Chapter Text
Flint wakes. It is dark. He shakes as he stands. His eyes adjust.
"How am I still alive?"
The building around him is crumbled. One hundred stories of the tower are piled onto the cavern-like basement. The rubble scratches at the foggy purple night above. As he looks up, he feels a light touch on his shoulder and turns. His son, Lucas, is behind him. He's covered in filth, and his glassy eyes stare through it. "The shield worked," he says in a near whisper.
The boy’s knees are dangerously close to buckling but his eyes are staring straight ahead, as if he's willing himself to stand. From behind him, a brown dog trots up, panting. He is followed by a young woman with short, pink hair and a tall, thin fellow with a limp. The woman grins hard and lifts the boy into the air.
"You did it!" she exclaims.
Lucas lets out a gasp but doesn't fight it. He's still put down right away and she ruffles his hair. Now he's giggling. "Hey, cut it out Kumatora!" She responds with a roll of her eyes and a hand on her hip.
Lucas turns to his father again. "Dad, these are the friends that helped me do all of this."
Flint nods. "Duster, I know," he says motioning towards the other man. Duster gives Flint a sheepish grin and rubs the back of his neck. "He was a huge help when we went to look for you, your brother, and Mom that night..."
A beat of silence hangs in the air. Lucas bites his lip. Flint decides to continue.
“Who might your other friend be?"
The boy perks up a bit. "This is Kumatora. She's like me, dad. She's psychic!"
"We ain't that alike, kid," she says with a crack of her knuckles.
"I'm cooler, but you can put up with a lot more crap."
Flint looks at them both. Deep in his mind he feels something shift when he hears his son mention the power he and his companion have.
"So that's the 'magic' you were using when you were fighting with Porky, and then when you fought with..."
He stops as Lucas gives a look and lowers his head. There is still that matter to attend to. Lucas knows it too and he walks up to place a hand on his father's shoulder. He didn’t touch this one before, so Flint winces, remembering the injury he received in the whole altercation. The shock completely wears off and it hurts even more now. He gives a hiss and grasps at the arm.
"Oh, yeah, you got hurt pretty badly back there, right? Hold still," Lucas says softly.
A faint green glow emerges from his hand as he runs it over the injury. The pain slowly fades into a dull throb and Flint shakes it out.
Lucas looks his father in the eye.
"His body is still there. We should bring it with us so we can bury it."
---
It's not far from where they met up. Lucas leads them around the corner to the spot. There, Flint sees the reason the tower fell, and why so many other buildings around them are probably destroyed. There is a gaping black hole in the ground where a golden needle once was. Some rubble seems to fall into it but it doesn't really seem to go anywhere after. It's almost as if it's absorbed by the blackness.
Lying in front of the hole is the body of his other son, Claus. There is no mistaking the fact that it will never move again. It lies with eyes closed, mouth pressed. The arms lie limp at the sides and the chest does not rise and fall. The party keeps their distance from the scene at first, taking it all in. Lucas is the first person to move in. He crouches by his brother’s body.
"I don't think I can carry it on my own," he says flatly.
Flint chews the inside of his lip and steps to the other side. "I'll take it. We should…uh..."
He roots through his pockets for something to cover the face. He settles for pulling off the red bandana hanging around his neck. He kneels to place it over the face and his chest tightens. He shakes, knowing he can't afford to lose his grip now. I’ve done it enough, he thinks to himself.
He hauls the body over his shoulder. "How are we meant to get out of here?" Flint asks, his voice straining.
"There's an emergency stairway," a voice says from somewhere around the corner. It belongs to Dr. Andonuts, who is rolling a metal capsule containing Porky Minch, the cause of all of the dilemma. He stops moving, resting casually against the wobbling capsule to evaluate all that lay in front of him.
"I was going to dispose of that body, myself,” he says with a motion towards Flint, “but it seems it has already been claimed."
"It has," Flint says sternly. "He is my son."
The researcher stands silently for a moment before rolling the capsule next to the hole. "I will probably leave this here. It is prudent to have the area sealed as soon as possible so nothing like this will happen again."
“But wha…”
He moves in front of the party before any more questions could be asked. "Come, now. I will show you the way out."
---
Though things in the village had changed immensely over the last few years, the foundations of the houses were still primitive compared to those in the city, so they crumbled into the ground. The only things standing are made of stone, and even they are damaged immensely. Despite this, the villagers slowly trickle back to what was once their homes to salvage anything they can, and to see how they can go back to rebuilding their lives.
The villagers whisper amongst the stones of the crumbled square.
"It's not as if we can just go back to how it was before!"
"But it felt wrong..."
"Whoever said progress was wrong should be evaluated."
"I thought there was something quaint about it all."
The whispers hush when a procession moves through. It is actually less of a procession and more of a trio. Duster and Kumatora had returned to where they lived to evaluate the damages, while Dr. Andonuts stayed behind in the city to oversee the cleanup in that area.
Lucas stands in front of his father like a guard. His dog wanders further ahead. "Boney, heel," he calls out, and the dog runs back to his side. Lucas turns to his father. "Just a bit longer. You okay?"
Flint grunts in response, shifting the load over his shoulder. On the way out, they had found some proper bedsheets to wrap it in so it was now less conspicuous. People still stare with curiosity, and then a new set of whispers start.
"Is he the one?"
"He saved us!"
"No he started it."
They just continue along the path to a small cliff overlooking the ocean. When they get there they find that the entire cliff has crumbled and their house, with everything attached, has fallen into the sea below. Flint closes his eyes, his mouth pressing to a hard line. Lucas turns to look at him.
"First, put the body down," he huffs. Flint does just that, laying the wrapped body over the dirt beside the broken path. "We can rest before we...decide what to do," Lucas mumbles. Flint nods and they both sit.
Flint sees his son's eyes are glazed over with some mixture of exhaustion and possible illness. He places a hand to his forehead. He's burning with a fever.
"It's normal," Lucas says with a thin smile. "After doing a lot, I get a fever for a short while and then I get a new power."
"So it happens a lot?" Flint asks, his voice laced with concern as he cocks his head to the side.
The boy nods. "Yeah, don't worry."
Flint just bites his lip. He feels something like a stone dropping in his stomach. He looks at Lucas and at the wrapped figure.
"I don't want to worry you, but should we..."
"Yes," Lucas interrupts. He moves over to unwrap the sheets, hands trembling. "We can, uh, say things, I guess."
Flint moves closer, kneeling beside the body on the sheet. He hadn't been present for most of his wife's funeral and now he is seeing it all up close for the first time. There is so much scarring and metal everywhere. One arm is completely gone, replaced with a canon that no one bothered to remove before they left. There is a metal pack grafted into the back. His red hair is combed with military and machine precision. Beneath it all is the resting mirror image of Lucas' face.
Flint's lips are numb. He rests a hand on his son's cold face. It all clicks together in his mind now and he feels his cheeks turn wet, his chest heaving a bit. Lucas has his arms around his father and is trying not to cry.
He pulls his father in close, whispering, "it's okay now."
---
Kumatora runs a gloved hand over what was once a piano, now lying in splinters beneath a fallen boulder. The dining hall is completely caved in by fallen debris. Though the heavy stone walls of Osohe Castle continue to stand, some of the support beams are fallen, apparently having taken bits of the ceiling with it.
Through the gaps in the ceiling, Kumatora can see the light fading from the orange sky.
She moves toward the broken stone slab that she knows was once a dining table. There are shattered wine glasses, accompanied by the stench of freshly poured wine. However, there is no trace of any wine to be seen.
A sudden pounding is heard from the entrance that makes Kumatora nearly jump from her skin. She figures if it's any threat, she is prepared to fight it. She slowly makes her way towards the great hall, arguably the least destroyed part of the castle, with a hand raised and ready to strike. The heavy front doors, so miraculously still standing, are swung open.
"Damn it, Duster, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"
The defensive hand is lowered as Duster stands giving a sheepish grin.
"Who else would I be?"
"If it were 'anyone else' they would have been sent to the moon!" She yells out. Duster just chuckles, head lowered. This seems to make Kumatora fume even more.
"I'm coming really close to doing the same to you too, asshole!"
"I'd appreciate if you didn't do that and maybe let me in?"
She rolls her eyes, stepping aside to allow him to come in. When they are both inside, he faces her with an expression of seriousness.
"The others, the villagers, I mean, asked me to see you about the castle."
"Huh? What for?"
"We need to find shelter for the people who had their houses destroyed. It's the only building big enough that's still standing."
She bites her lip, a feeling of tightness in her chest. The place was barely fit to hold her alone in its virtual prime, which is to say, the time when chunks of the ceiling weren't missing.
"There's probably no way to go upstairs or down. I can barely make it through the ground level as it is, now."
Duster sighs and looks at the floor. He also remembers when he had been there. Even without major damage it still had been decayed with age. Still he huffs out. "It's our best shot for now, until the Yado Inn is back up. We'll try clearing it all out beforehand to see if we even can..."
"It could still be dangerous," she interrupts. "If something is put out of place, then the whole castle would come down on top of someone."
"Lucas is coming. He said he'd use his shield if something like that happens."
"So we involve him? What if his shield breaks?"
"He said it was his chance to take."
"That idiot," she growls. She can feel her face grow hot at a point beyond fury.
Duster places a hand on her shoulder. "Remember all the risks we took before? It would be awfully silly if we lost our lives over something as minor as this."
She sighs and nods. "I suppose."
She looks out into the distance, at nothing in particular. Even as she calms down, she can feel the heat grow in her cheeks. "Damn, not now..."
"Is it the fever again? Lucas said he was getting one too."
"Must be," she sighs. "Mind if we sit?"
Duster nods and they both slowly make a place on the floor.
"You talked to Lucas earlier? How is he holding out?" she asks. "I was checking the damages here and didn't get to make my way out to his place."
"There's the problem, Lucas doesn't have a place anymore," Duster responds flatly.
"Woah, what?"
"His house was on a cliff. It all crashed into the sea. At least the sheep made it, somehow..."
She shakes her head. "I guess we really have to clear out some space now," she laughs sadly.
"For me too. They turned my house into an old folk's home, remember? It hardly made it either, anyway."
"All of it?"
He nods.
"Oh."
Duster just gives a sickly looking grin in response.
They both sit in silence for a while. Duster lies down on his back and Kumatora does the same. Through the broken ceiling, the sky is indigo and flecked with stars. Kumatora lies her head on Duster's chest. He puts an arm around her.
They sleep.
---
He is suspended in the darkness, but a silver light shines in front of him. He runs to it, but it seems to get further with every step. Jumbled fragments of voices pulse rapidly through his mind as he continues.
"Eat some ste..."
"I knew you would c..."
"Shy, nearsi...."
"I am the o..."
"Big br..."
Suddenly, he is where the light is, and he can see what is illuminated in its glow. It is a silver capsule with a pig nose stamped on it.
Another voice pulses.
"I, Por..."
---
Flint awakens with a start, clutching his chest.