Black Mirror

Chapter 31 - Pac-Man Fever

***ALEX***

The first thing Annie and Harlan have to do is get Ariel's body back to the Second 'Verse, processed (preferably not in the Bearville hospital morgue, but they might not have any other choice), and cremated. "I'd hate to be the one who calls his family," says Harlan, "but someone's gotta do it. Might as well be me."

"Hey, hey, hold up," Gabe says, holding up his hand. "Where are we gonna go?"

"Pardon?" asks Annie.

Fionna clears her throat before speaking. "The Guardian building went down...and we all lived there." She gestures to herself, Kensi, Gabe, and Harris. "Where do we live now?"

"Uh..." Harlan looks between Annie and Ariel and Alicia repeatedly, his mouth hanging open like he expects to use it as a bug catcher.

I almost want to scoff at him and his sister, but then I remember who they've lost, and my empathy surges. So I offer a solution. "We'll host our friends back home until you guys can find them a new place to live."

Annie takes only a moment to consider it. "Good idea. But where are they all gonna stay? With the Smythes? That'll be convenient access-"

"I wouldn't." Gideon crosses his arms, shivering even under his heavy hoodie. "I'm the one guest they've got at the moment, and I think that's enough strain for them right now. They don't enjoy having a ton of teenagers crowding their space."

"I didn't think so." Fionna looks up at Kelly. "So, how 'bout this? Kens and I stay with you, and the boys go with Alex?"

Gabe and Harris look at me expectantly. "I'll have to run it by Luca, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind." I smile at Harris. "Besides, Luca would love to meet you."

"Really?" His face brightens.

"Oh yeah," Gabe says, nodding enthusiastically. "You and Luca would probably hit it off like white on rice."

"Aww yeah, I knew I missed you, you master metaphor mixer." Harris reaches up to stroke Gabe's hair.

"How is that a...you know what, never mind. I just wanna find a place to crash. What time is it, anyway?" Gabe punctuates his words with a huge yawn I can't help but imitate.

Ty checks his watch. "Whoa. Almost five? Already?"

"Shit, and we've missed a whole day of class each, haven't we, Alex?" Kelly asks.

"I'll deal with the consequences later," I say with a lazy Jedi mind-trick wave of my hand, which I may or may not try to pull on the school administrators at Balthazar. Not that it'd work, but I can always try, because Yoda's wrong - there are more choices than doing or doing not.

With Grace's help (she summons Yash to cover her desk, though he says, in an undertone, "Don't expect me to deliver good cookies while you're gone"), Annie and Harlan get Ariel's corpse and Alicia's dark-bound figure out the door and back into Bearville. Yash, meanwhile, brings us to the door back to Hell, which we all cross through one by one, with me and Gabe helping all the non-Breaker Primers out.

The Second 'Verse kids, meanwhile, go invisible while Gideon and I head back to the Bridge. Kelly and Ty detour back to their place, but not before giving me hugs goodbye. Kelly also whispers into my ear, "Let me know when you wanna go out, huh?"

"You know I will."

As for Ty, our hug is awkward as hell, mostly because of what he confessed while Yash was getting rid of his nanites. "I hope you don't mind if I get a little space from you for a while," he says. "'Cause...you know, I don't, uh, crush out easily, and I know you wouldn't like me back, so..."