Over thirty years.
That’s how long it had been since the heroes left the City. The biggest and the most-remembered had left with the Austraeoh, but as predicted most of the others had left as well, either vanishing into private lives or moving on to distant locales. The City was allowed to evolve on its own.
This did not make all that much of a visual difference. The City was still a ring of buildings with many different architectural styles that sometimes looked beautiful and at other times looked as if a child had thrown all his toys on the floor and arranged them until he got bored.
Certainly the City was larger. The buildings had grown overall, and now there were numerous districts that existed outside the City walls. They weren’t as well-protected, but at this point there wasn’t anybody with an army powerful enough or a brain small enough to even think of attacking the City. So the City expanded in peace.
Within the central circle of pure roses, there were a few more buildings. The old skyscraper had been retired and turned into a tourist destination, while the new seat of government was a floating mini-city that often acted as the Tower’s moon. There was also a watchtower-like building that had been built to create a day-night cycle in the City, but the public had already adjusted to the dayless nature of the New World by the time it had been built and complained endlessly about the predictable light. It was now only used to light up the sky on special occasions.
Essentially, the City was still the City, surviving the arrival of a new generation. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same.
One person knew this particularly well. Sh-
“Oh! Do I finally get a moment in the spotlight again!?” Seskii asked, dropping a potion onto the ground, lighting the bricks of the marketplace on fire. She rubbed the back of her head. “Oops.” She pulled a magic broom out nowhere and put out the fire. “Heh. I’ve got it.”
“You just lost a customer,” Mister Raven, boot-selling raptor, observed.
“I can always get more!” Seskii beamed. “Everyone always needs potions.”
“I disagree,” the Happy Mask Salesman said from his stand, across the street from the two of them. “Magic masks are really in season right now – it’s one of the last days I can sell a mask to someone and say it’s a perfect fit for their destiny.”
“Does one really have a destiny if it only goes on for one day?” Raven asked, pondering this.
“One day…” Seskii shook her head with a smile. She turned to look at the Dark Tower. The white crack was easily visible even from her distance, going up a fair ways. It was almost ready to bring the entire Tower down. “…Maybe I won’t be able to get more customers after this.” She held out her magic broom. “I mean, how can you pull these things out of nowhere without any meta abilities?”
“Inventory spells,” Raven answered.
“But that means I have to know what to carry ahead of time,” Seskii pointed, fidgeting with the edge of her potion stand.
“Do you wish the Tower would remain?” the Happy Mask Salesman asked, suddenly behind her.
“…Nah,” Seskii said. “I’m just a little sad some of the really fun stuff won’t work anymore. You won’t be able to do that ‘sudden animation’ thing either.”
“Very true,” the Happy Mask Salesman admitted, already back at his stand, ready to sell a bystander a yellow Keaton mask.
“But is it not true we will also get new fun stuff?” Raven asked. “The Earth will open to us, a vast story of origins awaits us.”
“True. I wonder what’s up there…” Seskii pursed her lips. “Is it abandoned? Are there still people living on it? Will we end up blowing it up because we all want to see what it’s like?”
“Delving into the land where there are no answers, I see,” Raven observed.
“Hey, at least there will be answers soon. Unlike all the stuff you spend hours pondering.”
Raven shrugged. “You say that as if philosophy is a pointless endeavor.”
“It certainly helps you think. But then it tells you that you really don’t know anything in the end.”
Raven nodded.
“What use is a mask of truth if there is no truth?” the Happy Mask Salesman asked.
“To be creepy,” Seskii answered, smirking. “And t-”
“Ahem. Excuse me.” A pony walked up to them wearing a hoodie. “I’d like to buy a ‘convenient timing’ potion, please.”
Seskii raised her eyebrow. “Uh-huh.” She snapped her fingers and took off the pony’s hood. Seskii grinned. “Good to see you’re back, Twilence.”
I rolled my eyes. “Way to ruin the moment.”
“Hey, it’s still a good moment!”
“I know.”
“Darnit.” Seskii snapped her fingers, giggling.
“I take it this means they’re right, it really will go down in a day?” the Happy Mask Salesman asked.
I nodded. “Yes. They’ve scheduled the festival correctly. Might want to get your fun in while you still can.”
“But selling potions is my fun!” Seskii said, chuckling. “I shall sell ALL THE POTIONS! ALL OF THEM!”
“You have more potions than everyone in existence could possibly drink.”
“Well, yeah…”
Raven cleared his throat. “Does this mean the heroes are returning as well?”
I turned to Mister Raven with a simple, warm smile. “Yes. Yes it does. They will be arriving very shortly, in fact. I’m heading over to welcome them back, but figured I might as well drop in and let you all know I’m back.”
“Nervous?” the Happy Mask Salesman asked, appearing behind her. “Your sight extends barely twenty-four hours… You can know every detail of what happens.”
“I could. And I used to.” I shrugged. “I was able to block my mind’s knowledge of the smaller events, though any powerful visions will still come through. Preparing myself for the final moment, you could say. It was nice to be surprised for once, I admit. Who’d’ve thought Rosalina would become a master chef and use my old library as her primary location?”
“…That’s old news,” Raven observed.
“I know! Isn’t it great to be surprised?”
Seskii rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Make sure to indulge yourself at least a little bit, Twilence. It’s your last chance!”
“Thanks for the advice. I’ll do it a little.” I spread my wings. “But now I have to go greet them. See you around!” I flew away with a rush of wind.
The Happy Mask Salesman laughed his creepy laugh. “And our eternal fate draws nearer…”
“Stop being so creepy,” Seskii chided.
“No.”
~~~
An airship flew through a cloud that smelled like limes, giving the craft a much-needed freshening. It was not an old vessel, but it was not in good shape either. Most of its hull was made of mismatched wooden planks that didn’t match the size, color, or wear of the rest of the ship. The body had several large, steam-based mechanical pieces with a few digital screens haphazardly jury-rigged here and there. The only advanced parts of the ship appeared to be the propulsion engine in the back, and the set of six propellers that kept the ship afloat.
Near the front of the hull, a name was scrawled in black paint. Austraeoh XIX.
Captain Pinkie Pie was still at the helm, whistling a tune as she steered the Austraeoh toward absolute north – the Dark Tower. She still looked like Pinkie Pie, with her innocent grin, blue eyes, and cotton candy mane, but now she wore a copious amount of clothes. A red coat made up most of the outfit, though it was by no means the part anyone noticed first. On virtually every corner of her body she had bags, staves, weapons, and emergency baking supplies. There was even a ‘party pistol’ holstered at her hip, ready to spew confetti at unsuspecting enemies in the blink of an eye.
She still had her blindfold – tied around her neck. Her Element of Harmony took the form of an earring on her left ear.
As she whistled happily, Burgerbelle appeared behind her. “Heeeey, are you whistling the whistle?” The eternal child looked different as well – sporting darker, more revealing clothes, shorter hair, and a pair of knee-high boots that had once been every color of the rainbow but were now muggy and dull. Numerous scars crossed her face and arms, like most members of the crew these days.
“Yep! I’m stealing your repeating memes!”
“It’s not my fault that I don’t get new material out here!” Burgerbelle huffed, folding her arms. “Geez.”
“Hey, you wanna drive for a while?” Pinkie asked. “I’m going to do some ship-rounds, say hello to everyone. Been a while since I did that.”
“One last time, eh…?” Burgerbelle smirked.
“You know it! Now be a good girl and don’t crash the ship!”
Burgerbelle smiled but took on a whiny tone. “But Mooooom, I don’t wanna!”
“Do it or I give you poop deck patrol!”
Burgerbelle chuckled. “Oh no, not that! I’ll drive the ship!” She grabbed the wheel with her feet and smirked.
“Your skirt is too short for that.” Pinkie observed.
“Convenient fabric placement still exists for a day, I’m good.” She winked.
Pinkie chuckled and bounced away, back to one of the deck’s game tables. Eve and Flutterfree were sitting at it, playing a game of Go. The two of them hadn’t changed their outfits but they looked more like embodiments of magic and power than normal ponies. Both of their manes twisted and turned with the ebb and flow of magic around them. They too had many scars from the extended journey.
Eve placed a black stone on the board. “Challenge.”
Flutterfree smirked. “Met.” She placed a white stone right next to Eve’s.
“Such a daring play!” Pinkie said, leaning in.
“You don’t know how to play,” Flutterfree said with a knowing smile.
“Hey! I can place stones!”
“Do you even know what a ladder is?” Eve asked, placing a black stone a short distance from Flutterfree’s white one.
“Uh… Right, point taken.” Pinkie smirked. “Anyway, just dropping by to say hi!”
“We’re going to be there soon?” Flutterfree asked, challenging Eve with another move.
“Eh, soon enough.”
“I just had a thought…” Eve said. “Do you remember what I said before we left?”
“…You said a lot of things.”
“I was surprised there were twenty-five of us. Not nineteen.”
Pinkie looked back thirty years and managed to pull something out of the meta. “…You just thought that, looks like.”
“Oh.” Eve paused a moment, then placed another stone. “I guess… I realize it was a valid observation now.”
Flutterfree blinked. “…There are only nineteen of us on board right now. That’s…” She shook her head. “You know, I don’t know why I thought we were free of that. Everyone who left… died…” For a moment, it looked like she was going to go into a rant. But she calmed herself with an elongated breath and sat back in her seat. “…What’s done is done. We did choose this life, in a way. And it’ll be gone soon enough.” She made another move.
“…Ponyfeathers,” Eve muttered, realizing Flutterfree had duped her. “I’m going to have to think about this for a while…”
“I’ll leave you to that!” Pinkie said, bouncing away. Mid-bounce, she ran into the towering form of Jotaro. He hadn’t changed much over the years – his outfit was essentially the same, his figure just as battle-ready as always. The biggest change could be seen in his smile – it came easily and warmly.
“You should look where you’re going,” he said, standing her up.
“Psh, it leads to encounters like this, I don’t mind!” She winked. “What’s up?”
“The engine’s about to explode,” Pidge said, stepping out from behind him. She had definitely changed – gone was the power suit, replaced with a tank top and shorts that were absolutely covered in grease. Her hair had gotten exceptionally long and messy, much like the rest of her: the price of a mechanic’s life. The only clean part about her was her glasses, which glinted in the sun as perfectly as always. “I need to know if I have to fix it or if we’re gonna get there before it explodes.”
Pinkie checked her imaginary watch. “We’re good.”
“Oh thank goodness, I was not looking forward to another night of work.” She adjusted her glasses. “I’m going to go drown myself in… eh, I don’t want to be an idiot, root beer will be fine.”
“Pidge, don’t we have an announcement?”
Pidge blinked. “Oh, right! Ahem.” She blinked. “Actually, I did it last time, you should get a turn.”
“She’s pregnant again,” Jotaro said without pause.
Pinkie gasped – then squeed. “Oh that’s gonna be great we’re gonna have another little Kujo running around!”
Pidge shrugged. “Yep! You think we would have learned our lesson after the last one, but what do we know?”
“Yare yare daze…” Jotaro said, adjusting his hat. He took a moment to examine the ring on his finger, smiling.
This prompted Pidge to realize her hand was covered in engine grease and that her ring was missing. Again. “QUIZNAK! Why does this always happen!?”
Jotaro pulled an extra ring out of his pocket and tossed it to her.
Pidge stared at it like it was the best gift she had ever received. “Jojo, you’re just… the best.”
“Vriska would disagree with you.”
“Oh, speaking of Vriska, I need to go find her – know where she is?” Pinkie asked.
“Somewhere belowdecks,” Pidge said, sliding the ring on and off of her lubricated finger, annoyed that it wouldn’t stick. “Geez…”
Pinkie nodded. “I’ll head down there then – but first…” She appeared on the top of the crow’s nest. “How’s my favorite little birdy?”
Corona didn’t budge – she was busy holding out her arms and wings, letting the wind blow through her. She had kept her battle dress and anime shades, but she had allowed her hair to become exceptionally long; and unlike Pidge’s, it wasn’t a mess. It rippled like that of an alicorn’s, not with fire, but with a strange blue highlight at the edges. The Master Sword still hung at her side, a memory of a friend long gone.
Roland was also in the crow’s nest, working on a little wooden sculpture of a tree. He looked exactly the same as he did thirty years ago. “Hey,” he said. He decided this was enough conversation and got back to work.
“I wonder if I’ll be able to do this without falling forward,” Corona asked Pinkie without turning around.
“Hmm… I think you’ll be able to do it, but you won’t look quite as drop-dead gorgeous while doing it.”
Corona smirked. “Thanks, Pinkie. Though I could honestly stand to have fewer people clamoring for my hand. I wonder if it’ll get worse or better…”
“You wonder a lot of things,” Pinkie observed.
“It’s a worthwhile pursuit. There’s… a lot to think about in this world, Pinkie. A lot. I can’t wait to see how thinking changes…” She chuckled. “Ah, how things will change…” She closed her eyes and breathed in. “I can feel the City. If any of us still had our phones we could call them.”
“You have magic.”
“I think I want to surprise them.”
Pinkie grinned. “Yessss, give in to the party desire.”
“I might.”
That was all Pinkie needed to hear. She did a triple-flip off the crow’s nest and jumped through the open hatch in the deck, leading to one of the Austraeoh’s multiple interior decks. The first one had haphazard electrical lighting, a lot of tables, and a door that led right to the kitchen.
Vriska was currently right here, playing a game of ‘who can cheat the best at poker’ with Roxy. The troll and the Gem were both spared the drastic scars and scuffs of most the other crew, since their god-tier status healed all ailments whenever it was necessary. That said, Roxy did have a mechanical arm, though this was completely voluntary on her part. It had been quite a challenge to get that to interface with her Gem, but that had been part of the fun of making it.
“Lots of board games today,” Pinkie observed. “First Go, now poker? What will they think of next?”
“Another activity that staves off boredom,” Vriska commented, laying down two aces.
Roxy smirked and laid down four.
“…Well, shit, I didn’t think you were going to go for the blatant one.”
“Hey, if you call cheat, it’s a misdeal and we have to start again.” She took a chug from her mug of root beer – something Pidge had apparently ordered for everyone since Pinkie had stopped talking to her. “Or we can take my victory.”
“You can win the hand…” Vriska said, folding her fingers together. “But you will not win the war.”
Roxy made the cards vanish from existence and recreated them from nothing. Vriska swiped them out of the air and shuffled, examining all of it with her Light powers.
She drew a hand of nothing but twos and threes. “Shit, fold.”
Roxy chuckled. “Nothing but twos and threes in the deck.”
Vriska facepalmed. “Pinkie, I’m apparently sucking today. I wonder if it’s your pink vibes.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “It’s just you getting your fair share.”
“What the – HEY!”
“Leaving the game?” Roxy asked.
“…No.”
“Then plant it.”
Vriska grumbled but obeyed, allowing Pinkie to jump off into the kitchen. Their chef was the Everykid, in her chef’s hat, of course. She was cooking up a delicious-smelling stew of some kind or other, a craft she had gotten very good at over thirty years. Not that she’d ever stopped looking like a kid.
“Cooking going well?” Pinkie asked.
The Everykid nodded.
“Good. Carry on!”
She saluted in confirmation.
Pinkie bounced her way through the kitchen and into a storeroom where Jenny and Mlinx were currently sparring. Jenny wasn’t allowed to use magic, and Mlinx could only use two of his hands. Jenny was as young as always, but her outfit had long since been replaced by a significantly more feminine crimson dress and high heels. She thought it looked beautiful, but of course it was just as dirty as everything else on the ship.
She used her ancient red gloves to catch Mlinx’s spear. The demon was about as beat up as someone could be, having suffered more cuts and abrasions than anyone else, including the loss of one of his eyes. He wore these marks with pride. And he had earned every bit of that pride.
This was quickly made evident when he twisted his spear around backward and stabbed Jenny through the chest with it, forcing blood to squirt onto the floor.
“Hey!” Pinkie complained. “Someone’s going to have to clean that up!”
Mlinx removed the spear and rolled his eyes. “Any one of the mages can do it with the snap of a finger. I could even get a few more jabs in here and there, not really much of a difference.”
“Did I hear someone say ‘a few more jabs in here’!?” Mattie interjected, falling from the ceiling. She had gone from just wearing leather boots to a full set of black leather armor, and upgraded the whips to a half-dozen other weapons all designed for maximum pain. Her scars were often fresh enough to be described as wounds. “Because I certainly know a thing or two about that? Jenny! Do you want an exploding mace to the pelvis?”
Jenny stood up and glared at her. “I am not your torture buddy.”
“But come ooooooon, it was so fun!”
“Eh. Not really.”
“But but but – oh I know! I could just maaaaake you do it!”
Pinkie grabbed Mattie by the shoulders. “Mattie, get a hold of yourself. We’re going to be rejoining society. I know you have a lot going through that head of yours, but you’re going to have to overrule it for a bit.”
Mattie twitched. “I…” She focused, took a breath, and swished her tail around. “I can try.”
Pinkie looked at her and smiled. “That’s all we ask. …I’m sorry we couldn’t help you.”
Mattie tried to laugh but she just started crying. “I…”
Jenny put a hand on her. “Hey. You may be completely psychotic and… thirsty, but you’re still one of us. We’ll help you stand. …Don’t ask to mace me.”
Mattie lit up – one would have thought she hadn’t been sad just a moment ago, if her tears weren’t still visible on her cheeks. “That’s just what I was thinking! Coincidence? I think not!”
Jenny facepalmed. “Oh joy…”
Mlinx casually leaned against one of the nearby walls. “Hey. At least she likes you.”
“If Mattie likes something, we usually put it on a list of things to avoid.”
“I don’t see a contradiction here.”
Pinkie sighed. She gave Mattie a brief hug. “You’ll pull through.” Then she bounced away, leaving the lost unicorn to ponder what had been said.
Most of the others were in the library. Starbeat and Rev had an ancient tome open and were currently arguing moral philosophy with each other based on its context. Both were scarred, and in Rev’s case there was a particularly nasty one across her eye, but the two of them were still lively. Rev wore one of the few clean garments on the Austraeoh, a white robe of purity. Starbeat was black, looking like a ninja-rogue mixture with a lot of hidden blades all over her person. She still had her goggles, though.
“What I’m saying is that God isn’t part of the question,” Starbeat said. “You can classify the origin of morality as already existing through natural or supernatural means. Muddying the water there does not help us move any further forward.”
“You’re right.”
“Thanks.”
“We should move on to the application of morality and its relation to higher power.”
“Oh here we go again...”
The two chuckled.
Pinkie sat herself at a different table. “They’re something, huh?”
“I like it better when their club meetings are about simpler books,” Nanoha said, furrowing her brow. She hadn’t changed at all outwardly – thirty years was nothing to her.
O’Neill, on the other hand, looked like a grizzled old pirate complete with beard and black hat. “Yarrr.”
“Stop it,” Pinkie said, glaring at him.
O’Neill chuckled. “But Pinkie, it’s talk like a pirate day!”
“You say that every day.”
“You’re the one who told him to do it,” Nanoha reminded her.
“And I regret that decision every day.”
Nanoha smirked. “I appreciate the karma.”
“YARRRMA!” O’Neill shouted.
“Jack, be more creative.”
“Well I dunno ‘bout you, but I’d like me some ale right now instead of this scaly-waggin’ mug o’ sugar right here!”
“It’s healthier for you.”
O’Neill looked down at his figure – significantly larger than it had been when they left, though he couldn’t call it fat. “Aye… Good point, m’lady.”
Nanoha chuckled. “The magic word…”
“Yarrr.”
“I’m out,” Pinkie said, bouncing out of the Library and to one of the back rooms, where the last remaining member of the crew stood. Monika, being of untold power and manipulation, was standing tall and looking out the window at the receding distance. Her hair was cut short and simple, and she wore a light gray business outfit she had created herself, so naturally it had way too many buttons on it.
Behind her was a table with a typewriter on it. A typewriter containing a record of most their adventures in the thirty years they’d been gone.
“At long last, it comes,” Monika said, unmoving. “The last moment, the final hurrah. I look to it with anticipation… and fear.” She held up a hand and examined it like it was an alien entity. “Will I go forward with new understanding? Or will I let my life crumble without the nature which has served me so well? I know so little, and today I know less. And lesser still.” She turned around to look at Pinkie with a melancholy but somehow determined expression. “Hello, Captain.”
“…I think you’ve changed the most out of everyone,” Pinkie said. “Even Mattie.”
Monika nodded in agreement, gracefully sitting down in her chair, taking up a formal posture. “I have several theories as to why this is the case.”
“I don’t need to hear them,” Pinkie said, shaking her head. “I know who you are. I’m not sure I agree with everything you’ve gone through, but I am proud of you for getting to this point.” She smiled. “Quite a far cry away from the prideful deity who never listened to any of my orders.”
Monika pulled her hair behind her ears. “…You humble me.”
“I just wish you weren’t so formal all the time.”
“I am a chronicler,” Monika said, turning to the typewriter. “I do not alter history. I am the opposite of a Prophet, and I must live that out in my life.”
Pinkie rolled her eyes. “You know what? You do whatever works for you. You’re a good person regardless.” She pulled her into a hug. “We’ll be arriving soon.”
“I know. I can see that much,” Monika said, turning back to the window. “They will not expect what returns to them.”
“That makes it all the more fun!” Pinkie giggled.
Monika nodded. “In a way. I believe everyone is looking forward to a place to relax with no worries or strains. Beyond the fall of the Tower, of course.”
Pinkie nodded. “Yep. Well, we’re lucky. There’s no more bad guys. We just… get to go home.”
“Home…” Monika pursed her lips. “…I think this ship has been more home to me than anywhere else.”
“Awww…”
Monika smiled ever so slightly. “If I have a family… It is you all.”
Pinkie wiped a tear out of her eye. “You’re the best.” She stood up on her hind hooves and looked out the window as well. “Let’s take this home home.”
~~~
The City went through a series of reactions.
The first was common enough – incoming unidentified vessel. Tell the army that something dangerous was coming, but don’t get too out of sorts about it. They sent out a message and hoped for a reply.
When the reply didn’t come through, the reaction became nervous. They sent out a few scout ships to make contact, and they came back with news that everyone had been expecting but nobody had really fully prepared for.
The heroes had returned.
The Mayor immediately sent out a message to the City, telling them what was coming. Reactions were almost universally excited – even the people who hadn’t thought the heroes were all that amazing in the past got swept up in the communal hype. These were legends that were coming back, people who the younger generation had never seen, only heard stories of. Stories they often didn’t believe.
Everyone started to flood to the dock the Austraeoh had been directed to, filling the entire block with a swarm of people who just wanted to get a look at the people who shaped reality with their legacies. The remnants of the last story.
Seskii and I managed to get seated near the front through ‘cheating’. After getting there, I had tracked down the Mayor and his politicians, asking them for an itinerary of everything they had planned for the incoming crew. I took one look over it and told the politicians their guests wouldn’t want to waste their last day listening to grand speeches. They were free to do whatever they wanted after the Tower fell, but right now the heroes deserved to have a little more respect than that. Sensing they wouldn’t easily be able to do this, I offered to extend the welcome myself.
After a bit of back and forth where I proved myself sufficiently knowledgeable about the schedule and the City’s policies, the Mayor and his goons backed off. Of course there was no way in existence they would have done this normally, but a Prophet’s pen has to be good for something, right?
When the Austraeoh entered visible range, the crowd cheered so loudly I had to lower my ear sensitivity. To them, the ship was a symbol of hope and completion. Catharsis, if you will.
This slowly died down as the ragged, haphazard nature of the Austraeoh became apparent. Beyond its heavy damage and wooden mess, the engine was smoking and one of the propellers wasn’t working. It shook and sputtered until eventually landing slightly too hard on the dock, prompting a few planks of wood to go flying.
Their shock became even stronger when the nineteen remaining heroes stepped out of the ship. Most of them looked beat up or ragged in one way or another, and a lot of the scars were very apparent. The few who weren’t scarred or dirty stuck out like sore thumbs, still somehow appearing wrong to everyone.
Those who had known the heroes in the past were struck by how different they looked from how they remembered. Those who hadn’t were struck by how different the heroes were from them. Burgerbelle’s outfit was hardly socially acceptable, most people couldn’t recognize O’Neill through the beard, Corona’s beauty coupled with the rest of her companions was out of place, and Pinkie looked less like an adorable party pony and more like a mercenary.
“Hey everyone!” Pinkie said with a wave. “Glad to be back!”
A few people who knew Pinkie relaxed when they heard her voice and waved back. The rest of the crowd started mumbling amongst itself, not sure what to think of these… well, they looked like pirate mercenaries, and not the fun kind.
I walked up to them, Seskii skittering along behind me. “Welcome back,” I said, extending a hoof.
Pinkie shook it. “Did you take over the City while we were gone?”
“I only arrived yesterday. Took over this little event since, well…” I glanced behind me. “You see.”
“What is it with them?” Pidge asked. “Do we smell?”
“Shit, we probably reek like nothing else,” Vriska said, blinking.
“And this is one of the reasons cleanliness is a virtue,” Monika commented.
Eve turned to me. “…Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” I stepped to the side and allowed her full access to the crowd.
Eve took in a breath, and turned on the Royal Canterlot Voice. “It’s been a long time since I’ve talked with all of you – thirty years by standard counts. In that time, a lot can change. I see differences in this City – new faces, new buildings, and a new atmosphere. Think back to what you were thirty years ago. You are not the same person you were then, right?
“We have been through much more than you in those thirty years. Our journey was one of constant adventure where obstacles and evils were thrown at us almost without ceasing. These scars are from our many battles we fought, ones where we didn’t have access to advanced medical machinery. We were not allowed to forget what had happened to us. We lost people to the conflicts we inserted ourselves into. Many of us decided to settle down and leave the Journey. We’re all that remains.
“Please understand that we have changed a lot in that time – some more than others. Some, like Nanoha, will not seem any different to you. Others, like Monika, will scarcely seem like the same person. A lot has happened, and I want you to understand that we will not be the people you remember.”
She paused for a moment, smiling. “And I look forward to getting to know all of you in a new, exciting existence. In a short time, nothing will be the same ever again. I would like it if we could all enjoy these final moments of ‘story’ we have together without reeling in shock – on both sides. Do you think we can do that?”
I smiled. “I think we can. What about the rest of you?”
There was some hesitation for many people there, but after enough had let out a shout of ‘yeah’ the crowd was won over. Soon, news would spread of their arrival and differences. Eve’s speech would ripple through the people as it had once done in the past.
“I haven’t done that in a long time…” Eve said, touching her throat. “I forgot what speeches could do…”
Flutterfree winked. “You did great.”
“You are biased.”
“I think you did great too,” Roxy said. “And I’m an unbiased opinion!”
“All of you are biased. We spent thirty years on a boat together.” Eve chuckled. “We should all know each other pretty well by this point.”
I smirked. “One would think so.” I turned around. “Come on, they’ve got a hotel suite already picked out for all of you. You can get some rest and relaxation before the Tower crumbles.”
“Rest? Relaxation?” Mattie groaned. “But I don’t wanna…”
“No offense but you all really need some baths,” Seskii interjected.
“…I have a very particular bath in mind…” Mattie said, raising her eyebrows repeatedly.
Seskii sighed. “No.”
“Aww, but I could th-”
An Aradia appeared and squealed. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re back! It’s been so long!”
“Oh geez, not another one,” Vriska said with a laugh.
The Aradia blinked. “…Wait, what? Did one of my sisters already get to you?”
Corona shook her head. “We just saw one of you last week. And the week before that. And the week before that. Your kind has spread out pretty effectively across Nucleon.”
“Oh. Well I haven’t seen you in forever!” She pulled Vriska into a hug. “Yaaay!”
“You… are still… way too chipper…” Vriska gagged.
“There was that one Aradia that wanted everyone dead as a doornail,” Burgerbelle reminded everyone.
“…I can’t wait to hear all about this,” Aradia said.
Seskii slung her arm around Aradia’s shoulders. “Girl, they’ve got a hotel to get to and one day left. Let them enjoy themselves, then grill them for stories.”
“Oh. Right, sorry.”
“I have records if you want to read those,” Monika suggested. “Historic, nothing all that narrative.”
“My ever-opposite,” I said, rolling my eyes. “The hotel’s this way.”
~~~
At first one would think the most luxurious hotel in the City should have been booked completely full for such an event, and the fact that an entire lounge area was available was just a trick of ka. Until you realize that the City had been expecting the heroes to arrive and wanted to ensure they had all the luxury imaginable, specifically keeping the lounge open for them whenever they arrived.
I let them in and instructed the staff not to try to bother them – not unless they were called for room service or something. They would do whatever they wanted.
Then I turned right around and told all of them to take showers, baths, or at least take a gander at a quick-clean spell. Then they could do whatever they wanted until the artificial sun was turned on and the festival actually began. I suggested sleep – but otherwise left them to their own devices.
“Well…” Mattie began, chuckling. “Showers… baths… we have our orde-”
Burgerbelle grabbed her, tossed her into a bathroom alone and affixed a comically-oversized padlock to the door on the outside. “You can come out when you’re done.”
Mattie spat out some disgusting swears.
“…You didn’t have to be so rough with her,” Nanoha observed.
“Eh, it was a quick solution. I call one of the other showers.” Burgerbelle tore her clothes off and jumped into the nearest bathroom. Nobody batted an eye – save Monika.
“She can’t just be doing that here, you know. There’s a thing called decency.”
“We’re in a private hotel lobby and it’s not like her outfit leaves much to the imagination anyway,” Roxy countered.
“Monika does have a point,” Rev said. “It won’t go over very well if we portray ourselves as a bit too socially unacceptable …I should probably stop carrying all these stakes and silver bullets concealed in my robes, come to think of it.”
“You’ve fallen to the Monika-properisms!” Roxy wailed. “Why would you let that happen?”
Flutterfree rolled her eyes. “Because there’s something to be said for not making a commotion?”
“Making commotion is literally what we do,” Pidge pointed out.
“Not for very long.”
Pidge shrugged. “Yeah, Monika’s probably right here. Can’t look like freakin’ raiders forever.”
“I beg to differ,” O’Neill said, scratching his beard. “It’s such a… convenient aesthetic.”
“We don’t need to be intimidating here,” Monika said. “The people are nice and we have a reputation. We’ll need to adjust to them if we want to be welcomed back.”
Pinkie cleared her throat. “I’ve made a decision! We’re gonna go with Monika’s idea, at least until the Tower falls.”
There were a few groans, but they had all stopped complaining about Pinkie’s decisions many years ago.
“Good! I’ll have a little talk with the party-apprentice when she gets out. Anyway…” She looked out the window. “I guess it’s technically night right now. We could get some good sleep here…”
“Screw that!” Vriska said, standing tall. “Soon as I can get out of here and plunder this City’s luck, the better!” She smirked. “We don’t need sleep. Tower’s falling in…”
“About eleven hours, give or take one,” Pidge offered.
“Geez that’s less than I was expecting,” Vriska said, blinking. “We owe it to ourselves not to sleep through these last moments! We will take every opportunity we can to enjoy our last day here! EVERYONE SCATTER!”
Nobody moved.
“Come on!”
The Everykid pointed at Vriska then at a shower.
“…Okay, fine, clean up first, then go. In fact...” Vriska jumped into one of the few remaining showers. “You should all start calling these faster.”
“There’s plenty of private rooms,” Starbeat pointed out. “Just use those.”
“But they’re smaller!” Pinkie said with a gasp. “Why would we take them!?”
The Everykid rolled her eyes and walked into one of the private rooms. She didn’t care about the size of the bathroom.
“…This entire debate is pretty stupid,” Roxy observed.
Roland chuckled. “Surprise, surprise…”
~~~
That ‘night’, the heroes of Austraeoh split up to explore the City they had left behind so long ago. Some of them had very specific ideas of where they were going and what they were doing.
Eve and Flutterfree were not among those people. They stepped outside the hotel with glistening manes and shining coats, confident smiles on their faces. Within six minutes they had no idea where they were aside from ‘the Dark Tower is that direction’.
“…You know, I just reached for my phone,” Eve commented with a laugh. “Why did I do that? I haven’t had one for years.”
“This place brings back our old habits,” Flutterfree said, stopping a moment to give a warm smile to a depressed Gem sitting on a bench. “I can already feel all the memories flooding back…” She traced one of her wing-knives through the cracks of a brick wall. “We helped build this place, Eve. We did. A lot of other people too, yeah, but us.”
“You mean just the two of us or the entire crew?”
“…Crew, I suppose…” Flutterfree said, holding her head back and smiling. “I don’t think we could be said to have ‘built’ something together, just the two of us.”
Eve nodded. “Is that good or bad, I wonder?”
“I don’t think it’s either. It’s just a ‘what-if’ scenario. One of many.”
“What if?” Eve thought for a moment. “I can’t say I’ve thought about that all that much.”
“Eve, you’re a what-if machine.”
“I meant pertaining to us.”
Flutterfree smirked. “Ah, right.” She looked to the sky. “I’ve thought about it a few times. If I had been willing to ask you…”
“You already know what my answer would have been. It’s not like we haven’t had the conversation before. It wouldn’t be right for you.”
Flutterfree smiled. “You’re so willing to give yourself up for others, you know that?”
“I’m told it’s a character flaw, sometimes,” Eve said, rubbing the back of her head. “Regardless, we are where we are now, and were we anything else… it’d just be wrong.”
“Even when the Tower falls?”
“Even when the Tower falls.”
The two of them hugged.
“...I miss him.”
“I know,” Eve stroked Flutterfree’s mane. Soft smiles formed on both of their faces.
“I see you two are still adorable.”
The ponies turned to see Azula standing in the front door of her tea shop – one of the few buildings the two of them recognized.
“You’re still doing this?” Flutterfree said aloud. “I’m… more than a little surprised!”
“I left for a while,” Azula admitted. “Not as long as you – I couldn’t get the same satisfaction out of adventuring. I came back and reopened the shop as it was, and everyone loved it, as always. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep my head down, but I manage.” She invited them in. “Come on, first round’s on me.”
Flutterfree and Eve blinked – then laughed.
“What?”
“You have no idea how much alcohol we had on the Austraeoh,” Flutterfree said with a chuckle. “There was a point where we served it with everything just to see how crazy things could get. That phrase has become slightly loaded.”
Eve chuckled. “Roxy was the designated ‘make sure nobody does anything stupid’ manager. Monika eventually took the job away from her, but those were still some good times.”
“…Monika.” Azula blinked. “What?”
“Oh, that’s a whole other story – probably for a little later in the night.”
They entered the teashop and sat down at the counter. Azula took a few minutes to get them their tea. “So, anything change with you two?”
“Not really,” Eve answered.
“I’ve learned magic and have the equivalent of an arcane degree,” Flutterfree added. “Eve’s taken up obsessing over board games and video games until she gets really good at them.”
“Don’t forget that you took up dance.”
Flutterfree smirked. “Dance combat is… fun.”
“I thought you weren’t one for enjoying combat,” Azula said, eyebrow raised.
“I loosened up. Not sure if I had a choice in the matter or not, but I’m okay with it.” She took a sip of tea. “Azula, this is delicious, as always.”
“I keep thinking the tea loses its flavor…”
“It might be,” Eve said, sitting back. “Ka and all that…” She noticed a portrait of Iroh on the wall. “Always watching over us, huh?”
“Everyone’s uncle,” Flutterfree confirmed. “He never stopped being that.”
Azula smiled. “…I don’t know why I hated him for that. I don’t know why I hated a lot of people.”
“I don’t know why I went Twily-nanas over so many things,” Eve said, shaking her head. “Life’s so much easier when you just… go with it.”
“I know exactly why I was terrified of everything,” Flutterfree said with a laugh. “You two need to examine yourselves more.”
Eve nodded. “Yeah… But tonight, I drink tea.” She chugged the cup in one gulp, completely defeating the purpose of the drink.
“Then we can probably find a dance party somewhere or something,” Flutterfree added. “I wonder what modern dance has evolved into…”
“Something overly suggestive.”
“Then clearly they need showing how to actually do it.”
Azula forced herself to blink. Then she smiled and rolled her eyes, getting them more tea.
~~~
Jotaro was sitting on the bed of one of the private rooms, fully dressed and waiting for Pidge to get out of the shower. The smaller bathroom may have been perfect for her size, but somehow she was still taking excessively long in the shower. Likely because she hadn’t washed the grime off herself in weeks.
Eventually, however, he heard the water turn off. “I think my hair looks fine like this.”
“Yare yare daze… you need to at least comb it.”
“You haven’t even looked at it!”
“Don’t have to, and you know it.”
Pidge let out a groan. “Uuuugh, fine I’ll put it through the hair-press… thingy.” She started grumbling about hair ‘not being worth the effort’ and ‘it was just fine before’.
Then there was a knock at the door. Jotaro stood up and strode to the door in his usual manner – hands in his large coat pockets and feet moving with a confident strut. It was habitual and he had never seen a reason to stop doing it. He slid the door open with Star Platinum.
Outside was a face that broke his old heart in two immediately.
A stern face, wide eyes, green hair, muscular figure…
Jolyne blinked back tears, putting a hand to her mouth. “You… you’re really back…”
Jotaro wasted no time pulling his daughter into a tight, powerful hug. This hug would have crushed most people, but the Joestars were stronger than that. She couldn’t quite match his strength, but she sure tried. To them, it wasn’t pain – it was a connection.
Jotaro let the tears come out freely. “I didn’t know what happened to you…”
“I… I looked for you. But you were long gone…” Jolyne gulped. “I…”
“You’re here now. I’m here now.” He pushed her back and looked her in the eyes. “What happened in the past doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”
Jolyne smiled. “I was going to say the same thing.”
They clapped their hands together and flexed their muscles. A traditional Joestar family greeting.
“Yare yare dawa,” Jolyne said.
“Yare yare daze.”
It was at this point Pidge walked out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel. “Jojo, come on, tell me this hair doesn’t look bor- JOLYNE!?”
Jolyne blinked. “…Dad…”
Jotaro, for once in his life, nervously shuffled his feet. “...Jolyne, meet your step-mother.”
“My nani?”
“That was not the way to re-introduce me,” Pidge said, tightening her towel. “Hello Jolyne, I’m Pidge ‘Katie’ Kujo. Your dad and I have been married for… well over twenty years now.”
“NANI!?”
“I don’t think that worked either,” Jotaro commented.
Jolyne had to lean against a wall to steady herself. “…How?”
Pidge bit her lip. “Combination of a lot of things. Time. Shared grief. A-”
“Not the how I mean.” Jolyne looked up to her dad. “She’s tiny! She’s almost thinner than your leg! How!?”
“…Very carefully,” Jotaro managed.
Jolyne blinked – then looked way down to see an angry Pidge. She pointed an accusatory finger at Jolyne. “You keep mocking my size and I will deck you in the nose.”
“…Can you reach?” Jolyne asked.
Pidge proved she could – but Jolyne caught the fist with Stone Free. This allowed Heaven’s Door to get the punch in.
“…And she’s got Rohan’s stand too,” Jolyne said – not at all upset by the punch. “What else should I be made aware of?”
Pidge put on an awkward smile. “You have a half-brother traveling the wilds of Nucleon with one of Mattie’s daughters.”
“NANI!?” She glanced back and forth between the two of them.
“His name doesn’t start with J, don’t worry!”
Jolyne blinked – and then she laughed. She walked into the room and flopped onto the bed, continuing to laugh.
“…Are you okay?” Pidge asked.
“She is,” Jotaro said, smiling.
“…Are you sure about that?”
“He is,” Jolyne said, sitting up and shaking her head. Then she put her hands on Pidge’s shoulders. “…We have a family again. That’s… the greatest surprise I could have asked for.”
Pidge let out a sigh of relief. “Oh, thank goodness, I was worried there for a sec.”
“This doesn’t mean you just get a free pass in my book,” Jolyne said. “But Dad likes you, and you’ve apparently been together a while. It shows, even though it’s off-the-wall bonkers. …Which is completely normal for this family.”
“He does have a lot of stories,” Pidge admitted. “A lot.”
“Welcome to the Joestar legacy, Pidge. Won’t be calling you Mom though.”
“That would be weird, yeah.”
“I mean, it’s only a l-” Jolyne blinked. “Daaaad…”
“Hm?” he said, confused.
“She’s younger than me, isn’t she?”
There was silence in the room.
“Huh, you know what, I think I am,” Pidge said, completing the calculations in her head. “That’s weird.”
“No shit,” Jolyne responded.
“Hey, if you want to make it even weirder, I’m in my nineties.” Pidge grinned. “Probably more, given time locks and stuff.”
Jolyne put a hand to the bridge of her nose.
“It could be worse. There could be time travel involved.”
“I really shouldn’t be surprised at this point…”
~~~
“The little shit-stain isn’t going to suspect a thing…” Vriska said with a smirk.
Starbeat adjusted the sights on her goggles until the BattleDome was perfectly in her field of view. “I’ve got the target locked.”
“He’s gonna have the ‘ohshit!’ face. I’m tellin’ you.”
“If you say so. It has been thirty years, he could have changed.”
“He still buys games and fights monsters in an arena for a living. Monika really set him up with the job to end all jobs…” She cracked her fingers. “It’s go time.”
Starbeat nodded, teleporting them directly into the scaffolding of the BattleDome, dodging the forced VR experience by avoiding the gate. They saw the BattleDome for what it was – a large warehouse with several floors that people were wandering around aimlessly in. Some of them were making loud ‘hii-yaa’ noises that sounded really stupid without the VR around them.
“Okay, this should be close enough…” Vriska said.
“I’m the one with the stealth specialty, stop talking like you know what you’re talking about.”
“…Geez.”
Starbeat smirked. “Hey, you’re the one who came up with this crazy idea. And, for the record, we are close enough. He’s right down that way.” She jumped off the railing and down to a lower floor, weaving in and out of VR-traffic without being noticed. Vriska followed suit, stealing luck from those around her to ensure she wouldn’t be bumped into.
“WHAT? That jackpot was guaranteed!” someone complained.
Vriska… Starbeat sent telepathically.
So I got a little greedy! Not a problem!
Starbeat sighed and continued through the many levels of the BattleDome, following one of the larger cables until they reached the center. In the center there was a large golden platform with only one person on it – Caliborn himself. Master of VR.
“TAKE THAT SHIT-FACE!” Caliborn laughed, performing a ridiculous backflip. “AND THIS! AND THIS! OH, DO YOU KISS YOUR MOTHER WITH THAT MOUTH? I BET YOU DO! TELL ME WHAT IT’S LIKE!”
“Hasn’t changed at all…” Vriska said. “Got a lock?”
Starbeat nodded, teleporting the two of them right next to Caliborn. He didn’t notice, as expected for someone in the middle of a VR fight.
Starbeat gestured for Vriska to go ahead – it was time for the actual prank. Vriska moved up to Caliborn, drawing her sword. She was going to nudge him ever so slightly on his back to make him think there was an enemy behind him. Of course, he would assume it happened in VR at first, and that would make him lose. Then he’d fly into a rage and they’d sidestep him easily.
One problem though.
Caliborn was a hologram. Vriska discovered this through poking him with the sword and touching nothing. She blinked before slicing through the hologram from all angles. “The fuck…?”
The hologram vanished in an instant. The real Caliborn appeared on the edge of the golden disc. He wore his red robes of Time, and his eyes were as psychedelic as always, but he wore a calm smile and a stylish fedora.
“…What?”
Caliborn bowed ever so slightly. “It appears I have bested you ladies. My apologies if I ruined your fun, but I simply couldn’t let a ‘prank’ slide, just so you know.”
Starbeat and Vriska stared at him with open jaws.
“Ah, it seems I have flabbergasted you with my speech. This fills me with delight, but also a pang of guilt. Perhaps I should have let you best me? No, the whole point of this little contest of pranks is to always come out on top with the most amusing result. Though I suppose yours would have been better, given the element of public shame.”
“Who are you and what have you done with Caliborn?” Vriska asked.
Caliborn raised an eyebrow. “I am still Caliborn, a humble cherub who learned how to hold himself up over the time you were gone. Clearly you have changed as well. Vriska, perhaps not you, but Starbeat, there is a wisdom about you that wasn’t there before.”
Starbeat glanced at Vriska. “I thought cherub rudeness was impossible to remove.”
“Maybe Monika removed it? I don’t know.” Vriska shrugged. With a soft chuckle she extended her hand to Caliborn. “Guess I owe you an apology.”
“Huh. It seems you have changed as well. I expected you to take longer to get to this point.” He grabbed her hand and shook it. “Your loss.”
“What wh-”
He twisted his arm to the side and spiked her into the ground. “GET DUNKED ON FUCKING BIIIIITCH!”
Starbeat’s first reaction was shock. Her second was laughter.
“I fucking hate you,” Vriska muttered, picking herself up off the ground.
Caliborn tripped her again. “Did I SAY bitches could get up? No, bitches can not, bitches stay on the ground, especially dirty mowin’ bitches.”
“Moirail,” Starbeat corrected.
“Mowin’,” Caliborn asserted.
“Caliborn do I have to bring out the ‘bad cherub’ hammer?”
“You can’t fucking touch me!” Caliborn laughed. “I own this dome! Suck it!”
“It’s fine,” Vriska said, using a backflip to stand up. “He got us, he can gloat.”
“FUCK YEAH.”
“Where the fuck did you learn to be subtle though?” Vriska asked.
“I own. A company. Where I have to talk. To a lot of people. You gain skills that way.” He sneered. “Now, clearly we have unsettled business. Let’s settle it in the arena, two on one!”
Starbeat shrugged. “Eh, sure. Do we have anything else we want to do?”
Vriska shook her head. “Already talked to Aradia too much… I think we’re good.” She grinned. “Bring it, cherub.”
“Finally… A WORTHY CHALLENGE!”
~~~
Corona stood in front of the doors to the Dark Tower. She traced her fingers on the giant, imposing doors as her ethereal hair twisted in the air. She looked divine.
She sensed that the doors would actually let her in if she really wanted. She could go in, ascend to the top of the Tower, and claim the Source for herself. It would let her.
She had absolutely no desire to actually ascend the Tower and take the Source. She wanted, more than anything else, for it to be gone. That the story would finally end with some semblance of… reality.
What was reality, really? It was an ideal she had fought for and didn’t have a clue about. She was ‘real’, but she wasn’t part of her own reality. She was someone else’s.
In the end, she didn’t really know what she was thinking about. In the war, she had eventually decided there was no way to be sure which choice was right, so they all just had to make their best guess and go with it. An allegory for life, she supposed.
She looked at her hands – glowing brighter than ever before. The longer she had lived, the brighter she had gotten. The less she had looked like a person and the more… she didn’t know what she was. Everyone called her angelic. She didn’t like that.
When she had fought Eve in the Tower Ring, they were the same. Ice, fire, back and forth. But now… Corona was something apart from all the others.
Would the same have happened to Eve if she had won? Become… something?
She let out a soft chuckle – more things that probably wouldn’t matter in less than a day.
The chuckle turned into giggling as she traced her fingers along the glowing crack in the Tower, up as high as she could reach without taking off.
The giggling turned into full blown laughter with tears. The crack let her finally realize, let her finally feel. It hit her like a train of joy.
Ka was really going to be gone. She had done it. She had really, truly, won.
She fell to her knees and laughed. It was an expression of pure, unfiltered joy. It was, finally, going to be over. All over.
“…I wish I could be that happy about it,” Pinkie said, walking up to her and sitting down.
Corona slowly made herself stop laughing. She wiped her face and turned to her. “Why? We won. You fought for this.”
“I… I still think it’s the right thing,” Pinkie admitted. “I sided with you because I knew what ka meant, what ka did. How it affected people. But I knew that because I was close with ka. It’s part of who I am. My entire life, I’ve always just known. Even in places with low ka, or those cracks, there’s always this warm feeling I have. They’re watching.”
“…I wouldn’t be able to find that comforting.”
“It is creepy at times,” Pinkie admitted. “But it also means… someone cares. No matter how down or depressed I got, no matter how angry, I always knew they cared.” She chuckled sadly. “It’s selfish, so I don’t let the feeling tell me what to do. But it keeps me from feeling that joy of yours.”
Corona looked up at the Tower, expression flat. “…I could give it to you. Let you experience it.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Pinkie said.
Corona nodded, thinking deeply to herself.
“Wondering if you should say something now or wait?”
Corona smirked. “Yep.”
Pinkie nodded. “I’ve been doing the same. I think of something, then I realize I could say it with ka in effect… or wait. The problem is I generally know the result if I say it here, but I’m not sure if I like it. I don’t know the result afterward.”
“I don’t know either.”
“You still have a sort of intuition,” Pinkie said, tapping the side of her skull. “At the very least, something that guides you forward into ka. Or something.”
“Hm…” Corona narrowed her eyes. “You’re avoiding planning the party until after, huh?”
“I want to see if I can do it,” Pinkie said. “Or if the sudden loss of my Awareness is… enough to make me spiral.”
Corona looked to Pinkie with soft, understanding eyes. “We’ll be there for you when it leaves. Don’t worry.”
Pinkie shook her head. “I do worry. Worry that friendship won’t be as strong as it used to be. Worry that we’ll suddenly be just as expendable as anyone else. …It’s horrible, but we take a lot of comfort and pride in our role as heroes.”
Corona nodded slowly. “That doesn’t change the fact that we’re all in this together. And if we weren’t family before the Journey… we certainly are now.”
“Awww!” Pinkie cooed.
They hugged in the shadow of the Dark Tower, sending ripples through the field of roses. One of the last ripples it would ever feel…
~~~
Jenny and Roland walked to a very particular place. The place Randall Flagg was being held. He wasn’t currently paralyzed, or prevented from moving or talking – he had been allowed to move as of a few days ago so people could successfully determine if the loss of ka did anything to his mind.
To determine what they were going to do with him afterward.
All his powers were still locked away and he was scarcely allowed to talk to anyone. But Jenny and Roland could get an audience with him without too much trouble.
Flagg grinned when he saw Roland come in. “Ah, I was wondering when you’d show up. Going to take a last-minute opportunity to gloat? To kill me one last time? Or are you going to wait until the Tower actually falls and then do it to get the satisfaction? I doubt they’ll like that, and your hero status won’t protect you then…”
“Closing up loose ends,” Roland said, unblinking.
“Geez,” Jenny said, looking Flagg up and down. “Stuck in your own body for thirty years and not a single difference.”
“Roland is the same,” Flagg observed. “While you allowed your inner frivolous side to express itself after being hindered for so long, we remain what we are. Because we are symbols. I am the darkness and destruction. And he is not the light, he is simply the man who fights the darkness. The hero who was the savior of the Tower… and will be its executioner.”
Roland narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean by that?”
Flagg responded with a toothy, menacing grin.