Ch.4 To Escape the Squeemother

[Phantom’s POV]

“So, you’re the doctor who took care of Atom when he was a pup?” I asked a tall figure that stood in front of me as she looked down at me, her eyes half open, a gentle smile on her face. “I am indeed, he was quite small back then too, just like Tidus and Titan when they were kits” the way she spoke of him came off as if she had raised him as her own, as if they were never separated to begin with. I think that bonds like that between people can be really sweet, not like I’d know anything about that… I don’t really have anyone like that in my life…

I was thinking about what was said when I heard a loud thud behind me, one that startled the shit out of me! “Mother! Please take a look at Atom at once!” Tidus had arrived with a barely conscious Atom, who was resting on his back. “What on earth happened for him to get like this?” Dr. Castelline asked as Tidus put Atom down, gold blood dripping from two large scars on his chest. “Squee… Squeemother… it was the Squeemother” he replied, trying to catch his breath as he sat down next to him. The look of distress on his face didn’t seem like it wanted to leave him any time soon. 

“What is the Squeemother?” I asked as I walked up to him cautiously, worried he might lash out at me if I wasn’t careful. “The squee mother is a large creature… you know about squee, don’t you?” I nodded in response. “The Squeemother is essentially a larger version of them, but it's built like us physically in a way. Well we had to take one of the outside routes due to another cave in near home, and then it showed up unexpectedly”

[Atom’s POV—2 hours ago]

“God damn it!” Tidus snarled at the sight of yet another wall of rubble in front of us, clearly agitating from it. “Is there any other way we can get there Tidus?” I asked, approaching him slowly. “There is one other way that I know of, but we’d need to go outside to get to another tunnel” he started walking in a different direction “but it’ll take a little longer, so I’m sorry about that”

“There’s no need to apologise, it’s out of your control”

“I will still feel bad due to your friends having to wait longer than expected to see you again” 

“I’m sure that they will understand, but let’s get going as to not make them wait any longer”

And with that we went down the tunnel that led to the outside, the snow was fresh, indicating that there must have been another storm while we were in the caves. However there was something left in the snow that had caught my interest. There was a large feather in the snow, bigger than what I was familiar with, however I didn’t really want to stick around to find out what left it behind. “That’s… that feather is from a Squeemother…” Tidus’s voice trembled slightly as he lay his head against my shoulder, most likely for a sense of comfort given how frightened he seemed to be by the sight of the feather. 

“I don’t think I want to find out how big this thing exactly is, so let’s get going before it comes back” I said as we continued on our way to the other cave entrance. “I really hope that it’s not anywhere nearby”

“Calm down Tidus”

“How can I calm down, Atom? That thing is huge, it can snatch up any creature in its path! I’d know.., I’ve seen it happen…”

“Well it’s not gonna get you, if that’s what you’re afraid of”

“How did you know—?”

“I’m not letting that thing take you away, that’s a promise. And it was your voice and you pressed against me earlier that gave it away”

The look on his face seemed so… so precious after I said what I’d said to him, it was kinda cute. “W-what's that look for?!” He stuttered as we walked through the snow. “Oh it’s nothing for you to worry about— wait, do you hear that?” I cut myself off as there was a sound of wings beating coming from above us. Tidus froze in place at the noise, fear taking over his body. “It’s not going to take you away, I promise, it’d have to go for me first” I told him as the Squeemother landed in the snow. I lunged at it as it started approaching us. I managed to land a hit on one of its legs, only to be met with a slash to the chest in return. ‘It’s not too bad’ I thought to myself as I kept hitting it to get the Squeemother off of our backs, and after what felt like hours, I managed to get it to flee.

But there was one small issue…. There was blood on the snow… this didn’t really have any negative impact on me, or it wouldn’t.. that is if it wasn’t my blood that was decorating the snow… “damn it—” was all I could bring myself to speak before I lost my footing and collapsed, Tidus catching me before I could hit the ground. “Hey, don’t leave me just yet you idiot!” Was the last thing I heard before passing out. 

[Tidus’s POV—Present]

“And that’s how this happened…” was all I could say after that encounter. Mother was looking over Atom, making sure that he’d be ok. “Fuck… this is my fault…” I couldn’t look him in the eyes after this, so all i could do was try and hide while curling up into a ball. I don’t think I’ve ever had any major regrets in my life, but making him fight by himself was one of the worst ones now. “Tidus… he’ll be ok, and he won’t be upset with you, I’m sure of it” Phantom told me as she was trying to comfort me after all this had taken place. “If he hates me then he hates me, if he doesn’t then that’ll be a miracle”