Terrence sat in his room, alone. A knock at his door. He didn't answer. It was opened anyways.
"So ya were in here."
"Joseph?" He replied.
"Yeah. I already know about what happened with Aron. And I already know what it is that you're planning to do."
"Explain it, then."
"You want to replace him. Because that's what you were raised for from the start, right?"
"...Yeah. That's all I was ever needed for." He paused "Josh told me that Vert didn't make it. I'm guessing he wasn't lying, but just to check…"
"He wasn't. All the more reason to act now."
"But how are we gonna do anything? Everyone's already gone, and the ones who did it are gone too."
"We're not just taking revenge on them. What we're doing is ensuring something like this never happens again."
"How are we gonna-"
"By changing the world, of course."
"How are you gonna do that?"
"I've got the power to change things now."
He showed his arm. Terrence looked at in confusion.
"This should be enough proof. I'm not as weak as I was before. I've inherited the souls of those who fell in battle. This is just one. Another one… is this."
Terrence felt his body freeze. A familiar sensation. He realised.
"...So, you mean that-"
"Yeah. Right now, Aron's here, as one of those souls. There's no one better for teaching ya how to replace him than the guy himself, right? So follow me, and ya can fulfil yer duty."
Terrence nodded.
The replacement followed him away.
The next one he found was Riko, sitting atop a roof alone.
"How did you find me here?"
"That doesn't matter. I need ya to join me for something."
"You already heard what happened with Anthony, right? I'm done associating with others. It just gets them hurt. So I'm gonna stand on my own from now on."
"There's no problem if you're not relying on others, right?"
Riko didn't respond.
"Just being strong by itself isn't worth anything, is it? If ya want to stand on your own, then ya have to have proof of that. So join me, and you can help fix the world that made ya like this to begin with."
"Is there anything in getting swept up in whatever plans you have for me?"
"Yer not satisfied with just taking revenge on the one that killed him, right? So this will prevent ya from aimlessly wasting away."
"...You've changed a lot, you know? Probably more than me. But... I can't find a reason to not go with you right now."
The swordsman began to follow him as well.
He found Natalie on her own like the rest, but before he could say anything she spoke.
"Whoever's there, you're better off not approaching. This power… doesn't let anyone near me."
"I know that much already. Doesn't change that I'm asking ya to join me."
She finally turned around.
"Joseph? ...Ben's not here anymore. You don't have a reason to bother talking to me. I don't need more people involved with me."
"I need that power."
"You can't have it. I need it. Or I'm going to get someone killed again."
"I shoulda phrased that better. I need ya to join me. To change the world."
"What does that matter at this point?"
"The reason yer cutting your emotions off is to stop Natasha from getting hurt too, right?"
"...That's quite a bold guess."
"My aim is to prevent things from repeating. In that case, our goals line up, don't they?"
"That's not wrong."
The musician began to reluctantly follow.
Matt was easier to find than the others. He was testing out his power when Joseph found him.
"What do ya want?" Matt asked.
"To recruit ya."
"For what?"
"To make sure things don't repeat again. Controlling something like that is what ya want, right?"
"I dunno how ya know that, but yeah. Sure. Whatever it is, if yer offering the chance to not let things be out of my control anymore, I'm in."
The gunner followed him without much convincing.
He finally found Lyra, who was hiding from the rest of the world. She was still invisible, so he had to block her path to get her to realise he knew where she was.
She still ran, forcing him to pursue. Eventually she gave up.
"All I want is to disappear. I'm not gonna ask how you know I'm here. But why do you keep trying to drag me out of hiding?"
"I think yer gonna run off again if I take too long, so I'll keep it short. Join my side and we can stop something like this from repeating."
"It's got nothing to do with me if it does."
"But if ya lose someone again, the feelings that made you want to disappear to begin with are just gonna get worse, right?"
Lyra didn't respond, but he didn't sense her running away again.
"Whether ya disappear or not is up to you, but if ya help out then ya can at least disappear easily once it's over, right?"
"Fine then. Just for the time being, I'll work with you. Then I can finally disappear."
Joseph gathered some more warriors on his own, including the three from before. Eventually, the entire group had been gathered, totalling somewhere at least around a hundred.
He began to explain, with the same words the world told him before.
The group couldn't find a way to disagree. All that they had to end the suffering was eliminate monsters. When put like that, it was that simple.
A decision made, from pulling together the memories stored within the world. The new march to return to the old world would start from the place where it was destroyed to begin with.
They returned to the city to gather their things. That was when what they least expected began.
As Joseph walked back, he finally encountered the two he'd managed to avoid for the past week through coincidence alone.
"Have ya just been wandering around for an entire week?" Callum asked him.
"What's wrong with that?" Joseph replied.
"We've gotta stick together at a time like this, y'know?"
"It's fine… just leave me be for a little while longer."
"We can't just-"
Zach cut him off.
"Are ya planning somethin'?"
"Hm? What would that be? I just wanna wander around aimlessly for a little bit, that's all."
"Yer being all distant, like yer planning something."
"...Not gonna work, huh?"
"Of course not. So what is it?"
"I'm not willing to reveal that much."
"Why are ya doing this?" Callum asked.
"To keep all of ya safe. That's all I'm gonna say."
"No, that's ominous as shit, just explain-"
Before Callum could finish arguing Joseph ran off into the night, quickly getting out of their sight.
As Zach chased, he felt something was off and looked upwards at a rooftop, finding nothing. A few seconds passed, before he had no choice but to ignore the feeling.
Lyra watched from above, annoyed at how even when in hiding he'd managed to guess where she was. Shaking the feeling off, she kept going the way she was before getting distracted.
As Riko walked around, he finally got spotted by Alexandra, on her way back from training.
"Ah."
"Ah."
"...So we meet again."
"Yeah, we sure do."
Alexandra went silent, not sure what to say.
"It wasn't your fault, you know." Riko told her.
"Huh?"
"You look like you're blaming yourself. So stop. There was nothing you could've done to save him. All the responsibility for that… falls onto me."
"That's what I was afraid of."
This time Riko was the one confused.
"I've been where you are before. Blaming yourself for everything won't do anything."
"I know that. I know it doesn't matter who I blame. But I can't shake that feeling that if I hadn't been so weak, he'd still be here. So… I'm going to stop dragging others into my weakness."
"That's exactly the problem I'm-"
Riko walked off, not wanting to listen anymore.
Matt noticed another's presence. Sean noticed his.
They stared each other down. A near minute of silence.
Matt was the first to speak.
"This is a problem."
"...What is?"
"Ya should've noticed by now, right? Whenever we encountered aura users, they always had a target for revenge. And ya also should've definitely noticed that I'm like them now. So… ya can guess where this is going."
"It's not much of a surprise. I was the one who caused her death, after all."
"I'm surprised ya'd just admit it, I was hoping ya'd deny it a little. But, that's true. Everything, from the very start, was yer fault. Yer the source of all problems. But, that's not what the problem is. The problem is that yer also the one she gave her life protecting… and I can't just ruin that after she banked everything on it."
"So? What is yer plan, in that case?"
"A promise."
No response.
"This time, I'm going to let ya live. But… if ya ever appear before me again, then I can't guarantee anything, except one thing. That if ya do, then ya better be ready to lose yer life."
He walked off, leaving Sean standing there.
As Natalie returned to get her things, she noticed someone in the corner of her eye.
"Are you just gonna stand there, Natasha?"
She didn't respond.
"I guess you are."
Natasha continued to fail to work out what she should say. Natalie kept talking.
"How long has it been now? After then, I always used to stick with you, because I was too weak to do anything. But now… now I can defend myself. So, I don't need to follow you around anymore."
"Are you going to leave?"
"Yeah. Like I said, it's not like we need to stick together anymore."
Natasha went back to not responding. Natalie thought.
"Are you afraid of me?"
"Huh?"
"Are you afraid of me? I'll understand if you are."
"...Why I would be-"
"Because you saw this power. The spikes that stop anything getting near. Of course you would be. I'm just… abnormal. But it's fine. Because I'll be leaving soon. We don't need to see each other anymore."
"Ah, I-" Natasha cut herself off, still having no idea what she should say. Natalie left her there.
Terrence got ready to leave, he heard something land behind him. He didn't really want to turn around.
"I'm fine, Demi."
The Kecha Wacha didn't make a noise. Terrence continued talking without turning around.
"This was what I was meant to do from the start. Everything else… was just to pass the time. So, it's fine. I'm fine with this."
He paused some more.
"I'm telling you, it's fine. So… you don't have to make such a sad face."
He began to walk off, forcing himself to not turn around.
Natalie noticed another presence. Frega appeared before her, trying to stop her from going.
Natalie paused before speaking.
"You know, it's weird. You're my partner and all, but you've been here for barely any of my life."
Another pause.
"The only me you know is the me of after I arrived here. Back when I was afraid of showing anything negative, when I forced myself to act nice to everyone and anyone. So I guess that means your partner was a persona all along."
Frega didn't respond.
"I don't need to act like that anymore. Meaning that we've got no more reason to get involved with each other anymore, right?" She began to walk past her.
As Matt left, he noticed a presence in the ground.
"Yer not gonna be following me, Klaus."
He finally showed himself. The Diablos seemed willing to go with Matt, even if he didn't know where he was headed. That was how their relationship was. Two similar souls, always together.
Klaus made an annoyed sound in response.
"...Why do ya think I started fighting alongside with ya to begin with?"
No sounds this time.
"It was to be like them. The ones off in the sky, so far away from any problems, anything out of control. So far out of our reach. Well, it was probably misguided. The both of us could barely ever get off the ground. But now, it's different."
Klaus looked at him with concern.
"I can reach that sky on my own. I can't bring ya up with me, so I'm leaving ya here. This is goodbye."
Klaus continued to protest as Matt left.
The final confrontation for the night took place outside the gates.
Joseph walked down the road before coming to a stop.
"Do ya think it was always gonna end up like this, Nargy?"
The monster revealed himself, neither affirming or denying it.
"I mean, sure we bonded and all during a year. But I don't think it was something that natural."
He seemed to disagree.
"Well, I can guarantee the meeting was just a coincidence. So was us getting along after fighting like that. But everything after, where I tried to stick with ya… was probably outta my own loneliness. I've told ya about him before, right? Daimyo. My oldest friend, the one that bastard took away from me. Maybe it was obvious from the start but… ya were just a replacement. Something to fill that hole in my heart. That's all it was from the start."
Nargy continued arguing, but Joseph couldn't seem to hear him.
"With a start like that, it was bound to fall apart in time. Hell, I'd call it a miracle it even lasted this long. But now things are different… what are yer instincts tellin' ya, right now?"
Nargy went silent, not wanting to answer that.
"This aura is a danger to ya. So of course ya'd want to destroy it. Every time I've used it, it's been like that, hasn't it? And now I'm sure it's even stronger. Because I'm the incarnation of humanity. Haven't even had time to count how many hundreds of souls are locked up in here. And in the same way your instinct's yelling at ya to kill me, they're all yelling at me to kill ya."
Nargy went on the defensive, still silent.
"I'm not gonna act on that, for now. So relax. This is just a farewell. But… the war's already begun. Only humanity or monsters can survive. So, whenever we meet again, it's gonna be as enemies. That makes this a goodbye between partners."
They passed each other.
"Even when it was so obvious, I still didn't plan this far ahead. I've got no idea what to say. What about yerself?"
Nargy growled back.
"Yeah, figures. Then I'll wing it. Even if we can't return anymore, even if we were just acting something out, I still enjoyed those days. But now things can't continue anymore, we've gone too far. So this is it. Farewell, Nargy."
Nargy no longer had the energy to try stopping him.
As Joseph walked, he remembered something. He began to put one of the manifestation locked inside his mind to use.
A weapon engraved into his very soul took form once more.
Joseph swung the replicated khanga edge around to test it, before sheathing it and continuing down his road, reaching the other warriors.
The sun rose on Dundorma once more. The people with the burning desire for revenge, overwhelming anything else they possessed, had disappeared completely.
TO BE CONTINUED