Ending the Omnipotence Paradox

Chapter 12

The heat from the sudden attack seared at his skin, the screams around him drowned out by the unmistakable rumble of military vehicles drawing closer through the trees at his left. Shouting out orders they'd practiced before as he scaled the vine covered stone wall, it was only another moment before he heard the tale-tell sound of a tank gun firing just behind him, his body instinctively bracing for impact...

Kogami's eyes snapped open the instant his dream counterpart was hit by the blast, thankful but caught off guard by the fact he had somehow managed to doze off in the first place. He was even more surprised to find Akane's head resting softly on his shoulder, her gentle breathing a sign that she too had succumbed to the physical need for sleep. The film they had been watching had long since ended, though he didn't know when they'd both given up following it or how she'd ended up curled against him.

Through the glass door next to them, the snow had stopped but the sky was still dark, though he couldn't be sure what time it was. The watch on his left wrist was currently around the sleeping woman next to him, rendering him incapable of checking it as if he even cared to. There were a few beer bottles and a bowl of half-eaten popcorn left on the coffee table from earlier, bringing his memory back to the conversation that had taken both of their attention away from the screen.

"Isn't it funny how despite everything they did, neither Rick nor Ilsa seemed truly happy in the end?" She asked him thoughtfully once the credits started rolling. He looked at her for a few moments before responding, the details of the film's plot swirling around in his mind.

"That depends on if you see happiness as a destination or as the journey."

"But was happiness ever really a viable destination for them when they had to make so many sacrifices along the way?" she questioned, turning toward him on the small sofa as she pulled her knees into her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

"Eventually we all learn that nothing worthwhile in life comes without some measure of sacrifice," he reasoned. "The problem with Rick and Ilsa was always that Rick kept changing the rules he lived by to suit the current situation instead of changing what was wrong within himself first. And Ilsa was just unfortunate enough to find herself caught in the crosshairs of his constant struggle with indecision and self-preservation."

"You make her sound like some inconsequential bystander instead of the main reason for Rick's ambivalence," she argued as her face twisted in distaste. "It's not as if Ilsa ever did anything to convince him that his defenses weren't necessary. And she surely didn't help make any of his decisions easier."

"Ilsa was only doing what she thought was right in her current situation," he objected in defense of the female protagonist.

"Perhaps, but in doing so she only served to cement the validity of both Rick's hopeless cynicism and his restless unfulfillment," Akane countered, pursing her lips in dissension. "He may have been guilty of being selfish and idealistic, but at least he never came off as apathetic."

"You think everything Rick did was to atone for all the reasons he lost Ilsa?" Kogami asked incredulously.

"I don't know," she started, her large honey-colored eyes studying his steel blue ones as they looked back at her. "But I hope it didn't take him too much longer to finally find his happiness."

Her words stayed with him, echoing in his mind even after they grew quiet as the second movie she'd chosen started up. It must have been during that one, a documentary about 21st century Japanese military, that both of them had fallen asleep. Shifting slightly to stifle a yawn, Akane subconsciously nestled her face into him a bit in response, her fingers lightly grasping onto his shirt as her hand rested on his chest.