Caspar Costas (née Millen) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fiveofnone) wrote2018-06-21 05:44 pm
fiveofnone) wrote2018-06-21 05:44 pm
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The end of a very, very long day.
It’s late when we finally teleport back to our cabin. Adia turns on a light while I shrug out of my blazer and examine the damage. It’s not ruined beyond repair, but that wine stain will be a bitch to get out. It’s too set in for club soda, even if I had any in our icebox. I’ll have to go back to the Nexus to get it professionally cleaned.
Goddamn Nexus. I finish changing out of my clothes, then get ready for bed. The solar water heater needs to recharge, so I settle for splashing cold water on my face and saving a shower for tomorrow. Besides, I’m exhausted. Fighting off a god and his satyr flunkies will do that.
For once, i’m looking forward to sleep.
When I exit the bathroom, Adia has changed into an old shirt of mine, a faded college tee that I used to wear on the Chiron. I forget why she borrowed it, she had it before the military seized my possessions as “evidence”. I don’t care what happened to the rest of my clothes, I had crappy taste back then, but I always like it when she wears this one to bed. It makes the time before and after the war feel less disjointed. Like we still had a connection, those years apart.
She’s sitting on the edge of the bed. Anastasia is curled up next to her bare thigh, purring like a little motor. I like that about Ana — she always knows which one of us needs her more at any given time. I sit on Adia’s other side. “Hey. The bathroom’s free.”
It’s not the most romantic thing to say, but even I know it’s not the time for flirting.
She looks up at me. Crap, she’s been crying. She’s wiped away the evidence, but I can see the red around her eyes. Dammit, how long was I in the bathroom? I should have checked on her first. She didn’t cry when Jeff died, and she held it together the whole time we were talking to Katsuya and Harley. I thought…
No, I was being an idiot. I was so relieved that Jeff was dead and she hadn’t been hurt in the process that I didn’t think about how she’d been affected. How it must have felt for her to see his memories when his soul passed into the scythe’s gem.
I should tell her. About the memories of other Fives that I’ve got pulsing through my cortex. About my nightmares. Instead, I take her hand. “Adia, it’s okay. You’re safe now. It’s over.”
She shakes her head incrementally and drops her gaze. “It’s not over. That ruined city in Jeff’s memories — that could be the Nexus, or anywhere connected to it, if Nyarlahotep isn’t stopped.”
“He’ll be stopped,” I insist. “Because of you. Of what you did.”
“Of what I did,” she echoes softly. When she meets my gaze, there’s a flash of vindication in her pale blue eyes. “And what Jeff did. There was good in him, Caspar. I wasn’t wrong when I saw it.” Her hand grips mine tightly. “I wasn’t wrong.”
I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “Never said you were, babe. But that doesn’t mean he deserves your pity.” She gives me a Look and I feel myself getting frustrated. Jeff is dead and he’s still being a a pain in my ass. “Adia, c’mon. After everything he did to you!”
“I’m not excusing him for what he’s done.” There’s a fire in her eyes, as if daring me to disagree. “But I can still forgive him for stalking me, and I can still feel sad that he didn’t get a chance to keep doing the right thing.”
“Not everyone deserves a second chance,” I retort hotly. “He could have just as easily blown it and gone back to his game show.”
“You don’t know that —“
“No, I don’t. That’s the point, you don’t prove that you’ve changed by sacrificing yourself. You try to be better, every damn day, and maybe if you live long enough, you’re worth forgiving.”
I expect more of an argument — it’s late and we’re tired and I know I should just keep my mouth shut about it, but dammit, I can’t sit back and watch her get all broken up about some asshole who doesn’t deserve her sympathy — but she doesn’t say anything in reply. Her expression softens, and though she’s looking at me, it’s like she’s looking inside of me.
“What?” I say, because as much as I appreciate how well she understands me, that look honestly weirds me out a little. Like she knows me better than I know myself.
“Nothing,” she replies softly. She squeezes my hand. “Do you want to know why I forgave him? Because he saved your life. There’s no greater gift someone could give me.”
I snort, even as I feel a blush creeping up my face. I know very well how much my life is worth. But… she has a point. There wasn’t any good reason for him to push me out of the way of that crazy kid with the spear other than that he’d had a change of heart.
“You were amazing,” she adds, a smile appearing on her face when my blush grows. “You didn’t just save me tonight, you saved the Nexus.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I mutter. She blinks, then bursts into laughter. “Well, I didn’t!” I protest over her giggles.
Her laughing spell fades to a soft hiccup as she gets herself under control. “Okay. You accidentally saved the Nexus.” She yawns, and I feel a pang of guilt for keeping her awake.
“We should go to bed,” I suggest, but she yawns again and shakes her head.
“We need to text Professor Madrone first. He needs to know what happened. And Felix. Or maybe Stratos… and Josh, he should know about Jeff, too.”
I think back to the last time I saw the special effects teen and grimace. “Why, so he can say, ‘I told you so, bro’?”
She gives me a confused look. “No, because I saw him in Jeff’s memories. They were hanging out together off-world. I think they might have been friends?”
It doesn’t take much for me to connect the dots, to recall Josh’s relationship with his boss and the influx of cash into his back account right after Jeff murdered Marie and drained her accounts dry. “…shit.”
“What is it?” Adia asks immediately, but I shush her by running my hand down her back. Now isn’t the time to pile on more worries about her friends. She needs to rest.
“I’ll tell you in the morning. How about you go to bed and I’ll handle the texting.”
“You don’t have —“
“I’ll use your PINpoint for anyone whose number I don’t have.” I rub her back again, and this time she leans into me, giving in to her sleepiness. “Go do what you have to. I’m on it.”
“Thanks,” she murmurs. She kisses me before standing up and heading to the bathroom. “You’re so good. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I’m not good, but I let her have this one. Besides, I know what she means.
~*~
I settle against our bed’s headboard, the screens of both PINpoints illuminating me. Adia tosses and turns beside me for a minute or two, but eventually I hear her breathing even out as she finally falls asleep.
I text Professor Madrone first. I let him know about Jeff and the pokémon temple. He texts me back immediately. I’m guessing he gets about as much sleep as I do. I can’t blame him for being excited (and I need to reassure him more than once that Adia is okay), but as our exchange continues well into the night, I have to tell him that we’ll need to pick this up later. There are other people I have to contact.
The next text goes to Josh. I let him know that Adia’s stalker is dead and that I have some bad news about his boss. I figure it’s better if he hears about it in person. Something tells me that he’s not going to handle this well. He’s a decent kid, but boy is he frakked up. I mean, we both have our demons, but at least I don’t hallucinate mine.
I spend a little bit of time debating whether to text one of the Caelus brothers. Supposedly they’ve been keeping an eye out for Adia’s stalker, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that. In the end, I use Adia’s PINpoint to send something short and sweet to Stratos, resisting the urge to suggest that he stick with his day job of fighting dungeons and dragons.
I send a quick message to Faris because he was worried about Adia and I like him. My finger hovers over Harrowheart’s name before I scowl and scroll on. I would have liked to tell him about how I kicked some ass. He would have appreciated it.
The sky lightens outside with the impending dawn and I realize that I’ve been up all night sending texts. That, more than anything, fills me with a bone-deep exhaustion. I figure everyone else can wait until tomorrow, but I do take the time to send one last message — to Isidor. She gave me some very useful advice once and she’s probably going to tear me a new one for not following a lot of it, but at least she doesn’t have to set some elaborate trap in the research center’s security system.
I set both PINpoints to silent, save for anything Harley or Katsuya wants to send to me, then place them on the nightstand. Then I lie down next to Adia and hope to myself that I don’t dream.
~*~
The light is much brighter when I blink open my sleep-encrusted eyes. Anastasia is a purring puddle of kitten draped over my chest.
“Morning,” says Adia beside me. She’s sitting on her side of the bed, a book propped open on her lap. She’s still wearing my shirt.
I check the time. It is morning, but barely. Another five minutes and it will be noon. I can’t remember the last time I ever slept so much, or so late. Carefully relocating Ana, I sit up and run a hand through my hair. “Aren’t we supposed to be at work?”
“I called in a day off for both of us.” She smiles. “Do you know we can still do that? Worker’s union rules now apply to everyone.”
She looks light — lighter than I’ve seen her in a while. A long night of sleep did her good.
“I think we should take it easy today,” she continues. “We could visit our cove on the beach.” Technically, it’s nobody’s cove, but it’s on the far side of the island and we’re the only ones who know about it. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re a genius.” I scoot up next to her; she giggles and puts her book away. She’s looking at me again like she knows what I’m thinking, but this time I’m glad she does. I want her to know exactly what I’m thinking when I pull her in for a kiss.
Anastasia hops off the bed, still purring, and gives us some privacy.
Goddamn Nexus. I finish changing out of my clothes, then get ready for bed. The solar water heater needs to recharge, so I settle for splashing cold water on my face and saving a shower for tomorrow. Besides, I’m exhausted. Fighting off a god and his satyr flunkies will do that.
For once, i’m looking forward to sleep.
When I exit the bathroom, Adia has changed into an old shirt of mine, a faded college tee that I used to wear on the Chiron. I forget why she borrowed it, she had it before the military seized my possessions as “evidence”. I don’t care what happened to the rest of my clothes, I had crappy taste back then, but I always like it when she wears this one to bed. It makes the time before and after the war feel less disjointed. Like we still had a connection, those years apart.
She’s sitting on the edge of the bed. Anastasia is curled up next to her bare thigh, purring like a little motor. I like that about Ana — she always knows which one of us needs her more at any given time. I sit on Adia’s other side. “Hey. The bathroom’s free.”
It’s not the most romantic thing to say, but even I know it’s not the time for flirting.
She looks up at me. Crap, she’s been crying. She’s wiped away the evidence, but I can see the red around her eyes. Dammit, how long was I in the bathroom? I should have checked on her first. She didn’t cry when Jeff died, and she held it together the whole time we were talking to Katsuya and Harley. I thought…
No, I was being an idiot. I was so relieved that Jeff was dead and she hadn’t been hurt in the process that I didn’t think about how she’d been affected. How it must have felt for her to see his memories when his soul passed into the scythe’s gem.
I should tell her. About the memories of other Fives that I’ve got pulsing through my cortex. About my nightmares. Instead, I take her hand. “Adia, it’s okay. You’re safe now. It’s over.”
She shakes her head incrementally and drops her gaze. “It’s not over. That ruined city in Jeff’s memories — that could be the Nexus, or anywhere connected to it, if Nyarlahotep isn’t stopped.”
“He’ll be stopped,” I insist. “Because of you. Of what you did.”
“Of what I did,” she echoes softly. When she meets my gaze, there’s a flash of vindication in her pale blue eyes. “And what Jeff did. There was good in him, Caspar. I wasn’t wrong when I saw it.” Her hand grips mine tightly. “I wasn’t wrong.”
I tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. “Never said you were, babe. But that doesn’t mean he deserves your pity.” She gives me a Look and I feel myself getting frustrated. Jeff is dead and he’s still being a a pain in my ass. “Adia, c’mon. After everything he did to you!”
“I’m not excusing him for what he’s done.” There’s a fire in her eyes, as if daring me to disagree. “But I can still forgive him for stalking me, and I can still feel sad that he didn’t get a chance to keep doing the right thing.”
“Not everyone deserves a second chance,” I retort hotly. “He could have just as easily blown it and gone back to his game show.”
“You don’t know that —“
“No, I don’t. That’s the point, you don’t prove that you’ve changed by sacrificing yourself. You try to be better, every damn day, and maybe if you live long enough, you’re worth forgiving.”
I expect more of an argument — it’s late and we’re tired and I know I should just keep my mouth shut about it, but dammit, I can’t sit back and watch her get all broken up about some asshole who doesn’t deserve her sympathy — but she doesn’t say anything in reply. Her expression softens, and though she’s looking at me, it’s like she’s looking inside of me.
“What?” I say, because as much as I appreciate how well she understands me, that look honestly weirds me out a little. Like she knows me better than I know myself.
“Nothing,” she replies softly. She squeezes my hand. “Do you want to know why I forgave him? Because he saved your life. There’s no greater gift someone could give me.”
I snort, even as I feel a blush creeping up my face. I know very well how much my life is worth. But… she has a point. There wasn’t any good reason for him to push me out of the way of that crazy kid with the spear other than that he’d had a change of heart.
“You were amazing,” she adds, a smile appearing on her face when my blush grows. “You didn’t just save me tonight, you saved the Nexus.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” I mutter. She blinks, then bursts into laughter. “Well, I didn’t!” I protest over her giggles.
Her laughing spell fades to a soft hiccup as she gets herself under control. “Okay. You accidentally saved the Nexus.” She yawns, and I feel a pang of guilt for keeping her awake.
“We should go to bed,” I suggest, but she yawns again and shakes her head.
“We need to text Professor Madrone first. He needs to know what happened. And Felix. Or maybe Stratos… and Josh, he should know about Jeff, too.”
I think back to the last time I saw the special effects teen and grimace. “Why, so he can say, ‘I told you so, bro’?”
She gives me a confused look. “No, because I saw him in Jeff’s memories. They were hanging out together off-world. I think they might have been friends?”
It doesn’t take much for me to connect the dots, to recall Josh’s relationship with his boss and the influx of cash into his back account right after Jeff murdered Marie and drained her accounts dry. “…shit.”
“What is it?” Adia asks immediately, but I shush her by running my hand down her back. Now isn’t the time to pile on more worries about her friends. She needs to rest.
“I’ll tell you in the morning. How about you go to bed and I’ll handle the texting.”
“You don’t have —“
“I’ll use your PINpoint for anyone whose number I don’t have.” I rub her back again, and this time she leans into me, giving in to her sleepiness. “Go do what you have to. I’m on it.”
“Thanks,” she murmurs. She kisses me before standing up and heading to the bathroom. “You’re so good. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” I’m not good, but I let her have this one. Besides, I know what she means.
~*~
I settle against our bed’s headboard, the screens of both PINpoints illuminating me. Adia tosses and turns beside me for a minute or two, but eventually I hear her breathing even out as she finally falls asleep.
I text Professor Madrone first. I let him know about Jeff and the pokémon temple. He texts me back immediately. I’m guessing he gets about as much sleep as I do. I can’t blame him for being excited (and I need to reassure him more than once that Adia is okay), but as our exchange continues well into the night, I have to tell him that we’ll need to pick this up later. There are other people I have to contact.
The next text goes to Josh. I let him know that Adia’s stalker is dead and that I have some bad news about his boss. I figure it’s better if he hears about it in person. Something tells me that he’s not going to handle this well. He’s a decent kid, but boy is he frakked up. I mean, we both have our demons, but at least I don’t hallucinate mine.
I spend a little bit of time debating whether to text one of the Caelus brothers. Supposedly they’ve been keeping an eye out for Adia’s stalker, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that. In the end, I use Adia’s PINpoint to send something short and sweet to Stratos, resisting the urge to suggest that he stick with his day job of fighting dungeons and dragons.
I send a quick message to Faris because he was worried about Adia and I like him. My finger hovers over Harrowheart’s name before I scowl and scroll on. I would have liked to tell him about how I kicked some ass. He would have appreciated it.
The sky lightens outside with the impending dawn and I realize that I’ve been up all night sending texts. That, more than anything, fills me with a bone-deep exhaustion. I figure everyone else can wait until tomorrow, but I do take the time to send one last message — to Isidor. She gave me some very useful advice once and she’s probably going to tear me a new one for not following a lot of it, but at least she doesn’t have to set some elaborate trap in the research center’s security system.
I set both PINpoints to silent, save for anything Harley or Katsuya wants to send to me, then place them on the nightstand. Then I lie down next to Adia and hope to myself that I don’t dream.
~*~
The light is much brighter when I blink open my sleep-encrusted eyes. Anastasia is a purring puddle of kitten draped over my chest.
“Morning,” says Adia beside me. She’s sitting on her side of the bed, a book propped open on her lap. She’s still wearing my shirt.
I check the time. It is morning, but barely. Another five minutes and it will be noon. I can’t remember the last time I ever slept so much, or so late. Carefully relocating Ana, I sit up and run a hand through my hair. “Aren’t we supposed to be at work?”
“I called in a day off for both of us.” She smiles. “Do you know we can still do that? Worker’s union rules now apply to everyone.”
She looks light — lighter than I’ve seen her in a while. A long night of sleep did her good.
“I think we should take it easy today,” she continues. “We could visit our cove on the beach.” Technically, it’s nobody’s cove, but it’s on the far side of the island and we’re the only ones who know about it. “What do you think?”
“I think you’re a genius.” I scoot up next to her; she giggles and puts her book away. She’s looking at me again like she knows what I’m thinking, but this time I’m glad she does. I want her to know exactly what I’m thinking when I pull her in for a kiss.
Anastasia hops off the bed, still purring, and gives us some privacy.