A Short Story

Would you imply that the guard died more than once, was he ever restored before?
Was she ever dead?
I'm asking this because it could potentially make things even more tragic; as if it wouldn't be enough that Alex, or everyone in Rutera from what I understood, can get overexcited from love and eventually die from heart-failure.. but if that cicle gets repeated endlessly due to the periodic reset of one of the lovers, then it's like a hamster wheel of tragedy. Never to be able to love and always repeat the cicle of coming close to it and want it so bad but always be denied fulfillment.
So If I've got this right, and the dude is, from time to time, back to Hello my name is and I look good wink* .. how come he didn't overload right then and there instead of later that day. Is the Queen maybe hotter than Elune and the real reason for the nervous out-blurt? Were they having sex? I'm sorry but this is where my mind starts to not be serious about the story, so perhaps this is an indication of an inconsitency. Or perhaps it's more likely that heartache was the cause of death .. not over-excitement. Well worth the read and the contemplation anyway.

... Tock:

Once upon a time, there was a clockwork boy. Every morning, his mother would wind him up and send him out on his way through the woods to school. While he was there, the other children would tease him, and push him around just to hear the sound his little brass cogs made as he tried to keep his balance.

Halfway through the day, his tiny clockwork heart would begin to wind down, and the gentle tick-tick-tick from his chest would lower in tone until all that was left was a sighing music-box twinkling. As all the other children went out to lunch, their teacher would stand and walk around, prop the key into his back and wind up the tick-tock boy.

He would wake and smile and make his happy, clicking way out into the playground, the sun gleaming across his tiny metal face.

One evening, as he walked home, the little clockwork boy heard a rustling from a bush. He investigated, finding that the sound was a group of soft little puppies. In the orange of the setting summer sun, he glanced around, but couldn’t find their mother. Worried for their safety, the tick-tock boy took off his jumper and unscrewed the front of his little chest. He wrapped the puppies up nice and warm in his jumper before setting them inside, careful that none of them get caught in his gears.

As he skipped home through the woods, the yelping of the little puppies was loud enough that he didn’t hear the soft chiming of his slowing little clockwork heart. He watched as the world around him seemed to move faster and faster, his clicking legs slower with every step.

The tick-tock boy woke slowly, his knees grinding through the remainder of his skipping steps. It was winter now, and he was still in the woods, bare tree limbs stark black against the grey-white sky. The puppies were long gone, and birds had nested in his open chest. Deft hands reached inside and swept the twigs from his straining counterweights and gearwheels. He turned around, old autumn leaves crunching beneath his stubby metal feet, and saw his mother again, dropping the fat key into the pocket of her jacket.

Her face had some new lines on it now, and her eyes looked a little sadder, but that had happened before, and the tick-tock boy was happy to see her again.

As they made their way home, it began to snow.