It began with a treasure hunt. It ended with this.
Not all endings are happy. Not all bravery conquers. Not all hope endures. And the universe does not pick a side.
It was not something the pirates crew could get their heads around. They tried. They tried to do the good thing. The good thing was supposed to work. It always worked against them, didn't it? From what remained of Skaal the Undying's ancient chamber, which now resembled more of a crater in the middle of town, they had backed away from the seething, cracking maelstrom. Above, a titan born of nightmares eclipsed the sky, utterly invincible. None of them found fault in another for trembling, for they all shared it. Some, like Kit, looked to Flynn, desperately hoping he had some answer. Some hope to offer. He did not. He was as terrified as the rest of them, and speechless. Then they looked to Don Karnage.
As he looked up at their doom, the captain's eyes shone of anger and frustration mixed with silent fear, an amalgam of emotion. His breath was heavy through his nose, his chest puffing. He stood tall. It was his last stand. Everything he had won, lost, laughed at, spoken, loved, regretted, all of it come down to finality, all of it now the last word on who Don Karnage ever was on this earth. He was going to stand tall.
He felt small arms clutching his leg. His hand, by an instinct he wasn't even aware of, cupped around Kit's head. In another life, he thought, he could be everything this boy ever wanted and deserved. Not this life, no. It was too late for this life. Too late and no time to make up for it. And yet, at the end of all things, someone still believed in him. Anger thumped in his heart; anger because just when he found his world was not empty, just when he realized something meaningful, something worth living, and really living for ― now it ends. The boy was quivering, he could feel it. If there was anything he could do… anything… to save him…
He snorted at himself. That was a fatherly feeling, wasn't it, to do anything for the boy. To choose him over himself. It didn't feel stupid or full of mushy softivity; it felt like courage. An impossible courage. That courage was the only thing keeping him from losing his mind right now.
He wiped his face with the crook of his elbow, and knelt down. He took Kit by the shoulders, and looked at the boy eye-to-eye. What must have been going through that kid's head; twelve years old and so full of his own dreams, wishes, wants and regrets. And now fear, and grief. Kit's hands gripped him by the arms. And damn everything else around them, looking into the window of the soul of the other, they shared something. Something uniquely between them and every single thing that had happened since the sky pirates found a young stowaway on a captured cargo plane, something that perhaps narrowly detoured one possible destiny and wasn't supposed to be ― but should have been all along. However the universe works to put people in your life, this boy was meant to be in his, finding him in that cargo plane that fateful day was no accident. He believed that. He felt love. It made his lip quiver into a grin. You can't take it with you, so that saying went. But he was taking this with him. His biggest win.
"Well, brat," he sighed. "Might as well do this right, for once."
He pulled the boy in, and wrapped his arms around him. Let the others see, who cares. Let the whole world see. Nothing else mattered. The return embrace was tight around his neck, as was the boy's damp cheek, nuzzling. His chin was over the boy's head. Staying like that, he was immersed in this moment, a moment he knew would not ever be long enough.
A massive, rumbling groan thundered in the sky. He looked up; the monstrous titan, so impossibly tall it could have cast its gaze on anything from dozens of miles around, but those many red eyes, burning through the haze and clouds under its eclipsing shadow, seemed to be bearing down solely upon him. He did not let go of the boy. He hugged him all the more tightly, clamped his chin over the boy's head again. This feeling of love was amazing. To think that the only thing he ever thought worth living for was to live free and conquer the skies ― and they were no less worth living for, but to do all that and have this kid along for the wild journey... now that was living for something. This kid did the impossible to him. It couldn't be any other, in the whole wide world it could only be this one. The adventures they would share, every day new and exciting, every day something incredible to live for ― would never be. The pang of grief that any of it would never be finally hit him. It was crushing, and caught him off guard. A rogue tear fell into the boy's hair.
The dark titan did not move fast, at least not perceptibly; for at its cosmic size, every seemingly sluggish movement was covering great distance, such as now as it was raising one of its immense, blade-shaped legs over the city.
The captain nuzzled Kit's head, and whispered into his ear, "Thank you, boy." With that, he broke the embrace, and took the kid by the shoulders. "Of all the treasures I ever pillaged out of a plane, you are…" His voice faltered. Not because he could not bring himself to say what he wanted to right now, but looking at the boy's face, the tears that fell from it, the fright and despair in it, the affection in it, he felt himself losing control. No other face could do that to him. He felt that crack in his voice, that pang in his heart, the sting in his eyes. After a deep breath, he continued, "... almost my favorite. Hard to beat that one barrel of jelly beans, no?"
Surprised by that, Kit let out an incredulous scoff. But the fear on his face, some of it, anyway, faded. He took a breath, closing his eyes, bravely composing himself. "When I met you, I wanted to be everything like you…" He trailed off, though Karnage, miserably, accounted for in an instant the result of a year that concluded that sentence, 'Until you wanted to be nothing like me.' But that's not what Kit said next. "I'm… I'm glad I trusted you again. But you didn't hafta try so hard to get me to like you. 'Cause I love you."
"Yes, well… no one's blaming you for that," the captain smirked. "It has been…" Shaking his head, his cheeks puffed as he exhaled. "Phew. Some ride from the jungle. No?"
"Yeah," Kit sniffled. "Some ride. Before the jungle, too." The boy looked up, as did Karnage. The red eyes in the sky burned ragefully. The blade shaped-leg, high above, was positioning over them. It was aiming for them. The devastating impact it would make when it came down would be inescapable. Their doom was moments away.
Karnage then looked back at Kit, and shook his shoulders to get his attention, to make sure he was looking at him and not up. Nothing good was going to come from looking up. "Listen to me, and look," he said, his face now stern and intent. He cupped his hands around Kit's jaw to hold his gaze, thumbs on the boy's cheeks. Kit was listening. But there were no words. At least not at first. Karnage's eyebrows knitted, an outward sign of the inward turmoil he felt as he took stalk of this moment. Their last together. He wanted to make it count. But now, at the end of all things, what exactly do you SAY at the end? Everything, that's what. He wanted to say everything. It's what the kid deserved. He was not thinking about himself at all right now. The Don Karnage that emerged from the Alpacatan jungle was not the same Don Karnage that had fallen into it, and there was only one difference. He was not sure exactly how or when it had actually happened, where exactly that line was finally crossed, or when he came to realize it ― maybe it was something subtle that grew quietly and snuck up on him ― but this kid had broken his heart. That kind of experience was scary, frustrating, amazing and beautiful all rolled into one. It was the kind of thing meant to happen to other people, not to him. His heart was calloused on purpose, for a pirate could not stand proud and ferocious if he was brought to his knees. And yet, being brought to this exact moment, he was literally on his knee, and he did not regret it. He at last spoke,
"I know Baloo was ― what I was not. You say you left behind a home. A good home. I know you did. Of course you did, there is nothing better than being with Don Karnage, no? That's… what I thought when I found you. That's what I thought when you ran away. But when you grabbed my hand, boy... what did you do to me? I'll have you know, I was a very happy pirate not caring how not happy I was! Before your puny presence believed in me more than anyone ever did."
With one quick glance up, Karnage checked to gauge how much time he had, while keeping Kit's head facing him. There was no more time to be hesitant about anything. Drawing a quick breath, he continued,
"Since then, I think about it all the time, thinking why, why would you come back? I think, after everything I did, what kind of crazy got in your cabeza that you could ever look at me like... you're doing now. And I think… I know why. You always thought I could be the someone I never was. And you wanted for me ― me ― to be that someone, more than the world. Something in you still did. So, a pirate takes what he wants, yes? And you took what you wanted, the chance! Well for once in your life, you were right, and I want you to know that is very, very irritating! And also… the best thing ever happening to me. I never asked for a son, you know. But you, you just had to make me know I was a fool to let you go. To make me want to turn back the time and do it all over again. I… I can't turn back the time, boy. But for what time we have left, pirate and son, I am here. Here now, for you. And if I could do anything for you…"
Kit sniffed again. His face was composed in some semblance of forced bravery. Pointless bravery. "Yeah, well… no one's blamin' you for that."
In that moment, Karnage was struck with an inclination to try something. Just like with the baseball when he was alone on Pirate Island. Blame it on the end of the world, nothing to lose, give it a shot and try something new. Something un-Karnagish, he knew, which made it awkward, but something buried in his heart compelled him to simply give in. No reason not to. Just do it before it was too late forever. He leaned forward and kissed Kit on the forehead. It was over with in just a heartbeat, but to him it somehow seemed longer. He found a tender gesture like that wasn't so overrated when you actually meant it. And he meant it. He was glad he did it. It was one last thing he was going to take with him on ― here he had to take a sharp breath ―whatever was… after.
Don Karnage then stood up. The rest of the crew, he realized, while they were seized in their own fear, also looked glum like a bunch of neglected children. He sighed at them. "And as for the rest of you," he began. Their ears perked up. "You have... perhaps… not been the most intolerable bunch of nitwits. You are my nitwits. My pirates. And now you do this one thing for your captivating capitán, because I say so." Suddenly, he hoisted Kit by under the arms and lobbed him at the crew. "Stay there, and don't let him follow me!"
"F-follow?" they started.
With a half-spin on the ball of his foot, Karnage marched to the maelstrom.
"Captain?!" yelled Kit. "Wait, what are you doing!"
Don Karnage, at the perimeter of the shadow spewing portal, turned to face them. His ears whipped in the dark wind. He swiped out his cutlass free from his hip, slashed it with bravado a couple of times, his chest puffed, striking a daring pose. His last to the world. He stood tall.
"Adiós, muchachos." With one jump backwards, he disappeared.
"Captain!" Kit was literally kicking and screaming. Mad Dog and Dumptruck, while dumbfounded as the rest over what they had just witnessed, dutifully restrained the kid by his arms.
The titans eyes, the many red orbs, cast a red glow over the city. The bladed leg positioned high above them, itself taller than six skyscrapers stacked over each other, thrust downward. The sound barrier cracked with it. The pirates cried out, a mix of screaming and whimpering. Their inescapable doom descended upon them at blistering speed.
Until it did not.
The dark geyser spewing from the maelstrom ceased. The titan groaned, deep and thunderously. Its immense, dark form… seemed to suddenly shift, and become frozen. The immense blade that was coming down stopped moving.
