Arc 4: What families entail
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 49. Penguin
On top of the mountain, a few minutes before the volcano erupted Lincoln was just sitting on a chair outside drinking.
Lincoln: “Somethings off, I don’t know what but I can feel it. You know what, I’m done with this shit. I’m gonna go to Greenvale early. My old ship should work, I don’t feel like going across the bridge so it’ll work.”
Lincoln packs his things and walks to the bottom of the mountain. He gets to the back of the mountain and enters a cove on the side of the mountain. He looks upon his crusty, dirty ship and jumps on. He puts his stuff up, and sets sail. As soon as he gets out he feels the rain hitting his face, and lets his fall on him for a while.
Lincoln: “Mmm this is nice. But still, something seems off, but what could it-”
The volcano erupts, putting a horrified look on Lincoln's face. Lincoln slumps down, takes a swig of his booze and does a little shake before he gets right back on the wheel.
Lincoln: “Oh no, old person senses. I really am getting old. Dammit, the lavas gonna block the faster way out. I gotta go the other way now.
Lincoln sets sail to go around the other side of the island. Edward and Soku lay on the beach, listening to the fighting slowly stopping behind them.
Soku: “You think they won yet?”
Edward: “I hope so. How do you think we’re gonna get out of this?”
Soku: “Something usually comes up….LIKE THAT!”
Lincoln pulls out in front of the bay, waving at Edward. Lincoln stops the ship and lets them on.
Edward: “Hey thanks for the lift.”
Soku: “So you’re Lincoln Valentine…you’re a bigger drunk than I figured.”
Lincoln: “Edward, how come your friends are cooler than you?”
Edward: “Thanks for that. What about the Red Arrows?”
Lincoln: “Look, theirs another ship right over there…oh they finished.”
Soku: “Really!?”
Lincoln: “HEY YOU GUYS! GET ON THAT BOAT AND FOLLOW ME!”
The Red Arrows left after the fight are taken aback at the sight of seeing Lincoln. But they all run onto the other ship and follow behind Lincoln.
Lincoln: “You need to pick anybody else up?”
Edward: “I have faith the others can manage, just head around the island and maybe they'll hitch a ride.
Lincoln: “eye-eye.”
Across the island, atop Athens walls while the Volcano continues to erupt and destroy the city around them, Gray aims all his punches toward Caesar's chest, focusing all the remaining spirit mana through his OD, putting pressure on it.
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Gray {i just have to keep at it, but I don’t have an infinite supply of spirit mana. I can only use a bit of it with high focus, but I need an almost pure form of it. I gotta use the leftover pure spirit mana in my body from the astral state and I’m gonna run out of it…I need to think of a way to get it back and also retain control.}
Caesar: “THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? AND WHAT THE HELL IS CRACKING!?... Oh shit…that’s my mana orb thing…I GET IT! GOOD JOB, THAT’S PRETTY SMART! COMMON BREAK IT! KILL ME! RELEASE ME, FINALLY, LET ME DIE!”
Gray: “DAMMIT SHUT UP! IF YOU WANTED TO DIE THIS BAD YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST MADE YOURSELF RUN OUT OF MANA!”
Caesar: “Actually I never thought about that.”
Gray: “You idiot.”
The black shell in Gray's eyes starts to crack even more, letting the spirit state power out bit by bit. But a bit of control is lost along with it. And the angrier and more emotional Gray gets the more fierce the cloak of darkness gets. Curving and stretching around like tendrils, tendrils that shoot out at Caesar, grab him by his limbs, and rip them off.
His body heals instantly, and the cloak keeps coming. Grabbing him and slamming him into the ground over and over.
Gray {CALM DOWN DAMMIT! I CAN’T GET THE CLOAK TO DO WHAT I WANT! Damn…I can feel the cracks in his OD…it’s about to break…but if I go for any longer, I’m going to run out of gas. Focus all of it on one attack, a finishing move.}
Gray struggles to keep the cloak back, he tries to pull it back but it feeds off his anger, wanting to kill and only kill.
Gray {UGH! COULDN’T YOU DO THIS SOME OTHER TIME YOU DAMN CURSED CLOAK, I NEED TO CONSERVE MANA!}
Caesar spreads his arms and awaits Gray’s move. Gray flows all of the pure spirit mana into his arm and it swirls around like an aura.
Gray {I can’t get it into a finer shape than this, so it has to work…THIS IS IT!}
Caesar: “HIT ME!”
Gray runs at Caesar and punches his chest with full force. It funnels out of his arm, into Caesar’s OD, and bursts through it. Gray falls back and watches Caesar erupt with mana. His skin boils, his bones break, blood vessels burst and he falls down on his back.
Gray walks over to Caesar, takes his mask off, and lays down beside him. Gray starts to ease down and retracts the cloak into the crescent-shaped charm on his necklace.
Gray: “Why’d you do it? What’s the point?”
Caesar: “I dunno…we know life sucks…and I wanted to make it not suck. I made a mistake. I’m sorry.”
Gray: “You…could have just not done it y’know?”
Caesar: “I had to…I couldn’t let these people down.”
Gray: “What makes these people so special? Why them and not you?”
Caesar: “They are the reason I got to come back to life…they sent that assassin that killed the old king, that assassin died and I got to come here and try again.”
Gray: “But you just did what they wanted. Not what you wanted.”
Caesar: “I don’t know what I want. I met so many people and grew a name for myself. I got to be special in a way.”
Gray: “But why be the bad guy? You don’t…you didn’t have to be one.”
Caesar: “I was just born that way..always falling and failing, failing in every single way. I had to make sure some people believed in me.”
Gray: “You wanted to make people like Arthur and those Sect loonies believe in you?”
Caesar: ‘I just..don’t know…”
Caesar starts coughing up blood while his body continues to deteriorate, slurring his speech.
Caesar: “You love Rosemary don’t you?”
Gray: “Yeah I do, why do you ask?”
Caesar: “I met my soulmate…and I was supposed to be with her forever…and I lost her…I’m finally going back to her. Live your life, and if you really love Rosemary…like you would die with or for her…do anything to keep her around.”
Gray: “But what if she feels differently? Like she loses feelings and gets an ick, our relationship started unusually quickly. So it would make sense if it just fell apart.”
Caesar: “If she broke up with you would you stop loving her?”
Gray: “No.”
Caesar: “Then there you have it.”
Gray: “So this is it for you…do you think you’re gonna reincarnate?”
Caesar: “I don’t know…but if I get a choice I’m not gonna.”
Gray: “This world basically has a confirmed Heaven and Hell ya know.”
Caesar: “Really?”
Gray: “Positive spirits go to Alfheim and negative spirits go to Eclis.”
Caesar: “Eclis?”
Gray: “I read a story about it, they call it that because there's an eternal eclipse down there.”
Caesar: “Well I’m going to hell then. Do you think people from Earth go there too? Or do you think it’s separate?”
Gray: “I dunno, could be either or.”
Caesar starts coughing up even more blood blood and struggles to keep breathing.
Caesar: “Back when we were all drinking a few hours ago I was gonna ask you guys what you thought your spirit animals were. I think I could be a gerbil, what about you?”
Gray: “I’m definitely a penguin.”
Caesar: “C…cool…hehe…get…it…?”
Caesar takes his last breath, and his heart stops. His body sits on top of the walls of a burning city, lifeless and unfulfilled. As his mana reaches its end, his physical body rapidly deteriorates and wilts away, flowing into the ashy air with the wind like a flower losing its petals. And Gray, with not much stamina left, just has to wait for something to save him.
END OF Chapter Forty-nine