Save State Hero 3 -ch 5-

Chapter 5

“Well,” Edmund muttered and looked at the winged corpse. It’d died earlier than the Gnome, though he had no idea by how long. “I think this is… the third?”

“It is,” Dot said with a sigh, looking up from the log. “The log confirmed Leila was killed by Red, after Red went… insanely hungry. Red ate part of her heart after killing her, then… killed herself.

“This is Sam. She was a fairy? Big fairy. Really big. Gnome sized. She died due to dehydration. And… ah… ugh… Leila and Red drank her blood and that’s how they kept going.”

“It’s like a boat lost at sea,” Iren put in, her hands over her head. Still in her sports bra and short-shorts, she seemed unbothered by the sun. Her wings were still shielding Alina and Ellie. “Just fucking awful. I wouldn’t even want to consider what they went through. I can’t imagine the grief they all went through. Its… errr… yeah. Yeah.”

“As a vampire… I can’t imagine being forced to eat any of you. I can’t—I suddenly identify with the Red-hair beastkin a lot more in retrospect. A lot more,” Alina murmured then sighed.

“Time to ask the log what date they died, and what date is, I suppose,” Harper mused and looked to Dot.

“Already did it. The dates are… it’s just wrong,” she said, grumbled and threw up her hands. “It doesn’t make sense, honestly. The only thing I can figure is we’ll just need to go backwards a good bit, then slowly let it roll forward. Keeping an eye on the arrival point and just… waiting. When they cross over, we mark it, then go from there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Edmund muttered, sighed, and rubbed at his face. “We should use this opportunity to go talk to Steve… Seville… see why he didn’t go to help Vince. No reason to just abandon this Save-State.”

“That’s a good idea,” agreed Dot quickly, smiling.

“I agree, but… I don’t think Teddy should go,” Alina countered. “If Steve decided to do something, we wouldn’t be able to stop him.”

“That’s a good point,” Ellie murmured with a shake of her head. “I’ve looked into Steve a good bit. He’s killed me a few times as well. He doesn’t always respond in ways one would expect. As if his morals were carved upon him one day and he just decided on them. But even now, he sometimes changes his mind.”

“We’ll all go talk to Steve,” Edmund said with a heavy sigh. “It’ll be fine. I don’t think he’s going to do anything. If anything, he’s probably expecting someone to come talk to him about it. You’ll remember he never actually did anything when we went to his farm, Ellie.”

“I… I hate his world,” Ellie grumped, folded her arms, and shook her head. “Every woman there is so disastrously pretty that I barely compare to them. You’ll see. It’s-it’s… mogged. We’ll all be mogged. Edmund will be like a piece of meat on display. The balance of women to men is absolutely skewed.”

“Mogged?” Iren asked. She’d been getting deep into nerd culture but apparently that one escaped her.

“Competitive attractiveness,” Harper offered and shook her head. “Just… she’s telling us everyone will look better than us.”

“Oh, whatever,” Iren said with a laugh. “Edmund loves me for who I am!”

There was a blank silence to that statement.

As if everyone there had just had a reset button hit.

“You’re the best, Iren,” Ellie said, looking at the Dragon.

“Don’t I know it. I’m the Dragon-waifu, and I’ve been practicing being a massive thirst-trap for Eddy!” Iren cheered, then posed in a new way he hadn’t seen before. Turning sideways, her toned stomach and core tightening with a slight twist. Her whole body shifting as she also leaned her top toward him. One hand held up in front of her mouth, her head tilted back slightly. Then she grinned at Edmund and waved her other hand to him.

It made his brain turn off in admiration.

Shit.

“Shit,” Dot muttered.

“Shit,” offered up Harper at the same time.

Ellie and Alina, didn’t really see it.

***

Walking toward the farm, Edmund kept his hands visible. At his sides, visible, and had tossed his weapon before coming here. Everyone had, in fact.

The simple reality was that Steve’s farm was a place of absolute and sudden violence. That if Steve decided violence needed to happen, it simply did.

“What do you want,” called a voice from beyond the palisade enclosed walls of the farm. A male voice. Steve’s voice.

“Just wanted to see why you didn’t help out Vince,” Edmund called back over the big wooden wall. “I’m Edmund by the way. In case you don’t remember. I work with Runner, Ryker, and Felix. Vince just kinda lost to a massive frog demon. Wanted to know why you didn’t help. That’s all.”

“Why… why didn’t… why didn’t I help Vince?” he asked sounding confused. “Why would I?”

Edmund frowned, thought on that, then blew out a breath.

He was sick and tired of all these overly powerful people who were so incredibly self centered.

Then… Edmund lost his cool.

“Really? After Runner did everything to save your family, after everything Ryker did, your response is ‘why would I?’ what a fucking selfish bastard,” Edmund said with true anger. Anger bordering on rage. “Really? What kind of childish bullshit is that? What would your daughter say if she heard that? You’re nothing but a petulant villain, and even your daughter would’ve stepped out to help. You damn coward.”

Edmund was just angry.

After everything Edmund had done to save as many people as he could, this just angered him.

“You’re not Steve. You’re Seville. Rot in your farm with your head buried under the dirt along with the damned corpse of Steve, you miserable fucking shit, Seville,” Edmund said, picked up a rock, and threw it at the draw-bridge. “Coward! The next time Nia sings for you, I hope you realize just how pathetic you are.”

Edmund threw up his hands and began storming off. He didn’t want to deal with him.

Everyone had to hustle to catch up to him he didn’t miss the fact that Iren was looking back the way they came. Staring over her shoulder as if she were expecting something to happen.

Then… something did.

The draw-bridge blew up.

Or so Edmund guessed by the massive hunks of palisade soaring past him in every direction. Soaring through the air past him.

“What, you going to throw a hissy fit cause you got called out?” Edmund said with a snarl on his face as he looked back the way he came. “Go ask Nia what she’d tell you about you’re supposed to for someone, who helped you, huh? Or ask her mother.”

Edmund was leaning into the information he’d gotten about Seville from everyone else.

“Go ahead, throw a fucking tantrum you big ass baby. Suh-Ville,” Edmund said, hard pronouncing the name.

The man had jumped across the moat and had been storming toward Edmund but was stock still now.

He was exactly as he remembered him. Gray hair, piercing eyes, and fairly unassuming if you didn’t know what he could do. That he could hit a thing and make it explode.

“What, realize you’re still the bad guy, Suh-Ville?” Edmund said and turned around to look at him. “Something to say to me? Some excuse? Huh? Eh? That you don’t owe anybody anything and that the help they gave you wasn’t asked for?

“Fuck.

“You really were going to say that.

“You’re not even worth the damn time to scold. Nia would be disappointed in you, Suh-Ville.”

Edmund just stood there, glaring at the man.

He knew Seville was somewhat dark and hadn’t really been an upright man in his life. Edmund had expected more than this though.

“You… that…” Seville said, shook his head, and looked away. He ground his teeth together, then looked to the ground. “I … spoke to Claire. You’re the guy that’s fixing thing, right?”

Seville said it and looked at Edmund again.

“Trying to. Right now I have to figure out how to fix Vince. Giant frog demon stomps his way through his world right after the end of that fight.”

“Null and the Hungry One,” Seville muttered, walking up to Edmund again. “That’s the problem you’re talking about.”

“Hell if I know, I’m just trying to fix things. Right now it’s Vince. You know, the guy who risked his life to deliver you Nia’s song, that you’re not really worthy of, Suh-Ville,” Edmund said, giving him a sneer again. “Why? Going to just kill me? Do it, Suh-Ville. Nia’s watching. Erase any doubt about who you are, Suh-Ville.”

Seville’s shoulders straightened and his entire body froze up. He looked like he wanted to turn around and look back the way he came.

“Hi Nia!” Edmund called and waved.

“Oh, hi!” called the little girl. She’d been peeking out past the wall.

“Well? Suh-Ville, gonna show her the villain you are?” Edmund demanded, shrugged, and just looked at the man.

Seville was staring at him now. As if he were a heaping plate of steaming shit just dropped in front of him for dinner. Served with a great heaping glass of sludge runoff from a swamp to drink.

“No,” Seville said, grimaced, and shook his head. “No… I’m… no. You’re right. You’re right. I just… yeah, you’re right. I was so deeply ‘this is owed to me’ that I didn’t even-I didn’t-you’re just right. You’re right.

“I can’t fix that now though, can I. Unless what Claire said is the truth and you really can go backwards. You really can shift things about.”

“I can. I’ve even killed you a few times,” Edmund admitted. “Launched you into fucking space. Literally. Just slapped you into orbit and called you rocket man. You’re strong as hell and with great endurance, but off the ground? No momentum to use? You’re a pinata like the rest of us.

“Why? Got a plan to help me fix your head so you come back to this place as Steve, rather than Seville? Cause you tell me what to say, when, and how, and I’ll be there. I’ll make sure you come back as Steve and look that little girl in the eye and tell her, ‘yes, I am the hero’ and not the villain.”

Seville clicked his tongue, looked away from Edmund, and rolled his eyes. Though there was a smirk on his face.

“Yeah… that’d fuck me up pretty good. Was it my own idea? Claire said… there’s… a table meeting you hold to talk about things,” he asked, looking to Edmund, changing the subject from telling hime what to say.

“No, came up with it myself. I went through Ryker’s lab for weapons and tools. Why?” he asked.

“Nothing, nevermind. Just… ugh… after I meet with Nia… when Runner-when Runner does exactly what he promised me, I was greedy. He asked me to help Vince out after and I said no,” Seville muttered. “I thought it was owed to me. That it was something I was rightfully due. Not that it was kindness and that it was-was making me part of the solution. The team.

“That’d be the moment to probably talk to me. To try and turn me to the cause completely. Just do what you did now. Ask me if I’m Steve or Seville. Steve the hero and father to Nia, or Seville, the greedy bastard who thought he was doing everything for everyone else, when he was really just… self-serving.

“If you can do that, I think I’d probably go help Vince out. Help him out and try to not be a greedy bastard and turn my focus to my own problems.”

“Yeah? Fine. I’ll see about that,” Edmund said and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “I’ll have to go backward again just to… to do that. I guess I could try and push that backwards far enough to get to Nadine. At the same time. Just need to figure out how to save her but it’d have to happen before Ryker died I figure.”

“Nadine?” Seville asked, tilting his head to the side. “From… Runner’s world? She’s alive?”

“Mm, yeah. Just part of the covenant he made with the deities there I guess locked her away,” he explained with a shake of his head. “Nadine’s with the… mom… deity, I forget her name. She’s there. With her. Runner didn’t realize she was, put the covenant, and then that was that.”

Seville blinked several times, then grinned at Edmund.

“Maybe… I might be a bit of a coward right now,” Seville said and started rumaging around in his pockets. Then he pulled something out of one and held it out to Edmund. “But because I’m a coward, I kept this. It’s one of the god-damn things Skipper ever gave me. Mostly because I think she wasn’t sure it would work but… I never used it. She said it was strong enough to punch through any restriction Runner put up.

“I have no idea where she got it, how she made it, or even what it does. For all I know it would explode. I didn’t give it to Runner because… I’m a coward. So… here.

“Go run it by Runner, or go get it from me in the earlier timeline and have Ryker look at it. I’m not sure… if… you could get it from me earlier than that but you’re welcome to try.

“Just be careful. I was on a bit of a hair trigger there at the end. It didn’t take much to spiral me.”

Edmund took the item from Seville, which looked an awful lot like an old coin. As if someone had used a sandblaster on it and part of it had been worn away with a few holes in it.

“Looks like the damn Goonies coin. Hold it up and see if it fits a lighthouse,” Harper blurted out, clearly ill at ease with what Seville had done and her thoughts not being processed first.

Seville looked to Harper, than back to Edmund.

Edmund was slowly flipping it end over end, looking at it. It really did look like a coin to him and honestly he had nearly a similar thought to Harper, he just hadn’t been able to place it.

“Skipper, huh?” Edmund asked. “I killed her once already. Before I killed Zeus. I walked her into my echoes. To the end of their days and years. Letting her sit locked in her own thoughts for what would’ve been a near eternity for her. Then I cut her head off.”

“Is there anyone you haven’t killed?” Sevilled asked after a long pause.

“I don’t think so. I get the impression that I haven’t killed Runner,” Edmund blurted out, his thoughts slowly digging into the coin. “Even though I think I technically did. But I think… I think if I killed Runner I’d know it. I feel like he’s a bit of a unique existence.”

Edmund stepped straight into the between space then, letting his ability and power open up in front of him. He had someone he wanted to talk to and he figured she’d be there waiting for him.

It was probably time he started getting better answers about his Shadow-States.

This coin would likely need to be used in one of those Shadow-States.

“Adeena,” Edmund called into the save-state void. “I think it’s time we had that conversation about Shadow-States and what they really are. What’s really going on with them, what happened with Harper, this coin, and everything else. Because this… this is all just… there’s a lot to take in here Adeena. A lot. I need you.

“Because we’re finally at a point where a lot of things are going to start converging.”

“Ahhh… yes… I guess it really is time for a deeper dive into all of it. What exactly happened with Harper… with you… the Shadow-States,” Adeena murmured, appearing next to him. “I wish it would be an easier discussion, my Teddy-Eddy, my dearest-dear, but it won’t be. It won’t be at all.

“Because the simple reality is there’s a lot of it you won’t understand. A lot of it you won’t want to understand. A lot of it that will simply break you, which means I can’t tell you all of it. I can only tell you what you can handle. What you can chew. What you can swallow.

“Otherwise… you’d choke, my Eddy-Teddy, my dearest dear, my always love. I’m sorry. I do not hold things back because I wish to—”

“But because you have to, I know. I don’t blame you. After having a lot that I wanted to talk to everyone else about, but couldn’t at times, I can definitely understand the problem and where it sits for you,” Edmund finished with a sigh. “Let’s start with this, and see where we end up. Because I think this is what I’m the most curious about.”

Edmund had held up the strange coin as he had spoken, then simply held it out to Adeena.

“I understand but it really isn’t where we should start. Where we can’t start. We must start elsewhere,” she murmured, then laughed. A low, slow, soft laugh that sounded deeply real. Deeply her. Without the broken edge to her. “You’re a smart man Edmund. Very smart. I’m sure you’re already starting to suspect the ending already. How it all plays out more than likely. The Shadow-States.

“Do you want me to tell me what you think or do you want me to start where I need to start the story. Because one of those things are actually the beginning.”

Edmund didn’t want to talk about what he feared the ending would be. Not at all. He didn’t want to even consider it, because his mind hadn’t really processed much of it at all.

His mind mostly had rejected it other than a few nebulous fears that floated up here and there.

Though he knew what Adeena was talking about, but they were just fears.

Fears that he, Edmund, would walk a road alone at the very end. Because when he killed Zeus, he had been alone. When he had solved the issue with Dot, it had been directly through his own influence, and he’d been more or less alone.

This path he pursued now felt even harder than the previous two, and he was most certain that he’d have to do it alone.

Nor had he missed how Adeena looked at him as if she knew he was planning to ditch her back into her own life. Put her back to where she was supposed to be.

So that he had never broken her loose in the first place.

“Runner and Ryker made the world. The universe. You. Everything you’ve ever seen. You are the one and true Fate-Smithed. Before they shaped Warin, before War, before Death, before even… me… or time.

“Time’s a bitch by the way, before you ask. She’s the most clock-watching, time-stamping, nasty monster that ever existed. I hate her. Even I can give a little bit of leeway here and there, but not her.

“Anyways… before all of that, even as… as Ryker and Runner sat down… you were the first thing they made. You were, Edmund. You predate the world itself. You saw that when we looked at your starting point.

“You were before everything, because you’re the solution. You know that. But… you also saw there was never a deviation for you. You exist exactly once, across any plane, any future, any possibility. Just once. Nor is the timing coincidental.

“So… with that in mind… let’s… talk about Shadow-States.”

Adeena smiled at him grimly, clearly not wanting to, then sat down in a chair she summoned from… somewhere. Looking far less like the broken oracle and more like a young woman who was about to have a conversation she didn’t want to have.