Conclusion

[voidtreckermods]

Thank you.

For those inside the system the voices of the Great-Seasons ring out around them once the red mass has vanished and the blue plinth it was smothering is freed once more. They don't have all that much time to reflect on that before they find themselves waking up once more in their bodies around the tree trunks.

Or at least, around the tube that is the Great-Season they entered through. All illusions have vanished now, all that is left are pipes and metal.

The Great-Seasons allow them passage out from the centre, no sentries or pipes attack them this time. Everything seems to have been put to rights, the walls in the Autumn sector have stopped moving, there is no strange weather effects in the Summer Sector, no engineering problems in Winter and all the camaloid creatures in Spring are calm. Any Helpmates they come across are doing their jobs and no longer malfunctioning.

After a small amount of time, enough to check that all is well, their SCA's light up. All Passengers are to return to the Voidtrecker Express.

Considering the vast distances involved it is probably best that they use the evacuation function to return to the Luggage carriage.

Once all Voidtreckers have returned the train returns to the Void once more.

Comments

[blue_ice]

"Right. Atem sealed his name to maintain the seal..."

Kaiba shifts, tugging the towel a little tighter around himself. He gives Jonouchi a considering look. He seems satisfied that the dragons are getting along, and that brings a smile to his face.

"But other than that, the mission went well?"

cw getting explicitly into the sexual abuse stuff

[subcircuits]

"You're biased," Devero protests in a weak whisper. "You like me."

As if no one could actually like him, or as if the only reason anyone would think highly of him was if they 'liked' him. But what did people like about him back home? His pretty face, his big arms, his charming smile? How wide his legs could spread? How well he could eat out a pussy or take a dick?

That's sure what Valdana had made him think. And as he'd retreated from everyone else in his life, afraid of provoking her ire and ashamed of revealing what what she was turning him into, he'd pulled away from the only people who could have reminded him otherwise. She'd wrapped his fingers around a knife and made him carve a cycle of insecurity and self-loathing into his soul so deeply that he could scrape at it himself, with next to no prompting.

Suddenly, he feels very sick. He draws his knees up to his chest and wraps his arms around his legs, hiding his face.

Another weak little whisper threads out and over to Koumyou's ears. "S... say it again...?"

[its_dad_sanzo]

"I love you."

Koumyou doesn't know if that's what he meant, but he's saying it anyway, even though saying it makes his heart pound in his throat, and his throat try to close with fear.

"I'd fight for you without hesitation. I'd kill for you without hesitation."

He'd die for him without hesitation, but even Koumyou knows better than to voice that. Devero's in an exclusive club of two (2) members, of people Koumyou would shield from danger with his own body and a smile on his face while he did it.

[bakegarasu]

"It... wasn't really a problem." He shrugs uncomfortably and pulls away. "I got used to it. It's not a big deal."

[luckydragonsfoot]

Big shrug from Katsuya suffice to say. "Yeah, no one r'members tha' guy. Er. Mostly..? I get th' feelin' timin' works in my favor there, I knew when he was like..."

He gestures- an infant. That doesn't super count. "...Tha's abou' it though. So who knows what th' deal is in my case..."

Somewhere, a thief sneezes.

"Oh! Yeah, went great!~ Made it t' th' trunk, started clearin' things up...weird how all tha' was happenin' th' way it was t' begin with but eh."

[subcircuits]

Those three words are more than enough to lift Devero's face up from his knees. There's a brittle stillness to him as he watches Koumyou pledge to-- to violence on his behalf. On his behalf! As if he were someone worth fighting for, killing for.

He unbends and sloshes across the pool to Koumyou's side. Reaching up, he touches Koumyou's cheek, just gently, with shaking fingertips. "...Thank you," he says, because he's not sure what else you say to someone who's just told you would kill for you. "I... I hope it never comes to that."

[its_dad_sanzo]

He doesn't have to reach up very high to do it; Koumyou's stayed pretty deep in the water this whole time, and right now the water sloshing around actually goes over his mouth as it moves. But he leans into that shaking touch, gazing with open fondness up at Devero.

"If it does, I hope you never have to hear of it."

Koumyou's pretty good at murder, if it comes to it.

[subcircuits]

Devero's a man used to living alone in his own spacious apartment, so 'too quiet' is not a thing for him. Maybe he should try taking naps in one of the quiet cabins...

But this isn't his experience they're talking about, it's Soldat's. If the quiet cars are too quiet for them, that's the way it is. So he nods his understanding.

"Recovering from the mission, huh?" Devero asks them after that last comment. He gets it. He and Koumyou had almost fallen asleep in the spa car together. "How'd it treat you?"

[subcircuits]

Since Devero can't imagine a situation where it would ever come to pass, it's easy for him to say, "I'd want to know. I wouldn't want you to keep that from me."

He gets up onto the submerged ledge next to Koumyou and puts his arm back around his shoulders, leaning against him a little self-consciously. "I love you too, Koumyou Sanzo," he murmurs. "I think you're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

[its_dad_sanzo]

Koumyou tucks in nice and close to Devero's side, too, looping his thin arm around the bigger man's waist. His other hand comes up to lace fingers with Devero's.

"Then I won't hide it from you. I won't keep anything from you that you don't want me to."

[subcircuits]

"Thank you," he says again. With Koumyou slid down so low in the water, Devero can rest his chin on the priest's head if he twists a little, and he does so now.

"It's hard not to feel... mm, outclassed here," he murmurs after a long moment. "Especially compared to everyone else, and especially without my tech. I could-- keep up, at home, because no one at Techstead could pilot an exo like I can. But I don't have that here. All I have is--"

He pauses. He doesn't want to disparage what makes Koumyou think so highly of him, but it's so hard for him to see his kindness as anything special at all. He settles on, "--the fact that I grew up somewhere decent."

[its_dad_sanzo]

"That's an extremely rare thing among the train's denizens," Koumyou points out, happy enough to nuzzle up against Devero's neck. "You remind people like me that people like you are even possible. You're a shining gem to those of us who only know the muck and the mud."

He settles in with a sigh against the bigger man's throat. His unmarked throat; anything on either of them from before the fight has surely healed by now.

"I don't think we need more fighters, I think we need more reminders that there's anything out there to fight for."

[strawberryprotector]

That was a serious issue, but Ichigo knew he still was missing some details. "Was it because you couldn't hear them? Or was it because you didn't look? How accustomed are you to checking for others being around when you're in a fight?"

cw abuse trauma

[subcircuits]

He literally never would have thought such a thing, possibly couldn't have. So much of his identity-- and so many of his issues-- have become tied up in what he can do or provide, in service, in contribution. If he's not doing something with a concrete result, he's somehow failing.

But he hasn't always thought that way. While all citizens of the World Government are encouraged to find something to contribute to the greater human good, it's not a requirement. And Gov understands that sometimes there are obstacles to 'productive' citizenship. He was taught as a kid that it was contribution enough to take care of himself, to be healthy and happy and present in his community.

And as with many of the happy, comfortable, secure citizens of Gov, Devero wanted to contribute. He's always wanted to give back, to utilize his unique gifts, to do his part. Valdana just took that innate conscientiousness and twisted it, as she twisted so many other things about him to suit her own whims.

To be told, so simply and so straightforward, that not only is it enough to just be, but that just being himself has a tangible value to the community of this train, is... is...

Is like the pure light of the moon shining into a dark, restless sea.

Devero turns on the ledge and pulls Koumyou bodily up into his lap, wrapping both arms around the priest and hiding his face against that brilliant platinum hair. He's at a loss for words, trapped between automatic self-deprecating denial and a fragile, transgressive desire to allow himself to see himself the way Koumyou does. But with how tight his arms are and how he curls his whole body around Koumyou's, there's no mistaking that the priest's words are reaching him.

[its_dad_sanzo]

Even if they weren't in water, Koumyou would have been easy for Devero to move around like that. He weighs so little. That they are in the water must make it completely effortless.

The priest doesn't fight the move, stuffing his own insecurities firmly back into the dark.

No, Koumyou's entire focus is on how tight Devero's holding onto him, how he's curling around him. He sets his hands on Devero's shoulder, and slides one up into his hair to stroke his long, bony fingers carefully through the wet strands.

[comefadeaway]

Yoite sat back a bit, considering it. "I think he called to me, I didn't hear him." He explained.

"But I was being cornered a bit. It's fine. I was..." He shook his head. "Not terribly often, I'm used to looking at enemies, not allies. But I...I think Miharu was helping me. Watching my back."

[strawberryprotector]

"It is hard to adjust to having allies around, it's true." It was something that Ichigo counted himself lucky to have, even if he usually tried to pull his battles away from his own. "How many people on the train know about your hearing? I know you probably see it as a weakness, and I can understand that. But without knowing that limitation, it can cause conflicts."

[worthallthis]

"It was fine. Didn't get worse than bruised. Arm shorted once, though." It could, they think, use a tune-up, especially after climbing a concrete wall with it. They've just been too tired to even think about it so far.

"Didn't go into the system, in the end," they admit, looking maybe a little sheepish.

[comefadeaway]

"I don't know...not that many, I think." Yoite said softly. "He didn't know, but although he said he didn't know, he still scolded me." He nodded. "He's right. I will fix it. I don't want someone to decide I've outlived my usefulness." Not again, at any rate.

[worthallthis]

Slow is the way to do this, anyway. Focusing on the folds, moving the hands, making something delicate and fiddly but with a specific set of memorized steps-- not on whatever is causing the panic.

Soldat leads Otoha through all the steps, slowing down even further whenever it looks like he's struggling with a fold, redoing folds if anything needs shown a second time. They don't talk much, only if Otoha seems to need a word or two to keep him on track or if he's unraveling instead of getting calmer.

And in the end, there are a pair of paper cranes. Soldat even illustrates how pulling on the tail gently makes the wings move.

[controlsthedie]

He had meant it literally. Thanatos lowers to the ground more, knowing his height and floating can make it hard to talk to. Even as completely out of it as he was, Thanatos recognizes the man coming toward him. Although unlike earlier, Thanatos keeps his expression neutral instead of that wide-eyed helplessness he had in that artificial world.

"It's Devero, isn't it?"

[bakegarasu]

He's following along, but it's still mechanical. It takes a few tries for some of the folds, since it's hard to hear Soldat over the static in his ears. He watches the paper move until it's folded up, and then it moves again when it's pulled.

Just things that can't move on their own. Just...

He's being embarrassing. "... Should go..." He takes a few steps, stumbling towards the back of the train.

[fivemilesdeep]

A lot of what she says doesn't make any sense to Ryo, and he knows he's missing a lot of context, but...well, it's hard to mistake that last sentence for anything else. He takes a few moments to try to process it, because something still isn't quite clicking for him.

"And you think that makes you a revenant? Or-" What was the word she'd used? "Undead?"

[controlsthedie]

Friends.... He has two friends here, right beside him. And he trusts them more than he trusts himself about being a person. They could at least recognize they are friends when Thanatos isn't sure and questions it.

"But what about all the mortals back home? What about Zagreus? I can't... I can't just forget. About him. We..." Thanatos doesn't know how he wants to finish that sentence, and Mort squeaks in sympathy. "Even if I knew it was wrong. Even if I knew I risked everything in doing so, I still wanted to help him. But, now... now what?"

[sciencegirl]

"He saw himself as perfect so he cloned himself and created a hive mind. Usually someone that full of themselves wouldn't let anyone that could challenge them exist."

Her expression cracks, that enthusiasm muffled as she thinks back. If whatever it is is sentient, she would guess that it could only be on the same level as Horde Prime. Utterly assure in its actions.

"I was friends with one of those clones. An 'imperfect' one," she scoffs. "I could reach him... He also wanted to reach out to me. He was scared and angry from being rejected- I'd want to think there are others beside the train that want to push away from accepting that. Those that might know, anyway."