Chapter 150

– 00:00:00:00 –

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Seconds before the shockwave from the explosion reduced me to ash, a barrier of sky-shard exploded from within me and shielded me from the blast. I felt hands on my shoulders, tender hands, ones that I felt like I should know.

– YOU LET ME INTO YOUR HEART AND SAVED ME, NOW LET ME RETURN THE FAVOUR –

 

That voice! It was both inside my head and a physical presence behind me.

 

“Gary!?!” I asked as I turned around to face the voice.

Standing in front of me was a dark-skinned man with silver hair, his eyes were like a thousand galaxies all trying to outshine each other, and he had the most devious smile I’d ever seen.

“In the actual flesh,” he replied, “Do you like my hat? I think it makes me look rather fetching.”

 

Without thinking, I slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

“That’s for making me think you were dead!” I snapped.

“I deserved that,” he replied with a smirk on his face.

And then I grabbed the front of his clothes and pulled him in for a kiss.

“And that’s for saving my life.”

I lingered for longer than I’d intended with that kiss, and when I pulled away, the smug bastards grin was even bigger.

 

“And I definitely deserved that!”

I glared at him and he just laughed, backing away from me with his arms raised.

 

“So, what are you?” I asked, trying to figure out how an A.I. was suddenly standing in front of me in the real world.

 

“I’ll answer all your questions later, for now, we have a ship to catch.”

Gary placed his arms around my waist and instantly I felt myself disintegrate into tiny particles of sky-shard and could sense myself moving through space. In less than a second, I was standing on a spaceship, my spaceship. Small piles of sky-shard dust pooled around my feet and Gary stood beside me, surprisingly with no dust piles around him.

“Friends of yours, I hope?” he chuckled as he casually leaned against the wall.

In front of us were three familiar faces, each one holding a gun to my head.

“Ahhhh, hi guys.”