Two Birds One Stone

Truth be told, Jude hadn't thought about Zora much. Not because she hadn't been important, but because every time he thought about her it had lead him down an unhealthy line of thought. He'd had issues with memories. It had been thinking about Zora that had helped him realize what the issue really was.

Jude didn't forget. But beyond that, his memories didn't fade either. His memories stayed exactly as they were when they happened. So if he was angry, or upset, or hurt, or anything like that, he more or less re-experienced the feeling when he thought about it again. Every single time he thought about Zora, he experienced the same feelings, and that was a toxic mess at best.

But he'd found a way around it. He'd found a way to cleanse the memories, to make them normal. He still remembered them perfectly, but they were the way normal people had memories. They weren't so intense. They were things that had happened, but they weren't there.

It had given him space. It had given him time to process.

But he hadn't wanted to rush it. He'd wanted that space, and now he had that space--and a message from Zora asking him to meet--and there he was, arriving at the little cafe just on time. He was still missing his arm, but the sleeves of the sweater he was wearing were long enough that it looked more like he was missing a hand. The end of his left sleeve dangled a bit, but it wasn't exactly obvious unless you were looking with it.

Which she probably would be.

Jude slid into the cafe, spotting Zora more or less immediately, and headed right over. He was polite--maybe a bit stiff--making the standard is this seat taken? and all that before finally grabbing a seat.

"It's been a bit," Jude finally said, thinking of the maze. A month, maybe. But it had been a long month, filled with a lot of stuff.

Things were starting off... alright. Good, even. He didn't want to get his hopes up. He didn't want to raise them too high. But talking about someone probably meant either Broen or Frederick, and an apology...

Jude dropped his hand down into his lap, his fingers relaxed.

"I've been meaning to talk to you too, but... well, a lot's gotten in the way. I wanted to thank you for your help at the maze. If you hadn't helped, I might not have gotten my wish, and..."

Well, he wouldn't have any of the people who'd come through. His father. Gabe. Xavier, technically. Armorer. So many people who were so important to him.

He didn't finish his sentence. There was too much to be said there, and he was sure she'd heard from Broen.

It hadn't occurred to Jude that she didn't know. She hadn't seen the letter. She didn't have all the pieces needed to make the connection, and Jude actually flushed, embarrassed.

"I sent a letter to my father," he said. "It was meant as a... As a way of saying goodbye. There were a lot of things I never got to say to my father before I came over here. Closure was a myth, a fairy tale fantasy, but I figured writing a letter would... get it off my chest."

He paused for a long moment, and then let out a small laugh.

"Well, we kind of assumed the world was dead. But it wasn't. My dad got my letter, and with what I said they managed to send people through. I got to see my dad again because of that wish."

"No no," Jude said, waving it off immediately. "What I did was just a drop in the bucket. There's a chance they'd have come through anyway. They knew approximately where they'd sent us after all. All my letter did was give them something to go off."

No matter what, Jude didn't want the credit. It felt like a cheat, especially considering he'd been doing it for entirely selfish reasons.

He winced at the mention of Frederick.

"He tried to talk to me back when he first got here. I told him to leave me and my friends alone, but haven't talked to him since. Unfortunately, he's the downside of me having brought everyone over. That included him. Wouldn't have mind if he'd just been left behind..."

Jude let out a small huff.

"He say anything?"

"Likely," Jude confirmed her suspicions with some of his own. "Everything I've heard about him is that he'll play anyone and everyone he can. But..."

He trailed off for a moment, his eyes wandering around the room. Part of it was thinking. Part of it was triple checking no one was observing them.

"I don't think he's as dangerous as Broen thinks. Not anymore. That kind of person... he gains his strength from social situations. No one knows him here. He has no power. He's not the mayor of anything. He's a nobody from another dimension. He was building that back up a while ago, but I don't think anyone's seen him for weeks. It's the exact wrong thing for him to do."