At Time's End

Chapter 28 - Nobody Is Awake, Right?

Just like any other day, I woke up. The couch wasn't exactly pleasant, but it's good enough. The clock I had bought and placed on the coffee table told me the time at Point Nemo was around 3 a.m.. Nobody was awake. 

I got up, and got something to eat. I could cook decently - living without a home for years teaches you things - but the bread still tastes stale, perhaps because it is. Far more likely, however, is just the general void consuming all taste. After all - what have humans even accomplished? Space travel? Life in space? Our own home planet is in ruin, and still we pride ourselves in having accomplished so much.

After all, humans are tiny, and there is always a bigger fish. Something will devour us, in the end. And then something will devour the bigger power. And again, something will devour the bigger power. So on, and so forth, and so on, and so fort-

My futile train of thought was interrupted by a warm... thing leaning against my leg. It was a sace, perhaps Minttens? I couldn't see well, and wasn't bothered enough to switch the lights on. For convenience, I treated it as it was Minttens.

I hadn't bonded with Karmella's saces a lot, they always seemed to run away - perhaps I was too intimidating - but that didn't matter right now. The small sace was the only other lifeform awake in the Research Center. 

"Hey little buddy, are you lost or what?" I said it out of instinct, having met a lot of lost animals on the street, and even helping most of them home. I felt dumb - of course he wasn't lost. This is his home. 

Minttens - or, "Minttens", considering I didn't know which one it was - made a small noise, reminiscent of a small roar. I realized the second reason why talking to him was dumb - of course he couldn't respond properly. 

Despite the inherent idiocy of talking to animals, I realized there was no one awake. I could do whatever the hell I wanted. And spend way too much on drugs, and lose Jaiden's trust, and go homeless again...

But what mattered most right now was the small creature, pressing itself along my left foot. I reached down to pet it, flinching - the knife wound in my arm had been deep, and still hadn't healed properly. I'm still willing to bet the shooter was aiming for me specifically. Alice's orders, no doubt. I still wonder how they would've recognized me, but the Lady has her ways. 

I suppose I always had a soft spot for saces and other such creatures. They seemed to be the only ones who comforted me when I was on the streets. Then again, we did use to have a regular Terran cat at home. I forgot its name, but I loved him like no tomorrow, and in the end there was no tomorrow after a certain "today". The day my parents kicked me out, namely.

"Are you hungry, little one?" I rummaged the cabinets to find Karmella's cat food storage, in the end turning on the lights - the sace had indeed been Minttens, as I suspected - and finding it, after a confused and sleep-deprivation-induced minute of searching. I scattered a couple treats on the ground. The sace rocketed towards them. 

I began to realize I should probably go back to sleep, however not before stumbling into, first, the kitchen counter and then the - automatic - sliding door, despite the lights still being on. I somehow made it back onto the couch without injuring myself, lied down and pulled my blanket over me. Of course, the customary warm blanket weight descended behind my legs- wait, what?

I looked next to my legs. Minttens had decided to settle down there, of all places. I smiled, turned back and fell asleep to the faint sound of pen on paper.

---

I tossed and turned - finally opening my eyes. It hadn't been a nightmare, but it certainly wasn't a pleasant dream either. However, just as I had began to collect my thoughts, the notion of the dream was removed from my mind. 

I sat up and shook my head. The cold air hit my lungs, and I looked around the room with my thoughts now clearer. Trying to catch the final fragments of the dream I had, I looked over at the other person in this room.

Karmella was asleep - not very deeply, she had flinched in her sleep when I sat up, but still asleep. I lowered myself back down, careful not to make any more noise, and tried to catch more sleep - it was 3 a.m, and I wasn't planning on sleeping in - but ended up just staring at the ceiling. Nothing much else to do - nobody was awake.

It was wild to think - I knew Jaiden was nearly finished with the cure. That meant she was leaving soon. My brain acknowledged this, but still it hadn't 'hit' me yet. I had just gotten used to life with her again - how was I supposed to get used to the other kind of life again? 

Just as I began comprehending things - slowly but surely - and becoming sadder and sadder, realizing what Jaiden leaving meant, my eyes grew heavier, and the sound of someone writing became quieter... 

---

I heard Eterna rustling in her sleep, checked the time - 2:58 a.m, nobody was awake, probably - and raised my head. "You good?" I whispered. No answer. She seemed fine, so I let it be. Her restless sleeping kept me awake, though, so I stayed up. Thinking. Mainly about our current relationship. 

What even were we two? A couple? Just really close friends..? We couldn't be, at this point, could we? If only Eterna was awake, we could talk it out...

How is Jaiden feeling about this? And am I supposed to just watch as she progresses towards spending eternity with my own sister? I love Lucy with all I have, and Jaiden is a wonderful person and a close friend, but - I'm still not sure how I feel about them being a couple.

And again, how is Jaiden feeling about this? Watching your ex-girlfriend get with someone else? She has to feel somewhat sad, right? Or does she feel no bittersweetness?

"Shush, it's okay, just keep sleeping." I heard a - sort-of-panicked - voice, was too tired to recognize whose it was, and fell asleep to the faint sound of someone writing something. 

--- 

The light from the multiple government-placed lights outside illuminated my desk. I don't know why I did most of my research by hand considering it led to multiple papers on the floor, multiple papers eaten by small, ferocious critters named 'Minttens' and 'Grape' running around and multiple papers with assorted food stains on them - guess I just liked the aesthetic, either that or I subconciously wanted to preserve Ignus' computer as it was.

The yellow-green-ish light also illuminated the multiple testing machines, lovingly - and as quickly as humanly possible - assembled by Karmella. I turned one of them on, let it jingle the silly built-in tune that she always programs into it, and places the small vial into it. Then waited, gazing towards the other Research Stations in the neighborhood. I wonder what they were researching? Or were they sleeping? It was 3 a.m, after all. Maybe I should sleep, too..?

My thoughts were interrupted by a small voice."Testing complete!" I looked back over to the screen and skimmed the statistics. Then looked back at my papers. Then back at the stats. "No way.." I checked again and again. Everything matched. 

This was it. I had done it.

I grabbed the vial. Held it in my hand, letting it bask in the industrial light coming from the window, the translucent, faintly scarlet-colored liquid shining inside. 

I made my final notes, underlined "Done!" and picked the vial up again. 

I unscrewed the cap. This was it. 

But could I really leave this behind? The life I was leading currently - could I leave it? Was the promise of true love worth losing this life? Of course the memories would always be there. I wouldn't forget. But did I have the guts to leave it behind? I could always travel back, couldn't I? But then again, 

is immortality a gift or a curse?

The next thing I heard, after deafening silence for minutes, was the sound of shattering glass. There was a small amount of translucent, faintly scarlet-colored liquid on my floor.