Futures Unseen (Chasing Titania #2)

Love, Always

"Promise?"

She kissed me. "I promise ya, Silver."

Vetelguize came for me. It was nice to see him again. I prayed to Argus, who promptly sent Vetelguize my way. Thalia had left me those instructions.

"Your arm," he noted.

"I know," I sighed. "I faced a tough opponent, and I came up short."

"I'm sorry," Vetelguize hugged me. "I'm sure it hurts."

I nodded into his chest. "Can I go see my friend?"

"Of course," he stepped back. "Let's go."

"Quicksilver!" Argus approached me.

"Hello," I greeted them.

Arn's father looked exactly like him. He was taller, with longer hair. Arn's mom shared his black hair. She smiled sweetly at me. Ezra stood warily at a distance. I realized how similar Ezra and Vetelguize looked.

"It's wonderful to meet a friend of our son's," Persephone hugged me.

"The pleasure is mine," I assured her.

"Lexington isn't quite who you remember," Arn's father began. He even sounded like Arn. "He is suffering from madness."

"Is it okay for me to see him?"

"It is," he nodded. "We'll be observing. He's been getting better as well. It should be good for him to see some friends."

They led me down some hallways and stairs until a room with many windows appeared.

"You'll be perfectly safe," Argus nodded.

I took a deep breath. I was safe no matter what was on the other side of this door. No matter who I saw, my best friend was still in there.

I nodded. Argus opened the door for me.

Inside the door was a bed. I approached it carefully. I could see that the bottom part of the bed was restrained, that he was trapped there for safekeeping. I didn't mind, however. This was my best friend.

When I stepped up onto the stair, he looked over at me. It was like I entered a bubble, brought to his attention.

"Silver?" He asked, putting his arms underneath him.

"Hey, Lex," I waved with one arm.

"What-?" He looked like a million questions were flying through his head. "What are you doing here? How did you get here? What happened to your arm?"

"Slow down," I sat on the bed beside him. "One thing at a time. First, though."

I leaned over and hugged him. He felt so small in my embrace. I squeezed as tightly as I could.

"I am so happy to see you," he sniffled.

"Are you crying?" I asked.

"No," his voice wavered.

Tears sprouted in my eyes, too. My strength renewed, and I embraced him tighter.

"Sweet gods of our realm, I missed you so much," he whispered.

"I missed you too," I leaned back. "Are you okay?"

"Besides leaving my boyfriend on a war-torn planet and getting caught with madness sickness and being stuck in a surveillance chamber," he gave me the tiniest grin. "I'm managing. But what about you?"

"What about you?" I shook him. "Ugh, okay. You remember that awful teammate I had, the one you helped hook me up with?"

"Oh, the one that was a complete bitch!" He pointed.

"Yes," I laughed. "Her. Well, it turns out she thought it would be fun to get revenge by sending half of my team poisoned letters. She ended up nearly killing my girlfriend, which sent the rest of us after her. She had a few demons under her control, and in the thick of it, she managed to, uh, disarm me."

"You think now is the time for jokes?"

"How am I going to cope with losing an appendage if I don't?"

"A fair point," Lex nodded. "Sam is okay, though?"

"She woke up three days ago," I admitted. "But Thalia told me about you, and I figured Rodam would protect Sam and dote on her for a few days. Sam encouraged me to see you, too. She sends her best wishes."

"Thank you," he leaned back. "You can see I'm doing swimmingly."

"How did you catch madness?"

"Met a certain God of Death. Saved me from drowning, which is cool, I guess. But I think something is wrong because he laughed, and then my reality absolutely split in two. I'm slowly getting better, though. At least most of the grand hallucinations are gone, but I'm still seeing things, and my senses are dulled. But I'm here."

"The gods are keeping you safe?"

"Your friend has been a real help through this. It seems he witnessed a case much like this."

I nodded. "With Ezra."

"Kinda what he's made for," Lex chuckled.

"You've changed a lot," I said without thinking, my tears sprouting again.

"Hey," he started crying too. "So did you."

"Change hurt," I muttered. "It might have been the worst thing I've been through."

"We're growing and changing," Lex assured me.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll heal from this madness, and I'll help Nox build the Grund until Arn returns for me," he shrugged. "That's my plan. Are you going to be all right?"

"I'm learning to me," I touched my ghost of an arm.

"Stay for awhile?"

"Of course," I lay in the bed with him. "Tell me what the other planets were like."