At Time's End

Chapter 24 - Lost and Found

Another day with nothing interesting happening yet. It's just the norm at this point... I guess as it should be. 

Until, the doors opened. It's bad practice to keep them unlocked, but... What do I have to lose? I'm a time traveler, I can travel back and lock them if unwanted guests present themselves.

"Hello, how can we help you?" The hooded stranger seemed... familiar. It might've just been me, but... you never know, do you?

"Uh. Right, yeah. I guess you can." The stranger seemed exhausted, stressed or just generally out of it.

"You seem... nervous. What's up?" I leaned over the front counter.

"Why would you care?" They scoffed, yet still pulled off their hood. The stranger was a young man, presumably in his 40s. "The name is..." They paused for an unknown reason. "Chester. Chester... Teras." Teras?

"Oh, uh, do you have a sister named Cynthia?"

"...No, who is she?" A clear lie, but I ignored it for the time being. Teras isn't a common surname at all, and it's unlikely that I've met two people with a rare surname in the span of like, half a year.

"...Alright. So, what's your story?"

"What is there to tell? I'm homeless, got fired for something I couldn't really control, addicted to serpenthair and have no purpose of life."

"Well, I could fix the homeless issue," I said, gesturing to the couch. "I mean, we're pretty cramped-" Eterna would kill me if I got her another roommate "-but the couch is always free."

He seemed shocked. "You'll let me? I promise I'll make myself useful somehow." I assume he was tired, but I shot my shot with trying to figure out what his relation to Cynthia is.

"So, what's your relation to Cynthia?" 

"I have no idea who that is, I told you already!" I silenced him.

"You kind of do. Teras isn't a common surname, you know?"

He hesitated for a while. "...Fine. I am her. Him? How do you refer to someone who you were in the past, but who you are no longer..?" So, he's Cynthia. Was Cynthia.

"Alright. Cool." He seemed ready for me to verbally assault him. "So, are we just going to forget about the time you stole my stuff?"

"...Yeah, preferably." Let me guess, he worked under Alice. We exchanged nods of understanding. He's the only person who I've seen survive that place, I can't really expect him to tell me about his time there. "So, I'm going to join your little silly team for a while. Where's the tall one?"

"Dead." I said coldly, with a deadpan expression. He flinched. Reasonable. 

"Let me guess, Ms. Hawks- Alice." He corrected himself, as if he wanted to disgrace Alice on purpose. "Alice killed him."

"Yup."

"Rare to see her actually do something other than smoke, cough, sit around and abuse workers - or should I say inmates," he scoffed with an immeasurable amount of contempt for her. What he faced under her tyrannical rule was probably something so horrid it can't even be put into words. The scars that climb his neck like vines seem proof enough of that. "Shit, the one time I saw her walking the premises was when she went outside to 'go smoke'," he joked, before quickly getting serious. "I wonder... when was he killed?"

"...about... god, I don't want to say it. Check the calendar." How did I ever get so weak? I can't even pronounce a date, for heavens sake! He got up, grabbed the calendar, and frowned.

"It's the same date," he sighed. "The same date she left for that 'smoke break', it was the same when he was killed. If I knew, I'd have... taken that knife from her back pocket and driven it into her skull!" He clenched his fist, before letting go, the dark cloud of anger and grief covering his face and thoughts becoming almost visible. "It's just disgusting how she kills people for no reason at all..."

"It sure is... We have a hologram of him but it's off most of the time, plus he can only exist downstairs, and I conduct most of my research upstairs, so.."

"Well, who else is here?"

"Uh, two others. Eterna and Karmella. They're out shopping." I leaned in closer to whisper. "They're kind of in love," I chuckled. 

"Ah, okay." He smiled, for the first time in a while, I presume. It was a small thing, but he seemed like the happiest person in the empire. I can only imagine how relieving it is to finally be free from Alice's iron grip. "Also... It's a lot to ask, especially now that you've basically just allowed someone who stole shit from you sleep on your couch and work for you, but could you keep me away from drugs..?" 

He took a deep breath. "I mean, the trip you get from serpenthair is fucking irreplaceable, but.. I'm willing to try, plus I'm already trying to get my life fixed up, might as well fix that as well." He sighed. "I mean, the withdrawal symptoms are going to be fucking great, I reckon, but... eh, fuck it. Let's not think about that now. Just..." I noted he swears a lot when he's vehement about something.

"I understand. Uh. I'll try to keep you away as best I can, I guess?" That's one more responsibility, which makes three. One: Immortality Cure, two: fill and empty the dishwasher or else Eterna will scream at me, three: this. It's not much, but it might help with the chronic dullness of my life.

"I'm sorry to ask so much.."

"Shut up before I change my mind, Chester!" He smiled a bit, hearing his name being used. I assume he changed it recently, and his hair looks freshly cut as well.

Suddenly, the doors slammed open, for the second time today, revealing a stressed Eterna. 

"Hi, where's Karm-"

"GONE. I- I swear she just said she'd walk behind me, and now she's gone!" Looking closer at her face, tears were rolling down. She wasn't pranking me - she might yell a lot, but for the years our relationship lasted I saw her cry maybe four, five times.

"Alright, calm-" Seeing her stressed made me stressed, much like it did with Alice. I gathered myself and tried again. "Calm down. Uh, Chester, get something that'll calm her.. Eterna, come here." She limped to the couch, collapsing on it - seemingly fainting. She woke up in a couple of seconds, then fainted again. I decided to let her be... but the lingering feeling of confusion stayed stuck in the back of my head, alongside two sentences.

"We found one, and we lost one." and, more obviously, "Where the fuck did she go?"

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AN: oo cliffhanger ooooo i'm also on the edge of my seat because what do i do after this :D /hj