The hooded figure turned onto the small island street and grinned. This was it. Pulling up his hood, he took to the sidewalk and clung to the shadows, careful to avoid the street lamps overhead. To his left, small wooden houses were arranged single file, each with it's own manicured lawn and white picket fence. On his right was the endless ocean of this planet and it shed its cool breeze, preparing for dawn. He pulled his cloak closer and hastened his step until he stood half way down the block, back to the ocean. He glanced about quickly and, assured he was alone, pointed to the first house at the end of the block.
"One." He said; his hands were trembling. He pointed to the second. "Two." The hammering of his heart grew louder. "Three... Four... Five…" His paused on a small house that seemed no different than the others. "Six." That was the one. He could feel it, sense it. He felt connected to it. He felt connected to him. His head swam, lost in the anticipation and he crossed the road to approach the sixth house.
While silent as the grave, signs life had existed on the street only hours before lay scattered everywhere. Dishes left on garden tables, porch lights flickering, abandoned toys strewn in yards, bleeding from their respective lawns onto the sidewalk. The man hardly noticed the crunch beneath his feet, too fixated on what was promised to him, a reward he was finally going to reap.
How long had he been waiting? Years? It felt like it but nothing compared to the anxiety that swelled inside him now. Surely all the planning, all the work and research hadn't been as long or as torturous as these final feet were proving to be. But it would all be worth it when…
A dark thought overtook him and he stopped dead in his tracks. Did his beloved know that he was even alive? Did he even know he had existed? Could he bear the rejection, after he'd gone through so much? The man shook the idea, straightened his back to the wind and continued on. He had made it this far because he didn't relent when there was something he wanted. Power. Money. Life.He had always found a way. Their inevitable unity would happen, in time. It had to. It was destiny.
The sixth house looked as dark as the others but the figure seemed to see it perfectly. He huddled in the darkness and observed, detailing every chip in the wood, adoring every rock against its foundation. Then he spotted something and his heart leapt into his throat. Along the far side of the house, a small window illuminated a faint blue light. Someone was awake.
-x-
Like a snake, he crept along the edge of the yard, courting the small flowerbeds that docked the house and pressed himself to the wall. He shuddered to think how he would have managed in the daytime, with his black cloak against the white house. But the shadows had never let him down and tonight was no exception. So when he finally perched himself beneath the blue window, it looked like he wasn't there at all.
A shout came from inside the house. "You can't do that!"
The man nearly bolted until he realized the comment wasn't meant for him. Crouching low, he craned his neck and tried to make out more voices through the hammering in his ears.
"I just did." Chuckled another. This boy wasn't the one. The man's stomach dropped.
There was a grunt of frustration. "How do you expect me to get better if you keep cheating?"
That one. It was him.
There could be no doubt. Tears threatened to stream down the hooded man's face and he questioned the stability of his stomach. After all these years and they were only a few feet from one another.
Can he sense me, too?
"I'm not cheating!" replied the first voice and the man's face fell into a scowl. The tears of joy were quickly turning into frustration. "Don't blame me because you don't know how to play the game!"
The second voice must belong to… the other one. The man had been warned about it, he couldn't deny that, but he supposed it was his reckless optimism that had written the other boy off as a harmless nuisance, an unfortunate footnote in what should be their story.
"I do know how to play!" The voice emulated to the outside, like a siren calling the hooded man forth. Steadying himself against the wall, he rose as high as he was able without exposing himself, he had never felt need like this.
"Could have fooled me." The man couldn't bring himself to think the other boys name and while they chuckled, the infection of anger begun to spread through him. It should have been him in there! Who did he think he was? There was a silent pause and the laughter died. "Aw, I'm sorry." The first voice sympathized, "you know I love you."
He'd heard enough. So angry he couldn't see straight, the hooded figure stumbled from his hiding place and trampled through the flowers and across the yard. He no longer cared if someone saw him. He had just left part of his soul behind. He reappeared on the sidewalk, his strides longer, and his purpose more urgent. This had been too much. He should have waited but the promise of an easy ending had been too seductive. His legs were starting to go weak and his vision had blurred. It was the desire, he told himself, or the injustice that was causing his body to shut down. But he knew it wasn't the whole truth. He needed to get back to the ship before his body betrayed him completely.
-x-
He had made sure his ship was hidden from sight, an easy achievement with the stealth technology of his Master. Perched on one of the tallest cliffs in Destiny Island, the man climbed up the grassy slope with his teeth clenched and the ship's gangway opened on it's own accord.
In the blue hour before dawn, Destiny Island blew its generous morning breeze, which caused the man's robe to flutter about amongst the tall grass. He stumbled up the metal steps to his ship but had to stop, if only a moment, just as the sun bleached the night sky and pulled the ocean's jewels to its surface. He knew his other half had seen this view thousands of times and one day, they would watch it together. A surge of purpose reminded him that all of this was necessary; that the love he felt now and the love he was promised to feel would be worth it.
-x-
The man collapsed at the top of the stairs. With every ounce of energy he had left, he crawled across the loading dock to a small cabinet, left easily accessible for this exact occasion. He reached up, opened it's tiny door and plunged his hand inside, grabbed the first bottle he found and fell in a heap on the floor; the clones tumbled from the cabinet and shattered around him.
The bottle burned green in his shaking hands and he struggled to loosen the stopper. If he didn't know this would save him, he would have refused to drink it. The breeze had cooled him but a sheen of sweat converged on his brow as he downed the bottle. The feeling of warmth was immediate, starting in his chest it spread through his whole body. He would be fine, at least for a little while.
He sighed, relaxed and rested his head on the wall behind him and played the voice over in his head. For the first time, he had proof, real proof, that the one he loved wasn't just a fairy tale. His beloved! His soul mate! He was real! In the depths of his mind crawled the memory of the other boy but, to his own surprise, he laughed. He would be dealt with. Nothing was going to stand in their way. All that's left to do was wait. Even at this very moment, his Master's plans were being set into motion. And by the time the world realizes a storm is coming, lightening will strike.
