A Hint of Envy

Retvik had been waiting for a while now in this little room. The dinner in front of him had gone cold a long time ago, but the food wasn’t his to eat. It was the leftover romantic meal between a Life Goddess and the strange entity he and Galyn had been trying to track down. Now said entity was in the room next door, chatting with Galyn and the Life Goddess. Meanwhile, Retvik was kinda stuck where he was.

“Do you want something to drink?” the gold-armoured black and green being next to Retvik asked. Not too long ago, Relkir was calling himself Elkay and was trying to settle down and start a new life. He had accomplished that, but not in the way Relkir had intended to. He was now one of Kinisis’s Twelve Guardians. And he had pretty much no memory of the time before he had become a Guardian. Including the fact that he and Retvik were brothers.

“I would, actually…” Retvik frowned. “I did not expect this to take so long.”

“Me neither…” Relkir also frowned, before tapping on a device on his wrist. It seemed that everyone had a fancy wrist communication device these days.

Nothing happened at first, but eventually, the door opened up, revealing what Retvik believed to be a Skyavok. One that he also recognised. Mainly because the beings Kinisis had made into her trusted Guardians were all former acquaintances or friends of her son Arkadin. Retvik watched as the Skyan moved the cold food to one side, then poured out three glasses of plain water.

“Thank you, Teekay…”

“No worries, angel…” the Skyan smiled back, gently pecking Relkir on the cheek before pulling up a chair and sitting down next to him.

Retvik was somewhat surprised by what he just saw, but he didn’t want to say anything. It wasn’t how Relkir and Teekay were so visibly different that bothered him. Retvik recalled that, even back when he was called Elkay, he had been in a relationship with Teekay. The surprise was from how, despite a whole universe blowing up, the pair of them were still together.

“You seem to not approve of us…” Relkir grunted, acknowledging Retvik’s surprise.

“Oh no, I am simply somewhat envious…” Retvik immediately tried to explain. “It seems you actually ended up with… quite a good deal…”

“What do you mean?” Teekay asked, looking confused as he slipped his hand between Relkir’s fingers. “How have we got a good deal?”

Retvik gestured around somewhat vaguely. “In exchange for serving Kinisis, you have whatever you want. Food, drinks, pleasure, a loving partner. While I am normally satisfied with where I ended up, I cannot truthfully say that I am right now.”

“I thought you were in a relationship with Arkadin?” Relkir blinked. “That was the main reason Kinisis does not like you.”

“That is… a complicated thing…”

“So is he single again?”

“No…” Retvik sighed, then grunted. “I swear, you are all programmed to immediately try and gather as much information as possible about poor fucking Arkay. He is currently self-quarantined and trying to make himself healthier.”

“But are you in a relationship with him?” Relkir repeated.

“… Yes. A long-distance one.”

“But you do not seem happy…”

Retvik tutted, wishing he hadn’t said anything. “I am just disgruntled, what with being stuck here and everything else that is going on. When WILL Galyn and Kinisis be done already?”

“It’s probably because Kinisis tried to make a move on Kanuva…” Teekay muttered.

“What?”

“Oh, nothing. Just Life Goddess stuff.”

Retvik crossed his arms in frustration. “I hate this.”

Relkir and Teekay though both shrugged. “You get used to it after a while. Life Goddesses do as they please. All we can do is wait for them to return.”

“I guess…” Retvik finally relented. “I still hate all of this though… It can never be quick and easy…”