– Three Months Later –
Hundreds of candles hung from the tall, spacious ceilings of the Grand High Cathedral of Altus, each one carefully lit within golden chandeliers. Light streamed in through the stained glass windows on the fine winter morning, softly accenting the chapel in all of its glory. A red velvet carpet trailed from the entranceway straight to the altar, where a man waited nervously with a ring in hand, accompanied only by the master of ceremonies, a woman with wavy, dark blond hair.
Hundreds of people were seated throughout the chapel, all of them having come to see the wedding between their two good friends, which was well underway. The best man and maid of honor had already walked down the aisle, preceded by the flowergirl. Just when the noise in the chapel reached the point of being irreverent, the doors in the back opened wide.
Narcissa Topolla stepped through the archway, a flowing white gown covering her body. A thin white sash was wrapped around her slender waist, tied into a large bow at the back. In one arm, she held a bouquet of flowers, and her other arm was linked with Rustopher, who had agreed to walk her down the aisle in place of her late father.
The crowd hushed quickly, watching the bride pass by. On her way to the altar, Narcy noticed Luna crying softly into a tissue, leaning into Siris casually. Siris was smiling brightly, his arm around Luna's shoulders. As Narcy walked on, she briefly recalled Talus' smiling face, wishing her luck.
A few steps more brought her to other recognizable faces; Vincent, Christina, Dan, and Matt were all sitting together, Matt squirming uncomfortably in the stiff suit he had worn. Several pews forward were Ness, Paula, Jeff, and Poo, sitting close together as the best of friends. Across the aisle, Harsemhin was sitting solemnly next to Kageru, and two guests he had brought with him from home; Cyan and Anthadd.
Moments later, Narcy reached the altar, and Rustopher nodded slightly before letting go. He then parted ways and stood next to Saffron, the best man. Narcy then took up position next to Chartreuse, who was smiling like he had won the lottery. Before Narcy looked up at the Priestess, she saw Anna, her maid of honor, wink at her with a quick grin.
Her Majesty Queen Cirra of Altus, the presider of ceremonies in the chapel, coughed slightly before reading the wedding vows out to the bride and groom.
"Do you, Narcissa Topolla, take His Highness Chartreuse of Altus to be your husband, to have and to hold, through sickness and health, for the rest of your natural life?"
Narcy looked up at Chartreuse, making eye contact. Between them, Joe wandered up slowly, a cushion with two rings on it in hand. Narcy took one of the golden bands and, taking Chartreuse's hand in hers, slid it onto his ring finger.
"I do."
Queen Cirra nodded, and then turned to Chartreuse. "Do you, Your Highness Chartreuse of Altus, take Narcissa Topolla to be your wife, to have and to hold, through sickness and health, for the rest of your natural life?"
Chartreuse took Narcy's hand in his own, a golden band in the palm of his hand. He smiled softly as he lowered it onto her finger, next to the engagement ring he had given her.
"I do."
Cirra nodded, one of her fingers drifting unconsciously toward a silver banded ring on her own hand. Her skin brushed across a shimmering sapphire, bordered by two tiny diamonds.
"Then as Queen of Altus, I pronounce you Husband and Wife. You may now kiss the bride."
Chartreuse rested his hand against Narcy's cheek as he drew her up close kissing her softly. The moment their lips touched, a tremendous cheer rose up from the crowd.
After the couple parted, Chartreuse and Narcy progressed back down the aisle and out of the chapel toward the Altus Palace Ballroom, where the reception was to be held. The remaining people in the chapel followed, all of them greatly anticipating the festivities.
Once in the ballroom, the spirit of the gathering instantly changed from solemn to high-spirited. Narcy and Chartreuse walked around together, greeting all their guests happily. Eventually, they came across Anna and Saffron, who were standing dangerously close to Cyan and Anthadd.
"Narcy, You look beautiful!" Anna said, touching Narcy's dress lightly. "I always thought you two would end up together! Cyan, what did you think?" She finished, throwing an arm flamboyantly around Cyan's shoulders. Cyan shuddered slightly, and answered after him and Anthadd exchanged a quick glance.
"I didn't think they would ever meet each other. Nor did I think I would ever have to see you again," Cyan mumbled under his breath. Saffron shot Cyan a dark look before turning to his brother.
"Chartreuse, I couldn't have picked a better woman for you in my entire life. You should be incredibly happy," He said, grinning. Chartreuse nodded, slipping his hand around Narcy's waist.
"Yeah, I'm ready to settle down for the married life, but I can't imagine doing it with anyone else. Anyway, how are things with you and Anna?"
Saffron, who had married Anna nearly a month before, beamed again. "I couldn't be happier."
Cyan muttered something to himself before walking away in search of Kageru, Anthadd following him shortly thereafter. Chartreuse and Narcy parted ways with Saffron and Anna, leaving them to continue to talk with their guests.
Just then, a plane flew overhead noisily. Those with sharp eyes saw it drop something. The object turned out to be a parachuting parcel, which landed right in front of Chartreuse. There was a note on the outside. He pulled it off the parcel and read it.
"Hey hey hey!!! Jack sends his condolences for missing the big bash, but he's doing GREAT at the new rehab place! He's gone 26 days sober already! We thought you might like a gift or something, so the center staff were kind enough to send along Jack's old stash - enjoy it RESPONSIBLY!!
Your Flying Friend Forever,
PHILO D. PILOT"
Narcy pulled open the parcel. Inside were two dozen bottles of Pirate's Choice Grog and a photograph of Jack looking very sober and wearing a T-shirt that said "I darn near got killed by Raltise and all I got was this stupid T-shirt."
"I need to get one of those" was the most common response.
Dan, one of a small group who knew most of the people at the reception, had spent most of the night mingling with the decent-sized crowd.
"Hey Dan!"
"Hey there, what's up?"
"Nothing, just killakillaing, you know. Keepin' it real."
"Werd."
So it had gone, mostly without incident. Presently he took a sip of a bottle of Crystal Pepsi (imported from Wisconsin) and walked over to Anna. "Hey, you have any idea who that guy is?" He pointed to an out-of-place looking businessperson standing with a cup of punch near the back of the hall.
Anna appeared perplexed for a moment. "He introduced himself as Anthony Williams. I think he was hitting on me."
"Oh, what'd he say?"
"Hi, I'm Anthony Williams."
Dan raised an eyebrow and walked outside to savor a moment of Crystal Pepsi bliss when he noticed a disaster in the making. "Gah!" He shouted as he ran through the parking lot, where Narcy's car was sitting. "What are you doing?" He slid on the dusty rock surface of the parking lot, where _____ was applying empty cans to the back of the venerable Pinto. A hand painted "NEWLYWEDS" banner was taped to the rear window, obscuring the driver's view.
Dan noticed an old 'friend.' "What do you think you're doing?"
"Sending the newlyweds off!" the man said with a slight smirk.
"Obscured rear view...Things bumping into the fuel tank...you're turnin' that thing into a death trap!"
He laughed maniacally for a moment: "I know!"
"You frighten me. A lot."
"No, no, no. I'm just kidding, friend! You wouldn't tell Chartreuse I was trying to blow him to smithereens, would you?"
"Oh, petty things like that? Nah..." The man quickly ran back inside, but not before Dan could get in a parting shot. "And get back to your airship, it's double parked!"
As Dan walked back inside, he looked at all the people he had met at assorted times. How did he get involved with these crazy people?
-----
It had been 23,000 years since Kapeka had decided to return home. She had decided this on about the 2,000th anniversary of Ness's defeat of Raltise. She had had enough of fighting, and enough of the stupid, material things based life that most humans elected to live. People were so foolish.
A figure appeared in the entrance to the cave, which was odd, because nobody ever came to a remote location such as this.
"Hello." called out Kapeka, beckoning the stranger to come in.
"Hey sis." Said the figure, not quite knowing what else to say.
Kapeka was stunned. She had never thought he would come back. The very idea of it was ludicrous, he was dead!
"Brother! Wha-who-how." Said Kapeka, still completely shocked.
"Shhh!" He said, finger pressed against his lips.
He smiled, and brother and sister ran into each other’s arms, not questioning, not reminiscing, simply just enjoying the moment.
-----
It didn't take Cyan long before he found Kageru. The younger swordsman was standing off to the side of the reception, with a girl his age. He wore a decent dark blue suit, and she wore an unusual pink dress. She looked quite uncomfortable.
"Why did you wear that dress, anyway? You look uncomfortable and out of place ... not to mention I hate it almost as much as you do," asked Kageru, quietly.
"Mom wanted me to wear it. You know she likes it," came a casual reply. "Hey, you got dressed up, too."
"And Cyan's in his dress armor, so what?"
"The dress isn't that bad, on Ruki," quipped Cyan as he came up to them. Kageru shot Cyan a look that was halfway between shooting daggers and saying 'don't start'.
"Thanks," said Ruki as she rolled her eyes.
"So how do you like being able to go back somewhere you got dumped in? Never managed to do that, on my own," asked Cyan.
"I can think of places I'd rather be."
Ruki punched Kageru playfully.
--------------------
Shortly after Raltise had been defeated, Kageru began work with Narcy on a way to get home.
"So what we really need is something that can transmit you back to this 'Digital World', right?" asked Narcy.
Kageru nodded. "That's where I need help. I can handle code, but I can't come up with a transmitter."
"If that's all we need, a temporal distorter should work and get you out of here," she sounded overly anxious, but Kageru ignored it.
"The code in Blue Cards can bring things into the Real World from the Digital World, I'm hoping we can use it in reverse to get me back."
"What about the card you used to turn into, what was it? Jimbomon?"
Kageru sighed but answered quickly. "Jimmumon. All that did is patch my code wit parts from my partner, Naremon. When we combine we become Jimmumon, but without him I needed the card."
"That's nice," said Narcy distractedly. "Do you have a Blue Card, or was that explanation useless?"
Kageru pulled out a card, and as he held it, it turned into a Blue Card. "Don't ask," said Kageru before she did. "I don't know, either."
Using the code in the Blue Card, Narcy and Kageru were able to come up with an algorithm to get him back. Before he left, Narcy gave him an invitation to the wedding, and Kageru created a card using the code from Narcy's device so he could try getting back.
As Narcy activated her creation, Kageru winked out of existence and the world around him went dark.
He reappeared in the same place of floating punctuation as the first time the Tamers went to the Digital World, but he was only there for a second. He then materialized in the real world above a collapsing bridge. The other Tamers were standing in a field of colored energy as a drone approached.
Kageru was also Jimmumon.
-------------------
"Better than being in a war zone," suggested Kageru.
"I'm just glad that's over," added Ruki.
By then Anthadd had joined them as well. "That was definitely more intense than our first two adventures, wasn't it, Cyan?"
"That's for sure," agreed Cyan.
"By the way, didn't you say you always met another one of me in these worlds you visited?" asked Anthadd.
"I wouldn't worry about it. I never did meet one in this world," explained Cyan.
"Only person I met here on my own was Bruiser," added Kageru.
As if on command, the wrestler in question joined the group. "Hey Kageru! How's it going?"
"Fine." Kageru gestured to his friends. "Cyan, Anthadd, and Ruki."
"So what'd you do after we beat Raltise?" asked Bruiser.
"Nothing much. Went home, beat up a Digital Garbage Collector bent on deleting all of humanity. Same old same old." Bruiser blinked.
"And don't forget you let the D-Reaper capture you, that must have been fun!" quipped Cyan, smiling.
"Yeah, that too..." muttered Kageru. Bruiser blinked again.
"Did you have three months of fun?" asked Ruki.
"Yeah! I got myself into a new federation! I've got that weird power under control, so I think I can stay in this time!" said Bruiser enthusiastically.
"Good to hear!" said Cyan.
"Fue-du-re-shi-o-n?" asked Ruki, sounding out the word.
"He's a wrestler," explained Kageru, before switching languages. "Demo, anata no eigo wa totemo ii."
"Thank you," said Ruki.
"Who is she Kageru? Your girlfriend?" asked Bruiser.
Kageru almost blushed before regaining his composure. "Hai. Ruki-chan wa totemo kawaii desu yo ne?" he said with a grin, before dodging a more vicious punch from Ruki.
"What'd he say?"
"He said 'Ruki's very cute, isn't she?' She doesn't like being called Ruki-chan or cute," explained Cyan.
"Oh," is all Bruiser said. He then left the group to talk amongst themselves.
About a half hour later, two figures stood as inconspicuously as possible near the bar, leaning casually against the counters. They picked at a bowl of nuts for a moment until the bartender came over. The bartender stared at the two men for a moment, his face an expression of cool arrogance.
"Would you boys like something to drink?" The man said finally, his voice dripping with an oily sarcasm. Dan, the first figure, coughed into his hand, trying to deepen his voice.
"Yes, sir, I'll have your finest alcoholic beverage mixed with your next finest alcoholic beverage, if you please!" Siris, who was standing next to him, nudged him slightly.
"You sound like an idiot!" He said under his breath. Dan elbowed him less than playfully and then turned to face the barkeep, who scowled back at the two disdainfully.
"You wish for our two finest drinks, mixed together?" He asked, gazing onward placidly, as though he were a lion toying with his prey.
"Yes, post haste! My friend and I are quite thirsty for spirits!" Dan said, making a fist for emphasis. The barkeep nodded and held up two bottles.
"So you would like our vintage wine mixed in with our imported beer?"
Dan and Siris blanched, staring at the two bottles openmouthed. The bartender sneered as he placed the two bottles back on the counter.
"You boys need to go bother someone else before I return you to the daycare!" He snapped, slamming his fist on the counter. Before Dan and Siris had a chance to get away, Chartreuse came up behind them with Narcy at his side. In the presence of royalty, the bartender's mood did a complete 180. His expression became substantially brighter, as did his attitude.
"Hey, would you mind getting these two guys two virgin strawberry daiquiris? They're friends of mine," Chartreuse said, leaning up against the counter. The barkeep nodded and mixed the two drinks.
"Of course, your highness. Anything for you?"
"No, I'm fine. I'll just take a glass of water. Narcy, you want anything?" Chartreuse asked, glancing at her. Narcy shook her head.
"If you don't mind me having a little of your water, then I'm set."
"Fair enough," Chartreuse said as he took the glass in hand. Siris and Dan took the two strawberry drinks wordlessly and walked away behind the newlyweds.
Once they were out of earshot of the bartender, Dan managed to get out a question between a mouthful of popcorn chicken.
"So Chartreuse, why do you they call you Your highness? If Cirra is the queen, then what does that make you?"
Chartreuse laughed slightly. "You know, I'm not sure actually, but since I used to be a king, I command enough respect around here that people listen to me. It's like being a former president. You don't have any real power, but people still look up to you."
Dan nodded, stuffing in another mouthful of chicken.
"What have you guys been up to, anyway?" Chartreuse asked, sipping his water. Siris was the first to respond.
"Well, After Raltise was defeated, I went back to Onett along with Dan. When the Mach pizza building closed down because of customer complaints, I bought it and opened up a poetry/coffee house. Dan and I perform there sometimes too - we have a Ben Folds Five cover band going. Also, Rustopher's son Joe plays guitar with us."
"I play the SNES Keyboard!" Dan exclaimed between bites. Narcy laughed, grinning. Siris was about to say something else when another thought occurred to him.
"Chartreuse, since you don't age and Narcy does, what happens when she starts to get significantly older than you?"
Narcy smiled secretively. "Well, I managed to fix that problem."
"What do you mean?" Siris asked, puzzled.
"Do you remember the gun I used to revive the chosen four?"
"Yeah, It's kind of hard to forget that."
"Well, after Raltise was destroyed and we went back to my lab, I did some more testing on the gun and the path of light itself. It was only a few weeks before I discovered something that I hadn't realized about the power to revive a body image before. When I revived Jeff, I explained to him that when you die, a body image of you is saved until it can be brought back at another date. The body age is refreshed constantly when you are alive, to keep up with your aging, but when you die, it stops refreshing. However, the power of the path of light, when it hits you strong enough, is enough to arrest the refreshing process completely."
Siris and Dan gaped openmouthed for a moment before saying something.
"Narcy, you've got the secret of eternal youth!" Siris exclaimed, his mind completely blown. Narcy shook her head slightly.
"Not anymore. When I figured out the kind of power the gun had, I destroyed it after I used it on myself."
"But why? You could have made millions! Billions!" Siris said, his voice rising with each word.
"No, I can't keep playing God like this. There are some things that man was never meant to interfere in; I only did what I had to for love, and Chartreuse's circumstances make it a unique situation."
Dan stopped chewing on his chicken for just enough time to get out another question. "So, where is Scarlet?"
Chartreuse and Narcy froze, filling the air with an uncomfortable pause. A few moments later, Chartreuse spoke.
"Scarlet killed herself shortly after Raltise died."
Dan swallowed his chicken in one mouthful after Siris elbowed him roughly again. "Uhm, Sorry, I didn't know..."
Chartreuse shrugged. "It's fine, I'm not mad at you. It's just a little fresh in my mind, that's all. Trust me, I've had enough time to think about it, so I'm not upset any more. Don't worry about me."
Dan nodded, still wishing he hadn't said anything. With a sudden laugh, Chartreuse beamed at Dan.
"Hey, don't let it get you down. This is a wedding after all, not a funeral."
"Speaking of which," Narcy interjected, "I think they want us to cut the cake soon."
Chartreuse nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right. Siris, Dan, come with us to get some cake!" Agreeing, Dan and Siris joined up with the large group heading toward the massive cake.
"That is one massive cake!" Dan said. It was as tall as any of them. After all, it had to feed all the guests.
Dan was starting to speed up, wanting to be the first one in line (right behind the newlyweds, of course, wouldn't want to be impolite) when Siris stopped him. "The cake.. it's moving."
Dan squinted, watching carefully. "It's not moving."
"It's moving," Siris assured him. "It's got an aura." Indeed, the cake began to shiver and shake, eventually quivering so badly that it folded in on itself, melting into a pool of ice and sugar. Out of the space where the cake had been, an ethereal door appeared. A short-haired figure in a trenchcoat stepped through, jumping down from the table onto the floor.
"Hey, it's SimonBob!" someone in the crowd said.
SimonBob looked shocked. "It is?" He pushed up his sunglasses and checked a nearby reflection. "Hey, it is SimonBob! Eyyy!" He flashed his winningest smile while carefully blocking the view of the cake he wrecked. Unfortunately, the chef was still standing behind the table...
"YOU IDIOT!!!" he screamed, leaping the table and grabbing Simon by the neck. "You have ruined zee cake! She was a masterpiece!"
"Woah! Chill!" Simon gasped between strangled breaths. "I'll fix it!" He extended a hand toward the cake and choked out "Vanilla Rebuild!" The cake instantly reformed to its original glory and then some. It looked even better now than it had before Simon came in.
The chef dropped Simon's neck in amazement. "I may need to work on my teleportation," Simon said as he got up, "but my baking is top-notch."
Cake in hand, Dan and Siris made their way over to talk to Simon. They found him speaking to Indigo near the back.
"They're the perfect conversationalists," Dan whispered. "She doesn't say anything, and he won't shut up."
Simon was finishing up the telling of his favorite kind of story: the one where he was the protagonist. "...So, I had to shoot the guy, but it was him or the city, right? You know how we do." He took a bite of cake as Siris and Dan walked up, waving and saying "Mmmph," which was code for "I'd say 'eyyy' if I wasn't chewing on a mouthful of cake."
"Hey, Simon, I was wondering about something..." Dan began.
"What's the deal?"
"Well, remember back on the SS Thed when you showed up and beat down Raltise?"
Simon raised an eyebrow. "So who's Raltise?"
Siris and Dan exchanged puzzled looks. "...You showed up, gave Raltise a beating, healed him, and then left," Siris explained.
"You walked across the water, too," Dan added.
"You got the wrong guy," Simon said, shrugging. "I was on the trail of a gang of robot spiders for the last couple of months. What was I wearing?"
"You had this dumb-looking kilt."
"Hmm! Sounds like there's another SimonBob loose around here, then. Did I ever tell you about my alternate egos?" he said to Indigo. She barely shook her head before he launched into another story.
-----
The kilted SimonBob in question was talking to Jack Flash at the rehab center. "It's a shame the Regime doesn't really exist," Jack was saying.
"Heh, well, I think that it would be a little too 1984ish for my tastes anyway," Simon said.
A fax on the desk rang.
"Didn't know you had a fax," Simon commented.
"Neither did I. Look, it's not plugged in." Jack pointed to the wall outlet. There was nothing connected to it.
A single page came through the machine. There was a picture with an attached printout copied on below it.
Jack held up the picture. "Look like anyone you know?"
"Yeah, hey, that's me," Simon said. "What does it say underneath -"
When the center staff finally knocked down the locked door, they found Simon dead on the floor with his neck broken, a fax machine lying outside surrounded by broken glass from the window, and a piece of paper with a picture of the same Simon who was on the floor - kilt and all.
The message on the paper was simple and to the point.
"Illegal Universe Hopper - Terminate."
-----
Harsemhin, having offered his congratulations to the newlyweds, stealthily snuck out of the castle. He stared at the passing clouds as if nothing mattered anymore. He thought of his wife, of the children he never met; they were so far away now — the living and the dead are separated by the longest of bridges.
The strife Harsemhin had seen these past few days had done nothing to take his mind off the fact he did not belong in this time. To be transported from the dying years of one's millennium around one thousand years into the past was a curse he did not wish visited on anyone else.
But despite all the sorrow visited upon him, Harsemhin could stomach neither suicide nor the thought of having never met his allies, of having never been put in Diamond Stasis.
"Friendship..." he murmured. "Friendship is like the early days of the spring following a long and terrible winter. It comes rarely, and it must be savored ere it disappears."
Harsemhin fell silent.
Ness and Paula milled about at the reception. Since the reincarnations of Paula and Poo, their families had been shocked: they had thought Paula, Jeff and Poo for dead.
Paula's father's heart had arrested when he saw his daughter walk in the door. Paula frowned slightly as she remembered what the doctor had said: "Miss Polestar, your father should be all right. He'll return home soon. His heart attack was apparently caused by an overwhelming shock. As long as he takes his medication, he should not be at risk of a recurrence."
Because of this, Paula had hesitated to accept her invitation to the wedding, insisting her father would be at risk of a relapse. However, Mr. Polestar convinced Paula to go. "Paula, your mother is here. If I have another attack, she'll get me to the hospital. But as long as I have my pills," he said, while tossing a capsule of prescription medicine up and down, "I'll be okay. Just go."
Harsemhin struggled through the forest overgrowth of Autumns, towards the building he knew was there. The trees had made the journey rather annoying, but Harsemhin felled the wayward branches with a simple utterance: "Scorpius Blade!"
Finally, he found the building he sought. Climbing into the trunk of the tree, he descended into the earth. And then, standing there, a deep green against the grey darkness, was the Falling Temple.
He entered the ancient construct and made his way to the inner sanctum. He knew which paths to avoid: which paths contained pitfalls, which paths led to dead ends.
He sat at the table there and began to think. Am I grounded to a time, or do I flow freely in time like a leaf in the wind? Harsemhin began to chant a spell. As his thoughts slowed, a tear dripped from his eyes and one last thought made it out:
Farewell, my friends. Until I awaken again... The Falling Temple fell silent once more, a statue fashioned from diamond now sitting on a well-preserved wooden chair at a well-preserved wooden table.
-----
Outside, night fell. SimonBob glanced through a window, seeming to notice the full moon for the first time.
"What a terrible night for a curse," he muttered.
Indigo gasped. "You have a curse?"
Simon turned and scowled at her for a moment, then suddenly switched to a grin. "I'm just messin' with ya!"
Christina was sitting on a bench outside, staring up at the stars. My my, three months and so much has happened. I had to bury my parents shortly after getting back from that island; it was sad. I resolved not to let it get me down. Perhaps their death was the best thing to happen to me. I suddenly have direction in my life. She looked around as if she heard something. To her relief, there wasn't anything in her sight. In a few years I'll graduate from college and be a doctor. She turned around on the bench and looked at the building where the marriage took place.
At that moment, a person stepped out of the bushes. Christina didn't notice because she was busy looking at all of the people enjoying themselves at the after-wedding party. The person walked as silently as possible and sat down next to Christina while facing the other direction. The person spoke up.
"Hello... Christina." Christina jumped at the sound of the voice. She turned her head suddenly in the direction of the voice and was amazed by the person that she saw.
"Mike? I thought... I thought you were dead!" Christina's eyes were wide open.
"Well, so did I. I almost became toast. I'm... sorry about your parents, though. I did everything that I could to save them."
"So you're the one that pulled them to shore like that?" Christina's parents were found on the shore of an island near the helicopter crash site. When a cruise ship discovered the corpses, they were laid out on the beach as if somebody pulled them ashore.
"Yes. I tried for an hour to revive them. I couldn't do it though. I was going to bury them but... it... I just didn't feel right with burying them there. Besides, I knew that you'd want to see them once again. Your parents told me a lot about you. They're proud of you and your accomplishments. Apparently, you're very lucky. I mean, you found those huge diamonds and everything. You almost died a few times, I'm sure. But here you are, getting ready to go to school."
Christina looked down at the ground. "He told you all of that, huh?" She paused suddenly. "How did you know I was going to school?"
"Well, I was at the funeral. I heard you promise your parents that you'd succeed in becoming a doctor. Anyway, I know that this was sudden but I've really got to be going. Oh, take this." Mike pulled a small box out of his pocket. "You may want to have this more than I do. Right, so... later!" Mike got up from the bench suddenly and dashed into the woods. He disappeared.
Christina looked into the woods for Mike but couldn't find him. She shrugged and looked down at the box. She opened the box and found that a rather large rainbow diamond was in the box. Also, there was a note.
Christina:
I know that this was all sudden but you must keep in mind that this was supposed to happen. Your father traveled around the world and learned many things. He discovered that something big may happen soon and reported to his superiors; that was why he was always gone. They had him tour the world to figure out what would happen. Sadly, he didn't figure out what was going on until it was too late. He came to me when he found out about what was going on in Fourside. When I told him that it may be Raltise, he was shocked. I told him that the last time we fought we were almost surprised. He was afraid; afraid that you may be killed. He did all that he could to help you; heck, even I did everything that I could to help you. Anyway, after an entire contingent of special forces were destroyed on the bridge in Fourside, we got together and did as much as we could elsewhere to help you. However, it didn't have any effect. That last ditch effort in aid with the helicopter was all that we could do. I know I'm rambling, but I figured that you wanted to know what happened.
Oh, and about the diamond, a wise man gave that to me while I was travelling the world myself. He said that those that possess the diamond'll be happy forever. I figured that you'd need it more than I do.
Mike
Christina looked up. She didn't know what to do. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. She ran into the building and tried to find Narcy and Chartreuse.
Inside, she saw that Chartreuse and Narcy were chatting with some guests. Narcy turned to Christina. "Ah, there you are. Did you have any cake?"
"Well... no. Not yet. Anyway, Narcy, I want you and Chartreuse to have this." Christina gave the diamond to Narcy. "You'll probably need this more than I do. Hopefully it'll keep you two happy forever!" Christina looked at the people in the group around the newlyweds and was surprised to see that Mike was talking with Narcy.
"Uhh... Mike, didn't you just run off into the woods?"
"Yeah, I did. I decided to turn around and run in here to talk with Narcy though because let's face it, Narcy rocks." Mike grinned. "Anyway, I'll just chill at this party before going back to work."
Narcy laughed. Christina laughed too. "Well Narcy, let me at the cake."
Skulryk enjoyed the wedding very much, and was fairly happy for the bride and groom. Now that the service was over, he walked around the wedding reception greeting the people, eating a piece of cake with one hand and using his camera to take a few snapshots with the other. He put the camera away and talked with some guests.
He made his way to Chartreuse and Narcy as he finished his cake. "Hey, you two! I guess you two are... an interesting couple! I wish you the greatest of luck in the future." He pulled out his camera again to take one last photograph of the happy couple. That had been the last picture on that roll of film, so Skulryk couldn't take any more shots.
"Hey Skul." Chartreuse said. "Thanks a lot. Narcy and I hope to be very happy together." Chartreuse smiled.
"By the way, Skulryk." Narcy said. "I've been looking through all the news stuff, and I haven't seen your name as of late. What's happened? I figured that Raltise footage would have launched you to the top of the reporting scale."
Skulryk laughed. "Well, my video camera did get destroyed, if you remember... but the footage on it was still good. I found the charred camera later and out popped the film, all in perfect condition. I dunno how that happened. Also I got some pictures of Raltise after he became ultra powerful... so I guess I could have gotten all the great stories easily. But I guess the destruction was symbolic in a way, you know? Kind of saying I had to move on... I don't know. But I got to talking with Lucky after all of this was over, and he was saying how he missed showbusiness... Before you know it, he and I were out there on stage! Turns out I'm not too bad at it either." Skulryk looked around, and, noticing Lucky, called him over.
Lucky took it from where Skulryk had left off. "Yeah, Skul and me are a band now. You probably haven't heard of us yet... I guess we're still making a name for ourselves. We probably need a few more band members too, but the old Runaway Five guys don't wanna touch the stage with a 50 foot pole. Too many bad memories of bad contracts. We shouldn't be getting stuck in those anymore though. Skul knows all about the legal mumbo jumbo, and even if we do get caught, he can make some news reports on the theater's questionable business practices. Anyways, we'll make it big in time! Even if we do have to go through night clubs and stuff before we get anywhere big."
"Well, good luck." Chartreuse said. "I'll look you up if I'm ever in Fourside."
Skulryk left to talk to the other people. 3 months was a long time, and he had a lot to catch up on with a lot of people.
Departing the company of SimonBob, Siris and Dan finished off their cake. Dan looked around for a moment, then nudged Siris and pointed to a feature of the room which quite resembled a stage; on it was a small group of musical instruments with no musicians currently making use of them.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Dan asked with a grin.
"Heck yeah," returned Siris. "Let's go find Joe."
It wasn't long before the pair located their guitarist and quickly returned to the stage. They inconspicuously perched themselves at their preferred instruments: Joe grabbed the guitar, Siris sat at the drumset, and the keyboard (though it was no SNES Miracle) was taken by Dan. Siris, after familiarizing himself with the particular set, turned to Dan.
"What song?"
Dan thought about this for a moment. "Air?"
"Alright," Siris said.
Joe nodded, switching to a bass guitar. "Okay. But you guys know I prefer classic rock."
"We'll do some later," said Siris with a grin. "Don't worry."
Dan began with a piano solo as Siris sang.
Saw a silhouette across a fluorescent
Floating overhead, undoing his helmet
Joe introduced the bass guitar...
Through the murky beams and blue-green sea life
I saw him spinnin' towards the moonlight
... and Siris introduced the drums.
I pulled him in, he wasn't breathing
His eyes were wide and he saw two of me there
Dan and Joe began to sing backup.
There's an ugly buzz that hovers just above the quiet
Found a way to make it silent
I'm comin' up for air
I'm comin' up for air
Air
Air
They hold my hand and ask me to pull through
A voice I know says "dear, he probably can't hear you"
Comin' up for air
I'm comin' up for air
I'm comin' up for air
As the song ended, the band members grinned at each other, and at the audience that their sudden playing had seemed to draw. After a moment of shuffling and discussion, the band went on to another song.
Chartreuse nodded his head to the rhythm. Although he typically didn't listen to this type of music, the performance was still quite enjoyable.
"Hey, they're not half bad." he murmured to himself.
"Really, their not playing to their full potential." remarked Matt, who had just drifted beside the newlywed. He clenched a glass in one hand, and a plate of cake in the other. "The acoustics are bad in here. Not as good as in the cafe."
"You visit there often?"
Matt grinned. "I work there. Siris and Dan gave me a plush management job."
"It's good to know everything worked out so well for you guys." remarked Chartreuse.
"Yeah, everything is going great." beamed Matt, taking a sip from his drink. "I'll have enough money for university in no time."
The music stopped on stage. Siris spoke into the mike. "Any audience requests?"
"Army!" shouted Matt, inappropriately loud. Embarrassed by the attention he had drawn to himself he ducked into the crowd.
Siris shrugged, and the band commenced playing the song.
Chartreuse chuckled at Matt. The youth blushed meekly. "Heh...it's my favorite song..."