The States

i liked it better when you were on my side

June 8, 1861

Seven days after his sixty-fifth statehood anniversary, Timothy secedes from the union.

He hands the notice to Alfred silently.

A few minutes later, Kendall meets him on the front porch.

Kendall doesn't offer to go with him.

They both know that isn't how this works.

Tim smiles, and it's bittersweet and this can't be how they say goodbye, so Kendall grabs his collar and kisses him.

And when Tim goes to leave, Kendall pulls his necklace over his head and presses it into Tim's palm and disappears inside because he can't watch Tim leave, he can't.

February 13, 1862

The irony is the fact that Tennessee is a confederate state and Kentucky is a union state, and yet the Army of the Tennesse is fighting on the union side while the Army of Central Kentucky fights for the confederates.

Here is more irony: a union state in blue holding a confederate state in bloody gray.

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Kendall pulls Tim from the battlefield and realizes he can't take him back to the Union House.

So he changes directions, and starts heading northwest instead of northeast.

February 15, 1862

When Kendall had first gotten to the state house on their border, he'd been in a complete panic.

The two bullet wounds had still been sluggishly oozing blood, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he remembered Connie telling him that injuries could interfere with the reviving process.

He sets Tim down and tears through the bathroom cabinets until he finds bandages.

The next half hour is a blur of panic and shaking hands as he attempts to wrap Tim's shoulder.

When he gets the bandages on- albeit a little sloppily- he gathers up Tim's bloody jacket and shirt and after vaguely remembering something about burning the fabrics of sick people, burns them in the fireplace. 

Then he settles in for a wait.

February 16, 1862

Tim comes to slowly.

Not every state revives the same way. Some revive slower than others, some heal completely before reviving, some heal enough for life to be possible and then revive and finish healing.

Kendall watches as Tim's chest begins rising and falling again, and it kills him a little that he doesn't even know if this is Tim's first death. 

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"You're a goddamned idiot."

Tim blinks at him slowly, and Kendall flushes. That was not what he meant to say. 

Tim's eyes seem to get clearer, and Kendall watches as he pinches his arm. 

After a second, Tim seems satisfied that he isn't dreaming. 

"Where am I?" He sits straight up, panicked. "This isn't Philadelphia, right!? Kendall!?"