Dust: Second Chances
Prologue
Disclaimer: I don't own the story, nor am I profiting off of it or claiming any part of it for my own. Just writing for fun.
Warning: Takes place after the end of the game, so expect a lot of major spoilers.
"There will be today, there will be tomorrow, there will be always, and there was yesterday, and there was the day before..."
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
Fidget's wings were a flurry of orange as the tiny nimbat pushed herself to the limits chasing after the silvery wisp that had been Dust's essence, and Ahrah following beside it. The joints of her wings and the muscles along her back ached from the abuse, but Fidget hardly faltered.
He's alive, she repeated to herself firmly in her mind, saving her breath for flying. Elder Gray Eyes said good can't be vanquished easily. He's gotta be alive! ...Sort of. Maybe he's a ghost like Kane? ...Does that even count?
As Ahrah's guardians, Fidget's clan were able to sense the sentient sword, and that was probably the only reason she was eventually able to catch up and locate the source of her gut feeling. Ducking down beneath the canopy of leaves, she gulped in breath after breath, feeling slightly dizzy as she searched the forest around her. This place looks familiar, she thought to herself, passing by a herd of grazing deer. Isn't this where I first saw Dusk way back then? If I remember correctly, there was a thicket...
Drifting through the forest, Fidget's wings steadily beat the air as she flitted amongst the leaves and branches, avoiding the monsters present in the area. She recognized the thicket immediately. Framed by large trees, the branches of the canopy didn't quite reach each other, leaving a shaft of light that shone down upon the flowers sprouting from the soft grass, butterflies flitting over them daintily.
But Dusk was nowhere to be seen.
Making a little noise of distress in the back of her throat, Fidget closed her eyes and concentrated, her paws held tightly to her chest. I gotta focus. I gotta find them. If I can just... pinpoint... maybe, there? She creaked one green eye open, then took in a deep breath and flitted off further into the forest. The sound of rushing water quickly became audible as she approached a pool of water with several waterfalls forming a rough half-circle around the clearing.
There, in the middle of the pool, Ahrah floated just above the surface of the water. The runes emblazoned on the hilt lacked their usual glow, and the sword itself was surrounded by a silvery mist that hung suspended around it, dormant.
"There you are!" Fidget cried out, flying over and darting toward the sword and mist. "Who do you think you are, leaving me behind at that stupid excuse for a funeral-"
Ping!
Fidget was caught off-guard by the flash of light as she hurtled backward through the air, tumbling head over tail. Spreading her wings and fanning out her limbs, she regained control of her movement before she hit the water, shaking her head to get the ringing sound out of her ears. Now I know how Dust felt whenever he smacked Ahrah against one of those reinforced walls and bounced off of it.
"Hey!" she snapped, flying back over. "What gives?! Do you have any idea how hard and fast I've just flown to find you two!?" Not unlike an angry wasp, Fidget darted around the sword, poking and prodding, and unfailingly ricocheting back when she activated Ahrah's defenses.
"Why are you doing this?!" Fidget cried out as she righted herself again. Sinking down onto a branch that hung over the pool, her large green eyes misted with tears. Receiving no response, she buried her face in her arms, whimpering. "This isn't fair... We did everything we were supposed to. This isn't fair!" Her voice quieted as she tucked herself into a ball, wings tightly nestled against her body. The nimbat's frame shook from the force of the sobs that wracked her body.
Night fell, and a new day began. Ginger entered the clearing with a wary tread, her gaze immediately drawn to the sword at the center of the pond. Tearing her attention away from it, she spotted the shivering bundle of orange fur. Her eyes softened. "Fidget," she called out.
The nimbat's red-rimmed green eyes blearily opened, heavily encrusted with sleep and gritty from crying so hard. She dropped down off the branch and caught herself with her wings, flying over to Ginger and nestling herself in the fox's arms. "Nothing about this makes any sense," Fidget muttered as Ginger sat down at the edge of the pond and wetted the hem of her dress, lifting it up to clean her eyes. "You're going to get eye goobers all over your dress."
"Few things concerning Dust make sense," Ginger replied softly, "though I'm sure you've figured that out long before now." Once Fidget's eyes were clean, she gathered the nimbat against her shoulder and tucked her cheek against the other warmblood's back.
"I just don't understand why he had to die..." Fidget closed her eyes, trembling. "Everything about Dust was just one tragedy after the other. Two souls in one body constantly fighting each other for supremacy. Not knowing who he was, or why he existed for the longest time. Finally finding a purpose, and he had people on both ends who claimed to have known one of his halves, trying to sway his alliance. Trying to get back the person whose death they'd grieved for. He did everything right. He freed the moonbloods, defeated General Gaius, saved the entire villages of Aurora and Mudpot. And what does he get for all his hard work?" She gestured with a paw back over her shoulder. "Death."
Ginger let Fidget rant, gazing silently at the mist-enshrouded sword. "But it wasn't for nothing. Surely you realize that?"
"What's the point of doing any of it if he was just going to die?!"
"Oh, Fidget..." Drawing back to focus her sight on the nimbat, her weary expression furrowed into a quiet frown. "Dust knew it was a possibility. But his death doesn't undo all the good he's done. Like you said, he saved countless lives. He liberated an entire race from certain extinction. People who would have died otherwise will live through him, and that is his legacy." She raised her eyes back to the sword. "The best we can do now is make sure no one forgets what he's done for us... so that the next time he's needed, he is welcomed with open arms rather than suspicion and hostility."
Fidget followed Ginger's gaze. "The next time...?" she repeated softly.
"He wouldn't be here if he were truly done. He is waiting for the time when he'll be needed again."
For a time the two fell quiet, both lost in their own thoughts. Ginger eventually rose to her feet and began to walk away, though before she had gotten more than a dozen paces, Fidget slipped out of her arms and flitted back to the tree overlooking the pond. Ginger looked after her in confusion. "Fidget..."
"I'm still the guardian of that sword," Fidget explained with prideful stubbornness. "If that idiot's gonna sleep until the next world crisis, he's going to need someone around to make sure he doesn't get messed with until then."
Ginger smiled, nodding. "I'll stop by to visit you frequently."
"You'd better," Fidget warned with a smirk. "And bring offerings of delicious food! Nobody likes a hungry nimbat. I might just eat your face off."
The vixen laughed softly. "I'll remember that." Bidding each other farewell, Ginger turned and headed back to Aurora.