Nyx (Complete✅)

Chapter 70

   Kelbar was right beside Beth as she started preparing the basket of food. He helped her with the things she wasn't familiar with, and most of it was pretty much ready to eat anyway, so there wasn't much of an opportunity for her to explain before she had to go and wake Liam again so that they could all eat.

   She took one last look at the spread; a squat bowl of something that looked remarkably like tuna salad, soft, bread-like cakes, a small pitcher of brightly-colored juice, and a porridge type dish. All of it looked delicious, especially considering the fact that she hadn't eaten anything in a good long while. Her stomach grumbled in complaint as she turned to head back into the bedroom.

   She had been expecting Liam to be sleeping still when she returned, but either her earlier departure or her current arrival had awoken him once more. His eyes were still bleary with the fog of sleep, but his entire face lit up when he saw her.

   "Good morning, again." She felt a wide grin spread over her face as she sat near him on the bed. "...Ugly."

   He chuckled, but the sound dissolved into a yawn.

   "Kelbar brought breakfast." She informed him, placing a hand gently against his cheek. It pained her to notice again how sunken it had grown since she'd last seen him. It made all of her failed attempts at return all the more frustrating, and the fact that he'd taken it so hard made her truly hate her abilities for the first time in a long while.

   They'd been nothing but convenient for the longest time, and had even saved her life multiple times, but for the briefest moment, she felt as she had so long ago. Back on the Starship Songbird, she'd been fearful and apprehensive of what those sinister shots might mean. Now she felt the same. What else would happen because of these powers of hers? Would they never stop developing? Was she destined to find out some new, bizarre, and potentially life-threatening ability every week or so for the rest of her life?

   "Hey, what's wrong?" the gentle concern in Liam's voice broke her out of the cloud of fear and worry.

   "It's nothing..." she shook her head with a slight frown. How could she explain her concerns to him, when the things she saw as a future possibility might cause him so much pain?

   "I know that's not true, Beth." He frowned to match her own expression, his eyes pleading with her.

   "I just... I'm afraid that this could keep happening. I didn't even realize what was happening this time. What if I did it again?" she fought to keep the fear, the black despair, away from her voice, but she was afraid that some leaked through, for Liam's face fell further into a frown.

   "What, exactly, happened while you were missing? You said you were only gone for a few days, but how does that work?"

   "I- I'll explain while we eat. Kelbar probably wants to hear too." She stood up with a huff and shook off the creeping feelings.

  She should be happy to be back home, with Liam.

   "You're right." Liam nodded slowly and swung his feet off the bed before rising slowly to his feet.

  Beth pretended not to notice the sway to his stance as they made their way back to the kitchen, nor how heavily he fell into his chair at the table.

   Beth served herself in silence, her mind whirring as she thought of how she might explain. Kelbar, she knew, had already lived through the experience, so either he'd somehow forgotten it, or he chose not to reveal his knowledge. She just had to proceed as though he was clueless of the whole ordeal.

   It was only when there had been a few long moments of silence that she realized she'd been staring at her full plate of food in silence.

  She sighed. "I don't even know where to start... I don't know how, or why, for that matter, but when I teleported exactly like I normally do, I somehow... didn't. At least, not how I intended to." The words stalled on her tongue as she caught sight of the blank expressions on the other two's faces.

   "I went back in time." The words came out so suddenly that she was almost surprised to hear them, herself. "It was before the Songbird ever arrived on Viscordia. I met-" A hitch in her voice put a pause to her train of thought.

   "You went back in time??" Liam blurted, his face a mask of surprise and disbelief.

   She nodded, almost sheepishly, before continuing. "It wasn't all that far, I don't think. But I met... I met Kelbar there. When he was younger."

   Beth hadn't thought it possible, but an even more stunned look flashed across Kelbar's face. Looking at him now while she remembered her time in the past-village, she could see how much he'd changed. The lines of his face had sharpened, his eyes had a wizened, darker glint to them. And he definitely didn't ramble on for half an hour at a time about some completely pointless topic anymore.

   "How is that possible?" Kelbar shook his head. "Would I not remember?"

   "That's what I was trying to puzzle out." Beth scrunched up her face. "Maybe I crossed into an alternate timeline? I have no idea."

   Liam seemed silenced by shock, but Kelbar had opened his mouth again to respond before a sudden look of understanding dawned across his face.

   "I hit my head. I only remember waking up buried in rubble, not how or why. I only pieced together what happened afterward when I saw the Slayer..." he trailed off, his eyes lifting to meet hers. "You were there?"

   "I think so, yeah. It would make sense." She shook her head. The explanation made far more sense than any she'd been thinking of, for sure. "This is all so, so crazy." She rested her head in her hands.

   "But why did you come back three months later if you only spent a few days back then?" Liam's voice carried softly across the table. The question almost seemed as if it wasn't even aimed at her. It was far too quiet, and it carried the heavy weight of sadness.

   "I don't know. I'm just glad I came back as soon as I did... that I came back at all." She reached across the table and grabbed his hand. "But that doesn't matter anymore. I'm here and if I can help it, I'm never leaving again. I've said it once, and I'll say it until the day I can't say it anymore."

   The cloud of emotions lifted from his eyes as he looked at her. "You're right. Now if you don't mind, I think I'm going to eat." A very welcome smile curled the corners of his lips.

  "I couldn't agree more." She laughed.

   Beth's plate was empty far too quickly. Everything tasted just as good as it looked, and she stuffed her face until her once-empty stomach was practically begging her to stop. The juice was the perfect sweetness and paired perfectly with the mix of the tuna stuff spread over the little bread-cakes.

   She was glad to see that Liam ate just as voraciously as she did. Apparently, his appetite had returned along with her.

   It was the perfect morning, and any thoughts of what the future might hold in regards to her strange abilities were lost in the laughter and happiness of being home and, more importantly, being with Liam again.

   She had missed him more than she'd ever realized while she was gone, and even the thought of not being able to see that bright smile across from her brought the faint ache of sorrow into her heart. How could she be anywhere but by his side?

    It would take every force of nature in the universe to tear her away from him again. She'd promised him that twice, now, but she said the words silently, one more time. And then she thought them again, promising herself and everyone else that might care.

   This was where she belonged, and as long as she had breath in her lungs, she would fight to stay.