One-off short stories

End of the line

Kay was certain she had done it. It had taken her so long, but she'd finally finished what she'd been trying to do for years. She'd found her way to a worldline in which Kyasurin was still alive. She just hadn't realized, how weird it would feel. Having time traveled so many times. She come to accept the fact that there was a version of her on every single world line. Meaning even though she'd found happiness, there was still hundreds of Kay's stuck in other worldlines, wasn't there? Still, it's not like she could change any of that now. She'd completed her mission. She'd saved her. What now? The thought flew through her mind. She'd never really lived a normal life. She'd always been traveling, trying to change the future, or being stuck in a terrible future. Now that she'd succeeded, now that it was over, she felt confused, a little lost. So she decided to confirm her feelings, and went over to where she believed Kyasurin lived. When she walked up to the door, she heard Poet screaming. She turned around and ran away. There are hundreds of other Poet's living a happy life right now, she told herself. Hundreds of other ones. Living happily, living normally, living without that pain. Yet the tears still fell. She was crying, she realized. She wiped away her tears. She had worked towards this worldline her whole life. She couldn't not change it. Even if she knew how much it would hurt some people. But still, she didn't expect it to hurt her so much. She didn't expect to feel so guilty about doing the thing she always wanted. She stood up slowly, and walked back to her time machine. She looked at it, and nodded silently. She walked inside and disabled it, permanently. She broke everything she could, she turned it off, she messed with all the options. She did this partially because she didn't want anyone to get a hand on the time machine again, and partially because she was worried, if she didn't destroy it now, she'd be convinced to use it later. Despite that she had just wanted to save Kyasurin. She wanted a worldline with her in it again. It was selfish, but she had thought she deserved it. She walked out of the time machine, that was now broken. She felt empty, almost. Like she'd just cut herself instead of the time machine. It had been her home for a countless number of days. She felt unconnected from the times she'd been in before. But despite all that, this was the world she wanted to live in. She needed to live in a world where Kyasurin was alive. She just couldn't handle the pain of her always being dead. Still, that didn't stop her from screaming. One loud, painful scream from a culmination of all her conflicting and painful emotions. And then she asked, even though nobody could hear her,"Kya, I did the right thing, didn't I?"