“Not this one,” Bob said, smiling wider. “He’s got a loophole, because, despite appearances, he’s not actually a dragon.”
He turned to point at the Black Reach standing alone in front of the tunnel that led out of the spiral of on-ramps, his tall body silhouetted by what was probably the last working streetlight in the DFZ, and Julius gasped. “Of course!” the dragon cried. “The Black Reach is a construct, a magical machine! He was built, not born, which means he’s not under your control!”
“Are you sure about that?” Amelia asked, frowning. “My domain is pretty broad.”
“Absolutely sure,” Bob said, giving his sister a flat look. “Do you think I would have put myself through that melodrama with Julius earlier if you could have pulled the Black Reach’s string to save me?”
“Good point,” Amelia said, her voice growing excited as she launched off Bob’s shoulder to flap toward the Black Reach. “Let’s go get our super weapon!”
“I don’t think he’s going to help us if you call him that,” Julius said as he hurried after her.
Marci followed right behind, looking suspiciously over her shoulder at Bob, who was watching the unfolding events play out like a director on opening night. “Are you sure about this?” she whispered, catching Julius’s sleeve.
“No, but it’s the best plan we’ve got,” he said, looking down at her. “What’s wrong?”
Marci shot another glare at the seer. “I just don’t like how convenient it is. Bob’s normally subtler about his tip-offs, but he practically gave us a quest to go talk to the Black Reach.” She shook her head. “I don’t like it. Smells like a plot.”
“Of course it’s a plot,” Julius said, laughing. “He’s a dragon seer. Plots are the air he breathes.”
“That doesn’t make them okay,” Marci snapped. “Bob doesn’t exactly have the greatest track record. He’s already proven he’s fine with killing both of us if that’s what it takes to make his wheels turn. How do we know this time is different?”
“We don’t,” Julius said. “But…” He trailed off, coming to a stop so he could face her properly. “Bob did a lot of things I hate, but he also did things I’d never want to change. He used us and hurt us, yes, but he’s also the reason we’ve made it as far as we have.”
“But nothing we’ve tried has worked!” she cried. “The best plan I had bombed. Why didn’t he warn us about that?”
“Probably because there was a chance it wouldn’t bomb,” Julius said. “And warning us might have made that future less likely.”
“Why are you defending him?” Marci demanded. “He’s done nothing but use us! Everything good that’s ever come out of his plots for us has been a side effect, never the main purpose. His previous ‘solution’ for the Leviathan was to sell all of our futures to put us on rails without even asking where we’d like them to go. You hated that as much as any of us, so why are you okay with blindly trusting him now?”
“It’s not blind trust to grab the only rope when you’re drowning,” Julius said firmly. “You’re absolutely right. Bob has treated us horribly, but things aren’t as simple as ‘never trust again.’ He did some very bad things, but I’m convinced he did them for good reasons. That doesn’t excuse how he treated you or me or Chelsie or anyone else, but it doesn’t make him the villain, either. He’s just a dragon who had to make some hard choices, and while I don’t agree with the solutions he came up with, the fact remains that he was always trying to save us.”
“You mean save himself,” she grumbled. “Don’t forget why he started all of this. He admitted to your face that the only reason he picked you was to avoid being killed by the Black Reach.”
“He also found us a way to save us from the Leviathan,” Julius reminded her. “Maybe it wasn’t the one we wanted, but he could have used the Final Future to save himself from the Black Reach, and he didn’t. He used his one sure shot to make sure everyone else was safe and relied on plots to save his own future. If he’d failed and the Black Reach had killed him, we still would have been safe in the future he died to buy. We could still be safe.” He nodded over her head at the pigeon perched on Bob’s shoulder. “His salvation is still on the table. Always was. We were the ones who said no, and when we did, Bob respected that. He let us try to make our own fate, knowing the results weren’t guaranteed.”
“If Bob respects us so much, why does he seem fine with risking our lives?” Marci snapped. “He didn’t have a problem with letting me die.”
“I hate how he handled that,” Julius said. “But I also think he would never have let that happen if he wasn’t sure you’d come back.” His lips curved into a soft smile. “I don’t think Bob actually likes killing.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because I’ve never seen him do it,” Julius said. “I’m sure a lot of his plots would have been much easier if certain pieces were permanently removed, but he never went there. He even tried to save Estella, and she was willing to destroy her entire clan to beat him. That has to mean something.”
“I think you’re being too nice,” Marci grumbled. “Bob hasn’t even apologized for how he treated you, but you already seem like you’ve forgiven everything.”
“Maybe it is too nice,” Julius said, smiling wider. “But it’s what feels right to me. Trusting my gut has worked pretty well so far. I might as well stick with it until the end.”
Marci was pretty sure this was the end, but there was no point in arguing. It’d be easier to kill the Leviathan with a spoon than to make Julius stop being kind. Even now, when his willingness to forgive and forget might be literally the death of them, she couldn’t help but love him for it.
“All right,” she said, reaching out to grab a fistful of his blue feathers. “We’ll trust the manipulative seer, but I’m staying with you every step of the way. The moment I spot a trap, we’re bailing.”
Even as she said it, Marci knew that made no sense. You couldn’t bail from the end of the world. But where any other dragon—including Amelia—would have mocked her mercilessly for that lapse of logic, Julius just leaned down to bump his nose against hers.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
***
“Finally,” Amelia said when Julius and Marci walked up. “What took you guys so long?” She narrowed her burning eyes at the Black Reach. “This cheapskate won’t let me take a look at his fire.”
“You’ll have to get used to disappointment,” the Black Reach said bitterly. “Unlike every other dragon, I am under no obligation to you, Planeswalker.”
“You see?” she cried, turning back to her littlest brother. “Talk some sense into him, would you?”
“Why don’t you go back and wait with Bob?” Julius suggested.
Amelia snorted. “Why would I do that?”