His hair was wild, just like when he first came to me. I knew he had gone threw a lot more than I could understand. And he was asking me to join him. To go back with him.
What could I say? No? But he said he needed me. I eyed his scar again. It ran from his right ear lobe to his chin. I might not have even noticed it, if I hadn't known it was there. If I hadn't been the one to heal it.
His black eyes bore into mine. He was so barbaric. I looked down to hide from those eyes. They were so real and honest. Nothing like the "civilized" people nowadays. They were the eyes I fell in love with.
"Please?" he whispered. "Please?"
I had to answer him. Even if I did this, time would still exist. Wouldn't it? I thought.
"I need to know one thing first," I reached to him, and put my hand on his cheek, he looked down.
"Yes?" I was going to ask him the one thing he had ordered me to never ask. That had been the agreement. I would heal him, and never tell. I would ask no questions. He was simply going to use me. But now, he asked for something more. So I did, as well.
"I need to know where and when you came from."
His dark eyes seemed to glaze over, and his jaw tightened. I pulled my hand away sharply. He looked like he was going to bit me. It felt like forever, wondering if he'd answer. Wondering if maybe he changed his mind, that I was actually just like all the others of this time: empty and cold. Maybe he decided I didn't matter to him anymore.
But then he sighed, and answered, "I'm from the 22nd Century. I was a scientist, and we had just created a machine that we thought might be able to bring us to the future," he swallowed. "There were people who didn't believe us; people who didn't want it to be true. Someone attacked our lab, and was just about to kill me, when I activated this," he held up a large handheld remote. It looked so pathetic and boxy. "And landed here. You saved me."
I nodded. I knew it was something along those lines. That made me have one more question, though. "Why do you need me to come with you? I don't see what I could do for your time."
He smiled roughly. His teeth weren't whitened or even straight. It took me a while to adjust my eyes to bring myself to look at them when he first found me, but now I don't know if I could live without them.
"It's not that my time needs you. It's that I need you. You see, I know you will come back with me. It's fate."
I smiled ruefully. Fate. What a silly thing. It's almost as if saying that the Boogeyman exists and lives under your bed. But of course he believes in that. They were so supersticious back then.
"What makes you think that's not true?" he asked with a frown.
"I just know it's not," I answered simply. Those were times when parents let their children believe in old men in big red suits who snuck into your house at night and beat you if you were bad. What kind of society would that be?
"No you don't. How is that any less real than love? You do love me. So what's the difference?" his voice began to rise with passion. I shrunk away. I don't think I'd ever seen someone get as frantic about a side of an argument as he did. "Fate exists just as much as I do!" He exclaimed, coming up to me and holding me by the arms. My eyes widened as I stared back up at him.
"I love you so much that I know for a fact you'll come back with me!" He shouted. I laughed and shushed him. He laughed too.
He grinned at me, and kissed me on the forehead harshly. I still had to get used to how rough he was, I guess. He let go of me, and paced the perimeter of the room, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
"I want you to come with me," he murmured. "But I don't know how to convince you."
He smiled, this time sweetly, understandingly. He approched me, tentatively. I looked up into his eyes, and he leaned down to kiss me.
"We fell in love. You know that for sure?" he asked me.
"Yes," I answered.
He laughed at me. "Well isn't that close enough to fate?" he grinned.
"If you want it to be," I whispered, then slipped my arms around his chest, clasping them behind his back. I looked down, trying to not show how frightened I was.
"You're shaking," he breathed in my hair.
"I'm scared." So much for hiding it, I thought.
"Don't worry. I'll be with you."
Suddenly, I felt like I was spinning in circles, dancing almost. I clung to him tighter. I didn't feel the ground under my feet anymore. I closed my eyes as tight as possible.
As long as I'm with him, I thought, Time will still exist. It has to. We're in love.
