It was like waking up from a bad dream, right where they had begun, everyone standing in the backroom like all they had done was blinked. People scattered in their own directions and Ray was left holding Daniel's hand, defensive at every sound, suspicious beyond belief.

He muttered to Daniel to stay close but when he looked down, he saw watery eyes looking back up at him, tired and scared, like they had been for God only knew how long. So Ray carried him instead, out of the arcade and into the light of a setting sun. Just because it looked like home - as much as it could in the month of December - didn't mean it was home.

Instinct pointed them in the direction of the Compound. His bicep ached, bruised but the cut was healing, so he shifted Daniel over to this other side, reaching for the gun tucked at the back of his belt with his free hand. A gun he hoped to hell would work here if needed. He held it up in front of them as he moved, the exertion of a stance he knew so well evident on his face.

“Throw me the stick,” Ray shouted, pushing himself up slowly, grunting with the pain. “We’re playing.”

Sure enough, Daniel threw him the baton but Ray certainly wasn’t playing. He was too preoccupied with the ninja-like attacker to praise the boy properly. Clearly those basketball sessions were paying off.

***

“Let me see,” he prompted, leant back against a wall an hour later and attempting to tend to the cut on his own arm. He lifted his gaze briefly to see an obedient Daniel twist in a circle to show Ray that he still had his disc on his back. Ray wasn’t sure of their purpose exactly but the people they had watched, both from afar and at close quarters, went to great lengths to keep hold of theirs, so they were doing the same.

“Good.”

Daniel went back to playing with imaginary toys, puffing air through his teeth to make the appropriate noises. For what, Ray didn’t know – the boy’s gestures gave nothing away. He watched fondly for a long moment before he noticed the wolf staring at him and licking his chops. Begrudgingly, Ray’s attention turned back to his arm and he yanked the makeshift bandage tighter, wincing a little.

***

“Stay with the wolf, Daniel. Right here. If you need me, you shout for me, okay? D’you understand? Shout as loud as you can and I’ll come back.”

***

He felt a poke on his shoulder and suddenly mismatched eyes were looking at him intently.

“Can we go home now?”

It was the first time Daniel had asked that outright. Ray had been expecting to hear it every moment they had been gone but it was like Daniel had a sixth sense, he knew it wasn’t possible right away, he knew he had to be patient. It made sense that his patience was wearing thin now – Ray had lost his a while ago.

“Yeah… Soon.” He reached up and pushed some messy hair off his forehead, showing the kind of affection he couldn’t show towards Asher, even if he wanted to sometimes. Unlike his father, Daniel didn’t glare at him like he wished him dead on the spot. “Your dad and your ma are gonna be so happy when they see you.”

“And you too?”

Ray had to laugh quietly. “Yeah, I’m gonna be happy when I see you. I always am.”

***

Daniel couldn’t have looked more relieved to see Ray when he had finally come back. Ray was holding his arm to his side but when the boy ran over to him, he leaned down and wrapped the uninjured arm around him instead.

“I didn’t shout.”

“I know. We’re okay…”

***

“You were so good.” Ray’s voice broke a little when he said it and he swallowed hard, blinking quickly. “You were really, really good, Daniel.”

The boy definitely had a sixth sense, a sensitivity beyond his years. He reached out and wrapped short arms awkwardly around Ray’s neck, pressing his cheek against Ray’s shoulder and patting him on the back, mouth pressed into a thoughtful line.

Daniel might not have said it but Ray at least knew what this gesture meant.

They were okay.

Ray had bitched and bitched and bitched in his head when that damned wolf had insisted on following them to the arcade. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Delirium had sent it because she didn’t trust him to take care of Daniel on his own.

With hindsight, perhaps she wasn’t totally wrong.

He wasn’t sure where letting himself and the boy get run through by a laser and ending up in an alien world ranked on the Worst Things To Do To Someone Else’s Kid list, but he was eternally grateful that the wolf was there with him to share the blame.

Having Daniel with him kept him calmer, meant he had to think beyond just himself. It wasn’t easy to keep to the darkness when everywhere they looked, intense neon lights shone back at them. But if Ray had learned anything over the past day, it was that they had to keep a low profile.

He wasn’t sure what the time was – no sun, no moon, no watch – but judging by the way Daniel was asleep on his shoulder, a deep troubled furrow between his eyes – Ray figured they had to have been here more than 24 hours, at least. Too long for a little boy to keep his eyes open.

Crouched, wolf just in front, Ray held his breath as the ominous sound grew louder. A giant machine hovered over the ground with two huge pylon legs and a crew of men more menacing than their plane. He tried to block out the memory from hours before, when he’d seen a man captured against his will and flown away, screaming in terror about some games.

“That’s not gonna be us, okay,” he whispered, once the machine had passed. Daniel wasn’t listening but Ray said it anyway, hoping it gave him some comfort. “I’m gonna figure out a way home.”

He just didn’t know how or when.