Alice was sitting in the Legendarys cafeteria, feet up on the table as she read a text book one of her tutors had given her. She still wasn't entirely sold
on the home schooling idea Nene and Ifrit had come up with, but she accepted her adoptive parents belief that she wasn't ready for a more formal education,
having gone so long without.
As she tried to work her mind around some math problems, she felt an odd sense in her mind. She looked up, ears twitching as she listened to Inymes emotions
through the growing bond they shared. While the dimensional traveller was talented at hiding her emotions if she wanted too, sometimes things leaked through.
And this time, it felt like... depression.
Closing the book and putting it on the table, she headed for the teleporter bays, already on her way to Galaxy City before Neko even noticed she'd left.
From there, she quickly jumped from rooftop to rooftop, heading for Inymes apartment building. When she got there, it became even more clear something was
wrong, with the door hanging open slightly. Inyme never left her door unlocked, even when she was home.
Quietly, she stepped inside and locked the door. "Inyme?" she said. There was a muffled noise from the bedroom, but it wasn't directed at her. It
seemed that whatever had Inyme so distracted, it was keeping her from even noticing her. Concerned, she moved toward the bedroom door.
Inyme was curled up on the bed. From the looks of one of her suits, hanging on its storage and recharge rack, she'd recently been in combat. The normally
shiny black armor was dingy with dirt. "Inyme?" Alice repeated softly
"...Alice?" she said, looking up. The woman's glasses were off, and it was obvious she'd been crying.
She moved inside, sitting on the bed. "You want to talk about it?"
She looked at her, a dozen thoughts flashing behind her dark eyes, before nodding. "... You know about the Faultline incident..."
"Yeah..."
"It's wrong.....it didn't...didn't happen that way....I was investigating things for Doctor Delilah....we found a tape...."
She nodded slightly. "I've heard about that. She's been gathering evidence for a while now."
"Faultline wasn't a villian...he was a hero.....his enemy....PsiCurse....created a device....that could alter time."
"I've heard of it," she said softly. "The PsychoChronoMetron. You ran into its survival instinct?" At her confused look, she shrugged.
"It's been destroyed before, but it creates some sort of small time loop to save itself. Knight of the Peace told me about it once."
"...we stopped Arachnos... they found it... we had to raid Sands' base and get it back... Agent G made certain we knew what it could do...it's
triggered by psychic ability..."
She nodded, remembering what Knight of the Peace had told her about his run in with it... Then her eyes widened slightly as she realised the temptation it
could provide for an actual psychic
Inyme read her thoughts as easily as if she'd said them out loud, nodding. "Amber told me... ordered me, really... not to play with it... but she was
distracted during the final battle, with Sands, Castillo, and Nocturne. I... I took it to Penelope Yin, and she just looked at me...told me it was
okay..." She closed her eye for a moment, embarasment leaking through the bond. "Somehow... she knew. Even with my defenses and shields up... she
knew."
"What... what did you want to wish for?" she asked softly
"...I could have done it....I could have reached back in time....I could have saved them..." Inyme whispered, guilt flickering through the bond.
"Saved who?" Alice whispered, taking Inymes hand.
She closed her eyes again. "Your parents." Alice froze, tail going straight and her ears standing up, shock clear on her face. "I...I'd
pulled enough detail from your thoughts since we met," she admitted. "I practically feel like I knew them myself... I could have, but..." her
eyes lowered, unwilling to look at her. "I know how time travel works. It would've been a domino effect. You wouldn't have wound up on the
streets. Neko might've gone to some other lonely homeless girl. You'd never have become a hero..."
"We'd never have met," Alice said softly, understanding.
She nodded. "I could have saved them. I could've given you a perfect life and erased so much pain, but I couldn't..." a slight sob escaped.
"I couldn't let go," she whispered.
Alice studied her for a moment, then pulled her into a gentle embrace. "The best way to do it would have been to give my parents another job or something.
One that would have taken them out of Paragon entirely. Other cities were attacked, but this was the center of it for some reason... You're not the only
one to think of it," she admitted softly, remembering when she'd first learned of the PsychoChronoMetron.
"You must hate me....I had the chance and I didn't..." Inyme whispered, tears running down her face.
"I've had the same chance," Alice admitted softly. She looked up at her, and it was clear that possibility hadn't even occurred to her.
"Besides the fact that the PsychoChronoMetron's managed to cheat its way back into existence before... you've heard of Ouroboros, the little time
travelling group that isn't nearly as secret as they like to believe they are?" Inyme nodded, pulling out an odd looped insignia that looked like an
angular snake eating its own tail. "They not letting you in yet?" she asked with a weak smile.
"Not yet, apparently," she replied.
"One of the missions I did early on... I found out they're slack with pulling you back to the present... I went for a walk." She smiled at Inymes
confused expression. "Hoped on a train, went on a ride across Paragon City... into a place I only see as a crater with a ship in it now..." she
murmured. That got a flash of understanding through the bond, drawing a chuckle. "I still can't think of it as White Plains," she admitted.
"...did you ever think of just...undoing the War?" Inyme asked with a stunned expression.
"Yeah... But... there's two problems."
"What are those?"
"One, I''m pretty sure I'm not smart enough to pull that off," she admitted.
"And the other?"
"... Something I learned in Vanguard... the reason the Rikti attacked." She looked up at her, and there was a burning curiosity there that Alice
could sense without even looking.
"Apparantly, the Freedom Phalanx attacked their world. They did a lot of damage, killed a lot of people. It wasn't just an invasion... it was a
counter attack." As Inyme blinked, Alice shrugged. "Except that didn't happen," she said softly. "If there was an invasion, it
didn't come from here." She sighed. "A traditionist I met once suggested a theory I happen to agree with."
Inyme raised an eyebrow. "Praetorians," Alice said.
"I see..."
"Although, that doesn't quite fit," Alice said with a scowl. "Tyrant is an ego-maniac. He reduced his home earth to a near dead world to
rule like a god over. He'd want any other world he invaded to know he had come to bring his empire to them, yada yada yada..." Inyme nodded in
understanding. "But Statesman... He's spent the better part of a century fighting against that sort of thing... That doesn't fit either. Unless
the Rikti hit the wrong Earth..."
Inyme sighed, leaning against her. "Still...I'm sorry...maybe it wouldn't have mattered...but I'm sorry."
The catgirl smiled, holding her close. "That was the other reason I couldn't have done it either. To get them back... to live a normal life... I'd
lose Neko, Ifrit, Nene, Sammy... I'd lose you..." she whispered. Inyme leaned in closer to her, resting her head against Alice's chest. The
feeling from her was still conflicted, but more focused on their proximity than anything else. "I couldn't lose you," she whispered
Inyme smiled slightly and nodded, before leaning up to kiss her. Alice returned the kiss, holding her tight. All doubts about the past vanished. What had
happened to bring her here, the war, the streets, a life of misery and fear, none of it mattered now. She was here, with the woman she loved, and that was
enough for her. More then enough.
on the home schooling idea Nene and Ifrit had come up with, but she accepted her adoptive parents belief that she wasn't ready for a more formal education,
having gone so long without.
As she tried to work her mind around some math problems, she felt an odd sense in her mind. She looked up, ears twitching as she listened to Inymes emotions
through the growing bond they shared. While the dimensional traveller was talented at hiding her emotions if she wanted too, sometimes things leaked through.
And this time, it felt like... depression.
Closing the book and putting it on the table, she headed for the teleporter bays, already on her way to Galaxy City before Neko even noticed she'd left.
From there, she quickly jumped from rooftop to rooftop, heading for Inymes apartment building. When she got there, it became even more clear something was
wrong, with the door hanging open slightly. Inyme never left her door unlocked, even when she was home.
Quietly, she stepped inside and locked the door. "Inyme?" she said. There was a muffled noise from the bedroom, but it wasn't directed at her. It
seemed that whatever had Inyme so distracted, it was keeping her from even noticing her. Concerned, she moved toward the bedroom door.
Inyme was curled up on the bed. From the looks of one of her suits, hanging on its storage and recharge rack, she'd recently been in combat. The normally
shiny black armor was dingy with dirt. "Inyme?" Alice repeated softly
"...Alice?" she said, looking up. The woman's glasses were off, and it was obvious she'd been crying.
She moved inside, sitting on the bed. "You want to talk about it?"
She looked at her, a dozen thoughts flashing behind her dark eyes, before nodding. "... You know about the Faultline incident..."
"Yeah..."
"It's wrong.....it didn't...didn't happen that way....I was investigating things for Doctor Delilah....we found a tape...."
She nodded slightly. "I've heard about that. She's been gathering evidence for a while now."
"Faultline wasn't a villian...he was a hero.....his enemy....PsiCurse....created a device....that could alter time."
"I've heard of it," she said softly. "The PsychoChronoMetron. You ran into its survival instinct?" At her confused look, she shrugged.
"It's been destroyed before, but it creates some sort of small time loop to save itself. Knight of the Peace told me about it once."
"...we stopped Arachnos... they found it... we had to raid Sands' base and get it back... Agent G made certain we knew what it could do...it's
triggered by psychic ability..."
She nodded, remembering what Knight of the Peace had told her about his run in with it... Then her eyes widened slightly as she realised the temptation it
could provide for an actual psychic
Inyme read her thoughts as easily as if she'd said them out loud, nodding. "Amber told me... ordered me, really... not to play with it... but she was
distracted during the final battle, with Sands, Castillo, and Nocturne. I... I took it to Penelope Yin, and she just looked at me...told me it was
okay..." She closed her eye for a moment, embarasment leaking through the bond. "Somehow... she knew. Even with my defenses and shields up... she
knew."
"What... what did you want to wish for?" she asked softly
"...I could have done it....I could have reached back in time....I could have saved them..." Inyme whispered, guilt flickering through the bond.
"Saved who?" Alice whispered, taking Inymes hand.
She closed her eyes again. "Your parents." Alice froze, tail going straight and her ears standing up, shock clear on her face. "I...I'd
pulled enough detail from your thoughts since we met," she admitted. "I practically feel like I knew them myself... I could have, but..." her
eyes lowered, unwilling to look at her. "I know how time travel works. It would've been a domino effect. You wouldn't have wound up on the
streets. Neko might've gone to some other lonely homeless girl. You'd never have become a hero..."
"We'd never have met," Alice said softly, understanding.
She nodded. "I could have saved them. I could've given you a perfect life and erased so much pain, but I couldn't..." a slight sob escaped.
"I couldn't let go," she whispered.
Alice studied her for a moment, then pulled her into a gentle embrace. "The best way to do it would have been to give my parents another job or something.
One that would have taken them out of Paragon entirely. Other cities were attacked, but this was the center of it for some reason... You're not the only
one to think of it," she admitted softly, remembering when she'd first learned of the PsychoChronoMetron.
"You must hate me....I had the chance and I didn't..." Inyme whispered, tears running down her face.
"I've had the same chance," Alice admitted softly. She looked up at her, and it was clear that possibility hadn't even occurred to her.
"Besides the fact that the PsychoChronoMetron's managed to cheat its way back into existence before... you've heard of Ouroboros, the little time
travelling group that isn't nearly as secret as they like to believe they are?" Inyme nodded, pulling out an odd looped insignia that looked like an
angular snake eating its own tail. "They not letting you in yet?" she asked with a weak smile.
"Not yet, apparently," she replied.
"One of the missions I did early on... I found out they're slack with pulling you back to the present... I went for a walk." She smiled at Inymes
confused expression. "Hoped on a train, went on a ride across Paragon City... into a place I only see as a crater with a ship in it now..." she
murmured. That got a flash of understanding through the bond, drawing a chuckle. "I still can't think of it as White Plains," she admitted.
"...did you ever think of just...undoing the War?" Inyme asked with a stunned expression.
"Yeah... But... there's two problems."
"What are those?"
"One, I''m pretty sure I'm not smart enough to pull that off," she admitted.
"And the other?"
"... Something I learned in Vanguard... the reason the Rikti attacked." She looked up at her, and there was a burning curiosity there that Alice
could sense without even looking.
"Apparantly, the Freedom Phalanx attacked their world. They did a lot of damage, killed a lot of people. It wasn't just an invasion... it was a
counter attack." As Inyme blinked, Alice shrugged. "Except that didn't happen," she said softly. "If there was an invasion, it
didn't come from here." She sighed. "A traditionist I met once suggested a theory I happen to agree with."
Inyme raised an eyebrow. "Praetorians," Alice said.
"I see..."
"Although, that doesn't quite fit," Alice said with a scowl. "Tyrant is an ego-maniac. He reduced his home earth to a near dead world to
rule like a god over. He'd want any other world he invaded to know he had come to bring his empire to them, yada yada yada..." Inyme nodded in
understanding. "But Statesman... He's spent the better part of a century fighting against that sort of thing... That doesn't fit either. Unless
the Rikti hit the wrong Earth..."
Inyme sighed, leaning against her. "Still...I'm sorry...maybe it wouldn't have mattered...but I'm sorry."
The catgirl smiled, holding her close. "That was the other reason I couldn't have done it either. To get them back... to live a normal life... I'd
lose Neko, Ifrit, Nene, Sammy... I'd lose you..." she whispered. Inyme leaned in closer to her, resting her head against Alice's chest. The
feeling from her was still conflicted, but more focused on their proximity than anything else. "I couldn't lose you," she whispered
Inyme smiled slightly and nodded, before leaning up to kiss her. Alice returned the kiss, holding her tight. All doubts about the past vanished. What had
happened to bring her here, the war, the streets, a life of misery and fear, none of it mattered now. She was here, with the woman she loved, and that was
enough for her. More then enough.