JP - Irony

Riven, however, had no memory of being a coward. All he could remember was the time Tzeitel saved him during an apocalypse and the hellish way he’d died at the hands of Thrane. The rest of his life was a blur of memories and confusion that made no sense. Setting a hand against a part of the car, he carefully had ice push metal away from a spot where a bit of Tzeitel’s stuff was. Each movement caused his pendent to swing a bit, easily eye catching.

Tzeitel collected her stuff, not missing the swinging pendant. “Didn’t… didn’t you use the stuff in that right before Thrane killed you- before you were cloned?”

Riven looked at the pendant and quickly hid it beneath his shirt, shrugging. “I guess…I woke up with it, so I kept it…” He explained and slowly let the metal fall back into place once she was done.

“Didn’t Loreen make that?” Tzeitel asked. She had a hard time believing Loreen was not involved in this cloning.

“Not as far as I know,” Riven explained. “Rumor is she’s kinda…dead.” He shrugged and grabbed a few things for her, handing them over. If their hands accidentally touched, she would feel just how cold his naturally were. “I’m just happy to be out of MegaCorp.”

“She’s not.” Tzeitel flinched at how cold Riven’s hands were. She collected the last of her stuff from her car. She felt a little sad, it had been her first car and has been through a lot with it. It had become a home while on the run.

“Sorry,” Riven said as he pulled his hands away. “I’m naturally really cold…it helps with my power.” He explained and looked at the car. “Hey, try not to let this put you down too hard. There are plenty of cars in the world.” A part of him felt like he was just sounding like an asshole and grimaced. This was the woman that had saved him in another timeline, had been his friend and like a sister to him. How was he supposed to handle all of that when it was obvious she did not know a damn thing about it?

Tzeitel suddenly backed away from Riven, looking wary. “Klaire!”

Riven looked confused. “Uhm…did I say something wrong?” He asked.

Klaire walked over, rubbing at her neck. “Yeah?” She asked.

Tzeitel swung an arm around Klaire’s shoulder and whispered in Klaire’s ear, mindful that RIven ALSO had heightened senses. “This guy isn’t getting all… like Colt, right? Because he’s getting kinda weird and I’ve had enough of this.”

“Huh? No, Riven only sees you as a friend and sister…something about a timeline where you saved him from his own power or whatever…” Klaire shrugged, still surprised she remembered that story Tzeitel told her in that timeline.

“Why does Riven get to remember from a timeline like that while all I get is James as a sadistic rapist who could give Canestone a run for his money?!” Tzeitel asked aloud.

Both Riven and Klaire were silent because they had no clue how to answer that.

After a moment, Riven cleared his throat. “I’ll just…uh…go…you know, check if the truck has…uh…supplies. Yeah, supplies!” He bolted to do so.

“HEY!” Klaire yelled and groaned. “Look, Tzeitel…I don’t know. I just remember the story you told me during that timeline about him…he used his serum and you saved him with a lot of warm blankets, Annie’s warming rocks…and a lot of hot soup. He was dying and you kept it from happening…he feels he owes you his life.”

"Perhaps we should continue this conversation at the underground" Mark interrupted "Your children are waiting for you."

“But that was a completely different timeline that I don’t even remember!” Tzeitel protested, not getting the irony of what she just said as she headed to the car Delilah had.

“Isn’t that ironic…?” Klaire said bitterly, but did not follow. Instead, she returned to James.