Pet: Revelations - Chapter Sixteen (Patreon)

Iris

“This place can’t be real,” Sky says next to me as we look over the balcony that overlooks more of this world. It’s a wonder why we’re somehow suspended so high in the sky, barely able to see the ground for the clouds that pass through. But like everything that comes with Remus, I’ve learned to just accept what is.

I grunt in agreement next to her. It’s all I can do. Remus briefly claimed this world was fractured and broken, but I don’t see it. It looks otherworldly, even more so at night when you can see all the stars in the sky. For now, the sky looks like any other. And I can imagine I’m on Earth or Xyrannis. That is, until I acknowledge the grandeur of our surroundings.

“And no rings,” Sky jokes, pulling me out of my thoughts. I smile, recalling how beautiful those rings were when we first arrived on Xyrannis. They were otherworldly, and I became lost in their beauty, unaware of how deadly they truly were.

“Do you think we’ll ever go back? To Xyrannis?” I ask.

Sky looks at me, exasperation on her features.

“Did we ever return to Earth?” she asks, making me laugh. Earth feels so far away. Remus already warned me about ever returning home. It will never be the same. But I can’t help but wonder what is left for it now that “The Divine Three” have departed. What’s left for all of the world under their rule?

“I guess you’re right,” I say.

Sky and I have been walking around for most of the day, exploring. Of course, there are areas that are off limits, and that includes the large doors that mimic a marble material that I assume lead to the rest of this place. And though it is beautiful, I miss Remus’s home on Xyrannis.

“Can I tell you something?” I ask.

“Of course,” Sky says.

“I miss my home…on Xyrannis,” I say softly. It feels both shameful and relieving to finally speak my feelings aloud. But hindsight is 20/20. And while I was on Xyrannis, I was busy trying to survive to stop and take in the world around me—the world Remus offered before he disappeared and became someone else entirely.

Sky laughs, shaking her head.

“I miss it too,” she says. “It was the first place I had that felt like home. Even if…” she trails off, prompting me to look away. I know what she wants to say. I’m sure her time with Ezra wasn’t easy. But just like me, she came to care for him and see his home as hers.

“How did you come to care about him so much? After everything that he did? It took me so long to see Remus as something more than the alien who took my world from me, and by then it was too late,” I say.

Sky shrugs, and I can see her racking her brain for an answer.

“Ezra is…terrifying. I know you’ve only ever seen him as immature next to Remus. But when he isn’t next to him, he’s intimidating. And I’ve always done what I needed to adapt,” she says.

“Hm,” I murmur, looking ahead. “Caring about whether he lives or dies isn’t adapting, Sky,” I say.

She’s quiet for a moment before laughing. “True.”

“There you both are.” We both tense, following the direction of Remus’s voice. He approaches us with a grin that looks misplaced on his face. I note that as he approaches, he looks different—more detached. And as his jeweled gaze shifts from Sky to me, I shiver as my natural instinct to look away eats at me.

I fight it, however, moving closer to Sky. Remus’s eyes briefly follow my motion, but he doesn’t make a comment on it as he speaks.

“I assume you are getting adjusted?” he asks, looking at Sky. I see the challenge in his eyes. He is testing her to see whether or not she can be trusted to see Ezra. But Sky and I are very different people. She is much more level-headed, willing to swallow her pride if it means she meets her goal. It’s as she just said—she does what she needs to adapt.

“Yes,” she says.

I look at her in shock, but I don’t speak. I don’t want to ruin her chances of seeing Ezra. If it were me, I’d be screaming at Remus right now, letting him know how much I despise him for placing me under an inhibitor. But she knows what’s at stake, as does Remus as he briefly glances at me, laughing.

“Then, I won’t keep either of you waiting,” he says, turning away from us.

Sky’s hand suddenly grips mine, squeezing tight for comfort, and I hold onto her, letting her know that I won’t leave her side as we both follow Remus to where Ezra is.

It’s surreal, watching Sky and Ezra reunite. He is clearly still in pain, but he ignores it as he pulls her into his arms, smiling. He looks worse than I’ve ever seen him. His skin is sickly, his eyes gaunt, and his veins still visibly darker in some places. But he is concious, and that is all that matters. He closes his eyes, burying his nose in Sky’s hair as he embraces her.

I smile, looking away from their reunion briefly to look at Remus. But the doorway he once stood in is empty. I briefly glance at Sky and Ezra, who are still embraced, before making my way into the hall in search of Remus.

As I enter the hall, I find him already at the end.

“Remus?” I call to him. He stops when he hears my voice, turning to face me. I ignore my hesitance to approach his intimidating stature. He is eerily still as he watches me, his eyes seeing more than just my physical form.

“Yes?” he asks, pulling me from my thoughts as I silently stand in front of him. I suddenly feel silly for interrupting his departure.

“You’re leaving,” I say.

In the silence that follows, Remus laughs. I pull in a slow breath as I watch the genuine smile form on his lips, and with a raise of his brow, he seems like his old self.

“Your observation skills never cease to amaze me,” he says in amusement.

My eyes widen slightly, and my cheeks burn as a wave of embarrassment covers me.

“I meant…aren’t you going to stay? Ezra just woke up and Sky—”

“No,” he says, looking past me to the open door that leads to Ezra’s room. “My presence isn’t wanted here.”

I slowly lift my hand to reach for him, but then I remember the energy field he tends to keep around himself. My hand falls limply to my side, and he notices, looking back to me.

“Why would you think that?” I ask.

“I am not naive, Iris,” he says.

“Then, I’ll come with you,” I say, taking a step forward.

“No,” Remus says. His tone is harsh. And as he looks at me, I find myself missing the way his eyes used to be. The way they are now, I have no idea what he is feeling. He shifts closer to me, the air crackling with the energy surrounding him. He slowly reaches towards me, his fingers gently gripping my necklace. He pops it open, his eyes softening as he looks at the image of my family, suspended in time. He runs his thumb over it.

“Have you decided what you want with your brother? Do you want to reunite with him? Or do you want him to continue his life in a cell?” Remus asks.

“That's…not the same thing,” I say.

Remus scoffs.

“Isn’t it though? He did something unforgivable, and as a result has lost his connection with you,” he says.

I pull in a deep breath, pulling my necklace from his grip.

“It isn’t the same,” I reiterate.

Remus laughs, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“I will see you tonight. I’m sure you and Ezra have plenty to catch up on,” Remus says, moving away from me.

He doesn’t wait for a response, and I watch him quietly as he disappears up the hallway. I don’t know how long I stand in the same place, my concern for him deepening. But it’s as I said before: Ezra and Xion must know more than Remus has told me.

So, I slowly make my way back to the room where Sky and Ezra are. As I enter, they are lying peacefully together, Ezra’s gaze distant as he look out the window with his arm around her as he gazes out the window.

He turns to look at me as I enter, and I expect to see the smirk he always has on his face when he sees me. But it isn’t there. His eyes are haunted, and I feel my stomach twist as I realize why Remus left. Ezra does know the truth. And whatever it is has placed a rift between them.

I step into the room, smiling.

“You look like shit,” I say.

To my shock, Ezra smiles, releasing a soft laugh. So, I take it as my cue to sit and figure out what has happened to cause the distance between the “Divine Three.”