Chapter 34: Dawn of a New Day
It had been roughly an hour since Ba'al's defeat. Returning to Earth helped Mew recover his strength while the others assessed the damage in the battle's aftermath.
Lunis found her brother's unconscious body thrown against a mountainside and carried it on over to the Whiter household which, by some miracle, was undamaged.
Joe Dark picked up Alura's body right where he left it, and has since been holding it over his lap with a motionless look in his eyes.
"Gah!" Suddenly Mew sprung up and frantically looked around. His frazzled gaze settled on Lunis for a few seconds, after which he murmured, "Whoa...how long was I out for?"
He rubbed the back of his head and seemed to be fighting off a slight headache that affected his recollection of events, "Last I remember we were fighting...that giant white snake on the moon. Then I took an attack for Joe and..."
He slowly panned his gaze towards the starry sky and muttered, "...Am I dead?"
"No, you're alive," Lunis addressed him with a tender chuckle, "We all made it out alive, thanks to Joe."
Mew cocked his head at her with a slight tilt and murmured, "Seriously?"
The disbelief was temporary as he then swung his head at Joe Dark and smiled, "Well how about that? You saved the world for the first time and I wasn't there to see it!"
He got no answer in return, and that's when he noticed his brother holding onto Alura. The girl's face was frozen in the frightful state death had placed her in, and her skin was even more devoid of color than it ever had before.
"..." Mew closed his eyes and stood up, tucking his hands into his pockets with his back turned to Joe, "I'll give him some space..."
He strolled over to where Lunis sat and rolled his head to get the cricks out of his neck. She had Solaris laid flat on the ground and knelt next to him.
"How's he doing?" He asked.
"He's breathing. I bet he'll wake up soon."
Mew lowered his eyes and she looked up to him with a hum of concern, "Are...are you going to punish him Mew?"
He jolted back and shook his head, "W-What no? I mean, sure I'm a little upset he sold us out..."
He looked around and saw all the damage done to the surrounding mountains. The area was so flat now he could almost see out to the roadways. But, there was a noticeable lack of burn marks anywhere.
"...Buuuuut, it doesn't seem like anyone died or got hurt cause of him this time soooo..." Mew shrugged and said, "Eh, whatever. I'll let it slide."
Lunis had a bit of a sigh of relief, though Mew had one last thing to add, "But when he gets up try to restrain him. I don't want him running off into space again."
"I wasn't going to let him," Lunis had her own concerns too, "But...will you be able to handle him if he goes berserk again?"
Mew sucked in and popped his lips while he looked away, "J-Just...don't worry about it. I can handle him this time."
The two of them hovered over Solaris for a few minutes, anticipating his awakening. When it seemed like they underestimated how long it'd take, they stared into each others' eyes.
"Ummmm..." Mew blinked, Lunis fluttered her eyelashes.
"Uhhhh..." She tilted her head.
It just didn't feel like the right time to have any sort of conversation.
"I'm..." Mew turned away and pointed out towards the flat lands, "Going to put the mountains back together. Let me know if he starts moving."
"Y-Yeah, that's fine." She then slowly leaned down towards her brother while Mew got to work.
Another half-hour passed, and a bit of pink began to show over the horizon. Lunis looked up in mild disbelief, "Morning already?"
It had been a long, long night and through all odds, the planet had survived it. Her brother was alive, and that's all she could ask for.
When dawn's first rays peeked over the land, Lunis heard a grumble from her brother. The sun had given him that last spark needed to wake up.
"Mew! He's coming to!" She hollered at the top of her lungs, unaware of where he'd gotten off to.
Mew suddenly flew over some of the newly reformed mountains around the house and plopped down beside Solaris looking a little sweaty.
The sun god awoke as ferociously as he did anything else. He was right up on his feet and swinging his head around, gritting his teeth and itching for a fight. With a few huffs like a feral lion, he locked eyes with Mew and growled, "You...!"
Mew crossed his arms and grumbled, "Seriously? You just got up and you want a fight?"
Fire was forming around Solaris' body and he extended his hand back as though ready to draw his sword, "You're weakened...This time I'll settle things for good!"
Mew lowered his hand to his waist prepared to fight back, "You ain't looking so hot yourself. I can take you with a hand behind my back!"
Suddenly, Mew swore he was seeing stars. There was a loud snap like rubber, and the next thing he knew him and Solaris were sharing frazzled looks at Lunis for striking her brother with a cold, hard slap to the face.
She had struck the anger right off her brother's face, and gave it to herself.
"Cut it out Solaris!" Her voice was firmer, deeper, and louder than her norm, like she was acting the part of a mother instead of a sister.
"Y-You...slapped me?" Solaris rubbed the red on his cheek slowly and stared into Lunis' eyes. But she threw the pointer finger of doom into his face and started railing on him mercilessly.
"After Mew had the decency to spare your life not once, not twice, but three times, you still want to kill him?!"
He fired back by shoving his face towards hers and yelling, "So what?! Its none of your business what I want! Stop trying to act like you're my mother!"
"I will when you stop acting like a child!"
The argument sounded like it was going to keep escalating and Mew quietly backed away, feeling completely out of place.
"Grrrr! Listen to you! You keep taking their side over everything! Do you care about what happened to father or not?!"
"O-Of course I do! How could you even say that?" Lunis backed away and laid a hand over her chest, "But father died because of his deci-"
"FATHER IS DEAD BECAUSE I WAS TOO WEAK!" Solaris erupted into a roar of flames and reduced all other noise to utter silence.
Lunis and Mew stared as the sun god bashed his fist back against the empty air and squeezed his eyes shut, venting his frustrations through a sobbing, feeble sounding voice, "I'm supposed to be the strongest sun god...But I couldn't protect him, avenge him...!"
"Solaris..." Lunis murmured.
He turned his burning, tearful gaze upon her and growled, "Don't give me your pity...! You don't know what its like to feel powerless to protect your family...!"
"...But I do."
Solaris felt a hand on his shoulder and gave it a quick, rough brush-off as he turned to face Mew, "I don't want to hear it from you...!"
"Well tough shit," Mew laid a hand on his hip and leaned his head back with a serious look in his eyes, "You aren't the only one who lost family that day. The 'Phoenix of Destruction' was my brother, and your father killed him."
"W-What?" Solaris spat out with a gaping look in his eyes.
"I watched him die and all I could do was sit there and let it happen. For the first time in my life I truly felt weak, powerless," Mew squeezed his fists and grunted in anger, "I hated it!"
"Your father was incredibly powerful. We only won by a miracle," Mew squinted his eyes at him and said, "It taught me that I still have a ways to go if I want to protect everyone close to me."
He raised a finger at Solaris' chest and told him, "And so do you."
Solaris began to raise a hand to his chest but then curled it into a fist and swung it out, "S-Shut up...!"
"Just because you're a god doesn't mean you've reached your limit. I bet there's an untapped reservoir of power waiting to burst out at any moment..." Mew settled down into a more nonchalant tone of voice and rolled his shoulders, "You just have to train for it. And once you do, you'll never feel weak again."
Solaris thrust a finger at him and exclaimed, "What, are you suggesting we live together as training buddies?!"
"Oh no no no," Mew wagged his hand around without looking him in the eyes, "Just that you ought to stay with your sister who happens to live with me, and maybe you can happen to train with me when you feel like it..."
"Pffft...!" Solaris clutched his hip tightly and grumbled, "You're a loon."
He seemed to think about it for a moment, then answer the offer in the expected manner, "But fine whatever...I'll stick around for now...Just so I can train to become strong enough to take you down!"
"Whatever float's your boat buddy," Mew turned around and casually brushed a hand up beside his face, "You can hash that out with your sister."
"What?!" Solaris clawed his hand out and then grit his teeth in an odd scowl.
"...How'd I ever lose to a nutjob like that?" He failed to catch Lunis coughing into her fist with a smile.
Mew felt comfortable leaving things with Solaris at that. If he didn't run off this time then he's probably not going to try and cause trouble again, at least not a while.
Now, it had been a bit of time since he'd woken up, and Joe Dark's situation remained unchanged. He stopped a few feet behind him and waited to see if he'd react.
When he got the same silence as before, he decided to intervene quietly, "...You really cared about her, didn't you?"
Joe Dark flinched, his teeth tightening into a grimacing scowl, "She...she didn't deserve this...!"
Mew couldn't disagree, but there was no gentle way of putting it. The fact of the matter was, "I know but...she's gone now. Neither of us can change that."
"...How come?" Was not the response Mew expected to get.
Joe Dark leaned his head towards him and muttered, "There has to be something we can do. Is there not some power that can revive the dead?!"
"...If there is I haven't discovered it."
"T-Then someone else must know...! That crazy scientist girl, or that flowery biologist you met...!"
"Even if they could restore her body neither of them have the power to retrieve her soul." Mew hated to cut off every possibility his brother suggested, as every time he did his expression looked more pained and sad.
"She's gone. At least she can rest easy knowing you killed the one who did this."
There was no peace given through his words. Joe Dark's face settled on a wide-eyed disconnection from reality, as he slowly creaked his head to look down at the girl's body. He gently placed her on the ground at his knees, and began muttering to himself...
"Soul..."
"Uhhh..." There was this sudden unease in Mew's gut as he saw his brother take his hands over the hole in Alura's chest. His eyes were firm, focused, with a hint of desperation inside.
"Joe?" Mew held his hand out and saw darkness forming around his brother's body, "Joe stop whatever it is you're doing!"
"That damned old man dragged my soul back into my body with the power of darkness...!" He grizzled his teeth and gathered most of his darkness into his palms.
"That's crazy! You don't know what'll happen if-"
Joe Dark swung his head back and the darkness was already pouring into Alura's body, "Don't try and stop me! I have do try! I don't care what happens to me!"
The slightest hesitation on Mew's part and Joe Dark's whole body suddenly lost all darkness, his eyes hollowing out as he collapsed on top of Alura.
"Joe!" Mew ran over, pulled him up, and gave his body a few shakes, "Joe! Answer me...!"
When he wound up being limp, Mew grit his teeth and hissed, "Jesus christ, where did you go...?"
He was dropping. Deeper and deeper into the darkness. Time, distance, they didn't matter anymore. But his soul still felt the pressure of gravity, and it pulled him into the darkest abyss. Darker than night, blacker than space, beyond the furthest boundaries of the void...He sped through them all, and then came to a swift and sudden stop.
He felt nothing. He heard nothing. He saw nothing. This place was stiff, cold, and suffocating. His body didn't take a breath for a full minute, then the presence of it reminded him that sound existed.
He tried to stretch his hand out into the silent beyond. Nothing.
"Where am I...?" This place was nothing like he expected Heaven or Hell to be. But this had to be where Alura's soul wound up. If only he could see...
Everything began to quake tremendously, rattling him to the core. Then, there was a great moan.
This was no earthly tremor. It was a voice, being wrested from its slumber.
"Why are you here...fledgling king?" A dark chorus of a thousand gravely, baritone voices assaulted his ears, addressing him with familiarity, and curiosity.
His soul soon stiffened like stone, and rendered him unable to move. But his bravery ultimately won out, as he screamed into the dark void his answer, "So you must be Satan...You have something you don't deserve to have, and I'm going to take it back!"
"Ha! Ha! Ha!" The voice guffawed, letting a tremor stir between every utterance, "Satan...how laughable."
"You don't know who you're dealing with." Joe Dark remarked.
"That little angel you humans fear is the Prince of Lies. Even he bows at the knee to a King, who in turn bow to Emperors, who in turn swear fealty to the Elders beyond comprehension and THEY...!" The voice grew louder with a shriek, "ARE BUT WORMS FEEBLY GNAWING AT MY BONES!"
Light exploded within this fragile void like a sun going off, and Joe Dark was draped with an inescapable feeling of inferiority.
His soul was adrift above a sphere of incomprehensible size, filled to the brim with thousands upon thousands of smaller spheres, each sparkling with nebulas and galaxies.
And around this largest sphere, nailed there by its ribs and spines, was the black skeleton of a dragon lacking its lower jaw. Its hollowed out eyes penetrated right through his soul, and the tip of its tail laid close to its snout.
"I HAVE BEEN GIVEN MANY NAMES TO SHELTER THE WEAK FROM FEAR...FOR MY TRUE NAME UTTERED CARVES AN INESCAPABLE WOUND INTO THE HEARTS OF EVEN YOUR SO-CALLED ELDER GODS! I AM THE CALL TO ARMAGEDDON, THE REMINDER OF THE END OF DAYS...I AM THE ORIGINATOR OF SIN, THE SPINAL FIRMAMENT, AND THE END OF DREAMS...! I AM...!"
"/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\!"
Inescapable. Inhospitable. Joe Dark's soul was torn down to the atom, tormented by the cackling of a thousand feral demons.
And in a second, he was pulled back together, the darkness draping back over this void. He continued to scream like he was running out of breath, while the dragon shook the realm with his laugh.
"But you can call me..." The dragon stirred with a curious hum, "Akumu. Akumu Jigokuryu."
Joe Dark felt like the dragon was scraping its claw onto his soul, "I believe I have made my point abundantly clear, Joe Dark. You are nothing. Acknowledge your worthlessness before me, and perhaps we can talk."
The dragon said the one word that could trigger any semblance of bravery within Joe Dark now: "Worthless".
His soul stopped shaking, and he stared into the black abyss between Akumu's eyes. The dragon in turn let out a soft moan of interest.
"Ahhhh, there it is...I would have been disinterested if there wasn't some courage in your soul."
"S-Satan, Akumu, I don't give a damn what your name is or who you are! You have someone I want!"
A flick of rose-colored light appeared between the two of them, and the dragon wagged it around just out of arms' reach, "This one, correct?"
Joe Dark reached out and it was pulled away into one of the dragon's eyes sockets, "Ah ah ah. Come now...we both know this isn't what you want."
"What?"
"You seek purpose through this girl...Yes. I know what you want, just as I know all things that occur in this universe..." The soul of Alura continued to drift further into Akumu's skull, "But alas. She is mine."
"N-No! Damn you...! You don't have the right to...!"
The void trembled, and the dragon continued to laugh, "Look at me. Does it appear as though I have many rights?"
"I am...a prisoner," The dragon spoke softly, without much of a care, "Have been since the beginning of time. I can only watch, never interact, with all of creation."
"My only company comes in the form of the souls who depart from this world at the hands of my children."
"Children...?" Joe Dark murmured.
"Yes. My Seven Deadly Sins," Akumu's tone turned a little more crass, "You should know of my youngest one. You just killed him. Murderer."
The air grew tense, and only settled down when the dragon let out a slow, eerie laugh, "I hardly care, just as they grew to feel towards me..."
"Tsk...!" Joe Dark suddenly exclaimed, "Your child murdered billions!"
"And?" Akumu's answer should have come as no surprise, "Are you to suggest that I am to be held accountable?"
The void trembled some more, and his voice deepened, beckoning his accuser to answer his question, "Well? And just what can you do about it?"
There was no reasonable answer to think of.
"Of course not. I am not responsible for what they've done in my absence..." The dragon's bones creaked, sending an ear-piercing sound through the nothingness beyond, "But I am proud. They have delivered many souls to ease my loneliness."
"Though..." Akumu whispered in...melancholy?
"There comes a point where I can only see them as they are...numbers to fill the emptiness inside of me. They hold as much value to me as stardust does to the cosmos..." He summoned a black light within his other eye socket and played around with it like a toy ball, "Souls such as these now...They hold a much greater value to me."
Joe Dark grimaced, recognizing that soul as that of the original Dark King's.
"Yes, this one made a bargain to surrender his afterlife to me in exchange for restoring you back to life to continue his revenge..." Even at his softest laugh, Akumu made the worlds shake, "When one's hatred proves great enough to make me shake...How could I say no?"
The soul was sent away. To where only the dragon knew for sure. Then Alura's soul reappeared, gently hovering around before the bridge between the dragon's eyes.
"And this one well...Technically, she is my granddaughter."
"She's your prisoner!" Joe Dark exclaimed as he swung out to try and grab the soul, only to have it plucked away at the last second, and dangled overhead.
"When a soul passes on they are left to the mercy of whoever lies on the other side. There is no escape, but that doesn't make them prisoners. That is merely the law of our world."
Akumu carried Alura's soul over the back of his head, far, far out of Joe Dark's reach, and taunted him with the tone of a child, "She is lawfully mine."
Joe Dark slammed his soul into Akumu's body and was sent reeling when the dragon laughed, "Fufufufu...But, I am willing to...bargain for her."
Joe Dark looked up surprised as the dragon explained, "It is within my domain to return these souls to their bodies...for a price."
"I will not give you my soul in exchange for hers!" Joe Dark gave his answer, and the dragon...laughed. But this time was different. It was like he had pulled his head back and lost himself to the humor of his words.
"Why would anyone want yours?!"
Joe Dark was too frightened to be unamused.
"No...no..." The dragon struggled to settle down, "Bargaining for souls is an amateur move. That and marriages. The little red imps see only the greatest value they can snag in their greedy claws."
"But when you take the most valuable thing a person has, that's it. No more deals. I prefer...repeat customers."
"So, offer me the most valuable thing you can think of...That will still allow us to play again some other day, Joe Dark."
"T-The most valuable thing...?" He was left to his own devices to think.
What could he give up for Alura's soul? Or rather, was he really willing to go this far just for one person?
...He did not know that it was too late to think otherwise. The devil's whispers had reached his ears, and He would not surrender without an answer.
He thought about it long and hard, not knowing how much time passed in the meantime. An eternity of solitude made the devil the most patient soul alive.
There was really only one answer. The faith and hope that Mew had put in him was the only thing worth any value. But, to give that up? Could he really betray him?
Joe Dark clicked his tongue and trembled as he spoke, "I...I offer..."
His soul bent at the proverbial knee to Akumu, "My future."
"...Tut tut tut..." The dragon mockingly clicked their silver tongue, "Joe Dark...are you trying to deceive me by being deliberately vague?"
Joe Dark was left in shivers as Akumu let out a slow, bellowing chuckle, "Future...that word inspires me. Yes, yes...I have a wonderful, delightful, most horrible of ideas."
The tension grew with the passing seconds until the dragon felt it was right to speak again, "Your firstborn, Joe Dark."
"W...What?"
"Your heir, whether son or daughter, shall be a herald of my power. In exchange..." Alura's soul was brought back over the dragon's scalp, "My granddaughter's soul is yours."
"...What are you plotting?" Joe Dark immediately snarled in a grizzled tone.
"I am...to say, at odds with my 'skin', who governs this universe. He gets to watch the world, and make 'friends', while I suffer here. I want...revenge," Akumu then spoke in a nonchalant tone, "I could burn this world whole...Or turn the neglected wastelands green again. I could give humanity peace, or leave them suffering. I could mend the ills of this world...or make it bleed."
"I won't decide now. I may never decide. The paranoia will eat away at your soul every day you look your child in the eye. You will blame me for every ill mannered thought, word and action of theirs, and I will delight in your suffering, far beyond your reach."
"Is this one soul, worth all that to you, Joe Dark?"
Joe Dark grit his teeth and stared the devil in the eyes, trembling.
"Your offer has a major flaw, devil...!"
"Oh? Enlighten me then."
"I will not abandon my child to their fate...If you corrupt him with your influence, I will do everything in my power to fight back! So I accept your damn bargain, unless you're scared to lose...!"
"Hrrrmmm..." Akumu chuckled, "Cowardly...that name is...unfamiliar."
"You are a little interesting, I suppose," On that utterance, Alura's soul began to descend towards Joe Dark's, "I look forward to your struggle. For now, take the girl back...I will even restore her body, free of charge."
The moment the two souls touched, they were shunted back to the mortal plain. The dragon remained, stirring with a curious hum.
"Hmmm...Oh, I forgot to mention the catch to our little bargain," The void trembled with his chuckle, "Fufufufu, oh well...He'll remember when the time comes."
"A true devil always keeps a trick up their sleeve..."
Joe Dark awoke back on Earth with a shock to his heart and a hard gasp. He placed his hands on the grassy ground and started looking around, locking eyes with Mew knelt down beside him.
"You're back!" Mew breathed a sigh of relief, then gently slapped Joe Dark on the cheek, "What the HELL were you thinking?!"
Joe Dark rubbed his sore skin and muttered angrily, "Hello to you too..."
"Just where did you go anyways? Hell?!"
"I..." Joe Dark's mouth went agape as the last few minutes were a blank in his head, "I...don't know."
"Oh...that's reassuring." Mew said with arms crossed against his chest.
"...I think I got her soul back though..."
The two of them were interrupted by a murmur in front of them. Alura's body began to stir, and after shoving Mew out of the way Joe Dark shuffled over and helped prop her upright.
The wound in her chest had been filled in, and the faint color in her skin had been restored. She squeezed her eyes shut, then slowly opened them back up.
"Mmrrrr..." One hand gravitated towards her wound and she looked...about as confused as she could muster.
"I'm...alive?" She trembled, because Joe Dark's arms were. He forced a smile, and looked ready to cry.
"Joe Dark...? Did...you do this?" She murmured.
He nodded. Alura peered down at herself and gave a tiny frown, "F-Father...he...he...killed me...why?"
It was a shrill, pained question with no right answer. Joe Dark closed his eyes, grit his teeth and exclaimed, "F-Forget him!"
She was shocked into looking his way, "He's gone now, and you're better off without him!"
"...You killed him?" Alura murmured.
"Yeah, shockingly." Mew gave an unwarranted answer and Joe Dark gave him a quick glare in turn.
"...Why?" Alura turned away from him and her hands limped onto her waist, "Why did you do all this...for me?"
Another tough question. She was full of those, for such a sheltered girl...
"Because..." The answer was a little easier to pronounce this time, "It was the right thing to do."
Alura seemed to take a moment to digest that, then stood right up and turned her back to him. She laid her hands over her chest and began to shiver.
Joe Dark put a hand on her shoulder and she looked back at him, a tear trickling down her face. She wiped it on her sleeve and murmured, "I don't like this...wet feeling on my face..."
She got a few moments to herself to sniffle and weep to her heart's content.
"...Joe Dark, what...what am I supposed to do?"
"...I don't know," He patted her on the back and stepped up beside her, gazing towards the rising sun, "We'll have to figure that out together. That's what uhhh...friends do..."
He slowly looked back at Mew and mouthed "Right?" with an uncertain look. Mew gave the thumbs up and then sighed.
"Guess I'll go set up another bed..." He then tucked his hands into his pockets and strolled towards his house, "Boy, do I have a lot of explaining to do when Riku gets back..."
With that third wheel out of the way Joe Dark looked at Alura and found her looking back. She was trying to smile. It was a struggle but...in its own way, that made it cute.
"So we're...friends?"
"...Yeah, we are." Joe Dark said with more certainty.
"I...think I like that."
The sun's climb into the sky caused Alura to curl up behind Joe Dark and shiver. He slowly backed away, telling her softly, "The sun won't hurt you."
"..." She curled her bottom lip and squinted her eyes, "It looks...pretty."
An orange light against a purple backdrop was a perfect way to start the new day. For now, he was perfectly fine just relaxing, and enjoying this moment...The future could wait.
"Yeah, it is." He began to smile.
Next Time: Growing Up is Hard to Do
