A Flutter in Time

Chapter 8 - Unanswered Questions

"Bdubs doesn't believe in soulmates." Etho answered automatically. It was practiced and forced. Grian smiled, digging deeper.

"I know. But is he your soulmate? Your real answer?" Etho deflated, tears tugging at his eyes.

"Grian, I'm trying my best to figure that out." At the end of his sentence, a sharp cough forced its way through Etho's system, sending full blooms pouring out of his mouth. Grian bent down and picked up one of the fluffy stems, smiling.

"Pink Astilbe. It's one of his favorites." Etho looked at Grian quizzically.

"Who?"

"Scar, my soulmate." Etho nodded. Grian sighed happily, as if he were reminiscing about a lovely dream. There was a long pause before he spoke again.

"Do you know what it means?"

"What?"

"The flower?" Etho looked at the stem and shook his head. It wasn't familiar to him.

"It means patience and dedication. Specifically to a person you love. It whispers that someone will wait for you, no matter how long it takes. They'll wait for your love. That's why Scar likes it." Etho weighed the meaning in his head.

"But if you know he's your soulmate, why is he waiting for your love?" Grian, still smiling, set the flower down next to Etho on the couch.

"That, my friend, is a question for another day." Etho nodded and picked up the flower, examining it. He twirled it in his fingers, staring at it like a scientist. If it meant someone waiting for your love, then why was he coughing it up? Etho pondered that question for a good minute. Grian seemingly read his mind.

"You know, he's waiting for you Etho."

"Bdubs?"

"No silly, Joel." That name held so much weight. Etho felt like his heart was going to beat right out of his chest. It hurt.

He knew he couldn't love Joel. He loved Bdubs. Bdubs needed him. So why did it feel so wrong? And it hurt even more knowing now that Joel was waiting for him. Waiting for his love. Why would Grian tell him that? Why?

Etho registered the tears on his face only when Grian wiped them off.

"Joel doesn't love me, Grian. He can't. Bdubs loves me. And I need to love him." Grian looked at Etho with kind eyes.

"Bdubs loves you, yes. And my intent was not to hurt you when I told you about Joel. I was simply stating a fact. And I'll restate the fact that Bdubs loves you. You've already given me your honest answer, but I want to ask you once more before I go. Etho, is Bdubs your soulmate?"

Etho thought. He thought about Bdubs, about how much he loved him. About his life and his death. Was Etho destined to forever love a dead man and join him in the grave because of it?

And then he thought about Joel. The man who he hadn't known in the present, only in the past. The lovably arrogant oaf who had instantly fallen head over heels for Etho. Love at first sight.

Etho had learned to love Bdubs, Etho hadn't had to learn to love Joel.

Doc chose that moment to intervene in the situation, joining the two and staring at the astilbe flowers that spread across the ground. He chuckled and lightly joked in an attempt to distract Etho from his thoughts.

"Pretty flowers, I say we sell em and make some bank. Free scam material." Etho let out a strained chuckle. Doc patted his back.

"Listen, I don't know what's going on in that head of yours ladders but you clearly need some sleep." Grian nodded.

"Rest up Etho, and think about what we talked about. I trust you'll figure it out." Etho wiped his eyes and shot Grian a thumbs up. The avian smiled, picked up one of the flowers, and left.

"Anything I can do for ya Etho?"

"Let me sleep in tomorrow."

"HAH! We'll see ladders, we'll see." Etho grinned cheekily. His attitude had seemed to do a full 180, despite his eyes still being red and puffy.

"Don't stay up working too late Doc."

"No promises. Sleep well dude.

"Goodnight."

Etho slept. In his dreams, he was in an endless white room. In the center, there was a table with a small chair on one side, and a vast wooden throne on the other. He stepped toward it and fell through the ground. The white started looking more spotty, almost the color of diorite. It faded into stone and Etho found himself in what seemed to be a basement. There was someone else in the room, but their figure was blurry. They approached Etho and slipped their hand into his easily. As he looked at the person, he could hear a ticking sound growing ever more apparent. A clock. Then suddenly, the figure's face was a broken clock, the ticking sickening and sharp. The broken clock face stared Etho down, cracked glass forming teeth. The hands still turned with every tick, and when they reached the top of the clock, a deafening chime rung through Etho's soul. Then the person let go. It seemed that it was time for them to let go. Their face returned to normal. They smiled and left up a staircase on the side of the stone room. Etho reached out and tried to follow but found himself falling again. His vision swirled and the gray stone walls were replaced with blue sky and fluffy clouds. As he fell, Etho closed his eyes, silently praying it wouldn't hurt when he inevitably hit the ground. He eventually reopened his eyes when the falling sensation stopped. He stared at his surroundings. He was standing on the deck of a large ship, but strangely the ship was on top of a grassy hillside. What's more was there was no water in sight. Strange. A new blurry figure appeared, this one just as unrecognizable as the first. When he stared at the figure, his heart felt like it was beating twice. The figure held what looked to be an ax in their hands, but when they noticed Etho, they dropped it in favor of running up to hug him. Suddenly, he and the figure weren't hugging on a ship anymore. They were hugging in some sort of purple swirly substance being burned alive by lava. Etho screamed, and then he fell again. This time, he found himself in a desert, staring at a big tower, two people atop. The desert was quickly warped into a spiked fortress and the desert turned to plains. There was only one person atop the building now, and Etho recognized him. Grian.

"My Grian sure is something. I'm pretty lucky. You know, you really got lucky in this one too, Etho." Etho was startled and whipped around to find a man petting a panda. He had gentle eyes and scars that crossed his face.

"Lucky in this what?"

"This life series! Your partner is great for you."

"And Grian isn't for you?"

"Oh he is! But I'm not good for him." The man giggled, scratching the panda's head. The panda sort of looked like a cat now that Etho was looking at it better.

"That's how it is I suppose. I'll always wait for him to come around though. He always does. Every lifetime, he comes around. Looks like your soulmate is coming around too." The man chuckled and pointed. Etho turned, expecting to see someone, but was met with the white room again. He looked back to the man but he had disappeared too. All that was left was blank space, and a few objects. A clock, a boat, and a cat. He walked toward the objects, and they vanished, replaced by a singular stem of white flowers. And then, once again, Etho was falling.

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Big chapter big questions big everything!

Sorry I didn't update this book for like a month, I was stuck lol

I love writing this book y'all have no idea how much I love this one

Thanks for reading!

- Cloud

(3094 words above the line)