Past Lives Could Never Come Between Us

40

"Well done!" Spike's trainer at his new gym praises when they finally finish, earning him a high five.

Spike goes to his gym bag for a towel, patting his face when he hears,

"Spike?"

Spike looks up, eyes wide in astonishment. "Destiny? Damn!", and walks right over. "What brings you here?"

"My workout. This is a gym." Destiny says.

"Right, right." Spike nods it off. "I meant here in Brooklyn. Would've thought Doctors Without Borders swept you away by now."

"They were going to." Destiny admits. "Then I got a better offer here. Guess I didn't feel like traveling so soon."

"Hm." Spike says noncommittally. "Did you tell Luigi about being back?"

"Is it okay if he doesn't?" Destiny asks. "I'm trying to figure things out. How is he, by the way?"

"Uh, if I'm being honest..." Spike trails off, trying to find the right words. "He couldn't have moved on fast enough."

"Really?" Destiny asks, giving nothing away.

"Oh yeah." Spike nods, hoping she'll believe it. "You haven't so much as crossed his mind once since you left."

"Not even a word?" Destiny asks.

"To me? About you?" Spike replies. "Nope, not one. When I say he's moved on, I'm talking a clean break."

"Okay then." Destiny shuffles her feet awkwardly. "Guess that shouldn't be so surprising. That's his MO, right? Pretend it's all a dream?"

"Actually, he's been a lot more grounded in reality lately." Spike admits. "It's like night and day."

"Oh yeah?" Now she does look surprised.

"But he still doesn't miss you." Spike's quick to say.

"Thanks, I guess." Destiny says.

"You're thanking me?" Spike asks incredulously.

"Yeah, I am." Destiny nods. "Last thing I wanna do is shoot my shot when there's nothing to shoot for.", then turns the tables, "What about you?"

"Here, have a drink." Spike offers her a water bottle. "All that dehydration can't be good for you."

"Hey, no." Destiny says. "I just meant as sparring partners. Since we're at the same gym. Coincidentally."

Spike sucks in a breath, "Not too sure about that one. You and Luigi--"

"No chance, right?" Destiny reminds him. "And all we'd be doing is MMA. And maybe some talking."

Spike's phone goes off, and he sees a text from Luigi.

Need you. M and P are at my apartment.

"So?" Destiny pushes.

"Yeah, that's fine." Spike's distracted now. "I gotta get going."

"Can I call you?"

"Hand over your phone." Spike says smoothly, and when she does, Spike types in a number, then hands it back, before she walks away.

"Where the hell have you been?" Luigi demands when Spike finally makes it home.

"At my new gym working out." Spike says noncommittally. "What's so important you had to summon me?"

"Alundra here wants to dreamwalk through Merri." Mario explains, clearly not liking it.

"Snoozy said yes?" Spike asks, surprised, but at everyone's looks, he realizes, "Oh you're talking about breaking protocol to do it anyway. Okay, I'm listening."

"That stupid note is bugging me." Luigi explains. "What if it was sent to me?"

"Weeg, I told you." Mario says to get his attention. "I know you're desperate to find your uncle, but come on. Not everything we do here ties back to Uncle Arthur."

"But what if this does?" Luigi insists frantically. "What if this is the key to everything and we missed it? Help me out here! I need all of--"

"Enough." Mario stops him.

"Loverboy's already hooked." Spike teases.

"First off, no. Second, heck no. Third, yeah, okay, I'm in." Mario says.

"Me too." Spike says, making them all turn to Pauline.

"Fine, me too." She admits.

"You know Snoozy's gonna catch us, right?" Mario reminds them. "The second we turn anything on, he'll know."

"Which means we have 30 minutes from when he wakes up and rushes over to when he comes through the pipe and gives us a serious beat down."

"He still only has 2 hands." Mario jokes. "So half of us will get away while the others are still taking the fall."

"Please, we're too valuable." Spike scoffs.

"Until we're not anymore." Pauline says.

"Shall we?"

Once Luigi's in his dreamwalking pajamas, he walks over to the Ultibed, while Mario briefs them, "The second the computer goes on, we have half an hour before Snoozemore makes an appearance."

Luigi presses a button, turning it on himself.

"Spike, to Monitors." Mario orders, Spike nodding as he goes over to the station. "Paulie, you'll have to keep an eye on Sleep Quality while monitoring Communications."

"Done." Pauline promises.

"I have Healing Pods and Biofeedback relaying everything to me in my earpiece." Mario says as he moves next to the Ultibed. "Since we're already a go, let's just get right into it. Luigi?"

"I'm with you." Luigi promises.

"Inducing REM sleep in 3...2...1...GO!"