Norbert stood at the doorway of his apartment, looking at the number seventeen flashed back at him. He heard voices from the other side. Norbert wrapped his knuckles on them, waiting for several breaths as the voices died down.
Hearing it, Norbert stood there, smiling as it opened up. Sally stood on the other side, and Jack turned around on the table and looked back at him. Giving a wave to him, Norbert made his way in, seeing his bag still where he had left it.
Obsius and the fox move off Norbert, heading towards Jack and the table. Norbert looks at a plate half-eaten in front of his friend.
“So, how is it going?” Norbert asked.
“Shouldn’t we be asking you that?” Jack shot back at him.
Nodding his head in understanding, Norbert stood to the side, walked towards the TV, flopped down on the couch, and placed his feet on the table there. “He got what he deserved, and anyway, it's not like he was concussed.”
“That’s all you're going to say?”
“The specific reason I’ve already told you over the phone is that if you don’t want to believe me, that’s on you.” Norbert provided, flicking the TV on as he surfed the channels, wondering what he wanted to watch.
“Your reason about Casper doing a mass genocide?”
“Not a mass genocide, technically setting a bomb off in an arena and killing all the spectators.” Norbert corrected him, having stopped on a show about renovating houses.
“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t read this on the news.”
“Well, it's not here but somewhere else. Sarah here can tell you about it.” Norbert responded, pointing to the woman patting the fox at the table.
Jack turned to Sarah, raising an eyebrow. “What is he talking about?”
“Come on, Sarah or Sally, tell your big secret. But before that, why did you want me to sign about having Grimm through Masanu?” Norbert asked.
Jack turned around, and all eyes came to him. “Norbert’s lost it due to stress, it seems. It would be best if he had a lie down in his room,” Sally told Jack, reassuringly patting her boyfriend’s shoulder before turning to Norbert, hoisting him off the couch and onto his feet, pushing him into his room, and closing the door behind him.
Norbert walked over to the bed and lay down on it, not bothering to take his shoes off as they landed on his covers.
“What is wrong with you?” Commander Sally stared him down. The light in the room finally warmed up, painting the entire place in an orange glow.
“Nothing much. I just had my entire family threaten to sign a deal you wanted me to. What was all that about?”
Sally turned to Norbert “What deal?”
Norbert closed his eyes, furrowing his brow. “Didn’t you talk to me on the phone while Geoff wanted me to sign about allowing Grimm troupes through Morenas?” Norbert asked, starting to sit upright.
Sally shook her head. .“No, we never had a phone call; what made you think you had the authority?”
“Didn’t you make me ambassador between Grimm and Morenas?” Norbert asked.
Sally half-opened her mouth, closed it again, and nodded her head. “Well, yes, all the paperwork was ready. The first assignment for you and several of Sigma Eight was to establish relations with them due to your already cozzie nature.”
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“So that won’t be needed now?” Norbert asked, hoping it wasn’t true, as the envelope still sat within him, needing delivery.
“Oh, it's definitely still needed,” Sally told him, sitting down in the chair by his desk. Her sigh filled the room as she closed her eyes.
Norbert remains quiet, sitting up.
“Have you decided if you’re going to go back?” Sally asked him.
Norbert mused, remembering his conviction never to set foot when he first looked at the tree under the light. “I can’t do both?” Norbert asked.
“That never works out; it's an easy way of hurting those who care for you on both sides.”
Norbert nodded his head, the images of his family being impacted by this, nothing stopping someone like Casper or the mafia in Italy from capturing or killing them.
Grinding his teeth, Norbert spoke, “How does it work, the family and friends not being abducted and used for ransom?”
“Just as it says, nobody touches people from this side, for if they do, then everyone else can have a free-for-all on them.”
“So nobody has just not cared what happens over here?” Norbert asked.
“Time spent here is seen as a waste. This is a rest zone, a place where you cannot recover as quickly or gain the power that is needed.”
“So why do people ever come back, apart from needing a break or not wanting to continue?”
“There isn’t another reason, most who have been moving this long, if they care about the other side and haven’t holed up and just waited it out,” Sally told him, no longer looking at the ceiling, pausing for a moment before continuing. Though that never happens, the gods' influence on their champion will always make them continue forward, for better or for worse.”
Norbert nodded his head, half seeing the pieces slowly start to come together. “Mind if I ask who your champion is? Or was?” Norbert asked her.
A quivering smile landed on Sally’s face, a quick air intake as she looked about, nodding her head and uttering the words “Lucinda, god of fortune,” she whispered.
Norbert raised an eyebrow, gears ticking in his head. “You still in contact with them?”
“This and that, now busy with his new champion, but I still get some things.”
Norbert nodded his head, mouth quivering open, wondering if he should ask the question, the words of Doctor Doctor banging in his head, “Getting prophetic dreams about the world ending with an eldritch abomination taking everything you care for?”
Sally froze in front of Norbert, Norbert watching as she stared past Norbert, eyes glazing over. Norbert just stared at her, seeing the colour come back as she focused on Norbert, beads of sweat forming on her hand, a shake of her head, the only response to Norbert.
Standing on shaky legs, she walked towards the door, resting her hand as she turned to him. “It was just luck that I met with you here, Norbert. To have a break, a moment of fun showing a young man some new experiences. Don’t ruin this for me.”
Norbert stayed where he was as the door closed on him, unable to move his body as he wondered what Sally might have been shown. A phantom hand crept up his spine, tickling against his back as he was reminded of what he saw in the mirror.
He floated back down onto the bed, staring up at the light on his ceiling, two objects on either side of him casting shadows. His eyes adjusted as Norbert saw both Obsius and the fox's head on either side, staring down at him.
Obsius pecked him on the forehead, the fox turning away with a swish of its white tail going over Norbert’s head. Feeling it twitch his nose, scrunching it up to stop himself from sneezing. “We all know I’m going back there,” Norbert spoke aloud to those listening in his room.
“I thought I was finally out.”
Obsius pecked him, and Norbert smiled as he brushed the bird away, continuing to stare up at the ceiling.
“Wouldn’t you think that when able to escape, you would take the first opportunity?”
“But can you live with yourself, leaving all those people behind?” A voice said in his mind.
Norbert chuckled to himself, wondering if maybe the others were right about him finally losing it. “I don’t know if I can, the smiles on their faces being taken from them, the help they have given me, and I give nothing in return.”
“But that’s the point of help," the voice said, the words tickling his ear. It’s given with nothing expected in return.”
Norbert nodded his head, musing on the words he had been given: “We're going to go all in on this, aren’t we?"
“That we are; take the time you have left instead of staring up at a ceiling locked in your room.”
Norbert nodded, understanding. “It's not like we aren’t going to come back here, but it's just going to be interesting.” Norbert mused, “Wonder how long it will take for this to go on?”
No response came from it. With a shaky breath, Norbert sat up, spinning his legs off the bed. Obsius fluttering her wings in surprise, Norbert looking about the room, seeing the fox sitting in the chair by his desk, having it turned around to look at him, a smug smile on its face.
Thinking back to his conversation, Norbert said, “Was that you?” He asked
The fox just jumped off the chair, heading to the door, a slight crack as it slipped through. Norbert shook his head as he followed, formulating what he would tell his family about the sudden gap year he would be taking.