The Perfect Run

Nightfall was upon Rust Town when Ryan arrived at the orphanage. His good and unwilling friend Ghoul was trapped at the back, missing most of his limbs. Hopefully, his presence would get the Land off the courier’s back for the evening.

“I would take you out on a walk,” Ryan told his captive while stepping out of the car, “but I don’t think this place was built with the elderly in mind. Besides, the kids there are too old for you.”

“BLEEP you!” Ghoul snarled. “I swear I will—”

Ryan closed the car’s door behind him, the skeleton’s insults turning into muffled noises. Most of the animals were asleep in the big pen, a few dogs barking at the courier as if he were an intruder. Unlike his previous visit, the orphanage’s doors were closed, though Ryan could see light coming from inside.

The Genome knocked and waited. Eventually, a little girl in pink opened the door, raising a gun at his face. “What do you want, druggie?”

“Hi, little Sarah,” Ryan introduced himself. “Is your mama here?”

“How do you know my name?” she asked, looking at his hat. “You’re a magician?”

“Oh yes, I’m especially good with explosions and disappearing acts. Watch.” He stopped time and switched her crappy revolver with a Desert Eagle. “See?”

“So cool...” she said with admiration, examining her new toy as if it were a doll. “Is it loaded?”

“Yep, but I put the safety on. I can switch it for a shotgun, or pretty much any firearm.”

“You’re Mr. Ryan?” she asked him, the courier nodding. “Mama is inside. She said you would come.”

“Can I get in, or do I have to break my own hole?” he asked, pointing a finger at a broken window nearby.

“You can. But you do anything to Mama or the others, and I will disappear your face.” Ryan said nothing, making her frown. “That sounded way better in my head.”

“It comes with practice, my young punawan,” Ryan said, walking inside while she closed the door behind. From within, the orphanage looked as dilapidated as the outside, with wallpaper peeling from the walls, and only one lamp for two rooms. Sarah wagged her new toy at Ryan, guiding him through.

Now that he could take a good look inside, Ryan grew convinced that this place had been an animal shelter first, and repurposed into an orphanage years afterward. The kids had made bedrooms out of caged compartments originally meant for animals, half of them already sleeping or reading old books from Jules Verne; some of the children slept with a cat or dog under their bedsheets.

He found Len in the kitchen, cooking fish for a group of four kids gathered around a table.

His old friend wore the same brown diving suit as last time, and she kept the water gun in a corner of the room. The kitchen clearly lacked equipment, since Len used a camping stove for the meat.

She immediately froze still upon seeing him, Ryan removing his hat and mask like a true gentleman. “Riri,” she said.

“Who is this, ma?” Ryan recognized the speaker as the girl whom Psyshock tried to brainjack, Giulia. He examined her facial features, the vague shape of her skull, and a chill went down his spine.

Psyshock had a similar facial structure when he attacked Ryan at Shroud’s shack.

He also noticed the boy that had been playing with Sarah, before the Psychos attacked the area. His golden retriever waited at his side, looking at the dish while wagging his tail. “He looks weird…” he said, observing Ryan’s costume.

“He’s a magician,” Little Sarah showed them her Desert Eagle. “Look!”

“Sarah,” Len scolded her but took no step to remove the gun. “What did I tell you? Don’t point weapons around, especially not at strangers.”

“It’s fine, Ma, I know how to use them!” the little girl pouted in response.

“Yeah right, you can’t even hit a soda can at three meters,” a boy taunted her, Sarah pinching him in the arm. “It’s true!”

“Ryan, this is Sarah, Giulia, Romain, Albus, and Valeria,” Len made the introductions, before looking at the courier with a conflicted face. “Kids this is Ryan. He’s an old… an old friend.”

“Does he come from the magical place?” little Valeria asked, a dark-skinned brunette no older than twelve.

“You don’t talk about the magical place to strangers!” Sarah told her, the other girl putting her hands on her mouth. “Sorry, Ma.”

“It’s okay,” Len replied, putting a hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “Can you serve the food to the others and make sure everyone gets their share? I must talk with my friend.”

“Is he your friend or your boyfriend?” one of the boys pestered her. “I want to know!”

Len responded with a strained smile, while Ryan remained silent. If it had been anyone else, he would have cracked a joke, but he didn’t want to embarrass her. “I’ll be back soon,” Len promised, grabbing the water gun and leading the courier outside the kitchen. The kids looked at them with suspicion, Sarah clapping hands to get their attention.

Adorable.

“It’s nice, what you’re doing here,” the courier started, immediately finding his words awkward. Len had that effect on him nowadays, to the point he couldn’t do sarcasm in her presence.

The invisible barrier between them wouldn’t fall anytime soon.

embarrassed, before leading up towards a stairway. “We can go to the roof. They’ll listen through

and try to eavesdrop on them anyway. He knew children all too well; none of

at the edge, his feet dangling into the void. His old friend glanced at him before sitting in the same position, albeit with two

lights of New Rome and the polluted air, the stars shone as bright as ever. It made Ryan wonder if he should invest a few loops in researching how to build his own

ski vacation on Pluto

reminds you of the old days, doesn't it?” the courier spoke up

still think we’re alone in the universe,” she replied. “It’s all dark and cold beyond our

aren’t alone,” Ryan argued back. “And if you

small talk just made it awkward. “Did we...” Len trailed

had taken him at his word. It seemed Len still trusted him somewhat, even after all this time. “We only talked once, in your house under the sea,” Ryan admitted. “You told me you didn’t want to see me after I led the Carnival to your

It’s… it’s possible since many Violets can alter spacetime on a limited basis. But… I still can’t grasp it.

a point I fix at a specific moment, with my last one made a few hours ago,” the courier explained.

loved playing with them, whenever he found a console that still

erases the first. I wish I could save your father, save us, save the world, but I can’t. I can’t change the past, only the

his words. Ryan instantly regretted his bluntness, but he had to say it. He couldn’t let her get any false hope up.

know about Schrodinger’s Cat? The thought experiment? Some psychopath puts a cat in a black box, where the animal has a fifty-fifty percent chance of dying

Len replied. Of course she would, she read everything she could get her hands on.

a joke. But as it turns out, I’m a cat, both alive

something unseen. “That’s our spacetime continuum,” he explained. “It’s a black box where all of time and space happens.

too small to contain the whole universe,” Len replied, smiling thinly. The sight warmed Ryan’s heart; it appeared the children had a positive effect on her mood, compared

have to fold it

then does that

outside space and time, the observer’s dimension. Let's call

Purple World?”

agree. “The Purple World

make sense out of his words. But she was smart, even without her power, and while it seemed outlandish, she

exist at two points in time,” Ryan continued his explanation. “When I create a save point, I divide. One version of me exists in the Purple World, trapped between two

you die, it’s like Schrodinger's cat,” Len’s expression changed into one of horror. “You’re alive and dead at

spread between the two versions, I cheat. I collapse the timeline where I’m dead, and I create a new copy from my save point with

asked, pleading. When Ryan didn’t answer, she put a hand on her mouth in horror.

times?”

troubled history, he could see the compassion in Len’s

dozen times were terrifying,” Ryan admitted. “I went mad or catatonic from the stress a few times. But past the first thirty or so, it became

at all. If anything, Len grew even more concerned for him. “But since you exist in two time periods, some conceptual powers, White Genomes, or memory-altering attacks could affect

would cause my power to unravel if I died in her

take...” she stopped herself, the question

Elixirs, like

reassured her. “The time stop is an application of it. I cause both of my divided selves to converge, and thus both our reality and the Purple World align. This creates a temporal anomaly where

versions of you fuse. You open

always causes me an early restart, meow,” Ryan said, but she didn’t smile. “I’ve spent decades studying the Purple World,

nodding in confirmation. “Did you succeed in physically entering that

rabbit plushie. “Not really,” he replied, frowning at her. “By the

bit her lower lip. “I’ve… I’ve

“You’ve been stalking me?”

a while,” Len replied while blushing, which made her look adorable. She immediately changed the subject. “That Purple World, are you the

its power.” That was the only explanation for Acid Rain’s abilities. “Maybe all Violet Genomes derive their abilities from it. A

in place. “Riri, how old are you? It must have taken

courier admitted. He had long lost count. “Maybe I'm five

all this time?” Now she sounded

first decades, so I just wandered off trying new things. It’s only when I got my hands

turned away, something appearing at the

frowned, as he watched her hold

at him with clear guilt in her gaze. “You’ve

He raised his

flinched before he could touch her,

process all of this.

all the

saying that as Len’s face darkened even further. Goddammit, why did every

she said, wiping

“You’re the only person who knew me before the

only one who could make this eternity less lonely.” Len glanced at him with compassion. “Is there