Talia and I started to walk towards the hanger bay where the airship had just landed. I moved my left hand through my hair. I sighed, “Eris, mind if I let it flow?”
Talia looked at me, “Huh?”
“Oh, sorry I forgot to speak in my mind.”
Eris answered, “Not at all, my body so to speak is yours to do with as you please. Just, don’t ruin it.” I pulled my hair out of the bun and let the blue hair flow over my back.
Talia looked at me, “That looks better.”
“Thanks, I am still getting used to being a woman.”
Talia chuckled, “Just wait, but, can you turn back into a man?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I can.”
Talia shrugged, “You might be something different than I had expected anyway.”
“Seriously?”
Talia nodded, “I don’t think you are what I thought you are, since, I have never heard of that species ever doing something like this, it might be worse.” She grinned at me as she said it.
We walked into the hangar bay, Lory walked over to me and hugged me, “Hey Steve.”
Talia looked at her, “Your husband is looking a bit womanly.”
Lory sighed, “I am still getting used to it.”
Talia hugged Lory, “I heard about Haley, where is she?”
“She is still on the airship.”
Paul walked over and stared at me. “I am fairly certain we have never met, if we did meet, I am sorry I never called you back.”
“Oh, so, you do know me Paul? Did you forget our wild night already?”
Paul stammered, “I am married.”
I fake gasped, “You lied to me!? You told me when you were drunk, you were single!” Paul ran away.
Lory looked at me, “Just, why Steve?” Then she hung her head, “Of course, you love to create conflict and mess with people. You have been doing it ever since we met.”
Talia pointed at the both of us, “Something is going on here. What is the problem?” Lory pointed at me, I pointed back, it only seemed fair if everyone starts pointing at me.
Lory chuckled, “Come on, I can’t take you serious when you act like a child, Steve.”
“Oh sorry, I thought we were playing a pointing game.”
Talia snickered, “He is fun though.”
Lory nodded, “He is. What I wanted to say before everyone started pointing, the appearance you see that Steve is now, is that of a god.”
Talia stared at me, “What?”
Lory nodded, “I went inside of Steve, oh my god that came out all wrong,” she blushed. “I mean, I entered into his soul.”
Talia blinked a couple of times, “Please explain properly.”
Lory sighed, “Steve burst open like a cocoon with tentacles, the tentacles dragged us into him, me and Haley. Apparently, that was a guy who lives inside Steve’s head. The tentacle woman is a god, in the past, another version of Steve called Thanos, ate her, and she had escaped. We put her in her place, and I assume she is being friendly now that she knows her place, that Steve is the prime controller over his split personalities. His wings are from another version of him, some kind of angel, just look at those fluffy wings.”
Talia opened her mouth but no words came out. After a few seconds, she had regained her composure. “Holy moly, that is a boatload of information. So basically, Steve is mentally insane.”
I hung my head, “Steve has feelings.”
Eris spoke up through me, “Yeah, be nice to him.”
“Eris, shut up.”
Lory looked at me, “Huh, her voice sounds different. Wait, she can speak through you?”
Captain spoke up in my mind, “Yes, that is normal, you are wearing her body after all, and as she is in the nexus of your mind, we have privileges other people don't have.”
“Captain assures me that is normal.”
Talia looked at me, “Captain?”
“Guys, it feels as if I missed a lot.”
Paul came back, “Alright, just who are you, and why are you fucking with me.” He stamped his feet on the ground, “Goddammit, wrong choice of words!”
“Paul?”
“Yes?”
“I am not going to string you along any longer, you have been tortured enough.”
He let out a sigh of relief, “Thank god.”
I smiled, “It is me, Steve!”
He slapped me. “Oh, sorry, I am not supposed to slap women, but that was just bullcrap. Steve looks nothing like you.”
I heard Talia and Lory snickered. Funk walked over, “Hey Paul, how are things down here.”
He pointed at me, “Who the fuck is that? She is accusing me of cheating and not calling her back.”
Funk fell backwards and laughed. Lory looked at me, “He does like to fall over, doesn’t he?”
I nodded, “It is his thing.”
Funk spoke up, “that is Steve, you idiot.”
Paul looked at me, then back at Funk, this went on for a while. He just walked away. Abby walked over, “Steve?”
“Yes?”
“What have you done this time?”
“What!? Why do you assume that it was me?” All of them looked at me. “Fine, I may have teased Paul a little. Oh, Talia!?”
“Yes?”
“Did you know, Abby is a black goo blob?”
Talia looked at her, “I don’t see it.”
I walked over to Abby and tried to look at her, as cute as I can, focusing on my eyes. Abby sighed, “Come on, that is just mean, your manly eyes are not that cute, and you know I have a thing for women, you are exploiting my weakness.” She turned into a black blob.
Talia scratched her head, “Huh, she is a black blob.”
Abby transformed back and stretched, “There, are you happy now Steve?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am.”
I walked over to Lory and leaned against her. She whispered, “Are you having fun darling?”
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Yes, you?”
“I am glad to have a break.”
We all waited for Haley to come out of the airship. Eventually, she came our way, with Shirley in her arms, wrapped in a cloth. Haley walked towards me. “Shall I take her Munchkin?” She slowly nodded and I took Shirley very gently. I walked over to Lory and Talia, “Is there a place to bury her?”
Talia nodded, “We have a cemetery, follow me.” She walked away, and I followed her through Brickton, most of the houses are standing, the rubble had been cleared. There even seems to be a café, and a restaurant. At the edge of town, there stood a cemetery, it had a few graves already. Talia spawned a shovel and started digging. She whistled and after a while, Paul came over. He looked all serious now.
Talia looked at him, “Get the nicest coffin we have, and ask Ferry for a tombstone, take Haley to him, she needs to let him know the engravings.” Paul nodded and left.
I just stood there, holding Shirley. Waiting for things to get arranged, I am glad at this moment to have two arms. Captain spoke up inside of me. “Her soul is still in her body.”
I answered while waiting, “What do you mean?”
“Haley preserved her body with red energy, it is keeping her corpse fresh. You need to ask Haley, in private what she wants with to do with her soul.”
“Can we actually guide it to the afterlife or something?”
Captain sighed, “There are two options, Haley takes it, just like have eaten Eris, or she lets it go, it will find its way to a reaper of some kind and be guided to where it belongs.”
I just nodded. After Talia had dug the grave, she looked at me, “I am going to check on the progress of things.”
“Talia?”
“Yes?”
“Please ask Haley if she wants to come here.” She nodded and left.
After a while Haley came my way, “Hey dad, you called for me?”
“Yes, people are working on making sure this funeral takes place soon, there is a moral question I need to ask you.” She nodded. I let out a deep sigh and tried to gather my words. “Haley Rockwell, you are a daughter of mine, and I have no clue what I am, let alone you. I trust you with my heart and soul, you have seen what is inside of me. It might not be fair to some people, it might not be kind, but it can give a second life. Shirley’s soul is still in her body. You need to decide, what happens to it, Shirley trusted you, with her life.”
“What me?”
“You knew her the best, we only have heard of her name, or her legacy. This is where an important decision comes to play, you can choose to release her soul go. A reaper will come and take it to the place where her soul belongs, or, you can do what I do. Absorb her soul into you, make her a part of you. She will end up in your head. Think about this carefully because if she is in there, she will never go away, and she will technically be dead, I am unsure if there is a way to take them out of you.”
Captain spoke up inside of me, “Yes, as for what happens to that person depends on whether he or she was dead upon absorption. If you have mastered the ability to resurrect people, you could bring her back.”
I sighed deeply, pondering my next words as she stared at me, “It will only be a remnant of her. While it is her technically, she will not have a body anymore. You might find someone else, that you fall in love with, then Shirley needs to be fine with that because she will be with you, in your head forever, even if you find someone new, Captain does mention there is the power of resurrection, but it has to do with how long someone has been dead and how much you master it, it is not an option we have right now.”
Haley started weeping, “How am I supposed to make these kinds of decisions? I am just a girl.”
“No, you are a woman, and a strong one at that.”
Haley continued weeping and leaned against me. “I can’t make this decision. What if I find a woman I get the tingle for, what if I fall in love? She will have to see it all. Can you make sure, her soul goes to a peaceful place?”
“I can do that.”
Haley nodded and walked away while whispering, “Take her soul somewhere peaceful then.”
I sighed, “Melin, please show yourself.”
A portal opened up and Melin walked through, “What is this, you are asking for me?”
She laughed, “It seems I am not the only one playing with shapeshifting.”
“Melin, please, I need your favor.”
She sighed, “Fine, we tried to kill each other, and you ask for a favor?”
“Yes, and we both know why you are going to do as I ask.”
Melin looked closely at me, “So, that is where Strife went.”
“Exactly.”
Melin sighed, “Fine, but you owe me one, and when I am coming to collect, you will have to answer. I am going to take her soul to a timeless place, nothing that happens outside, is going to affect her, and her soul can live there peacefully, I am taking her to the immortal dimension. Only gods related to death can take people there. Not anything else can come in there, nothing, not you, no one.”
I nodded, “I understand Melin,” she opened a portal and I saw a beautiful paradise. She opened up another portal, it seemed dark and gloomy. Melin mumbled and two souls from the dark and gloomy place flew into the portal where I saw a paradise where people seemed to be enjoying their life. Then Melin walked over to Shirley, she took out her soul, it looked bright and reminded me of an orb. She gently directed it towards the paradise portal.
Once Shirley had arrived, I saw her spawn, next to two older people, the ones I saw on Haley’s locket. Melin closed the portal. “There, it is done, and I even threw in her parents.”
“Thank you Melin, it means a lot to me.”
She smiled, “Just don’t get hungry now! I know how hungry the devil inside you was.”
I chuckled, “Very funny, mind telling me who this devil is? And, will you, attend the funeral?”
Melin nodded, “It is the least I can do, you gave me quite some overtime, with all of Stratos Isle dying, as for the devil, let's hope we never find out.”