Inside the abandoned orphanage, Ignis looked around the dusty, empty room. He turned to Sophia.
Sophia looked back at him, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Where is she?"
"I don't know," Ignis sighed, crossing his arms. "Should we get the FBI involved?"
Sophia let out a bright laugh. "We are the Power Rangers! I love mysteries so much. Let's connect all the dots, let's figure out everything, and—"
Ignis reached out and gently patted her head, cutting her off. "Damn, you talk too much."
Internally, he groaned. What was I thinking? I should have brought Solara instead of Sophia. This is bad.
But as he looked down at Sophia, a soft smile broke across his face.
Sophia pouted, covering her mouth with her hands. "I won't open my mouth again."
"No, no," Ignis chuckled. "I have no problem with you talking. Seriously."
"Thanks," Sophia beamed, dropping her hands.
Ignis turned away, his gaze wandering over the peeling wallpaper and the filthy corridor. As he stared at the rotting wood, his eyes suddenly widened. The dirty walls seemed to blur, pulling him backward in time.
Flashback
It was late at night in the orphanage. The five of them—Ignis, Sophia, Astrax, Tunde, and Solara—were much older now, nearly adults, but still crammed into the same small room. Everyone was fast asleep. Everyone except Ignis.
He sat up on his narrow bed, staring into the dark room. When are we going to leave this orphanage? he thought bitterly. For years we have been here, and no one wants us. No one ever came to adopt us.
He wondered how he had even ended up in this hell. Did my parents abandon me, or are they dead?
He looked down at Sophia, who was fast asleep on the mattress right next to his. He gently patted her head.
"This place is not hell," he whispered to the dark room. "I have you."
Sophia’s eyes snapped wide open. She quickly rubbed her face and sat up.
Ignis jumped back in surprise, nearly falling off the edge of the bed, but Sophia quickly grabbed his arm to steady him.
"So you can't sleep, Iggy," she teased, squinting in the dim light. "Is that why you were playing with my head?"
"No, I wasn't playing with your head," Ignis defended quickly.
"You were."
"No, I wasn't."
"You were, Iggy. Just admit it," Sophia smiled.
Ignis sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "We are not kids anymore, Sophia. I think you should be sleeping in Solara's bed."
"Come on, no," Sophia whispered back, shaking her head. "There are only four beds. I can't sleep with that nerd, she only talks about boring stuff. I can't sleep with Astrax; he only cares about money these days. And I can't sleep with Tunde; he is always complaining about politics every single day and blames the president for literally everything." Read the latest chapters at g.com.
Sophia looked at Ignis, her expression softening. "I have no problem with you. Look, they are my friends, but you are my best friend."
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"But you are a girl," Ignis pointed out awkwardly. "Come on."
"Yes, come on," Sophia rolled her eyes playfully. "It is not a big deal. You are like a brother to me. We share the same soap, the same sponge, the same bathroom. We use the same toilet! The only thing we don't share is a toothbrush."
She tilted her head. "So why are you awake? What is the problem?"
Ignis looked away, his chest tightening. "That is the problem. We have lived in this poor orphanage for years. When are we going to get out of here?"
"Go where?" Sophia asked quietly. "We have no home. We have no parents. This is our home, and we are family. Where else do you want to go?"
"So, you like this place?"
"Do we have a choice?" Sophia asked gently. "Do we?"
Ignis laid back down, staring up at the dark ceiling.
"You have us," Sophia said softly, lying back down beside him. "Always remember we are here for you. I am here for you."
"We are growing up, Sophia. What are we going to become? What are we going to do?" Ignis murmured. "One day, Rose will leave us for good, or send us away from here. She has tried her best for us... but do we rely on her forever? Do we rely on her until we die?"
Sophia looked at him, a deep sadness crossing her face. "Solara's future is already set. She is a fucking genius, so gifted. But me... I don't know what to do. If Rose sends us away, I have nothing to do." She looked down, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I will have no choice but to use my body to make a profit."
Ignis shot up, horrified. "What?! No! Never!"
"Sorry," Sophia quickly backtracked, shrinking away. "I didn't mean to—"
"What the hell, Sophia!" Ignis hissed, his green eyes flashing with shock and anger.
"Sorry," she whispered. "It was just a suggestion."
"That is out of the question." Ignis reached over and playfully pinched her ear.
"Ouch! I am sorry, Iggy!" she laughed, rubbing her ear.
"Don't ever say something like that again," Ignis said, his voice completely serious now. "We will be great people. We will be something people look up to. We will become people that others want to be."
Present Day
Sophia was holding his hand tightly, looking up at him with deep concern. "What happened?"
"It is nothing, Sophia," Ignis said, shaking his head slowly to clear it. "I was just remembering the past."
"What past? About what?" Sophia asked, looking around nervously. "Was it a vision?"
"Calm down, Sophia. It was just a memory we had in this orphanage."
"Oh." Sophia smiled nostalgically. "Yes, we had many memories in this place. This is our home. The five of us."
"No," Ignis frowned. "Rose. She is never around with us anymore. But she was our caretaker. Could this all be her plan? What if it was all staged? What if she gave us our gems?"
He looked around the decaying building, then turned back to Sophia. His face fell into a look of deep sorrow. "I remembered what you said a few years ago."
Sophia’s smile vanished. "Why are you sad all of a sudden? What could I possibly have said? Did I say something wrong? If I did, I am so sorry!"
"Sophia," Ignis interrupted gently. "If we never got the gems, what would you have become in life?"
Sophia looked at him, the question hanging heavily in the air. "I don't know," she admitted softly. "But I do know that this gem changed our lives forever."
She walked closer to him, her eyes shining with absolute certainty. "We were just unwanted children in this small orphanage. Then we saw it... Then I saw it. It changed us forever. Everything came along with it. The money came, the fame came, our fans came. We were able to go to school."
She placed a hand on her chest. "Destiny chose us and transformed us. Without the gem, I don't know what I would have become."
"Sophia..." Ignis started, guilt pooling in his stomach.
"No," Sophia shook her head firmly. "We shouldn't be worried about 'what if'. We should be worried about today. Now that we have the gems, what are we doing with them? I want to know more about our past, but at the same time... I don't care."
She looked at him with pure determination. "All I care about is helping people."
Internally, Sophia smiled warmly. You are my Iggy. Everyone has their own Ignis to save them, and everyone is someone else's Iggy.
"What did I say?" Sophia asked aloud, noticing him staring.
"Nothing," Ignis said, a warm smile finally breaking through his worry. "I shouldn't be worried about what you might have become. I see who you are. I know who you are, Sophia. Thank you."
Sophia beamed at him.
Ignis looked around the empty room one last time. "We found nothing here. Let's go."
"Okay," Sophia agreed.
With a flash of light, they teleported away.
They didn't notice the dark figure standing behind a rotting wooden pillar.
Azathoth stepped out from the shadows. He stared at the empty spot where Ignis and Sophia had just been standing. His face twisted into a terrifying scowl of pure rage and absolute hatred. He glared at the empty space for a long moment, the air around him freezing cold, before he vanished into the dark.