World Between: Finale

“Hmm?” Lydria pushed her feet on the edge of the table. Tilting the chair to grab a rolled up paper emerging from the portal in the back wall of interrogation room 2. She read as her chair dropped back into place, and set it face down on the table. “Alright, you can go.”

“What?” Jared asked. “After an hour of nothing, that’s it? I can just go.”

“55 minutes of me asking questions, and you not speaking isn’t nothing.” Lydria replied, getting up. “It’s a commonplace tactic, and it works. Besides that, anything we can accuse would just end in us throwing back into where you can from. Anything else is either too cruel, or poses too many problems.”

“We’ve been gone for a long time.” Jared replied. “You’ll only raise questions about your goals.”
Lydria picked her bag as Jared spoke, and then put it back down. She leaned over the table, and met him at eye level. “I have been raising questions about my goals for longer than you’ve been alive. And like you, I’ve stopped caring about them.”

“I have not ignore—” Jared began.

“Oh, you haven’t ignored them, no. You don’t even hear them.” Lydria said. “You could sit in that chair for another 3 hours, and claim you didn’t hear anyone begging you to leave them here. Didn’t hear anyone say they were happier here. No, you didn’t hear anyone say a word about the struggle they didn’t wanna go back to. Wouldn’t matter how many papers I bring out, or have many people I could bring. You sit right there, look me in the face, and say you didn’t hear a single word.” Lydria paused. “And I’d believe you. You haven’t ignored anything. You’ve dismissed it.” Lydria picked her bag again, and threw it over her shoulder. “I’ve ignored you, because you haven’t said anything new.” With that she walked out of the room.

“Now, can you go home, so I can find something better to do than guard you?” Sofia asked, sitting on the roof overlooking Aaron.

“What if no one comes?” Aaron asked. “What if you keep waiting, but they all decide to stay.”

Sofia shrugged. “Game night is always gonna be game night. If the only thing that changes is better internet, well, better internet.”

“You’ll have to relearn magic.” Aaron said.

“You are about to not have magic.” Sofia replied in a pseudo-smug voice. “I am about to embark on the epic adventure,” She yawned. “of taking a nap.”

“Was it worth it?” Aaron said, looking out toward the horizon.

Sofia laid down on the roof with her legs hanging off the edge “You’re repeating yourself!”

“I didn’t get an answer.” Aaron replied.

“I actively chose not to talk until you said. ‘Wonder where she is, right now?’” Sofia said. “Because that was the only good question you posed.”

“a set up for a cheap joke.” Aaron said, looking back.

“Correct.” Sofia replied. “Now are you going or what?”

“Oh, they're letting me leave without an escort now?”

Sofia hopped down. “They're giving me a simple first job, and hoping that gets you to leave.”

Aaron looked out to the horizon once more. “Okay, what if— ah! Hey, hey, okay!”

“You’re a horrible liar.” Was Sofia last replied as dragged by the collar she just grabbed up to his one way ticket home.