Parker collapsed backwards onto the ground, out of breath. “Am I ever going to get this?”
“You’re trying something we don’t even know is possible,” Master Kingston said.
Alexis and Caleb stared at Parker as he laid practically unconscious on the ground. Even though he was laying on the ground, he could still hear them whispering to each other.
“What are you two going on about?” Parker asked, rolling over to look at them.
Their eyes went wide when Parker spoke up. “Uh…” Caleb started. “Nothing…”
Parker stared at them suspiciously. “Is there something you’d like to say?” He loaded as much frustration into his question as possible, hoping to guilt them into saying whatever it was.
“Well…” Alexis began. “It’s just… you’ve been at this a while now and we still haven’t seen any progress. What if it’s just not possible?”
“It has to be!” Parker exploded, causing everyone to take a step back.
“Parker, calm down please,” Master Kingston said, leaning down to put a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s take a break for a while and we can try again later.” Master Kingston walked out of the room with a loud sigh.
They watched her until she turned the corner. “She seems frustrated too,” Parker said. “I don’t understand why it won’t work! It’s definitely something I should be able to do.”
Alexis and Caleb stared at him again. “Why do you think that?” Caleb asked.
“Because we should be able to do anything!”
Caleb stared at him like he was an idiot. “No we can’t.”
“Maybe you can’t,” Parker spat out. “But Alexis and I should be able to.” Parker felt bad immediately when he saw Caleb’s head drop. “I’m—”
Caleb didn’t wait to hear the end of it as he left the room at a quick pace. “Now why did you go and say that?” Alexis scolded.
Parker moaned and groaned from his spot on the floor. “I’ve been trying for so long…”
“Maybe it’s time we think of something else to stop Lara? This new Earth has screwed so many things up. I mean we can’t even use our Space Imperial yet. Maybe we should focus on that first. You know, set small goals.”
They stared at each other without saying anything for a moment. “Hailee would probably know what to do…” Alexis said under her breath.
Parker swore that he could see a tear roll down her cheek so he got up as quickly as he could and wrapped her in a hug. “It’s just it’s already been almost three year and I feel like we haven’t accomplished anything yet.”
“It’ll be okay. We’ll figure this out. Remember, if we can travel back in time and change the way the future happens, it doesn’t matter how long it takes us right now to figure it out.”
Parker kissed her on the cheek, realizing that she was absolutely right. Without saying anything else, they grabbed each other’s hand and walked out of the room they were in.
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“I’m just worried about Caleb,” Alexis said as they walked toward the fountain in the middle of the mall they were at. “It’s been almost three years and he’s still hanging onto her death so heavily. I’m afraid it’s going to take a permanent toll on him. And you giving him crap like you did today isn’t helping that!” She squeezed his hand tightly and he yanked his away yelping as he did so.
“I think we need to just take a break from training and go exploring. Try to distract ourselves for a little bit. What do you think?” Parker asked.
Alexis nodded her head slightly as she stared at the fountain. “Where do you want to go? Most everything around here’s been explored already.” Parker knew Alexis was right but he had to get away and distract himself.
They stared at each other for a short while trying to think where to go. Having their Space Imperials throne off on Earth 2 was throwing a big kink in the way they were used to living. Parker has grown quite fond of being able to teleport himself places before Lara went and destroyed their world, literally and metaphorically.
“I have an idea!” Parker exclaimed. He grabbed Alexis’s hand and pulled her after him.
“Where are we going?” She stuttered, stumbling along as he pulled on her arm.
------
They ran for a short while through a small patch of woods that was adjacent to the mall and up the small hills on the other side. After a while, Parker finally came to a stop at the top of the tallest hill in the area. “Close your eyes,” he instructed.
Alexis looked at him with a confused expression and did as she was told. “What are we—” Her words stopped when Parker kissed her. They broke the kiss off after just a few seconds and Alexis opened her eyes.
Parker looked at her as her face grew more and more red. It always made Parker’s stomach do somersaults when Alexis’s face went red like this because it only happened when he kissed her.
“I know it’s been a rough few years since everything happened. I’m sorry I’ve been so on edge lately.” Parker struggled to make eye contact like he always did when he felt bad. Alexis leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly. “It’s just when we came up with the idea of going back in time to change things, I really thought we had a legitimate chance of getting Hailee back and stopping Lara.”
“Don’t give up yet. We’ll figure out how to do it.” She leaned back so she could see Parker’s face.
“I’m not giving up. I’m just trying to figure out what to do differently.”
Alexis took a deep breath. “Don’t stress about it right now, okay? We’ll figure something out.”
They laid down in the grass together to look up at the sky. As the sun set, the sky ignited. The clouds looked like they were on fire with the reds and oranges that were cast across them. Parker loved coming up here with Alexis. It was like no one else knew about this spot so it was always empty when they got there.
Ever since they’d found the mall they were staying at, most of the group didn’t spread out much. They did their best to stay contained in a small area, hoping they wouldn’t run into anyone. In the time that they’d been on Earth 2, most everyone had left their jobs, figuring this was a new world with new rules and a lot of things turned to chaos rather quickly. Each city was slightly different from the last. It was clear that most of them were being run by either whoever made it their first, or by whoever thought they were deemed worthy of the position but a lot of the areas they passed through were rundown and abandoned.
Parker had seen many different areas that were burned to the ground. Now, whether that was just something that happened in the jump from Earth 1 to Earth 2 or if it had been from Imperials disagreeing in different areas, he wasn’t sure. He simply hoped that it wasn’t the latter of those two.
Within the first few months, the group that made the jump from Lancastre hadn’t gone as far to even leave the castle. They spent the beginning by figuring out who had even made the jump, and sadly it wasn’t everyone. Many of the masters didn’t make it which put that much more strain and stress on the masters that did.
Parker could tell that Master Kingston was still reeling from the loss of Master Keegan and Master Hyland. Those two seemed to take the most toll on her. Master Sora seemed upset but even more upset at the number of students who didn’t make it.
Master Sora came up with the idea to make a cemetery on the school grounds to honor all those who didn’t make it. Parker couldn’t remember a time where he’d seen more people sob at once. He remembered staring at the mass of gravestones they’d made, feeling completely empty.
Lara had taken so much in a matter of seconds. He didn’t understand how someone in their right mind could do something like that but he also couldn’t imagine what it was like to lose a daughter.
Parker hated to admit it, but it was weeks before he’d even thought about his parents. They’d been so focused and distracted by seeing who hadn’t made it at the school that he didn’t think about them. Sadly, there was still no way of telling whether or not they’d survived. The best thing they could do now was reverse time so there was no question about it.