"You know nothing about the future, Nano, and this way, I'll make sure you never do." he had said to me as an uncontrollable fire raged; his figure a dark broken down silhouette against the light that enveloped the landscape and the lonely castle on the hill. I had only been off for what seemed like a second to only come running back to find my new home and refuge burning to the ground. His home too. Lalna, the scientist who was mad but also strangely put together, had seemed to have finally snapped.
All I could feel was confusion, and maybe a hint of fear. I hadn't known him for very long, admittedly. Only days before, I had fallen into his fountain after barely surviving a backstabbing by Sipsco. Everything had already been rough, but he had made things easier by taking me in and even giving me a place to call my own. It's hard to forget how the quick trust I placed in him had crumbled into pieces in a matter of milliseconds as my eyes saw what I believed to be just outright insanity.
But it wasn't that simple. Not even close.
My eyes wandered away from the overwhelming scene, finally noticing a body lying unconscious just a couple paces away from his feet, and it was then that confusion really consumed me. At first, I thought I had joined him in his insanity; cautiously stepping closer, but I wasn't crazy. What I was seeing was reality. Though Lalna clearly stood like a solemn statue against the bright background, he also laid in the grass with an expression that suggested he had been put to sleep forcefully. Without even thinking, I held him up in my arms at a complete loss of what to do. He could have been the wrong one to worry about, but at that critical moment, he wasn't the one watching our castle burn to the ground. "Lalna, wake up. Please. What's going on? Why are there two of you? What am I supposed to do?"
"Oh… how I've missed your warm and caring personality." A voice spoke, but not from the one in my arms.
It surprised me, but I managed to look up at him; my voice shaking a bit, "Why are you doing this?"
"And yet, I still know that beneath all that, you're just beginning to harbor so much hate." He continued saying as if I didn't even exist.
"Answer me!" I raised my voice, though it was still noticeably unstable. "You've been speaking nothing but nonsense! I just want to understand why all this is happening! Are you the real Lalna or is it this one? Why is the castle burning down? What are you trying to do!?"
All I had left was a million questions and a broken Lalna. That revelation had certainly hit me very hard, and honestly, I had finally had something since I found myself in the world, only to have it fall apart. Rage was slowly building and his back turned to me didn't help.
"I've… seen you at your worst, Nano. You have destroyed and overwhelmed the world."
"No I haven't! I don't even belong in this world yet! I'm still trying to find my place here!"
"I know." He answered calmly, ""I remember."
"Then what the hell are you-" I stopped myself from saying more as I suddenly recalled what he had said to me in the beginning. Though it had been almost drowned out by the sound of a raging fire, I had indeed heard something interesting, but also very puzzling. "The future… you said I didn't know about the future. You said you'd make sure I never did. What does that mean? What do you know about it?"
His right arm that hung down by his side reached up and across his chest to grip around his left upper arm. It was so dark, but I could just make out that movement as he seemed to be in some kind of pain. "Too much. Way too much."
"You're from the future, aren't you?" I asked almost too quickly. It would explain a lot, but even then, it was still not very believable. "Am I wrong?"
He didn't answer, but his silence was all I needed.
"You are, aren't you?" Such a thing seemed so impossible, but the evidence was lying in my arms. "That's why there's two of you. That's why you speak like you know me… like you know me more than I know myself." Suddenly, curiosity overwhelmed me. "What else do you know about me?"
He clutched at his arm in visible distress. "Nothing. I'm not-"
"Where am I in the future? I want to know everything. I deserve to know."
"No."
"Lalna!"I was raising my voice once again, "Please, my past is already far beyond me. I don't know who I am. I don't know what I am. You already know that, don't you, so don't hide my future from me. Don't you dare come back here, take everything, and keep silent. Are you listening to me? Lalna! Hey!"
I would have kept on forever, but his patience would have never lasted that long.
"Goddammit! " He finally screamed out, turning around to face me for the first time. My eyes were immediately drawn to the discoloration in his face and down his neck. Like some sort of menacing purple tattoo. I had never seen anything like it. And not only that, his right eye was a shade of purple as well.
All words left me as I tried to catch them. Though there had been so much confusion before, all I could feel as he showed me his virus or some kind of foreign sickness, filled me with nothing but fear. My words came back, but they were not even close to as strong as before. "W-what is that?"
"This is our future!" He explained, letting all his bottled up dread and anger finally break free. "This is why I came all the way back here! This is why I am going against everything to change it! This is why you-! This is why you-!
He went silent, but I waited.
"This…" His voice wavered, "This curse is why you're nothing more than a monster in the future. You've always been so full of a hate, Nano. So angry from the very beginning… You let it control you. The Flux used it against you. It spread. Everywhere. To me and to everyone else. Everything else. I tried to stop you, but I'm sure you can tell that I failed to. I couldn't save you. I couldn't do a single fucking thing to save you!"
Suddenly he was crying and I was severely shaken. It didn't seem real. I was so detached from everything, but also so incredibly a part of it. There I was so close to him, but he cried because I was gone. Honestly, at that moment, I wished I knew what the future me would have said to make things right. "It's okay… It's not your fault, Lalna."
"No, you don't understand," He said, ignoring my bad attempt to console him. "The Flux was my fault. I can admit that now. We fought all the time about it, but I was the one who foolishly kept the Flux sphere around. I was the one who made you fall into it. Everything is my fault! You don't understand. You can't understand because you will never have to go through that. You will never turn into a monster. You will know a life that is free of Flux because that's all I can do. I couldn't save you in the future, but I have saved you in the past."
It was so overwhelming. Too overwhelming. I really couldn't understand the lengths he had gone to achieve what he had done, but we were finally seeing eye to eye. I understood why I was holding him in my arms and exactly why the castle was burning. "You've selflessly given me a better future even though you are going to-"
"That's right." He interjected, "Disappear. With the last of my strength, I somehow forced the Flux to bring me here. I really couldn't tell you how I managed it, but as my blood ran and you were wreaking havoc, it was all I wished for. Now all I ask is that you live your life. Figure yourself out. Keep me from isolating myself too, if you can. I really need it. I know I'm an idiot, but at least I'll be able to show you a better world now."
"Lalna, I-"
"You've always been the best thing to ever happen to me, but I had the worst time showing you that."
Tears came rushing down my face, "No, I knew. I know I did. You were the best thing to ever happen to me too. I know it. I swear, you weren't the only one who felt that way."
One last smile crossed his face as the purple fluxy tears soaked into the ground as his last proof that he actually existed in the world. His voice seeming to fall into nothing. "I believe you. I'll miss you, Nano…"