Nova Peak The sun won't let up.

Raider did not return. Riley remained. Ruckus picked up on their names, committing them to silent memory now that their ears worked properly. When Riley said the word "dead" twice in a row, Ruckus repeated a gleeful, Dead! Dead! Dead! Their first word.

Riley departed, and Ruckus made a run for it after him. Their attempt would be thwarted by another adult—at least, it always had been in the past—but that was no reason not to try. Without Raider and Riley there to block them, they would finally get a taste of that delicious outside world that had taunted them with bright blobs of color and light.