Love. So many versions of love exist out there. There is the love you have for a brother or sister. What love you have for a mother and father. Your grandmother. The love you have for a friend. The love you have for the woman or man you have. All of this love, what is it? All it is said to be is a strong feeling for another. Love has so many ways to show itself. From hugs, and notes, to just simple looks.

But the strongest love is that of the love one has for their friends. From the earliest days, this is all there is. For years and years this goes on. There will always be the love between two friends. Finally though, it will be replaced. A person eventually gets older. The love for a friend becomes of lesser concern and instead the love for a woman or man becomes the most important thing to people.

Chapter Five

Though after the battle, the world is destroyed, a new and far better one will rise. The land of the guardians named Asgard will have been spared, and the sun that had been eaten by Skoll will give birth to a new daughter that is even better, just before she dies. The sons of Odin, Thor, and similar guardians will have survived the end of the world, and will be joined by the dead guardians, such as Balder, and be the guardians over this new world. But with lack of any other life, they will sit in Valhalla and talk over the past and play with the golden chessboard they had found.

However, deep within Yggdrasil, two humans who had sought refuge still lived. The man, Lif, and the woman, Liftharsir, will have escaped Surt's fire. They will go into the new world and repopulate it, all of them worshiping the new pantheon of guardians who were led by Balder.

The new world had only peace and harmony, and only good existed from then on.

The blackened wreckage of the lab outside of Jolly Roger smoldered with some remaining smoke. The fires having essentially died out aside from a few weak ones. The building having since crumbled into the ground and become a ruin much like that of the old Jolly Roger.

In the blackened building, a scuffling of feet was heard. In a staggering and weak walk, Jet carried Amigone's body through the destroyed hall. His face only showing agitation of his wounds. The corpse of his childhood love in his arms as he staggered to the place he intended to find. He looked down on the floor.

"I…understand now." Norris spoke, his body blackened by the fire and his hair burnt. His body near lifeless as the lower portions of it were covered by heavy metal and rock. "I understand why you did this to Amigone." Jet had trouble looking at his friend, but he had to. "You did it so she could be at peace. Just like…how I…feel now." Norris' weaker sounding voice trailed off. He laughed weakly. "You loved her after all. You never betrayed her…you made what amends you needed to make."

Jet watched his friend as Norris breathed the final breaths of his life. "I knew the outcome before hand. I knew I would return here to Jolly Roger…and what would happen…but I thought that I would die as well." Jet scoffed as a smile took his face. "I almost kidded myself thinking that we all could be happy again."

"Jet…I will protect Amigone now. You came through…on your promise…to protect her when she needed help and was in pain…suffering." His head rolled out of weakness. "I can be with her after."

"Amigone knew I loved Virginia." Jet commented. "But she could not let go of her love for me that easily. A part of her loved me still, but I am certain…that you would have had her eventually." Jet stood there holding the woman in his arms. "I'm sorry."

"You…have no reason…to be…you…can't come through…with all your wishes…you said that…yourself."

"You're right."

"I'm the one…who is…sorry."

"I forgive you."

"Th—"

Jet watched for a moment in silence. The inhale and exhale process of Norris' body not continuing. Slowly the gray-haired man bent down, placing Amigone's body next to the man. On bent knee, he watched the two on the ground.

"What am I to do now?" He wondered, as if asking them. "Who should I be? What is left for me?"

Jet's ears went to the sound of rubble being shifted aside. The sound of boots on charred ground. He looked to the woman with brunette hair that he loved. They stared at one another for a moment. Finally, Virginia broke the silence, "I love you…as well." Jet stood up to see her. "In the end, after the guardians and demons fought…the world was reborn."

Without reply, Jet walked forward, slowly accelerating in his speed to cover the ten feet between him. He finally ended, wrapping his arms around the woman. The embrace being joined by Virginia as well.

"When we all…do…disband, and go our separate ways…I will remain with you." He spoke into her hair. "Until the end."

"Amigone?"

"I have saved her now." His words comforted her. "I have come through with my promise…to return to you."

"You have." She closed her eyes.

"Virginia…I would lie if I did not say that while I loved Amigone, it's you who I love now."

"I know."

"She will always be with me."

"I understand."

"But…it was you who I want to be with, I decided that even before coming to Jolly Roger."

"I know, Jet. You don't have to explain it to me."

The two broke back to look at one another. Their eyes met for the first time since Jet had killed Amigone. Leaning forward, Jet caught her lips in their first kiss. The two broke once their breaths were out. Staring at one another in silence.

"We have to go now." Jet remarked. "Before the Ark arrives."

She nodded her head in understanding as the morning sun broke over the horizon.

Jet and Virginia stood on the sacred ground of the Jolly Roger cemetery. The place where the ones who died when the city was attacked were buried. The sun had reached noon, as Jet finished shoveling dirt back into the graves he had dug up. The graves of Norris and Amigone that were empty were now filled.

"What happens now?" Adven wondered, as he and Clive approached the two. The four of them looking down on the graves.

"Filgaia will die." Jet simply said. "Over the next decade the world will decay further, and eventually die. People will live on though. We do not give up on life that easily." Jet turned away from the graves. "We should not concern ourselves with such things, and rather instead go on with life. The world will be reborn one day…after all."

"Uh…I was asking more about what we do now, not the world." Adven remarked. "But, thanks for the more in-depth perspective."

Clive fixed his glasses. "What happens now is irrelevant. What happened in the past does not matter at all."

Jet shrugged. "I guess the only thing to do now is leave our pasts behind and get on with our lives." Jet simply spoke. "I hear there's gella to be made in the west."

Clive put a hand to his chin. "I guess I have it in me to protect you one more time."

"And I always wanted to see the west." Adven added.

Virginia grabbed Jet's hand. "I'm going to make us all the largest lunch I can, and after, we will head onward with our lives."

Jet nodded. "Let's go."

The four began a walk back for the harbor. Their pasts determined, but their future uncertain.