(Untitled)

[with_diamonds]

Most days, Lucy tried not to think about how much she missed her brother. It crossed her mind, of course, on a regular basis - living with Mathias, she had a near-constant reminder of it, which helped in that she'd gotten used to it, let it become normal - but it no longer held the enormity it once did. A year and a half down the line, and it was

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[plntfood]

Mathias has paused in the doorway, his fingers curled over the frame as he watches Lucy, and he doesn't realize he's in the way until someone brushes past him. That she's found something is fairly obvious, he thinks, but he doesn't know what it might be, isn't even sure how to ask her.

Sam, apparently, knows exactly how to say it and she doesn't stop when Mathias does. Instead, she goes straight to Lucy and stares up at her. "What's that?" she asks finally and that causes Mathias to move forward again. Pausing only to scoop Sam into his arms, he glances briefly at the folder, then wonders if he should be there at all. Sometimes he doesn't know how she does it. He knows he'd never be able to befriend someone who looked exactly like Henrich, nevermind live with that person.

[with_diamonds]

Despite herself, Lucy could only smile at the sound of Sam's voice, that much at least serving as an easy indicator that Mathias was there, too, keeping her from looking like she'd seen a ghost when she looked over at the pair of them. It had gotten easier, but that didn't mean it was always easy. There would always be that distinct resemblance. She'd become better, though, at noting differences rather than similarities, and did her best to focus on that now. Nothing good was going to come from anything else.

"It was my brother's," she explained, glancing from Sam to Mathias with a look that was almost apologetic. "He got hurt, and the doctors who took care of him wrote everything down."

[plntfood]

"Ohhhhh," Sam says, drawing the word out slowly as she looks at the folder in Lucy's hand. It's clear she doesn't completely understand what it is, but the explanation is good enough and she holds out her arms to Lucy, wanting to be taken from Mathias.

"Did you just find it?" he asks, wondering how long she's had it. It's still unsettling, after all this time, how things can appear out of nowhere, arrive in the middle of the breakfast table or on the path leading toward the beach. He doesn't like to admit that the island can still have that effect on him, but it does.

[with_diamonds]

"Yeah, I looked away for one second, and then there it was," Lucy answered with a nod, reaching out to take Sam as it was clear the girl wanted. The folder, she left on the counter in front of her, but that was about as much distance from it as she was willing to give herself. Max was gone, and she was going to hold on to whatever she could. "I wish I could say I was surprised, but... it takes a lot to surprise me around here, these days."