Episode 89: Coma (Ulysses)

He lay in silence, his body flush against hers. She was so warm.

The contrast of his pale skin and her dark skin drew him in, but not so much as her personality. He’d never met someone like her, who gave to give and not for some reward. Someone who kissed and held him because she wanted to, and not for some strategy.

Ulysses could still remember the moment when he was five years old and he realized with dread and certainty that he wasn’t like other children. He wasn’t allowed to play with other children because they couldn’t be trusted. He wasn’t allowed to go to school because it was too dangerous for him.

One dramatic afternoon when he was eight, he’d threatened to kill himself, because he hated his life so much.

His mom had made a sound from a place inside her, a place that dwelt between derision and amusement, and he’d had no choice but to back down or end his own life.

He’d ended it, spectacularly, with blood and knives and an explosive spell he’d mastered that also took out most of the foyer.

When he’d come back from the land of the dead – where he’d spent an amazing afternoon flying kites with a little girl whose name he wished he could remember, he’d lain in a pool of blood, surrounded by five bodies of those his mom had killed to bring him back.

“Do you see what you’ve done?” she asked him.

She made him clean up the mess and deal with the remains of the people she’d sacrificed to bring him back. Five children. One was the girl he’d flown kites with.

He’d never tried to escape again, but he had killed his parents.

Every single person in his life was an enemy waiting to strike.

Not Ana-Sofia. She’d taken him to other realms, introduced him to people who only wanted to sing and dance and had no interest in killing him. She’d given him her heart, and, finally, a child.

He rested his hand above where their baby grew.

Soon.

He wouldn’t live to meet the baby.

Ana-Sofia had a friend in the other realm, who knew far too much about his future.

But she didn’t use it to take advantage of him, she used it to discuss options with him, to counsel and advise.

He was going to die. Lilla first, him shortly after. Lilla was already in the coma; she wouldn’t wake again, alive.

He knew who would kill him, and why.

He was utterly at peace with all of it. He loved that his final move would be so good for the Caelum’s enemies and so bad for the Caelum, while it had the appearance of the opposite effect.

He loved this plan.

He anticipated his death with relief and remorse.

Delaney, he would have liked to get to know. He’d given her a childhood, which was more than he’d gotten. He would have liked to be involved in said childhood, but he knew the risks and he wanted her to live.

He leaned against Ana-Sofia more, let her wrap her arm around him, and they slept.Ulyss

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