Into the Dark (Fox Storm and ab103 only)

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel's ears perked up. This time, she knew she had to say something. So she asked, in a very cautioning yet interested tone, "Releta?....who is she?"

ab103 wrote:

Alfred froze at the question. He went completely still and even his breathing stopped for a moment. He looked up at Pixel, having a few false starts before answering. "R-Releta is... Was... Maybe was never... my... my wife..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Simone was surprised at this, and even expressed it with a slight gape, cooling down her anger. Alfred had a wife?...He had someone?...

Pixel felt the same way. "Your wife?...ya never mentioned anything about havin' a wife!"
The dustchaser gingerly hopped down onto the floor and made her way over to Alfred, taking great care in her steps. While she came over to him, Alfred spoke again.

ab103 wrote:

"I... I don't like to talk about her..." Alfred choked back some tears.

ab103 wrote:"I lost her some time ago... We had been married for a year... I was really young then, just 19. We both were, but we had been dating since we were 12 so we were convinced we were in love with each other. She had to return to her home planet... And I was forbidden from going back with her... I was exiled for stealing something sacred from them... For destroying the robot adviser to the royal family... But I was completely framed... ZTQ-3 was my friend; I would never hurt him... But he had forced the crystal on me, INTENDED for me to be framed... I lost my only friend that day and a year later, I lost my wife... My only love... I was so alone..."

He chuckled wryly. "I went insane from that... THAT was why I decided to be 'evil'... But, it was only to further my company. I never hurt anyone, and the Beta officials know how much control I have over their galaxy and don't care because I do so much to help them. And then, I only worked for Zurg at all because I was upset that Commander Nebula said that Lightyear was 'the son he always wanted' or something like that... I had no idea what would happen with the things I built for Zurg beyond that they would eventually fail. Evil never wins, after all... Not in this universe. I didn't anticipate the results of my actions, but I suppose that's just childish short-sightedness."

He sighed and glanced over at Ty. "I regret what I did... I really do... I'm trying to do what I can to make up for it. I thought I took the first step when I quit working for Zurg. Because... What he asked me to make for him most recently would be the worst creation I could ever give him. I wouldn't be able to live with myself, if I happened to still be alive after he used it..." He frowned and shook his head, sadly, and muttered, "I never works out for me. Don't know why I thought it would now..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel whined for a minute, feeling sorry for this guy. The fact that he was constantly blamed for many things was enough to make her feel bad for him, but the loss of his wife...that was something new entirely. She placed her head under his hands, purring in a comforting way. Alfred couldn't help but pet her.

He looked to Simone, who was looking to the side, as if she were remembering something she didn't want to remember.

But she did...she remembered the pain SHE felt when she had the fights back on Mistimia, with her sister and the civil war...the pain of losing the people you love...this man FELT the same way she did...she knew that this was no trick. She didn't know if she could trust him again, but the pain he carried around with him about his losses...she now understood his intentions.

Alfred kept looking at her, wondering what she was thinking, and if she was going to say anything.

ab103 wrote:

"I... I don't want to be alone, but I stayed that way for a long time because I didn't want to lose anyone again," Alfred admitted to Simone. "But then I went to Star Command and I let my guard down and you and Ty became my friends. You probably know what it's like to lose someone, but I'm not sure if you have any idea what it's like to lose a friend because they decide to unjustly distrust you, or in general start to hate you... Even worse is when they betray you... Please, even if you still don't want me around, at least help me get back to Beta so I don't have to deal with any of this ever again..."

Fox Storm wrote:
The Mistimian human looked up into Alfred's eyes, not filled with anger and hatred, but with...some sort of emphatic understanding. She sighed and admitted softly, "I suppose none of us want to deal with the hard truths we carry around with us, Alfred. None of us want to carry around the pains of loss...and betrayal...like you...and like me." Her voice started to crack a bit on the 'me' word.

Alfred's brow creased at the change in her voice. Pixel's ears peaked up at the change as well.

She took a deep breath and slightly bowed her head downward. "I felt loss too. Many losses. Back when I was at Star Command many years after I graduated from the Academy, I was called away by Queen Ethel to return to Mistimia to assist her as a...well, not as a Mistimian, but a Mistimian Space Ranger." She snorted sullenly as she clasped her hands together in front of her. "Imagine my surprise when I found out that all the time when I...and someone else...were protected by the monastery from the civil war. It turned out that even when I was a CHILD, the war was still going on." She looked up at Alfred directly in his eyes.

"I never wanted to fight. I thought from the time when I was little that fighting was pointless. That was a belief the monks and nuns taught us; fighting was unnecessary, unless you had a VERY good reason to fight." She shrugged, her shoulders sagging afterwards. "But my queen had taken me and...someone else in, and raised and sheltered us like we were her own two children. It wasn't until I was around 19 or so that I was asked to go the Space Ranger Academy."

ab103 wrote:

Alfred furrowed his brow, thinking over what Simone was telling him. What she was telling him... It seemed like some type of conspiracy, almost. Did she really mean what he thought she meant...? He had to listen more to find out.

Fox Storm wrote:
She shrugged again. Afterwards, she grabbed a nearby chair and sat down in it, sitting down in front of Ty's bed while he slept. She crossed her legs and leaned her arms onto her thighs, her head tilted downwards a bit."Of course, as you can probably guess, I was VERY reluctant to even be on Capital Planet. I've never been off Mistimia in all my life, since I and..another person I knew, were sheltered as newborn children, which we were, technically. When I came to the Academy, I was so frightened...but I couldn't turn back at that point. I was asked by Queen Ethel to join the Space Rangers, for reasons I didn't know about until I came back home to participate in the war." She grunted, feeling resentful of her queen's decision.

She looked back up at her friends. "It turned out she just wanted someone to represent her people to show others that Mistimia was alive and well and full of life beneath our mists and mysteries. She wanted someone to represent Mistimia to the universe to show that we DID have resources available to give to other planets WHILE she was busy taking care of the true scars that plagued my planet against the King...so that I could be a tool to show off to the stupid Galactic Alliance!" She snapped, slamming a fist onto an arm. She panted with anger, but saw the worried glances of Alfred and Pixel.

She breathed deeply, regaining composure. "Anyway, you know about a small portion about my experience in the Academy, so I don't think I need to elaborate too much on that...except about my relationship with Ty." She blinked. "Ty was someone who...who brought me out of my shell. I was too shy and timid to talk to anyone. I just wanted to complete my studies and become a Space Ranger only because my queen said to. But Ty...he came into my life and changed all that."

She couldn't help but smile fondly at the memories of her and Ty at the Academy. "Ty...he showed me why HE wanted to become a Space Ranger. He wanted to be one because he wanted to help people. Because he felt compassion for his fellow men...and women. Heh." She glanced behind her to look at Ty's sleeping form. She drew her knees up onto her seat and wrapped her right arm around them while she placed her left hand on Ty's face, gently stroking it with her thumb. "His compassion, and his selflessness, were just only a few of the things that caught my eye towards him. He helped me to gain confidence in myself, and to stand up for what was right even if others didn't think so."

She stopped stroking his face and put her left arm around her knees. She shrugged again, only nonchalantly this time."You can imagine what happened from there. I graduated and stayed with the Space Rangers until that day when I was called away to Mistimia to Queen Ethel's side...and...and..." She closed her eyes at the painful memories that instantly overwhelmed her.

ab103 wrote:

"You... Don't have to continue if you don't want to..." Alfred told her. "If it's too difficult to talk about, you can stop at any time..." This was obviously difficult for her... He hadn't realize her life had been like that...

Fox Storm wrote:
"Nay. I can't stop. Not now...if I stop now, I'll regret it later...like I did when I came home to see the queen...and...and someone else I know." She closed her eyes to focus on the task at hand. It proved to be difficult as she gripped the armrest tightly. But she managed to open her eyes and concentrate back on the story.

She cleared her throat and continued. "When I returned home, I was instructed to act as a Space Ranger to defend the queen's side of Mistimia, since the planet is ruled by two rulers, and sometimes to act as a diplomat, if I had to....but...but I couldn't do it by myself. I had to ask someone else to help me with this task, and a few other odd jobs. And so I asked...I asked..." She had to bring herself to say it.

"Who, Simone? Who did you ask?" Pixel asked gently.

Simone let go of a breath she didn't know she was holding. She gingerly replied, "Paige Caldera. My sister."

The dustchaser tilted her head. "That's right. Ty told us about her a little bit before we met you for the first time back on Capital Planet. He said you and she were raised-" She stopped herself, before realizing...that Simone's sister was the very person she was unwilling to talk about.

ab103 wrote:
"...Oh." Alfred didn't know what else to say at the moment. What else could he say? He remembered, though vaguely, that Ty had mentioned Simone and Paige being raised in a monastery... Though, he wondered why Simone had been avoiding naming her sister the entire time...

Fox Storm wrote:
But his wondering ceased when Simone began to speak again. "Yes, Pixel. She and I were raised in a monastery, when we were young." She slightly grimaced. "We never really knew our birth parents. We were just taken to the monastery when we were born and the people there took us in and raised us for a few years...until the queen came in." She slowly bowed her head as she said the next part. "She couldn't have any children of her own, due to a special biological condition she had. So, she came to our monastery, knowing that the monks and nuns there take in orphans and other people who had problems. She chose US, out of many other kids, and raised us as her own, up to the time when we were young women."

She bowed her head down to her knees, seemingly burying her face in her knees. She was able to speak up loud enough to let Alfred and Pixel hear her. "And the rest you know. About the Academy and the war...but the REAL trouble started with my sister..." She sighed again, but it was shaken. "Back home, my sister and I formed a team to complete the queen's odd jobs. We were quite a team too...until we had...the fight."

ab103 wrote:

Alfred glanced to Pixel, trying to figure out her thoughts on the subject, and then back to Simone. A fight, hmm? Those were never good. Especially when it's with a family member...

Fox Storm wrote:
"A fight?...I hope it WASN'T too nasty...but then again, this IS Simone, who's got a wrath worse than an angry puffer on a really cloudless day. But still...what could have happened between her and her sister to affect her deeply?"

Simone closed her eyes and struck up the courage to talk about her sister. It was going to STING, but she knew what she had to do. And so, she took a very deep breath and looked up at Alfred and Pixel.

"The fight started out small at first, as the usual sibling squabble. We mostly argued over things like whose turn it was to care for the warriors, take out the trash and feed the pets...but as the years rolled by, the arguments started becoming more and more serious. We started to argue over each other's values, loyalties, and actions. She would say one thing about me as a WORTHLESS Space Ranger, and I'd...I'd call her something less harmful, since I AM the older sister...I wasn't supposed to attack my younger sister. I tried reasoning with her at times, but she ignored me, going on to insult me in the worst possible ways....But...those fights were NOTHING compared to our largest and most terrible argument we ever had."

She felt herself shaking, as if there was something in her that threatened to explode. But she HAD to continue...she was so close to finishing up...and so close to her breaking point...

"It started when I was ending my round of tending to the patients. Nothing special was occurring at the time...until one of the patients started coughing violently. I went over and tried to see what was the matter, but he was coughing so loudly I could barely get him to stop. I did everything I could to ease his pain, but NOTHING seemed to work. I felt so helpless; I didn't know what to do. Paige was out on an errand, so I was alone by myself tending to this patient's needs. But the patient managed to show me with this hands what HE wanted to do...He...he wanted me to..."

She felt tears starting to roll down her face. But she wiped them away. She HAD to keep going.

"He wanted me to KILL him."

Alfred and Pixel gaped in shock at this. "WHAT? But why? Why did he want you to kill him?"

Simone furrowed her brow, trying to regain control, but she couldn't help but sniffle. What she was about to say next was more painful than anything she's ever felt. "He wanted to end in a peaceful manner. He didn't want to spend his last hours in pain...so I honored his wishes. I....I killed him. In a very peaceful way. But when my sister found out, she was FURIOUS. She called me out on everything; my values, my judgement, even my medical skills. She even accused me of working for the enemy at one point...but the worst thing she ever said was...it was..."

Now Simone started crying, more softly than she could ever speak.

"She said that I was a hypocrite, that I wasn't worth taking in by the queen...that I...I deserve to be...dead."

Now she was sobbing, finally letting loose everything she kept in her. She fell off the chair and onto her hands and knees, the tears streaming down her face and falling to the floor. Her braid hung in front of her, giving her the impression of a defeated Space Ranger.

ab103 wrote:

So, that was it then... Alfred watched Simone, unsure of what to say to her. What she had said... In particular, how her sister responded to her actions... Well, it reminded him of what he had been going through, just a little. Perhaps THAT was why Simone was so mad at him for what he had done. Because he "was" everything her sister accused her of being. Someone with questionable values and judgement... Working for the enemy... A hypocrite... Someone who didn't deserve to be alive...

He wasn't sure when it had happen, but at some point, he must had gotten up because he found himself kneeling next to Simone, bring her up so that she was kneeling with him. "You don't believe her, do you...? You don't honestly think those things about yourself. You can't. You're stronger than that, aren't you? Your values are there, madam. You care about others, especially those you know well." He nodded towards Ty. "After all, even with everything I've done, I've seen those looks you give me every now and then. You were concerned for me, at least for a little, when I offered to work for Zurg so you three could escape. As for your judgement... Well, you can be a tad blinded by anger at times, but when you're sensible, you know what you need to do. That's better than me. I always make stupid decisions." He did his best to smile to show that he was humoring his own fault.

ab103 wrote:
"You have superb medical skills. Without you, we wouldn't have gotten Ty's wirewolf problem as controlled as we did. ...Even with the mistake the first time around, but we solved it with just making it a daily medication, didn't we? And, you know whether or not you worked for the enemy, and I'm sure you didn't. That means your sister was unjustly accusing you for that."

He sighed. "But, to tell you the truth, we're all hypocrites in some way. Some of us more than others, and some of us can cause harm through our hypocrisy, but you haven't, from what I've seen. But, your sister has no right to say that you weren't worth being taken in by your queen. Only your queen can decide that, since she's the one to pick you and your sister- particularly you- out of everyone. Fate wouldn't have allowed it if you weren't destined to be taken in by her."

ab103 wrote:
He hesitated but then pulled Simone into a comforting hug. "Don't let anyone tell you that you don't deserve to be alive. That is a lie for so many reasons. They don't control this world. Fate, Time, whatever gods and-or goddesses you might believe in... THEY are the ones that decide this. THEY are the ones that control who lives and dies. You are still alive now, which means you still have a life Fate wants you to have... A story that still needs to be completed, if you will. I mean... These are my words, so take them as seriously or as cautiously as you will, but... Well..." He let go of her and smiled shyly. "I still want to consider you- and Ty, even- a friend... And I don't like to see my friends hurt like this..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Simone still had tears rolling down her cheeks when she heard those words. Funny...she never took Alfred to be a spiritual type of person...but those words were something meaningful to her at that moment when Alfred spoke them. It made her realize...a TRUE villain wouldn't say something like that. A TRUE villain wouldn't attempt to go out of his way to redeem himself as much as Alfred did.

And here was Alfred, who admitted everything he held tight to his heart, telling her all those things that she found herself believing over the accusatory things her sister yelled at her about, who wasn't even trying to take advantage of her pain. And even if he was a jerk at times, that didn't mean he didn't have his good side...she was so blind not to see that earlier. She smiled shyly back before meekly wrapping her arms around Alfred and apologizing for everything horrible she did or felt towards him, while trying to hold back more tears.

Pixel came over to Alfred and Simone, almost unsure of what to do. But she didn't have to know, because Simone saw her and put out a hand, petting her behind the ears with affection.

ab103 wrote:

"It's alright, madam, it's alright... As long as you'll be fine, it's alright." Alfred pulled back after a moment and looked from Simone to Pixel and back. "But... I have one last confession I have to give you two... I already told Ty, but please understand, the only reason I hadn't told either of you sooner was because it's a secret I like to keep. Mostly for my safety, because I would be targeted, I'm sure, if others knew I had this..."

ab103 wrote:
He took a deep breath before continuing. "My monocle allows me to know everything that's on the timeline." He waited to see their reaction before elaborating on that.

Fox Storm wrote:
Simone rapidly gaped at hearing that. "The timeline?...Are...are you serious?"

Before Alfred could make a snark about that, an old and powerful voice answered for him.

"He is serious, I'm afraid." Alfred, Simone and Pixel all turned around and saw the Healer standing there at the med bay entrance, with her hands folded in her sleeves. "I know what he says is true because I, too, know certain things that I only have knowledge on, and cannot share those things with anyone else, for reasons related to the time stream."

They all stood up as she entered the room. She looked at Ty, whose chest was rising and falling steadily as he recovered. She turned to Simone and commented, "He seems to be recovering at a steady pace. You are a REMARKABLE doctor, my dear." Simone's eyes slightly expanded in surprise...had she been eavesdropping in on their conversation?

ab103 wrote:

"So, you know the future then," Alfred asked the Healer. "That's a privilege granted only to a special few, and even I'm not one of them. My monocle shows the past and present, because those are set and on this timeline. But, the future has infinite possible paths, none of which are open for me to see... I take it that you know of what may happen in the future?"

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel gawked in surprise before shaking her head fiercely to snap out it. "Wait, wait, wait...let me get this straight. YOU AND ALFRED CAN SEE THE TIMELINE?!...Wait, wait...what's the timeline?"

ab103 wrote:

"What's the... timeline...?" Alfred blinked a few times. "Um... Well... billions and billions of years ago, the universe was created and time started. With each incident that happened after that, it became an event of the past as time progressed forward. At each passing incident, there is an infinite number of possible futures, and only a moment towards these possible futures end up happening and shaping the present, which a moment later becomes the past. That past cannot be changed, this present cannot be passed, and the future is forever limitless. The past and present form everything that happened so far in this universe, and the past and present therefore make up this universe's 'timeline'. The future is technically on the timeline as well, but it isn't set until it becomes the present and then the past."

ab103 wrote:
He frowned and tried to think of an easier way to explain it. "Say I'm holding an infinite amount of balloons. My arm, fixed and stable, is the past. My hand represents the present. Each of the strings attached to the balloons represents a possible future. One of those possible futures then becomes the present, thus adding to the timeline, and this happens continuously until the end of time."

Sighing, he looked at Pixel. "Does any of that make sense? I never really had to explain it before, so I didn't really have anything planned..."

Fox Storm wrote:
Pixel thought about what Alfred said about the balloons, and then she replied in understanding. "OOhhh..."

Simone cleared her throat, wanting to return to the conversation. She turned to the Healer and Alfred and asked, "So you two can see the time line? You can see the past, the present, AND future?...Alfred...I'm not mad at you for keeping this a secret, but...why didn't you tell me, and Pixel?...Aside from my fury, I mean." She knew that he probably didn't tell them since SHE would be furious had she found out sooner, but still...

Alfred glanced at the Healer for help, but she motioned for him to answer the question.

ab103 wrote:

"Well... I can't see the future, for one thing. As I said, it's not set time line until it's part of the present, so I'm not allowed to see the future. As for why I didn't tell you... Besides your anger..." Alfred sighed. "Remember how I said I was exiled from my wife's planet because I was framed? Well, the thing I supposedly stole was a crystal that the royal adviser forced onto me. But, it wasn't JUST the crystal... There was a device in it that he used in order to get his information to give his advice. That device and crystal are what I used to make this monocle... Because of that, and because of all of the information this monocle shows, I avoid telling people about the monocle's function..."

Fox Storm wrote:
"But why did the royal adviser want to frame YOU? Why did he take the time to use you as a scapegoat for stealing this crystal?"