At Time's End

Chapter 18 - The Immortality Cure

The immortality cure. Perhaps it's not accurate to call it a cure - that would mean it cured the curse of immortality.

Immortality is a strange ability. It's technically not even an ability - it's more like a curse. There aren't many curses, and thus science doesn't know much about them, not to mention it's a whole new subject that nobody knew of on Earth. We do know that they're mainly genetical - some claim to be able to inflict them on others, but they're mainly seen as con artists. There are some reports of curses being inflicted through these methods, but they're quickly shut down by the government... for whatever reason.

Immortality, like curses, is mainly genetical and has no known cure. Other curses are, perhaps most commonly the curse of long hair, where your hair seems to grow with no end - a guy I knew in school had that - and second most commonly the ink blood curse, which is.. self-explanatory. Despite being the most common curses, they're still not common at all - maybe 1,6% of the current population has them.

On immortality as a curse, usually once parents discover that their child is immortal, they immediately try to kill them - after all, outliving your children, which would inevitably happen to immortals, is pretty much taboo. If I outlived my kids... first of all, that wouldn't happen, because I dislike kids, but I probably wouldn't care. 

That's where Lucy is the anomaly. It's not that her parents wouldn't have cared, like me, but that they were.. gone. Lucy is adopted. I guess her adoptive parents didn't see themselves as Lucy's "real" parents, so the societal rule didn't count? Hell if I know.

I don't know many curseholders, as they're called, only Lucy and that dude in my class. And technically I didn't even know Lucy had the immortality curse, since she found out pretty late in life compared to most people - 40. Most people find out at around 16 - which means that the curse starts functioning at 16, which then means that they're doomed to look like a child forever, but Lucy got lucky and found out at 40, which means she'll just look like an adult forever. Which is slightly better than having to look like you're in two-ed. 

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AN: two-ed is second grade, and also if you forgor: people still age twice as fast because the earth spins twice as fast alright bye

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As I descended down the stairs, I was shocked to find it wasn't actually Eterna who was yelling, it was Karmella... for once. She's a pretty peaceful person, so I'd bet Eterna fucked up big time this time.

"- and for once when we actually have a civil conversation, you decide to throw it all to the wind right as you wake and start being an asshole to me for no reason again, and for WHAT REASON?! Because Lucy was an asshole to you a couple times when you were a kid?! How is that related to ME?!" The room fell quiet. Even Eterna, who is usually pretty quick to counter-argument, was shell-shocked, too surprised to say a word. "...I'm sorry, I shouldn't have exploded like th-"

"Nah, it's... it's alright. I deserved that reality check I guess." She looked embarrassed. "Uh.. I'll just go clean up a bit." Eterna tried to escape, but I was not letting her go without actually apologizing to Karmella. I mean sure, she did yell at Eterna, but she's been so bitter to Karmella this whole time, so..

"No need! I, uh, already cleaned everything." I leaned in closer to her ear as she walked past. "You better get your bitter ass back over there or you'll wake up in horrendous pain and quickly notice your ankles have been removed. This is your colleague, and that's not how you treat people. This is your last chance, buddy. Better not waste it."

As I'd hoped, she got right back down the stairs. I decided it was good enough, even though I heard her getting up the stairs a couple minutes later. Although, in all fairness, I did hear two sets of footsteps, so I suppose Karmella followed her. 

"You know what? I might as well try to listen to them for a while. Who knows what I'll find out, right..?"

-- Karmella's POV

Eterna and I made our way upstairs after the... incredibly awkward conversation. She did apologize for everything, and I knew it was insincere, but something told me it wasn't... Maybe that's just wishful thinking. I mean, I guess I knew her enough to know that she was hellbent on disliking me, but.. my thoughts keep running back to the conversation last night.

"So, uhh.. what do we do now?" Eterna started.

"I.. don't know," I answered, blandly. "Also, what the hell did Jaiden say to you that made you turn back that quickly?"

"She was going to cut my ankles off," she said with an unmoving poker face.

"Okay.." Remind me to never make her angry. "So, do we have enough food..?" The conversation was running pretty dry.

"...I mean, we're out of juice." She looked down. "Uh, you need anything? I could go get it."

"Or we could both go."

"...what?" She still looked unfazed, but I could hear the surprise in her voice. "I mean, why? You practically hate me right now..? Like, you just spent two whole minutes yelling a reality check at me. Why would you want to go on a grocery run..?" It was a good point. I should be mad, and she absolutely deserved it, but... somehow, I can't be angry. It's not that she's attractive - she is though, but not the point - and I thus couldn't be angry, it's just.. I don't know.

"Uh... You said sorry." I'm sorry, me, but that is the absolute weakest excuse I've ever used. "So, I suppose I have no reason to be angry at you....." Silence. "Anyways, are we going or not?"

"...I guess. Do we need a list..?"

"Uhh, nah, I'll remember." I inhaled. "JAIDENWHATDOYOUWANTFROMTHESTORE?" 

"Calm down, I can hear you easily."

"You've- what?! Eavesdropper!" I could hear her laugh echoing through the vents.

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AN: holy shit this chapter took time to make. anyways, hope you're enjoying it so far, as always!