12:55 AM: Bedtime

“S-shit!” Clay uttered upon Ophelia’s sudden arrival.

Clay, having realized that his night training was over, franticly pointed at the now mutated fly in a panicked tone “c-C- CHANGE BACK!”

Nothing happened. The monstrous fly just floated in place; its head seemingly tilted in confusion.

After taking a deep breath, Clay tried once again, as he pointed at the extra-large fly and let out the command “SHRINK!”

Once again, nothing happened to the fly.

“God damn it! …. Why is it not working now of all times!?” Clay panicked. Just when he thought he had control of his powers, he realized-

Before Clay could truly begin to panic, the hulking fly’s head suddenly fell onto the ground, which caused its body to spew brown-ish bodily fluids all over the fledgling Chosen’s gray sweat suit.

“What the-? GAH!” Clay cried out in disgust.

As Clay started desperately trying to wipe the hemolymph, a term for fly blood he had discovered from a random google search, he could hear the whistle of a small wire being pulled back.

“Call them off. Now.” Ophelia coldly and forcefully ordered Clay, her hands in both her pockets and staring him down with the most intense and piercing glare that he had seen in his life.

Clay had many questions for Ophelia, the first among them being did you just decapitate a huge god damn fly? How? But right now, he needed to focus on the potential crisis at hand.

“DISPERSE!” Clay commanded, his voice slightly shaking since he wasn’t sure if he had picked the right wording for the flies. Though Clay did wave both of his arms in a wide, sweeping motion in case what he said failed.

Without delay, the flies all flew away from Clay and Ophelia, all moving in different directions. Clay breathed a sigh of relief, one which would be unceremoniously interrupted by a tight, forceful tug on his sweatshirt.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ophelia repeated, the intense glare still in her eyes.

“…. I heard you the first time.” Clay rebuffed as he pushed against Ophelia, which caused her to let go of his sweatshirt.

“What the hell are you thinking? Dumb ass. We have no idea-”

“I could ask you the same god damn question!” Clay snapped at Ophelia.

“All you’ve done since…. I met you, is shoot me down. In more ways than one.” Clay explained, his light joke at the end belying the frustration that had been building up for weeks.

A moment of silence then fell upon Clay and Ophelia for a couple of minutes which to them felt like a couple of hours. The sound of the wind, animals and deep breaths filling the vacant soundscape.

“….. Please answer my question first. Why are you playing with your powers?” Ophelia requested, finally breaking the long, tense silence. The tone of her voice was as shaky and low as it was earlier in the day.

“And why the hell should I?” Clay objected; bitter anger seethed into his words.

“I mean, we have no clue how your powers work. What the hell would you do if, I don’t know, that monster from a minute ago just decided to stop listening to you?” Ophelia desperately suggested.

“… I would have figured something out…” Clay mumbled with stubborn pride.

“Well, I don’t like playing with shit I have no clue how it will-”

“THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU EVEN HERE!?!” Clay yelled at Ophelia.

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“I don’t know shit about what's going to happen. I just know that the me from your world is dead and died young. Even my status as the Chosen doesn’t protect me….” Clay ranted at Ophelia, looking away from her. Ophelia could not see the panic in Clay’s face that his voice projected.

“Who the hell told- Shane!” Ophelia quickly realized.

“Point is, I’m probably screwed no matter what I do. But don’t ask me why…. but I think I got a sliver of a chance that I can make it out of this. But that sliver isn’t going to happen if I just sit around and whine about my ‘cruel fate’, so I need to use everything I got.” Clay proclaimed, though far more solemn than confident.

“….. God damn it. Stop sounding like him….” Ophelia quietly requested as her gaze turned downward.

“….. What was he like?” Clay hesitantly asked.

“…. He didn’t last as long but he was a lot better than you.” Ophelia bluntly told Clay.

“You know that’s not a high bar to reach right?” Clay suggested in a tone more lighthearted than his self-deprecating words would imply.

“So, is this why you decided to fight….?” Ophelia wondered to herself in a quiet mumble.

“Huh, what did you just say?”

“Don’t use this as an excuse to end your life! No matter what, you’ve gotta hold on to the hope that we can make a dent against these ethereal bastards.” Ophelia explained to Clay, her gaze now looking toward him.

“Wow, a lot to unpack there. First, who the hell said I wanted this to play out like a suicide mission?” Clay questioned as he rubbed the back of his head.

“Then stop talking shit about yourself, ok? If even you mean nothing, what hope does the rest of the world have?” Ophelia advised.

“Let me guess, that was another…. me line?” Clay hesitantly posited, turning his gaze downward. Ophelia nodded in response, Clay only noticing thanks to the slight illumination of moonlight.

“Goddamn, your version of me really seems like a cool kid.” Clay remarked, and soon started to laugh.

“Hey, he was pretty old when he died… around 15 I think?” Ophelia objected.

“Oh god damn it, please don’t remind me….” Clay asked as his laughter died down as quickly as it arrived.

“Hey, do you think I wanted to be reminded of that too? You- He was …. hopeful, even in a world where there was no reason to be. He would always looking after my useless ass back in the day. Despite spending almost every day fleeing from giant rats and savaging for limited supplies, he would always tell me to look forward to tomorrow….” Ophelia lamented with a wistful smile.

“Damn…. I see. Well sorry, I was just born with this face. You are just going to have to get used to it.” Clay proclaimed; Ophelia only responded with a grunt.

“Hey, this isn’t easy for me either. Can you imagine the abject horror of learning about your own death? God damn it….” Clay ranted, shivers running all along his back. Though Clay had no idea if the chills were due to the terror engulfing his mind, or the sharp cold wind that, even while wearing a sweat suit, was still colder than he had grown accustomed to while living in Vegas.

“…. Looks like it’s something we both have to work out.” Ophelia listlessly proclaimed as she walked over to Clay and lightly grabbed his shoulder.

“Let’s head back. I’m tired as hell and I can imagine you are too.” Ophelia suggested to Clay, taking a step forward.

“Yeah, let’s head-”

As Clay took his first step back to camp, he lost his footing and as he fell, his vision began to fade. Before he could hit the ground, Ophelia moved in front of Clay and caught him by his shoulders, pushing him back to his feet.

“What the hell just happened? Did you slip?” Ophelia asked as she caught her breath.

“Not quite, my body just felt heavy. Thanks, by the way.” Clay vaguely explained while his hand was pressed against his forehead.

As Clay took another step forward, he quickly lost his balance and began to stumble. Before he could fall again, Ophelia grabbed one of Clay’s arms and placed it onto her shoulder.

“Seems like you should take this as warning, don’t play with your powers, ok?” Ophelia quipped as she walked back to the camp with Clay in tow.

“Yeah, don’t bet on it. The thing about me is I rarely learn my lesson….” Clay replied, as he used Ophelia’s shoulder to keep his balance as he walked alongside her.

“Thanks for the assist, though don’t think this makes up for the head shot back in the tile store.” Clay added.

“Yeah, you really don’t need to remind me. I know I screwed up there.” Ophelia admitted as she looked away from Clay.

“By the way, I know you were chosen by the Lord of the Void and all, but why are you really doing all this?” Ophelia wondered.

“I mean… What else is going on in my life? Even before all this Chosen business and all this confusing shit about alternate dimensions, I really had nothing going for me. No job, no friends outside Shane, no girlfriend….” Clay bitterly reflected, the words coming from his mouth feeling as heavy as his body now.

“Wow…. You really are pathetic.” Ophelia commented. She wanted to laugh at Clay, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that.

“Yeah, you really don’t need to remind me. I know.” Clay repeated.

“Well, I guess, welcome to the fight. Whether we want to or not, I have a feeling we are going to be in this shit for as long as we last.” Ophelia grimly proclaimed, her voice a mix of heavy foreboding and lighthearted banter.

“…. Thanks.” Clay dryly and sarcastically said.

“I know I always dreamed of being the hero who fought to save the world, but I really didn’t want a tsundere….” Clay audibly mumbled.

“What the hell is a tsundere?” Ophelia asked in a confused tone.

“I’ll tell you later. If you are going to stick with me, you better be ready for the long haul.” Clay warned Ophelia, who started to laugh while Ophelia kept dogging him for an answer as the RV camp came into view for them.