It's the moment of truth and it's finally come this time Now we must draw the line The moment of truth This time it's everything - Moment of Truth, Foreigner
Sol stared at him for a few seconds.
"Start making some sense Sirius."
Kathleen slowly handed the Zoi back to Sirius. Sirius took it from her and turned it over in his hands thoughtfully.
"I've told you about that night Sol. I told a bit about it to Andromeda. But I did leave out this part. I left it out because I wasn't sure of what I had seen. But this proves it now… I must refresh your memories first. It begins the night Leo died.
Kathleen, who had been staring at the floor suddenly snapped her head up. This was Sirius' retelling of the night she could only remember part of. Would he fill in the dim spaces? The spaces where she knew in her heart that memories were missing.
Sirius sighed. This would take some telling.
"The Master had given Kathleen the Zoi and asked her to use it on him. He no longer wished to be a dweller of the night. I was sure that it would kill her if she touched it, but it did not and its crackles of power seemed less. I thought it was the Master using his powers to protect her.
"The air was so confusing. Basil was screaming about meteorites, Kathleen saw me as a dog communicating with the Master and she was almost in tears that she could not. Then my Companion and my replacement showed up, which only added to Kathleen's air of confusion and anxiety. And the Master had everyone on edge.
"When the tears first began to well up in Kathleen's eyes I felt a small twinge of power from the Zoi. I thought nothing of it. I assumed it was my dog sense getting a true whiff of power from it.
"It first appeared that Kathleen used the Zoi to make my Companion and my replacement disappear. 'I'll see them dead first,' she said. And so they were gone.
"Then the Master wanted her to use it to make him human. She didn't think he should become human, because she said he muddled everyone and cheated them. He claimed it was only because he was in darkness. He came toward her, spreading his dimness onto her. Kathleen became frightened. 'Don't do that!' she yelled. I felt the Zoi work again, but I don't know what it did. But he backed away from Kathleen, and suddenly the whole place disappeared. The room, the Master, the dogs we had run with. All gone. I had not the faintest idea what had happened.
"We were all standing on the hillside again. Basil and Kathleen began arguing over the Zoi. It fell, I caught it in my teeth…" Sirius decided to leave out how painful the Zoi was. How it was the Zoi that had killed his dog body, which had separated him from Kathleen.
"But when Leo died… I was myself again. I could see people searching for us all over the hill. You-" he pointed at Kathleen. "You were kneeling over the body of Leo. But you could see me. You could talk to me, and I could talk to you. I tried to put myself back into the dog. But I could not. I… no luminary can use a Zoi on themselves. But you did."
Sol shook his head, his flaming orange hair seeming to radiate agitation. "I think I missed the part where she used it on herself Sirius," he said.
"Can creatures of Earth see you Sol?" Sirius asked plainly. Andromeda suddenly gave a small gasp.
"Of course they can't!" shouted Sol. "You know that! No children of Earth can-" Sol stopped. "No children of Earth can see… or talk to… You were in your full form… she adopted a human body…" Sirius stared at him, waiting. Sol nodded with understanding.
There was a sharp intake of breathe from the corner of the room. Three flaming heads turned to see a pale Kathleen staring at her feet.
"What's wrong?" asked Andromeda softly. She reached out to Kathleen to put a hand on her shoulder, but Kathleen quickly broke away from her and rushed out of the room.
"Sirius…?" said Sol, looking at the fiery green luminary questioningly.
"Maybe she wants to be left alone…" suggested Andromeda. Sirius shook his head.
"No, not this time."
He found her in a distant room of Andromeda's sphere, Andromeda's observatory deck. She was staring out into the universe, seeing a different view of it than she saw in his sphere. Her view was very much different from his, there were more colors, and it was brighter. But when he realized why it seemed that way, he felt sick. The reason it looked like there were more spheres, the reason it was brighter, was because of all the shattered pieces of Andromeda's beloved subjects. They still shone, but they soon would pulse with lights, and then go out completely.
"What's wrong Kathleen?" Sirius asked softly. She was silent. "Please tell me."
She bit her lip and continued to star out into space.
"You tell the story of what happened that night clearly. Detailed. The way you tell it… the way you remember it… I cannot help but think of it as the truth. But if it is…" She turned to him, and though she was not crying, he could see pain in her eyes. "If it is the truth why can't I remember! Why are there empty places in my mind? I thought you might jog my memory but I remember nothing of that night! Nothing except vague fragments that have nothing to do with the story you tell! I should be able to remember! There is no reason I shouldn't…" She drifted off. She couldn't say anymore.
"It's okay."
"What?" he said it so quickly she wasn't sure he had said anything at all.
"I said its okay," he said again, slower this time. "It's alright that you don't remember."
Kathleen stared at him for a few moments.
"Just as long as you know what happened."
What had happened? Sirius had been her dog. That's what had happened. And suddenly she realized what she had been doing to him since he brought her to this place, this star world. How much pain she had inflicted on him. How she had blamed him for everything bad that had ever happened to her. She felt her heart twist itself into several uncomfortable knots.
"Oh Sirius…" was all she managed. Then she emitted a soft sob and started to cry.
"It's alright," he said. "Everything is going to be alright." He held out his hand. "Come on. Let's go home."
She placed her small, shaking hand into his fiery green one.
Some time into the future, a moment in which Kathleen had no hope left, a moment in which she was even farther from anything she had ever known, a moment in which she was staring death in the face, she would look to this moment. And it would save her life.
I'm truly sorry everyone. I have made you wait far too long and this chapter was far too short. The effect of a 45+ hour workweek have not been very enjoyable. But I promise you all that I will finish the story. We are far from the end my friends, and have faith that I will never give up this story. – Yours faithfully, Windslayer.
I would like to thank the following people for their reviews and praise of this writer who is unworthy of all their words of kindness. Honeyblank, Anonymous-Cat, Chandra Tynan Synger, Tzaryn, AudTheBandNerd, Mia, Pragon, and Shopgirl.
I would also like to thank everyone else who reads this story; I truly hope you are finding it an enjoying experience.