CHAPTER XI

The Van rematerializes in Oblivion, where it enters the Gallivanter the same way it left, finds its way back to the control room, and connects itself back to the ship.

Inside, both are sitting in the couch-swing, staring outside.
"Why?" Kirsten says. "What's even the point?"
Kyle looks at her.
"We have all this..." she starts. "We built a warship! We created an army! We made all these things to cheat death! And we couldn't save our friend!"
"She didn't want us to save her!" Kyle interrupts her. "Not the same thing!"
"But you could've done something!" she shouts back. "You could've said yes to her, but break your promise and save her anyway!"
"You think I didn't want to?!" Kyle asks. "You really think that I never thought about doing that?!"
"Then why didn't you?"
"Because then I'd be like my family!" Kyle replies.
Kirsten squints her eyes.
"They've promised me many things, but always found some excuse to break it," Kyle explains. "If I broke my promise with Anand, I'd be just like them!"
"But the promise would've saved her life!" Kirsten replies.
"And would've ruined ours!" Kyle responds.
Kirsten gasps. "You didn't save her life because you wanted to save ours?"
"I didn't save her life because she didn't want us to risk ours!" Kyle corrects her. "Have you forgotten every word she said?"
"No, I haven't!" Kirsten responds. "I haven't forgotten how she told me about my parents! How they were at that church! Ready to kill me! Ready to summon that monster! How they left me at that orphanage. How they made me... made me live that life... and... and..."
Hearing her slow down, and lower the volume of her voice, Kyle begins to understand what is really happening. He wraps his arms around her, and though she fights back a little at first, she eventually calms down, and hugs him back.
"I don't even know why I'm so sad that we couldn't save her," Kirsten says. "I should be angry at her for keeping it from me. Be glad she's gone. Or..."
"Doesn't that prove something?" Kyle says. "You may not know what you feel, or how you're supposed to feel, but you feel something. That's something that your parents, much like my own, will never understand."
"But why are they alive?" Kirsten asks. "And someone like Dr. Anand... why did she wants us to let her die?"
As Kyle does not know how to answer that, he simply tightens his hug.
"What'll we do now?" she asks.
Kyle shakes his head. "Whatever we've always done."
"But how?" Kirsten still wonders. "After all of this, how can we keep doing any of it? Just travel the world, help out our friends, watch movies and shows, read comics and novels... what's the point of it all?"
"If I may," the Van speaks up.
Both kids raise their heads to the ceiling.
"Dr. Anand said she did not want you to jeopardize your lives to save hers," the Van explains. "She also mentioned how she was happy to see what kind of children you are, and how she was right to help you, even when the SUITs did not think so."
"So in other words, if we stop living our lives the way we always have, and stop being the people we've always been, she would've died for nothing," Kyle sums up.
"That would be my conclusion," the Van answers.
"I don't know," Kirsten replies. "After all of this... it still feels wrong. Maybe you're wrong, and I really am a weapon."
"What if Kleeschen told you you're wrong?" Kyle asks.
She frowns. "Kleeschen? What's he got to do with all of this?"
"He's the type of guy who rewards the good, and punishes the bad," Kyle explains. "What if we were to tell him all about what happened, and let him reward or punish us. How would that make you feel?"
Kirsten thinks about it for a moment. "Sounds like the best."
"There is one problem with that idea," the Van informs them. "The feast of Kleeschen has already come and gone. You will have to wait until next year."
"What?!" Kirsten questions. "But I thought Kleeschen stops by every December. It's only October!"
"Um... not quite," Kyle responds.
Kirsten widens her eyes at him.
"You see, we've time traveled a few times," Kyle explains. "Like how we traveled back a few weeks, so the Van could pretend to be Daniel Rivers, and stop the SUITs from catching us. Or how we traveled to create evidence that I didn't break that telescope. Or to pick up our cougar friend..."
"Get to the point, Kyle," Kirsten interrupts him.
"Well, in case of the first time, we never really traveled back to the present, we just waited until those weeks were up," he explains. "And every other time, when we returned, we got back to the exact point in time that we left. Almost like the minutes, hours, or days we spent in the past, never happened. So I asked the Van to not just go back to when we left, but travel some time into the future. That however long we've been in the past, that's how far we should travel."
"What?!" she exclaims. "Why?"
"Again, as far as the world knows, we're dead," Kyle explains. "I thought that if we're gone for some time, the world will actually believe it. Give our friends time to mourn us, and all that."
"And we've spent so much time in the past, that we're now December?"
"Not exactly," Kyle answers. "There have also been times when we were in time dilation. Where either we moved so slowly that it looked like the world was moving fast, or moved so fast it looked like the world stood still. Either way, in some ways we're younger, and in some ways we're older than we're supposed to be. So as soon as we arrived, we were in time dilation again. Let us, and the world, catch up with each other."
"So now we can't send a letter to Kleeschen?" Kirsten realizes.
Kyle shrugs. "We can always send one to Santa Claus."
"But how?" Kirsten asks. "You just said it. The world thinks we're dead. And Santa Claus doesn't know us."
"I'm sure Anaïs can arrange something," Kyle suggests. "She always does..."
Hearing that pause at the end, Kirsten feels her grief again. "I guess it's true what Anand said. That we really don't need her anymore."
"I'm not so sure that's true," Kyle responds. "I'm sure that Wells and Anaïs will do everything they can to get rid of the SUITs who'd kill us. But that's how Rivers created that splinter group in the first place."
"And how did she get out of prison, anyway?" Kirsten asks. "Or how did her nephew get away from the Black-Eyed Kids? Or got that genie that turned them into what you are?"
Kyle shrugs. "And if she can, who else can? Greene? The A.I. Raiders? The Faceless? Those kids we met in detention?"
"And what if they team up with some of our other enemies?" Kirsten questions. "Like Axelrod?"
"Or Tepes?" Kyle shivers at that idea. "Or that dragon?"
"She was wrong!" Kirsten says. "We do need her help!"
Kyle sighs. "But if we do, that means she'll be busy again. And... well, didn't we complain about not seeing her that much anymore?"
Kirsten whimpers. "Ye... yes we did."
Kyle sighs, as he still fights back tears. "We said goodbye to her, but... it feels like our time with her was too short."
Looking out through the windshield, Kirsten lets out a tear. "We gave the world time to grieve for us, but we... we haven't grieved for Dr. Anand."
"Guess we were too happy to know that we could save her," Kyle responds. "How wrong we were."
"Can we..." Kirsten suggests. "Can we stay here a little longer? Give ourselves some time? To forget about it all?"
Kyle chuckles. "We're in the right place for it all."
Despite their current feelings, Kirsten cannot help but smile at those words.
"Come on," he says. "Let's make ourselves a little more comfortable than this."
He rises up from the couch-swing, takes her hand, and drags her with him.
As she follows, she can see how the Secrets Dragon walks into the living room, and toward the couch.
Kyle walks down the small flight of steps, and lays himself in front of the dragon, dragging Kirsten with him.
As she kneels down, she can see how Kyle makes his turtle spirit animal appear on his right-hand side, allowing him to pet its head.
Kirsten lies down next to him, letting her head rest on his chest, her face toward him, and bringing her knees to her own chest.
Just like Kyle, she lets her own wolf spirit animal appear next to her. It picks up her favorite blanket, and covers her with it, before it lies down behind her, and let it rest its head on her side.
She wraps her right arm around the neck of the wolf, while she uses her left hand to grab hold of the left hand of Kyle.
He smiles at that gesture, while he mentally tells the Secrets Dragon to use his neck and tail to form a circle around them.
Some seconds later, Kirsten can hear the familiar song that Anand sang to them.
Whether it is the grief talking, or the euphoria that the song gives them, or both, neither is sure, but Kirsten squirms a little closer to him, so she can bring her lips to his, and kiss him.
He lets go of her hand, to grab hold of the back of her head, and kisses her back.
Though they break off their kiss, they keep staring at each other, and exchange a smile. He does not remove his hand from her head, and she caresses that same arm.
"Wish we could be like this forever," she says.
"Me too," he replies.