Save State Hero 3 - Ch 2-

Chapter 2

Fiddling with a helmet, Edmund was poking and prodding at the back compartment of it.

He had found it had an odd bay back here that’d been filled with what looked like miniaturized computer components. As if Ryker had taken a computer, shrunk it down somehow, and stuck it in the helmet.

Peering into the compartment, he saw that it wasn’t just here that there were components. They actually ran all along the interior of the helmet. The shell was quite literally a computer case in this regard.

“Found you,” declared what sounded like Iren followed by a crunching noise. “Adeena said you were hiding here rather than trying to push forward. Figured I should come find you.”

Leaning away from the bench he was working at, Edmund looked to Iren.

The green-eyed, green-haired, extremely fit, tall, and quite pretty Dragon was coming his way. Her green horns stuck up from her head were quite visible today.

More often than not, she tended to keep them hidden.

Dressed in a black sports bra, short-shorts, and a windbreaker, Edmund had a hard time not making a pass at her right now. Let alone trying to not stare at her.

“Oh yeah, give me those eyes. Look at me. Look at your fit and sexy green Dragon,” Iren said, setting the bag she’d been holding in her hands to the side. Only to begin posing for him in ways he had often seen on social media that had caused him to pause and stare.

Now he had a woman that could make all those look modest by contrast posing for him.

“Mmhmm, that’s right. Look at your Dragon. Look at me,” Iren said with a warm and rich laugh, then waved a hand at him. She picked up her bag again and reached into it. “Okay. That’s enough. I’m not here to try and talk you into a bed, but to be here to make sure you’re okay.

“Cause, you know, I apparently love you. Love you, promised you a soul bond, and talk you into a bed for my first time so often that you take notes on how to break my maidenhead in the way I like most.”

Iren raised her eyebrows, popped a chip in her mouth, and sat down in one of the seats nearby.

“Dunno why Adeena sent me though,” Iren said carefully around her food, even holding her other hand up in front of her mouth. “Ellie is closer to your heart than I am, I figure. Alina, too, for that matter. She practically hangs off your wrist like a cuff-link. Harper goes without saying, childhood friend and all.

“Dot’s even a better choice than me. Ever since you rescued her she’s been so blatantly obvious that it’s weird.

“But me? I don’t get it. I’m just a random Dragon that somehow ended up in your group and I don’t even remember anything that happens.”

Shrugging her shoulders, Iren put several chips in her mouth this time and looked to him.

Apparently she wanted an answer from him.

Edmund just stared back at her, trying to figure an answer for her question. Because while it was a weird way to ask it, she wasn’t wrong either.

Adeena sending Iren didn’t seem like the right answer to get Edmund motivated to moving forward.

Then a stupid answer popped up into his head and he shook his head and looked to the workbench.

“Because you’re the answer to get me moving again. You are, Iren. Just you. It’s nothing that you’d do, nothing that you’d say, it’s just you,” Edmund muttered and looked back to the helmet. He carefully began removing more of the shell. He wanted to see more of it. “In sending you, Adeena insures that I’ll feel better, my worries will go away, I’ll laugh, and then move forward when I’m ready.”

“Oh. Guess I’m pretty damn awesome. Hell yeah,” Iren said with a sharp nod of her head. “Which kinda fits. I get this weird feeling around you or when I look at you.

“Like, I keep getting status updates from my panties that they’re undergoing a flood whenever I look at you too long.

“Or that I’d really like it if you just called yourself a titan and breached my maiden wall on your workbench?”

Edmund choked on nothing, chuckled, and the piece he was pulling at popped away.

“I swear to hell, Iren,” he said, still chuckling.

“Oh, oh, did that work? I was trying to work in a joke about Gardevoir protecting those it loves and I’d rather get a Machoke but… I don’t think I’m into that? So it wouldn’t work,” Iren said with a shrug. “Or so Ellie tells me that I’m not into it.”

“You’re not. We’ve tried more than a few times, always because you want to make sure. You get a bit weird really quickly about it and it ruins the night,” Edmund confirmed as he slowly looked over the internals of the helmet. Only to pause and stare off into nothing rather than the helmet. “Heh… wanting to make sure it’s the truth just ends up making it weird for everyone. Right.”

The words struck deep.

Sighing, Edmund put the helmet down and then slowly spun it around till he was staring into the front of it.

It was a fully enclosed helmet. He knew from putting it on that the interior of it had a microphone as well as speakers. In wearing it, you could hear everything around you and speak through it without issue.

The thing also provided a near perfect field of view as if you weren’t wearing a helmet at all, though he wasn’t quite sure how. It was obvious it was a blend of some type of magic and technology.

Edmund had no idea what Ryker had built it for, but it was certainly well made.

“I need to ask the log about this,” he said finally.

“Oh? Awesome. Apparently the last time I asked it questions I got too scared to ask how to bring my memories with me everywhere like Ellie and Alina,” Iren murmured and shot up out of her seat. “Only Harper and me have to really dig into the notes. Alina doesn’t need it much and Adeena… well… Adeena’s Adeena.”

The green Dragon tilted the bag backward and poured the contents into her mouth. Immediately looking like some sort of strange Dragon Squirrel hybrid as she chewed.

Crumping the bag up she then tossed it into the trash can, looked to Edmund, and threw a thumb at the door. All while chewing.

“Yeah, let’s go. I promised Harper I’d let her know when I was done though,” Edmund said and quickly put the pieces back into place on the helmet that they belonged. Then stuck it under his armpit. “She should be poking at the log still I imagine. I left it in the testing lab.”

Iren gave him a new thumbs up and just kept chewing.

Leaving the workshop Edmund turned left, only to remember that he needed to turn right this time.

Ever since he had rescued Dot from herself, weird changes kept popping up in random ways across his Save-States.

In this one, Ryker had built the workshop on the other side of the hall that Edmund was used to.

A small change that didn’t matter at all, but was still odd to him.

It left him feeling a bit nervous that the changes he’d made had been far more significant than he had realized. That perhaps, somehow, he had inevitably damaged the world itself with what he’d done for Harper among other things.

Iren joined him and was wiping her hands off on her shorts, her sneakers squeaking with how fast she’d caught up to him.

Only to stick an arm around his shoulders.

“Apparently you love how forward I am. All the others are just kinda ninnies when it comes down to it. Or so my notes tell me. Ellie doesn’t seem very happy when I ask her about it but she does answer me honestly,” Iren said with another laugh. “You’d think her being a sex-streamlined ultra-predator of men would give her a bit more of a forward personality. But nope. She’s wound tighter than a nun’s honey pot.”

Edmund couldn’t deny that statement.

Even Faith had been comically forward when it came to Felix. Ellie was nothing like any other Dryad he had ever met. A unique woman in truth.

Iren guided him to the testing room and shoved the door open, all without ever taking her arm off his shoulder. Even when they went through the doorway she’d hunched her shoulders in and just about trod on his feet to make it happen.

Sat in the middle of the room was Harper and Dot. The two women were staring down at the Log laid out on the table between them. He imagined they were taking turns asking it questions.

Harper smiled and bounced right out of her chair and faced him directly.

Her long, light brown hair was brushed out and looked a lot like she’d been to a salon recently. Dressed in t-shirt, open cardigan, and jeans, she looked more like a magazine model somehow.

If it weren’t for her bust and waist being fuller in a few key areas that most models didn’t have.

Her bright brown eyes were filled with life and she was just about radiating joy

“Eddy!” she said and put her hands together with a grin. “Did you come to pick me up? Is it time for our lunch date?”

“Well, kinda. I needed to ask the log about this helmet,” Edmund confessed as he walked over. “After that I probably… I probably need to finally start moving on the next Save-state. I’ve been dragging my heels.”

“Adeena mentioned that,” Dot said and spun around in her chair to face him. She leaned against the desk and smiled at him.

Her long brown hair that was more often than not in a pony tail was now styled and had several braids in it. It parted near the middle and was brought back off her ears and behind her back.

Her bright green eyes felt a lot targeting reticles pointing his way as of late. When she looked at him he had the uncomfortable feeling that she somehow managed to remember her life as a villain.

Remembered, everything, in fact.

Like Claire had taught her how she’d made her own carry-over spells.

The distinctive scar that ran down from her hairline, across her eyebrow, over her eye, and ended at her cheek didn’t seem as prominent given her hairstyle.

Even her clothes were different now adays.

She wore a great deal of things that complimented her lithe, athletic, and slim form.

“Before you ask, I’m going on your lunch date with you. Alina and Ellie are out getting supplies right now in case we stay here for a while. Given I grew up in the area I gave them directions. Still rather weird that Ryker stuck this whole thing in his farm,” Dot said with a laugh then shook her head. “Nevermind, that actually fits really well with him. He ended up bringing everyone and anything the mattered here in the end.

“After lunch, Per promised me we’d go shopping, too. That’s why I’m crashing the date.”

Harper rolled her eyes but grinned nonetheless, waving a hand almost dismissively.

“Oh, me too, then. We going somewhere I need more clothes? Can I get away in my ‘ready for Eddy’ attire?” Iren asked and gestured at her sports bra and short shorts.

“More clothes, Iren, dear,” Harper advised her.

“Like… an actual shirt and pants?” Iren asked with a wide grin and a shrug of her shoulders. “If so I need to go get into Dot’s closet. I really only have ‘ready for Eddy’ wear anymore. It’s just easier once Ellie gives me my notes.”

Dot sighed loudly while Harper put a hand over her eyes.

“What?” Iren asked and laughed again. “Hey, ever since I realized what all I gave him, it’s been a lot easier to just be me. Especially after reading all my Ellie notes. He loves it when I’m just me. He loves… me as me. All of me.”

Iren leaned over and kissed Edmund’s temple and then patted him on the shoulder. Walking away from him she wandered over to the refrigerator they’d put in.

This had been a “testing room” that’d been converted into a dinning room and kitchen.

“I suppose I should invest in ‘ready for Eddy’ clothes if I want to win,” Harper said and dropped her hand from her face. She smiled at Edmund and then pointed at the helmet. “Is the helmet interesting?”

“Adeena pointed me at it without saying anything so it’s probably important in some way,” Edmund answered and moved over to stand between Dot and Harper. “That or she just pointed it out to me, to keep me busy. Which could be equally possible. Adeena will always do what she feels is best, even if it doesn’t come across as anything important to us.”

“Oh, yes, I could easily see that. I wonder why,” Harper mused, moving in close to his side. She was quite literally his child-hood friend after he had changed her life. He already knew what she was about to say. “Like randomly stepping up to be a hero on a perfectly ordinary day and you end up changing the rest of your life entirely. Suddenly getting a child-hood friend you didn’t have before?”

“Something like that,” Edmund admitted and looked at the Log.

Whatever the last question had been, Dot had cleared it before he had moved over.

“Are you feeling better?” Dot asked, peering up at him.

“Yeah. Just feeling overwhelmed to a degree. There’s so much that I’ll need to do. I’ve only gotten like… half… of what I set out to get done,” grumbled Edmund and began tapping at the Log.

It looked like not much more than a tablet, except for the fact it had the answer to almost any question you could answer it.

“I think you’ve been successfull, but maybe I’m biased,” Dot murmured. “All that’s left is your sister, Ryker, and Nadine. Isn’t it?”

“Leila,” Harper added. “By virtue of Leila, Vince.”

“Ah, yes. The gnome,” Dot muttered and then clicked her tongue. “Gnomes give me a weird feeling. Always have. Just kinda… errgh… is that mean?”

“Probably?” Iren called from where she was head down in the fridge. “I’m sure it’d get someone uppity and upset somewhere. Everything gets at least one person upset.”

Harper snorted and leaned over Edmund’s shoulder.

“Eddy, I don’t want lunch with Dot and Iren,” she said in a breathy whisper, her lips pressed to his ear. “Please do something for me? Your princess you keep saving? Save me again?”

“I thought I was the rescued princess,” Dot argued quietly from the other side of Edmund.

Harper made an odd sound, leaned behind Edmund, and was clearly looking at Dot.

“Uhm, do we take turns? Because he rescued me at least twice,” Harper offered. “He clearly saved you once but it was a lot of effort.”

“You can argue about being a princess, child-hood friend, or whatever else,” Iren said and then shut the fridge. “Dragon waifu trumps all. Sorry. It’s a shame I’m not like… a Dragon princess or anything but hey, Dragon waifu is Dragon waifu.”

“Is this Ellie’s doing? Adeena? It’s one of them. Too many notes or too much direction,” Edmund grumbled and hit the enter key on his quesiton. Which was just ‘what does the helmet right next to me do’. Simple questions did best Edmund had found.

“It’s most certainly not my fault, dearest dear,” Adeena replied from another testing chamber. The one that’d been converted to a living room in fact. “It’s Ellie’s notes. They’re all competing with one another to be the girl at the end with you.

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Teddy-Eddy, it’s fine. They’ll squabble, bicker a bit, become even better friends, plot against you, plot against each other, have a great time, and love life.

“You’re the stick in the mud. Sorry, babe.”

Edmund paused at the sudden nickname.

It was new.

Adeena never did anything without a plan.

The nickname might’ve just been given to him to pull him out of his thoughts, in fact.

Maybe I shouldn’t be a stick in the mud.

“Iren is my Dragon Waifu, Harper my childhood-friend, Dot the wicked princess I saved and converted,” Edmund said, staring at the log while waiting for his answer. “Alina is my vampire that wants to eat me constantly and is probably the crazy one. So I guess the Yandere? Maybe? Sexy silent vampire or Yandere.”

“She is the former,” Adeena confirmed. “And isn’t the latter. I’m closer to the latter.”

“Ellie is my… uh… houseplant, I guess,” Edmund finished. He was about to say ‘best girl’ but he imagined that wouldn’t have gone over very well.

Because regardless of how he felt about everyone, that he did truly love and care for all of them, at the end of the day, Ellie would always be there. Regardless of whatever happened, whoever he chose, Ellie would be there for him.

Until the very end of his life, the world, the galaxy, the universe, Ellie would be there.

Waiting for him.

Making a flower crown for me even as I lay unconscious.

Then again, everyone had remained or tried to wait for me.

All of them died waiting or looking after me.

The log responded.

“The helmet allows you to move freely between different dimensions and worlds without having to adapt to the physics, laws, or rules of the world,” Edmund read aloud. Then snorted, realizing the helmet was quite helpful but it seemed like it would do more. He suspected it would very likely move between Save-states if he wore it while he did it. He wasn’t going to play every game Adeena put in front of him though. He had to tease her back when he could. “Adeena, if I stuff this on your head, will it move between Save-states with us?”

“I… uh… what?” Adeena called, followed by a long trail of laughter. “Yes, indeed my Eddy-Teddy. Stuff it on my head and it’ll travel with us where-ever we might venture. Very funny. Very cute.”

“Great, you’re the helmet holder than,” he said, then blew out a breath. He realized he needed to move on now that he had his answer about the helmet. He couldn’t wait any longer and there wasn’t any actual reason to dilly dally as he had been.

He called up his Save-states in the next moment.

He found himself floating before them, helmet in hand, and Adeena beside him.

“Oh, it seems you’re taking this path. You should’ve slept with Iren and fed Alina, but this is fine. It’ll work out just as well like this. It just isn’t as fun for everyone,” Adeena murmured with a chuckle.

Edmund nodded his head at that. He didn’t deny that there was a part of him that wanted to feed Alina and bed Iren.

Except he had already done both those things in the morning.

Alina would be ready for a Save-state hop so long as he fed her with any relevant information in mind and Iren was just Iren.

Turning, Edmund lifted up the helmet and then pushed it down over Adeena’s head.

“Oh ho? Dear me, dearest dear. How’re you supposed to kiss my beautiful face like this? You tell me I’m beautiful often so don’t deny it.

“And you always kiss me before you pick a Save-state. It’s our bargain. Our deal. Your Fate needs it. Your fate demands it,” Adeena whined from inside the helmet. “You’re the one who wanted the deal, so many Save-state swaps, so many kisses.”

“Just pull it off right before I pick one, then pull it down again, you goof,” Edmund teased with a laugh. Somehow, Adeena’s constant pushing and prodding at him had wormed it’s way into his good graces.

Much like Iren had managed to do early on.

“Oooh, but that’s so much effort. Then again, if you wear it, you can’t kiss me either. Phooey,” grumped Adeena, folding her arms across her chest. “Oh, speaking of Phooey. We should also consider saving an old man that Mile’s kills. He’s Bodil’s grandfather. Don’t worry the name means nothing to you but it’d help smooth things out in the long term. We don’t have to do it, but we should.”

“Add it to the list I guess,” he muttered and looked to his Save-states.

“Oh, oh, oh, wait,” Adeena said and pushed the helmet off her head. She smiled, looking up at him with her hair stuck in a semi-wild way. Adeena also had a wide eyed stare paired with a smile that felt as if she were radiating heat. “Kiss me, you fool.”