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Title: Black Edelweiss (Interlude)
Series: Zeitgeist
Follows: One Giant Leap
Wordcount: 655
Summary: Three days after Claire Bennet's televised leap from the Ferris wheel, Javier needs help coming to terms with what this new world of specials means for him....
Details: Minimal details due to inflation. Full details in main post.
PREV: Chapter Three // MAIN // NEXT: Chapter Four
Javier & Ike—New York; December 6th, 2010
"I think...I might be one of them," Javier said.
The sentence dragged, painful coming out like removing a barbed splinter. He had spent all night trying to figure out how to start this talk, but none of the openings he considered had sounded remotely promising...or sane. Still, he knew if he didn't just go ahead and say it he was going to chicken out. And he needed to tell somebody. Somebody he could trust, and who didn't have a stake in what he had seen. Somebody he knew could keep a secret.
Ike had been it.
"One of...?"
His former partner's face twisted in brief confusion, an expression that only changed in flavor as he realized what Javier meant.
"Wait, one of them?" Ike asked, stressing the word significantly. "The people. With the, er...powers."
"Uh-huh," Javier managed weakly.
Hitting his beer to wet his dry throat, Javier wound up taking about half of it in one swallow. He sat for a long, dazed moment, unable to imagine what came next in this kind of conversation. Though he hadn't intended it, the pause drew out. Eventually, Ike grew restless and asked.
"What... What happened? I mean, there's gotta be some reason you think that, right?"
"I'm going to tell you," Javier promised with a slow nod, pointedly not looking at Ike, not wanting to see what was reflected in his face just yet. "I'll tell you, but you have to swear to God you will not laugh. I mean it. If you laugh, I walk out that door and I never talk to you again."
Javier tore his eyes away from nothing to look at Ike then, relieved when the man's gaze—intent more than anything else—showed that he was taking the situation seriously.
"Alright, Javier, I get it. I promise."
Javier accepted the promise, but it still took him a few more seconds to muster the words together.
"Back in summer," he began, "I think...I think I saw the future."
He watched Ike's face, wishing for a brief second that the man wasn't so adept at keeping things hidden.
"Only I didn't just see it," Javier clarified, speaking low, slowly, cautious. "I think I was actually there."
Ike stared at him for a moment, quiet and still and considering, before he managed to respond.
"You swear this isn't a joke?" Ike asked. Not accusing, simply asking for confirmation.
"On my sister's kids," Javier swore.
The fact that, by his estimate, his sister wouldn't have "kids"—plural—for at least another three years was a detail he did not feel comfortable pointing out.
There was another pause before Ike cautiously asked...
"So you're saying you...you think you...time traveled?"
Javier hesitated a moment before he gave a reluctant nod.
"Yeah," Javier confirmed. "Something like that."
"And this all happened months ago?"
"Back in June," Javier said, adding after some quick math in his head. "So just over half a year?"
"And you're only telling me now because you think I might believe you?"
Javier met Ike's gaze evenly.
"Dude, back then I didn't believe it happened. I thought it was just a dream. A weird, vivid, screwed up dream, but..." Javier sat back, running a hand over his face. "Okay, there were things that didn't add up about it, but I tried to forget them. Because back then everyone knew that sort of shit was impossible. Only now..."
Javier paused, feeling again the sucking dread he'd felt the night he watched that girl jump and shatter and still somehow come away unharmed.
"Now nobody knows what is and isn't possible."
Ike nodded quietly, digesting what he'd heard.
"Okay," Ike said finally. "I think I'm on board so far."
A beat passed before it sank in that Ike believed him—or at the very least, hadn't decided he was nuts.
"Well good," Javier said, almost managing to sound normal. "Because that's not even the weirdest part..."
PREV: Chapter Three // MAIN // NEXT: Chapter Four
Series: Zeitgeist
Follows: One Giant Leap
Wordcount: 655
Summary: Three days after Claire Bennet's televised leap from the Ferris wheel, Javier needs help coming to terms with what this new world of specials means for him....
Details: Minimal details due to inflation. Full details in main post.
PREV: Chapter Three // MAIN // NEXT: Chapter Four
Javier & Ike—New York; December 6th, 2010
"I think...I might be one of them," Javier said.
The sentence dragged, painful coming out like removing a barbed splinter. He had spent all night trying to figure out how to start this talk, but none of the openings he considered had sounded remotely promising...or sane. Still, he knew if he didn't just go ahead and say it he was going to chicken out. And he needed to tell somebody. Somebody he could trust, and who didn't have a stake in what he had seen. Somebody he knew could keep a secret.
Ike had been it.
"One of...?"
His former partner's face twisted in brief confusion, an expression that only changed in flavor as he realized what Javier meant.
"Wait, one of them?" Ike asked, stressing the word significantly. "The people. With the, er...powers."
"Uh-huh," Javier managed weakly.
Hitting his beer to wet his dry throat, Javier wound up taking about half of it in one swallow. He sat for a long, dazed moment, unable to imagine what came next in this kind of conversation. Though he hadn't intended it, the pause drew out. Eventually, Ike grew restless and asked.
"What... What happened? I mean, there's gotta be some reason you think that, right?"
"I'm going to tell you," Javier promised with a slow nod, pointedly not looking at Ike, not wanting to see what was reflected in his face just yet. "I'll tell you, but you have to swear to God you will not laugh. I mean it. If you laugh, I walk out that door and I never talk to you again."
Javier tore his eyes away from nothing to look at Ike then, relieved when the man's gaze—intent more than anything else—showed that he was taking the situation seriously.
"Alright, Javier, I get it. I promise."
Javier accepted the promise, but it still took him a few more seconds to muster the words together.
"Back in summer," he began, "I think...I think I saw the future."
He watched Ike's face, wishing for a brief second that the man wasn't so adept at keeping things hidden.
"Only I didn't just see it," Javier clarified, speaking low, slowly, cautious. "I think I was actually there."
Ike stared at him for a moment, quiet and still and considering, before he managed to respond.
"You swear this isn't a joke?" Ike asked. Not accusing, simply asking for confirmation.
"On my sister's kids," Javier swore.
The fact that, by his estimate, his sister wouldn't have "kids"—plural—for at least another three years was a detail he did not feel comfortable pointing out.
There was another pause before Ike cautiously asked...
"So you're saying you...you think you...time traveled?"
Javier hesitated a moment before he gave a reluctant nod.
"Yeah," Javier confirmed. "Something like that."
"And this all happened months ago?"
"Back in June," Javier said, adding after some quick math in his head. "So just over half a year?"
"And you're only telling me now because you think I might believe you?"
Javier met Ike's gaze evenly.
"Dude, back then I didn't believe it happened. I thought it was just a dream. A weird, vivid, screwed up dream, but..." Javier sat back, running a hand over his face. "Okay, there were things that didn't add up about it, but I tried to forget them. Because back then everyone knew that sort of shit was impossible. Only now..."
Javier paused, feeling again the sucking dread he'd felt the night he watched that girl jump and shatter and still somehow come away unharmed.
"Now nobody knows what is and isn't possible."
Ike nodded quietly, digesting what he'd heard.
"Okay," Ike said finally. "I think I'm on board so far."
A beat passed before it sank in that Ike believed him—or at the very least, hadn't decided he was nuts.
"Well good," Javier said, almost managing to sound normal. "Because that's not even the weirdest part..."
PREV: Chapter Three // MAIN // NEXT: Chapter Four
