“Well, at least we came to a peaceful resolution…” the Veth Prime sighed as Syklos and Continuity helped him put on a familiar set of straps. “How long am I going to be subconsciously running the universe for this time?”
Continuity looked up and shrugged. “I do not know, Arkay. But it should only be a few weeks. You’re rather powerful, even if you haven’t fully realised it yet, you could probably do this for a few years at least.”
Arkay shuddered at the thought. “I don’t think I could stand listening to the both the wails of newborn kids and the screams of the dying for that long. It’s always there you know. An underlying static you can’t ignore.”
“It won’t be for that long,” Continuity reassured him. “Just a few weeks. She needs to sleep.”
“I think we all do…” Syklos muttered, just as the door behind them opened.
Standing in its way was Kinisis, wrapped in a black, star-speckled blanket. Her eyes were heavy and dim. She wasn’t smiling, but she didn’t seem angry either. Just tired. Kinisis slowly walked over, her blanket dragging on the floor behind her. She approached the Veth and hinted that Continuity and Syklos move away. She wanted a work with Arkay.
“I’m blaming you for this,” Kinisis growled.
“Why, is my personality somehow affecting you?” Arkay smiled. “I mean, if it was, that’d… that’d be very silly.”
Kinisis blinked. “It’s not silly. You’re me and I’m you.”
“If that was true, then you’d get out of your funk and carry on as normal, rather than trying to destroy everything and rebuild it all because you’re upset. If you’re really going to blame all this on me, then maybe the Veth should take over permanently, because you’re clearly incapable of rational thought.”
A Veth burst out laughing behind Kinisis. “He burnt you good, Kinisis! Do you need some cream for that burn?”
The Veth in question was Iatre. Arkay looked round, past Kinisis and tutted.
“That wasn’t really a burn.”
“It was funny to me!”
“Why are you here?” Continuity interrupted.
Iatre smiled at Arkay and Kinisis. “I’m here to try and cheer everyone up. Death SAID she came here to thank you all for helping her but clearly she decided to be a bitch about it all. I mean, come on, those two convinced you not to kill yourself and Arkay saved you from being eaten by a giant purple lump. And now you’re going back on your idea of having a nap?”
Kinisis sighed. “No. I want my nap. I… I’m sorry. I’ve been a bitch.”
“We noticed,” Syklos butted in. “You’ve been grumpy since before Arkay got here. The only thing you can blame him for is being here at the wrong time and speeding things up.”
Death sighed again, then pulled her blanket over her head. She wasn’t going to admit they were right, and they all knew it.
“Two weeks. I’ll be asleep for that long. Continuity is in charge. Arkay will be running most things subconsciously, and Iatre is going to help you hook up Syklos so he can run the star-building stuff… I… I have been neglecting that duty as of late.”
Iatre smirked as he put a hand on Kinisis’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it all. We’ll look after everything. You go to sleep and we’ll all feel better when you wait up. Right, guys?”
The other Veth all smiled and nodded. Continuity finished strapping Arkay up and attached a familiar collar around his neck. He then started putting a different set of straps on Syklos.
“See?” Iatre grinned. “They know what they’re doing. I don’t have a clue, but they do. We’ll be fine.”
Kinisis smiled weakly. He was right. They would all be fine. They were fine when they were stopping the universe from ending, they’d be fine now that everything else was stable and back to normal.
“Very well. I’ll see you all in two weeks…” Kinisis waved as she walked off, yawning and dragging her blanket behind her.