Silence. That's all there was after the old man had said those words.
"You aren't saying anything?" he asked, but,
"What do you expect me to say?" I asked, voice weaker than even I expected.
"Heh! And here I was expecting you to shoot one of your cheeky quips after my words." I didn't reply. I was still trying to wrap my head around what he just said.
"Why?" Why now? We had just arrived at a region far distant from our original one. We were just about to begin our true adventure, so,
"Why?" When we were on our way to putting this whole universe and beyond on notice? When we're about to bring back Mom and Dad? Just,
"Why?" My voice was already about to betray me. I didn't expect such simple words to have such an effect, but here I was, extremely reluctant to even believe what I'd just heard.
Thud!
His arms landed on my shoulders, hard.
I didn't flinch. I couldn't. I was too busy staring at him.
