The World the Goddess Only Knows

"Happy Birthday," Papa said, giving me a tired smile as he lit six candles on a cake.

Papa was always tired these days; I wish he'd sleep more.

"Happy Birthday Haru," the other three scientists (I think one was an Engineer) from the complex said together.

They sang a little song, one I remembered a little from my last birthday, and I smiled at them all. Hikaru's belly was jiggling a little, like when he laughed; Peter and Delia both had that sad/happy smile they did sometimes when they looked at me. They all tended to smile a bit more than I did though, so I tried to give them my brightest smile.

"Here," Papa said, giving me a big box, and I almost tore the top off.

Inside was a big, cuddly bear, and I immediately had to hug it. It was so fluffy; I looked up and smiled my thanks at Papa.

"We found a coupla' things for you," Peter said with his funny accent, as Delia passed me a much smaller box.

"Thank you Mister and Missus Miller," I said respectfully, the bear in my lap making it too awkward to try to offer them a bow, then carefully took the box.

Inside were three hair ribbons, the one on top…

"Mama's ribbon," I gasped, reaching down to gently touch it.

"Not the same one," Delia said softly, reaching down to lay a hand on my head, "It's the same kind she wore though; I thought you might like it."

"Mm-mm," I said, nodding furiously, then carefully setting aside my new bear so I could stand up and give the nice older couple a hug.

"Thanks luv," Peter said, wrapping an arm around his wife, and the other around me, "'Tisn't much, but it's what we could get."

"It's a lot," I said, leaning back so I could smile up at them again, and bumping into Papa, who was smiling back down at me.

"I have something for you too," Hikaru said, and I could hear the grin in his voice before I even turned to look at him, "I don't think you'll like it quite so much just yet, but it'll grow on you."

He passed me one of the flat computer screens that the scientists did a lot of their work on, and one of the special pencils they used with them.

"It's a custom job," Hikaru said, "Should last you a good long while."

"Custom job," Papa said, rolling his eyes as I passed him the box of ribbons so I could take the tablet, "I know for a fact you spent eighteen months working on that thing, back before…"

The mood in the room dropped sharply, as everybody started thinking about Wormwood again. I resisted the urge to scowl; everybody had just been smiling, and I didn't want it to all turn sad again.

Things were sad too much of the time, now.

"Delia," I said, snatching one of the ribbons out of the box Papa was still holding, before hopping up and turning my back to her, "Could you help me put this in?"

She started smiling again, and soon after, so did everyone else.

***

"Papa," I said groggily as he carried me through the complex,, "What's happening?"

"We've run out of time," Papa said, sounding desperate, and I kept trying to wake the rest of the way up so I could help him, but I couldn't, "We didn't get enough done in time, and someone found out where we were working."

"I don't understand," I grumbled, rolling my head around on his shoulder, trying to figure out where all the noise was coming from.

Papa was running, which he never did inside the complex, and it scared me a little.

"That's okay Haru," Papa said, and something in his voice was so wrong, "You don't need to understand just yet, and you'll be fine."

"What?" I asked, feeling more sleepy, rather than less.

"We're going to need to launch just the one," Papa said, his voice sad, "The others are trying to reason with the crowd, but I don't think it's going to work."

"Why not?" I asked, feeling dumb for asking the same kind of question again and again.

"Because people are scared," Papa said, panting a little as he finally slowed down, tapping at a keypad.

"Scared can make people dumb, right?" I asked as he carried me into one of the rocket rooms.

I wish I was more awake. I usually wasn't allowed in the rocket rooms; it was too 'sensitive.'

"That's right sweetheart," Papa said as he crossed the room, then started carefully putting me down, "And what's the better way to respond when people are scared?"

"Treat them like how we'd want to be treated," I mumbled, confused for a moment, before I realized he was putting me down in the rocket, "What's happening?"

Something smashed, I couldn't see what, but suddenly I could hear people shouting, not very far away at all. A lot of people.

"It's time to go," Papa said, and I realized he was crying, "We could have finished more of the launch systems before Wormwood got here, but it looks like—"

He broke off, turning away and biting his lip. He shook his head rapidly, and started strapping me into the seat in the rocket. His mouth opened and closed, a whole bunch of times, before he finally managed to say something again.

"I Love you Haru," He said, tears streaming down his face as he finished strapping me in, reaching up to take my face in both his hands, "You know that, right?"

"Of course Papa," I said, reaching forward, "I Love you too."

I couldn't move forward to hug him now that I was strapped in, but he leaned further forward, and we hugged for a long moment, that wasn't long enough.

"I've done everything I know how," Papa said, leaning back again, and furiously wiping tears off of his face, "But this is as far as I can bring you."

He reached around outside the rocket, and brought back Mister Bear, sliding him into the seat next to me, before starting to connect the different bits of piping to me. It stung a bit, but not as much as it should have for some reason.

"You'll dream, Haru," Papa said, barely able to talk anymore as another crash sounded, and the shouting started to get a lot closer, "We tested the system out, not as much as I'd like, but it should work. Don't forget me and your Mama, or any of the rest of us, and pray when you feel like you have no Hope. I'll be praying for you as long as I can."

"Forget?" I asked, something ugly stirring in my belly, even as I got more and more sleepy, "What's going on Papa, why would I forget?"

"I can't come with you Haru," Papa said, visibly fighting the sads, tears still leaking out as he double-checked all the little tubes, "Only this rocket is ready. But it'll get you out of here safely."

"Papa!" I cried feebly as he pulled back out of the rocket.

"I Love you Haru," he said, suddenly leaning in for another quick hug, before pulling back out again, "You are Loved. Never forget that."

The door into the rocket room smashed open, and Papa slammed the rocket shut over me. My eyelids were so heavy, but I forced them to stay open, and watched through the Window as he sealed the rocket shut, then turned to face the people charging into the rocket room.

They didn't even slow down, smashing into Papa and knocking him down, before starting to beat on the Rocket. Something bright lit under the rocket, and all of me was suddenly really heavy.

The last thing I saw before falling asleep was the room starting to fall down below the rocket.