"Julian, little help!"
Hutch could have sworn he heard Casimir say, but the next thing he knew, he opened his eyes and found himself alone, laying on the couch in the living room.
"Did I faint?" he uttered to himself, feeling confused as he carefully rolled onto his side and lifted himself up. He was more awake than he had previously been, and as he rubbed at his eyes with one hand, he pushed the heavy blanket he'd been under, away with the other. He could remember coming down the stairs and the hug Casimir had given to him, but then everything was blank, and he couldn't seem to remember how he'd gotten to where he was.
"Hey. Welcome back," Casimir spoke up from behind him.
Turning around, he looked back into the kitchen, to see him approaching.
"How are you feeling?"
"Okay, I think," Hutch replied, turning back around to conceal a yawn, before asking, "What… ah… what happened?"
"You passed out," Casimir answered as he made his way around the couch, handing him a glass of water. "You gave everyone quite the scare."
"Unintentionally."
"They know," he remarked, taking a seat on the closet chair, "but I still sent them off to take care of other things. I wanted to give you some time to process what's happened."
"Appreciated, given how everything just… it looks right, but it just feels off."
"I know. All these years later, and I can still remember how I had difficulty with it too," he admitted, as Hutch chugged back the water. "It took me a few days to get my bearings and a couple more than that to get back on my feet. Traveling to there and back, in a day, seemed to be about as much as either of us could take."
"Guessing you aren't going to be sending me back then."
"No, not just yet. Give yourself a few days at least. Right now, no one knows where you are. I'm positive we got to you before anyone even noticed you were outside. And I made certain there was no way for anyone to place us near your mother's home. Given time, you'll just become another statistic; a runaway teen. A missing boy who never found his way home. And no one, this time, will be able to trace you back to any of us. So, no subterfuge. I've already instructed my family to never say a thing about seeing you here, and I don't believe they ever will."
"No one's going to put in any effort to find me anyways. We both know it."
"Perhaps, but at least for now, you don't need to worry about that."
Hutch shook his head. "What I don't understand though is why we didn't end up back in your lab."
"I don't know. Not for certain, anyways," Casimir said, as Hutch set the empty glass onto the coffee table. "My best guess has always been that the removal of the seed from the amulets ring affected it in some way, or perhaps it will always return us to a point before we were touched by Illimev. Either way, I don't think we will ever know for certain."
"Just one of life's mysteries then," Hutch concluded, as he began to look around the living room. It looked almost identical to what he remembered. It was larger, and an archway lead into the room under the addition that had been added to the second story, to accommodate the extra bedrooms they needed for their extra kids. "So, you had to do all this again too? Happy life? Wife? Couple extra kids? Same house? Same business?"
Casimir nodded. "I tried to keep the 'adjustments' and 'alterations' to a minimum, but there were some inevitable changes," he admitted, folding his hands together as he leaned forward. "Hutch, Celina is the only one that knows the entire truth of what has happened. I could never bring myself to tell Julian or Clara about the time they had previously met and spent with you. To them, it never happened. This will be the first time you have ever met them. So, please, don't let on if you can help it."
"Right, I… oh…" Hutch gasped, and looked about. "Oh… oh, Cas. Oh no. What did I… I didn't…"
"I know," he replied, reaching out and pressing his hand to Hutch's knee. "I know. And it's okay. I've grieved for them also, but it's not your fault. We had no way of knowing what would happen."
"But it was my fault. I panicked. I fucked up and when I saw you there, bleeding out… I just… I…" Tears welled into his eyes as he struggled to breath.
"Hutch, you need to listen to me. It's okay."
"How is it okay?! What did I do?" Hutch shouted, clasping his hand over his eyes, as he gulped back air.
"You did what you thought was right," Casimir replied, his tone firm, even as he shifted seats onto the couch beside him, where he wrapped his arm over his back and gently rubbed at his shoulder in as comforting a manner as he could. "Listen to me. You made the only decision you could at the time, and you have nothing to regret or feel guilty over. Easier said than done, I'm aware. But the Julian and Clara you knew, they're still here. Just a bit different is all. Julian grew up completely unaffected by the choices we made. He's lived just like a normal kid. No idea about what previously afflicted him. He's a wonderful young man now, with a bright future ahead of him, and he has the most charming girlfriend, named Akiko, who he met in university. Clara is absolutely prefect, and she got to be an older sister this time around. Which she was amazing at. And don't worry about Ren either. They met for the first time a couple of weeks ago and have been in contact ever since. They even went on a proper date last weekend. Something tells me, they were just meant to be."
"How the hell did you manage that one?" Hutch asked, half laughing through his tears.
Casimir grinned and bumped his shoulder with his own. "Held a competition at his school and made certain he won. The prize was a Tour of Cascel Tower, and dinner at the 65th Floor, where we just happened to be. I know you had to give him a little nudge before, but this time, he managed it on his own."
"Smooth."
"I know, right?"
"Thank you for that. For remembering him."
"He made her happy. It wasn't something I could forget. As for you, all you need to do is rest up and before you know it, you'll be back with Kahlala again and you can put all of this behind you."
"Can I even go back after what happened? Knowing what will happen?"
Casimir nodded. "You can. And you don't need to worry about me either. The amulet appeared with me this time, and you're the one with the cuts on your hand. The amulet has been finished for years, and this time, with real myrrget. I even got to replace the seeds in the ring a few years back."
"You what? What are you saying, Cas?"
"I'm saying, that as soon as you get your strength back, the amulet is yours to use. As you can see, my aging problems are quite different from before, and Julian was never affected by the lingering remnants of Illimev's magic. All that is left here, is what remains with you, and I've no doubt it will be enough to activate it. With no more connection to myself or Julian, you'll be on your own this time. You sacrificed your chance to be with Kahlala, in order to save my life, I figured this was the least I owed you, since I'm not going to be hiring you as our butler, putting you through school, teaching you to drive, buying you a truck, or taking you on all those expensive holidays, this time around."
"Oh, not even going to consider letting me stay?" Hutch questioned, as he wiped at his cheeks.
"Not this time," Casimir said, with a grin. "This time, you only need to wait on yourself, and hope she isn't too pissed at you when you make it back to her."
"Right," Hutch huffed, "she is going to be fuming when I appear alone."
"I'm certain the two of you will figure it out. At least once you have a chance to explain everything to her. It's weird though, isn't it? I know we've been through this before, and for you it's only been a couple of hours, but for me, it's been twenty-five years since I last saw you, and for her, it's going to be a matter of seconds." Casimir smiled as his eyes glistened with emotion. "I've missed you, Hutch. I really have, and I'm so happy that you made it back here. A little worse for wear, but all in one piece. So it isn't that I don't want you to stay, it's more like I know that it's for the best if you don't."
Hutch grinned and swayed as Casimir pat at his shoulder. "Yeah, it's not too bad knowing that you've been missed. I'm just glad that you survived, and you finally look close to your age. The white in the hair is a good look on you. Well, as good as it possibly could be given your mug."
Casimir chuckled. "Yeah, well, at least one of us had to look right after all of this."