The Heart of Darkness
by Akane-Rei
PART NINE
A Choice of Salvation
"The reality -- the reality, I tell you -- fades."
Marlow in 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad.
Jonny tried to take a defensive stance once he saw other more of that . . . thing begin to appear out of nowhere. The violent shaking of the ground, however, defeated his attempts and his staggered to in his feet like a drunken sailor.
He watched as they moved towards the opening in the wall.
"What the hell do you want?" he demanded of them, anguish lacing his voice. "You've taken away everything."
They ignored him and continued to peruse the opening.
Rocks begin falling from the ceiling as the ground shook some more. The whole cavern seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
Hell, he thought, his whole world seems to be collapsing.
He dodged a few more of the falling rocks and looked around. In the corner of his eye, he saw Jessie's unprotected body lying on the ground. Precariously lifting Hadji's prone body to his shoulders, he made his way to her direction. After placing Hadji in the safest corner he could find, given their situation, he went back and carried Jessie in his arms, cradling her lifeless body in his chest.
I'll put this to right, Jessie, he thought. I'll do it if it's the last thing I do.
He laid her gently beside Hadji and turned to see what those . . . things were up to.
They were still by the opening.
He crawled towards their direction, intent on making them pay for what happened to Jess, to what happened to Hadji. One way or another he was going to get some answers out of this whole fiasco.
*********************************
*How could he have opened this?*
He found a Wielder in this primitive world
*The Wielder never stood a chance*
He has already integrated himself to the thread
*He knew we were coming*
Revenge
*All these years he planned his revenge*
We should have done more to stop him
*How were we to know this would happen*
It has been over five billion years
*The legend is true*
We need to counteract his presence in the thread before it breaks
*We only have one of the ingredients*
A life offered in sacrifice
*We still need a soul of light*
And a heart so pure
*And a mind of laughter*
We cannot offer those ourselves since we do not possess them
*Then we cannot stop what he initiated*
Then all is doomed
"Hey, you!"
For the first time since the Guardians arrived there, they looked at the native that kept addressing them. To their surprise, they also saw a soul standing beside this person.
*The owner of the soul . . .*
Has a mind of laughter . . .
*And a heart so pure*
Then they stared at the person, possibilities running through their minds.
*He must be probed*
Deflecting the falling particles, they approached the boy, a child really. He looked at them, anger in his eyes. He stood protectively in front of two other individuals, one of whose life signs are gone, and another whose signs are weak.
*Do not be afraid*
*We are not here to hurt you*
"Could have fooled me!"
*We are not ones who did this atrocity*
"Oh, yeah? So I guess you have no idea who that thing is in that opening, huh?"
His sarcasm is not needed at this time
It is, however, not unwarranted
*Please,* they sent out to him, *you must listen*
"Get off my head!" he screamed at them.
We must have patience
He's our only chance
*******************************
Jonny would have screamed in frustration if he could. As it is, his throat was raw from all the shouting he did when Jessie was . . . No. He promised himself he wouldn't think about that. Not yet.
"Would this form of communication suit you better?" they asked.
This time, he heard them ask the question. Amazing, there are over ten of them yet they spoke as one.
"Why?" he asked softly. "What did we ever do to you?" He looked at the bodies of his two friends and felt an emotion rise up to overwhelm him.
"Do you realize what he has done when he entered the opening?" they asked him, breaking his thoughts.
"Do I care?" he replied hoarsely.
"You should," they snapped back. "He just triggered the end of the known universe."
Jonny looked at them disbelievingly.
"Do you not feel the ground shaking? The tides will begin to rise along the coasts of your world. The eruptions of volcanoes will take place. Severe weather conditions are to be expected. All of this, happening at the same time. Do you think your people will survive? And if they do, will they survive the death of all the stars, including your sun?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"We are talking about the thread that holds the universe together," they replied. "It is being broken as we speak."
Jonny looked at them in amazement. "Really," he said with an edge in his voice. "Well, why, may I ask, aren't you stopping that psycho from your species from doing it?!"
"We cannot."
Jonny tried counting to ten before exploding. He failed. "Why the hell not?!" he demanded. "If I'm not mistaken, that thing who is responsible for the mess right now is from your species. What he can do, you guys should be able to do. So what's the problem?"
He could have sworn he saw them shift uncomfortably.
"We do not have the necessary . . . ingredients to counteract his actions. You must understand that our powers are indirectly linked to the thread. As long as there is a universe to protect, then we can do anything. The weakening of the thread weakens our powers because it signals the end of the universe which we are suppose to protect. Without the universe, we have nothing. It is paradoxical in one way."
Jonny waited for them to continue.
"We saw your aura. You have the one other ingredient we need."
Jonny was silent. The shaking of the ground is now accompanied by a booming noise from above.
"Your love for your friends illuminated your soul. You have a soul of light."
Jonny struggled to make sense out of everything. Jeannette. Those beings What happened to Hadji and Jessie.
"Just tell me one thing," he said softly, his eyes turning to stare back at his prone friends. "Why?" He clenched his fists. "Why did that monster do what he did? What did we ever do to deserve this . . ."
"You have done nothing," they replied.
There was a momentary pause. "Perhaps it is better if you see . . ."
Images flooded Jonny's mind. Scenes from a different time and a very different world . . .
A being, forced to bow before a Council, kneels in the middle of the room. This being, like the Council, has somewhat the shape of a human, but their texture are like glass. It was as if a kaleidoscope of light passes through them. They were beautiful.
"You have no right to do this to me!" spat the being in the center of the room.
The Council stared at him, through him actually.
This seem to anger him even more.
Then the Council spoke as one.
"For your crimes against nature," said their disembodied, but unified, voices, "you are banished from your home world . . ."
The man struggled against his unseen chains.
The Council winced at this attempt but continued, "Sentenced to forever be trapped in a carbon cylinder . . ."
The man pauses, as if feeling something in the very air he breathed.
"All the while retaining your full consciousness . . ."
From the way he was reacting, an invisible force seems to surround him.
"Your cylinder will be ejected from our galaxy and hurled as far away as possible . . ."
He can see the being try another attempt at struggling.
"This is the judgment of the Guardians . . ."
The cylinder began rise, taking the life form with it. The cylinder has rendered the being immobile.
"Execution of sentence will take place in five counts . . ."
All the life form could do is stare down at those responsible for his predicament.
"Five . . ."
Jonny can see the lights reflected upon the alien shift in colors . . .
"Four . . ."
Jonny can see the brightness dimming . . .
"Three . . ."
Jonny can see the light shrinking . . .
"Two . . ."
Jonny can see a blackness beginning to form within the being.
"One . . ."
Growing . . .
"Execute."
Until no light was left . . .
The cylinder shoots up to the heavens towards an unknown destination.
The images stopped.
Jonny looked at the group in front of him with horror.
"This is where he ended up?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"It would seem so," they replied. "That was over five billion years ago according to your calendar."
Jonny began to laugh. The sound wasn't a joyous one. Had he taken the time to listen to it, the sound would have sent chills down his spine. As it was, all he could do was stare at the so-called Guardians of the universe and revel on the irony of the situation. The Guardians, in an attempt to punish a transgressor for endangering their home, had ended up giving the transgressor the opportunity to destroy the very thing they were supposed to protect.
Finally, his laughter abated and a bitter look entered his eyes.
"When you hurled him to the unknown," Jonny said, "did you just forget about him? Did you dismiss him from your mind? After all, why worry about him? He wasn't your problem anymore, right? You made him the problem of another galaxy. In fact, you made him our problem here on earth."
"It was not our intention--"
"To. Hell. With. Your. Intentions," said Jonny. "The truth is, you all screwed up. You. All. Screwed. Up."
He turned his back to them and staggered towards where Jessie and Hadji lay. He kneeled before them, tears clouding his vision. "This wasn't suppose to happen," he whispered. "This shouldn't have happened." He struggled against the lump that began to form in his throat. The booming sounds from above are louder now and he vaguely wondered at the situation above ground.
He looked at Jessie's tranquil face. 'Stop her,' Jessie had said, meaning Jeanette. Meaning that damn creature of hate. 'Promise me,' she had said.
Jonny stood up and faced the Guardians. "What do I need to do?" he asked.
*********************************
His form is too primitive to enter the opening
*He must give his life in sacrifice as well in order to make use of his soul of light*
. . .
*Amazing that with all our powers, we must rely on these primitive species to stop the one thing we have no control over*
The irony of it all
**********************************
"Will you be willing to sacrifice your life for this?" they asked him.
Jonny closed his eyes, thinking of his father, of Race, of everyone. "Yes," he replied softly. "I'll fix this, Jessie," he whispered to himself.
"Then so be it."
**********************************
Michael watched as the Guardians perform what they explained to him as a 'transference'. He still found it amazing that they were able to converse with him at the same time they were talking to Jonny. Not as amazing as the fact that he and Jonny had the missing ingredients for averting the destruction of the universe, but still worth mentioning.
He looked back at the opening. It had glowed brighter by the second. Larger rocks were now falling from the ceiling. He was sure that had he had his physical form with him, one of those things would have hit him by now. He looked back at the opening. The same stirring he had felt when that creature opened that wall was back. Only this time, the stirring was stronger. It was as if it was calling on to him and warning him as the same time.
Trying to dismiss it from his thoughts, he watched as the space around Jonny was disturbed. The distorted image of Jonny presented to him is the only clue he has as to what exactly is happening to the blond boy. Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to be causing him any pain. If his expression was anything to go by, Michael would say that the effect of the transference was very calming.
He looked back to where Jonny had rested Jessie's body.
There's another peaceful countenance, he thought. He glided towards her and kneeled when he felt a tugging in his consciousness. He looked at where the Guardians were and found a transparent Jonny, standing over his own body.
"It is time," they said.
He looked back to Jessie. Still peaceful and serene. Such a contrast to the chaos around him. 'See you in the other side,' he thought.
He approached Jonny.
**********************************
They are prepared
*Are they?*
As well as they could be under the circumstances
*Their world will be the one to suffer the most from this incident*
It is the point of origin
*It does not seem fair*
Nobody said it was
**********************************
To say that Jonny was surprised to see Michael could be one of the biggest understatements of the year. However, he didn't dwell much on that development because of other matters. The moment he stepped out of his . . . himself, he had this feeling. He couldn't exactly describe it, but it's there, gnawing its way into his awareness. It's as if someone . . . something was calling to him, inviting. He looked towards the opening. An urgency made itself known to him.
'It's coming from there,' he thought.
Just then, a particularly violent rumble was felt beneath their feet.
A crack began to form in the ground.
"Are you both ready?" they asked, interrupting his observation of the opening.
He nodded and saw Michael do the same.
"Very well," they said.
'Here you go, Quest,' he thought, 'you always did want to save the world.'
Jonny felt a tingling within him. He looked at his transparent image and saw that a glow began to form around the edges of his form. He was shrinking, the glow becoming more dense as it begins to be concentrated on one point.
That was the last thing he saw before he felt himself becoming a part of . . . everything. He can feel himself being drained and yet at the same time being energized. He couldn't explain it. It's like being a part of everything there is in the world and vice versa. Life flowed through him.
'Funny,' he thought. 'I thought I was suppose to be sacrificing my life.'
He could feel the life of the universe . . .
Then nothing.
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The Epilogue: Restitution
"The inner truth is hidden."
Marlow from "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad
This development was unexpected
*We never did know too much about the thread itself*
But to put everything back to the way it was before, only without his existence this time around?
*Perhaps it is the thread's way of preserving the universe*
It is as if he never existed
*According to this timeline, he never did*
Then why do we have the memory of him and the individuals who helped us?
*Quirks of being a Guardian?*
. . . .
Do you think they remember?
*Highly unlikely*
********************************
"Where's Jess?" asked Jonny as he noticed his friend's absence from the dinner table.
"I believe she went to the movies tonight, Jonny," replied his father, Dr. Benton Quest.
"Hey!" exclaimed Jonny. "Why didn't she take me and Hadji with her?"
Race Bannon, Jessie's father and the Quests' long time friend and bodyguard coughed discreetly. "I don't think she would appreciate chaperones at this moment," he said.
"Huh?" said Jonny and Hadji, Dr. Quest's adopted son.
"He means," said Dr. Quest, "that Jessie is out on a date tonight."
Race started choking.
Benton couldn't help but add, "She and Michael probably wanted to be alone."
Race was gagging.
Benton snickered. It was so easy to bait Race sometimes. "Come on, Race," he cajoled. "You know it was bound to happen sometime . . ."
"Yeah," retorted Race, " like when she's 30!"
Meanwhile, Jonny was still trying to process the fact that Jessie was in a date with someone. Jessie was out there somewhere with some other guy besides him or Hadji. It was just too . . . too . . .
"Weird," he said out loud.
"What was that Jonny?" asked Hadji, talking for the first time.
Jonny looked at his friend. "I'll tell you later," he said.
All through dinner he brooded. For the past month, he had been in a somewhat constant state of confusion. Ever since Jessie arrived from Paris with her mother, in fact.
He started to drift of . . . remembering that day in the airport when he caught himself.
'Why do I feel as if I've done this before?' he thought. He looked around the dinner table and scratched his head.
'Weird,' he thought. 'Definitely weird.'
Hadji Singh sighed ( a lot of them had been doing that a lot lately ) and looked at his dinner companions. Jessie's absence and the reason for that absence were truly felt. There were subtle changes
going on under the surface of everyone's normality and it all had to do with a certain flame-haired friend who is out on a date tonight.
Not wishing to rock the boat further, he introduced a new topic. "So," he said. "Is everything ready for Estella's surprise birthday party?" he asked.
Everybody started talking at once, and for a while, everything was back to normal.
'Normal?' Hadji thought. There was something about this whole scene that was bothering him. He felt like he was on a dream. 'Deja vu?' he thought.
Perhaps he heard someone answer somewhere.
He looked around in wonder.
He had a feeling that, deja vu or not, things are about to turn out for the better.
THE END
by Akane-Rei
PART NINE
A Choice of Salvation
"The reality -- the reality, I tell you -- fades."
Marlow in 'Heart of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad.
Jonny tried to take a defensive stance once he saw other more of that . . . thing begin to appear out of nowhere. The violent shaking of the ground, however, defeated his attempts and his staggered to in his feet like a drunken sailor.
He watched as they moved towards the opening in the wall.
"What the hell do you want?" he demanded of them, anguish lacing his voice. "You've taken away everything."
They ignored him and continued to peruse the opening.
Rocks begin falling from the ceiling as the ground shook some more. The whole cavern seemed to be on the verge of collapse.
Hell, he thought, his whole world seems to be collapsing.
He dodged a few more of the falling rocks and looked around. In the corner of his eye, he saw Jessie's unprotected body lying on the ground. Precariously lifting Hadji's prone body to his shoulders, he made his way to her direction. After placing Hadji in the safest corner he could find, given their situation, he went back and carried Jessie in his arms, cradling her lifeless body in his chest.
I'll put this to right, Jessie, he thought. I'll do it if it's the last thing I do.
He laid her gently beside Hadji and turned to see what those . . . things were up to.
They were still by the opening.
He crawled towards their direction, intent on making them pay for what happened to Jess, to what happened to Hadji. One way or another he was going to get some answers out of this whole fiasco.
*********************************
*How could he have opened this?*
He found a Wielder in this primitive world
*The Wielder never stood a chance*
He has already integrated himself to the thread
*He knew we were coming*
Revenge
*All these years he planned his revenge*
We should have done more to stop him
*How were we to know this would happen*
It has been over five billion years
*The legend is true*
We need to counteract his presence in the thread before it breaks
*We only have one of the ingredients*
A life offered in sacrifice
*We still need a soul of light*
And a heart so pure
*And a mind of laughter*
We cannot offer those ourselves since we do not possess them
*Then we cannot stop what he initiated*
Then all is doomed
"Hey, you!"
For the first time since the Guardians arrived there, they looked at the native that kept addressing them. To their surprise, they also saw a soul standing beside this person.
*The owner of the soul . . .*
Has a mind of laughter . . .
*And a heart so pure*
Then they stared at the person, possibilities running through their minds.
*He must be probed*
Deflecting the falling particles, they approached the boy, a child really. He looked at them, anger in his eyes. He stood protectively in front of two other individuals, one of whose life signs are gone, and another whose signs are weak.
*Do not be afraid*
*We are not here to hurt you*
"Could have fooled me!"
*We are not ones who did this atrocity*
"Oh, yeah? So I guess you have no idea who that thing is in that opening, huh?"
His sarcasm is not needed at this time
It is, however, not unwarranted
*Please,* they sent out to him, *you must listen*
"Get off my head!" he screamed at them.
We must have patience
He's our only chance
*******************************
Jonny would have screamed in frustration if he could. As it is, his throat was raw from all the shouting he did when Jessie was . . . No. He promised himself he wouldn't think about that. Not yet.
"Would this form of communication suit you better?" they asked.
This time, he heard them ask the question. Amazing, there are over ten of them yet they spoke as one.
"Why?" he asked softly. "What did we ever do to you?" He looked at the bodies of his two friends and felt an emotion rise up to overwhelm him.
"Do you realize what he has done when he entered the opening?" they asked him, breaking his thoughts.
"Do I care?" he replied hoarsely.
"You should," they snapped back. "He just triggered the end of the known universe."
Jonny looked at them disbelievingly.
"Do you not feel the ground shaking? The tides will begin to rise along the coasts of your world. The eruptions of volcanoes will take place. Severe weather conditions are to be expected. All of this, happening at the same time. Do you think your people will survive? And if they do, will they survive the death of all the stars, including your sun?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"We are talking about the thread that holds the universe together," they replied. "It is being broken as we speak."
Jonny looked at them in amazement. "Really," he said with an edge in his voice. "Well, why, may I ask, aren't you stopping that psycho from your species from doing it?!"
"We cannot."
Jonny tried counting to ten before exploding. He failed. "Why the hell not?!" he demanded. "If I'm not mistaken, that thing who is responsible for the mess right now is from your species. What he can do, you guys should be able to do. So what's the problem?"
He could have sworn he saw them shift uncomfortably.
"We do not have the necessary . . . ingredients to counteract his actions. You must understand that our powers are indirectly linked to the thread. As long as there is a universe to protect, then we can do anything. The weakening of the thread weakens our powers because it signals the end of the universe which we are suppose to protect. Without the universe, we have nothing. It is paradoxical in one way."
Jonny waited for them to continue.
"We saw your aura. You have the one other ingredient we need."
Jonny was silent. The shaking of the ground is now accompanied by a booming noise from above.
"Your love for your friends illuminated your soul. You have a soul of light."
Jonny struggled to make sense out of everything. Jeannette. Those beings What happened to Hadji and Jessie.
"Just tell me one thing," he said softly, his eyes turning to stare back at his prone friends. "Why?" He clenched his fists. "Why did that monster do what he did? What did we ever do to deserve this . . ."
"You have done nothing," they replied.
There was a momentary pause. "Perhaps it is better if you see . . ."
Images flooded Jonny's mind. Scenes from a different time and a very different world . . .
A being, forced to bow before a Council, kneels in the middle of the room. This being, like the Council, has somewhat the shape of a human, but their texture are like glass. It was as if a kaleidoscope of light passes through them. They were beautiful.
"You have no right to do this to me!" spat the being in the center of the room.
The Council stared at him, through him actually.
This seem to anger him even more.
Then the Council spoke as one.
"For your crimes against nature," said their disembodied, but unified, voices, "you are banished from your home world . . ."
The man struggled against his unseen chains.
The Council winced at this attempt but continued, "Sentenced to forever be trapped in a carbon cylinder . . ."
The man pauses, as if feeling something in the very air he breathed.
"All the while retaining your full consciousness . . ."
From the way he was reacting, an invisible force seems to surround him.
"Your cylinder will be ejected from our galaxy and hurled as far away as possible . . ."
He can see the being try another attempt at struggling.
"This is the judgment of the Guardians . . ."
The cylinder began rise, taking the life form with it. The cylinder has rendered the being immobile.
"Execution of sentence will take place in five counts . . ."
All the life form could do is stare down at those responsible for his predicament.
"Five . . ."
Jonny can see the lights reflected upon the alien shift in colors . . .
"Four . . ."
Jonny can see the brightness dimming . . .
"Three . . ."
Jonny can see the light shrinking . . .
"Two . . ."
Jonny can see a blackness beginning to form within the being.
"One . . ."
Growing . . .
"Execute."
Until no light was left . . .
The cylinder shoots up to the heavens towards an unknown destination.
The images stopped.
Jonny looked at the group in front of him with horror.
"This is where he ended up?" he asked, already knowing the answer.
"It would seem so," they replied. "That was over five billion years ago according to your calendar."
Jonny began to laugh. The sound wasn't a joyous one. Had he taken the time to listen to it, the sound would have sent chills down his spine. As it was, all he could do was stare at the so-called Guardians of the universe and revel on the irony of the situation. The Guardians, in an attempt to punish a transgressor for endangering their home, had ended up giving the transgressor the opportunity to destroy the very thing they were supposed to protect.
Finally, his laughter abated and a bitter look entered his eyes.
"When you hurled him to the unknown," Jonny said, "did you just forget about him? Did you dismiss him from your mind? After all, why worry about him? He wasn't your problem anymore, right? You made him the problem of another galaxy. In fact, you made him our problem here on earth."
"It was not our intention--"
"To. Hell. With. Your. Intentions," said Jonny. "The truth is, you all screwed up. You. All. Screwed. Up."
He turned his back to them and staggered towards where Jessie and Hadji lay. He kneeled before them, tears clouding his vision. "This wasn't suppose to happen," he whispered. "This shouldn't have happened." He struggled against the lump that began to form in his throat. The booming sounds from above are louder now and he vaguely wondered at the situation above ground.
He looked at Jessie's tranquil face. 'Stop her,' Jessie had said, meaning Jeanette. Meaning that damn creature of hate. 'Promise me,' she had said.
Jonny stood up and faced the Guardians. "What do I need to do?" he asked.
*********************************
His form is too primitive to enter the opening
*He must give his life in sacrifice as well in order to make use of his soul of light*
. . .
*Amazing that with all our powers, we must rely on these primitive species to stop the one thing we have no control over*
The irony of it all
**********************************
"Will you be willing to sacrifice your life for this?" they asked him.
Jonny closed his eyes, thinking of his father, of Race, of everyone. "Yes," he replied softly. "I'll fix this, Jessie," he whispered to himself.
"Then so be it."
**********************************
Michael watched as the Guardians perform what they explained to him as a 'transference'. He still found it amazing that they were able to converse with him at the same time they were talking to Jonny. Not as amazing as the fact that he and Jonny had the missing ingredients for averting the destruction of the universe, but still worth mentioning.
He looked back at the opening. It had glowed brighter by the second. Larger rocks were now falling from the ceiling. He was sure that had he had his physical form with him, one of those things would have hit him by now. He looked back at the opening. The same stirring he had felt when that creature opened that wall was back. Only this time, the stirring was stronger. It was as if it was calling on to him and warning him as the same time.
Trying to dismiss it from his thoughts, he watched as the space around Jonny was disturbed. The distorted image of Jonny presented to him is the only clue he has as to what exactly is happening to the blond boy. Whatever it was, it doesn't seem to be causing him any pain. If his expression was anything to go by, Michael would say that the effect of the transference was very calming.
He looked back to where Jonny had rested Jessie's body.
There's another peaceful countenance, he thought. He glided towards her and kneeled when he felt a tugging in his consciousness. He looked at where the Guardians were and found a transparent Jonny, standing over his own body.
"It is time," they said.
He looked back to Jessie. Still peaceful and serene. Such a contrast to the chaos around him. 'See you in the other side,' he thought.
He approached Jonny.
**********************************
They are prepared
*Are they?*
As well as they could be under the circumstances
*Their world will be the one to suffer the most from this incident*
It is the point of origin
*It does not seem fair*
Nobody said it was
**********************************
To say that Jonny was surprised to see Michael could be one of the biggest understatements of the year. However, he didn't dwell much on that development because of other matters. The moment he stepped out of his . . . himself, he had this feeling. He couldn't exactly describe it, but it's there, gnawing its way into his awareness. It's as if someone . . . something was calling to him, inviting. He looked towards the opening. An urgency made itself known to him.
'It's coming from there,' he thought.
Just then, a particularly violent rumble was felt beneath their feet.
A crack began to form in the ground.
"Are you both ready?" they asked, interrupting his observation of the opening.
He nodded and saw Michael do the same.
"Very well," they said.
'Here you go, Quest,' he thought, 'you always did want to save the world.'
Jonny felt a tingling within him. He looked at his transparent image and saw that a glow began to form around the edges of his form. He was shrinking, the glow becoming more dense as it begins to be concentrated on one point.
That was the last thing he saw before he felt himself becoming a part of . . . everything. He can feel himself being drained and yet at the same time being energized. He couldn't explain it. It's like being a part of everything there is in the world and vice versa. Life flowed through him.
'Funny,' he thought. 'I thought I was suppose to be sacrificing my life.'
He could feel the life of the universe . . .
Then nothing.
JQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQ JQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQJQ
The Epilogue: Restitution
"The inner truth is hidden."
Marlow from "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad
This development was unexpected
*We never did know too much about the thread itself*
But to put everything back to the way it was before, only without his existence this time around?
*Perhaps it is the thread's way of preserving the universe*
It is as if he never existed
*According to this timeline, he never did*
Then why do we have the memory of him and the individuals who helped us?
*Quirks of being a Guardian?*
. . . .
Do you think they remember?
*Highly unlikely*
********************************
"Where's Jess?" asked Jonny as he noticed his friend's absence from the dinner table.
"I believe she went to the movies tonight, Jonny," replied his father, Dr. Benton Quest.
"Hey!" exclaimed Jonny. "Why didn't she take me and Hadji with her?"
Race Bannon, Jessie's father and the Quests' long time friend and bodyguard coughed discreetly. "I don't think she would appreciate chaperones at this moment," he said.
"Huh?" said Jonny and Hadji, Dr. Quest's adopted son.
"He means," said Dr. Quest, "that Jessie is out on a date tonight."
Race started choking.
Benton couldn't help but add, "She and Michael probably wanted to be alone."
Race was gagging.
Benton snickered. It was so easy to bait Race sometimes. "Come on, Race," he cajoled. "You know it was bound to happen sometime . . ."
"Yeah," retorted Race, " like when she's 30!"
Meanwhile, Jonny was still trying to process the fact that Jessie was in a date with someone. Jessie was out there somewhere with some other guy besides him or Hadji. It was just too . . . too . . .
"Weird," he said out loud.
"What was that Jonny?" asked Hadji, talking for the first time.
Jonny looked at his friend. "I'll tell you later," he said.
All through dinner he brooded. For the past month, he had been in a somewhat constant state of confusion. Ever since Jessie arrived from Paris with her mother, in fact.
He started to drift of . . . remembering that day in the airport when he caught himself.
'Why do I feel as if I've done this before?' he thought. He looked around the dinner table and scratched his head.
'Weird,' he thought. 'Definitely weird.'
Hadji Singh sighed ( a lot of them had been doing that a lot lately ) and looked at his dinner companions. Jessie's absence and the reason for that absence were truly felt. There were subtle changes
going on under the surface of everyone's normality and it all had to do with a certain flame-haired friend who is out on a date tonight.
Not wishing to rock the boat further, he introduced a new topic. "So," he said. "Is everything ready for Estella's surprise birthday party?" he asked.
Everybody started talking at once, and for a while, everything was back to normal.
'Normal?' Hadji thought. There was something about this whole scene that was bothering him. He felt like he was on a dream. 'Deja vu?' he thought.
Perhaps he heard someone answer somewhere.
He looked around in wonder.
He had a feeling that, deja vu or not, things are about to turn out for the better.
THE END