Dave had spent a long time, staring down at the bed before him. If he were to sleep, he knew what would befall him. If he were to stay awake, he knew what would befall the others.
Facing one's own mortality was a challenge he was not quite ready to bare.
She hadn't given him many details about the Quest Bed – perhaps trying to lull him into a sense of security – nor had she told him a lot about anything that would happen once he went to sleep.
He had worked it out though, the loops told him enough about that. He had followed the paths of each of the Daves and this one, this was a doomed timeline. His doomed timeline.
But the alpha Dave, the one that would protect her, would live on. That was all that mattered right now.
Slowly, Dave clambered onto the bed and stared up at the sky. It spanned on endlessly before him.
He would have liked to have met up with her, just the once. He would have liked to have known the smell of her skin and the sound of her voice. That would have been nice. Lots of things would have been nice, but when you are destined to die – when you are destined to be an example of why impossibility exists – nice things are out of your reach.
He began to wonder if Alpha Dave felt the same. They experienced the same things up until this point; they both knew her. In a way, he hoped that Alpha Dave would be able to meet her and make it up to her for the hours he would not be able to talk to her, for the hours lost knowing her.
He began to walk forward, contemplating taking the shades off of his face. He wasn't sure he could cope with saying good bye to her.
It was strange, though. Although he would technically live on, technically survive, he was terrified by his own mortality. But as she had explained once, facing your death was hard.
Jesus fucking Christ, it was hard.
She was pestering him again, probably nagging him to sit his ass down and get to sleep. Idiot, thinking that he hadn't looked through the timelines, thinking that he didn't know. Damn, she made it seem easy; lying to a dead man.
- gallowsCalibrator [GC] began trolling turntechGodhead [TG]-
GC: SORRY 4BOUT TH1S D4V3.
GC: BUT YOU R34LLY N33D TO SL33P NOW.
TG: yeah i know i know
GC: W3LL, G3T ON YOUR B3D AND SL33P.
Dave contemplated doing just that for a second, without saying another word to her. This conversation was difficult. Far more difficult than he had expected. He gripped the edge of the stone slap and frowned thoughtfully. What could he say to her to make her understand just what he meant? What could he say to make up for all the time he'd lose, for all the chances lost?
What would the right words be?
Dave puts his head in his hands.
GC: D4V3.
TG: tz…
GC: :?
TG: farewell.
- turntechGodhead [TG] ceased being trolled by gallowsCalibrator [GC] -
Yeah.
Farewell.
Dave reluctantly laid down on the bed and closed his eyes. She was still buzzing round his head, probably asking him what he meant – assuming his naivety. He opened his eyes, peaking at the final message on the screen.
GC: SORRY.
He smiled a little and closed his eyes.
Dave wouldn't say any more than that. That was enough.