Ky and Garek hiding in an abandoned building from the sun. Garek sleeping in a corner, Ky keeping watch by window. Ky remembering Keelee as a baby.
G: got anything to eat, boy?
K: I didn’t pack anything, this isn’t gonna take long.
G: You sound pretty damn confident - sure you know where shes gonna be then?
K: I know where she’ll go.
G: and that place is in this shithole City?
K: (doent reply)
G: Fine, keep your secrets. But I’m gonna need food to get there, since you insisted on bringing me.
K: I gave you the choice to do something for your family for once and you decided to take it, don’t make me regret offering.
G: Wouldn’t be the last thing you resent me for though would it?
K: No.
G: (snorts) you were always direct, at least when it wasnt Father or your mother barking the orders, huh? Never had a problem tellin’ me what’s what, even when it wasn’t yer place.
K: You refused to be a parent, so someone had to step in.
G: we’re doin’ this now, are we? Alright then -
K: No. We’re here to look for Keelee. This isn’t about you, for once.
G: Why’re we lookin’ if she doesn’t want ter be found? Tell me that.
K: Because she’s our responsibility, however little you act like it. She’s out there, alone, and with the City as tumultuous as it currently is, who knows what trouble she could be in.
G: Yeah yeah, hero big brother to the rescue. Wake me up when you decide to start movin’ again then.
[goes to sleep. ky glares at him, then back out the window. checks his phone to see messages from everyone]
[Ree: test results came back: more fucked up than imagined. Get back soon.]
[Scra: Rally was a bust, but we knew it would be. More news - they might know where my mom is. Bad news - the Doves prob have her. Tell you more when you get back.]
(Ky sighs, looking torn. Fingers tap against his thigh. Some people walk by outside, talking)
person1: - I’m excited for it. Seems like those Eagles might finally be getting their comeuppance.
p2: by the Doves, though? I don’t think there’s anything I’d like to see less.
p1: nah, the Doves are like the hierarchy police, if they reckon the Eagles aren’t fit to be on top, then maybe it’s time for a little switch up
p3: My cousin’s got a Hawk friend who’s brother is in The Roost - looks like they’re in lockdown again and they can’t get any messages in or out - I don’t know, I think something big’s gonna go down at the Event, or they’re expecting something to, at least.
p2: you’re paranoid, it’s just a little celebration, is all -
(they walk off, Ky watching them go through boarded windows, face is worried. Frowns, and put his phone away)
(Night. Ky shakes Garek awake)
K: Get up. We’re leaving.
G: Wha - already? Ugh -
(groans as he gets up and follows.)
G: I swear it’s only been an hour - my back is killin’ me from that damn floor
K: quiet. There’re patrols.
G: Bastards.
K: Come on.
(sneak in shadows through buildings, through windows to windows, avoiding gun glow. Get more into the City where it’s harder to do. Break into a smashed department store and steal hoodies.)
G: Ah yes, foolproof disguises, well done son -
K: We just need our faces covered, it doesn’t matter if our wings show - no one will question Ospreys out walking. Just keep your hood up and your head down.
G: You’ve forgotten one small detail - I currently look like a Hybrid, which will in fact get us questioned.
K: If you had just left them instead of -
G: (sneers) I’d rather look like a Crow than an Eagle, boy. Care to tell me now where it is you think we’re heading? We’re getting awful close to the exact place we don’t really want to be, as fugitives.
K: You’re not a fugitive, the Resistance mistakenly rescued you from Prison and you begrudgingly stayed.
G: Because the other option was to return to society and get thrown back in jail, wasn’t it? Just because it was the better of two options doesn’t mean I liked it.
K: Really? I would never have been able to tell, the way you sing their praises all day long.
G: Careful boy, sarcasm doesn’t suit you.
K: You would know, I suppose.
G: You and your Grandfather, always poking and poking and poking.
K: Because you refused to live up to your potential.
G: And what potential was that? The one set by my father, or my wife, or by you?
(Ky stops short, outside Hon’s bar, still police taped. remembers back to him yelling at his father in ep 286 “He’s weak because YOU always told him he was”. He calm down )
K: The reason you felt pressured by your family was because they saw you wasting everything that was handed to you. Grandfather worked hard so we could have it easier, and you still never tried.
G: You sound just like him, you know that? How much easier did his efforts make your life, I wonder?
K: You’re the only one who’s made my life harder. I followed you to this Island because you stole the one person I cared about. And then, when you were forced to work to support this new life you wanted, you refused. Grandfather got you so many jobs at the Port, pulled so many strings, and you could still be nothing more than a bum.
G: You don’t understand. You don’t know what it all would’ve cost.
K: not your family, for one.
G: It would’ve been everything, boy. Your Grandfather was involved in so many things, you can’t even imagine half of it.
K: (frowns) what do you mean?
G: Nothing. Nothing. Why have you brought me to a bar cellar.
(Ky looks down the tunnel, partially caved in from the Dove attack.)
K: This tunnel is part of a smuggling ring, it’s how I got Keelee out.
G: Ah yes, when you foolishly gave all of our money to Crows thinkin’ they’d get her back to Avarie, gettin’ her kidnapped by my dear cousin and leavin’ me destitute.
K: I took what I made. You drank all of yours. And the Crows rescued her from the Director, upholding the deal, in the end. I did keep the Director off her trail for a bit unknowingly, since I shot her at her son’s wedding, but that’s besides the point.
G: You shot her?! Seriously?? Well, that might just be the first thing I’m proud of you for.
K: Of course it is. I only did it because she had Scra and it was the only option, but I’d do it again.
G: Ah yes, I’ve heard about your Crow. King, they’re sayin’. You sure know how to pick ‘em, Bet your ma was real pleased, resurrecting royalty and threatening the power she gave up her family to acquire.
K: She let us go when we were trying to return here and she had us cornered. I think you misunderstand her loyalties.
G: No, boy, you don’t get her if you think every action she takes isn’t for the sole benefit of herself. If she let you go, it was because she needed you to be gone.
K: But why would she?
(They fly down the tunnels, landing before the mouth of the cave where they have to push rocks aside to get out. They do, and stand on the cliff looking at their old house. Garek lets out a breath. And then he laughs).
K: What -
G: You - fool - you thought she - she’d come here -
K: This was the last home she knew - of course this is where she’d -
G: You stupid, stupid boy. She came to me, before she left. She asked me to go with her - to look for you. She’d overheard you were about to be captured by your grandfather and she asked me to go with her to save you. Save you. You’re both as foolhardy as each other.
K: You knew why she ran away, but you didn’t tell anyone?! You’ve let me come all this way, and not thought to mention it even once?! You bastard, you - you had no intention of actually finding her, did you?
G: (looks down, hand goes to back waistband of pants) No, i didn’t. I was mostly hopin’ you’d be stupid enough to bring me somewhere far away from that Resistance to where I could leave it all behind.
K: You came on a mission to search for your missing daughter just so you could escape and flee like the coward you’ve always been.
G: If I’d told you she was out lookin’ for ya, would you still have come here? I don’t know why you would’ve really, since you were never here to begin with. You left her, days on end, in that shack. She was miserable, but still she waited for you. You sent her away, and it sounds like she stopped waitin’ for ya, then. Although if she’d run off to find ya, maybe not all is lost. I’m going, but I’ll leave ya with this: you think it was my idea to take her, a kid who’s not my flesh and blood, across the ocean to this Island, to live in abject poverty? For what - because my father came and I wanted to follow? Because my ex-mate spurned me? No, son. I did it because I was told to. And it sounds like, when that didn’t prove useful to them, they've decided on another tactic. I do hope you find her, for what it’s worth. Be careful who you trust, and above all, do not trust this family. We’re nothing but liars, here.
(Garek flies off towards the ocean. Ky watches him go before entering the house, picking up the framed picture of him and father/gfather in uniform, looking at the chair by the window keelee always sat in. His phone buzzes and it’s a message from Scra)
[Scra: I wish you were here. I love you.]
(Ky looks at it, then walks away from the house, heading back to the tunnel.)