Reunited
“Calmase, calmase. Estas bien, mijita. You have nothing to be frightened of anymore. I am here.”
The words were both familiar and strange, filtering past Destruction’s ears like a whisper. Part of her wanted to cling to them as they drifted by, but she had no means with which to grasp them, and no recognition of why she desired to do so. Even still, the voice soothed something in her, the words sparking a deep comfort low in her being.
“Calmase, estas bien,”the voice had said.“Calm down. You’re alright.”Be calm, do not cry, do not fret, you are safe.
But the calm did not suit Destruction, just as it did not suit Chaos. There was no calm or safety in Oblivion, so what use did she have for it? And what right did the voice have to demand it of her?
“It wasn’t a demand, it was a comfort.Abuelitahad to comfort us a lot back then.”
The new voice was more familiar but still strange, like listening to a recording of herself. And where the last voice had drifted past before Destruction could properly grasp it, this one echoed loudly, wanting to be heard—waiting to be recognized.
“I don’t remember the nightmares anymore, but they probably had to do with you,” the new voice continued.
Nightmares felt like Chaos’s doing. Too abstract for Destruction, too inefficient.
“We would dream about things we didn’t understand, things we wouldn’t understand until much, much later. And if our parents weren’t around to ease us back into sleep, thenabuelitawould. Her voice would keep the monsters away.”
There were no monsters anymore, only gods.
“You are right, my darling,” another voice, the most familiar of them all, eased into Destruction like a drug. Arms wrapped around her from behind, looping around Destruction’s waist in a tight embrace. “There are only gods. Would you like to be one?”
There was a power simmering to life between them at those words, a power that Destruction both did and did not understand. Something about it tugged a distant part of her mind, like a warning. But Chaos’s arms tightened around her, her chin resting on Destruction’s shoulder, and all warnings were forgotten. The path before them was illuminated and easy to follow—they simply had to take that first step.
“It has been an honor working alongside you, Josephina Espinosa.”
A memory. One Destruction did not own, but which held something visceral and painful nonetheless. Her heart ached with it, and Chaos’s arms loosened from around her waist, though they did not vanish completely
“It was my fault,” that voice from before whispered.Jo’s voice. Ink-stained fingers and a warm smile flashed behind Destruction’s eyes. The taste of coffee coated her tongue.
“It has been nothing short of a blessing getting to know you.”
That pain in Destruction’s chest grew, overwhelming even the illuminated path before her, drowning it in a warm glow, like sunlight.
“They were the last words Nico ever said to me, filled with kindness until the very end. I will miss him every day.”
But Destruction wouldn’t. Why would she? These memories weren’t hers. What was an end, if not a celebration of the final break?
“You are one and the same, my love.”
Creation’s voice. Destruction had no problem recognizing him, even if he sounded far away. She tried to turn towards it, to take a step closer, hear him better, but for some reason she remained rooted in place.
“My Destruction,” he said, sounding even farther, as if fading away. “My Josephina.”
Josephina. The name settled over her own like a second skin. She could hear herabuelitasinging lullabies in Spanish, could see lines of code floating in front of her vision. But she wasn’t Josephina (was she?), and when Creation spoke again, it was so far away she couldn’t hear it.
“Are you ready, my darling?” Chaos hummed, voice clear in Destruction’s ear. But something kept her from stepping forward. Even with the path once again illuminated before her, even as Chaos’s embrace tightened until it was almost painful, something kept her rooted in place.
“You don’t want to leave me behind,” Jo said, voice sounding as if she were standing just inches from Destruction’s face, though only the path lay before her, empty and bright.
Destruction wanted to argue with the voice, wanted to demand it let her pass, but she stayed silent. She wasn’t sure she could speak at all anymore. Josephina could speak though, and despite herself, Destruction listened.
“You don’t want to forget. You don’t want to lose me. That’s why you can’t go forward.”
Ridiculous. Destruction had no use for Josephina’s memories. Joining with Chaos was her purpose, becoming Oblivion was her design. Why would pointless memories keep her from righting a centuries-old wrong?
“Because it would mean losing all of them too.” Her team, her friends, the family Josephina had found in a world outside of time. “And you don’t want to risk losing him.”
