Save State Hero 2 -ch 15-

Chapter 15

Edmund looked up from the couch to the door as it swung open. Exactly down to the second when he had expected Dot to arrive.

Just as she had originally. Four hours, six minutes, and thirty-two seconds after Edmund had walked into the apartment

Iren and Ellie had clambered out the window just a minute ago and were now going to go find a spot that they could turn into a place for them to hang out when Edmund was busy.

She was dressed in a dark, form-fitting, black skirt that left her shoulders somewhat bare. Two of her fingers were strange golden claws, and she was wearing a gold belt that said “Dot.”

She was also wearing more makeup than usual and looked like a different person entirely.

“Huh,” Edmund said, boldly looking her over from head to heel and back again. “You know, I wouldn’t have guessed it, but you pull off the super sexy villain pretty well. Those clothes make you look like a walking wet dream.

“Get your evil laugh down, by the way? You gonna go ‘ara ara’ on me and give me a smile? Cause I could be super convinced to roll even deeper on the ‘amazing villain girlfriend’ thing.

“Just as long as you’re not all dommy about it. Sorry, just not my thing. I kinda prefer the cuddly, ‘hold me tight’ type.”

Which he knew was true.

Romina had been a weird push-and-pull type of thing that had left him satisfied but oddly lacking something.

Iren and Ellie, on the other hand, had both demonstrated to him that he really did want the cuddly type. Both of them had done so almost instantly.

Dot blinked and froze. Her eyes locked on his own.

There was a moment as they held their gaze that he saw something unexpected. Something that hadn’t seemed to be part of her since she came here.

Panic.

Absolute sheer panic and fear.

A look crossed her face that made him think of the young woman he knew. The Dot before Ryker’s death and everything that’d happened.

Then she blinked, and it was gone.

Reverting back to her angry and self-possessed disposition.

“Well, I suppose I could do that for you,” Dot murmured, walking around the couch and sitting herself down next to him. Her skirt just about rode right up to her crotch. It did nothing to cover her at all.

Only her crossing her legs covered her underwear.

“Which part?” Edmund asked and turned to look at her.

“All of it. Though I don’t think I’m the villain,” Dot replied, putting her hands in her lap. “I’m just doing what I think is right. Runner is responsible for all of this. All of it.

“It’s all his fault. If I get rid of him, I can get everything to go back to the way it was. Without him, it’ll all be fine.”

Edmund felt a lurch in his chest at that.

It sounded a lot like some of the stuff people had said Claire would tell them. Since meeting Edmund, though, Claire hadn’t seemed to blame Runner at all.

“Right, right. Well. I’m just here for you,” Edmund answered with a nod of his head. “I did say I’d chase after you. I just didn’t think it was going to be through a portal and becoming a modern-day Benedict Arnold.”

Dot clicked her tongue at that, folded her arms across her breasts, and shook her head. He distinctly saw her nostrils flare as well.

Whatever she was feeling right now was something akin to anger, frustration, or disgust.

“Hey, look at it this way. I threw it all away just to have a shot with you,” Edmund said, then threw an arm around Dot’s shoulders. Then he pulled on her and drew her up to his side. “And… I’m sorry for your loss, Dot.

“Ryker was a great man. A brilliant man. His loss will be intense and felt throughout countless worlds. I’ll miss him.

“He helped me out with a lot of things. Gave me a lot of encouragement and the tools to be more of who I was and less of what I feared.”

Dot had frozen up when his arm went around her and then gone absolutely rigid as an ice sculpture at Ryker’s name being said. Only to turn toward him and just about melt into him.

Both of her hands grasping at his shirt and her face pressing into his neck. Her legs uncrossed, and he had a momentary thought that she might crawl up onto his lap.

Instead, she put her knees together and pressed them to the side of his leg. Dot began to bawl loudly.

Long, loud, sobbing gasps that reminded him a lot of his sister when she was really little.

Unable to do much else other than hold her, Edmund tried rubbing his hands against her back and shoulders. Holding her and letting her wail it out.

An entire hour passed like this before someone came and knocked on Edmund’s door. A soft, polite thing.

Dot groaned at the sound of it and just ground her face more firmly into his neck. Then shifted around atop him.

At some point, she had pushed him down onto the couch, clambered onto him, and laid down right there on him.

“I think they’re here to see you, miss dark sorceress,” Edmund teased, his arms still firmly around her. “Did you want to tell them you needed to interrogate me some more?

“Maybe strip me of clothes and go from there?”

Dot scoffed, groaned again, and thumped a fist against his chest.

“Hey, I’m allowed to flirt and tease. I’ve got a half-naked hot woman all over me like a damn blanket, and the only thing I’ve done was accidentally touch her butt once,” Edmund complained. “I’m being the super comforting boyfriend who lets his stressed-out lady get it all out.”

Dot nodded her head against him but didn’t say anything.

The knock came once again, this time more firmly. Yet it still felt polite.

“Madam Dorothy?” called a voice through the door. It was a female’s voice that Edmund felt like he should know but couldn’t place.

“Guh… no,” Dot whispered against Edmund. “No, you’re allowed to flirt. If anything, it might keep me grounded. I was feeling pretty high and mighty before I came in here.”

“Great. I should grab your ass then, I think. I feel like I should,” Edmund stated. He knew he had to be somewhat forward with Dot, and he was going to do it.

It just felt weird to him.

Wrong, in a way.

This wasn’t the Dot he knew.

Not to mention, he had literally just had fun with another woman not long ago, and his heart was a bit twisted up right now.

“You should,” Dot hissed.

Edmund promptly stuck both his hands on Dot’s rather bare rear end. Her skirt had become more of a belt at some point.

She had quite a firm rear end, surprisingly, that felt a lot more muscular than he’d expected.

Before he could do anything other than that, the knock on the door came again. This time, with a force that no longer felt patient or nice.

Groaning, Dot got up, forcing Edmund’s hands to move away from her in the same movement.

She grabbed her skirt, shimmied it down to cover herself, and looked at him. Her makeup was somewhat ruined, but she still looked pretty, if villainous.

“You might need to do your makeup again, my ever-so-evil girlfriend,” advised Edmund. “More eyeliner, too. Nice and thick. Go full dark sorceress on me.”

Dot blinked, chuckled, and then rolled her eyes. Her entire posture shifted to something more relaxed.

“Is that so?” she asked.

“Oh, hell yeah. Work on the ‘ara ara’ too for me, if you don’t mind. You need to like, purr that at me before you crawl into the bed,” Edmund said with some eagerness. He couldn’t deny he had a bit of a fancy for that. “Or, you know, before doing other things. With lots of eyeliner on.”

Dot shook her head, then leaned down and surprisingly kissed him.

It wasn’t something he expected from Dot, but apparently, this evil Dot was a very different woman. So different that Edmund was nearly certain that something was wrong.

She was a young woman who was cute, shy, and somewhat bashful.

Not someone who would waltz into a man’s apartment in a skirt that barely covered her ass. Not a woman who would initiate a kiss after being heavily hit on and having her rear grabbed.

Breaking the kiss, Dot patted his cheek and cleared her throat.

“Coming!” she called out loud, never looking away from Edmund. “I’ll come back later tonight for dinner. We’ll talk about the plans we need to make going forward.

“We have a lot to do. A lot to do while Runner and his team are gone. A whole lot.”

Edmund only nodded his head.

Dot nodded her head curtly, then exited the apartment. Her heeled shoes clicked as she went.

After she opened the door, exited, and closed it, Edmund sat himself upright. Unfortunately, he hadn’t actually learned anything of use.

It had definitely confirmed for him that something had happened to Dot, however.

Putting down a save state, Edmund then dove straight into the one where he would be on Claire’s couch.

No sooner had he entered than Claire flinched.

She leaned back in her seat and then shook her head, both of her hands coming up to press against her temples.

“I… ah… oh,” she muttered in what was clearly pain, then let out a slow wheezing breath. “Go-goodness. That’s a lot of-of… of magic. Still working at saving Ryker, hm?”

“Ah, yeah. Still working on it. Just did a run to see what I could do to stop it with you not going crazy in the fight. Which you didn’t. Good job, La- Claire. I cheered you on from the sideline while you made out with Ryker,” teased Edmund while laughing. “You had your tongue down his throat. Your sister showed up, and you, she, and Ryker fought together. It was really sweet.

“Also, Oz, you there? You kinda vanished there, bud.”

There was no response from Oz.

Claire laughed at Edmund’s words, slowly letting her hands fall down from her sides. She was still breathing hard.

“I was… was making out with him?” she asked in a breathy whisper, her breathing slowly stabilizing as she gazed at him. It was a hard look filled with desperate longing.

“Oh yeah. He was kissing you back as well. He totally got a handful of your ass at some point,” Edmund said, laughing again. “Claire, I know you said you might get a bit fluffy-headed on seeing him, but I didn’t think you were going to eat his face.”

Claire’s face immediately became a scarlet sheet of red, and she looked away, coughing lightly.

“Well,” she said in a strained voice. “Well. I’ll have you know that I’ve known no other man than my husband, and it’s been a long time since we shared a bed.”

“Oh, no judgment here, Claire,” Edmund said and got up off the couch. He immediately crossed over to her and hugged her. Pulling the older woman against himself. “You were so radiant when you flew toward him. He just stood there and caught you. He didn’t even think to attack you as you came at him.

“He was clearly eager to see you. Very much so. I think you drastically underestimated how much he cared for you.

“You were his first love, after all. That doesn’t fade even with time.”

Claire had put a hand on him and easily pushed him away at first, only to grab him and hug him tightly in return after a brief pause. Holding onto him just like his sister used to when he complimented her.

“He did?” Claire whispered in a broken voice.

“He really did all that. Especially the ass grab, Claire. Pretty sure he fought your tongue back and returned the favor,” confirmed Edmund. “You should add more magic to that effect, by the way. I’m sure you’ll be eager to hear it from yourself wherever I go next.”

“Yes, I… ah… yes. I will do that,” Claire mumbled, hugging him in return still. “Thank you, Edmund.”

“Now I definitely know I can’t go back into the past to save you,” he continued. “The way he held onto you, I don’t think he’d have done that if the time hadn’t gone the way it did. Nor would you have been able to be there at the critical moment to help him.”

Claire laughed at that, then sighed. She gently patted him twice in a way that felt like a sign to let go.

Which he did.

Returning to the couch, Edmund found both Iren and Ellie eyeing him. The former in an odd way and the latter with a knowing smile.

“When did I make you my owner?” Iren demanded, looking at him.

“Oh, last pass through. Before you ask, you said to tell yourself I didn’t make you clutch, but almost,” Edmund said as Ellie pushed herself up under his arm and snuggled in close.

“You did? Holy hell. That’s great. Haha. Go me and you,” Iren said with a cheer, then she looked at Claire. “Also, good job to you, Claire! I’ll keep rooting for you.”

Claire was still bright red and was idly fanning herself with a white silk fan she’d retrieved from somewhere.

She gifted Iren with a wide smile.

“You know, when this is all over, I expect the three of you to have tea with me fairly often,” she murmured, looking them over. “If anything, it’ll help keep me grounded.

“Now… Edmund dear, you didn’t come back just to… ah… tell me of my victory. Part of the magic I felt just a moment ago held grief. You’re still working to save him?”

“Yeah, still working at that. I made a few hundred attempts on the most recent push, but none of it worked out. After a while, I just… I think I was burning a hole in reality. That and… uh… seeing you making out with Ryker got just a bit awkward after a while,” Edmund said with a nervous grimace.

“Oh… oh my. Yes, I … yes,” Claire agreed with a frown.

“I don’t blame you for your actions, don’t try and tell your future self to do anything different. I’ll get over it, I promise. I was happy for you every time. It just… I needed a break,” continued Edmund. “For now, I’m following a thread to see if I can figure out the Dot angle first, though. The way Dot runs off bothered me and I wanted to understand it more. Just doesn’t make sense.”

“Hmm? Tell me more,” Claire asked, turning to look at him directly again. “Why is it weird to you? You wouldn’t say it was weird and come speak to me if it didn’t concern me.”

“She was saying some things that came off a bit… unhinged,” Edmund tried. “Blaming Runner for Ryker’s death and that all she had to do was kill him. If she could kill him, everything would be fine.

“It reminded me of someone else, obviously, and her own dedication to a similar cause. One that I somehow changed.”

Edmund had been cagey with the back half of his statement just in case Zeus was listening.

He’d never been listening in the past but there was no way of telling if he would be now.

“Ahhh,” groaned Claire, leaning back on the couch and then slowly looking to the sky above. “I have considered this many times. More so with each time you pass through.

“A lot of what I send to myself is more and more to do with these realizations. This awareness of how wrong everything was.

“That while my view of the world is right, my response… my response was perhaps not my own. Not entirely, at least.”

Edmund nodded his head even as Ellie nuzzled him. Iren had, at this point, leaned toward them and put her arm around Edmund and Ellie both.

It sounded like she had more to say, so he didn’t interject.

Claire was picking her words out with care now. Gazing into nothing above her.

An entire minute passed as the three of them stared at the woman.

“Our determined and unpleasant not-friend was in my head,” Claire said finally, looking down at Edmund. “Whispering at me constantly. To do things. Go places. A voice that I thought was someone else and had taken my… unhinged mind… and weaponized it for its own purposes.

“It was at the weakest moment of my life that it happened. Where it all of a sudden started shouting and I was led astray.

“Not exactly against my will, but certainly manipulating me. Manipulating my thoughts and feelings. Prodding me along.

“To me… it sounds like Dot is experiencing exactly what I was. That our not-friend has attacked in her weakest moment and taken her down a path ever-so-similar to my own, as you pointed out.”

Claire’s face became a deathly snarl. To the point that the beautiful woman even bared her teeth.

“Yes, this sounds just like something he would do,” she stated with absolute certainty in her voice. She let her eyes move back to Edmund. “Except I cannot advise you. I never figured out a way to get past it.

“In fact, I think now, in retrospect, that it was Ryker’s death, my breaking out of control, and then you being there; those things together were what allowed it to happen.

“Then you brought it backward with yourself to me. Which I have reinforced over and over.”

Edmund winced and sucked in a breath. That wasn’t an answer he had wanted to hear.

“Perhaps… when I broke free… or break free, I suppose, he changed his focus to another sorceress that he could use.

“Someone in an emotional pit just as I was. In fact, I believe Dot, or Dorothy really, you should probably use her proper name, you know, is even from the same world as I.”

Despite her only hypothesizing the idea, Edmund felt like it was correct.

That when Zeus lost his control over Claire, he shifted his attention to Dot. Driving her in the way he had and causing her mental break.

And once she was driven away, when she’d betrayed the others, there wasn’t a way to reasonably return.

Not without them suspecting her forever forward.

Is that why I saw a flash of herself in there?

“Then… how do I break her free of it?” he asked. “How do I bring her back to herself? Or better yet, how do I prevent it?”

“I don’t know, dear,” Claire said with an honest and sad smile. “If I knew, maybe I could’ve broken free earlier myself.

“Though, given you have freed me, I have no doubt that you’ll eventually figure out a way to free her as well.

“Now… have I managed to talk you into meeting any relatives of mine yet? Other than my daughter, that is. She’s met a very nice young man that I actually like.

“Because, Edmund dear, you just must be an in-law to me. You’re my friend, savior, and cheerleader. How can I not drag you into my family line?

“I’ll try to put together a special meetup with my sister. From there, we can figure out whatever marriageable relatives we have that you could make the acquaintance of.

“I have no doubt that there are some, it’s just a matter of figuring out who. Since, as you know, I haven’t really been close to my family for some time.”

Edmund gave her a fake smile.

It was time to leave.

Especially with her bringing up dating someone in her family.

He needed to make a trip over to talk to Ryker and Runner at some point. This might be the best time for it.

There was a new topic to talk to them about in regards to Claire and Dot. As well as the fact that Oz had still yet to respond.

Maybe I can use Nadine as a bartering chip.