The Edge

Gideon: Part Eleven

Of course, things got weird the second he was within earshot of the thing.

"Okay, I'm going!" he heard Arian call. The sound of footsteps going down the ramp was uncharacteristically loud. Arian usually walked with all the silence of a ghost; if he was stepping like that, he was trying to be heard. "We're all heading out! Sure hope my dearly beloved brother, GIdeon, is close by, and that this won't all be for nothing. He was practically shouting as Gideon reached the gate. "Sure would be a shame if he were to show up while we were gone and make this whole thing worthless! That'd really hurt my feelings!"

Gideon groaned quietly and pushed the gate open slightly. Arian was standing at the bottom of the steps, wearing his kinda looks like Matteo face. Matteo himself and Adoette were standing on the ramp with embarrassed looks on their faces. Guess I better put them all out of their misery. "You don't have to go anywhere," Gideon called as he opened the gate a bit wider. "I'm back."

All three turned to look at him with varying levels of surprise. Arian was the first to recover, his shock turning into bafflement as he laughed out loud. "Shit," he said. "I didn't think that would actually work!"

Aodette recovered next, and promptly yanked off one dirty pastel pink sweater to throw at Gideon. He was able to duck back behind cover before it hit him. "Where the hell were you?!" she yelled.

"Sorry," Gideon said from behind cover. "Are you going to throw the other one at me?"

"No." He almost believed that, but not entirely, so he stayed behind cover. "You owe me big time."

"I know. I'm sorry." Gideon carefully peered back into the landing area; when he confirmed that Adoette wasn't showing any signs of taking off her other shoe, he stepped inside, picking up the discarded shoe as he went. "You didn't think what would work?"

"He figured you were either hiding and would overhear, or he'd tempt fate enough to make you materialize before we got too far," Matteo explained. "I hate that I get the logic. And that it worked. Are you okay?"

"Physically, more or less. I just..."

His eyes still felt a bit itchy. He knew he should probably get that looked at, and he definitely knew he owed everyone an explanation. But that nap was looking better and better with every second he was upright. "I needed to walk something off," he said as he gave Adoette back her shoe. "Need to sleep it off now, unless you need me for anything. Are we taking off soon?"

"Not for a little while. You can rest," Matteo said. "I don't think Helen's mad at you, for the record. She was pretty confident you'd be back soon."

Knowing Helen had trusted him was unexpectedly soothing. At least Gideon could be assured that he hadn't added to her already full plate. "Tola's not too worried, is she?" he asked as they started back onto the ship."

The other three exchanged glances. Adoette even made a face before she caught herself. "...she's..." Arian laughed nervously. "...a little worried."

Which meant she was losing her mind with worry. There's the guilt. I wondered when that would show up.

Tola's reaction made the guilt worse. She didn't scold him, demand to know where he had been, or throw anything at him. Instead, she ran to him, and hugged him tightly. He could feel her trying to soothe him, as if she were worried he was still emotionally fragile. She's not wrong. "I'm okay," Gideon said as he gently hugged her back. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm just glad you're safe," Tola replied. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm all right." She could probably help him with his eyes, but...well, he loved Tola, he really did, and he usually wasn't squeamish about how she healed people. Putting it in his eyes was where he drew the line. He could find some other medicine spray and let his body's natural ability to heal quickly do the rest. "Everything's fine now."