When Veronica, Hawk, TYO and Djon arrived where Eto was standing, his grandpa had disappeared. Even though Eto missed him, he wasn’t feeling sad anymore. He trusted his grandpa’s words that one day he would see him again. In this Nexus thing that he had told him.

‘Eto,’ Veronica called slowly to him and she stepped beside him. She was relieved that he was smiling and he slowly looked at her.

‘Sorry for putting you guys through so much trouble,’ he said softly and Veronica shook her head, letting him know that she didn’t mind.

Instead she looked back at Hawk who looked at Eto with a scared look on his face. Eto followed her gaze and also looked at him.

‘Eto,’ he said but he didn’t know what to say. He wanted to say sorry again for not telling him.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not telling you anything. To all of you,’ he said and quickly looked at the rest.

Eto slowly walked up to him.

‘I’m sorry that I worked for someone like professor Khalcazar and I should have known better, but the thing is,’ he said but Eto interrupted him.

He had come before him and grabbed Hawk, hugging him.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Eto whispered to him. Hawk’s eyes became wider.

Eto’s words made tears come up but he didn’t mind. It were the words he hoped to hear and slowly he grabbed Eto, hugging him back.

When they let each other go, Eto looked at him with the recognizable smile he always had.

‘It doesn’t matter what you did or what you said. We were friends then, and we are friends now.’

Hawk still felt the tears coming but he held them back. He put his hand on Eto’s shoulder and slowly said ‘thank you’.

Everybody gathered around them and finally Hawk was brave enough to talk to Eto about it.

‘What had happened to you? You have been gone a year,’ he said and the moment he said those words, Eto was shocked.

‘A year? What do you mean a year?’

Hawk started counting with the fingers on his metal arm, making sure he was right.

‘When you had been blasted away by Tlaw, I fled this planet and crashed on Capgelu. It took almost a year when you arrived.’

Everybody looked at him with confusion.

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‘That can’t be right. I was blasted off and landed on Veronica’s planet. After that we went to Capgelu. It can’t be that long?’ Eto asked, now wondering if he was right.

Hawk shook his head.

‘I crashed right after this planet was attacked on Capgelu. I have been helping the people there for over a year. In the meantime I tried so many experiments in the hope to find you. Until one day you opened my door and stood there. You don’t know how hard it was to keep calm and not to let you know that I already knew you.’

Eto slammed his fist into his other hand.

‘That’s why I recognized you. Because we already knew each other. Not because you are a famous professor,’ Eto said.

Hawk looked a little bit defeated.

‘I became famous as the assistant of the famous professor,’ he mumbled and Veronica laughed about it.

‘You were afraid you would damage his memories if you would make him remember you, didn’t you?’ Veronica said to Hawk.

‘That, and I promised Tlaw. He wanted to make sure Eto would find his own way and memories.’

‘Pleep meep’ TYO said with his high-pitched voice.

‘If the timeline is correct, it seems that the only part that is unclear is where Eto was shot into space until he landed.’

Veronica looked at TYO.

‘But that can’t be possible. That means Eto must have traveled through space for a year,’ she said with a nervous smile.

They all looked at each other with surprise. It stayed quiet for a while until Djon started talking.

‘Not wanting to be the one to crack the riddle but there are weirder things going on in space than something traveling through dark space for a year.’

‘So that means it’s true?’ Eto almost yelled, shocked by the idea.

‘Easy there boy. I’m only saying that we shouldn’t exclude it. Until we know for sure.’

They all looked at each other and Djon gave a little grin.

‘Man, what a bunch of wackos I end up with.’

Hawk wanted to respond to that but Djon already started to say ‘I love it’ with a big smile, showing his sharp teeth.

‘So what now?’ he said enthusiastically.

They all looked at Eto and for the first time since he smiled, he looked serious again.

‘I have to get to the center of the universe. To the last world,’ he said with confidence.

‘Why?’ Veronica asked and he looked at her.

‘It is being held by darkness and according to my grandpa, I am the only one who can stop it there.’

‘You’re grandpa?’ Djon asked and Eto nodded.

‘I have seen him just now, right there,’ he said and he pointed through the dust.

‘Tlaw?’ Hawk asked and he took a few steps, hoping he could see the old man again. Instead he saw nothing but the dirt and sandstorm.

‘There is 0% chance he is still there. In a world like this, swallowed by the darkness, nothing could be left alive,’ TYO said slowly.

Hawk looked disappointed but he tried to change his expression before turning around.

‘Alright, so what do we do?’ he asked.

Eto looked at his friends. He didn’t want to put them at risk by going with him but on the other hand, he believed he needed them to help him on his journey.

‘I want to ask you guys,’ but his words were interrupted.

Above the storm, loud bangs were heard.

‘Back to the ship’ Djon said who looked up like the rest.

‘We got company.’