Now It's Up To You

When they requested the evacuation, there had been roughly 600 humans on the planet looking to get home. Now that the ship had arrived, only half that number remained, with several dozen of the survivors being injured enough that getting home alive might not be possible. Once again, the Abominations had run, scattered by Glitch and the secret weapons that Osada had deployed, but the casualties were nigh unthinkable, and Sesilius had survived and escaped along with the Abominations.

And Remi just felt numb to it all. If he’d been faster, could he have stopped Jasper? Were the lost lives his responsibility? The med bay lights cast a sickly shade of yellow on everything, and Remi stood still, staring at the autodoc and cryopods and contemplating how many people might be able to survive if Lysander had. Instead, they were left with a handful of researchers whose medical experience was a PHD in biology, and first aid trained soldiers. Not really a winning combination.

The room filled with a comforting heat as Glitch entered it. She stood there, silent, just in of the corner of his vision, waiting for him to speak first. He didn’t want to. Was this the grand design that she’d envisioned for him? That Sadie had? Was the destruction that Jasper saw in Remi’s eyes the cause for all of this? It was impossible to not feel like the mission falling apart had to do with his arrival.

“What was ever really special about me, all this time?” He finally asked. “No more riddles, please. No more poetry. Just…why did I end up here, in the middle of all of this?”

Glitch sighed, and for a moment Remi’s heart filled with rage as he imagined her exasperated face. But as he turned, all he could see was intense, unyielding sorrow. “Sesilius, Doctor Dal, and myself are all capable of traveling between worlds. This universe is one of a countless number, and out of the millions and millions of people who live in these universes, a small handful discover that they have powers that separate them from all of those who surround them, all of the people who they love. Planeswalkers.”

Her face was composed, but obscured by the multi-chromatic veil that perpetually shimmered around her. Something about her looked different, but Remi couldn’t tell what it was. “And you thought I was like you. That I was special.”

“Yes.” Glitch’s voice was shaking, and she seemed human in a way that she had never had before. “Our powers develop when they are forced to. When we experience something traumatic, it changes us fundamentally. Doctor Dal’s were given to her as she found herself stuck, alone, on a hostile planet, long after her wife believed her to be dead. And mine…” She trailed off.

Remi turned it over in his head. “That’s why you kept letting me go into dangerous situations, isn’t it? Even though you thought I was special, I wouldn’t be able to turn into a Planeswalker unless something horrible happened to me.” He laughed bitterly at the absurdity of it all. “Well, it did. And I don’t feel different.”

“I know,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.”

He shook his head. “It isn’t your fault, Glitch. None of this is.”

“I do not believe that is true, Remi Amber, but thank you. The thought is appreciated.” She gave him a weak smile, and looked towards the door. “I believe you will be departing soon. I hope home treats you better than this planet was able to.” He wanted her to ask him to stay. To try one more time. But clearly she wasn’t.

“Glitch,” Remi started, then paused. Was it rude to ask? Was he just going to be echoing her own self hatred, or Sesilius induced doubt? “You told me that Animus Vox has all our songs within it, right? It’s a symphony of voices, a harmony, and all of that?” She nodded. “That many songs feels like it would drown out all of the details. The individual refrains don’t matter. When someone stops singing,” when they die, “can you even tell that they’re gone?”

“Stars burn the brightest before they die,” she replied, as if that explained everything.

“But who cares if one more light goes out, in a sky of a million stars?”

“I do. I always do.” Glitch’s veil obscured her face, but from the sound of her voice, Remi could tell she was trying to not cry. She walked to the door, but paused at the threshold. “I hope you’re happy, in the end. With whatever comes next. You deserve that much, even if I could not see you receive it.”

And then Remi was alone once more.

Characters

 * Glitch
 * Remi Amber