See You Yesterday

Chapter 61: Derythian

The sky is black and the stars are shining brightly, illuminating the mansion garden below and reflecting into the duck pond. Somehow- even through all the chaos- the mansion survived.

Quinn put all of the flames out in Xenia, but the damage of everything was still quite large. I just let her get on with it. I was going to apologise to Charlie but Gale beat me to him, grabbing his hand and pulling him away from everyone else, a look of guilt on her face.

So I went to Elvin so we could talk. He was a mess. His long silver hair was tatted and his eyes were drooping. I let him get things off of his chest and then he kindly offered to take care of Alex's body for the funeral. After telling me what he had managed to do to end all of this, I left him to it and went to my treehouse to do my own grieving. To cry and sob and scream, and basically feel the way I felt when my parents died. But it still wasn't enough.

I have to go to a meeting with a few others to decide who will be the new simul leader, tomorrow. I'm not even qualified for the job and it's against the rules as I'm not even on the simul, but I'm a Kingsley and they want me to go because of Alex, so I know I'm probably going to get it, even if I don't want it.

Now I'm on the rooftop of the mansion with the people who have kept me sane through all of this.

Charlie has arm draped around Gale's neck lovingly, my suspicions of them being in a relationship being confirmed. Quinn is swaying back and forth, humming to herself and spinning occasionally, the positivity radiating off of her. I am sitting on the edge of the roof, my legs dangling over it.

We did it. It's over.

I can't help but give a sigh of relief at that wonderful fact, and as I lock eyes with Charlie, I manage a small smile.

Quinn sees this and she stops dancing and kneels down beside me. "Derythian. It's time. He deserves to know."

I raise an eyebrow at her nerve before pushing all loathful thoughts to the back of my mind. I forgave her, and that's what matters.

She turns to Gale, a grin on her face. "Hey, Porter! Come on!"

Gale pulls away from Charlie, confused. "What?"

Quinn bursts into a fit of laughter. It engulfs her so much that I have to grab her shoulders to get her to breath.

She looks at me gratefully and within a second she's back on Gale. "I've never had a slumber party before. So come on, let's go!"

Gale looks at Quinn, horrified and speechless, while Charlie just looks at Gale with a twinkle in his eyes.  "Go on then," he orders. "Go have your fun."

Gale gives him a dirty look as he removes his arm from her neck so she can stand up. She groans and looks at Quinn. "You owe me one, Crawford. If you paint my nails or make me talk about him," she nods to Charlie, "I will pulverise you."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Quinn replies, smiling widely. "Oi!" She yells. "Teleporter!"

"Hmmm?" Charlie answers, tipping his head back to laugh.

"You can teleport and we're all the way up here..." She says.

"And?" He says.

"Join the dots up," she replies.

Sighing, Charlie offers a hand to both girls and looks at the gate of the garden. In a few moments, I am alone, looking down on my friends.

I see Charlie hug Gale while a very smug Quinn smacks him on the back, before skipping ahead of our other very miserable friend.