Because the Space between Universes was pretty damn huge, some of the guests for Ret and Kuta’s wedding were arriving early, just to be safe. One guest had arrived a few hours ago, but a cute little ship named the Third Chance had just landed. Ret and Kuta had headed out to see the ship, but so had Retvik, Litvir and Arkay. The emotions coming from the Psions was far different from the emotions coming from the two Rets. Arkay though was trying and failing to hide his unease as everyone approached, and had held back a little because of it.
“Damn, this place is nice!” one of the beings, the much shorter, much bulkier being, beamed as they stepped out.
“It is, a lovely little piece of the void! Retvik, Litvir, it is great seeing you both again! It is good to see you too, little Ret.”
“Hello, Kyr Letharus, Kyr Vick!” Ret smiled, bowing slightly as he did so. “It is very nice to see you! Thank you for coming!”
“It’s great seeing you too!” Vick was still beaming. “This place is gorgeous!” Vick and Letharus both turned their attention to Kuta. “So, you! You must be Kuta! Both Ret and Retvik have mentioned you! You’ve got some amazingly bright white plating! We can totally see why Ret thinks you are so cute.”
Kuta wasn’t quite sure how to answer. They were mostly just surprised that Vick was the same height Kuta was. However, Vick may have been short, but he was built like a tank, and was just as insanely strong as Ret was.
“Uh… hello…” Kuta also smiled, but not as much as Ret. “I am Kuta, yes. It is a pleasure to meet you both.” Kuta glanced at Ret briefly, using their telepathy to answer the fact that Kuta wasn’t quite sure who these people were. “I take it Ret invited you?”
Letharus nodded. “He did, yes. Ret and Retvik assisted Vick and I in fixing up Vick’s bar in the Ventra Expanse. Also, Litvir and I are friends. Telepathic friends. Have been for a while, yes?”
Litvir also nodded. “Indeed. You look really well, Letharus! Happy for once.”
“I appreciate that! And when it comes to Vick, Retvik and Ret… and these three are… the same person.”
“We are not the same person!” Retvik grunted. “We are… piss, what did Elksia call it… uh… Alright, I cannot remember the term, but we are not the same person. We just happen to all have the same name.”
“You are homodraconic-prioritised name-designated parallel timeline standpoints…” Arkay muttered. “The same Time Drake caused beings with the same names to appear in different universal timelines and a connection to said Time Drake caused you all to be cemented into history. Also… uh… hi…”
“I shall take your word for it, since my knowledge on universe stuff is limited!” Letharus laughed a little. “Arkay, welcome back to the Void, you look less sharp than how I remember, how are you-” Letharus paused. “What is it, Vick?”
Vick lowered his voice. “You’re not doing any telepathic stuff to me right now, are you?”
“No, of course not!”
“Ah…” It was clear as day who Vick was looking at. “Uh… hi… We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
Arkay nodded, but struggled to answer properly.
“You’re… the little guy. The person who needed a hug. The tortured soul I kept on losing. The child who always suffered for others. I wanted to dig to Kinigi to save you, but you were gone. And… here you are. Alive. But not really breathing.”
Arkay sighed. “I… I pretend to breathe. And… yeah, you’re right. I’m the little guy.”
“You’ve been through hell and back. On a loop…”
“Yeah.”
“You also seem… scared.”
Arkay sighed again, and stared at the floor. “I just feel like… like… you’d be disappointed in me. Your little kid grew up into a monster who’s killed endlessly.”
Vick closed his eyes, then smiled. “The first time we met, I killed an Anexartan with my bare hands. We’re murderers. But we’re good murderers. And I’m glad to see that you eventually escaped that lying bitch’s claws and became your own person.”
“It was hard.”
“Of course it was. Yet somehow here we both are… Are… Are Tenuk and Elksos alive?” Vick paused suddenly and eyed the three Psions. “Alright, how comes I am suddenly remembering everything? I didn’t really want to remember.”
Litvir raised his hands defensively. “I swear on both my life and the life of my twin sibling who’s getting married very soon that I have not done anything! In fact, I have intentionally NOT been talking too much because I am well aware that my voice does things!”
“Ah piss!” Vick exclaimed. He stepped forward and put an arm around both Ret and Kuta. “There’s a whole damn wedding here. Young, tall, sexy future me, short, cute, icy Psion kid, come with me. I want to have a beer with you both. As is tradition. Gotta get to know the happy couple!”
Vick somewhat dragged Ret and Kuta off, towards the canteen. Arkay watched on, but Retvik and Litvir both glanced at Letharus.
“I did not do anything either.”
“I know, I know…” Retvik eventually sighed. “Do you want some company, Letharus? We might be waiting a while.”
Letharus seemed completely unbothered. “I would not mind company, but I have something more important to deal with first. We brought a LOT of alcohol with us.”
“Uh, why?” Arkay asked.
“It is a wedding, yes? Last time, for Elkay and Teekay, we got utterly plastered. I live with Vick and Vick runs a bar, so I got my hands on some good stuff.”
Arkay frowned some more. “I missed their wedding. Sounded like fun.”
“Well, tell you what, dear Arkay, how about you help me move all this alcohol and the gifts we got for Ret and Kuta, and then I can tell you all about it?”
“That sounds like fun!” Litvir smiled as he and Letharus both grabbed Arkay’s hands. “We should do that, Arkay.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Nope. Come along now. We can finish the wedding set up stuff later.”