Maybe I could have escaped. You think I should have. But, even as everything blurs around me, I won't. I'll drag you, kicking and screaming over the event horizon.

"Out of the way," Admiral Mythrai barked to a few people hovering over to investigate the collapse of Neo Teimea, and Nova relinquished her hold on him for the admiral to approach. "They're bringing gurney, Miss Spacyn."

Everything went too fast when Admiral Mythrai scooped Neo up with ease, where he lolled without energy to bring him outside the briefing dome. Agitation prickled through her skin when people crushed her path to him. Thuni came to a surprising rescue from the front, putting his broad, tall frame to use to pull her through the crowd of people who never understood. Admiral Mythrai placed Neo on the floating gurney. One doctor latched an oxygen mask on Neo's face. Monitors beeped out vitality projections in front of the doctor, who swiped it away with an expert hand.

Nova slipped underneath Admiral Mythrai's arm to keep pace with them, free of the crowd.

Inside Eastern Medical Tower, she scowled when another doctor stopped her advance into the room they stole Neo into. "I'm so sorry, Miss Spacyn," they said, harried. "Let us take care of him and wait out here. We don't want to make his condition worse until we know what caused this. We'll call you once he's stable. We might have more questions."

I know what caused this! Nova held her venomous words when the doctor rushed into the room with the others, and the door closed her from providing support to him. Over and over, left to wait. Nurses scrambled behind the barrier and things beeped out a taunt. Nova jumped when Izerva entered through the reception area with a sniff. Nova found herself unable to stop moving, to keep things in motion to the end.

It took too long for them to call her in.

Vital signs sprayed across a projection screen as Neo slept, and Nova stiffened when the doctor left in the room headed to her with a datascroll in his hands. "Are you Nova Spacyn?"

"Yes, Neo's my partner," she said and studied his ragged shape. "How is he?"

"He's stabalised," he said. "Has this sort of thing ever happened before, Miss Spacyn?"

Nova frowned. "No." Not to that extent, anyway.

"Was Mr. Teimea feeling any different than he usually does at the start of the shift. Did he complain about any physical problems?" he needled and tapped his datascroll. "Any troubles breathing? Fatigue? Dizziness? Anything like that?"

"I—" Nova bit her lip. "I don't know. The start of the shift was a blur for me."

A truth. I don't remember anymore, not since... not since I...

"I see." He twisted from her to Neo. "We're going to keep him here for the time being." He opened up the datascroll again. "He listed you as one of his emergency contacts — so I'll tell you that we're not sure what caused this. Apart from the sudden heart failure, he is a healthy young man. We'll keep looking for an explanation, though."

Nova sighed. "Is there anything else?"

"I just have a couple more questions and then I'll leave you with him," the doctor said and tapped the datascroll against his own hand. "Does he take stimulant capsules of any kind?"

"No?"

"No medication at all that you are aware of?"

Nova shook her head. "No, he doesn't take anything. Maybe the odd sleep capsule but I don't think he's taken that since we got here. Nothing prescribed."

"Okay." The doctor wrote something down on the datascroll. "Thank you for answering my questions, Spacyn."

She wasn't finished with her own. "Do you know when he'll wake up?"

"I don't. Whatever happened took a lot out of him. It may take him a bit, so keep your expectations low," he responded without hesitation. "I've seen fairer faces after a bad bout of Space Sickness. I'm being led to assume this has something to do with whatever the senior research team has been studying. It's not completely unheard of for an anomaly to cause sudden onset health issues, or exacerbate current ones." His eyes narrowed. "Are you sure he doesn't take anything?"

"Yes. Why?"

He looked through the datascroll. "The interns were given physical and mental health checks," he said.

"Yeah, Neo told me about how his went." Honestly, I don't even remember that far back anymore...

"It says here he refused a minimum level of stimulant capsules," the doctor pointed out. "It does not say the reason, but they must've thought he'd be well enough off without them. Or he was convincing. No mention of sleeping capsules." He switched to another tab on the datascroll. "Of course, that was ultimately his choice. He passed the health checks otherwise." He folded it to place it in his inner pocket. "If you have any other information that could help us figure out the problem, please tell us."

"I will," Nova lied. "So, can I stay here with him?"

"Yes, but try not to disturb him," he said and headed for the door, and she listened for it to close and his footsteps to disappear before sitting beside Neo.

Of course I won't disturb him. I know how exhausted he is. Any questions I have can wait. Nova read the vitamonitors as they kept track of his life. It beeped soft in time with his heartbeat, and he breathed deep beside her when she rested her arm against his. Stars, you look like hell.

'Maybe I don't deserve to exist,' his words echoed and stung her in the heart.

Yet, you do. I'm glad you do. Even if you don't feel that way. You gave me a chance I probably didn't even deserve. Not after what I did to you, after not realising how much I pushed you. Not realising how much you were hurting inside. Hand against her knee, she rubbed his forearm and listened to the hum of the medical facility. "Forgive me," she whispered. "I think we're hopeless."

His breathing quieted. "Hopeless in what way?"

Nova rested her cheek in her palm. "In every way that counts?"

He blinked open his eyes, back to the normal shade of gentle grey before giving her a weak smile. "Can we say we're even and call it quits? I think... I think if we stop hurting each other, we could actually... talk properly." He switched his gaze to the ceiling. "For a moment, I thought I wouldn't be able to drag myself up."

"You did stop breathing." Nova listened for footsteps to interrupt what time she had. "You weren't dead though. I told you." He hummed in thought, quieter, and Nova leaned closer to rest her arms around his. "Speaking of talking, maybe we should do that, if you're up for it."

"You still want to talk to me...?" Hesitation elongated each word.

"Yes," she said. "How much do you recall now?"

His brow creased. "Bits and pieces. Hard to keep track of them. I still know we're looping." He closed his eyes and breathed deep. "I also... I also remember dumping a whole lot of things that I probably... should've told you about way sooner but better late than never, I guess? Otherwise, it's all just one giant blob of white noise."

"Yes, we're looping and... how about we get out of this and we can talk about the other stuff?"

Neo nodded. "Yes. It's all pouring too fast. It's like I remember everything, but also nothing. It's like the universe put a blender straight into my brain and turned it on high." He faltered, then frowned. "I don't know why it's still so unclear. I can barely move, but... I think this feels a little better than how I'm remembering? I hope that clears things up for you." He hesitated, then rested deeper into his pillow without another word.

Nova clutched his shoulder. "Neo, are you mad at me?"

His breathing was ragged. "I... a little bit... I couldn't tell you why though..." He frowned and twisted back to her. "I'm angrier at myself, more than anything. The last thing I recall clearly is touching the anomaly and then..." Another soft, weak laugh escaped him. "I can barely keep my eyes open." He gave her a strained, exhausted smile when the vitamonitor blipped out his heartrate. "I think... I think I need to sleep. I'm sorry."

Nova edged closer and squeezed his hand. "You don't have to apologize. You can tell me what's wrong," she said. "I got you out of there, Neo, now, if I can only figure out what's happening to you..."

I think I can save you, if I can stop it.

"I mean... I did this to myself, didn't I?" he echoed his ghost. "Nova, I... I don't feel right."

Nova bit on her tongue and nuzzled closer when he shut himself in defeat. "Neo, you couldn't have known this would happen. It doesn't mean you deserve what's happening to you. It doesn't matter." Her own breath escaped her. One after another, time never mattered.

I never bothered to keep track of how many times you died — because I thought you'd just come back to life. But maybe... maybe that was wrong. I didn't understand what you meant when you said you were dying, when that's all you've been doing.

'You'll die in all the ways that matter,' he snapped in another loop, angry, worried.

It broke apart in her stomach. I see now, though. You're dying, but not in the loops. This whole time, you were in that place, drowning. You're dying in the way that matters most. When you looked at me then... you knew your time was coming close and you just wanted me to escape. Nova held his hand in her other one. "You know I'm not done talking yet."

"I'm sorry," he repeated. "I am listening. I'm just thinking."

Nova helped him into a sitting position when he dragged himself with his elbows. Tight against the current of space and time, she embraced him, which he returned with no hesitation, but no strength to his hold. "I said I'd find a way, I still will, I'm close," she whispered. "I meant it. I won't give up trying to find one." She held onto him and begged the universe to show a semblance of mercy. "So, please, stay with me until that time."

He slipped further into her embrace with a soft laugh. "I'll try, but it's hard," he mumbled and tucked into her. "I hear it in the distance, but I'm trying to ignore it."

Silence stretched on and took him farther away while the words she left unsaid piled on. "Neo."

"Yeah?"

"I'm not going to give up on you," Nova assured. "You can count on it. Time can go ahead and cross the starless sea. It can make everything fall silent around me. But it won't change that fact." Her hope dwindled, but she wrestled the dying flames of her own inner star. "It won't change. I know after what I did, that might be hard to believe. You can even hate me for what I've done, but I care about you... and I wish you wouldn't be so hard on yourself when you don't deserve it."

He drew out a sigh. "Joy to have my words thrown back at me," he whispered. "Yes, those are my words? I'm happy you remembered them." He swayed, and his hands rested on the bed. "I don't hate you, Nova. You've always been there for me even when I kept leaving you, and I want... I want to be better about that. I can't ask you for anything else. I've always made things harder for you." He stiffened. "Mira gave me hell for it one time, I think my ears are still ringing from it."

Nova found the strength to smile though he lost his. "Harder? Sometimes, yes. But there's a lot of things that counteract that for me. If it's hard for me... I can't imagine how difficult it is for you," she whispered. "Mira gives you shit because she's your older sister, and she worries about you. I do too." Tension wrapped around her shoulders when she held Neo at arm's reach, and he gazed at nothing. "I used to think that you were one of those super smart guys who let his ego get to his head to shove it up his own ass — but... you're not like that, Neo. You're genuinely passionate about what you do. You get excited over it, and that's okay, that's good. You deserve to be happy. You're doing what you love, you should be able to enjoy it and not have it ruined for you."

Now, I can't even imagine my life without you in it.

"That's comforting beyond words," he rasped and snuggled back down on the bed. "Thank you, Nova."

"No problem." Nova lost her smile at the fresh silence and tried not to cry. "This will be over soon."

One way or the other.

As she sat there with him through the loops, she jolted when someone knocked on the door. Nova released Neo's hand and drew away to acknowledge the visitor.

Izerva rubbed their wrists while their ears and tail twitched. After a couple minutes of awkward silence, they signed, "I came to check on you. Thuni and Ulin are at the hangar, but they want an update."

Nova stepped to the side to let them draw closer. "I wished to talk to you. I didn't get a chance to say anything, but Engineer Nova, your energy is dangerously off-balanced."

"My energy?" Nova pinched her cheek.

Izerva studied her, then nodded at Neo. "He is worse off, though. He is all over the place, scattering like stardust." Their arms folded and an agitated flick of their tail made Nova dig into her pocket for the first point in time. "It was not like that before the briefing... but it doesn't make sense. It molded as if it had never changed."

Neo shifted and caused them both to jump, "You need to read it..."

"He isn't well," Nova whispered. "He hasn't been himself since we dragged the anomaly in."

"Half of the truth."

Nova froze.

Izerva gazed at her.

The first point. Make them remember. Remind them. Remind them of what they have to lose.

Nova slipped the chain out of her pocket, a locket wrapped with hieroglyphs. Izerva's fur stood on end when she held it out to them, staying silent. Their hands wrapped around it, to then take out the copy, both real, both meaningful. Nova waited as they examined both, and her heart shuddered when the one she brought with her disappeared in contact with Izerva. Recognition flickered in their pupils, and they raised their head. "No, we've had this conversation before."

Nova nodded. "Timeloop."

"Time loop," Izerva signed. "Where time restarts after a set point..." Their eyes narrowed. "It would explain the deja vu. Explain the pressure in the air. The energy of Choros is broken here." Ears twitching, they looked around with a more intentful, focused gaze. "This idea of space and time — the greatest power of the universe's truth in the heart of Choros." Izerva sucked in a fluttering chirp. "You said he touched the anomaly."

"Yes — what's Choros?"

Izerva huffed in thought and swept their tail higher in the air with a vague point at Neo. "Idea of time in sequence — in our belief, Choros was an unfathomable being, made with the universe. We refer to its eyes as 'Kairos' — the fleeting moment we can touch, hear, feel, experience. It is said it spread out these eyes of Kairos in the chaos of broken time, where the first galaxies formed around their gates. Where the Precursors rose their great civilizations to expand ever farther to the edge. Choros gifted the Precursors with the ability to see into the fleeting moments. They could peer into the starless sea of time and space."

A memory lit in her mind, of Neo's fascination with a storybook — based on a Xelnod legend.

Kairos. Kairos. I kept seeing that word. Nova gasped and lurched forward. "Izerva, I think that anomaly did something to Neo. He kept talking about 'seeing' stuff, but couldn't explain what it was he was seeing."

Izerva's eyes widened. "More than deja vu?"

Their questions urged her forward, "Yes! It was... It was like he was seeing a tiny, broken shard of existence play out in front of him — over and over."

Another ear flick. "Can I take a closer look at his energy?"

Nova stepped out of the way in full. Izerva leaned over Neo and stared deep into his face. Their whiskers twitched with his breathing. Nova shuddered. "Well?"

Izerva huffed and turned back to her. "His energy fades, split across so many points. I would like to look at the anomaly."

"You remember?"

Izerva considered her, then held out the first fleeting point of time in their hands. "Many things we struggle to understand. I... recall Scientist Neo mentioning some sort of script on the anomaly."

The anomaly is the key to all of this. Nova clasped Izerva's wrist. "If I get you to that anomaly, do you think it would explain more?"

"I think I can give you an answer as to what the script says — and a new understanding of what we brought on this station. It will be heavily guarded," Izerva warned. "Even I would struggle to get access, and to break in requires a lot of time I don't think you believe you have."

Nova stared down at Neo, who slept on the edge of death. "He doesn't have time," she acknowledged. "We have to see what that script says before..."

"He fades?"

Nova nodded. "I don't care if it's against the rules. The rules don't matter anymore. If we're looping, none of it matters. Let's get to that anomaly."

She expected Izerva to have reservations.

They nodded instead.