Name: The Chronometal Wars
Chronometal Epilogue: The Curse that is Sin
The darkness around Dexter and all the bodies churn and ebb. A single being floats down from the shadowed heavens. "Dexter..." It speaks softly. It lets off a faintly blue aura with divine wings flapping at its sides. "You and I were of the same, we fought for what we both thought was right... I fought for a world without sin, whilst you fought for a world where your friends were safe... our goals were not mutually exclusive..." It kneels down aside Dexter and puts its hand on his chest.
"Your heart still beats with that of a protector. You are a good man, Dexter. It is a shame you could not be reasoned with in my end, but I have forgiven you." It transmits a faint aura to Dexter as life is slowly churned back into him. As he slowly comes to, he opens his eyes to meet the angel's.
"Micheal..." He says softly. "Do not speak, conserve your energy. You came this far with your philosophy, let's see if the world can accept it." The seraphim rises back to its feet and floats toward the shadows. "Wait." Dexter snaps out flatly. Micheal stops and looks at Dexter, who continues after rising to a sitting stance. Dexter looks around very slightly, barely moving his head to look at anything.
"So... God doesn't approve of my methods, but he did approve of yours and Susan's?" Micheal laughs slightly... "Dexter, the will and sight of the All-mighty are not suited to the ears of mortals." - "Is that a yes?" Micheal merely stares at Dexter. "No-one ever had a chance to actually get answers to things they had not power over, like fate... and God... and you dangle here and expect me not to ask?"
Micheal floats down-ward and lands on the darkness. "There are several things I 'am' within justifications to say and answer, and one of them is- yes Dexter, God finds your methods against his wishes." Dexter rises to meet the angels words; eye to eye. "But, why?! All I ever tried to do was help my friends and family... and along the way I saved countless people!"
Micheal smiles slightly. "He does not frown upon your actions, Dexter." The angel sternly shifts his facial expression to one of agitation. "Your inner rage, your inner sin, your ulterior motives is what shifts his gaze from you, Dexter." Dexter clenches his fists and looks somberly toward the lower abyss. "Why does... God... hate me so much... for something, I CANNOT FIX!"
Micheal shakes his head and walks toward Dexter. "God does not hate you, Dexter. He has nothing but love for you, but like that of a stern parent he is forever displeased by actions that endanger or condemn his kin, but he still loves you with all his power." Dexter looks up into Micheal's eyes with rage filled tears in his eyes.
"My parents are dead. Blossom is dead. My friends are dead, TIME is dead, YOU are dead. Everyone and everything that ever was and will be is dead and all he cares about is me? MY SIN?! Well, here's a sin for you; God sent the angel, Mandark to fix the world, and I killed him. I killed an angel because of what I thought was right... how much of a sin is that?"
Micheal shakes his head once more. "More of a sin then tolerable, Dexter." - "And what is he going to do about it? What are YOU going to do about it?!" - "Bring you back to life." Dexter looks down at himself; his wounds are cured and he hardly ever realized that all of his energy has returned. A fleeting warmth crosses Dexter, but it is quickly replaced with even more layers of rage!
"WHY?! The world, time, EVERYTHING is gone! Why does he see fit to leave me alive in this hell?!" - "Not just you, Dexter; everyone." - "You are going to revive... everyone?" - "Everyone who died during these battles with Susan." - "You mean... Blossom, and everyone else... aren't going to be dead?" He nods gently. "Yes, Dexter, they will return to the land of the living."
Dexter shakes his head in protest. "But- but there is no world to go back to! Will we simply rot in this darkness for all eternity?" Micheal floats above Dexter and leaves his sight into the darkness- but a few words are spoken as he vanishes-
"The world will return to its original shape, those lost will be guided back through the darkness onto earth. Mandark failed to end all of time, as the Ark remains in power, and with it- one strand, and ONLY one strand of time was left. Your time, Dexter. The sinning world will return without God's gaze, humanity's fate is it's own now... is that not what you- nay, what all humans wish for? An uncontrolled destiny? Well it is granted, the heavens shall no longer interfere with the affairs of mortals during their lives... as it is you all wanted, Dexter. But be warned, human-"
His voice distorts as it seems to come from all directions very quietly; "The eater of sin, Model M's husk still remains on earth, without the soul of Susan, without the directives of purity. For every sin the humans commit, the Metal grows more and more powerful, take heed... and I do hope for your sake, you and all of Humanity sees the light!"
The darkness quakes and rumbles as the bodes of the 3 strangers disappear from sight. Mandark's body vanishes into a faint white light as everything around Dexter fades in and out of sight! A loud sound like that of sharply blowing wind engulfs Dexter as he strains to cover his ears!
As he tries to block out the noise he opens his eyes with a deep gasp!
He notices he is staring directly into the morning sky of Megaville. Without rising, he looks to his left. Blossom is lying there, but she is too far away for Dexter to figure out whether or not she is okay. He looks to his right, seeing Buttercup and Barasia standing a short distance away talking to each other.
He weakly rises to his feet, still very sore from the previous battles. He walks slowly over to Blossom, her Chronometal and his are badly damaged, but still in-tact. Halfway to her, he feels his pocket vibrating, he reaches in and pulls out a cellphone.
"Hello...?" He says weakly. "Dexter? Is that you?" - "Utonium..." - "It is you, how is everyone? Is everything alright? The sky finally cleared up and people are getting stir-crazy." Dexter walks over to Blossom who seems to be alright. She is breathing well and seems to be snoring a small bit. He looks over to Buttercup and Barasia, who are still out of earshot who look over at him, but back to each other every once in while.
"Yeah... everyone is alright, Professor. Model M is gone..." There is a long pause on the phone before Dexter breaks the silence. "Hello...?" - "Oh, uh... Sorry Dexter, I was lost in thought." Dexter starts walking over to the two others, still talking on the phone. "Thought? About what? It's finally over, isn't it?" - "Well... that's just it Dexter..." As he continues to talk on the phone, Dexter's eyes and face change emotions very fast. "Alright..." Dexter sighs. "I'll tell them, look's like our job isn't done quite yet..."
He turns off the phone and slips it into his pocket...
He finally reaches Buttercup and Barasia, who put their conversation on hold to address him. Buttercup speaks first- "Hey Dexter... what happened in there anyway?" Dexter raises an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" - "You might not of known, but during the last moments in there we 'all' saw what happened."
"You mean with Mandark?" - "Not just Mandark, who were those other guys?" Dexter shakes his head. "No idea... they didn't ring a bell in the slightest." Dexter looks to Barasia. "Did you guys see anything 'after' the fight with Mandark?" Barasia shakes her head. "After you passed out everything went black, I thought we failed. Yet here we are... why? Did something happen?"
Dexter merely stares off into the distance for a while. "Dexter?" Blossom lets out, walking slowly over to the group. "Oh, Blossom- you're up!" He says softly. She rubs her head. "What... oww... what happened in there, anyway?" As she rubs her head, deep in thought, she remembers something and looks into Dexter's eyes. "Wait... Dexter...?" She merely trails off with. Dexter turns to her. "Is there, something wro-OOPH!" He tries to say as she tackles him!
She holds on to Dexter, without making any noise, her eyes still open, but not with tears in them. She merely hangs on to Dexter. "I saw you die... and, I lost... all control." - "Blossom..." - "But it's finally over..." Dexter sighs before gently prying Blossom off. "W-what is it?" She stammers out. "Holding this off any longer would be bad for everyone before they assume anything so I'll just say it."
He takes a deep breath.
Blossom, Buttercup and Barasia look at Dexter as he opens his eyes with a mix of reluctance and anger.
"A new, giant Model M has been discovered under the Antarctic crust by Professor Utonium, and it seems to be growing larger with each passing hour. This battle is far from over, in fact I think it's just beginning... I'm sorry everyone, but we aren't done yet."
Editor's Note: This is the base ending of The Chronometal Wars. The Chronometal Wars is a name both for the huge chronology I eventually ended up writing, and for the first story in the chronology. It's not TOO confusing to keep track of, but it doesn't help that I didn't plan the names ahead of time. Fun note: Micheal's name, normally spelled "Michael" was present in my story due to a plethora of reasons. The most predominantly because when I started writing YEARS ago, I didn't have access to Spellcheck. By the time I got Microsoft Word, I had written down the word Micheal over a hundred times. So... I just sort of rolled with it. Nowadays I've corrected my spellcheck to actually include the incorrect spelling of "Micheal" and that's just his name now.
Related to the actual story and hand, however, this is the Epilogue that eventually leads into "The Chronometal Panic" also known as "Project Heroesbane" by my editor: Havoc of Snafu. The Chronometal Wars was a Time Traveling adventure based on taking responsibility for one's actions. For Dexter coming to terms with his childishness in the past, and Barasia coming to terms with her original destructive nature. The Chronometal Panic branches into much edgier territory, where some of our heroes turn into Antiheroes, or even Antagonists for the bulk of the story. It was a hoot to write, as it was written in an equally nonlinear fashion as The Chronometal Wars.