Chapter Text
Molten wasn’t used to.. quiet.
He was used to the still, sterility of the labs and the unsettling drip of the chemicals or tap of the glasses and beakers. He was used to the sound of guns and war fair and the feeling of pain that never really got deeper than the skin. He was used to the loud noises of the battlefield and the screams of soldiers around him that hadn’t gone through similar treatment as him. He was used to pain and constant anxiety.
The side effects of his “treatment” as the creator liked to call it, left him having gaps in his memory before said treatment. He remembered having a family.. It was quiet. Then it wasn’t. He remembered being taken by big machines, who didn’t have any sentience besides base instructions. He remembers sleeping. Testing. Needles. Wires. Water. More testing. The breaking of his bones only for them to reform back together ten times stronger. He remembers the first time he was put in the middle of a battlefield.
“A test” they said. “To see if the medicines were working.” They said, He never really believed it was medicine though. He did what he was told. He grew up in that lab. He grew up in those war zones. The second one war or battle ended the creator would find another ongoing one and send him there for more observation. “I want to make sure my boy can’t be killed.” He said. “I want you to be safe.” He said. His words were laced with honey and poison. He knows that now. As a kid he thought it was just honey.
But the honey was to cover up the bitter taste of the poison.
He didn’t feel. He didn’t think. He was a machine. “The perfect example of what mankind should be.” he had no will of his own. When he asked questions. He was sedated. Then he went through the trials again to avoid “complications in the treatment.”
He never had a birthday. He remembers vague Images of faces around him as he blew out a candle. Before the treatments. But he doesn’t remember what it was for or why he was doing such an odd thing. It wasn’t until he left he found out it was because he was celebrating his birthday. He was 3. His third birthday. The scientists said he was 27 now. He doesn’t remember anything else. Before he left he looked through his file. The scientist gave it to him. ”So you won’t spend your whole life not knowing,” they said.
He had a father. And an older sister. She used to play with dolls with him. He was taken from them a few days after his third birthday. “Legal reasons” they told them. “He’s sick.” They told them. “He needs treatment.” He was never sick. He was just the only young child the creator could get his hands on in short notice. He told the other scientists that he was his child. He never told anyone about the experiments. All the other scientists knew was that he was sick. So they never questioned the crying or screaming coming from the creators lab. They never questioned it when the creator asked for chemicals and machines and materials. He wasn’t sick though.
His family's home burned down two days later. The file said it was from the stove, they had left it running and were asleep. They didn’t know what hit them until they were already dead. Molten doesn’t believe that though. The scientist said it was a cover up. “He didn’t want your family causing complications in the treatment.” They had told him. It didn’t matter though. No comfort could have been given. And Molten couldn’t bring himself to cry nor care. He doesn’t remember their faces.
He thinks it was the bomb that saved him. The scientists wouldn’t have found out of the creators' experiments otherwise. He was in a battle. And a bomb went off causing him to lose his right leg. It was blown clean off. But because of the experiments that he had undergone, the skin and muscles closed the wound to such a degree it looked as if his leg had been amputated years ago. That’s when the scientists picked him up. If they had been any second later the creator would have found him and.. well he doesn’t know what would have happened.
The scientists sent him away. To “someone who knows how to help.” They told him as they packed his bag, giving him his files and the police reports for his family’s house and their identities. He didn’t look at their pictures. He didn’t want to remember them if he could never see them again. He didn’t understand why they were giving him all this information at the time. He was still quite obedient and so.. wrong at the time. He knew what the creator did to him was wrong after the scientists talked to him.
He hated what he was.
He was sent to what seemed like another lab. But this one felt.. calmer. As if the inhabitants used it for things that brought them joy, as if happy memories danced around each beaker and screw. There were pictures of people and smiles and laughter and some drawings and plans for things that looked.. almost friendly in comparison to the pictures the creator had strewn across his lab or the schematics he threw across the room in his tantrums or the sharp materials that would be thrown at him in distaste or rage.
The room stayed silent for several moments. It felt as if the world was holding its breath as he waited. The scientist had left. “I can’t stay” they had said to him as they made him comfortable on the chair that had been placed there for him as he was unable to stand without his other leg. “He will know of my absence. But Moon will be here soon to help.” They smiled at him. It shouldn’t have been an odd gesture, Molten had seen them do it before but he remembers examining it carefully. As if worried their words and actions were also dripped in that ever deceiving honey.
He waited like they had told him. He was good at waiting. The creator made him stand a lot while he worked. Like some sort of bodyguard, wires poking out from his skin and into machines and beakers. But this felt different. It was peaceful in the lab with the dancing memories and pictures that looked like they came from joy itself.
After several minutes of waiting, the person the scientist said would help him came down the stairs of the lab. Moon he thinks his name was. That’s what the scientist said. Moondrop celestial. He remembered pausing once he got a good look at his face. It looked like the creators. But he wasn’t. The creator's face was old, crinkled with hate and anger. Moon's face looked young, tired but content, as if his life had been nothing but pleasant memories that would overshadow the bad. It made Molten feel safe.
Moon smiled at him. But Molten didn’t feel that tight uncomfortable feeling like he did with the scientist at the gesture. He almost felt certain it wasn’t laced with honey because there was something to hide. But because Moon genuinely thought it would taste good. He looked at Molten with an expression he wasn’t sure how to read at the time. But with the knowledge he knows now he knows it was one of worry. But also sympathy. As if he knew what it was like to go through everything he did. He doubted he did though.
“I’m Moon.” He said. “I’ll be making you a prosthetic leg and helping you get back on your feet.” He said. He laughed at that, “literally.” Molten didn’t understand why it was funny at the time. But he just nodded. He didn’t say much the whole time Moon was taking his measurements. Moon didn’t seem to mind though, he just talked anyway. He talked about his prosthetic.
And he talked about his family.
Molten liked hearing about his family. He had three brothers and a sister and he had an adoptive niece and nephew. “Do you have parents?” Molten asked. Sitting patiently as Moon worked on his leg. He remembers Moon's face clearly. Bitter and uncomfortable. “I have a Dad but he’s a horrible horrible person.” He said. Molten looked down. He doesn’t remember his father much, but he remembered his smile. And his hands. Rough but always gentle, and a smile that felt like it lit up a room. He felt.. sad that Moon didn’t have as fond memories of his father.
As time passed, the only sounds in the lab were Moons tinkering and testing off the leg. Moon had given Molten afew books to keep him occupied but he didn’t know how to read. The creator had never taught him. So he just watched Moon work instead. “I had.. a sister.” Molten said after the silence started to feel suffocating. Moon hummed in acknowledgment as he worked. “Yeah?” He said. Molten nodded. He doesn’t remember her face. He doesn’t remember her voice.
“She.. used to play.. dolls with me.” Molten croaked, his voice had always felt dry. “I don’t.. remember much.. before my treatment..” Moon smiled, with the same amount of sympathy and sadness as before as he looked at Molten. “My sister likes dolls too, maybe she can show you some of hers?” He grinned. Molten nodded, excitement bubbling up inside him at the idea of holding those human-like toys once again. Even if they weren’t the same ones, it brought him some comfort. Though all the emotions felt so new to him he was somehow able to distinguish each one, even if it took a moment of consideration.
“You didn't deserve what happened to you, Molten.” Moon had said. Molten didn’t respond. “I mean- from the stuff I was told, and the stuff I was given- it’s all.. so messed up. I'm sorry you went through that.” Moon had sighed, continuing to work on the leg before pushing it aside for a moment. “I don’t.. I don’t think I know what I went through.” Molten huffed, speaking as honestly as possible. This was the safest he had felt since his treatment. It almost felt wrong for everything to be quiet.
“I haven’t… felt.. in a very long time.”
Moon had just nodded, a sympathetic look on his face as he stood up and stretched, smiling down at Molten.
“I think I can help with that too.”
.
.
.
Molten found he enjoyed the quiet.
He liked sitting in the chair Moon had given him. It was comfortable, much more comfortable than the test tubes and lab beds he was used to. Over the days Moon had given him blankets, pillows and movies once he had figured out Molten didn’t know how to read. He was unsure what to do with it all but Moon had made sure to explain it all for him thoroughly.
He remembers the first time he had slept. He didn’t sleep in the lab. Not like the scientists and soldiers did. He was always strapped to a machine or a table with wire poking out of his body or put in a large tube of water with an oxygen mask to keep his breathing stable. He never fell asleep on his own. The creator always forced him- which he now knows was the creator sedating him. So when he felt the pull and drowsiness of exhaustion, he started to panic. Moon had to explain what sleeping actually looked and felt like and helped him get comfortable. He thinks Moon even tucked him in.
The days went by fast, and he spent the first few of them sleeping. When he awoke again fully, he had been drifting in and out of consciousness for the past few days, Moon had finished his prosthetic. He had helped him get it on and taught him how to himself, as well as remove it and care for it and what to do if his nub would ache or hurt from the excessive wearing of the prosthetic. Moon smiled at him again, so Molten tried to smile back. Moon gave him a look and chuckled to himself, “you’ll get it eventually” he had said. Molten didn’t know what that meant.
Moon helped Molten learn how to walk on his leg. The leg was very advanced so it didn’t take that long for him to adjust, though it was still strange not having a leg. He practiced every day in the lab and even started walking around the lab on his own.
One day Moon brought a little girl with him to the lab. Molten had just woken up and was practicing walking in a circle when they came in. The girl skipped up to him and gave him a big smile. Molten wasn’t sure how to react and tried smiling back. The little girl giggled and looked back at Moon, “he smiles funny.” She had said. Molten didn’t know what that meant. Moon patted her head and shushed her quietly. “Molten this is my niece Evelyn, Evelyn this is Molten.” Moon explained, cleaning up a desk and sitting Evelyn on the chair while she grabbed paper and crayons from the small bag on her back.
“I had to pick her up from daycare because Sun has some paperwork to do and Earth and Solar are busy right now.” Moon smiled as he walked over to Molten once she was settled in her spot in the corner. Come to think of it, that desk never seemed to be used, and there were always drawings around it and small toys. Molten had never asked about it but it was probably Evelyn’s little corner for when she visited the lab. Molten hummed, “why would you bring a child.. to a lab.” He said carefully, his speech was starting to get a bit better over the weeks of staying in the lab, a lot less slow and sluggish and more certain. Though still soft.
Moon chuckled, “it’s fine, she knows not to go near the equipment or open any drawers.” Molten nodded, and continued to practice his walking patterns and stretching his legs around the lab while Moon worked on other projects. Molten soon found himself watching Evelyn draw, walking over and watching. She looked up at him with big bright eyes. They were dark brown, like chocolate. Moon had shown Molten chocolate. He liked chocolate. Her skin was a similar shade, though she didn’t have two skin tones like Moon. Moon had mentioned she was adopted. She smiled up at him and showed him her drawing. It was off a small deer. Molten attempted to smile again, patting her head as gently as possible like Moon had.
She giggled and went back to drawing. Molten watched patiently until she pulled more paper out of her bag and gave it to Molten, patting the seat beside her. Molten stared for a moment Before sitting, staring at the paper in confusion. He had never drawn before. The only thing he’d ever used his hands for was to punch, or grab. Evelyn handed him a crayon, “you can draw to! It’s fun. I promise, just put the crayon on the page and move it around!” She giggled, going back to her drawing.
Molten nodded, looking at her hands and trying to replicate how She held the crayon. He put it down to the paper and moved it in a line. Then it snapped in half. He jolted, dropping the crayon onto the table. He was still getting used to controlling his own strength. “I am sorry.” He apologized as Evelyn picked up the broken crayon, “that’s okay, crayons break really easily! Try again.” She smiled as she handed him the box of crayons so he could pick. He nodded and gently pulled out a bright blue one and pressed it to the page as gently as he could.
He didn’t know what to draw, so he just drew a circle. Then he gave the circle a face, and ears, and messy hair, then a triangle for the body and little legs and hands. He suddenly remembered the dolls he used to play with with his sister. They looked similar in shape to his drawing. He felt that tight feeling in his chest again as he put the crayon down and looked at Evelyn’s drawing. The deer was now in a small field with a pumpkin person beside it, flowers everywhere with a Sun in the corner with a smiley face. Evelyn looked over at Moltens drawing and smiled, “I like it, it looks good.” She said softly, patting molten shoulder.
He hummed in response, a habit he picked up from Moon before his eyes fell onto Evelyn’s bag. It was wide open and in it was a small book and two dolls. One had the face of the Sun, with a jester looking outfit, and one was of the Moon, with a similar outfit and a night cap. He leaned over and picked them out of the bag, Evelyn watched with a smile, taking the Sun one out of his hands while he inspected the Moon one. The material felt very familiar, and as he ran his hands over the doll he soon realised it was a similar material to the dolls he and his sister would play with.
“That’s my Moon doll, and this is my Sun doll!” Evelyn chimed in with a smile, placing her forefinger on both of the dolls noses. “Boop.” She would say after placing a finger on each doll. Molten nodded, holding the doll gently as if he might break it if not careful (Knowing his strength he might do just that.) “You can have it if you want, I have a bunch at home. But the Sun dolls mine.” She giggled to herself, kicking her legs back and forth off the chair as she played with the Sun dolls arms playfully. Molten stared at the doll, “are you sure?” He asked softly, pressing his thumb to the dolls small hand and holding it.
Evelyn smiled widely and nodded, her chocolate eyes holding no lies or honeyed words.
“Yeah of course!”
.
.
.
Molten liked how his life was going.
Moon had taken him out of lab and they went on a walk down a small path in the woods. Molten has never seen a forest before, he doesn’t remember the last time he saw a tree or grass besides the charred dead plants on the battlefields. He liked looking at the small bugs and animals as they walked, bending down to touch the flowers but not picking them in fear of ruining their beauty.
Then Moon brought Molten back to his house to meet his family. Well most of it. Moon said Earth was living with Monty and Solar and Jack lived in an apartment a little ways down the road. Molten nodded as they entered the house. He was greeted by a man that looked almost identical to Moon but with blonde hair that was obviously dyed as it was brown at the roots. Moons hair was brown with dyed blue bits so the resemblance was definitely there. He had two different skin tones almost identical in pattern to Moons so Molten guessed this was Sun even before he introduced himself.
Molten shook his hand, being as careful as possible not to hurt him or making him uncomfortable. Sun gave him a smile, a smile not to different from Moons. But his smile was warmer, less rough around the edges. Sun seemed to do exactly his namesake and light up the room. His hands were soft, with a few scars around the edges of his fingers and on his palm. Moon had similar scars along his arms. Molten wondered how they got them but didn’t want to pry or be rude in fear they’ll send him back to the creator.
Evelyn came running in from the other room along with a boy who looked a little older then her with a messy haircut and a lobsided smile. The boy ran up to Moon with a grin and jumped from foot to foot excitedly, “Uncle, Moon!” He said, his voice sounding odd even for a child. It reminded him of his old speech pattern, except the kids was faster and his volume would change per word. “I didn’t know you were over Jack. Is Solar here to?” Moon smiled, messing up Jacks hair affectionately looking over at Sun as he picked Evelyn up and rested her in his hip with a huff. “Yeah he’s sleeping in his room, he needed someone to look after Jack so I said he could stay over.” Molten felt awkward standing in the hallway while they conversed but stayed still and waiting silently as Jack walked over to him inquisitively before poking his prosthetic leg.
“Jack!” Sun scolded, putting Evelyn down. Sun gave him an apologetic look but Molten just smiled softly and patted Jacks head as gently as he could. “It is alright.” Molten huffed, Jack smiled up at him and circled him afew times before nodding in approval, grabbing Evelyn and retreating to the other room. Sun smiled warmly at him which Molten tried to replicate but he was unsure if it was working, but Sun didn’t give him the funny look like the others did when he tried to smile but instead smiled wider almost and his eyes softened. It made him feel warm and nice inside. Molten blinked at Sun, rubbing his arm lightly.
The conversation soon moved to the kitchen and Moon and Sun made him try Mac and cheese and variety of other foods he had never tried before before ordering food and making him sit down so they could watch a movie. Molten found he liked sugar, but preferred savoury foods. He liked cheese as well, Mac and cheese and grilled cheese were definitely up there on his list of current favourites. Though Molten still didn’t understand movies to much but Moon made him sit on the couch to watch one anyway. Molten did as was asked of him and he was still in the habit of obeying people but didn’t really mind anyway. They all got comfortable and put on the movie, Molten wasn’t really sure what it was but he didn’t mind watching it. It was entertaining at the very least.
About a quarter of the way through the movie a young teenage boy walked into the room and sat beside Moon, gesturing to Molten with a confused look. The kid had short hair that was dyed a light brown hair that almost covered his eyes and light brown skin, Molten guessed this was Lunar though he didn’t have two skin tones like his siblings. Molten remembers Moon mentioning Lunar was adopted and wasn’t related by blood, and Molten had seen afew family pictures floating around the lab and had managed to put faces to names quickly enough. Moon introduced them to each other simply like he had the others, lunar nodding in Moltens direction and Molten doing the same before they all returned to the movie.
Another good bit of the way through the movie a scruffy looking man came out of the room behind the wall the TV was hanging on. He had messy hair as if he just rolled out of bed that was dyed a soft orange at the bottom while the rest was brown. (this family really liked their hair dye huh?) he was in shorts and a t-shirt and looked groggy as he walked in and sat on the other side of Sun. Moon introduced them again, Solar gave Molten a look, eyeing him up and down before nodding. Molten nodded back, fidgeting with his hands as he focused on the movie again.
Sun gave him a reassuring smile and patted his shoulder as the movie played, Lunar leaned on Moons shoulder and looked as if they were falling asleep. He guessed they weren’t really enjoying the movie. Solar was sitting on his phone, but occasionally looking up at the TV or making comments on the movie. Molten discovered that Moon, Solar and Lunar liked to talk through movies but went quiet during parts you had to focus on. He wasn’t sure why that information stuck but he supposed it was good to know. It didn’t really matter to him what they did during a movie he was just glad for the company.
Things were going a lot smoother for Molten, and he couldn’t be more grateful for his friends.