middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The battles rage loud and ferocious at the gates of the city and off in the ruined wastelands of Erda, and on the walls a struggle of a different kind occurs. The team who stayed behind at the towers are small but determined as they move stoically across the walls to right the stones that have become misaligned, even as their friends battle not too far away.

The city begins to hum. It's a quiet hum, not loud enough to be heard out where the others are fighting but it vibrates even through stone. The recovering monks assure them that it is done, the wards are back up and no demon will be able to enter the city.

Eventually the battle is won, all three battles. The demons fought back and killed, a major blow to their gate system that will keep them back for hopefully a long time. Those waiting in the caverns return to the city and by the time they get there the illusions are gone. Everyone can see the world for what it really is.

But despite the ruins of their world the people are relieved, the adrenaline of the fight coursing through their veins and the mood is one of hope. They will build again, their people will survive.

All Voidtreckers please return to the Voidtrecker Express. Departure will be in a few hours

It has landed not too far from the city, cloaked to make it unnoticeable to the citizens, for all the good that does. No one has been particularly subtle this last week. People can begin regrouping, packing up the camp and getting any wounded not already healed to the train.

However roughly half an hour later another message appears on their SCA.

Passenger Persephone has requested we remain on system System #86525656412355 for an additional day to further assist the people of Erda. The Voidtrecker Express will depart on the morning of Day Fifteen of the month of Kazoo.

The train remains where it is, so the voidtreckers can use its facilities. There is definitely a lot that can be done to assist those of this world and the citizens will welcome any helping hands.

After an extra day they finally depart, returning to the void once more.

(OOC Note: Once the wards are up any characters who are demonic in nature will not be able to enter the city either!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Senku didn't really want a break. He didn't particularly think he deserved one, he felt entirely too guilty for a lot of things.

He wasn't usually so open about his distress though. Most people read it as passion, but this wasn't science, it was just punishing physical labour.

He did pause and accept the water. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. ... Are you okay? I know that battle was... a lot." He had a feeling Senku wasn't the type to talk about feelings, given their few interactions, but there was no reason to not leave the door open anyway.

"... How's Gen?"

He wasn't the type at all, although usually he looked a bit more neutral and less like he was frowning. He was definitely frowning. He considered his thoughts.

"It was, I mean, not so much for me. I didn't accomplish what I set out to do." He pointed out. "I've had better weeks in general."

He exhaled slowly. "He'll be fine. I appreciate you healing him."

"... Good. I'm not... the best at healing, but I'm not seeing someone go down on my watch if I can help it." He'd spent some of his reserves on it, he was going to need to recharge a lot of different stuff, but he'd give up all of his magic pool to make sure someone was safe. "... It was a smart attempt, anyway. Even if it didn't work."

Next time, maybe.

"... What were you trying to do?"

"I promise it was suitably impressive, and Gen's going to be fine really." Senku said with a bit of a smile. That was a relief.

"I was going to dismantle the machine, if I could get to it. Which it turned out, I couldn't." He sighed a little bit.

"Uh huh." He was used to experiments going wrong, he just wanted to know how worried he should be.

"... I would have helped if things didn't go... yeah. ... No point in dwelling on it, I guess. We still won, right?"

"I suppose we did." Senku said, a lot less enthused than he should be.

He moved to scoop up more debris to move it to clear the route. "I try not to dwell on things, but at the moment there's a lot for me to consider."

"And a bunch of notes to take, I bet. It's not science until you write it down, right?" He grins a little bit. He's joking, but... also not.

"... Let me know if you need help with anything. I mean it." Even if it's to test something, he can manage it.

"That's true. My first experience under mind control is one that must be documented thoroughly, but I'd rather not repeat it." He said a little sarcastically.

"I don't know what I need. I'm just frustrated. It happens sometimes when I get to the end of a path and I can't see the way forward yet."

He was only human.

"... Yeah. It's pretty awful. There's a reason I don't use anything like that unless there's no other choice." It made him feel sick to even think about it. "... You seem like the kind of guy who won't let that stop you, though. You'll figure it out, or find a different path."

"Yeah. I didn't count for 3700 years to just give up when things get hard." Senku said, but it was really more to remind himself. Sometimes, he needed a mental push, even if it only came from him.

"We don't have magic in my world. I didn't account for it. I am learning magic here, but nothing like that. More in the realm of healing, like...like you can do I guess." He exhaled. "I'm a doctor and I feel entirely inadequate." He chuckled lowly.

"And each world has different rules... it makes it complicated." He shook his head, letting out an annoyed breath. "Doctors are still important. Who's going to heal the healer if they go down? What if we're in a place where magic doesn't work? What if spells don't account for some things like bad reactions to a spell? There's lots of reasons we're still going to need non-magical healing."

"You're right." Senku breathed a moment, murmuring. "I didn't really mean to..."

He was a bit more on the distraught side, emotionally.

"Usually Gen puts up with this kind of thing from me. Not..anyone else." He had to be the strong one, leading the charge.

"It's okay. I... I've just had a lot of trouble with self-doubt, too. So I get it, to some degree. And I don't mind listening, really.""

He really needed to buy some books, huh.

"And especially after a mission, emotions are running high. In my experience a lot of feelings and internal shit comes out after it. I don't know if that's how it is here, it's a different group of people, but... I understand."

He reached out a hand for a second and then pulled it back. Senku probably wouldn't like that. He lowered it, letting it rest at his side.

"... I like helping people, even if that's just listening to them."

"I appreciate it. It's usually Gen because at home I don't have that luxury." Senku said seriously. "Side effect of being in charge."

It meant if he was going to break over something, it would be behind closed doors - not that he would, but he'd doubted before.

"Then again, he'd take care of things if I didn't so..." They worked very well together. "I don't doubt myself often, but I'm not a robot."

"Ah, one of those situations. Yeah, that sounds rough." Unfortunately he had no real experience in that, so he couldn't offer advice for that. "... No, you're not. You're a person. And it's okay to feel things."

He offered Senku a gentle smile. "And it's okay to go to people if you need it. You don't have to be in charge here do you? You can just be you, right?"

"I'm not in charge of anything no, but I don't feel any less responsible for the people around me." Senku responded.

"I don't have to tell them what to do to be in charge. Often I don't. The big decisions, yeah, but most of the time?" He shrugged. "People know what to do...and I look out for them."

"... Honestly that's the way to go in my opinion. People don't react well to being told what to do a lot of the time." He sure didn't. "Just... give yourself times when you put some of the weight down. Or try to. You're going to hurt yourself from stress if you carry so much around all the time."

"I know I'm not required to do that here, but I..." He pressed his lips together. "I worry about people." He murmured.

"I guess that's a rough habit to break."

"... Yeah, I know the feeling. I'm the same way, a lot of the time. ... And I worry about people worrying too much." He was aware it was due to a number of things, especially traumas, but he wasn't going to get into that at the moment.

"Sometimes my friends have to point out that I'm worrying about things I don't need to worry about. If you need a check, hopefully you've got someone around who can do that. Or I can, if you want."

"I guess Gen would do that, but he's never stopped me from that." Senku said with a bit of a shrug.

"It doesn't bother me. Right now I'm just...mad at myself for missing a variable in my experiment. A costly one."

"... I mean, isn't that part of how the scientific process works? Even if it's a mistake it's something you learn."

And write down, according to Thorne.

Senku exhaled. "Yes it is, and I did learn a lot. The problem is that I had no way of knowing this being a potential problem and less way of knowing a solution to said problem. While I'll take the blame for being...reckless, which we were, the actual effect, the fact that magic could come into play didn't even enter my calculations. If someone stopped breathing, or something to that effect, I could fix that." Senku frowned.

"Yeah, magic can complicate a lot. Maybe... I don't know, have someone on standby next time? Even if you don't think you'll need it. There's lots of people here who would be willing to help." Not just him, Senku.

"I've tried to limit the scope of the experiment so as not to endanger too many people." Senku explained. "I can't ask people to do something I'm not willing to do myself." That was something he believed in.

"Gen and I...usually spot each other. We didn't do that this time. It was clearly a mistake we won't repeat."

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