THE MOMENT
"I mean, from a certain perspective, the truth actually did break the universe," Aury chuckled with a shrug. "That's kind of funny." His closest friend, Jenny, had revealed some heavy information, and it would probably be the only time he could've pointed that out to her.
"I need to know...," she moved past his attempt at humor. This was too urgent. "... did you leave any games open over the holidays? I know you promised me you didn't, and I won't be mad, but that might be the only way we could fix this." Her warm brown eyes were locked on his. They stood in a sealed white room for the sake of privacy. "Unless that's the actual cause of the problem, in which case I'll be really mad," she reminded him.
"I don't know," Aury shrugged. "I tried an experiment, and kind of forgot about it," he said. "I left a self-playing game open so it wouldn't be linked to me directly. I was hoping I could find the game if I knew where to look, but I hadn’t actually gotten to it yet. I don't know if I can claim it, or if it's even still there."
"An unclaimed game?!" Jenny's eyes sparkled, and she darted forward to peck his cheek. "That's why I keep you around," she giggled. "You'll give it to Sharp Development, right?" Asking anyone whether they wanted to give up something they'd forgotten about to save the universe should've been an easy question.
"Can I check it first?" he asked. "I set up a wormhole farm and sped up time. It's probably been a few thousand years by now." Aurelio Luna wasn't just anyone. "I've probably got a ton of rewards to sort through."
"Melody will cash you out," Jenny said with a neutral, firm tone. Keeping him around was a chore sometimes. "You have to claim it to check it, remember?"
"Oh yeah," he nodded. It was a minor gameplay feature that never really came into play; he was usually only checking his stuff. Aurelio pictured the cybernetic legion in his mind and remembered looking out over the vast sea of warriors ready to die for him. He heard their cheering as he plucked a clear glass node out of empty air. Things like 'spatial coordinates' were all but useless in the infinite multiverse. Most locations were found by intent and feeling. "This should be it, if it carried over," he nodded as she took the node from him. It wasn't just about him, though. He believed it was the right location when he offered the node, and she needed to believe it was the right location when she accepted it. As close as they were, that implicit trust had been built up already.
"So...," Aurelio's grin grew broader; he was about to make another joke. "Are you going to tell Dread what she did?"
"I don't know...," Jenny sighed. He meant it as a joke, but it was a question she'd already been debating. "I don't think she'll get mad, but I've already broken her heart twice in a row when I probably didn't have to. If I do it a third time, she might never talk to me again. And her knowing won't actually patch the cracks she made. It's all my fault, and she doesn't need to know the details," she decided.
"Man, that's crazy though," Aury laughed and shook his head. "You got her so mad her screams fractured the multiverse," he said. "Twice within a week!"