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.

can go to the roof. They’ll listen through the door and pester

knew children all too well; none of them could resist the lure of a magician’s

into the void. His old friend glanced at him before sitting in the same position, albeit with two meters

New Rome and the polluted air, the stars shone as bright as ever. It made Ryan wonder if he should

on Pluto sounded quite

courier spoke up first. “We always debated if there was sentient life

universe,” she replied. “It’s all dark and cold beyond our little blue

aren’t alone,” Ryan argued back. “And if you ask me, the stars

made it awkward. “Did we...” Len trailed off,

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 dad, how you had known I was alive for two years, and that you had built your underwater base for Sarah and the

it was true,” Len muttered to herself. “Time-travel. It’s… it’s possible since many Violets can alter spacetime on a limited basis. But… I still can’t grasp it. Do you travel physically? Or

return to a point I fix at a specific moment, with my last one made a few hours ago,” the courier explained. “Only my consciousness travels

like in your video games?” Ryan had always loved playing with them, whenever he found a

head. “When I create a new point, it erases the first. I wish I could save your father, save us, save the world, but I

say it. He couldn’t let her get any false hope up. “How

a black box, where the animal has a fifty-fifty percent chance of dying or surviving. As long as you don’t open the box to check the result, the cat

replied. Of course she would, she read everything she could get her hands on. “I thought it was meant as

out, I’m a cat, both alive and dead at

continuum,” he explained. “It’s a black box where all of time and space happens. All moments in time, all possible

smiling thinly. The sight warmed Ryan’s heart; it appeared the children had a positive effect on

just have to fold it enough

our universe is the box, then does that mean there’s something

space and time,

World?” she

name, but Purple World sounds nice.” Even Acid Rain seemed to agree. “The Purple World exists

out of his words. But she was smart, even without her power, and while it seemed outlandish, she agreed to entertain the

create a save point, I divide. One version of me exists in the Purple World, trapped between two seconds, and another me continues on; the person you’re

cat,” Len’s expression changed into one

and I create a new copy from my save point with the knowledge of the erased future. All events

power, right?” Len asked, pleading. When Ryan didn’t answer, she put a hand on

many times?”

their troubled history, he could see the compassion in Len’s gaze. She had remained ever so kind.

or catatonic from the stress a few times. But past the first thirty or so, it became normal, like taking a cold shower every day.

anything, Len grew even more concerned for him. “But since you exist in two time periods, some conceptual

wait, do you know Cancel?” Len nodded. “Cancel would cause my power to unravel if

stopping time? Did you take...” she stopped herself, the question

two Elixirs, like my father?

the Purple World align. This creates a

fuse. You open the

smile. “I’ve spent decades studying the Purple World, trying to see if I could use

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

he replied, frowning at her. “By the way, how did you

her lower lip. “I’ve…

“You’ve been stalking me?”

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

was the only explanation for Acid Rain’s abilities. “Maybe all Violet Genomes

must have taken years, decades to figure

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

been looking for me all this time?” Now she sounded positively guilty and

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

something appearing at the

frowned, as he watched her hold back tears,

you,” Len said, looking at him with clear guilt in her gaze. “You’ve been… you’ve spent centuries alone and

He raised his hand toward

visibly flinched before he could touch her, making

time to process all of this. It’s… all of this at once, it’s too much. It’s too

all the time

as Len’s face darkened even further. Goddammit, why did every word he spoke make things

everyone forgets you,” she said, wiping away the

replied. “You’re the only person who knew me before the time loop. I know that’s

less lonely.” Len glanced at him with compassion. “Is there no way for