+1+
Seraphina makes Diana’s club the rendezvous site for the resistance. Everyone gets into order and rolls out like they’d had days to plan it out. Leon has me inventory the guns pack up the ammunition. He even takes the time to put a shoulder holster on me. It feels awkward and powerful at the same time. Isobel carried multiple maps of the city and Callum helped her load cases of red spray paint into the car.
Seraphina watches all of this from the second floor landing. Occasionally she snaps out an order if she see’s something she doesn’t like. She looks effortless in gray cameo and a black t-shirt and a pair of aviators on the top her head.
When it’s time to leave I get stuffed in the back of a black
SUV. Isobel slides in next to me followed by Callum. Arrow had
followed me in and I let him sit on my lap. Arrow keeps his eyes on the window
watching the scenery change with his hands pressed to the window
If this is all he’s seen of the outside world. . . I feel bad for him.
When we get to Sweet Sights it looks more like a party than a coup is about to happen. The parking lot is packed with cars. Everything from crappy sedans to high rolling luxury cars and sporty motorbikes. Isobel is fixing her lipgloss in the mirror. Leon opens the backdoor grabs Arrow and carries him inside
I watch Leon and Ares go inside with Arrow, but Isobel and Callum seem to
be in no rush to move. After several minutes they both get out the car. Callum awkwardly
takes her hand and I follow behind them.
All the tables have been pushed back, music is blaring and everyone has a full glass. I’d never seen the entire resistance together at once. They were massive. I made out group of slick looking Japanese gangsters huddled by a table, rugged country folks, ex-military guys, young activist and even some former politicians who looked nervous. Everyone seems to know Isobel and wants to greet her. It’s like a class reunion
In an instant the crowd goes silent and the music cuts off. Every eyes turned to the small man in sleek black collarless jacket and shirt walking in. The Prince's face is tense as he tries to control his seizures. Seraphina is next to him, holding him up as always. She’d changed into her funeral suit, minus the jacket. For some reason the gold ring on her finger looks particularly shiny.
The Prince stops in the middle of the room.
“Ten years”, He says quietly. Then loudly, “Ten years the tyranny of Helios Thantos has spread like a virus. The world wants you to think that New Aeterna’s problems are New Aeterna’s problems.”
Everyone nods
“But we all know different. We have all felt in some way the pain of New Aeterna’s grasp. We will no longer stand for Helios Thantos supernatural show of strength and power. You have all given up something to be here . . .especially on such short notice”
Some people laugh
“I can’t promise you
will all make it out alive, but I promise your legacy will be know. If you do
live. . . I promise the ultimate reward for whatever sacrifices you’ve made. Tonight
we run the streets of New Aeterna and by dawn the great city of New York will
rise again and forever. The greatest resistance Helios will ever see is at his
doorstep . . .lead by my most perfect solider. My beautiful princess. I love
you.”
He turns to her an she bends slightly at the knee to kiss him. The silence breaks and everyone starts cheering. I can tell Sera wants to roll her eyes, but since she can’t I do it for her. Once everyone quiets down and the party gets back into swing she seperates from Paris and heads right to the bar. In an instant The Prince is swallowed up by a crowd of subjects. He doesn’t deserve any of it.
I follow Seraphina when she parts from him. I reach the bar first and lean over to grab some brown liquor. Sera nods as I pour her a shot.
“You ready for this ?”, I ask her
“Is that really a question ?”
She finishes her drink in one go. For a while her eyes focus on the picture of Diana behind the bar.
“Hey, look Sera . . .”
“What the hell is you all of you”, She says, “I got drunk I bought up anal sex and no I’m not on top. I have knives I will cut the next person who--.”
“Whoa. . . this is not about that. . .”
“Oh. Well. . .I need to get out of this suit.” She shrugs off her outburst and heads to the apartment upstairs.
The mod changes at midnight, people get more serious. I mostly follow Leon as he picks through the crowds. He hands out weapons and assigns positions. He’s got the whole fucking plan in his head. If anyone is to drunk to operate he throws them out on their ass.“You”, he says to me, “You’re with The Prince. He’ll lead you to the tempest. Once you get to the other side all you do is remove the explosives and eliminate yourself. Go it ? The future depends on it.”
“Yeah. I got this.”
“Look kid, I wish you could get more glory for this. I do. I know what it’s like fighting battles and watching other soldiers get the welcome home crowds. This is top secret shit. you know ?”
I swallow. I know either way I get the glory. I’d found my place.
“Yes, sir”, I said.
+2+
I causally head up the stairs to the apartment where Seraphina was changing. I hated the idea of her being alone. The door is ajar and I see an empty bottle of Jack Daniels on the floor.
She’d shed the black vest and pants, and was in just the black button up shirt the hid where she was straddling The Prince. I can see the the holsters on her parted thighs. He’d tilted her chin down making her look at him. Her hands where on his chest and he moved her hips in a slow rhythm.
“Fuck”, he said.
“I want you”, she says.
“I think you have me love.”
“I love you”, she stop and pushes herself deeper on to him.
“I love you too, Mrs. Prince.”
She leaned down to kiss him, I have to look away when he starts grunting and grabs her hips, he start cursing and at one point breaks into a language I don’t understand. He holds her still for several seconds before letting her go. She takes a moment to catch her breath.
"Was this weird ?", He asks looking around what had been Diana's room
"I don't know. I'm operating on tunnel vision. I can't afford to look at big pictures tonight."
“Do you want to walk away from this.” he asks when she lays down
next to him. They are both staring at the ceiling.
"Are you scared ?" She asks.
"A little."
". . . me too."
"Do you want to walk away ?", he asks again.
“I wish we could”, she sits up and cleans herself up with a towel and tugs on a black thong. Taking off the button up shirt she pulls on her black t-shirt and camo pants from earlier. “ What would we do anyway ? You want to go Maui, buy a house and have what ? Five kids.”
“Actually I’m a little turned off of islands. And five kids? Really ?”
“Why not.”, she says somberly into her reflection , “Look, I have to handle something. Leon should be ready to go in. . . . 15 minutes and counting.”
He nods, "I'll be down in a second."
I jump back as she opens the door, Sera is moving so fast she runs into me, I realize she smells like his cologne now.
“You okay”, I asks, “I was just . . . looking for you.”
She stops short and looks me over, “Do you have gun”
Before I can answer she reaches around me and pulls out my gun. I catch a tear on her eyes.
“God, Sera”, I say, “You don’t’ have to let him touch him”
She wipes her eyes.
“He’s my husband”, she says way to casually, “It’s practically his second job.”
I follow her down the stairs and to the bar. Most of the bottles are empty but she finds a some chocolate crème liquor like my mom used to like. She pours it into a glass and pulls her pills out of her bag.
I realize she is planning on killing The Prince before the mission. She was going to take the resistance for herself. She stirs in the pill and wipes a final tear away.
“It’s going be fine. I’m here if you need me.”
She walks past me.
I smile when Paris comes down the steps but Seraphina walks right past him and into the basement.
“Sera what are you doing”, he looks at me, “Where is your gun, kid ?”
“Can’t say”, I hope she shoots The Prince soon
“Where is—fuck. SERA”
He turns and runs into the basement. I follow and what I see in the
basement makes my blood go cold. With the gun still in her hand Sera approaches
Arrow. He’s in the corner with a pile of
rocks and bugs. Sera sits on the floor next to him and places the gun behind
her. She holds the drink out and he goes to her and drinks the sweet poisoned liquor.
“Sera”, the Prince says softly
“Don’t”, she whispers, “Let me do this.”
“Why ?”, he asks
“When we go back and reset time he won’t exist. He’s not real.”
The Prince and I look at one another. Because we both know that we are going to botch that plan. When I don’t go back in time and we are stuck here she won’t forgive herself.
“So why do this”, The Prince asks. Arrow’s eyes began to drop.
“What if”, she says, “What if we fail. He can’t go back to a
prison again. Not again.”
“Sera . . . if we fail we need him to live. If we fail we need a legacy. If we fail he will live up to his name and strike Helios down in the name of his beautiful mother.”
Her hands are shaking worse than the Prince’s. She grips the gun and holds it out to me.
“Take it”, she says, “Get this damn thing away from me.”
I grab it by the handle and put it safely back in the
holster. Sera stands and takes Arrow upstairs. There are whispers when we reach the top floor and I realize the
kid might be a subject of gossip. She places him in a booth hidden away at the
back of the club, where he can sleep the night away.
Leon is the only one who has the nerve to approach her.
“We’re ready”
She turns away from Arrow and links her arm with Leon.
“Let's go raise some hell.”
+3+
We leave first.
Seraphina, The Prince and I in the luxury black SUV.
Sera drives at top speed through Bergen County (rumor had it The Prince had paid off the state troopers) one-handedly while The Prince has her other hand in a vice like grip. They are both deadly silent. I realize that Paris and I need to get to Helion Castle and the only thing we have to help us is her.
We reach the quiet South New Aeterna Border at 1 am. Across what Sera and Paris refer to as the George Washington bridge. Up ahead I see the Arial forces circling
from above. The gates are down and a MS solider steps out of a booth. No one came in and out of New Aeterna without it being planned first.
Seraphina rolls the window down and smiles.
“Papers”, The MS soldier asked
“I don’t have papers.”
He looks at her and then at The Prince, before he can react Sera holds a gun to the MS Solider's face.
“I’m sorry”, she says.
She shoots the man in the face and then jumps out the car. The human border patrol workers have come out of their booths. She has another gun in her hand that I know isn’t loaded for effect. She climbs on top of the car.
“You all have five second to get off the bridge or get killed. Or join our revolution.”
The human border patrol guys run for the city. A few stay
behind wide eyed and in shock.
Sera climbs off the car and pushes the unloaded gun into my hand.
“Get them to open the gates. Open all the gates.”
I hold the unloaded gun up to a guy in shock.
“Let’s go”, I say, “Open the gates, let’s go."
Up above the Arial forces are coming down, Sera is watching them. She takes off her her shades and she starts bringing them down one by one. Some of their broken bodies slam into the concrete.The guy I’m in charge of finally opens all of the gates and I decide to let him runaway with his life.
The parade of resistance cars and motorcycles pulls up from behind us. A group of ex-marines jump out and start taking down the New Aeterna flag. A few of the younger people are spray painting a stencil all over the bridge. I take a closer look and realize it’s that Lux Aeterna symbol.
When we I get back to the car Sera shoves me in the passenger seat, she gets in the backseat and The Prince is in the driver's seat.
“Ready?”, he asks her.
“Yes.”
He reaches back and kisses her and then he slams down on the gas and drives into New Aeterna at 90 miles and hour. We tear down the bridge and the parade of resistance vehicles follow. Sera pushes her way out the skylight keeping ad eyes out for any Arial forces. In the rear-view I see the other cars doing the same.
“So, The Prince says to me, “If I start seizing you can take the wheel right ?”
“Uh, I can’t fucking drive.”
“Oh. . .Shit”, he said then shrugs his shoulders, “We should have asked about that.”
He laughs and hits the gas. We drive into Uptown and the tactic is clear. We are to kill every hostile MS solder and Helion. No citizens unless collateral damage. While I keep my eye trained for MS soliders I see others members jumping out of cars and tagging everything with that Lux Aeterna symbol, even the bodies of some of the dead MS soliders.
I’m not sure how I feel when I see some resistance members recruiting kids and citizens right
there off the street. Shoving weapons into the hands of people who had no idea
how to use them and rallying support.
I start making myself useful and shoot
anyone mysterious. With the Arial forces losing numbers more resistance cars are pouring
in. Bullets go everywhere.
“Nineteen”, Sera says sitting back down in the car, “I think there are only nineteen Helion left.”
“That means Helios won’t risk using them in the air
anymore. They’ve got to all be at Helion Castle.” The Prince says.
Sera picks up a walkie and ask for an update from Callum whose job it was to disarm Helion Castle. He and Izzy had came in through the downtown border.
"Listen”, Callum;s voice crackled through, “The Gates are down at Helion Castle, we’re in but. . . shit it’s not pretty. We needed more intel and time.”
“Just . . . just make sure everyone knows my sisters are not targets.” Sera says
“It’s not that simple—“
His walkie cuts out and Sera and The Prince share a look.
I feel the adrenaline coursing through me as we steer around patrol cars driven by inexperienced MS soldiers. I reload and kill as many MS solider as I can manage.
When we cross the bridge into Helion City it’s quiet. I can see the diplomats and citizens hiding in their fancy homes. A couple more resistance cars join us. When we round the corner to Helion Castle we are a washed in light. The bushes and trees around the castle were on fire. The gates were blown open and screams could be heard inside. About 20 resistance cars stand empty on the lawn. It’s chaos.
“We need to get to the Tempest”, The Prince reminds me, “Stay close, kid.”
He grabs a handgun out of the trunk of the car and making sure that it is loaded he gestures for us to follow him.
Inside I see MS Soldiers lunging for the resistance, they have their teeth bared but the bullets and white gold knives catch them by surprise. I notice the Callum trying to put the fires out while Izzy is watching his back. When she sees us she gives me a thumbs up.
“Shit, the explosives must have caused the fire.” Sera says
“Collateral damage”, The Prince answers.
I also see women, tall beautiful women running and
screaming. One of them is crying which is to bad because she is so pretty.
“It’s okay”, I tell her, “We’re on your side.”
“Calliope.” Sera shouts and runs over to us, “Calliope. Are you okay are you—“
Seraphina steps back when she sees there is a bomb strapped around the woman’’s waist. Sera tries to wrench it off of her but it’s been melded together. The woman pulls away from her and runs away.“Bastard”, Sera says, “Fucking bastard.”
“Come on.” The Prince gestures to a small building.
The Prince leads us through the carnage and into the small decorative
building. It’s a stark contrast from the outside. Inside It’s quiet with classical
music being piped in. It’s also filled with displays of Helion Art and sculptures of The General. I realize it’s
the Helion History Museum.
“This used to be a fucking dining hall.” Sera says.
The Prince takes us to an exhibit that shows old swords and
Helion uniforms.
“This is the uniform of an ancient Angel Warriror”, The Prince said, “Of our people. . . our time. He hid it there.”
Sera breaks the glass and the Prince pulls out an elaborate
white gold sundial from inside the breastplate. It fits in the palm of his hand.
“It’s pretty”, Seraphina says, "I never noticed it before.”
“I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not."
The classical music stops and there is a precious silence before a loud explosion rips through the building. The back half of the building is going up in flames and dust like rubble falls over us.
+4+
Sera grabs Paris’ arm and we rush out of the museum. The Prince has the Tempest tight in the palm of his hand. I think he's trying to break it. Outside I’m glad to see Isobel and Callum are still alive and fighting. Callum is trying to rig a bomb off a girl while Isobel tries to keep her calm.
“You got it”, Isobel yells to Paris, “Oh my God. Oh my God. Do it.”
“It won’t work”, The Prince says, “I tried and I don’t know. I think it’s needs . . . moonlight.”
“What the hell ?” Isobel shouts.
“It. . . needs the moonlight. Look at this inscription here, it says--”
Sera grabs the Tempest from him and examines it.
“You never mentioned moonlight before, Paris,”
“I. . . I mean I was pretty fucked up when Helios used it, but we were outside and the moon was there. I don't think the Tempest can help us-”
“Paris what’s going on ?" Sera demands.
“Nothing. There’s no time. Forget the Tempest, Sera. Let’s go
after Helios. Let’s take back the city. I know we can do it.” His voice sounds off. He's in shock from the explosion.
“Paris, what’s going on—“
“He’s lying. I say.
Seraphina turns to me.
"Explain." she says.
“He’s not going to use the Tempest. The Prince doesn’t want to reset time. He wants you to kill Helios and for this timeline to stay intact. ”
“Fuck. Paris." Sera turns her loaded gun to him.
“What the hell man”, he snaps at me, "We had a deal."
I point my gun at him too.
“You are not a Prince", I tell him, "You’re a controlling douche. You forced Sera to marry you . I pledge no allegiance to you. My allegiance is to her.”
He laughs
“Oh, God. I see…Oh you think you’re the first idiot to fall
in love with my wife. To fall under her spell. She doesn’t care about you. You mean
nothing to her or to me. Kill him Sera, he's useless now.” The Prince points to me.
“I care about her more than you do you sick fuck. We spent
the night in together.” I point my gun at him.
“You what ?”, He turns back to Sera, “Sera you didn’t tell me—“
“Shut up, Paris”, Sera yells, "You know I wouldn't. . . I. . .I didn't. . . I. . . I don't"
“Sera, do you care about him ? Do you even know his name", Paris asks indicating me. He's holding in a laugh.
She squints and tilts her head at me.
“. . ..I . . .stop this”, Sera decides, “Paris the Tempest. Make it work NOW.”
“What’s his name ? He thinks you love two are in love. . . so you must know his name.” He's outright laughing in my face
“I don’t know his name all I care about is the Tempest.” She says, “Make the Tempest work, Paris"
The Prince gets serious.
“No. I love you, Sera. I made vows to you. We can have paradise in this life. We can have it all. We can make the world anew again. I love you.”
“Paris. Make it work or I will. . .. “
“I won’t do it. Now, did you sleep with that boy ?”
“In your own bed”, I told him to rub it in
"Wake you up motherfucking little bitch", The Prince turns to me, "She doesn't even know your fucking name."
"Sera, tell him." I say.
Sera tilts her head again.
“Shut up." She accidentally fires a warning shot at me, "For Godsakes Paris. Open the Tempest.”
“Sera”, I tell her, “Shoot him.”
“You. Shut up.”, she says.
“Did you sleep with him ?”, Paris asks again
“No—“
“Don’t you lie to me, Seraphina. We don’t lie to each
other.” The Prince continues.
“No”, she says, "No."
“Yes”, Isobel says coming over with Callum, “After the funeral, you don’t remember do you. I saw the footage-”
“Stop it”, Sera says, “All of you. Isobel stop lying and Paris get this things to work. Please, Paris. Don’t make me live with this pain anymore. Please. If you loved me you'd make it all go away. Make all of this go away.”
“You’ve made it through the pain. We can find peace in this life.”, Paris pleas with her
Sera brings the gun away from him and to her own head.
“If you won’t go back in time . . . then I’ll make you, Paris.”
“Sera”, he says, “Don’t you dare.”
She cocks the loaded gun next to her temple.
“I love you”, her hand shakes and she starts bawling, “I love you.”
“Sera, please. We can have it all. We can have it all. . .”
“Open the Tempest.”
“No. ”
“Paris, please. Love, Please. I’ll do it. I’ll---”
Sera’s eyes goes wide and red blood spurts from her head, her body thuds into a warm pool of blood. It doesn’t take an idiot to realize that she didn’t shoot herself.
Paris turns to where Isobel’s gun is still smoking.
"What the hell, Isobel."
“She would have never done it herself.”, Isobel says, “If you want to see your wife again Paris you have to open the Tempest.”
“How could you Isobel, how could---“
Before he could say anything to Isobel she shoots herself in the head. I guess she couldn’t live with killing her best friend. Callum caught Isobel’s body as it fell and looked between her blank eyes and Sera’s.
Paris knelt by his dead wife and held her hand. For the first time since I met her she looked so peaceful
“No”, Paris said, “Take me with you. Don’t leave me. . ."
He started having a small seizure, her blood was now smeared all over his jacket. He stood up and draped his jacket over her dead body.
“I love you, Sera”, he said, “I’m so sorry. Your will is mine now.”
He picks up her gun and points it at me.
“You, let’s go. Don't you dare speak to me.”
Paris points to an unguarded white building down the lawn. I follow and shoot any MS soldiers in our path. The Prince knocks on the door and it opens instantly. Women in white lingered poured down stairs and surrounded us. This must have been Helios’ infamous harem. They all knew the Prince by name and were asking what was happening.
“Don’t shoot them”, he said to me and then to them, “Ladies, I need light. There is no time.”
One of the pretty girls takes him to an upstairs room that has a bright chandelier surrounded by plush chaise lounges. They all crowed around the door to watch.
The Prince tries to turn the dial on the Tempest but it is stuck. It is set to one date and one date only. He sets the Tempest down and whispers a few odd sounding words into the device. Then it starts to slowly spin. All of the light from the room is sucked up around the Tempest
The light bends and fractures into a single point in the room.
It’s all up to me, now. I step forward and feel a slight breeze.
The dials starts to turn and turn until the world starts to lose focus.
"One more thing before you go." The Prince says.
The Prince grabs me and throws a fist to my face. I punch him back and he shoves me to the ground. I get up and try to pull him off balance. Somewhere in the mele we both fall through space . . . and time
+5+
We are somewhere.
I see the white gold gates of Helion Castle upright. . . but the street is quiet. There is no carnage and no blood. The Prince has started to seize and after several minutes forces himself up.
“Shit”, he starts, “It’s November 30, 2013. It worked.“
“Okay, we need to get to Lincoln tunnel and dismantle the bomb—“
He shoved me hard to the ground and a few coins in my pocket
fell onto the sidewalk. He picked up one of the coins and tried to jam it into
my throat and I realized why he had attacked me on the way through. He wanted to kill me. He shoves he coin into my throat.
“Die you little bitch, you ruined it my plan. You fucking turned on me and you drugged and raped my wife you crazy fucked up little--“
“Paris ?”
“Seraphina”, he mouths to me.
The Prince helps me up and we duck behind a yellow taxi cab across the street. I manage to choke up the coin. I hear the click of what I realize are high heels and I peek though the car windows.
At first I don’t recognize her. She’s taller but not quite as muscular. Her hair is long and styled in curls and goes all the way down her back. Her skin is flawless her eyes sparkle and her lips are a dark red. She’s wearing a snug white dress and unbelievable heels. She’s beautiful. She’s gorgeous
Paris starts to silently cry.
“Paris”, she calls again, “I know you’re there. You shouldn’t be here. We are over. It’s not safe so you should—Get yourself together Seraphina. “
She laughs and heads to the front of the gates.
“What time is it ?”
I look at my watch, it has stopped.
“Don’t know." I answer.
“Tonight Helios took her on a date tonight. He didn’t even scold her for ordering red meat. He’s going to be
nice to her. When she’s fast asleep he’s going to
send 5 men in to drag her out of bed and bring her to him for execution. Leon will save her and
bring her to me.I don’t know what happens after
that. But I do know I couldn’t save her in our time and I can’t save her now.
Fuck. Let’s get to the tunnels. I think I can stand your face for a few more hours.”
+++
By the time the sun comes up there are 54 bombs in the
backseat of the stolen yellow taxi cab. We’d worked together in silent disdain
removing the explosives from the tunnels. He was actually good with his hands. After stealing some neon vests as a disguise. . . it was easy.
Once we had finished The Prince got in the car and started driving north. He didn't talk, he just drove. We’d been in the car for 3 hours driving though the back-roads of New England and I had no idea what his plan was.
“So do we stop existing
?” I finally ask.
“No”
“We carry on.”
“No”
He stops the car on a quiet covered bridge. The sun is coming up and I can see the leaves are
just starting to change. The scene is reflected in the calm river below. I figure we are heading to a small town and
are going to find a way to start over. Lay low.
He sighs and turns on the radio, takes one of the explosives from the back seat and unceremoniously switches it on. It goes off in his hand and all I see is bright painful light.
The quaint wooden bridge gives and the car plummets into the calm river, I feel my body being ripped away from me. Before I go I can kind of see a vague image of the Prince letting go of his wedding rings in a sea of ---
+6+
Epilogue
“The fuck is this ?”
I’m not expecting such vulgar language in such a beautiful place. I tear my eyes away from the beautiful blue coast line and palm trees. I look at the line of fellow travelers behind me and back to the man at the car rental desk.
“Uh, what”, I take of my shades and look at him. The beach is so close I can smell it and sand had already found it’s way into my shoes.
The man at the rental desk drops the cash I’d just paid on the counter and rolls out a coin. At first it looks like a quarter but upon closer inspection it looks. . . off. That’s can’t be right.“Huh.” slips out of my mouth as I study the strange coin. What was that doing on a coin ?
“I got a line”, He says, “USD only, brotha.”
I want to tell this guy he’s overacting over a quarter of all things, but I let it go. I take back the strange coin and fish a real quarter out of my pocket.
“Thanks you” I say tersely and take the keys for the rental car.
“Yeah, yeah. Welcome to Maui. NEXT”, he shouts.
I step into the shade and study the strange coin. I felt. . . . hopeless. Sad. Like I should be--
“What is it.”
I look up and see Seraphina leaning against the rental car, her long white sundress is immaculate and her ear length hair is tussled from the wind. This was my first vacation in in decades I wasn’t going to let this . . .oddity ruin it.
I say nothing to her as we slide into the car, she tosses her bouquet of hibiscuses in the backseat and pulls up her shades. She squints
at the strange coin in my hand.
“What is that ?”’
“Um. . . ”, I roll down the window and tossed the coin into the ocean, “Nothing.”
+++
* So yes NA!Paris and NA!Theo had to kill themselves and now there is only ONE timeline. I just retconned a story out of existence. I feel like the people behind the X-men franchise.
* I know I know, I killed off my two female characters but Sera needed to die so Paris would go back in time.
* Theo - Yes Theo was supposed to be a narcissistic, self-involve and blinded narrator. He spends the serial convinced Sera needs his saving when that is not that case at all. I need to do a T-DOLL on this so badly to explain.
Even more so Theo was a blank slate. He was a nameless, faceless narrator who I used to open the door to our characters in New Aetnrna. If I told the story from one of their POV it would have been biased because they know about the events of the previous serial. I needed NewA to be very centered on itself. That’s why Theo doesn’t have a description, he's simply an reader avatar at it's finest. I tried to use his name as LITTLE as possible to further this effect. Sera never uses or says his name.
Muse : You could have written in third person
Lile : Now that wouldn't have been interesting.
Then as I started experimenting with him and his narration became biased because he is obsessed with Seraphina and his d illusion lead him to essential date rape her, but i his mind he’s
getting closer to her and edging out Paris.
Moving on
In an unrelated rant.
In the Camp Glory/ Veritas version of this story it ends with the prison camp being attacked by a bad sandstorm. Everyone goes AWOL except Sera and the narrator. Then in the middle of the night she just leaves without telling him, which is odd to him because he thinks she’s in love with him
Years later the narrator meets Paris and Sera (who haven’t aged) on a charter boat in Hawaii. They are on
vacation and he is on his way to a school to talk about what it was like being in the War. Sera doesn’t talk and when he sees
she is married to Paris he becomes convinced
that she is an android Paris built and she is not real.
It feels good to get that out.
Moving on
Epilogue—Yes Seraphina and Paris are eloping Hawaii at the end of the epilogue , even though they are still in a long distance relationship. The Epilogue is cannon. I know I feel the need to marry my characters but around the time I wrote this I kind of wanted to write something that ended happy.
If I ever do write my Leon POV thriller this might still be cannon but it would be Paris and Sera’s secret
Moving on
In my head I’d love to write a New Aeterna AU (Yeah, I said it) where they DON’T use the Tempest and the resistance ends up winning and killing Helios.
The U.S would decide it’s too much work to make NYC apart of
the country again and instead New Aeterna becomes an independent nation and ally. NA installs a parlimentary-monarchy
with Paris as the King and Sera as the Queen. She’s be like a media and fashion
darling but also in the military.
It could deal with the aftermath of the uprising like how unethical some of it was.
It’d take place maybe 5 years in the future and IDK maybe I’d steal the Serial Wars from SHV and it’d deal with how New Aeterna helps the U.S in the wars I just. . . ideas.
Also because I wouldn’t use Theo again it would probably be written
in third person told in past tense with the narrator being Sera’s adult son. .
. IDK. IDEAS. It would also be a lot less brutal because. . . no Helios. IDK. This is how my head works
Lils : So now this is out of my head. I guess it's time to do PLT
Muse : Well, we have nothing else to distract us. . . This is new.
Lils : Okay, PLT let's go
Muse : . . . do we have to ?
Lils : Come on we can do this.
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