Oddity Specialist: Purgatory
Page 5
Quinn tenses up, just thinking about the possibility, of crossing paths with her again.
“Don’t worry too much about a next time. I took a calculated risk, on hiding away from her. If I expended my saved power, while still in the loop, we would have wasted our one bullet.”
“Do you mean, you could fight her?”
“Worst case scenario, yes.”
“And win?”
“…”
“That… I see.”
Quinn thinks back to the other specialist, they had encountered.
“I didn’t expect to run across another one, so soon.”
Lucifer looks back down, while talking.
“This specific specialist, is the worst we could have gotten. She’s not the strongest, and just narrowly not the most sadistic; but in terms of both, she is by far the most dangerous.”
He looks up.
“Do you understand what I am saying?”
“I think so…”
“Most likely, this will be one of the hardest challenges, we would have had to face. The fact, you weren’t able to build up much of a reputation yet, doesn’t really matter for this one. All we could hope to do, is either kill her, or try and never run across her.”
“...So, we have to not cross paths with her again…”
“Tsk, if only I had just a bit more power, I could tear her to shreds.”
“I would prefer to not take that path.”
“It’s the only reliable one.”
“Could we perhaps, try talking her down?”
“How do you plan to do that? If you didn’t notice, she wants blood.”
“I know; but there has to be something we can do?”
Lucifer thinks for a moment.
“Honestly, meeting under these circumstances, are about the best we could have hoped to have happened. We have the biggest advantage we could have asked for, information and time.”
“To come up with a plan?”
“Of sorts, even if it’s just a way to lay low. Though, if she is systematically searching for me here, then we are on a timer.”
“Both on a timer for ending the time loop, and with dealing with the hunter.”
“Any bright ideas?”
“Just one.”
“That would be?”
“We just have to stop the time loop, while not being found. We already have a way to do that.”
“Ho?”
Quinn heads to Neri, and gives the rigmarole on the time loop.
“These are the notes up till yesterday.”
“Alright.”
“There is also one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“An oddity specialist tried to kill me last loop.”
“h-Huh?”
Her eyes give a confused, taken aback look.
“Because of the nature of my relationship with oddities now. Some specialists are going to want to hunt me down.”
“n-No, that’s.”
“I was saved from bleeding out by the reset. Though, if I run into them again, I won’t be so lucky again.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“Are you okay.”
“…I’m alive.”
“Then, what do we do?”
“You’re going to have to stop the time loop, on your own. More than that, you’ll have to do it with as few loops as you can manage.”
She gives a worried look.
“I, understand.”
“Neri.”
“Yes?”
“We both have our own challenge to face, now.”
“…Okay.”
She perks up. Standing straight up, she gives a salute.
“I’ll stop this time loop, before the specialist can find you.”
“Thanks.”
Neri runs off.
“Is this really the wisest decision?”
“Don’t you think she can do it?”
“…I already know she can.”
“Then why ask?”
“Because, I don’t fully understand what you have planned for us.”
“That’s simple. Right now, I can only take safe actions, while Neri works to solve the case.”
“Uh-huh.”
“That doesn’t mean, we can’t prepare for when the loop ends, and we have to face the hunter again.”
“You mean, you wish to confront her?”
“Best to do it on our terms, then hers.”
“…I don’t disagree; but this seems like a risky strategy.”
“What else can we do, besides run?”
“Nothing.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“You make it seem like; running isn’t a legitimate option. If I can get back even half my power, our standing in the world dramatically shifts.”
“Meaning, we just keep running from our problems, until magically you gain your power back?”
“When you put it that way.”
“Besides, if we travel into a territory looked over by a different specialist then this one, we would have to win them over as well.”
“True.”
Quinn gives a somber look.
“And I don’t want to have run away, and leave everything behind.”
“You’ll risk your life for it?”
“I believe, if we work together, we can win. Plus, I think you do as well.”
Lucifer gives a sly grin, and lets out a chuckle.
“Perhaps.”
Neri continues pressing the one lead they have, checking and cross referencing this inconsistency, against the information connected to it. Checking the persons post history, who they know, where they live, piecing together what their daily routine would be. She does this, until this loop continues to an end. The next loop, she tries narrowing down the search area, looking over the events that happen near the target location. The third cycle, she finds the next inconsistency. A young man and woman enter into a café, where they had not entered into during the previous loop. Entering into the café, a glance is stolen from her, from the woman. “Found you.”
The woman has medium length brown hair, blue eyes, and circular glasses on. The man has lightly orange hair, and hazel eyes, with a black blazer on. Neri scans through social media, to try and find one of the two. Eventually she finds the woman. “Wendy, twenty-two years old, lives in town, multiple pictures of her and him; but not a huge number.”
She closely observes the girl’s movements. “She must be in love with him. Continuous movements to close the gap.”
Neri observes the man’s movements. “He keeps trying to widen the space between them. He’s pulling away from her. Why?”
Neri looks over his information. “He’s moving tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
Neri gets ready to make a move, as they are about to leave.
“Oh, hey Wendy, how are you?”
“Huh?”
The girl has stern sounding voice.
“Is this someone you know?”
“I uh.”
“Oh, I don’t want to interrupt or anything; but there was something I wanted to talk about with you, when you get a moment.”
“…That’s fine, we can talk.”
She excuses herself from the man. The two walk away from him.
“Who are you?”
“I’m here to fix what you broke.”
The girl winces back.
“You mean…”
“The time stream, yes.”
“I’m sorry!”
“Huh?”
The girl gives a big apology.
“I didn’t mean to break anything; I wasn’t even entirely sure I was in control of it… Well, that’s not true, I kind of figured I was.”
Neri watches the girl try to explain things. “How to go about this?”
“First things first, we need to fix the time stream and stop this loop. You understand that, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Good. Then, tell me what h
ad you start this loop.”
“What had me start it?”
She glances around, before focusing back up towards the girl.
“The person I was with.”
“Yes?”
“He is moving, to head off to college tomorrow. I had just wanted to make the day with him last, and this happened.”
“I see, continue.”
“Once I realized what was going on, it shifted from wanting to spend the day with him, to wanting to try and perfect our relationship, so that it will survive.”
“Uh-huh, that’s what I had thought.”
Neri gives a strict look.
“Listen very carefully, what you’re doing is wrong.”
“b-But…”
“You already understand that, right? The more time you spend together, the further apart you feel, right?”
“…”
“That’s because one of you is stuck in place.”
“Because he can’t remember anything.”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“You’re the one stuck.”
“I am?”
“You’re desperately trying to change everything, in just one day. That’s an impossible task, no matter the number of retries you have.”
“I’ve started to understand that…”
“You don’t understand it, well enough.”
“Huh?”
“It’s become clear, that he cares about you, right?”
“I think so; I don’t really know anymore.”
“Even just watching you interact for a few moments, it was clear.”
“It was?”
“Yes. It’s not easy to hide one’s feelings.”
“Then he, loves me back?”
“I did not say that!”
“Huh?”
“He cares about you, and doesn’t want you to get hurt. I don’t know if that’s love; but it does mean he cares about you, at least somewhat.”
“But I… I just want him to feel the same way about me.”
“Have you told him that yet?”
“…Not in so many words, no.”
“Then how do you expect to get anywhere?”
Neri points her finger into the air, and then points it down at the girl.
“What you’ve been doing this whole time, has been cheating. You didn’t want to try to take the real path, instead you tried to find out the right answers beforehand. You can’t build a relationship on deceit and manipulation, and you certainly can’t find real love, if you’re molding yourself to meet some arbitrary cheat sheet.”
“…”
“Plus, it’s simply immoral.”
“I know that!”
“Good, then do something about it.”
“Like what?”
“Tell him how you really feel, and face tomorrow, whatever it might hold. Until you do that, you are going to be stuck in place here forever, unable to move on.”
The girl’s eyes well up.
“Alright, I’ll try.”
“Then, good luck.”
“Mh-hmm, thank you.”
The girl heads back. Neri is left, thinking to herself. “I hope that was enough. If I couldn’t get through to her on the first attempt, everything will get a lot more complicated.”
She lets out a sigh.
“Better get my notes for Quinn done.”
Neri heads to Quinn’s house. She sends a message saying she’s out front. Quinn opens the front door.
“Come in.”
“Okie doke.”
Neri heads inside, and the two enter into Quinn’s room.
“Oh, so this is what your room is like. I knew it.”
“Scary.”
“Scarily accurate.”
Quinn sits on his bed.
“So-”
Neri sits next to him. He looks at her.
“Hm?”
Quinn let’s out a mental sigh.
“You think you managed to pull it off?”
“We’ll know soon enough.”
She hands him her notebook.
“Just in case, though.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
Quinn starts reading through it. Neri fidgets around, leaning one way then the other.
“Did you get anywhere, with figuring out how to deal with this specialist?”
“I hope so.”
“Not confident yet?”
“No.”
“Huh…”
“…”
“Can I help?”
“…No.”
“Okay.”
“In fact, once the loop ends, we probably shouldn’t see each other again.”
“Why?”
“There’s a high chance, the hunter might target you as well.”
“…I don’t care about something like that.”
“I do.”
“Hmm.”
Time passes on, until the clock turns to eleven-fifty-nine.
“It’s the moment of truth.”
“Yeah.”
“Hey Quinn.”
“Yes?”
“If this doesn’t work, bye.”
“I’ll see you today, if this doesn’t work.”
“True.”
The clock changes to twelve.
“…”
“…”
“We did it.”
“Heh.”
Neri pops up with excitement, while Quinn hunches over, exhausted.
“Why do you look so tired?”
“Today has been a very, very long day.”
“Heehee, nice one.”
“I was mulling that one over for a while.”
“But it was so simple?”
“A certain charm, can only be conveyed through simplicity.”
“Ah, I see.”
“So, what caused this anyways?”
“…Question first. If an opportunity to redo something, over and over, till you got the right answer, appeared in front of you, would you take it?”
“No, that would be cheating.”
“I see. Then, let’s just say, it was someone who hadn’t quite learned that yet.”
“Hm, okay… Oh.”
He hands Neri her notebook back. Neri looks over her writings. She gives it a somber smile.
“Thank you, my past selves, for giving me the guidance I needed.”
She clenches the notebook to her chest.
“I guess, they all deserve some praise, they did a pretty good job, after all.”
“Yeah.”
“Good job, Neri.”
“…Yeah.”
Quinn gets up and stretches out a bit.
“Hey Quinn.”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for the note.”
He scratches his forehead, and says in a bashful way.
“Happy to help.”
Chapter 3: Hunt
Quinn sits in a dark room, as a someone presses the doorbell to his house. A light illuminates his face. On his phone, he sees a golden eyed woman, staring intently into the camera. Quinn talks into his phone.
“Hello, Lilith, I’ve been expecting you.”
A crooked smile spreads across her face.
“Really now? Very interesting. How and why, are you waiting for me?”
She looks up to Quinn’s room.
“Or maybe, I should ask, where you currently are?”
“You’re an oddity hunter, right? Then, come hunt me down.”
“Mehe, you have a bark.”
She gives a displeased frown.
“That usually means, you don’t have any bite.”
“Before you come after me, I have something to ask of you. Well, two things, actually.”
“Those would be?”
“First, I want to have a conversation with you, were you earnestly here my side out.”
“Why should I?”
“Because it will be of interest to you, especially if I have things go my way.”
�
�…We will see.”
“Second, please, don’t hurt my family or friends. They are none the wiser, of the true nature of the changes I’ve been through.”
“Hmm, well, if you don’t run away, I guess I won’t have to hurt them.”
“Thank you.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“Then, the hunt is on.”
She disappears from the cameras view.
“I had thought as much.”
Lucifer says. Quinn drops his hand down.
“Yeah.”
Quinn’s leg starts shaking.
“We don’t have much time left.”
“We did all we could, these last two weeks.”
“When do you think she will find us?”
“Either the fifth or sixth.”
“One or two days.”
Quinn gulps.
“Hopefully, either way, the curiosity will have set in deep enough, that you will have an opportunity to speak with her, before she goes on the offensive.”
“That’s all we can hope for, at this point.”
“Not true, we could hope a meteorite hits her.”
“How big would it have to be?”
“Big enough that we would be caught in the explosion.”
“So, that doesn’t help at all.”
“We could also hope, part of your powers is being meteorite proof.”
“At this point, wouldn’t hoping for a change of heart, be more likely?”
“…No.”
“You really don’t like her.”
“I say that, because I know her.”
“I see… You do know the odds of a meteor that size, is like one in ten million or something, right?”
“Still better odds.”
“Hm.”
The next day, September 5th, Lilith arrives at where her prey awaits. She walks through an abandoned building, the very same these two first met in. The woman comes up to a door, and opens it. Sitting in the center of the room, is Quinn.
“Hey.”
“…”
Lilith walks in, staring at the boy. “Her perpetually wide-open eyes, frighten me.”
“You seem familiar.”
“You nearly killed me in the time loop.”
“Oh, yeah, I vaguely remember something like that.”
Quinn analyzes her lack of movement. “She must be waiting for me to play my hand first. Shame, it would be easier to play off of what she gives me.”
“I can’t say I’m incredibly well versed in the nuances of the oddity world, so excuse me if we start at a fairly simple point.”
“You’re excused.”
“To my understanding, there are specialists on both sides of the spectrum. One’s who work alongside oddities, and those who seek to destroy them.”