A Book of One-Shots

Take Care of Him for Me - Yoglabs Fic

Time Travel Xephos

‘Take care of him for me’

http://catatoe.tumblr.com/post/71855036097/take-care-of-him-for-me-slams-hands-on-desk

Xephos sat on the edge of his bed, stuffing a few necessities and possessions into his old adventuring bag. The light from outside dimmed, and the room was growing dark as he took one last look to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. The door locked behind him.

His footsteps echoed down the large hallways of Yoglabs as he made his way towards the lower levels. His pace was fast, even though there was no one there to see him. Red lights flashed overhead, making the setting even more eerie. The sirens had long since stopped. He jogged down the stairs, the elevators shut down last week. His pace quickened as he went down another long hallway, passing a few testificate bodies on his way.

He stopped in front of an iron door that had sealed off the most important part of the lab. That wasn’t the way he had to go, but.. he could detour. Punching in the code on the keypad, he prayed the electricity was still working in this part. The iron doors slid silently open, revealing a corridor with glass on one side. He didn’t glance into the room. It was empty except for a few testificate bodies and blood covered most of the view, anyway. They never should have kept that clone.

Entering one of the few rooms  that still had normal lighting, he sighed in relief as the iron doors shut behind him. The vats were dusty, he wasn’t sure exactly how long the room had been left alone. Almost all of them were empty now, except for a select few. He paused in front of the one that meant most to him, his ever-smiling dwarven companion. He put his hand against the glass, and then leaned his head against it as well.

“I’m sorry all this happened friend,” he whispered, his voice raspy from lack of use. “But I’ll try my best to make it right.”

He walked over to the next vat and punched the code in. Xephos’ clone slumped down onto the ground, gasping for breath. He didn’t have time to say anything as Xephos hauled him against the vat, hand around his throat.

“I have to do this. I can’t come back. None of us can.” He pulled a knife from his bag and slit his clone’s throat. He watched as the clone crumpled to the ground, clutching at his throat as his life seeped out of him. Xephos walked to the end of the room, punched another code into another keypad. A part of the wall lifted up, revealing a lever. Xephos closed his eyes and switched it off. The room’s lights turned red and the sound of screaming clones could be heard as he exited the room. He had shown mercy to his clone - but he didn’t have time for the rest.

         He walked down a series of halls, slowly losing interest in which way he was taking. He eventually ended up at his destination, anyway. An old wooden door that led into a tiny wooden shack. Opening the door, he stepped inside and stood in front of the vast amounts of technology before him. The scientist who created the marvelous contraption had explained how it worked to Xephos, thankfully. Now, as he stood before the console, he searched his memories for the right time. A time early on.. And when he was alone. He carefully entered a specific date and time. A message floated before him after he entered it:

         "Are you sure?"

         With a moment of hesitation, he wondered if he should be doing this. But he still pressed the button, and felt the world fall away as he traveled back.

         The reason it asked if he was sure was because the machine was flawed - it only teleported the person through time, so there was no way back. Xephos appeared before a mountain with a wooden door in it. He took cover behind a tree, and peered around to see if he had gone to the right time. He moved closer, pressing himself against the rock, and looked through the window. Inside, a younger Xephos stood before a crafting table, carefully placing different materials into the slots. He had that space uniform on - the red one that had a pin with his name on it.

         Xephos took a deep breath and knocked on the wooden door. The younger Xephos started, glancing at the door with wide eyes. He grabbed an iron sword from a chest and approached hesitantly. He swung open the door and put the sword against the man's chest.

         "Who are you?! How did you find this place?!" The sword shook in his hands.

         "You're smart enough to figure that out." He looked up at the familiar face, heard the familiar voice.

         "Are- are you- are you-"

         "You."

         The sword was slowly lowered, and Xephos stared at his younger self. His eyes were still filled with wonder. There were fewer scars. He wasn't as knowledgeable, either. But there was innocence and kindness there that he had lost long ago.

          "I can't stay long, you know. Messing with timelines and such," he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just-"

         "You alright up there, friend?" A rough voice called from the depths of the house. "Need any help?"

         Xephos shook his head, knowing that encountering Honeydew would ruin the entire purpose of the mission. His younger self called back: "It's alright! Just the wind being a bit rough!"

         "Alright."

         Xephos sighed in relief, and his younger self turned back to him. Xephos grabbed himself by the shoulders (what a weird thing to do) and looked him in the eyes.

         "Take care of him for me." The younger self stared for a moment before nodding quickly. Heavy footsteps came from the back of the house. "I have to go," he said hurriedly. "But - never let him go. Take care of him. Value your friendship."

         "W-why?"

         "Because he's the best friend you'll ever have."

         His younger self smiled. "If you came all the way from the future just to tell me that Honeydew is my best friend, I'm afraid to say you've wasted your time."

         Xephos laughed. Then, he heard the gruff voice he thought he'd never hear again. So he bolted, dashing behind a tree.

         "Xeph, what's going on? Why are you staring out the door?"

         "Just thinking," he murmured.

         "About what?"

         He turned to his dwarven friend. "How you're the best friend I could ever have."

         Honeydew laughed, and walked over to his friend, giving him an awkward side hug. Xephos stared at the window, and saw a flash of maroon as his future self ran off into the wilderness. To do what, he didn't know. But for some reason, he was really quite happy he had come to say those few words to him. One day I'll understand. He thinks to himself. He frowned suddenly. But I don't know if that's a good thing.