1:5:4 Rewind (Part 1)

Easy. Crait was being surprisingly co-operative even though the tranquilliser had almost entirely worn off. With a few minor adjustments, the harness almost fit. Once they were ready, they hoisted Crait to their feet and walked them towards the back of the hall.
“I doubt anyone will look in the comms room.” Lore grunted as they did their best to carry Crait.
“Good idea… Where is it?” The weight didn’t seem to effect Char.
Lore tried to raise their arm to guide her without losing their balance but found it impossible so resorted to nodding their head in the general direction they wanted her to go. “Just through there, then it’s down the corridor and on your left I think.”
“Brilliant.” She swept Crait off of their feet and proceeded to sling them over her shoulder. “You get the doors then.”
Lore’s hand hovered over the nob but, before they could make contact, it started to glow white. A pair of footprints appeared about thirty centimetres behind them. Without looking, they jumped back and matched them perfectly. The door opened itself.
“What the hel is going on here?” Despite knowing something was coming, Luscillus’ appearance caught even Lore off guard. Both Lore and Char recoiled in surprise, causing Crait to fall to the floor. “Why are they here?” Lore and Char looked at them, not sure where to start. “Either of you going to say anything?”
“They’re here to go through my memories for some reason.” Crait was remarkably candid.
Luscillus looked down at the body at their feet. “Right… I’m not sure if that’ll work the way you want it to but if you’re alright trying then who am I to stop you?” They stepped over Crait, leaving them to their own devices. “Just make sure you clean-up after yourselves.” Luscillus crossed the hall then hovered on the door. They looked as though they wanted to say something but just smiled and waved before closing the door behind them.
“Right then. Let’s get started.” Lore took a deep breath.

Lore and Char stood at the centre of the hall, Crait was propped up against the back wall. They looked to one another in unsure determination.
“How should we do this?” Char whispered. “Do I hit them then you or should we do it the opposite way around or?”
“I guess it would make the most sense for you to go first but what if we did it together?” Lore whispered back, occasionally checking that Crait wasn’t eavesdropping. “Like on Illia.”
“And Quatarr?” Char smirked.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d remember that.” Lore shrugged. “But exactly like that.”
“Don’t worry, take your time. I’m in no rush.” Crait chuckled.
Lore and Char linked hands. Their chests swelled in a synchronised inhale. They quickly fell into a rhythm; each cycle saw their focus and unity strengthen. Their interlocked hands started to glow. White and gold energy fizzled in the centre of their palms before mingling to form the pale gold they were used to. The light began its journey up Lore’s arm, consuming their form to create one of pure energy. Lore’s body beamed to the point of being uncomfortably bright before it was absorbed into the light still held within Char’s palm. With Lore’s energy coursing through her veins, an aura of gold outlined her; an ethereal glow blanketed Char as she took one, last, deep, breath. For a moment, the light was extinguished but it soon returned and brighter than it had been before. Char’s face and body, now made of pure light, began to restructure itself. The changes were subtle to start as she grew more androgynous, adopting some of Lore’s features. In all of its pale golden brilliance, The Paragon had formed.

A sphere of energy pooled in both of their hands. “Are you ready?” They spoke together.
Crait looked at them in awe. They had no words adequate enough to describe what they saw before them. Crait gave a stilted nod, never breaking eye contact with The Paragon.
Instinct took over. With a flick of their wrists, The Paragon hurled the orbs at Crait; as they travelled through the air, they left a trail of light, connecting them to their creator. Contact. Energy reverberated from the two points they had struck on the harness, back down the trails and into The Paragon’s hands. Their hands closed around the trails and pulled. Rather than moving Crait, the energetic cables acted more like elastic, tensing and charging with newly stored energy. Once The Paragon sensed the lines could take no more, they released. There was no sound that any of them could hear but a shock-wave of light, alike to a sonic boom, formed around The Paragon’s rapidly accelerating form as they were propelled towards Crait; from their point of view, The Paragon had simply vanished but from The Paragon’s viewpoint, they were still flying. Contact. As their form reached the harness, they felt Crait’s solid mass before phasing into them. Unlike their earlier trials with the harnesses, this time was different; Crait was less of a puppet and more like a door as, once fully integrated, The Paragon found themselves in a depressingly and hauntingly familiar location. One became two as they separated.
“Now that’s strange.” Char looked around, confused. “I have no memory of this place but yet, when we were together, it was as if I were afraid of it.”
“That’s probably because I know where we are.” Lore touched their hand to the unimaginably grey walls, looking to the seemingly infinite expanse of similarly coloured corridors that surrounded them. “We’re in The Temporal Sciences Division’s headquarters.”

“This is where it all began… Twice in your case.” Crait’s voice came from everywhere and nowhere. “Sheffield. The year is irrelevant, The Guild likes it that way, but this, this is the day we were born.”
The ground shifted under their feet. The room, a treadmill, dragged them through the labyrinth before abruptly stopping. A door before them opened. Two cots, each surrounded by a half dozen people.
“Two children, both taken from families that wouldn’t miss them, both taken from irrelevance but both with the potential to do so much.” A spectral figure of Crait appeared by the side of one of the cots. “They just needed the right start in life. And that’s what we were given.” They ushered Lore and Char over; they didn’t have a choice and again, found themselves being dragged along. “I do apologise for my nakedness, I have only just been born.” Lore and Char peered into the cradle. Sure enough, there lay a naked child. She looked to be mostly skin and bones, pale skin and bones at that. Lore knelt down to look at the cot’s label.
“Yes. That is me.” The spectral Crait drew a line over their chest to remind Lore.
“How do you remember this… if that’s you?” Char looked around, admiring the detail.
“Because I’m here.” Crait nodded at one of the medical team. He looked much younger than the others and was strikingly familiar. “We were fifteen.” Crait gestured to another of the team, stood around Lore’s cot. Lore walked over to find themselves there too. “They made us visit our parents too. That properly confused me. Our whole lives they told us we were born within an hour of each other but then they dropped the bombshell that I was actually born nearly two hundred years before you.” Crait shook their head. “Anyway, there I am, there we are.” Crait’s spectral form vanished. “Moving on.” The walls fell away and the adornments that once filled the room vanished as it transformed around them to another, familiar location.
“The training room.” Lore looked around. It was better lit than their last visit so they could see a lot more of it. It was a gargantuan auditorium with a wrestling ring at its centre; the room looked as though it could comfortably seat nearly a thousand people but the chairs all looked as though they had never seen even a fraction of that. It, like the rest of the building they had seen so far, was weirdly sterile; cleaned to a fault. The invisible conveyor belt pushed Lore and Char to one side as two figures entered the room from the wings.
“… Apparently she’s been getting these strange requests.” Loren had a beaming smile across their face which subdued itself as they continued. “From us… From future us…” Cait stopped in her tracks.
“You mean, we make it?” Despite her training, she was starting to lose her composure. “We become Inquisitors?”
“That’s if you believe Anne from requisitions.” Loren’s smile grew once again as Cait’s did. Together, they bounced in the tunnel before making their way into the arena. “I can’t wait!”
“Me neither!” Cait set her bottle on the ring then hoisted herself up to sit on the edge. “Listen, before Alo’ gets here, I’ve got something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.”
“You’ve got balls on you calling her that. She hear you talking like that, she’d have your tits.” Loren and the invisible Crait laughed as one.
“Ironic.” Crait appeared along side Lore and Char. “This was a turning point for the two of us. First of many.”
“I’ve been thinking… We spend a lot of time together…” Cait started. “And I think we like each other.”
“You think we like each other?” Loren joined her on the ringside. “Of course I like you. You’re literally my only friend… Well, you and that weird kid in requisitions… Brian I think. He’s pretty chill.”
Cait lowered herself to the floor before awkwardly and nervously bouncing on the balls of her feet, her legs jittery with nerves. “Do you remember that film we watched… The one about the two gardens…”
Loren narrowed their eyes. “What?”
“You know, the one with the gnomes acting out that famous play with the great music?” Cait’s nerves were causing her body to do strange things which Loren didn’t seem to be picking up on. “They had a lawnmower race instead of a sword fight.”
“Oh! That one!” Loren clicked his fingers. “Yeah, what about it?”
“Well, I was thinking, we’re a little like them.” Cait started. “We both have similar interests, we’ve both grown up in the same setting, we…”
“We both die in the end?” Loren chuckled. “You do realise that’s how the original story ends, right?”
“Maybe we don’t have to?” Cait tried to subtly move in closer but tripped over herself.
Loren caught her, wrapping his legs around her middle. A seductive smile grew across his face before he leant in and kissed her. Stunned, she froze; Lore and Char could hear Cait’s thoughts as the scene played out.
Oh my gods, oh my gods, it’s happening! I should do something… What? He’s so warm… Or am I? It’s wetter than I thought it would be but it’s so nice!
Cait returned the kiss. They remained, locked in the action, for long enough to make even the most talented free-diver gasp in sympathy, only breaking their connection because they feared they were no longer alone. Loren looked to Cait as though a million and one thoughts had suddenly come running through his head, she looked back with similar, if not subdued, intentions. The woman Lore had seen during their last visit to the training room pulled the auditorium doors open and began down the stairs.
“Right then you two, gloves on. I’ve been told you’re not to leave until you sweat blood.” The woman joked. “But I’m kind so I’ll let you go at the usual time as long as you don’t tell anyone.”
“Yes Mistress Alodrass.” They said together. A shrewd smile formed between them as the memory faded away.