n. the moment you realize that you're currently happy-consciously trying to savor the feeling-which prompts your intellect to identify it, pick it apart and put it in context, where it will slowly dissolve until it's little more than an aftertaste.
...
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We walk towards the commission, now frozen in time, literally. I grab Marah's hand as we follow Lila inside the building.
"This...is the commission? The place that controls all of time?" Marah questions, confusion evident in her voice.
I just nod my head as I pull her along inside the building that still haunts me.
Lila laughs as we walk inside the building. "Holy shit. I was just here. How long was I bloody gone?" She walks around the entrance, looking at the run down stairs, cracked ceiling, and chipped paint, and of course, the snow.
"It seems the grandfather paradoxis affecting everything." I state, rubbing my hands with Marah's, not to warm them up as her body runs warm, but to ease my nerves. "Even places out of time."
"Is that even possible?" Marah asks, looking around the building, in all it's glory.
"I stopped tracking what was possible a long time ago." I say, pulling Marah closer as I see her start to shiver, her powers not working in the cold. Just as I pull her closer, a piece of the ceiling falls down and lands in the spot Marah was just in.
"We better get moving. We'll check the Infinite Switchboard." I grab Marah's hand and pull her up the stairs, not wanting to leave her in a space where she can get injured.
"And I'll check Herb's office.Little cockroach would survive anything." Lila states, walking down the hallway to Herb's office. "Bye."
"See ya." I reply, rubbing a hand up Marah's arm as she continues to shiver.
"Miss you." I hear Lila yell from the hallway.
"That's weird." I comment, though I know she heard me.
We walk up the stairs and find a spot where nothing can fall or land on us. "Are you okay?" I ask softly, continuing to rub my hands up and down her arms, trying to create enough friction to keep her from shivering.
"Yea. Just...a little cold." Marah responds, teeth chattering. "Nothing I can't handle."
I shake my head and remove my suit jacket, walking behind Marah and holding it up so that she can slip her arm's through, though she already has a jacket on.
"You need to wear something that's more practical, love, not just cute." I comment, holding her hands and bringing them to my mouth where I place a kiss on her hands, hoping to warm them up a little more.
"Yeah, well, I wasn't told we were visiting the ice age today." Marah retorts, earning a smile to appear on my face.
"Very funny, come along, love." I smile, pulling on her hands to keep her walking as we walk through the run down hallways of the commission.
"It looks so deserted here." Marah comments, shuffling closer to me to get more warmth.
"I don't think anyone survived." I comment, looking into one of the management rooms. Papers are thrown all on the ground, desks flipped and chairs thrown as if they were being used to get out, and snow and ice litter's the ground.
We continue our walk down the hallway, coming upon the alternate switch board. We see Lila is already in there, a video just starting up.
"There's been a ripin the space-time continuum." says Herb hurriedly, talking as if he's got moments to live.
'He probably did.' I think to myself, cringing at the slightly morbid thought of Herb dying.
"It's swallowing everything. Oh, my sweet Dot, Iris, Josh from accounting, they're all gone." Herb continues.
"We're him and Dot a thing?" I hear Marah ask from in front of me, her back against my chest as I rub my hands against her arms, trying to keep her warm.
"I don't know, love." I say quietly, focusing in on what Herb was saying, and also praying Lila isn't listening into this conversation.
"I've tried everything!I don't know what else to do. The timeline is collapsing." Herb's voice continues on the monitor as the camera starts to shake. Herb suddenly yelps, alerting us that this might be it for him. "Oh. This is... the end."
The video cuts out, causing all of us to think of what we just saw. Lila is the first one to break the silence. "I could kill for some scrambled eggs right now."
"This is bigger than the timeline, Lila." I comment, annoyed that she's not focusing on the task at hand. I look down at my hands when I feel Marah's thumb start to rub over my hand, calming me down.
"What's bigger than the timeline?" Lila asks, sounding as if she'd rather be anywhere else right now.
"The entire universe." Marah states, with a questioning tone in her voice, as if she's not quite sure that what she said was right.
"Yeah." Lila comments, nodding along.
"The missing dogs, people...It's the opposite of the big bang." I say out loud, voicing my thoughts on what has been happening since me and my family arrived. "Instead of the universe expanding,it's now collapsing in on itself."
"Like a prolapsing rectum." Lila comments absent minded.
"That's a weird analogy, but yeah." I furrow my brows at her analogy, not understanding what Diego sees in her.
"What does Diego see in you?" Marah questions, voicing my thoughts exactly.
"Lots of things." Lila replies quietly, almost like she doesn't want to admit to her feelings for my brother. "Here, then.This might give us some answers."
Lila hands me a big book, Marah grabbing a hold of it as my hands are currently wrapped tightly around her still. She warmed up a while ago, but I just didn't want to let go as I liked her close proximity.
"Master handbook." I comment, looking at the cover before Marah starts to open it up, flipping through the pages as I read over her shoulder.
"The one and only." Lila comments.
Me and Marah read through the book for a few minutes before I stop her on a page that talks of a founder and a secret room.
"Here we are." I state quietly, not sure if I've been heard. Looking up I see both women looking at me with questioning glances. "Okay, protocol. 'In the unlikely caseof the grandfather paradox, the founderand any essential personnel should--...be immediately remandedto the operations bunker.'"
I look up to see two confused glances, knowing I have the same one on my face.
"The founder." Marah whispers softly.
"What founder?" Lila questions, wondering what we're all thinking.
"I don't know." I comment, wrapping my arms back around Marah's, leaning my chin on her head. "We need to find that bunker...ASAP."
"Jinx. A-B-C-1-2-3, personal padlock." Lila starts, after we said 'asap' at the same time. We start to walk out of the room, heading for some magical bunker.
"Can you not..." I start, being interrupted by Lila herself.
"You can't speak!" she yells, stopping my words.
"All right." I whisper into Marah's hair as we continue our walk towards the bunker, with me and Marah actively ignoring Lila's existence.
