Across the Divide and Through Valhalla

First Gone

Chapter 21

Both Caius and Sherry sat in silence for several minutes after Noel was gone. Finally, Caius turned to her with a frown. "What happened?"

She sat back again and tried to wipe the tears off. "His timeline, the world he was born into, no longer exists. I'm guessing that even though you didn't say anything, you took my words to heart and decided to change something. It had to be something drastic as well."

He looked stunned, but only briefly. He sat beside her again and gave her a hard look. "You knew this would happen."

She shook her head. "Not for sure. I suspected something like this would happen though, that is the main reason I wanted to talk to him first. Now that I know for sure, I will have to let everyone know."

He sat in silence for a short time more before he looked back with a troubled look. "Does this mean that if I change my future, that he will never live?"

She sighed. "Honestly, I don't know for sure." She looked over with sad eyes. "I don't think that is the case, though. In the pieces of the vision that I was able to understand, I saw him in a place I had never seen before. I think it is probable that he will be born, but into a much better world. He looked happy, at least."

Caius took a few moments to take in what she said before he nodded. "We should return to the others."

She nodded and took his offered hand to stand. The walk back to the house was silent. The little bit of chatter that was going on stopped as soon as they entered. It took a moment for the quiet to register with Sherry, and she finally looked up to see everyone turned to them with various shocked faces. She sighed again and headed up the few stairs to the living room.

She was stopped when Kaylan rushed up to her. The girl grabbed her arms and looked over her face. "What happened?"

Sherry shook her head and turned to look at the men that were all watching. "Noel is gone."

Jerry stood from where he had been talking to Cloud and gave her a shocked look. "He just left?"

Sherry was so ready to go to bed and let the rest of them be damned for the evening, but she sighed and tried to explain. She knew she would have to tell them soon, anyway. She might as well get it over with. "No." She turned to Caius at that point, and he gave her a slight nod. She turned back to the rest. "After I spoke to Caius, he must have decided to change something that significantly changed the future of Pulse. As a result, the Noel we knew, the Noel from the bleak future of Pulse, ceased to exist. I have reason to believe that he will still be born, but the world he will be born into will not know the misery of the one he originally came from."

Several of them started talking at once. Sherry ignored them all as she clung to Kaylan. The girl had wrapped her in a tight hug as soon as she saw tears start to fall again. The noise went on for several minutes longer before Caius spoke above them all. "Enough! We will get nowhere this way. Give her a few moments to collect herself, and she will explain."

Sherry wanted to scream in frustration, but she released Kaylan and leaned against the wall. She looked them all over once more before she closed her eyes and started speaking. "I suspected this might happen and told Noel this morning. He understood and was willing to help if it meant Pulse would be better for it. As for the rest of you, now that he is gone, I believe you will disappear as well when those before you in the timeline believe and figure out what they can do to make changes."

She turned to Cloud. "If I am correct, then you will be the first to disappear. Your lives are not as far apart as Caius and Noel, so you will all be born, but there were certain cataclysmic events in each of your lives that fundamentally changed who you were. If those things never happen, then you will become different people, lead different lives. The futures you were from will collapse in on themselves, which is why you will disappear. You, as you are now, will no longer be."