Save State Hero 3 - Ch 1-

Chapter 1

Laughing, Adeena clapped her hands together, then flung her arms around Edmund. Pushing his face into her neck as she clung to him.

“Oh! That was well done, my Eddy-Teddy, my dearest dear,” crooned the broken goddess of Fate. All while rubbing her face against the top of his head. “You see, you see? This is where you broke me and made a me-me. That’s me.

“The goddess of Fate’s Fates. Me-me.

“You did this to me, Teddy-Eddy. You promised to take responsibility.”

“And I will,” Edmund assured her as he regretfully put his arms on her hips. He had nowhere else to put them anyways.

After having saved Dot from becoming Evil Dot, Edmund was now trying to figure out how to prevent the rest of everything from going off the rails.

Because despite saving Dot from going truly Evil, there were too many things that went wrong when Ryker ended up dying to Zeus. That too many people disassociated themselves from Runner and all that he was trying to do with Ryker’s death.

“Mmm mmm, yes, because I’m always yours, dearest dear. You have to take responsibility,” affirmed Adeena, followed by her sniffing at him several times. Then to promptly lick him, followed by a raspberry. “Blech. I have no idea how Meino does that. It isn’t that bad, it’s just really weird.”

“Uh, who? What? And… did you just lick me?” Edmund asked, looking at the massive line of save-states that were laid out in front of him.

A vast line of them that was his own life going all the way back to the point he was born.

Adeena was incredibly competent at helping him push through his own power and the various possibilities of his life. While it had only been perhaps several weeks of time since he had saved Dot, it was more akin to having learned years worth of information from her.

“I did, I did. Sorry dearest dear, but we both know you love being licked,” said Adeena in a sultry tone, followed by a high pitched laugh. “Oooh, my Eddy-Teddy, it’s so fun to flirt at you. I see why Iren does it so often now.

“The best part is you can’t shake me regardless of the save-state. Not even in between save-states. I’m your Fate, you know. You can’t get rid of me where-ever you go. I’m your Fate. I’m your fate. I’m-your-fate.”

Edmund didn’t respond to that.

No matter where he went, she always appeared.

Though he had his own thoughts about how he might free Adeena from what he did to her. To take this poor fractured woman and put her back into her own life.

It was rather simple, really.

Going back to the save-state where he’d pushed her through and entering the shadow of himself.

To enter that point in time just as he done when he’d saved Harper from her life.

In that moment, he could just stop himself from shattering Adeena and leave her to her own life.

Go to the shadow, stop the moment he had altered the flow of her fate, and remove her from this fractured life of her.

Except to do that, he’d forever alter all of his own future save-states and that version of Edmund wouldn’t be able to make it to the end to save Dot.

Or so he thought.

It honestly was a giant mess and he wasn’t really sure how it all worked anymore.

He could see why people didn’t bother trying to write out a non-paradoxical time-travel book or movie, and just went with the paint by number answers.

“Now, give your Fate a kiss. I’ve earned it dearest dear and we both have seen all those save-states where we end up sleeping together repeatedly after this. Almost all of them initiated by me-me,” Adeena demanded and pushed him away from herself and stared into his face. “There’s no sense in denying me such a simple thing. The kiss doesn’t lead to the bedroom and you get to play good boy, Teddy-Eddy.

“Though my goodness. I never thought myself such a forward woman, but there’s more than a few where I just about attack you and don’t even give you the chance to say no!”

Staring into the young woman’s face as he sat in front of her, Edmund felt an odd smile flicker across his features.

She was a smaller woman that was only five foot one. He had originally thought she was a little taller but she’d corrected him of that notion.

Adeena happened to be of Asian descent but she’d never clarified where.

Her black hair was extremely dark, with pale skin that was just about the definition of it, and an athletic shape. She was quite pretty and looked to be in her early twenties despite the fact that she was thousands of years old.

Unable to resist her, and knowing she was right, Edmund leaned in and gave her a rather brief kiss. It fit one of the save-states they’d seen and wouldn’t lead to anything.

It’s so weird to see your past, present, and future with someone else, and then casually evaluating everything going on. As if it were almost TV and not us at all.

“It’s weird,” he said as he moved away from her. “Seeing everything like this.”

“You get used to it, my dearest dear. My Eddy-Teddy,” answered Adeena with a laugh. “You eventually just take it for what it is and pick as best as you can!

“Now, I think this is the part of that life where I ask you what you want to do next and you explain your plan to me. I promise I won’t interrupt and will listen attentively.”

Adeena said the last while giving him a brilliant smile and several pats to his chest.

They were in the strange not-space that was where he accessed his save-states. A location that was and wasn’t material and left him always feeling starnge.

The fact that Adeena could come here with him was a shock at first, but somewhat of a blessing now.

He could come here and talk to her about anything for as long as they wanted without a concern.

“You sure?” Edmund asked, his smile turning up a few degrees. Adeena had the bad habit of short circuiting conversations in the middle of them. As if she knew what was going to happen, tried not to blurt things out, and could do it for a while.

Only for it to happen when she gets excited.

“I’m very sure, Teddy-Eddy. I’ll be a very good girl. I’ve learned a lot from my head-priestess you know. I have a lot more control than she does and I can promise… I won’t interrupt,” promised Adeena. “Now. Your plan? Start with Nadine and Leila. Things go well from there and sometimes we make out at the end.”

Pressing a hand to his temple, Edmund nodded his head.

This was par for the course and honestly, it wasn’t that bad all things considered.

“Leila… Vince said he needed her to solve his problems. I’m fairly certain he would likely need the help of someone else as well, but I’m not sure wh—”

“Seville. He needs Seville. Steve. It’s fine,” provided Adeena with a wave of her hand. Staring down into his face as she stood in front of him. She was the one who had forced him to sit in the chair and had summoned it here, somehow, as well. “Continue, continue.”

Adeena nodded her head several times, grinning ear to ear at him. She was enjoying this far too much.

“Seville. He needs Leila and Seville,” Edmund amended, just going with it. It was easier than trying to fight against the current that was Adeena. “I don’t think it’d be too hard to solve that issue for him. One is just making sure whoever Leila is, gets back to Vince at the right time.

“Seville is… well, just have to make sure he actually joins the fight instead of hunkering down in his own world. No idea why he does that but it shouldn’t be too hard.

“Might even just be the fact that Ryker died the way he did and everything else chain reacts. All of it spanning outward and causing Seville to be disinterested.”

“That’d be perfectly logical, Eddy-Teddy,” agreed Adeena. “I don’t know the answer, but I could easily see that being what caused it. Seville, for all intents and purposes, is a very straightforward and direct man.

“If he felt that his world, life, and loved ones would be better served by leaving, he would leave.”

“In other words, I need to ask him why he didn’t help and then try to figure out what to do with that,” Edmund paraphrased. “Knowing him it’ll be a very brief conversation that ends with a shoulder shrug.”

“Probably, mm!” Adeena agreed.

“As to Nadine, I have no idea. No… damn idea. That one feels like it’s maybe out of my hands,” muttered Edmund. “If even Runner can’t change things with it, how am I supposed to do it?”

“Oooh, my dearest dear, I’m sure you’ll figure out something,” Adeena said brightly and then pinched his nose between two fingers and gently wriggled it back and forth. “I have no idea what the answer is, or how to do it, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out. The answer in the end will be as plain as the nose on your face.

“I’ve seen the end, you know. I’ve seen it. Your Fate. How it could all be. You haven’t obviously because you’re not me, never could be me, I’m me. I’m Fate Fate Fate Fate. Fate’s Fate.

“Fate’s end?

“I’m Fate.

“I know your Fate. Not how you get there, but sometimes I do, but can’t tell you, but I do know how it all ends. It’s gonna be funny. Really funny. For me. Not you. You’ll be annoyed.”

“Thanks,” Edmund replied, staring at Adeena who hadn’t released his nose yet. She’d mentioned previously that she had seen his fate. He couldn’t deny that he really wanted her to explain that and to tell him more.

Yet as she herself had just admitted, she couldn’t tell him even if she did.

“I can’t tell you more,” she said as if knowing his thought. “I’m sorry my dearest dear, my Teddy-Eddy. If I tell you, it could shift and change. I’ve learned from my only priestess. I can’t tell you.

“Which is also how you end up at that Fate.

“And no, I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad fate for all. I just think it’s funny how it all ends. If I suddenly think it’s a bad fate, I will most certainly guide you away. Don’t you worry. Don’t you fret.

“Don’t fret, don’t fret.

“I’m here, your Adena that is always yours is here. Adeena, that’s me, Fate Fate Fate many Fate, will be here and guide you and protect you and—”

Edmund put his hand over Adeena’s mouth and brought her to silence.

If she got worked up with one of her rants it was hard to calm her down. It was easier to stop her just as it started than trying to bring her back down.

Adeena let her hand fall away from his nose and she put her hands on his shoulders instead. Going quiet and merely watching him over his hand.

Wide eyed and gazing at him in a way that always left him feeling a touch empty.

The vastness that was Adeena was overwhelming at times.

“Okay,” Edmund said, ignoring the fact he had his hand over her mouth. Adeena’s mouth flexed under his hand and her eyes crinkled at the edges. She was clearly smiling at him. “Vince, Leila, Seville. Nadine is something I’ll need to work at and that makes it a goal just after Vince.

“I can solve Vince to a degree without much effort. Find Leila, figure out Seville.”

Adeena nodded her head.

Chewing at his lip he continued to think on Nadine but didn’t come up with anything that stood out as a possible answer. He was more or less at the end of the path for his current thoughts.

“Is there a reason Ryker kinda plays dumb in the think tank?” Edmund asked instead, his brows pressing together. “It feels like Ryker knows more than he lets on to in the think tank.

“From saving Harper’s shadow, to getting into his lab and warehouse, rescuing Dot, even the original timeline I tried where I killed Zeus. It always feels like he knows more but doesn’t want to talk about it or divulge information.”

“Hmmm,” Adeena said, looking thoughtful. Edmund slowly pulled his hand away from her mouth, wondering if it was too soon or if she would be okay now. “I think he most certainly knows more. Not as much as I do, but he knows a lot. I think he fears the same thing I do.

“That in providing you too much, you won’t be able to do what you need to. That it could end up ruining the whole thing by trying to give you help. If you reach a location on your own, he can likely expand on it. Just as I do.

“Like when I told you about how Alina really is starting to catch up with Ellie and her ability to be aware of your save-state hops. Her drinking your blood so much has really given her a lot of insight to where-ever you go.

“Unfortunately. This does mean that you’re dragging her around like an anchor. Just like Ellie and myself.

“Iren is the most free amongst us, but not by a lot. You being the holder of her dragon’s pledge on her soul.

“Well, I suppose Harper is also being drug around. Once you saved her, there was no going back.

“The same could be said for Dot. She’s written that spell so many times she gives herself her own notes like Claire. Just with less crazy. She’s even started assisting Ellie in some ways with her ‘Ellie notes’.

“Romina doesn’t count anymore. She’s unfortunately been written out by Harper. Harper is an amazing upgrade though. She’s lovely. Always mine. My bestie. She and I are super friends and—”

Edmund very gently laid his hand back over Adeena’s mouth, bringing her words to a standstill once again.  Grinning at her and keeping her from wildly running off track again.

Adeena rolled her eyes, laughed, then gently shook his hand off to bite the bottom of his pinky. Her teeth just barely exerting pressure on him.

“Grrr,” she said and wrinkled her nose, miming shaking her head back and forth with his hand.

“Shush. You might be Fate but you clearly need a guiding hand. I saw that quite clearly in the line of my life you shared with me and let me access,” he argued. “Do you really want to fight Fate? You get a bit wound up when you try.”

“Grrr? Grrrr. Grrrr!” Adeena offered up as if it were some higher form of communication, still lightly gnawing at his pinky.

“I thought not. So… we’ll just skip subjects. For now… I should focus on Leila and Vince. Which save-state do you think I should go to, my Adeena Fateweaver?” Edmund tried instead. “I was thinking of going to the save-state that was the twilight zone tunnel of save-states. Take that and run it forward till just after the hero mission.

“Then seeing about Vince from there. It’s the most likely to give me my answers. That and I really do need to do a runback on that one to get a save-state to that point again. I figure I’ll over-write the Earline… the Earline save-states for that one.

“Since it doesn’t seem like there’s much I can do for her at this time. Not without going way back into my own save-states and trying to alter her life with a shadow. Shadow state? Shadow state.”

Adeena looked as if she were thinking on that, yet still didn’t release his finger.

Then she shrugged and finally let go of his pinky.

“It makes sense to me. I’ll be able to go with you since I’m not bound to any save-state. Harper would be there this time, too,” added Adeena. “It should be different enough that you might have to do it a few times, but it’s not an issue.

“Oh, and before you ask, you don’t need to worry about Andrea getting her soul ripped out again. Even if she’s struck by that attack Felix can just bring her back. That death of hers was a bit of a one-off.

“You can also over-write the save-state where you got me from as well as the evil Dot saves. Those are free to be utilized since they’re not longer needed.

“Anyways. Okay! Let’s go have you give Iren a really good tumble, spare some time for the Dryad, feed Dev for an hour or so, and then throw us backward to the tunnel while feeding her. That’ll take care of all the Fate type of line-ups you’ll need to address.”

“Why… Iren?” Edmund asked.

“Because it works in reverse for her. You remember everything for her and give it back to her. More so than even Ellie’s notes do,” Adeena answered with a small hop in place. “Trust me, this is good for her. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. It’ll be best for both of you.”

Edmund shrugged at that. He wasn’t about to say no to giving the beautiful Dragon a go of it if she was up for such a thing.

“Alright,” Edmund muttered, opening his save-states.

He changed his mind at the last second and then opened up the save-state for the think-tank that had everyone in it.

No sooner than it loaded in than Claire let out a soft moan and her head sank down to the table.

“Again?” Ryker asked, sounding frustrated and angry. “Will this happen every time?”

“Yes, and you always ask the same thing. Though it’s so lovely to hear you mad on my behalf, my husband,” purred Claire, looking up at the mad-wizard from where her head lay on the table.

Huffing, Ryker rolled his eyes, looked away, and folded his arms.

Only to unfold them and put one hand to Claire’s head and lightly begin brushing her hair back.

“I wanted to run some things by you. I’ve spoken with Adeena, she’s more or less my oracle I guess you could say,” Edmund said, looking around the room. He was making sure to not look at Alina who was feeding from him at his wrist, Dot who was just beyond her, or Iren who was rifling around in the food cart Andrea had brought in. Most certainly not Ellie on his immediate left that had become a deep focal point for him.

One of the few certainties in his life was the warm hearted Dryad. He really wanted to get feedback first before he let himself be distracted by the women in his life.

“We’re thinking my next set of goals is to save Vince who said he needs Leila,” Edmund continued. “I think he’ll also need Seville’s help.

“After that, I’m going to work on Nadine. Which means I need some way to knock her out of the limbo Runner put all those deities in.”

There was a collective head-snap at the words, all of them looking at Runner.

Oh, shit.

I hadn’t told them about Nadine yet in this life.

Runner blinked, looked at the table, and said nothing.

He never reacted very well to finding out about Nadine and often would just shut down.

“After Nadine is freed, I’m going to turn my work back to preventing Ryker from dying,” Edmund continued. He didn’t want this to devolve into another Nadine session. “Runner, how’s that ‘save the wizard’ doohicky thing you’re working on?”

“I managed to complete it,” he said in a low voice that seemed to bleed with pain. “It’s done. It’ll pull one soul free on use and put it elsewhere. Just in case we can’t save Ryker physically we can at least save his soul.

“Then I can go get it at a later time and bring him back. It’ll be a little annoying but not too bad.”

“No rest for the wicked wizard, hm?” Ryker grumped, leaning toward Claire. The hand that’d been on her head was now rubbing back and forth across her shoulder blades.

For her part, Claire reminded Edmund a lot of a seeking attention cat that was soaking up every speck of affection it was being given.

“Hell no,” Runner said, life coming back to him. “I’m going to get my Rabbit back, that means I need my best friend. Cause you’ve clearly got Claire back. It’ll be as if all the stupid crap I hadn’t been able to fix, will be fixed.”

“But… why did you come here to tell us all this?” asked the beautiful Dryad known as Faith. She’d been his boss for more than a little while and was one of the few people Edmund would make sure was safe regardless of anything else.

It’d pained him deeply to personally put a bullet in her head in a previous run through.

“I… I honestly just wanted to repeat my plan out loud and see what you all thought. I’m feeling a bit… uh… unsure? Insecure? I don’t know the right words. I just don’t feel as if I can do it,” Edmund confessed.

“Oh yeah, the guy who convinces me and my brother to kill ourselves, rescues multiple people, changes the very fabric of reality, and quite literally has already succeeded in killing Zeus once already, needs a head pat,” teased Felix with a laugh. “Edmund… Ed my boy… you’ve already done the good ending, and the bad ending. You’ve accomplished so much already.

“At this point, I’d be more shocked if you weren’t able to accomplish the goals you want.”

Giving everyone a fake smile even as the table fell into a round of laughter, Edmund felt nervous.

Incredibly so.

There was a part of him that was certain of the fact that if he did everything he accomplished, that he got the exact outcome he wanted, he wouldn’t be around to survive it.

To enjoy it.

That somehow, it’d be the end of him.

“Right,” he said, the false smile still stuck to his face. “Right. Yeah. I’ll… I’ll make it happen.”