Epilogue - Loose Ends

“Are you going to be okay?” Sera asked Xironi.

It was the following day. The storm had vanished in a blast of golden light, and the news agencies were abuzz with the story. The government had of course blamed the storm on terrorist organizations, although no one was willing to talk about just what kind of weapon could cause such a strange phenomenon.

“Probably not for a while,” Xironi admitted to the Angelus. “He said he’d come back for me. And he’s still not back.”

Esca’s chin rested on Xironi’s lap and Ben had taken up a spot on her shoulder. Both looked as mournful as Xironi did.

No one noticed the sound of an approaching car engine until a beat-up red convertible drove into view and parked in the driveway.

Xironi gaped. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

With a shrill cry of “SHINY!,” Ben launched himself from Xironi’s shoulder and leaped into Carda’s face, knocking him back into the driver’s seat of his car as he was trying to get out. “Okay, okay, I missed you too, Ben, now get offa me!”

Within seconds Xironi had peeled Ben off Carda’s head and begun kissing her boyfriend. When she finally came up for air, she half-yelled, “Don’t you ever leave me again!” Tears began streaming down her cheeks.

“Okay, kitten. The next time I have to go on a life-threatening mission to save the multiverse, you can come with me,” Carda snarked back, grinning.

“Good!”

“What took you so long getting back, anyway?” Sera asked him.

“I took Michelle home and my parents wanted a three-hour explanation of where she had been and how I got her out,” Carda griped.

“Ah,” Sera said, as if that were the only answer she needed.

“Hey, Xironi, I’m gonna grab Joseph’s journal real quick, and then we can head down and get an estimate on how much Slicks is gonna gouge me for repairs to this thing. That okay?”

“Okay, sure.” Xironi looked at the scratches and dents in the roadster’s hood. “I’m surprised your car made it through the storm okay.”

“Oh, I never got close enough to the storm in my car,” said Carda, waving a hand. “I had to leave it at a roadblock. When Michelle and I got out of the storm right before it dissipated, I warped us back in time and took off with the car before it could get impounded.”

Xironi blinked. “Impounded?”

“Long story. I’ll tell you on the way.”

The garage down at Firebird Raceway was mostly empty that day; apparently the storm had caused the cancellation of a big race, so no one had bothered to show.

Which was fine by Carda. He didn’t really feel right talking to Slicks with a big crowd of people around.

Xironi walked along the wall of the shop’s office, looking at the many pictures of cars that Slicks had rebuilt. She didn’t see Slicks come in from the garage.

“Sweet merciful heaven, Carda, what did you DO to that car?” Slicks was saying as he entered.

Xironi turned and froze. Her jaw dropped open.

Carda folded his arms. “A little trouble in Atlantis. Nothing your skills can’t handle, right?”

Slicks smiled and wiped his forehead. “Whooooo, this one is going to COST you.”

Carda grinned and brandished the journal he had picked up from Xironi’s house. “How about I return this book I borrowed from you and we call it even?”

Slicks glanced at the book, squinted, then chuckled. “So you figured it out, eh?”

“It took me a while to place your face. You were a lot younger back in the storm.”

“Joseph?” Xironi gasped.

Slicks turned. “Hey, I’d know that pair of ears anywhere! Wow, you’ve grown since I last saw you.”

“But… you died… in the storm…”

“I’m standing right here. And so is Carda. Do we look dead to you?” Slicks—or Joseph—paused to let Xironi grasp this, then added, “A Strider of Chronos can’t die in a subspace storm. We just get sucked into it. All of us did. Even Carda. And between us, we were able to defeat it.”

Xironi blinked several more times. “I think my brain just broke.”

Joseph just chuckled. “Sounds like we all have a lot of catching up to do. Tell you what, throw in dinner tomorrow night and I’ll get your car fixed within the hour.”

“That quickly?” Carda asked.

“Dude, aren’t you forgetting? I’m a Strider of Chronos.”

Carda and Joseph left Xironi to peruse the pictures of restored cars again while they went outside to survey the roadster once more.

“Octavius is dead,” Carda said once they were out of Xironi’s hearing.

Joseph turned sharply at this. “What?”

“I stood there and watched it happen. Dimetrius just came up behind him and…” Carda mimicked the stabbing motion.

“How fitting,” Joseph muttered darkly.

“What, that Octavius would die that way?”

“No, that Dimetrius would kill him that way.”

“You know Dimetrius?”

“Every Strider of Chronos does. He was the first of us.”

Carda froze. “No way.”

“Yes way,” Joseph nodded. “The forces of darkness swayed him to their side, and now his power is born of shadow rather than light. He’s beyond redemption now.”

“I wish I had said something. I feel like I’m responsible for Octavius’ death…”

“This is going to sound cliche, but what happened, happened, and it couldn’t have happened any other way. Don’t blame yourself for your inaction; you thought Dimetrius and Octavius were working together, right?”

Carda nodded.

“Then it’s perfectly reasonable that you couldn’t have seen it coming, time magic or no time magic. Octavius was just as bad as Dimetrius… though he did have one redeeming quality.”

“He actually had one?” Carda snarked.

“Yes, just one. He was loyal to those who followed him. He took care of them like they were his children.”

“Rayn,” Carda replied.

“Exactly. No one is perfect, but it takes a very dark heart to be completely evil. Now let’s see about getting this car fixed up.”

True to his word, Slicks pulled a few strings (mostly strands of time) and had the roadster street-ready again within the hour. Carda took the car for a test drive while Xironi watched from the stands. Carda drifted back and forth across a wide open stretch of pavement, leaving intermittent trails of rubber here and there.

When he was finished, he got out and led Xironi up to the top of the grandstand, talking as they went.

“You know, I don’t think I could have survived the last couple of weeks if not for you,” he said.

“Pfft, right,” Xironi spluttered. “You had to come rescue me, as I recall.”

“If I hadn’t needed to rescue you, I never would have been able to enter the subspace storm. And you helped me realize that I can’t make it alone.”

Xironi paused for a moment. “Carda… are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

Carda smiled. “Weren’t you paying attention? I’ve already asked you the question I’m leading up to…”

Xironi opened her mouth to ask Carda what he meant, but stopped as she glanced down at the pavement at the foot of the grandstand.

In broad sweeping strokes, written in tire-drift black, were the words, “Xironi will you marry me?”

Xironi’s jaw dropped again. Carda had dropped to one knee and presented a gold ring topped with an Atlantean diamond.

Xironi managed to recover from her shock enough to giggle. “How did you keep that away from Ben long enough to give it to me?”

“Stasis field,” Carda grinned.

Xironi dropped to her own knees and threw her arms around Carda. “Yes. Yes, I will marry you, if only to keep you out of trouble from now on.”

“Good luck with that,” Carda snerked as he slid the ring onto her finger.

“Well, as long as you don’t keep having visions of some other girl, I think we’ll get along fine.”

Carda shifted to a sitting position, and Xironi did the same. As Carda wrapped an arm around her waist, he replied, “No, I don’t think that will be a problem any more. It’s just you and me now. The way it always should have been.”

Xironi nodded. “So what happens next?”

Carda considered this for a moment. “Well, I could look into the future and find out…”

“No, don’t do that. For now, let’s just live life as it comes.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me.”

And so they did.