Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two

 Notes: Pulling it all together now! Never fear, soon everything will be...well, not wrapped up in a bow or anything because this is an eternally expanding universe, but ready for new adventures at least!

Title: Chelen City: Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two

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Chapter Twenty-One, Part Two

 

Catie, for once, didn’t ask a heap of questions when they got back. She simply confirmed that Kieron was going to be okay, then got to work handling the absolute fucking mess that was ensuring their tracks were covered—destroying satellite footage, rerouting frantic requests for information, and stopping less impressive AIs in their tracks.

“I’ve goooot it, Daddeeeee,” she said when Elanus asked whether or not she needed help. “Lizziiiiiie needs to rest and you need to take care of Kieroooooon.”

Rest? Lizzie needed rest? In what sense? Elanus wanted to ask, but the hatch was already opening and Lizzie had activated the floaters on Kieron’s stretcher so that Elanus could get him down to the infirmary quick.

He’d follow up later. He took hold of the stretcher’s handle and began to push it out into the bay.

“Elanus?” Lizzie asked quietly as he exited. “What would you like me to do with Restaria?”

“Is xe awake?” he asked, not stopping to look back at the hold where he knew his ex was being held.

“Yes. Xe’s been awake for nineteen minutes now.”

“Good. I’ll come back for xir after I make sure Kieron’s all right. For now, tell Restaria to sit tight, and if xe gives you any trouble? Throw some knockout gas down into the hold and put xir back to sleep.”

“Yes, Elanus.”

The trip to the infirmary was uninterrupted, which was nice. Elanus could feel his implant pulsing with the onslaught of information he was holding back. A quick glanced showed a huge amount of speculation in the news about the explosion on the Stellar Cabinet, messages from Caria Jayde and Fritz and a slew of other somewhat important people demanding to know whether or not he had anything to do with it, and finally a message from President Moreno himself.

Hmm. Something connected to Elanus must have slipped through the net somehow. He pushed it to the back of his mind as he got to the infirmary, where he was more grateful than ever that he’d installed an extra Regen tank after Kieron came to live with him. Not that he wouldn’t have kicked Ryu out of his if he’d needed to, but he’d have felt bad about it. A little bit. Eventually.

Elanus set the tank to fill, then opened the lid and picked Kieron up in his arms. He was a reassuringly solid weight, even as short as he was, and Elanus took a moment to press a kiss to his battered forehead. He was covered in blood and lymph and free-flowing Regen, but he didn’t stir, and his heartbeat sounded in a reassuringly steady rhythm through the autodoc.

“You knew I’d come for you,” he said as he laid Kieron down. “And I did. Now you have to do your part, baby. Get better. Come back.” His throat was uncomfortably tight, but he forced himself to speak. “I need you back. We all do.” He closed the lid and watched the Regan flow over Kieron’s precious body, and then…

He just sat there. He couldn’t bring himself to move. He ought to, he knew that. He had so many things to do. He had Restaria to deal with, he had Lizzie to reassure, he had a million messages to deal with and false trails to check on and a future to decide and, just, so much that needed to happen, so much, and yet the thought of taking his eyes off Kieron now that he had him in front of him seemed impossible. Just impossible.

You’ve ruined me. Kieron had absolutely ruined Elanus for the life he used to live. Or maybe that had been Catie, the first lifeform he’d truly fallen in love with, enough to wedge a crack into his heart and leave room for Kieron to crawl inside with her. Stars, what a ridiculous pair they were. They had next to nothing in common, different upbringings, different priorities in life…except where they were exactly the same. They loved the girls, they loved their independence, but they also loved being dependent on each other.

Kieron didn’t need Elanus for anything, not really. Even when Elanus had held complete professional power over him, Kieron had never bowed or scraped. He hadn’t been intimidated, and he’d made his case to get both their goals taken care of.

Elanus didn’t need Kieron once he’d gotten Catie back, either, but that was part of the allure. Kieron didn’t care how wealthy he was, how brilliant, how in demand. All he cared about was Elanus, in all his snarky, occasionally stupid glory, and their little family.

Ruined me for solitude. I need you so much now. It wasn’t the first time he’d had this thought recently, but the last time his conclusion had been that they needed to get married. Now it was that Kieron needed to recover, wake up, and hopefully remember who he even was. Regen was so good but his poor head, his beautiful, precious mind had been damaged. He ought to heal fine, but what if he didn’t? What if something went wrong?

A warm hand touched his shoulder, and Elanus didn’t even realize his eyes were blurry with tears until he spun around on the chair he was sitting in, pressed his face to Xilinn’s shoulder, and felt it get wet beneath him.

She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to—if anyone in this house understood what Elanus was feeling right now, it was the woman who had lose her beloved husband to space. She wrapped her arms around him and let him cry and didn’t speak at all until he was empty of tears and, happily, empty of some of the sense of vicious hopelessness he’d been stricken with as well.

“Do you want some water?” she asked once Elanus finally lifted his head up again.

“I can get it,” he croaked, but she shook her head and got some for him instead. It was cool and refreshing, just what he needed to feel human again. “Thank you,” he said after he downed the cupful.

“Of course.” She looked down at Kieron and touched the surface of the tank. “Is he going to be all right?”

“I think so.”

“Good.” She took a deep breath, then nodded. “I’ll keep Pol out of here until Kieron’s recovered. I don’t want him to see him like this.”

Elanus nodded. That was a good idea, and Kieron wouldn’t be here long. He wouldn’t. Maybe a day, maybe less than a full day.

“What happened to him?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Elanus said, getting to his feet. Upright, he towered over Xilinn, who was a petite five-foot-two to his seven-foot-six-inch height, but she never seemed put off by it, just looked up at him calmly.

“But I’m going to find out right now.”

It was time to get some answers out of Restaria.