The Fates (Book II)

10.12 - Fateful

Dear Fatefuls, we have come to the end of Book II - hope you all enjoy the fateful finale!! :)

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Scene 12: Fateful

A.D. 2015

She was ready. For her life to change forever, she was ready. Wasn't she? She had to be. For one thing, her life had already changed forever. And even if she wasn't ready, even if she'd never be, that was not what really mattered. What mattered was the truth - and there were truths as yet untold, unheard. What mattered was the fact that she possessed some sort of power that enabled her to literally determine the future. Though she had no clue how or why, that much she knew for sure. And so she owed it to the future, to the world, to find out anything and everything she could about this fateful power.

This wasn't about her life changing forever; it wasn't about her. It wasn't even about the... about the... whatever it was that she felt toward Ryder. In spite of the fact that, when Cloe was stupid enough to even let herself think about him, which was far too often, it felt as if nothing else could ever matter.

The mysteriously otherworldly Miss Primor had offered to tell her the entire story, whenever she was ready. And whether or not Cloe was ready - whether the truth would be ugly or pretty, set to bring chaos or clarity, or both, or neither - it was high time that she took Charliese up on that offer.

Alone in her hotel room, she typed up an email to Trevor, asking if he could please advise Charliese to get in touch with her. Cloe's only way of contacting Miss Primor was through Prof, since she of course didn't have the platinum princess's number. She felt terrible bothering Trevor, when he had so recently been knocked out cold and locked inside a storage room, but she hoped that he was conscious now, and mentioned in her email that she hoped he had recovered.

As seconds passed, then minutes, she began to doubt it. Struggled not to flip a shit. What if he was still unconscious, or even dead, damn it? If that were true, then how was she supposed to stop herself from using her abilities to bring him back to life? Which would obviously be a grave abuse of power and potentially apocalyptically unwise... Cloe tried not to think about it. Tried very hard not to think about anything.

This of course led her to think about Ryder. Resisting this, since it was always so damnably dangerous, Cloe forced her mind to wander to another subject, any other subject, down whatever tangent it could find. This led her to remember that, sooner or later, she would have to talk to Eldor. She hadn't even seen him since the incident, but she knew that she couldn't avoid him for long. He was the one who had so generously arranged her stay in this palatial hotel, after all.

But just the thought of seeing him again was painful - the thought of how awkward and tense it was going to be, after what she had done in the moment of truth, when the gun had been held up to Eldor and his fellow veteran. The sacrifice that she had clearly been ready to make, not for him, but for the other soldier. A man who was all but a stranger to her. She had leapt in front of Ryder, set to take a bullet, choosing him instead of Eldor in an instant. As if the epic prince, who had only been the most perfect gentleman and steadfast friend to her... as if he didn't even matter.

That could not have been less true; Eldor mattered more to Cloe than he knew. But, in that fateful moment, she had seen and felt and lived for only Ryder. No one, nothing else. And there was no way to explain that to her friend. Hell, she couldn't even explain it to herself. She would have no idea where to begin, whenever she had to face Eldor again. Doubted she would be brave enough to even look at him.