As the children went over the hill Axel raced back down the hill to the truck. He jumped in and drove the rest of the way around the hill to meet the kids on the other side in front of the garage. As he rolled up to the entrance Renton said to him, "I'm sorry it took us so long to get back home."
"That doesn't matter now. Let's just get dinner ready before the moon rises." said Axel, and so they walked into the garage.
Renton looked around the shop interior and stated, "Wow grandpa you were able to get the garage all fixed up! It looks better than it did before."
"Well anything looks a lot better after being completely destroyed." Axel said back as he opened the door to the kitchen.
Renton scratched his head and laughed.
The kids ran in but Eureka stopped in front of Axel. "I'm sorry I brought the military here back then. I wasn't thinking of how it may have affected you." Eureka said with her head down.
Axel looked at the girl. She was taller then he remembered, as was Renton, they were almost as tall as him now. Renton would probably be as tall as his father thought Axel to himself.
That's when he noticed them, a pair of green wings sticking out from Eureka's back. Before they had been hidden in a fold of cloth that ran from the back of Eureka's shirt and ended at the end of her skirt.
She realized that he was looking at them and pulled them back under the cape.
Renton put his arm around her and looked at his grandfather. "Grandpa. Eureka… she's … well she's what you know to be called a coralian." Renton said to his grandfather.
"I know what she is Renton. I've known for a while. She is what the entire human race considered to be the enemy. Only a few people knew the truth about what was really going on." Axel replied back.
They both looked at him confused, "How do you know that Grandpa?" Renton asked.
Axel grinned and stuck his thumb up at the opened door. They both looked to find the front of the RAY=OUT Pacific State issue taped to the door. "Your old man knows some people." chuckled Axel to himself. And with that they walked in and started making dinner.
They sat down and started eating, soon nobody could wait anymore and the storytelling began. Eureka and Renton started by giving their different sides of the story that lead up to the Second Summer of Love, and how they finally found each other in the midst of the control cluster and were saved by Nirvash.
"Wow Nirvash was a girl?!" Maeter said excitedly.
"Well she did have a female voice…" Renton shrugged.
"So how did you get to the ground without going SPLAT!" said Linke excitedly, slapping his hands together.
"Well you remember your mama's wings right?" Renton said and then put a hand on Eureka's shoulder. She smiled and let her wings out to their full length. They were shiny and glowed with a green light; they looked almost like they were made of gel.
"Mama can fly?!" the children exclaimed loudly. Everyone started staring at her, including Renton.
She noticed the added attention and started to blush, "Well yes I can, but not like a bird… more of like a skyfish. On the trapars." she explained and showed with a wave of her hand.
"Wow can you show us?!" yelled the children as they practically started to climb over the table to reach at their mother.
"Yes of course, but not now we need to eat this meal that your grandfather made for us." explained Eureka to the dismay of the children.
"So how about it?" asked Axel who had been silent till this point "how did you make your way home after all that mess?"
"Well…" Renton began.
Renton woke up to the rising sun peaking through the hole into the cave they had taken shelter in. He started thinking of the events of the last day through his mind. Eureka's wings, his sister and father alive, the battle against The End and Dewey's flagship, Eureka's disappearance… These memories echoed in his mind.
He looked over at Eureka still sleeping quietly next to him. She was still wearing the white dress she had from the coralian world with the green spot on her forehead that matched her wings. Her wings… he sat up remembering the fall after Nirvash had set them free from the control cluster. They had kissed as they started to fall down to Earth. They held each other's hand, not sure what to do. But after they had fallen for a while Eureka's wings stiffened and started to glow brightly as trapar seemed to begin flowing around them.
"Eureka your wings are doing something to the trapar!!" yelled Renton over the rushing wind.
Eureka looked around at them and turned to face Renton with excitement, "Renton… I think I can fly!!" She then let her wings spread out as far as they would go. She started to fall slower than Renton till he was then dangling from Eureka's hands. And so they struggled to stay aloft against Renton's weight as they made their way to the ground with Eureka's newfound ability. Eventually they made their way to the ground near a city they had spotted from much higher up in the sky. They found a small cave in the scubs and decided to rest there. They crumbled down together and fell asleep immediately, exhausted from the day's trials.
"Well now where are we?" thought Renton to himself as the daydream finished. He got up quietly so as to not wake up Eureka and made his way to the cave entrance.
He looked around for anything familiar, but then something in the sky caught his eye. He looked up and was completely surprised. Just going over the horizon was the moon, except it wasn't the moon. He couldn't see all of it, but what he could make out was part of some shape that was carved into the face of the moon, but he couldn't make out just what it was. He also then noticed a dim ring of what looked like trapar dust hovering high above from horizon to horizon.
Baffled he returned to his earlier thoughts, "We need to get home. But I guess getting some food first wouldn't be a bad idea at all." He then looked over at the city in the distance and the scab wastes that surrounded them. Nothing that looked like it would be a source of food was anywhere in the immediate area. "Well I guess breakfast is out of the question, so I guess we need to get to town quick." He said aloud to himself.
Eureka stirred from her sleep. Renton returned to her and helped her sit up. "Good morning Renton." Eureka said smiling.
"Good morning Eureka. You were amazing yesterday." Renton said back crouching down next to her.
"You were amazing too yesterday." Eureka replied back.
"Yea well Nirvash did most of the work." And they both laughed a little before trailing off in thoughtful silence. "I wonder how Nirvash and the coralians are doing." Renton said putting their thoughts into words. They sat together for a bit more before they got up and walked out of the cave. They looked over the wastes and turned to each other. They kissed deeply like they had up in the control cluster.
"Today is the beginning of our new life together." Eureka said as they broke.
"Well then let's take these first steps together Eureka." He said turning himself and her toward the city. They held hands and started to walk.
"So what happened next?" asked Maurice who had finished his food already so he could focus on the story.
"We found some water in a creek with some fish that helped us get enough food and water for the next few days. And eventually when we did finally get to the city, we didn't know exactly what to do about Eureka's wings when we got there, so I "borrowed" some sheets and made her a cape to cover them. After that we started looking for places to eat till we found an entire street full of restaurants."
"Wow this place is great! There's so many kinds of food. Oh look pizza!!" Renton said looking all around the crowded street. But then he noticed Eureka had walked off. "O no, where did she go!!" Renton thought before he noticed her walking into the nearest place next to them.
He ran in after her and burst through the doors that separated the outside from the inside. He was blinded by the change in light causing him to bump into someone and fall to the ground. He looked up to see who he had hit. It turned out to be a waitress who was then rebalancing a tray she was carrying.
He then noticed that the place was full of waitresses, and all of them were wearing alluring outfits with miniskirts. He started to blush at this sight, but regained his wits as Eureka started to walk to him looking puzzled.
"This place is strange. Is it normal for girls to wear this when eating in a public place?" Eureka asked him while pointing at the waitress he hit. The waitress took no notice and rushed off, obviously too busy to worry about the two at the door.
"That's right she's never eaten at public place before." he thought.
But just then a man walked up behind Eureka. He was tall and skinny with green jeans and a floral yellow t-shirt that was covered by an apron. His head was completely smooth and his eyes where very squinted.
"Hey there little Miss! Would you like to work for me?" he asked loudly, startling Eureka.
"Huh? Who is this guy?" thought Renton.
The man then looked at Renton, "O hey I'm sorry is this your girlfriend? Where are my manners? My name is Lotte and this is Soup, Your Way!!" Lotte said with big wave of his arm to finish.
They kind of just stared at him for a bit till Eureka asked, "Work?"
"Well yes you see one of my girls had to move cuz of all that hullabaloo the other day. Lucky we didn't get any of that here, huh?!" He said laughing to himself.
"Renton what should I do?" Eureka asked unsure of how to react.
"Well we do need money if we want to get any food but…" Renton replied but before he could finish with "I rather it be me to be the one that would have to do the work."
Eureka said "I do it!"
Renton face palmed himself for not being quick enough.
"Great let's get you two into the office so I can get you up to speed." Lotte explained before turning around and walking to the back of the store with them in tow.
"So all I want you to do is walk around the restaurant and ask people who have just sat down what they would like to drink and after that what they would like to eat, does that sound alright?" Lotte explained wile sitting in a chair with his feet on his desk.
This office kind of reminded Renton of his grandfather's office back home.
"Well I guess so… I've never done anything like this before." Eureka replied.
"Don't worry about it, you'll get used to it. Now let me show you your uniform, it's my secret to what made this place what it is today." Lotte said jumping up and opening a closet to the office. Inside there was a uniform just like the ones the other waitresses wore. It was a white short sleeve shirt that was covered by a blue dress that started right under the chest and ended abruptly where the thighs would be with ruffles at the end.
Renton started to think of Eureka wearing that outfit. Things suddenly felt very warm around him. But then his world turned ice cold when he started to think of her and all those customers, looking at her in that outfit and thinking of things… things that he was now thinking, he didn't like this one bit.
But before he could protest Lotte walked over and stared him down, "Now you… I bet you want a job too huh? One close to your girlfriend? I think I got just the right job for you. Come on." And then he proceeded to pick both of them up by the arms and lead them into the kitchen. Some of the chefs got in the way so they had to stop in the middle of the kitchen.
"So you only make soup here?" asked Eureka.
"Well yes! This is Soup, Your Way after all." Lotte said back waving an arm in the air again.
"May I stay and watch? I like to watch people cook." Eureka asked looking into Lotte's thin eyes. He looked at her for a bit, he noticed the green patch of skin that was hidden behind her bangs once more.
"Sure go ahead!! And while you're at it make something for you and your boyfriend here for lunch, on the house!" He answered to Eureka before placing an arm around Renton and hurrying him to a door in the side of the kitchen.
He opened the door and pushed Renton through. It was dark at first, but as soon as Lotte turned on the light Renton nearly fell to his knees when he realized where he was.
"This here is my refboard shop. You look like you know your way around lifting so do you mind watching the place in the afternoons?" Lotte asked with a proud grin on his face.
"You're the owner a restaurant and a ref shop? That's awesome!!" Renton said as he started looking at the shelves of merchandise.
"Originally it was just the restaurant when I came to work here, but when I took charge from my dad things really took off and then I was able to buy this shop next to us." explained Lotte.
"So you lift Lotte?" asked Renton.
"Well sometimes when I have the time. I mostly opened this place up because of a promise with an old childhood friend of mine. We used to lift a lot together… Ha-ha, we even swore we would ride LFOs one day." Lotte half laughed this answer and he gaped Renton away from the racks of refboards and walked them back to the kitchen.
Eureka was hard at work. She seemed to have tried on her new uniform while they were away. Renton forgot about all the awesome refboards that were in the next room. She looked cute in that outfit, more so than Renton had imagined. He started feeling a climb in his temperature again.
She noticed them walk in she and quickly asked that they wait in the office while she finished their food.
As they sat down in the office Renton finally got the courage to tell Lotte of his misgivings, "I'm sorry Mr. Lotte, but I kind of don't feel comfortable about this. You've been very generous to us but me and Eureka are trying to get home to Belleforest. And… well… I don't feel comfortable with Eureka wearing that outfit in public at all."
"Well I'm sorry to hear tha…" before Lotte could finish Eureka came in looking just like a waitress, with the outfit and a tray in one hand. She sat the tray on a clear space on Lotte's desk and handed Renton a spoon.
"I hope you like it." she said shyly. Lotte picked up his spoon and sampled the soup and stopped dead where he was with the spoon in his mouth. Renton looked at him and tried the soup himself. It tasted wonderful. It was like kissing Eureka but in soup form he thought to himself. Lotte and him then started to wolf it down.
Eureka who was worried at their first reaction asked, "Is it good?"
"O yes its wonderful Eureka!! It's the best soup I've ever tasted!!" replied Renton finally taking his face away from the bowl.
Eureka gave a sigh of relief and smiled wide, "Thank you! I had Hilda teach me to make potash soup before we left, but I never had the chance to make some for you."
When they had finished Eureka took the bowls and left to put them in a washer Lotte told her about.
"Well I guess that problem was averted." stated Lotte rubbing his belly.
"What do you mean Mr. Lotte?" asked Renton.
"I mean your problem with her being a waitress. No I think she would do much better as a soup chef for the restaurant. Nobody will see her except the other cooks." continued Lotte still rubbing his stomach.
Renton was relieved, Eureka was safe. "But still we need to get home, we can't stay here." Renton reminded Lotte.
"Well I'll pay you well. Besides you need money if you want to get to Belleforest. It is halfway around the world. And with most of the towers out of commission fares have gotten expensive. So it would be best if you just worked here for a while till you have enough to get home Mr. Renton Thurston." Lotte explained.
Renton saw his reasoning but then caught something in what he said to him, how did Lotte know his name? "How do you know my name? I don't think I've ever told you my last name!" Renton said standing up.
Lotte grinned and looked up at him, "What kind of ref-shop owner do you think doesn't have a few issues of RAY=OUT lying around?" he said before throwing a magazine on the desk in front of Renton.
It was the first issue with Renton on the cover; it had him in a pink-ish red jogging suit with a fake mustache and a confused expression on his face. Renton laughed, that was one day he would never forget.
"So you'll stay? I won't tell anyone you're here if that's what you want." Lotte said to him.
"That would be great, I should go tell Eureka!" Renton replied and started for the door.
But Lotte stopped him with a loud "Wait!" and then he said, "Speaking of which, I don't need that uniform anymore. I was lying about needing a new waitress. You could keep it for her if you wish."
He hung in the doorway for a bit turning a deep red before saying, "Sure…" and closed the door behind him.
Lotte rested his head and grinned to himself.
"And so we worked for Mr. Lotte for a good long while, building up enough money to get a ride on a transport home." Renton continued as they started filing out of the kitchen.
"And when we finally had enough money we said goodbye to Lotte and flew here. We got here early in the morning so we just walked through town looking for anyone I knew till we heard that the garage had been rebuilt. And that's how we got home." Renton finished.
They all climbed the hill and came to sit down at the top. Axel pulled up his watch. "It should be lights out in 3… 2.. 1."
And like they had all closed their eyes the entire city went dark. But only for a second as the entire sky then became filled with the radiant light of the moon.
On its surface showed an enormous heart with the names Renton + Eureka written in it. The Milky Way shone brightly behind it and the great trapar ring crossed dimly in front of them both to make an awe inspiring view.
They lay on their backs for a while looking up at the stars and the moon till the children became very sleepy. Axel led them all down to the garage and their beds leaving Eureka and Renton alone.
When they had gone inside shifted themselves closer together in the grass and looked at each other in the moonlight. Eureka snuggled up to Renton and kissed him. They both started feeling sensations of butterflies in their stomachs and wrapped their arms around one and continued to kiss even deeper. They laid there next to each other for a long time before they slowly fell asleep.
Meanwhile, far away, deep underground a growth of scub started to pulse and shine with a dull green glow. It grew brighter and larger till it cracked and broke open like an egg shell. The top caved in and the glowing slowly dimmed away.
When it had cleared away a figure leaned up from the oozing like boil. It started to look around in the pitch blackness searching for something.
Suddenly the darkness was once again permeated by a similar green glow. Up above near the roof of the cave tunnel something started to break away from the scub, something much larger than the figure.
It wobbled as it stood, but the figure was able to stand on the uneven surface. As the entire cave started to shake and grow in brightness he raised his hand up to the glowing mass and beckoned his companion forward into the new world.