Rusty

Fate stood on the crystalline platform in the same circular white room he first arrived in. Like before, each ordinal direction of the platform had a chanting Space Embodiment, arms raised and head lowered as they worked their Divine Energy to form a bridge between two worlds.

Queen Dinan stood at the base of the platform, her eyes lidded with sadness as she was painfully reminded that her father wasn't standing beside her.

Fate wanted to cheer her up, but he doubted words from her father's murderer would do anything except turn her sorrow into rage. So, he held his tongue, staring blankly at the wall as he waited for the ritual to be completed.

A *whoosh* went through the room, the black-and-white fog drifting from the Space Embodiments swirling around Fate and turning into a kaleidoscope of colors.

He tightened his grip on the hilt of his Miao Dao, afraid that too loose a hold would cause the teleportation to leave it behind, and waited. When the acid trip of colors around him reached a fever pitch, almost completely engulfing him and obscuring his sight, Queen Dinan called out.

"Fate!" She yelled, raising her voice to be heard over the admittedly loud sound of the fog surging around him. "Catch!"

Fate felt a disturbance in the fog, snapping his hand in the path of the projectile and looking at what he caught. He had to hold it inches from his face to see it through the fog.

"What is it?" he called back, turning it over in his hand.

It was a rock, as smooth as obsidian and vaguely oval in shape. It was translucent, filled with the same black-and-white fog as the kind produced by the Space Embodiments. The fog swirled within, following some mysterious pattern and blown by a breeze that didn't exist.

"It's a Warp Rock," replied Queen Dinan. "If you fuel it with your Divine Energy for twenty seconds, it will bring you here. It will also lead you to this location if you focus your divine senses on it."

Fate looked up from the rock in surprise, his eyes cutting through the minuscule gaps in the fog to land on the queen.

"What happened to never wanting to see me again?" he shouted, the fog's swooshing noise growing louder.

"After what you did for my people… After what you did for me, I couldn't find it in myself to hold a grudge. I still despise you, but I now know you only had our best interests at heart."

Fate felt a lurch, the last sight he saw before the fog closed itself off completely and he was shunted through space to a planet dozens of galaxies away being the tear-streaked, smiling face of Queen Dinan.

Ready this time, he landed on his feet, saving himself the somewhat embarrassing feeling of falling on his ass. He looked around, a smile cracking on his face as he scooped his mask off the table and placed it on his face. He then tossed the stale fries into the trash.

He placed his hands on his hips, breathing roughly through his nose as he glanced around at the ship that he hadn't seen in thirty time-dilated years. While only about a month, he still experienced every second within the Dilation Chamber, aging according to its time.

He supposed that meant he had missed around twenty-nine birthdays, but the only one that enjoyed the parties Styx was capable of throwing was Autumn. Although that might've just been because she had an excuse to beat everyone else silly in "sparring sessions."

He chuckled at the thought as he grabbed his Ex-Ear off of its charger and stuck it on, dropping onto a couch as he scrolled through his emails.

He grimaced when he found the hundred or so emails left from each of his friends. He always answered emails within two hours of receiving them, so an entire month had set his friends to worry.

He started with the oldest of the recent ones, replying to Autumn's emailed threat of breaking his arm for ignoring her that he was fine and he preferred his arm intact. Then he replied to Nikolas' promise of three months of 'forced body dissonance' that he was more than willing to learn how to live without his proprioception.

Several more threats later from everyone – including one from Cait, which surprised him – he made it to an email titled "Reunion." He opened it, finding that the contents detailed a get-together of the ex-assassins, arranged by Tom. It said he had some exciting news, and wanted to share it with everyone.

He just needed Fate to tell him when he was available so they could set it up and that "you better reply quick, you forget-me-definitely bastard. I've been trying to plan this thing for a whole damn month." Fate sent back that he was free pretty much whenever now, having been away from his Ex-Ear and ship for an extended period.

After replying to each of the two hundred and thirty-four emails within his inbox, two-thirds of which were from his friends, he pushed off of his couch and plopped into the driver's seat. He stared listlessly outside at the surrounding forest for a minute, his mind playing catch-up with the past few weeks turned years.

For ten minutes he stared at the life outside his windshield before he shook himself out of it, smiling at the thought of getting to meet his family again. He flicked the appropriate switches and pressed the correct buttons, his ship roaring to life after a stuttering start. Shadow Jumpers were nothing if not durable.

Fate leaned back in his seat, uneasily placing his hands on the yoke. He hoped his thirty years in the Dilation Chamber hadn't made him rusty. He pulled the yoke up, the ship raising out of the sky with his action, and all his training rushed back to him.

He left Pensinata's atmosphere and headed in the direction his Ex-Ear said his home was. He got cocky and did a little barrel roll, almost having a heart attack when the ship spun diagonally instead of to the side.

It seemed he was rusty, after all.