Young Writers Society

The Darkness...?

It sounded like a title, but Soul didn't have the slightest idea what the title meant. Darkness was one of Mage's Sins. Those with were ostracized for being like demons—and, in Mage's case, for being one of the worst kinds of demons—but Harry made it sound like it was some kind of position.

"...If the couch isn't going to move," Soul slowly said, "why is Vankous wincing?"

"Don't ask. Long story," chorused both Stean and Harry once again while Vankous let out something that sounded like a squeal and a sigh at the same time.

That was something that Soul did want to ask about, but he decided not to push his luck. Instead, he searched the cabin for a private room he could go to. He could still feel the sand in his armor, and was sure there were a few burnt pieces of fabric in there as well now.

"Is there a room I can go into to shake out my armor?" he asked.

"Ehh, there's no like armor changing room or anything in case you want something specific, but umm, you can just duck into the bathroom, its right at the end of this little hallway. Vankous, point," said Harry.

A large purple X promptly appeared in front of a white door behind where Vankous was standing outside the bedroom area.

Soul stared at the X that had suddenly appeared, then turned back to Harry and Vankous with what had to be a smile. Mage couldn't tell for sure with Soul's helmet on, but he knew how to read him.

(Soul was also always polite, which supposedly was because his actual partner wasn't.)

"Thank you," Soul said.

He walked over to the bathroom and stepped inside. He shut the door behind him with a click. It wasn't until he was inside the room that Mage realized he wasn't really sure where Soul was going to put the sand.

Harry nodded in reply. He had no idea what Soul planned to do in there, but he understood that he needed some time alone to deal with whatever was going on with that armor.

He turned to Mage.

"Heyy, so how long has it been for you since we met?" asked Harry, "kind of a weird question I know, but time for me is not...linear shall we say?"

In the background Stean proceeded to drag James and head in the direction of Vankous gesturing wildly towards the bedroom. Harry assumed it had something to do with the sheets.

Mage tried to ignore what Stean was doing with James and Vankous.

He didn't entirely understand how time wouldn't be linear, but Harry had shown him things he didn't even think were possible the last time they met. Harry experiencing non-linear time kind of made sense when he thought of that way.

"It's been a little under a year," Mage said. He tore his gaze away from the others and focused on Harry. "...How long has it been for you?"

Harry nodded, mildly surprised. He'd known it'd been a much shorter time for Mage than it was for him, but he had no idea it had been quite that small. One year was basically nothing in the context of time Harry operated in.

He smiled. "Wow, its been so much longer for me. I didn't realize the gap could be that big, but its been maybe eight hundred and sixty or so years since that day, maybe plus or minus a couple of years."

Mage's eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"That's so long!" he managed to get out. Mage couldn't imagine what his world would look like in eight hundred and sixty years, much less imagine what it would be like to live long enough to see it.

Maybe he should have expected it. Harry had mentioned long periods of time passing before, but Mage hadn't ever really realized that he could meet Harry again after another long stretch of time. He had assumed that it had been the same amount of time for him as it had been for Mage.

He frantically glanced in the direction that Vankous, Stean, and James had gone.

"Has it been that long for them, too?" he asked.

"Yes," said Harry, with a small smile. "I know that probably seems ridiculously big to you, but that's just our job. We do all work together."

Mage had always assumed that the others were more human than Harry was, but humans weren't ever supposed to live as long as that. The only kind of people that had lives that long were angels. If this had been when they first met, Mage might have assumed they were secretly angels to explain it all. But he knew that Harry's world (worlds?) acted differently than his own, so he tried not to be too surprised by the reveal.

(He wasn't all that successful.)

Then his mind drifted to the second part of what Harry had said. He couldn't have imagined being part of a team a year ago, but his friend was just down the hallway. He wasn't as alone as he had been before.

"I've been working with other people more," Mage said. He gave Harry a hesitant smile. "Not a...lot. People still don't like demons. But people like Soul, and Soul and I have been traveling together."

His smile grew a little.

"It's hard saying no to someone wearing an intimidating suit of armor."

Harry smiled wider at Mage's declaration. When he'd last run into Mage, it had been quite clear that Mage had almost no one in his life, besides the one person that he'd already lost. To see that he'd managed to move past that now and make some friends put Harry an entirely different level of happiness.

"That is true," said Harry, with a small chuckle. "Its so good to hear that you've got other people now, people you can trust and people who will be around. Soul seems like he's really nice."

"He is," Mage agreed. He glanced down the hallway at the thought of Soul, only to look back a moment later when he realized it was rude to look away from Harry. "I tried acting cold to him when we first met, but he saw through it not long after. We've been traveling together ever since then."

"Ohh...he seems like a friend you definitely need to keep around then," said Harry with a nod. "I'm so happy to hear all of this. Really. You seem so much happier now and I love it."

The words made warmth settle in his chest.

"Thank you," he said, cheeks red. He wasn't really sure how to react to something like that. "Have you been okay, too? It's been a long time, but..."

He awkwardly trailed off. He still couldn't entirely wrap his head around how many centuries Harry had been alive.