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whispersafterdusk · 2 years ago

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Lost in Time - ch 24

"--dead."

That was quite possibly the worst thing Eli wanted to hear the moment she got back in signal range.

"Repeat that - who's dead?" she shouted at her Hi-Def.

"I said, Franklin's dead. It's over," Remington repeated, sounding out of breath.

Eli felt an instant wave of relief wash over her. Granted, a dead man couldn't provide answers or be held accountable for those he'd killed tonight yet she couldn't help but consider this the best ending they could have hoped for. "Where is everyone? I'm on my way back to Portia. Sam is -- somewhere behind me," she went on, letting herself slow to a brisk jog versus the full sprint she'd been moving at. ((Continued below cut))

"I'm here at the Corps building - Adam and I are overseeing two additional suspects," came Mali's answer. "Remington hurried out of here but was uninjured."

Sam, Mali, Adam, and Remington accounted for. "Arlo? Asher?" There was an uncomfortable stretch of silence. "...Arlo, Asher - where are you?"

"Everyone... Meet at the Corps building," came Arlo's response, finally. "We'll...we'll get everyone caught up as to what happened tonight."

Eli's heart sank at how defeated he sounded and the relief she'd felt only moments earlier was replaced with a sort of cold fear -- what had happened in town? Asher wasn't- Asher hadn't answered, or had anyone confirm his whereabouts.

"Arlo - what's Asher's status?"

No answer.

"...Arlo?" Mali asked.

Eli pushed herself into a sprint again.

When she finally crested the hill and the Corps building came into view she spotted Mali and Adam at the Corps building's open door, standing to either side of a body face down and...Lily's mother? Why would -- oh, of course... The gunshots probably alerted her and she'd gone looking for Lily.

Whatever. The girl was dead and not important right now.

Beyond them, further along the path, there was something laying on the ground - closer to the clinic than to the Corps building and glinting dully in the poor light, and beyond that she spotted a...a long, wet, dark trail coming up the hill from the opposite side and marking a path directly to the clinic's door.

Eli blew passed Mali and the others and collided shoulder-first with the clinic door, shoving it open with a bang, almost colliding with Remington just inside the doorway and sliding a bit in the thick blood smear that went from the doorway to-

Asher. On a bed with a blood-soaked cover pulled partially up his torso. And beside him sat Xu on a stool, with his hands stained red from fingertips to wrist and little rivulets tracing paths up his arms and smeared on the front of his white coat. There was a small puddle of blood at his feet, formed from what was dripping off the sheet that was under Asher and slowly expanding outward toward the pile of shredded cloth Eli recognized as one of Asher's shirts that had been tossed to the floor.

Xu had had his elbows braced on his knees and his head hanging low, and had jerked upright with a start as Eli barged in.

"Eli-"

She finally registered Arlo standing near Xu's desk; he was soaked in red down his right side, from his waist down to his boots.

"What happened? Is he...?"

Is he all right? Is he...he has to be, he-

Arlo looked away, lips pressed together; Remington was staring a hole through the floor at his feet. She looked from them to Xu, who gave her a shake of his head.

"...he was gone before Arlo managed to get him through the door," Xu said softly. "I... The aorta. The bullet severed the aorta. Even if he'd been shot here in the clinic I don't think I could have stopped the bleeding in time...not from something like this."

Eli timidly approached Asher's body on the bed, reaching out to gently take one of his hands in hers; it was cold, and heavy and limp, and he was a mess of blood. Just...so, so much blood soaking into the sheet draped over him but didn't quite cover him fully - she could just see the tip of an open surgical cut sticking out from under the fabric...proof that Xu had attempted at least something, for all the good it would have done.

Such heavy blood loss had left Asher pale; someone had thankfully closed his eyes but there was no peaceful look to him...no way one could fool themselves into thinking he was merely asleep.

"I..." she whispered. She tightened her fingers over his and pulled his hand up to beneath her chin. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I never should have... I shouldn't have listened. I should have just gone in. I knew I needed to... I knew I should have..."

She was faintly aware of Xu moving away, heard a splash of water and the sound of rustling cloth; not long after she heard footsteps and the clinic's door opening and closing.

The hot prickle of tears started at the corners of her eyes and her knees felt ready to give way. Before she toppled she turned and scraped her back down the bed's edge, coming to sit partially in the blood puddle in the floor but not caring. She kept hold of Asher's hand which brought his arm down with her to dangle off the bed, hanging beside her head and over her shoulder.

She rested her cheek against his forearm and cried.

---------------------------------

The door to Selene's factory was unlocked and a sharp metallic smell hung in the air as he cracked the door open; one of Selene's main rules here was to always check before walking in and dutifully Django did just that, pausing with his face near but not beyond the threshold -- though he couldn't see the source he was aware of a flickering light reflecting off the floor and could hear a popping noise coming from within so he kept his gaze fixated on the polished stone at his feet as he pushed his way inside.

Mere seconds later the flickering stopped, as did the pops. "Didn't hear you knock."

"Because I didn't," he replied with a short chuckle as he gently closed the door behind him.

In front of him Eli sat behind a workbench that had been moved away from the wall and into the empty space between the entryway and where a line of machines started; in one hand she held a torch and the other was sliding a pair of thick-lensed goggles off her face and onto her forehead. Splayed across the bench before her was the Access Suit in a state of partial disassembly with wires, various relic pieces Django couldn't identify, tubing, bottles of oil and lubricant, a roll of soldering material, (and, strangely, what looked like the device she'd been speaking into the other night but now missing its casing) all carefully arranged within easy reach around it.

"Trying to fix it?"

"Trying to... It needs a new cooling system, the environmental simulation sensors are both shot and the brackets need to be re-aligned, it needs a new projector processor, some replacement wire and some fine-tuning... I may not be able to get it back to perfect working order, but it'll be enough... It has to be enough," she added after a moment. "Did you need something?"

"I just wanted to check on you - you left the funeral pretty quickly."

At the mention of the funeral she closed her eyes; he walked over to lean against the workbench opposite of her.

"...I know his parents couldn't possibly have known when they purchased the plot," Eli finally said, voice low, "and I guess no one thought to explain or even ask me, but seeing his headstone so close to Darren's was...painful. I didn't think I could keep it together enough to mingle."

He nodded but remained silent, and she too was silent for a long moment before opening her eyes and meeting his; the look of exhaustion, of both body and soul, was painfully obvious. Django circled around the workbench, reaching out to take the welding torch out of her grasp and lay it on the bench before gently turning her to face him with his hands resting on her shoulders.

"It's all right to grieve, Eli," he said softly.

She let out a huffed, bitter laugh. "Yeah? Maybe I could if I wasn't so broken. The list of people I've lost is too long. It's too much. I can't...I thought maybe with time I could come to terms with it -- even before now it felt like an impossible order, with my husband, my family, my entire world gone. And now Asher is gone too. I can't. I can't. Not right now."

It was odd being in such familiar territory; his days as a knight, especially the early days, had been far bloodier than he'd ever shared with anyone. There was always joy in recounting the heroic tales but the ones that had cut deep he always kept close to himself -- names and faces, places where they'd fallen or parted ways... He'd been in this exact position (well...maybe "exact" was not quite the right word) time and again and Eli's expression was the same look he'd seen on his own face staring back at him from the reflection of too-polished armor. After a moment he tugged her forward into a hug; she stiffened at his touch at first, then relaxed a bit though she did not raise her arms to return the embrace.

"You're not broken, and you can't run from the grief forever...it won't ever lessen if you refuse to treat with it."

"I know. I know, but right now I don't want to think about it. Not when I've still got a job to do." She leaned out from the hug and turned back to the suit on the table. "If I can just get this damn thing working..."

"A job? What are you planning?" he asked, letting his hands drop to his sides.

"I'm going to get this suit functioning, then I'm going to head north and get Harrison's family out of Duvos's hands."

"I suppose I should have guessed that... You can't do this on your own, Eli." At that she shot him a withering glare and he held up his hands in a placating gesture. "That's not me disparaging your skills -- this isn't the world or people you knew. Perhaps a better way to word it is, you don't have to do this alone."

"I won't be alone," she grunted. "Rose is coming with me."

"...Rose?" he repeated.

She wordlessly pointed across the bench toward the far wall. He shifted to follow her finger with his gaze and was shocked to see the Ghost Knight leaning against the wall, arms crossed and eyes closed, motionless and positioned so that, as he'd opened the door and come in, the door itself had blocked her from view.

He'd completely missed her presence in the room and a chill of uncertainty shot down his spine as he jerked his head back around to Eli. "Absolutely not! You can't be serious!"

Eli cocked an eyebrow at him. "I get that she's stabbed you and has worked for Duvos in the past, but she gave you the Access Suit and just wanted to leave with her daughter."

"I do not, not for an instant, trust her to lead you down the right path," Django insisted, shooting Rose an uneasy look. "I am not letting you leave with her."

"And just how did you plan to stop me?" Eli asked dryly. "You know if I don't go then you're leaving a rescue mission up to the whims of bureaucracy."

Django paused, glancing between the two women; Rose still had not moved or spoken, or opened her eyes for that matter. After a moment he squared himself to the workbench, balling his hands into fists and then bracing them against the benchtop. "-I'm not. I'm not going to stop you. But I am going to go with you."

Eli let out a sigh that trailed off into a growl; she kicked her heel out and Django heard the scrape of wood on stone as the stool just behind her slid abruptly backwards several inches, giving her the needed space to plop onto it while crossing her arms atop the workbench before resting her forehead on them, all in one smooth motion. "Are we really going to have this argument...?"

Rose chose that moment to interrupt, though she remained as still as a statue as she spoke. "We have not truly talked in decades, knight."

"No, we have not," he agreed.

"That you would imply I have not changed in all that time is insulting."

The woman stirred at last and gave him a dead-eyed, empty look -- where he'd seen unimaginable grief in Eli here he saw...nothing. No emotion.

"I can believe that you could have changed," he replied. "I just have no reason to believe it was wholly for the better."

"You think I would side with the empire that has killed my daughter?"

"No. But I don't know what else you might do." He turned his attention back to Eli who was still face-down on her arms. "Have you told anyone what you intend to do?"

"No, and I want it to stay that way," came the muffled answer. "I don't want anyone worrying, or trying to stop me, or trying to follow me." After a pause she lifted her head and stared up at him. "And I definitely do not want Duvos to see me coming. If I'm going to have a shot at getting up there, finding them, and getting them home, NO ONE can know."

Django straightened, rubbing his fingers over the crease in the knuckles of the opposite hand and unflinchingly meeting her gaze. "I am coming with you."

"What about the Round Table?"

"Sonia has managed it by herself before -- she knows every bit of my business though she insists she's content being just a waitress while she waits for the right man to come along," he paused, then smiled a bit. "I've debated giving ownership of it to her, if she wants it, when I'm finally too old to do the work myself."

Though...Sonia wouldn't appreciate having this dumped into her lap without warning. Was this the right choice? It had to be; he couldn't stand by and not help -- Eli, Harrison and his family, (maybe even Rose as well) they were all in need and he was in a position to help them. To NOT help at this moment seemed cruel.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Eli shoving herself up off the workbench, craning her neck to stare up into the ceiling as she took in several deep breaths.

"On my honor as a knight," he said quietly, waiting until she'd lowered her chin and was looking at him before he continued. "On my honor, I swear I will not tell a soul, so long as you do not leave without me."

"And if I do?"

He smiled at her. "I guess I would need to share what I know with the Civil Corps when they realize they have a missing person case."

She snorted - loudly and heavily - at that but stuck her hand out toward him. "Oh shut up... Fine, whatever. We'll leave the morning after I've gotten this damn thing fixed. Preferably well before dawn, so there's no chance we're spotted."

Django shook her hand. "Agreed. I will be ready."

She let go and pulled the stool closer to the bench, reaching up to pull the goggles back into place. "I'll let you know - I'll let you BOTH know - but I need to concentrate on this so, respectfully, clear out."

With a nod Django stepped around the bench and stopped halfway between it and the door, eying Rose silently; he remained there until she finally stepped from the wall and came toward him, then continued on and disappeared outside. When he was certain she had left Django stepped out of the factory and took a few deep breaths of the fresh air.

He would need to get his armor ready -- the set on the stand in the Round Table was just a costume he'd commissioned for display. His actual suit of armor was still carefully stored in a trunk under his bed; he'd dutifully tended to it over the years -- oiling the straps, buffing rust from the buckles, polishing the metal. There had been many times where he'd debated getting rid of it... His days as a knight were over, he'd told himself; he was retired and the memories would remain even if he never wore it again or even kept it. But he'd held onto it -- and thank goodness he had!

It had been a few months since he'd last taken it out and as often as he'd tended to it over the years he wasn't expecting it to really need any repair; he could have it ready to go in an hour or so, then leave it laid out where he could don it quickly and leave.

He would also need to write a note of some kind for Sonia... An apologetic one, as he could not give her any details on where he was going or why. Hopefully, when they all returned safely, he could explain and earn her forgiveness.

-------------------------------------------

Almost...done...

After she'd taken it from Asher's belongings in the clinic his Hi-Def had been a constant presence in the factory as she'd worked to get the Access Suit back into working order; she'd debated just burying him with it and if it had been in her time she would have. She'd been unable to convince herself to let it go though, and then, after she'd had a chance to look the Access Suit over, to determine what it needed, she'd understood.

Among the list of parts the suit had needed was a new projector processor -- a part the Hi-Def's also utilized. Balance had intervened to make sure she'd have what she needed.

With a steady and gentle hand (and a pair of slender tweezers) she removed the processor from the Hi-Def and carefully slotted it onto the control board of the suit. It slipped into place smoothly and she closed the little metal clamp over it to press it fully into the connectors, then picked up the little current-testing tool and touched the prongs to the input and output points -- she didn't think anything inside the Hi-Def would've been damaged but she had to be certain...

It read green. Working like a dream.

A bad, terrible, endless nightmare of a dream.

She set the tool aside and rubbed grimy fingers to her temples. "...I miss you. And I always will, but you're going to see the end of this chapter. I promise," she said into the empty air.

All that was left now was to bend the simulation brackets back into place and attach the last few bits of the cooling system, then a final test...

Her personal story may have stalled and she still didn't know where she was meant to go from here but Balance had acted to give her a chance to be Judgement's hand... For Harrison's family, for Asher...for every tale Duvos had disrupted. It was time to act.

----------------------------------

With her plane Mali had helped them comb the surrounding territory, looking for any sign that the Sky Sharks were lurking about. To the far northeast near the coast they had spotted what looked like tracks left from landing gear but aside from that one hint there was no other clue that anyone had been around -- certainly no sign of the Sharks themselves. Mali had suspected they'd simply abandoned the mission when it seemed like it had failed (by Windsor's account the delay with the clinic expansion had set them back weeks when it was only supposed to be a quick in-and-out job), and with nothing to go on and no clear sign of danger, there wasn't much they could do.

Arlo hadn't been sleeping well these last few days; while finding no sign of the Sky Sharks had relieved some of the constant anxiety he was...was-

-buckling under the guilt, honestly. How anyone could stand to be around him was beyond him -- his orders had gotten someone killed. Asher's loss was his fault. He especially couldn't bear being near Eli; her words in the clinic kept echoing in his head:

I shouldn't have listened, she'd said.

No...she shouldn't have. She never should have accepted his command; she had years more experience on him -- formal training, a career based around leading others. And what did he have? A quick rise to #1 in a town that barely saw any crime -- how stupid, how arrogant, to think he was qualified compared to her.

It had been difficult to put on a brave face for everyone around him; Sam was struggling with the fact that she'd asked to trade places with Asher and he'd had to reassure her it wasn't her fault as there wasn't a guarantee anything would have played out differently if he'd not been there. Remington had quietly stepped up and took on extra patrols, to give Arlo the time needed to search the countryside with Mali in pursuit of the Sharks, and then when those scholars had come up from Vega 5 he'd taken them off Arlo's hands without complaint.

...Remington also had more experience than he did. He'd been in Lucien and seen combat at the border with Duvos before he'd settled back in Portia. Even he would be a better choice than...

It had taken another day or two to think it through but...Arlo had made his mind up, and the very next morning he was up and pacing restlessly while he waited for time to tick over and Town Hall to open.

At 9am on the dot he'd left his room and hurried to Town Hall, pushing open the door in a rush and coming to a skidding halt in the foyer.

"Gale? Gale, do you have a moment? I need to speak to you - it's important."

Arlo could see Gale at his desk, some kind of paper or letter held in front of him, and as he watched the man's expression grow steadily more crestfallen he felt a surge of nervousness - what now?

"Gale?"

"Ah, ahem, yes - sorry Arlo, please, come in," the man responded, clearing his throat.

"If this is a bad time I can come back."

"No, no, I don't- there-" Gale paused and took a deep breath, then managed to reclaim that usual look of professional friendliness he always wore as he set the paper down on the desk in front of him. "I have a free moment now and you're here anyway so may as well speak. What can I help you with?"

"I-" Arlo opened and closed his mouth a few times -- just say it. Just say it- "I wanted to resign as leader of the Civil Corps."

Gale's expression immediately fell and Arlo was shocked to see him bury his head in his hands. "Not you too..."

"What? What do you mean?" Arlo prompted. He came over to the desk, punching a fist into its top. "Not 'me' too? Who else...?"

Gale picked up the letter he'd been reading as Arlo had entered and held it up, clearly going over it once more before tossing it listlessly to the desk. �� "This was in the floor when I came in just now - I guess she put it under the door. It...would seem that Eli has resigned from the Civil Corps and left Portia."

Arlo felt like someone had hit him square in the gut -- she'd what?! "She what? When?" He reached out to snatch the letter and Gale didn't stop him.

It was a simple and to the point note:

Mayor Gale,

Effective immediately I am resigning my position with the Civil Corps.

I am also leaving Portia due to a personal matter. I apologize for the abruptness of my departure.

- Elizabeth Summers

No... no, this had to be a- a joke, right? She couldn't leave...not like this.

Arlo turned and bolted for the door, leaving the letter to flutter to the floor in his wake; outside he slapped his Hi-Def open and was dismayed to see her name in bright red -- out of range.

He opened a channel to everyone. "Has anyone seen Eli?"

"Not since yesterday morning, why?" came Remington's response.

"I haven't, no," was Sam's.

"She's not been out this way in a few days," Mali replied.

Arlo silenced the Hi-Def before sprinting toward the Peach Plaza gate and heading for Selene's house beyond it, leaping the fence and falling against the front door before banging on it. A few moments later Selene opened the door and was almost bowled over as Arlo barged in.

"Please tell me Eli's here," he asked in a rush.

Selene got her balance back and hesitated. "I didn't hear her get up this morning, what's-"

"Is she here?" he repeated through gritted teeth.

"What's going on? You're starting to scare me a little--"

She trailed off as Arlo darted around her and pounded his way up the stairs to Eli's bedroom.

The door wasn't fully closed and there was no answer when he knocked so he simply shoved it open and was hit by an encompassing sense of emptiness -- the bed was immaculately made, there wasn't a single speck of dust on the bedside table or dresser, and aside from a photograph pinned to the headboard there wasn't any sign that anyone had been living in this room.

He heard Selene come up behind him, huffing a little bit. "Arlo, what's wrong?"

"Eli left," he mumbled. He moved into the middle of the room and slowly spun in place -- the place was painfully neat and tidy.

"She what? When?" Selene asked, coming in behind him. "She didn't -- why would she leave without saying anything?" She stood there looking around in confusion before moving over to pull a drawer open -- empty. Shoving it closed she tugged open the next and there, at least, was some clothing folded up; there was more clothing (pajamas, some socks, and what Arlo suspected had to be undergarments as Selene was quick to close that drawer without looking too closely at its contents) in the next drawer and he could see Selene's baffled expression reflected in the mirror.

"You're sure she's left?" Selene asked after a time. "Maybe she just... She's out for a walk?"

Arlo stepped over to the bed and tugged the photograph off the headboard; he remembered this picture -- it was from the solstice celebration, not long after they'd rescued Eli from the facility. He held it gingerly between his thumb and pointer finger, numbly backing out of the room and into the hall until his back bumped into the opposite wall.

"She sent Gale a letter," he said softly. "She left. She's gone."

Selene covered her mouth with her hands, eyes wide; Arlo slid down the wall and sat in the floor, studying the picture a moment longer before slipping it carefully into an inner pocket of his jacket, then he drew his knees up and looped his arms around them, letting his head droop between them.

What could he do now? How could he possibly make up for his mistakes if she wasn't here? Could he somehow catch up to her if he figured out where she'd gone? ...no, that would probably make things worse as it was pretty clear, based on how she'd left without a word, that she didn't want anyone coming with her or following.

Damn it... More than anything now he regretted that he'd been avoiding her. What if he never saw her again?

He was aware of a pair of feet appearing in his peripheral a moment before Selene settled into the floor beside him, shoulder to shoulder and with her left leg pressed in against his leg.

"You don't need to talk unless you want to...but I'll sit here as long as you need me to," she whispered.

They sat in silence and after some time - how long? Who knew - Arlo let his head drop to the side, finding Selene's there to lean against. She gently nudged him with her shoulder and wrapped her arms around his.

"For what it's worth..." she said into the silence then. "I don't think she'd leave for good without saying goodbye."

He stopped bracing his heels against the floor and let his legs slide flat, his arms falling to his sides (or at least one of them did - Selene was still holding him on the one side). "...I hope you're right. I don't want this to be how it ends."

The hours passed; he finally stirred when he could hear Selene's stomach growling and realized that he was also hungry. She got up with him, excused herself long enough to put on clean clothes (she'd mumbled something about grease-stained work clothing) then they walked together to the Round Table. Being as it was somewhere between lunch and dinner it wasn't as crowded; they settled at a table together and weren't waiting long before Sonia bustled over.

"Hey you two -- just letting you know ahead of time it'll be a bit slower than you're used to," she said as she dropped off a pair of menus.

"Oh? Everything all right?" Selene asked.

"I hope so -- Django left me a note that he needed to travel suddenly so I'm handling the place by myself again until he gets home," was Sonia's response before she held up a finger to them and hurried off to greet the small group of tourist types that had just entered.

Arlo stared after her. Django...left? And at the same time as Eli... He turned back to the table and saw Selene giving him a knowing look.

"That can't be coincidence, and I doubt she'd run away with Django without any intention of coming home," Selene whispered. "She'll come home... I just know it."

Arlo took a deep breath and leaned back into the cushion behind him.

She'd come back... She would.

#Lost in Time #lit #Lost in Time - ch 24 #Arlo #Remington #Sam #Django #Xu #Gale #Sonia #My Time at Portia

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