with such sarcasm definitely did. Her essence wobbled somewhat, and she opened one eye to look at Wolfie. He truly had the countenance of someone who didn't want to be here. Reaching a place of balance made Atlas no longer able to overlook that fact. Was it obligation to her long dead mother, or general guilt for her situation that kept Wolfie here? Neither were good. Atlas didn't like equilibrium, it brought out the worst in her. "What's the next step?" she asked him quietly.

Ahh flight, that was Epsilon and Eradina. It had always looked so fun, and at one point just after their death, Atlas had managed to float for a couple of moments, but it hurt her heart to do so. "What do I do?" she asked Wolfie, still subdued.

It did sound a bit complicated, but Atlas tried it anyway. It took her quite some time to figure out and she became mentally and physically exhausted on the way, but after maybe a few hours she had spread all of the energy around her body. When she did it, it was like a blanket of sadness coated her whole being. Becoming so in touch with her powers was making her revisit all of her dead family members... She started to levitate with her legs crossed but she didn't even realise it.

Atlas opened her eyes and looked down at the ground, which she was no longer attached to. "Huh," she said, which was a huge under-reaction especially for her. The twins had made this look so easy and yet this was really difficult for her to do... Man, she had to stop being so depressive and lame, the twins would bully her for that. "I-I'm flying!" she said with a little more fervour, throwing her arms and legs out in excitement. At that moment, she fell back to the ground flat on her ass. "Oops!" She laughed in embarrassment and rubbed her sore butt. "That was so cool! I can fly now!"

And those few weeks passed in the blink of an eye, for an immortal does not feel time in the same way as mortals. Except this blink of an eye was more sluggish than usual for Wolfie. He seemed unable to stand Atlas' constant energy and positivity, which was only quietened when she slept. Her grasp on her powers was unstable, every time she took control it brought back memories of her family which upset her, so she mostly refused to do as Wolfie instructed. Nevertheless there was some improvement after the first few weeks. Atlas had no idea that Wolfie planned to leave soon, though, and continued to act precocious and clingy throughout.

Atlas had been doing something else when he told her that, and didn't think she'd heard him right. It was such an absurd thing to say that she was in fact sure that he'd not said he was leaving Earth the next day. "Hm? What d'you say?" she asked him, putting down the object she was fiddling with and looking at him with those wide, curious eyes of hers. So like her mother's, and yet so much younger.

If Wolfie had a heart, it would also pain him to see all the joy fall out of Atlas' eyes when she heard what he had to say. Her whole body sagged a little. "Why, um..." Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat. "Why are you leaving?" He made a promise, to her mother and to Zilla, to be there for their children. All of the other children had died, and left Atlas all alone. Now he was going to leave her alone to?

Atlas quickly went around Wolfie and stood in front of him. "Take me with you to space," she begged, her eyes wide again but with desperation this time. She had nothing here. Her nieces and nephews were dying, her cousins were dying, and all of their children no longer looked at her with familiarity. She was alone among her kin.

Atlas hadn't experienced the cruelties of life? Her whole family was dead, what was Wolfie talking about?! Naive and innocent, perhaps, but Atlas had suffered enough for any immortal lifetime. Everything else he said was true, yes, but he really missed the mark on that - so Atlas ignored it as best she could. "Th-then train me," she said. "Or I'll get my own spaceship and come with you. The Radcliffes will give me one of theirs. Yeah! I'll come with you in one of theirs!"

Atlas was super curious about space, who wouldn't be?! Especially as her mother came from space. That wasn't the reason she wanted to go to space, but she pretended it was. "I'm intent on going because I know nothing about space!" she said, hopping from foot to foot and grasping her hands together. "Pleeeaaase?!"