“It took everything I had just to see whatwouldhave happened, and even then, it was just jumbled clips. It’s still just jumbled clips, with so much fucking missing. It’s like once I changed the threads, they refused to show me, not only what could have been, but what isactuallygoing to happen!
“But Skya was not part of the original timeline. She was not supposed to be taken with him. She wasn’t there… I’m so sorry, Severo, that what I did put her there.”
As the shuttle left Earth’s atmosphere, the gravity stabilizers turning on, they went quiet again. Severo stared at the man as he continued to cry. He couldn’t ever recall seeing the man look so broken… But he wasn’t sure what to feel. He was still angry…he felt it. And knowing what he did now, part of him wanted to blame Cyrus.
When he stayed silent, still trying to figure out how to fucking respond or react, Cyrus sniffed and rasped, “I know what you must be thinking. Some friend I am. And I haven’t been a good friend. I’m the worst of hypocrites. I always went on and on about my rules… About picking the best fucking option. I lectured you, and decided for you, and those you cared about… But I just…I couldn’t…I couldn’t—” The man let out a soft distressed sound, shaking his head. “I couldn’t let him die… I couldn’t.”
Severo sighed. He was angry, yet…hell. Unbuckling the harness, Severo strode the short distance to the still seated man and hugged him, his own tears spilling over. “You did the right thing.”
The larger man flinched at his words, as if he’d hit him. “What? How can you say that?!” The Fate truly meant the question. Cyrus sounded so damn lost.
He pulled away and pinched the Cryptid’s nose. “I’m the one who is supposed to cry about shit.” Cyrus batted his hands away, but his tears didn’t slow. Sighing again, Severo plopped down in the seat next to the man. “I could blame you. Part of me thinks I should, but the fact is, if you had told me what you saw, I would have made you fix it. Friends don’t let friends die when they can stop it.”
“I usually don’t see it…when the person is close to me. Not the deaths, not this blatantly, not when there is no other path. I don’t know why they showed me. I wasn’t even…looking, but they did, and I didn’t hesitate to change it, to fix it.”
Severo knew the man wasn’t lying. He had once wondered if perhaps Cyrus had been, that the Fate had just been able to cruelly ignore whatever he saw, but seeing him break down like this, he knew Cyrus was telling the truth.
“Maybe they showed you so youcouldfix it?” Severo offered slowly.
“Then why block me?! Why punish me for doing what they wanted?! Why won’t they just show me WHAT is going to happen?!” Cyrus started to sob, the man hunching down, his head in his hands. “I’m sorry… If anything happens to Skya…I won’t…I won’t forgive myself… I’ll?—”
“You’ll do nothing, you hear me, Cyrus Grimm. This isnotyour fault. But even if it was, I forgive you.” He gripped the Fate’s shoulder. “I forgive you, Cyrus. You just did what anyone woulddo when faced with the option of doing nothing or saving the person they love.”
Sniffing hard, the man’s head lifted. Cyrus’ eyes were red from crying, and his friend didn’t look any less lost. “I don’t understand that… I—how could you? After knowing what a fucking hypocrite I am?! How could you, after I did this?!”
“Cyrus, do you know why, after learning you chose to let Seri be taken—even after we talked—the reason why I couldn’t fully let it go?”
The man smiled sadly. “I knew you hadn’t.”
“Yeah, I said I did, but I lied. I hadn’t actually let it go until this very moment. I hadn’t fully trusted you again until now. And do you know why, Cyrus?” He sniffled, rubbing a few tears away. “It’s because when you told me that you would never sit back and let the people you care about die, if you could change it, I didn’t believe you. But I do now.”
Cyrus stared, the man’s tears slowly drying up. “You still shouldn’t…” The Fate let out a bitter laugh. “Because I don’t…ha—I can’t say what I will do anymore… I don’t…I don’t know… I don’t know what…or who I am now that I don’t have those self-righteous principles to cling to anymore. And I don’t know what the consequences of this will be…beyond that Killian will at least survive whatever is about to happen…”
Ender eyed the bridge. As it was a large circular room that was all windows, it gave the occupants an unobstructed view of space, or in this case, their launching area on Earth. Though, from the outside of Red Herring, it looked completely black.
In the center of the bridge, there was a sizable round meeting table surrounded by chairs, and curved around it were the control panels for the entire ship, along with more chairs. Unlike so many things nowadays, ship engineers had been smart enough to eventually switch back to tactile controls. Even if some things were hologram and/or screen based, there were plenty of buttons, nobs, and switches for people other than him to play with.
With a cheeky-ass smile on his face, Kore pressed a small disc on the collar of his shirt. His voice projected out over the ship's audio system as he spoke. “This is Interstellar Commander Kore speaking. I'm the lovable Elemental who will be navigating this fucking bucket of bolts, lovingly called Red Herring, and I estimate you have about two minutes to make sure that you and all your shit is secure, before whatever happens, happens. Good luck!”
He rolled his eyes. “First of all, show some damn respect to its name. Second, it’s an expensive bucket of bolts, asshole, and third, it’s our main, and most advanced, up-to-date ship, in case you forgot.”
It wouldn’t be for too much longer though, even if they would still use it. It was the largest ship currently in use by Cryptid Means, and one of nine ships that they had access to, but a major upgrade was coming.
Fifty-one brand new ships were currently being built in various locations on Earth, and a few on planets that were not under government domain. The orders were placed under untraceable names, with funds that would raise zero red flags. And they would be fitted with all the bells and whistles one could ask for.
One of those ships was about half a size larger than this one, and would soon enough become the toy Kore would get to float around in. On their completion, while they did plan to seriously upgrade the older models, it would instantly more than quadruple their fleet size, which was the important part.
Ender had made it his personal fucking mission over the last year and a half to speed up their expansion into space, along with furthering their own space exploration. He frankly hadn’t been able to let go of the bitter feeling he’d experienced on having to clearly state to Seri just how little they had done so, in that moment of time.
“I wouldn’t dare disrespect the name of your first chicken. And expensive, yes, but soon to be replaced, which is a good thing, because only the elements know how much longer the duct tape, rubber bands, and gum will hold this thing together,” Kore said, almost giddily. There was an annoying ass smirk on the Elemental’s face as the man moved to the navigation control section of the panel, and took his seat, strapping in.
“Keep it up and I won’t give you your new toy,” he grumbled, mainly to himself, as he buckled his own harness.
Closing his eyes, Ender fully intended to ignore the impending launch upwards, because he had never actually been a fan of the feeling of leaving the atmosphere.
Just when the ship began to lift upward, Soren, who had been quiet beside him until now, asked, “What if we are caught in space when the date hits? Or if you lose it sooner than normal, hmm?”
His eyes snapped open wide, and he looked sharply at the Harpy as he barked out, “Fuck!” on realizing the drugs were still in his damn bathroom cabinet.
