"Be sure to come quickly." The cherubim teased him over the walkie-talkie through Hats' voice, "I'll be waiting."
"You wretched... Ugh!" Elegy swung his arm, just barely holding it together to not smash the device off the ground, "Damn, this wasn't supposed to happen...!"
The plan had changed significantly. Of course, Elegy had done his party an incredible favor in dealing with the Gods for the time being, but the cherubim threw a nasty wrench he just couldn't ignore. It sent Energy, Migu and Sheep away, demotivating them from continuing to fight on, but without him ever realizing it, the cherubim had also prepared a countermeasure for him nonetheless. Hats, the innocent boy hidden inside the body of an adult, had been told to give Elegy a scare, to warn him of what the cherubim was about to do... And Elegy was furious.
"Taking Hats hostage, huh?" He stormed back towards Sab and Nerys, "You're so dead!"
But then, he had a thought. His feet stopped stomping, and he turned around in a completely different direction.
"No, I don't need those two right now." He realized, "Calm down, calm down... Phew, I need to rethink some things, but the plan stays the same for the most part."
Saving Hats could be done without Elegy even having to lift a finger here. He's only got around 35 hours left until the Gods escape the hole and catch up to them, so he's not necessarily big on time. This is why friends are important.
"If I find those three and re-recruit them..." He settled, "Alright, I got it! First off, I'm gonna need to find Migu and Energy. They'll go off to look for Sheep and try and convince him, meanwhile Sab and Nerys can deal with the cherubim and potentially return Hats to us."
By dividing the work evenly among his teammates, he'll be able to continue executing the plan on his end without too much of a time loss. At the same time, it has a bit of a risk, in that there are many potentially run-ending variables at play, but as stated before—the cherubim made things so bad that there's no other way.
"I've got a rough idea of where Migu might be. Of course, it goes without saying that Energy is with her." He reasoned, "But there might be a chance I don't find them there after all. Then there's the chance I don't manage to motivate them to join me again..."
The streets cheered and booed around him anonymously. He pushed through the random angels to make it to his first point of interest. If he got this right, then Migu and Energy are sure to be where he's headed. Then again, even if they're not there, he had already prepared himself to go to the next spot that came to mind. Elegy was not going to let this plan fail because of the cherubim.
"Even if I convince Migu and Energy, they'll still need to successfully convince Sheep to rejoin us as well for the plan to work." He turned to look at us, "You get it, right? If even one cog doesn't turn the right way, we're totally screwed. If that happens, there's nothing else to do and we'll have lost. But hey, being hopeful is way more interesting than being realistic, am I right?"
After pushing through the harsh rush of Heaven's modular and nigh endless avenues, he eventually made it to a familiar sight—his Heavenly Abode. But the empty house was not where his interests lay, for he turned his head around to take a gander at the content duo playing together out in the yard neighboring his own.
"Descendant, remove the sunglasses." A brain on the cloudy ground ordered.
"Ehe, no way! I just got them to stay on by themselves!" The girl taking care of him giggled to herself, "You look way cooler now!"
"Got them to stay on, she says! You just put some regular adhesive on them and called it a day!" He growled, "Damned brat, remove them this instant!"
"I said I'm not gonna~" She sang a tune just before she spotted Elegy staring at them dumbfoundedly, "Oh, you're back."
Elegy felt a strong urge to cry right then and there. He wanted to so badly hug them, apologize for forsaking them, and then beg them on his hands and knees to come back to him, but he maintained his cool for the sake of the plan. Carefully, he approached the situation with great timidity.
"I-I'm." He nodded.
To which she tacked on, "Is Vastoria better?"
The question threw him for a loop, all of his previous unstable emotions falling flat. For starters, Elegy had fully expected them to not even remember who he was or to be hypnotised or something to that degree, but apart from the obvious, they seemed untouched.
"Vas-? No, the Hell?" He recoiled in confusion.
"Then what's the hold-up?" Energy gruntled at him, "You promised you'd get on that, didn't you?"
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"So did you!" Elegy wanted to shout, but he bit his tongue before he could commit to it. Now he realizes what it means for the cherubim to demotivate someone.
"If only it was something simple like hypnotism or memory manipulation..." Elegy mumbled under his breath.
"Hey, hey! Take a look at gramps' new style!" Migu shoved her ancestor's brain in Elegy's face, "You agree that he looks way cooler with the sunglasses on, don't you?"
"Remove me from his face, woman!" Energy fussed as Elegy tried his best to back away.
"Urk, this is definitely gonna count towards the time loss you mentioned earlier, boss..." Elegy glanced in my direction, "Seriously, next time write a story without any unnecessary drama! Anyone can tell you're just padding for time!"
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Moments later, a stray tomato hit his face from the sky. Where'd it come from? And who threw it?
"Gah, I get it! I won't badmouth you anymore!" He learnt his lesson after that, "Ugh, got my clothes dirty over a stupid gag..."
"You done talking to yourself now?" Migu stared at him uninterestedly, "By the way, if you still haven't saved Vastoria—then what's the holdup?"
"Wow, rude. I'll have you know I'm doing my best out there." Elegy retorted, "And I came here because I need your help."
"Ah, sorry, but we quit." She plainly stated.
"Sorry to say, but even regular jobs require a 2 week notice before you get to say that." He shook his head, "I really, genuinely need your help. Vastoria is still asleep, and if everything goes well, we'll be able to-"
"Elegy, stop." Energy interrupted him, "Don't drag her into this."
The incessant refusal made Elegy's blood pressure rise to a substantial degree. He was under a time limit, and he so badly wanted to force them back into the game, but he knew that sort of action would only give them more reason to not join him again. So long as they spoke diplomatically, there was always a chance to fix things.
"I know it's selfish, Elegy, but we just don't feel like we'll be of any help at all." Migu sheepishly apologized, "You're more than capable of doing everything yourself, but even if you're not..."
"Even if I'm not, it doesn't matter?!" Elegy shouted expectantly.
"Hrm..." She frowned, "Even if you're not, there's little we can make up for it."
Finally, the truth clicked in his mind after she said this. Elegy saw from his perspective two highly capable and valuable teammates, but that's not the same visage they themselves saw in the mirror. It was so obvious for him to see a master survivalist and crafty strategist with an incredibly useful radar ability in Energy, and a fearless, highly motivated instigator who would stop at nothing to get her lover back in Migu, so Elegy just couldn't understand the underlying insecurity lying dormant within them.
"The cherubim tricked you, that's all." Elegy tried to elaborate, "You don't actually mean that."
"She... It just showed me what I always knew deep inside." Migu shook her head, "Besides, even if we do succeed, what's the point? The Gods themselves said that the only way to bring Vastoria back is to just replace her with a copy."
Elegy loudly interrupted, "Which will not happen."
"..."
He was tired of hearing excuses, yet the one thing that irked him more was the topics involving the cherubim. In his Eyes, it was a monster worse than any other, whose sole purpose is to live among humans as a phony. The Gods intend to use its head-morphing ability to replace the bad one on Vastoria's shoulders. Effectively, this would allow everyone to view her as the true Vastoria, but it would nonetheless be nothing more than a life of delusion. Elegy aimed to not let this be the case.
"You're grasping at straws, Elegy." The brain wearing sunglasses told him, "Of course we'd all like the real Vastoria to be brought back, but a perfect copy is the next best thing. You can't just make up a new method."
"I will." He assured him, "What ever happened to me being a Wildcard, huh? If you wanna listen to those two idiot Gods so badly, then weren't they the ones who said themselves that I can change fate as much as I want?"
"That doesn't mean you're omnipotent." Migu shot back, "You can change fate within reason, that's what they meant!"
"How can you be so sure!?"
"Because Vastoria would already be standing here safe and sound if you were!" She blurted out, panic beginning to set in as her face went Red.
Migu shivered as she waited to hear his response. Energy tried his best to calm her down, as well as get in between her and Elegy, but without a body to protect her, all he could really do was try and maintain the peace. Of course, it's not like Elegy had jumped to attack her or anything. Instead, his vision only went blurry as the tinnitus kicked in. Truly, Elegy was so shocked he dissociated completely.
"I'm sorry!" She tried to take it back.
"Is... Is that how you see it?" Elegy barely mustered up the strength to say the words, "If I was capable, I'd have done it all already?"
"Elegy, she said something stupid, but you need to remain calm-!" Energy advised.
"No, I'm calm. Just..." He trotted away awkwardly, too unsure to even finish his sentence, "I'm just... just..."
Of course, her reasoning was extremely shallow and selfish, but Elegy couldn't help but agree with her nonetheless. He waltzed up to their peace, he intruded just to boast about how he can do anything, yet Elegy has nothing to show for it. To make matters worse, he has the gall to say something like "I just need your help, and then!", despite not even knowing fully how he plans to reach this alternative remedy for Vastoria's coma.
"Elegy...!" Migu wanted to follow after him.
"No, this is for the best." Energy stopped her, "You've said enough."
"But-!"
"He's strong, and capable. Way stronger and more capable than we are." He continued, "He'll recover from this, and then he'll return to saving Vastoria like he originally set out to do. Just give him some time."
Migu could hardly stomach the thought of leaving Elegy to suffer alone after hurting him like this. In her mind, she felt she could only do wrong and mess things up further, so her best solution was to just not participate at all—but then this happened anyways. Migu sighed before turning around and walking shamefully to her house.
"I'm sorry."