Rift

Chapter 20: Ghost

"Edith? How do you feel?" Colin asks the moment Edith, Regan and J get back in the car and J takes the wheel again, starting the engine and beginning to pull away from the computer repair shop.

Edith brings her hand to her chest, feeling for her heartbeat. She takes a deep breath, exhaling with a smile before she meets his eyes. "My heartbeat is back to normal... The pain is gone. I feel..." she takes another deep breath in, exhaling serenely as the relief settles into her body. "Fine."

"Just fine?" Nisha eyes her quizzically from the front passenger seat. Colin managed to persuade her to take his place next to J under the ruse of it being so that he could be closer to Edith after they returned from fixing her implant. When in reality, he's just terrified of that psychopath.

Edith scoffs with a shrug. "What? I'm still pregnant. I'm not coughing up blood, so 'fine' is as good as it's gonna get," she lightheartedly chuckles and returns her focus to Colin. "And... your magic?"

As the car turns down another road, now one that leads towards the highway, Colin closes his eyes and his brows contort up in concentration, letting his mind run through his systems to recognize every little detail that feels different. When he opens his eyes, they briefly flash a bit brighter green and he sighs as they dim to their normal luminosity.

"It's back..." he says wearily. "Unfortunately," he murmurs before smiling at Edith and wrapping his arm around her and pulling her against his side. "You've no idea how happy I am that you're okay..." he plants a kiss on her head. "We're going to get home and everything's going to be fine. We'll start a family..." he says softly, but his smile starts to fade as he looks to Edith's other side to see Regan blankly staring out the window while rubbing his knuckles with his trembling hands.

He and Edith both turn their gazes to him and worry melts into their features. How can they keep forgetting that talking about going home and having a family must hurt for Regan? That was what he would have had if they hadn't lost Cree. He may still have Reela, but without Cree, it's just not the same feeling. It's unlikely Cree would have ever moved to Sage, but it was clear how deeply he cared for Regan and Reela. For them, he might just have suffered through it.

But now he'll be returning home without him. Even with Reela, he'll still be alone in Sage.

Edith and Colin exchange a glance and Colin nods to her. J is now driving them down the highway, weaving between other cars and motorcyclists.

Edith turns back to face Regan and carefully reaches down to hold his hand, getting his attention to divert from the window and onto her. "Regan... Colin and I were thinking. You know, about what we're going to do after we get back to Utopia..." she starts and waits to see if he's really listening. His focus seems to be divided between her and his thoughts, but that's probably the best she's going to get.

"And, well... As much as we love County Mortal, it might be a bit too dangerous, especially considering they're probably still rebuilding from the war. So we thought... maybe somewhere safer would be best for a child," she smiles up at him. "Somewhere like Sage," she lightly bumps her shoulder against his.

Regan stares speechless at her as he lets all of that sink in. The insinuation is clear, but the belief behind it is what he has a hard time grasping. "You... want to live in Sage...?"

Colin smiles at him and nods. "I mean... It does feel a lot like home. For all its flaws, there are times I miss Aramora. And besides, it's probably smart to live somewhere that we wouldn't have to go far if we ever need a reliable SRL doctor, especially if Edith's going to be having a baby," he says.

Again, Regan just stares at him. His eyes bounce between Edith and Colin as he tries to wrap his head around what he just heard.

"...You want me to... deliver your child?" he shudders. "Are you sure...?"