Seeing Rusty and Aster this way, I take a sigh of relief. After Aster's dad… I felt entitled to take care of her, be her friend. Maybe it wasn't just on my shoulders now, seeing how Aster is laying her head on Rusty's shoulder.
I walk alone, down the stairs and out the dragons' castle. Safe inside, but… the open land, under the sky – was more peaceful. At the island's edge, I find someone else having taken my spot. Someone tall and in a brown coat. Tucking his hands inside the coat, while gazing towards where the sea and the sky seemed to meet.
"So, even you stare at the sky, guess it's a team thing," I say.
"Oh, it's you…. I thought it was some ghost haunting me," Tar says, finding me.
"Thought you didn't believe in ghosts."
"That was supposed to mock you, I failed. Now I shall drown myself into the cold sea."
"It'd have worked if you added 'but it's the ghost I know', or something. And please don't pollute the water."
Tar laughs it off alongside me.
"How's your friend holding up…?" Tar gestures towards the castle, bopping his head.
"Aster…? Well, Rusty is with her, and they seemed to be doing… well."
"Does that mean three marriages in the upcoming years or…?"
"You said it. There's love in the team," I scoff.
"Weird, but I do like it that way."
"Yeah… as long as it is for their own good… it's great."
"You just remind me of Minerva," Tar looks at me for a bit too long.
"Your sister, Max's mom you mean?"
"Yeah, step-sister. And there was a time where we forgot the 'siblings' part."
"Oh god, let's not even talk about that then."
"Hold your horses. I just mean to like think of it as if we just had a lot of love and understanding, and care… to think it was something more. More than what… others called love."
"That… sounds soothing. Weird. But soothing."
"Makes it hard to find someone else… you know."
"Yeah, I kind of can understand."
"So, what's your story…?"
"What? Nothing."
"Come on… so many lives and not a single attempt in the mysterious knowledge…?"
"Actually, I guess it'll take billions of years for me to get the correct one, and I know there won't be a correct one anyway…" I scoff towards the sea.
"You don't get perfect, kid. You just get people. Or well… sometimes an animal, I suppose. And you derive love."
"Yeah well-"
Me and Tar move our heads at the same time… but it was nothing. Just like always.
"Not in this state, Tar. Not in such a universe."
Tar silently nods with pursed lips.
***
As the moon's light shines into the room, through the window, making Max's face, in front of mine, clearer and visible – I kiss his lips without hesitation, biting onto his lips and rolling tongues together.
Max pushes his hand lower from my head to my shoulder-
"Move!" I hear that voice from before, the one I had gotten when I was on the road near Max's house.
-I flinch, and Max stops; thinking it was because of his touch. And he looks into my eyes.
"I love you Max… but we have to stop Rahambose," I say.
In his eyes, I could see the realisation of what had just happened… regarding Aster. She was strong, and Line told us that Aster wasn't like this… but that was the problem. Even Aster… then what happens to us?
"I know that, Sam. We will surely… we won't let him or her be influenced and affected by our words: he or she will be a hero. Unless they get more of my behaviour," Max scoffs.
"I thought that he'd be that way if he were me, or she was me."
"Well, now I see that our child deserves to be Rahambose. Since we both are evil," Max says, and we laugh through the pain in our hearts.
What the fuck were we supposed to do?
"It'll be alright, hopefully… right?" I ask Max, after having an idea… maybe a dumb one.
"We have our friends and each other. Our parents too technically, my father would scare the shit out of that kid. Rahambose will not happen. Not when we have them. They… we will protect each other."
"You're right," I say, still with a sinking feeling.
"Missing your mom?" Max asks.
"When did I ever not, right?" I ask, laughing… but tearing up a bit. "I don't know if I'm strong… Max."
"Sam…" Max places his hand on my lap. "Stop fighting yourself on if you're good enough. And fight that… that problem which is the real problem."
I peck Max's lip, and get up. He does too.
"Hold the thought… I will be back. I promise."
Max looks at me, confused of what I was saying. I just shrug and leave him guessing, kn the room. While I simply walk towards the stairs, and below… mindlessly.
I find Fara, and take her with me.
"So, you got a problem?" I ask, standing behind Fara. "All this… prophecy, all a fake? Just… getting your way or something. But you chose to scare the wrong person."
"Sam," Fara says, trying to move her body… but even I couldn't do that. "What are you doing?"
"I thought if I came here… you'd stop. I thought maybe it was a test. But now you're just testing my patience."
"Sam, please… what… what are you saying?"
"Is the many lives even true? Is that just fake too? Should I text it?"
"Okay… I need you to stop the monologue, Sam. And tell me what the problem is!"
"How are you so calm when I'm threatening you?" I ask, feeling a bit awkward that… she wasn't just giving in.
"Well, I have been killed and threaten way too many times. But… well, they all have some dumb monologue and reason of killing me, always. Some I understood but… I have zero idea what you mean. If it is about Max-"
"-Exactly about that. Why do you want to separate him from me?"
"I never wanted to… I just said what the prophecy says. I was against it when Aster said what she said."
"You FILLED her head with that crap. And the threats when I'm with Max."
"Threats? What threats?"
"The visions and screaming. I have been in your visions… I know how it is. I recognised it. You thought you could just scare me off."
"That… Sam… let us say it was me… but are you sure it was my vision?"
"Black nothingness of a ground. Cold. Some… feeling."
"When I use my… powers. It takes a lot of strength when I have to do it without a trigger. Or a made-up trigger, Sam. And… even then, I can't take people who aren't near me, into my visions. And I can't force-take them. It is… quite a lot to do."
"You literally agreed it was you."
"I said to consider that it was me. To make you understand. Besides… that place is not… vision exclusive, Sam. It is a real place, which helps me traverse to past events, without changing past events. Visions."
"Then… who else has the access to it?"
"You were with Max, Sam. Take a guess."
"Oh…" I say, realising. "So I'm really not the reincarnation of her. I'm not… Sam. Maybe only by name."
"It seems so… but this thing you are doing, Sam… you have stopped time, haven't you?"
"That… yes. You're right. I just randomly came across these powers. It doesn't exactly last. I was saving it. I'm sorry, I'll lea-"
"-no!" Fara says. "Promise me, Sam. If we ever have to talk about what we just talked… we do it like this. I trust that… she can't see it. Not when we are out of time."
"Oh… that's smart. But… if you thought that through, how long have you been doubting it?"
"I'm not sure… I just knew it. You will help me figure it, right?"
"Of course, I'm part of the prophecy now. But I need you to tell me everything. Literally all of it."
***
Me and Line sit alongside each other, upon the tower: gazing at the stars. The egg lies in between us, but we each put our hand on it, to safeguard it. My head lying on Line's shoulders, look towards the stars, so does his.
"Tyle, if it is a boy. You know, the first and last letters of the name. With ladies going first of course," Line says, hinting to the baby in the egg.
"And if it is a girl?"
"Tyle," Line says, making me giggle. "What? It is gender neutral."
"Of course," I say, still laughing. "It is a lovely name, even for a girl."
"Yes, and she's going to be my lovely baby-girl."
"Hey, what about me?" I ask, trying to throw a tantrum.
"Well, you… hope that it is a guy, then. Then that won't be the case."
+
Unluckily for Tyle, Line struck with that nickname, 'baby-girl', even when Tyle turned out to be a guy.
+
"So… what's the matter?" I ask, knowing something was up. It was obvious.
"Nothing… why do you ask?"
"I don't know. I'm getting a kind of energy, and it is either you or little Tyle. And Tyle is just a couple hours old, to be depressed."
"It is not depression," Line says, not looking at me. "Just… Aster, you know. Whatever happened to her."
"Not your fault."
"Not saying that it was. But did you see her? She changed so much after Uncle died. But this… is… scary. I'm scared, Tony. And I hate it."
"You say that she has that protagonist aura right. She should be fine."
"Well… protagonists are the most dangerous at this stuff. Antagonists and then have the same story. They choose which one they will be… and they can reconsider. And Aster… has the RIGHT to be the villain. You know what happened."
"That friend of Mr. Flame."
"Call me old-fashioned and against my own Uncle's words but… that was really Rahambose. No wonder he made the death of the strongest dragon possible. And then… mentally do this to Aster. That is exactly what Rahambose does."
"Maybe you're right. But now what… we find this guy? He left back then. He left long back. The dragons wanted him dead, and then… Mr. Flame died. It was no one's entire fault but… it all happened. It caused harm"
"But… what if he comes back?"
"Well, then we kill him. We protect what we love, like we always do."
"That sounds goo-"
"-but not alone, mister!" I interrupt him, before he gets any ideas. "You aren't the protagonist. Neither am I. So we do the thing together, okay?"
"Ouch," Line says. "Friendly fire there, but I'll take the deal."