middleofsomewhere | Conclusion

Conclusion

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.

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Inigo isn't so sure how much to believe those words coming from them, but on the other hand.. they mostly look alright enough. And they're still able to stand and walk around, so even if there's some wounds, they can't be seriously threatening. And as long as that isn't the case, Inigo can still accept it without fussing over them.

(.. Well, without fussing over them too much, either way.)

Inigo is very much the same, anyway. As far as is visible, he doesn't seem injured at all. He doesn't even seem to be showing any signs of fatigue.

Instead he just smiles.

"I told you before the mission, right? I'm always fine." Or just very well-practiced at looking fine at all times. "I've fought worse things than what we saw during the mission. Especially those Helpmates weren't much of a threat at all compared to what we have faced on other missions."

She nods.

At least telling Mami about Kyouko should be relatively harmless compared to the other thing they've discussing right now, Madoka thinks. Especially if she leaves some things out, like what Sayaka and Kyouko's eventual fate was..

"In comparison, Homura-chan really didn't seem to care about territory or anything like that at all.. She mostly was just worried about me." Which is true! Madoka really is trying to avoid lying to Mami here. It's more about ommitting some stuff. "Kyouko-chan and Sayaka-chan were the two who fought about it instead.."

The people of the train are once more saved by the fact that Madoka and Ple Two are the most compact couple ever...

".. Maybe we should go somewhere else though? Um, before more people arrive.." The last thing they'd want is for some much bigger person to appear right on top of them after all, right?

"Maybe we can get something to eat? I am a little hungry after all that.."

It's not- it's not working. She's beating herself up over this and he can't stand it-

He needs to calm down first. She'll still feel terrible as long as he's visibly upset. He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Her hand is still in his; he upturns it gently and places her peach in her hand, slowly closing her fingers around it so as not to crush it. "I know you're not mad at me," he starts, "and I know you weren't earlier. I-" He stops, takes a breath. He doesn't want to talk about this, but she'll just keep blaming herself if she doesn't understand. "Where I used to live, people would take their anger out on me - not because they were angry at me, but because I was there and it was easy, and if I wanted to avoid it, I needed to not be a target. I- I know that's not the case anymore, and it's not here, but I- I'd never seen you angry, and I didn't know what would happen, and I-" He stops again, takes a breath and lets it out slowly, uses the space to try to gather himself. "It's an old habit," he says after a few moments, "and I'm trying to leave it behind." It's not her; it's him - his reaction.

"And...it's okay to be angry, especially when someone hurts your friend." He has to stop and pull himself back a bit - underneath everything that's happened, he's still angry himself at the way Thanatos's world has mistreated him. "You just..." How had Orion put it? "...need to know what to do with it. You didn't hurt yourself, or me, or anyone, so...I think you're okay." He doesn't know Persephone's history or the depths of her rage; he just knows that this could have been so much worse than a panic response and an abandoned peach, and her ability to keep a hold on herself meant it wasn't. He is beyond grateful for that.

"Ah...I'm not surprised."

Mami's expression is still distant and sad, though its nature has shifted a little.

"Sakura-san was a former partner of mine. I took her in when she got started as a magical girl, and we were like sisters to each other. She made her wish for the sake of her father's church...and when it ended in tragedy, she couldn't believe the ideals of justice we'd shared any longer, and that was the end for us. That was why I warned Miki-san about the danger of making a wish for someone else's sake."

Not that Mami's own wish had ended much better, really. She takes a moment to recenter herself, nearly overwhelmed by the memories. "Do you know what happened to her after that?"

"In bringing us here? you could try asking it." Raven offered. "There's no guarantee it would be answered, but you could try." Giving a small sigh, she continued. "Look. I'm an Empath. I can tell you're extremely distressed, and you have been for a while. I wondered if I could help."

"I'm not exactly in my home universe either, Cas." Trunks murmured, leaning up to nuzzle her brow and bangs. "This train has been pretty much nothing but good for me and to me--it's scary." Beat. "And slightly worrying."

"Uh-huh." They still don't sound particularly convinced, but they also sound like they're not going to argue about it, since he's moving around without any real signs of pain, and all. They don't quite know him well enough to prod and pry enough to find out how much pain he's successfully hiding.

Instead, they shake their heads. "The helpmates weren't programmed for battle at all. No tactics. Just durable and unpredictable. They got nothing on the spirits back in Beacon."

The switch in focus is appreciated. Good job, Mort. Doing his job in unexpected ways.

"Mort is a Chthonic Companion. My mother created him when I was a godling." He pauses a moment trying to classify something he innately knows but never put to words. "I think... enchanted is a better description. Chthonic Companions, they have fables about them, and they're symbolic, meant to be exchanged between close friends."

Or to just keep a young godling company when no one else could.

"It is, a little."

Her hand brushes against the small of his back, tracing ever so slightly lower.

"I've got...things to do at home. Stuff I miss. But I don't have a you back there."

She only didn't hurt someone because they weren't there. She remembered the feeling taking her over before, moving without thinking, death before she could place herself.

She doesn't say that. It's hard to explain to those who've known her months, let alone a few weeks. So she simply shakes her head.

"It's not just that I scared you or that--I'm trying not to get angry like that. Acts of wrath, they're not my style. I should get angry without going all--all awful."

Persephone curls her fingers around the peach.

"Um-- I'm sorry people took things out on you. I don't mean to make it about me. I know how awful peoples anger can be, directed at you or not."

"... They'd be useful, but I think we're okay. I... hm. I guess I'm so used to cutting stuff down, it'd be... nice to let something grow, instead." He's still got the sword at his side, of course. It's always with him, because there's always a chance things can go south.

... Even so...

".. It's not something I ever learned in life. Just... after it." He's not dead... technically. But his old life is over and his new life's just started.

The words startle Devero too; he rears back so he can look down at Koumyou, his expression... vulnerable. "You do?" he asks. "It's not just because I'm asking...?"

"Copy that," Devero says with a nod, and leads the way.

They're only going one coach up, to the quiet car. On the lower deck, two of the rooms had the wall between them demolished, and it's to that room that Devero leads Soldat. Most of this room has been given over to painting on the walls, but to one side is a table with a haphazard assortment of tools and mechanical supplies on it.

There's not much here, but it's better than nothing. "Welcome to the workshop," Devero says with an ironic twist to his lips as he takes a seat.

"So you know he/him/his and she/her/hers," he says. "A lot of non-binary folks use the singular they, so they/their/theirs. That one's probably the most common, but I've encountered ey/eir/eirs and xe/xem/xir pretty regularly too."

"So... let me get this straight," Devero says. "Whoever this is, he... came to you when you were dying, and made a-- a contract with you? One where he didn't tell you all the conditions, and now your soul's in your hardware instead of your wetware. Do I have that right?"

Devero regards him with his head slightly tilted, his expression contemplative as if he's busy comparing the Thanatos that he sees now with the Thanatos he met back there on the 'battlefield'.

When he finally speaks, it's to say quietly, "You're having a hard time adjusting, aren't you?"

"That's right."

Mami is still reeling, unsettled by all the past pain this has dragged up. She lowers her hands to the grass and grips a blade or two.

"I didn't want to believe he would do that, but...I see now."

Koumyou gazes up at him for a moment, then ducks his head a little.

"I'm... I'm worried about it, but... yes, I want to."

His hands knot together under the water.

"I admire teachers who don't hurt their students," he repeats so, so quietly from earlier. "If that... if I might be able to do that... if you think I might..."

And then, even quieter yet, "If I won't ruin us if it goes poorly..."

Devero tightens one arm around Koumyou and covers the priest's hands with his other, squeezing lightly. "I'm worried too," he says softly. "But I think... I think that if we go slow, and if we're careful, that fear will keep us prudent. Don't you?"

It's his turn to repeat something from earlier. "I think it will be good for us both, to try this."

"I just don't want to lose you."

Again.

If he fucks up, again.

And he might. He really might.

"...Slow and careful, then. I agree. We have plenty of time, right?"

Oh, Koumyou. Forget just squeezing him; Devero wraps both arms around the priest and crushes the slender body against his broad chest in a hug. "Neither of us is going to let that happen again, okay? Once w-was-- was enough."

His fervent grip loosens and he nods. "All the time in the world, my Sanzo, and no one to tell us how to spend it. If-- we're going to do this--" Which still seems sort of fragile and incredible, right now. "We'll do it to our own schedule and no one else's."

Koumyou is completely fine with this adjustment, slumping slightly into Devero's embrace and staying that way even when those big arms loosen again.

"Absolutely."

So, they're doing this, then.

He's going to teach his Devero magic.

Ple Two nods. "...let's go." The most compact couple here, unless they get fairies or something. The two of them don't want Piccolo to land on them though.

"I could use food." She could eat ice cream, but she should get real food first.

They took a look around on their first day here, but hadn't actually realized how many tools are in here. That's good to know-- maybe they're free for anyone to use. "Hope there's stuff small enough," they comment, and ease down onto a seat on Devero's right (so he can work on their left arm, of course), setting the lantern at their feet.

They're nervous, but it's not as bad as it could be.

With the door shut, it's safe enough to share. "So. I'm dead. Technically. I died a year and a half ago. And a scientist from a dead world stole my life. What was left of it. Stuck it in that lantern."

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