Butterflies of the Dark Star

THE FIRST LOOP (2)

Okay, let's take a step back and approach this. Let's get some facts straight. I touched an anomaly, it brought me into the sea of stars, somehow split me apart — fracturing me so I can... do something with the D.S Butterfly? Is the route to them blocked? I don't understand. He stood in the darkness of their dorm, where time stopped but sped past him in a blur, unable to cling onto the reality. It wants it closed, but how am I supposed to do that? What was that thing stalking Nova? Pain cracked through his brow as he watched his mirror stay up late into the night, nose in the codex of dreams. And you... Fists clenched, he resisted the urge to throw his fist into his own face, with Nova gone to retrieve the core from the droids.

We're not alone. I know that now... He hovered over his own shoulder, scowling at the flutter of words when they danced off the page. His gaze trailed off as he tapped his fingers against the desk and he sucked in his lips. "Hey," he growled and leaned closer. "Concentrate on what you're doing. You have to figure this out before..." His heart rippled with terror at the cold metal slab with her, and many others, cadavers. He shook his head. No, that wasn't real. It wasn't actually happening. He scratched his temples and paced a circuit behind his blissfully stupid mirror. Irritation drove into his teeth, but he tried to count his breaths as Mom taught him. Thoughts adrift, he frowned when his mirror slipped out of his chair and quickened out of the dorm.

"Oh, now what..." He folded his arms and wandered out into the quiet corridors, the alarm long gone. He leaned against the wall, waiting for time to speed past, but it remained frozen at his feet with himself to his thoughts, but glanced up when a distant alarm rang out, and a shudder of crimson flowed over his skin and he stiffened against the pressure, the tug in his mind intensifying, but before he could follow the odd sensations, Nova's harried voice rang out from behind him.

"Where in the black holes are you?" she complained. Neo rushed up to her, to listen, to hear, to be heard, but she pushed past him without acknowledgement. One more crack in his already broken heart, he trailed after her. "We're going into lockdown. You need to get back here."

She's talking to me—him... ugh. Neo stopped beside her when her shoulders quaked with the alarms as she entered their room. "Nova..." He drew back when she paced a circle, her breath quickening, and he jolted when she slammed her fist into the dining counter. "Nova, come on." He raced after her when she entered their bedroom, then shoved herself onto his bed and into the corner. He crawled after her, then sat cross-legged in front of her. "I'm right here. You're not alone, and I know things are scary but I'm going to fix the stupid mistake." For all the good this is doing... I might as well... be a ghost... ugh. He stuck out his tongue and shook his head at his new reality as she trembled and let out a soft cry. "Nova—" He reached his star-flecked hand out to cling onto hers, but he stiffened when she drew out her datapad and rushed from him and back out into the small living area. She threw the datapad across her desk and clawed at her head.

He stiffened at the sound of footsteps, and he withdrew his hand from her back when his mirror walked in in his ignorant calmness, never asking the right questions.

"Sorry I took so long."

Neo rolled his eyes as the conversation droned out of his own mouth. How does she tolerate you? He dug his fingers into his palm and investigated his own workstation while his mirror wasted time and walked through desolation without a care in the world. This is easy. I'll fix the fracture and then come back to my reality. He sank into her chair and shook his head. Alarms rang out, with Nova leaving into the bedroom to escape what must've been an agonizing conversation with his mirror.

"Looks like she couldn't wait to get away from you," Neo mumbled when his mirror opened her datapad and looked deep into the images, sitting across from him with a thoughtful, but no less pained expression when he swiped through the images. "You really are making everything so much worse..." Though... what did she... see in the medtower? Was she seeing what I saw?