A Heart's Thoughts

Day ??? - Distorted

Matthew crossed his arms as he cocked his head and frowned. He let out a sigh just as Jude entered the hallway.

"What's with the troubled face?"

Matthew exhaled, "I'm not sure."

"Well, why are you staring at that door?"

Matthew turned to Jude, "Whose room is this?"

Jude raised his brows, "it used to be Julian's. We kept it empty for him in case he ever shows up again."

Matthew sighed again before shaking his head and turning away from the door. "Okay, thanks." was all he said before exiting the hallway and walking down the stairs to the living room.

Upon entering the living room, he got greeted with a smile from Clover.

"Good morning, you're up early," she said as she handed him a cup of hot coffee. "Did you sleep well?"

He nodded, "yeah, the beds here are surprisingly comfortable."

"Alright, well, in that case," she said as she took the cup of coffee back from him, "I'll be taking this back. I didn't sleep at all last night."

Matthew stared at her for a moment before chuckling, "why, did you think about me all night?"

He had meant it as a joke, but his smile faded when Clover nodded.

"Exactly. My mind keeps wandering back to you. I've never taken anyone with me to another timeline, so I'm constantly worried about you."

Matthew didn't reply and instead averted his attention to the others in the room.

"Who here knows what happened to Julian when he disappeared and is ready to talk about it?"

Alec raised his hand, "he often discussed his last project with me. I specialize in teleportation magic, so he often came to ask me for help."

"Great, Let's go somewhere more private so we can talk."

He turned to leave the room but got stopped when Clover grabbed his arm and gave him a confused look.

She whispered, "what's up with you? Why do you suddenly want to find out more about Julian's disappearance? He disappeared four years ago. Remember, we're not here to solve his case. We have more important things to worry about."

He put his hand on hers, "Don't worry. I haven't lost sight of our goal. I think the two cases may be very related."

he slid her hand off his arm and left the room with Alec. They went into the backyard where they sat on chairs, facing each other.

Alec cleared his throat, "well, where do you want me to start?"

Matthew hummed a little as he thought before replying, "why don't you first tell me what Julian was like as a person?"

Alec huffed, "gosh, Julian was a tough one. Don't get me wrong, he was an overall nice guy, but he could get scary at times."

"Scary? How so?"

"It was scary watching him get carried away in his projects. Julian was an impressive guy. The way he wielded his magic was impressive. But he was also greedy for more. He was always searching for more knowledge. He can be an incredibly kind and supportive person, and he's been a great friend to all of us. But, when given a choice between the people he loves and knowledge, he would choose the latter without a second of thought."

Matthew frowned, "you say that as if you've seen it happen before."

Alec nodded, "that's because I have. Annabelle and Julian loved each other. All of us told him of the risks of his experiments, but he never stopped to consider our words. I don't think he cared. And just like that, he left all of us behind."