HROT 3: End of All Things

Chapter 2: So Close

The Glass-LT hummed softly as it glided through the vast expanse of space. Tony watched the stars slowly pass from the view of the bridge window. He leaned heavily on his metal staff, his right leg still healing from the incident on Deckard. The bandages over the gaping hole in his right eye socket felt damp; he needed to change them soon.

He felt like the entire world had fallen on him. He had lost everyone except Marie, Crunk, and Mewten. Kyle had gone mad, Dom was dead, and Leon was holding back looming destruction. Now, he was following his fallen father's wraithlike voice to HROT, a place he had expected to never return to. He didn't know who Ronald Hill was, but if that had really been his father talking, he needed to find him.

He was grateful for his companions' graciousness in following him haphazardly back to where they had come from. Everyone had been quiet on the journey so far. No one wanted to speak of the horrors they had witnessed. They were still processing everything they had witnessed. Tony wondered if he would ever see Kyle or Leon again. Now, there were only four of them left. He didn't know what he would do if even one more of them died.

He wandered to the controls, where Mewten was intensely focused on steering the ship toward HROT. "Do you need a break, bud?" Tony asked.

Mewten shook his head, not taking his eyes off of the display before him. "I've got it," he said tonelessly.

Tony knew the young boy was using his responsibility of steering the ship to distract him from what he had seen on the Bed. Tony wasn't going to take that from him. "A kid your age should never have gone through the things you've gone through," Tony remarked.

Mewten glared at him with a look of masked pain and a hint of injured pride. "Most of the others went through worse than I did. Why should I get a free pass just because I'm a kid?"

"You should be able to go home and enjoy your life."

"Well I can't, and there's no point in dwelling on that. We're going to save the world, right, Tony?"

A sober reminder of what hope felt like caused Tony to grin sadly. He laid his hand on Mewten's shoulder. "That's right."

Tony wandered to the living quarters. He found Marie sitting on the bed, cleaning her revolvers. She barely glanced at him as he walked in. "Hey," she muttered.

"Hey," he replied. He sat beside her. She shifted her focus back to the guns. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied quickly. "Just getting ready for the next fight."

"I'm tired of always having to get ready for the next fight," Tony remarked. "I want us to put a stop to all of this so that we can stop fighting once and for all."

Marie looked at him with hollow eyes. "Do you really think we'll ever be able to?" She let out an ironic chuckle. "Look at us. We're four people against a god. Think of how many more of us there were before Harout even woke up. We don't have a chance, Tony. I'm only doing this because there's nothing else to do until death comes for me next."

Marie's words were too painfully truthful for Tony to acknowledge. "We can still do this. All is not lost as long as we're still here. Ronald Hill might be able to help us."

Marie laughed and shook her head. "If he could help us, don't you think he would have already? How do we even know he really exists?"

"If you touch me again, I might be able to contact my father again and get more answers."

Marie grimaced. "Maybe later," she said bluntly. She looked him in the eyes. "I still have faith in this. I just have these lingering thoughts that maybe all of this was for nothing."