Chapter 12

In which Delta tells the story of how Free the Soul of Y was founded, Sophia explains how she found Phi, and Carlos misses all of the shit that just went down.

Sigma is taken aback by his son's words. "L-Lord Dashiell Gordain . . . ?! He used to hold the Gordain Games!" Wait till Akane gets a hold of this information . . .

Delta nods, a hint of a smirk showing on his face. "Yes . . . He had been following me for a while. I was almost a participant for the first of the Gordain Games, but after I saved that woman, he decided to just have me test out some of my esper abilities with Phi and report it all back to him. It started off with transmitting words to add onto the grocery list whenever she left for the market, and then, I tried to converse with her — it was a one-sided conversation, since Phi was a receiver and I was a transmitter — but it appeared to have worked somehow. Gordain used this information to select different people to fight for their lives in the Gordain Games."

Sophia's mouth drops open in surprise. "That's why . . ." She is now lost in thought, most likely recalling all of these 'experiments.'

The young redhead man continues on regardless. "And, before you ask, Free the Soul was a name I had chosen for an extreme, ruthless vigilante group that was not afraid to resort to illegal methods and violence to expose the harsh truths of and eliminate corruption. But Gordain was the one who was mostly in charge of the small organization, since I had to balance between my studies, watching my sister, and avenging Left. He added the 'of Y' to the organization name for a number of reasons.

"The Y represented the left eye of Horus, so one reason, he told me, was to honor Left. Another was because in Egyptian mythology, Horus, the god of the sky, his left eye was gorged out. His consort, Hathor, had restored most of his eyes, and when it recovered, he hoped to restore his life by giving the eye to Osiris, his father. This is how the eye came to represent sacrifice, healing, restoration, and protection — all that Gordain claimed that Free the Soul of Y would stand for." He smirks slyly. "I determined the old bastard was bullshitting me with honoring Left. Free the Soul of Y was simply an anagram for 'left eye of Horus.'

Anyway, we designed and created robes with the Free the Soul of Y logo we came up with, which were worn by the members as a . . ." — Delta's eyes furrow as he struggles to find the right term, but he when he settles on a word, his mouth untwists and he nods to himself once in satisfaction — "uniform of sorts, and a way to disguise ourselves.

But, in 1930, the organization would fall out of my hands, and Gordain would go on with his entertainment games under Free the Soul's name. Those same robes would become a cloak to represent those being sacrificed in the games. He would name me the sole founder of Free the Soul to save himself, in case the law enforcement would catch wind of his actions." His voice darkens ominously. "After Gordain's death in 1931, I would be the one to hold the reigns to Free the Soul — and would drop the 'of Y' from the title."

Delta ends his story with a sigh, and Sigma assumes it is possibly because he does not want to go into how he expanded Free the Soul into a group that wanted to create a new world order that would eliminate corrupt humans and purify the world — in a way, it really was an extreme, ruthless vigilante group.

"Um." Sigma's hesitant voice breaks the looming silence that was formed. "Akane, one of my co-workers and friends," he clarifies for Sophia's sake, "seemed to have implied that the founder of Free the Soul killed Gordain for betraying him?" He raises a questioning eyebrow at Delta.

Delta's brooding face loses its expression. "I can't answer that question, Dad," he answers back softly.

Hearing the word, 'Dad,' from Delta tugs at his heart, both in anger and sadness. "Why? . . . Are you afraid to admit to your crimes?" Sigma crosses his arms over his chest and glares at him.

Delta simply shakes his head, his eyes blank behind his shades. "No. I didn't kill him . . . but who is to say that a different version of myself wouldn't go on to?"

Sigma sighs wearily. "I suppose, you are right — the alternate realities are endless." He wants nothing more than to scream at Delta for endangering the lives of his friends and family, but there is an innocent, young air to him that stops Sigma from doing so; maybe his youthful appearance is what makes Sigma hesitate — this Delta is more closer in age with Phi than Sophia. It may be the mind of the Delta that trapped them all in the Decision Game, but the body is of his young, unsuspecting adult son, whose consciousness got swapped with the older, mastermind Delta, and was sacrificed for this bastard's selfish purposes to extend his lifespan.

"Now, Sophia, as you were saying?" Delta prompts.

As if she is taken out of a trance, she suddenly gasps, startled. "O-Oh!" She blinks, nodding after a few moments. "Right . . . hmm, I was speaking about how Delta stopped visiting often." She lets out a sigh. "I began to realize that he might use 2008 Phi for SHIFTing or his own vengeful purposes, since I had always refused to try to jump when he urged me." She turns to Phi with a sad smile. "Phi, I didn't want you to become a part of experiments, like I almost had, and I certainly didn't want my brother getting his hands on you. So, I came to Flagstaff in November 2008 and took you in as my own — you weren't transported with your brooch, so I gave you my own . . . my time with it was up." Sophia seems wistful, her eyes glazed over as her thoughtful face ponders.

"Gran, wha — ah, fuck, I'm calling my older self, 'Gran!'" Phi growls to herself and slaps a palm to her forehead. "Oh, this is going to be difficult," she grumbles in irritation. "Anyway . . ." She sighs exasperatedly. "Why did you give me your brooch?"

"Calm down, Phi." Sophia places a hand on her shoulder and gives her a reassuring smile. "You can still call me 'Gran,' don't worry. And, yes, I gave my brooch. I had to. Our mother had given us the brooch, and it wouldn't have been unfair if you didn't get it. I already had my time with it."

Diana, who has not said a single word since Sophia started her story, toys with the caged blue bird music box necklace — a personal favorite of her finds from shopping at antique stores — around her neck, and looks at Delta quizzically. One paradox has been solved, now that Sophia has told Phi that her brooch came from Sophia herself, but what remains is the inconsistency of the two birdcage necklaces, when there should really only be one, if everything is, in fact, an ongoing cycle of sorts. She wants to ask him about his necklace, but Sophia beats her to it.

"Back to the story, though. I did meet, however, another researcher in Flagstaff."

"Pop . . ." Phi murmurs to herself. "Who is really just my other self's husband."

Sophia beams back and nods. "Yes. He asked for my name, and I lied to him and called myself Sophia. Soon after, we married and moved to California, to start anew with little Phi. I did eventually tell him the truth, though. After that, I continued raising Phi, without letting her know of my true identity, even as people started to assume that she was my own granddaughter. Anyway, we lived peacefully for so many years, and Phi even took an interest in Latin because of the brooch." She smiles fondly at Diana. "Though we were still at peace, I did start to get the feeling that Delta had done something to cause Phi to come home very late on Christmas night . . . and then suddenly talk about joining a Mars Mission stimulation of sorts."

"And while I was gone at DCOM, you said you'd be visiting your old job in Flagstaff," Phi adds, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sophia nods. "And that brings us to here."

"Then, what happens now?" Diana queries softly.

"Well, one thing is for sure. I'm not going to SHIFT around to find the younger Pop and marry him."

Sophia chuckles and then smiles wryly. "You and I may be the same person, but we're from different times, and have undergone different things. Yes, we are similar in personality, but our preferences are most likely not the same . . . and, one more thing. I loved your Pop, but I was never in love with him. I learned to love him over the years as we raised you, but, our marriage was one of convenience, so my love for him was only platonic. Quite honestly, he wasn't really . . . my type, you could say. Well, actually, there is not really . . . a male that could fit my category, to put it simply. And I'm pretty damn sure that is one thing you and I have in common, Phi," she says firmly, as she tries to hold back her laughter at Phi's embarrassed face.

Diana ponders as she takes in Sophia's words. Since meeting and interacting with Phi, she has always had the feeling that Phi has been into women than men; she wasn't sure about Sophia, at least, until now.

Phi stays silent, her pale cheeks and nose reddening delicately. "Gran," she then mumbles, as she suddenly takes interest in her shoes, "shut up, please."

Sigma, on the other hand, seems stunned by this revelation. Diana resists the urge to laugh and shake her head at him. He would have never guessed it . . .

"What a family reunion." Delta sighs, reminding everyone of his presence, and instantly souring Sigma and Phi's moods, while Diana is reminded to try to recall that timeline where she was alone with Delta. "Surely, I didn't think envision it to be something like this."

Sigma's watch — thankfully, not the bracelet watch from the Decision Game, but one he found in his cupboard before leaving with Akane and Phi to DCOM — begins to be beep, as it does at the start of every hour. No one needs to check its digital screen to tell that it's 1 AM.

Phi is about to ask Delta about where he SHIFTed to after Carlos shot him and how the hell he got to this point, but at that moment, Carlos appears through the open entrance, panting as if the wind has been knocked right out of him.

"Dammit!" he cries out in frustration, leaning on to the nearby wall for support as he breathes in and out heavily. "I told you that shit was going to go down in three days . . . I just didn't think I'd end up missing it all!"

It's past midnight, so it has been three days! ;)

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this all-new episode of the Klim household family drama! Next chapter, Diana finally remembers the damn ana - uh, I mean, the events that took place after Q-Ending 2.