B-O-M-B

humilitas - humility

B-O-M-B

Bomberman hadn't changed much since Regulus had last seen him. No surprise there: Bomberman's kshar'walti status afforded him the luxury of aging at a significantly slower rate than most mortals. He'd chosen to grow out his hair (it now hung past his shoulders), but otherwise he looked the same as he did eight years ago.

He walked differently, though, Regulus noticed as Bomberman approached him in the cafe with a pink-haired boy of about five or six in tow. Still humble—always humble—but now there was an undercurrent of confidence and hardiness in his gait, rightly earned from having seen Hell and utterly conquering it, leaving its bloodied corpse for the vultures of Time to scavenge. Warrior prodigy, savior of the universe, fire kshar'wa, and now father: Shiro Yogeki was not to be trifled with.

"You might want to ping Zhael on that telepathy network of yours and tell her that you're not going to send me to the shadow realm," Bomberman said as he and the boy took a seat across from Regulus. "She was more than a little worried when you called the house last week asking to meet with me."

Regulus eyed the boy playing a portable gaming console to Bomberman. "I'm going to assume that this is your son?"

"Yeah. His name's Mattias. Zhael had to leave today for her latest tour, so I had to bring him with me here. Mattias, say hi to Regulus. He's an old friend of mine."

Mattias only had to look up once from his game to make his assessment. "You're scary."

Regulus couldn't help it—he cracked a faint smile. "I assure you that that's not the first time I've been told that."

Bomberman rolled his eyes and ruffled Mattias' hair. "He has no concept of tact, honestly. I don't know where he gets it from. You want anything, kiddo? Like a frostie or anything?"

"M'fine."

"You're about as talkative as Regulus over there." To Regulus: "Hold on, I'm going to go get some coffee. I haven't had my caffeine fix today."

Yes, Bomberman was definitely far more confident than he used to be. Eight years ago he wouldn't have thought of cracking a simple joke like that to Regulus' face. Perhaps it also helped that Regulus no longer wished to kill him, or to even defeat him. After seeing the full extent of Bomberman's abilities eight years ago, there seemed to be not much point in re-challenging him.

Stranger things had happened...but not many.

And another strange thing was about to happen.

Bomberman returned a few minutes later with a small cup of Danaspiran blend. He snatched a couple of creamers from the container in the middle of the table and dumped them into the drink. "All right," he said after taking an experimental sip and deciding that his coffee needed sugar as well. "You didn't call me here just to socialize, did you?"

"No."

"Then?"

The unspoken reason hung painfully in the air like a torture victim.

"...I require your talents for something."

Bomberman stared at Regulus in disbelief just as he was about to take a second sip of coffee. Another change: he seemed to have developed an intuitive sense of timing with regards to surprises that allowed him to avoid choking on random beverages. "What?"

"It is as I said. I'll warn you—though it may already be quite obvious—that what I'm going to eventually ask you to do is not wholly legal. At the very least, you will most likely end up in a number of...ambiguous situations, shall we say."

Bomberman shrugged. "If I have to go back to Calerodinia for whatever you need me to do, I'm probably still a wanted man over there, so it wouldn't matter too much."

"To be sure, you're still officially on the Obsidian Phoenix's watch list after that little stunt you pulled back during the BHB days. But that's been dealt with for the time being."

Bomberman swirled his coffee with a green plastic stirrer. "Do you need me to do this right away?"

"I would prefer it as soon as it can be arranged."

"What's the problem, anyway?"

"Zoniha seems to have somehow irritated someone who would love to see me dead for reasons not related to my managing the Obsidian Phoenix. Said someone, however, has shown himself to be more than willing to use Zoniha—and perhaps the rest of the Phoenix—to get to me. I'm nottoo concerned about losing control of the Phoenix, and Zoniha is a capable woman on her own, but there are things that cannot be fully accounted for."

Bomberman seemed ready to voice his thoughts on what he thought those things were, but evidently decided not to push his luck. "You're not telling me that you want me to be Zoniha's bodyguard?"

"No. She would not be pleased if I did such a thing, and it is far from necessary anyhow. But I can't divulge everything right now—you'll have to see me in Cerbera for the rest of it."

Another pause as Bomberman considered Regulus' request. "I hope you have a backup plan," he finally said. "I honestly don't know if I can take on this. It would have been fine if it was just me and Zhael, but..." He gestured to Mattias beside him, whose mind was firmly absorbed in the video game in his hands.

"Understood." Regulus stood up. "I will call you again in three weeks."

As Regulus walked away, a worried look crossed Bomberman's face. "What in the galaxy could be so dangerous that the Prince of Shadows has to ask me for help?" he asked himself, bewildered.

B-O-M-B

Not my bestest writings evar (especially chapter six of this thing, ugh), but a fun experimental thinky thought exercise. And to anyone who was confused at the content of the first chapter, well...how the hell do you write anything about chastity with someone like Zoniha? So instead you get vague Zoniha/Regulus stuff. Because you can never have enough of that. (...I think.)

Also, regarding Regulus' reference to Bomberman's "kshar'walti" status, that's something that'll be explained in maybe the next year or so when I get around to finishing Fateful Meetings and then doing its sequel, Darker Side of Light.

Review if you will, flame if you must.

-Sora G. Silverwind
like I've found some kind of fairytale