a frozen tear on a warm cheek

background: austin arrives on the wreck of the longerfellow, a cruise ship that crashed long ago. he finds out the ship captain was a robot that purposely crashed the ship and killed all the passengers. he tries to travel back in time to warn them.

——

The time portal spits Austin back out on the Longerfellow in the past. Just like when he visited earlier, the passengers are still chattering amidst the soft jazz, as if no time had passed.

Okay, he can do this. Now that he knows what Captain Dan actually did to these people, he might be able to change their fate, like he did with the village of Sandwich.

"Um, excuse me?" he calls out. The passengers and deckhand turn to look at him with slight annoyance, as if he's interrupting something important.

How should he address this? Should he just cut to the chase? But these people are having a nice day at the time of their lives. He might have to ease it in. No, but then it won't sound urgent enough. Fine, he'll just say it directly.

Austin nervously clears his throat and says, "You're all in danger. Captain Dan isn't an actual person. He's a robot that will crash this ship."

He receives an array of blank stares. The salty sea breeze turns his sweat into cold sweat. His hands are clammy.

"Nonsense," a woman huffs. "Robots can't possibly be that advanced."

"Yeah, right," another man scoffs. "That's some conspiracy, kid."

"It's not a conspiracy!" Austin exclaims, face heating up. "I'm from the future! I saw the wreck of this ship! And I saw that thing that will kill you all!"

"Enough with this disrespect of the captain!" the deckhand retorts. "Are you implying that a seafaring captain isn't a human, but some cold machine only following inputs?"

"No! No, I'm not!" Austin protests. He swears his voice cracked somewhere, but he can't pay any mind to that when the corners of eyes are also beginning to heat up from frustration. "He's a literal robot! Why don't you understand? I'm trying to save you all!"

"I think you've read too much science fiction," another woman says with a disapproving head shake. "You should tell these stories to your parents, not us."

"I'm twenty-eight--"

"Stop disturbing the passengers this instant!" the deckhand demands. "These people are here for the time of their lives. You are not contributing to that!"

"I'm trying to say, you won't have a life if you don't get off this ship right now!" Austin tries so hard to blink his welling tears away. It's not working. "Why aren't any of you--"

Someone places a hand on his shoulder. Austin whips around and sees the countess of the city of clocks, tiaraless, her face just as serene as before. Her eyes are distant, and despite her proximity, she doesn't look at him in the slightest.

"They will not leave," she says flatly. "I think you should save your energy."

In the time it has taken for her to say those sentences, the other passengers have already returned to what they were doing before Austin interrupted them. So much for trying to warn them.

"Why don't you leave?" Austin says desperately. "You already know this won't end well. Just look at this!" Austin reaches into his bag, pulling out a tarnished double of the countess's tiara.

She barely glances at the tiara, as if already knowing exactly what it is. "I have looked upon my bones before and I expect I shall again."

"But it doesn't have to be like this! You can take a lifeboat and get out of here, or something! Ask for a detour. Get off at the next stop!"

The countess's eyes are blank. "We were all doomed from the moment we stepped on this ship. I have made my choice to stay. You should make your choice as well."

Austin shakes his head, wiping his tears away. It's a futile effort, as more well up in his eyes. "I don't know how I can just leave this alone. I know this can change. I helped a village in the past, but I can't even convince these people to listen to me..."

"People who don't wish to listen will never hear your words," she says. "Nothing you do will save them. I advise you choose your own reality than to devote yourself to a cursed past."

She's right. She's right, and that sucks.

He can't help people who don't wish to be helped. Even if he dragged the remains of Captain Dan into the past, it would just be a pile of incomprehensible metal scraps. He can't prove anything to these people.

"God dammit," Austin curses, gingerly removing his hat and hunching over the deck.

"Let the dead lie," the countess says. "It is best you leave, for your own good."

"Is there really nothing I can do?"

"Not unless you wish to destroy yourself in the process."

It's an ominous comment, but Austin doesn't have the capacity to care about that. The waves below lap the sides of the ship, taunting him. Cackling that they'll swallow the structure whole. And there's nothing he can do to change it.

Maybe this is what Aunt Ivy meant when she told him that not everyone could be saved. It's a hard truth that he'll just have to accept if he wants to be an adventurer. The tunnel vision to solve this one issue might just keep him here forever, and he'll never find Charles.

...Shit. Charles! Amidst all of this, he had completely forgotten why he was here in the first place!

He can't stay here. As much as he wants to help these people. He has his friends to tend to, right here and now.

"You're right," he says, straightening up and placing the hat back on his head. "I have duties waiting for me back in my time. I don't think I should keep sulking here. Thanks for your advice."

The countess's eyes are still trained on the horizon, but for the first time, a slight smile tugs at the sides of her lips.

"I hope you find the truth you're looking for," she says as Austin approaches the temporal portal.

"Thanks," Austin replies with a tilt of his hat. "Good cruise to you."

He steps through the portal, back to the present.