Notes: ...And this chapter marks the end of Act Three! Next time Gasping Liquid updates it'll be to start Act Four. But before that I'll be posting a side-story called "Journey of Many Nuisances". This side-story will be about Roddy, showing what happened to the other Black Ravens after Badger, Crow and Scraps left Misthallery, as well as how Roddy was reunited with his father, Hardy. I'm looking forward to finally posting a Roddy father theory fic, haha.
"Are you sure there's nothing I can do to convince you to stay? Good hotel staff are hard to find, you know."
"Sorreh Beckeh, but me mind's made up. And besides, yer always do a great job even when yer doun't 'ave 'elp," answered Badger.
"Oh, I know that," assured Becky, "But it never hurts to have an extra hand around. Especially since it looks as if Umid's going to have his hands full with keeping the Black Ravens going here, so I can't even count on him being there full time. I just hope he's not biting off more than he can chew by taking this on."
"Don't worreh about Umid - Roddeh and Scraps will keep 'im right," assured Badger, "If they can keep Crow right then they can keep anyone right."
"Ain't that the truth!" Becky laughed.
With that, she helped Badger carry his bags down the stairs of Sharpace Rest. Today he was headed off again and he had no idea when he'd be back. But he hoped that, unlike Desmond, he would return here someday. In the months that he'd spent living here, Badger had begrudgingly become fond of the place. However, inside his heart he knew that he was not home and that this house could never be a place that he could make into his home, no matter how nice it might be. It was too grand for Badger.
He was very lucky that Crow felt the same way about this matter.
"Here he comes, choosing today as the one day of his life that he sleeps in," called Scraps, who was waiting for both of them at the bottom of the stairs.
"I didn't sleep in, I just wanted t' be well prepared before I go," Badger assured him.
"You know I'm only joking," dismissed Scraps, "Honestly, you two are going to be a miss around here. Roddy never rises to my jokes, I don't think Umid gets half of them and I'm too scared of Becky to risk making her angry."
"Too right you should be!" Becky chimed.
"It's not too late, yer could still come with us," offered Badger.
But Scraps shook his head; "No thanks. In some weird way I think that this is the place for me. Not because of all the toffs, I could live without them. But I'm not ready to finish London until I've conquered it. Give me a few years and I'm sure I'll have this city eating out of the palm of my hand."
"I don't doubt you will!" Badger laughed, sincerely meaning it.
Before he could get to the door, Max blocked their path. He held out two packages that were wrapped tightly in cling film.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! The grand prize! You get a couple of Granny Margaret's cheese scones for the road!" he proclaimed.
"Thanks Max," said Badger.
He took the scones and with some difficulty managed to balance them amongst all of the bags he was already carrying. Soon enough he would probably have to stop to reshuffle his bags, as well as the ones that Becky was currently carrying for him, since she wouldn't be able to come all the way to the train station with them.
"So this is it then," Becky stated, once the scones had been delivered, "Granny and Grafton send their love, even if they couldn't be here. And I know that Crow wants to stop in at the building site to see Roddy before he heads off. He was already up and saying his farewells to us before you were, in his own awkward way."
"We'll be back," Badger promised, "Crow just needs t' get 'is 'ead outteh London fer a while first."
"I hope that when we next see you both there'll be less drama," Becky admitted.
"Nah, I hope for all the drama – bring it on," contrasted Scraps.
"We'll be able t' stay true t' one of those, I'm sure," Badger replied, "But fer now, stay safe, all of yer."
He took the rest of his bags from Becky, nodded to the three of them and then turned to head down the path to where Crow was waiting by the gate. He knew that Crow wouldn't look back at the house, both because of his pride and how sentimental he was about saying goodbye. And sure enough, the leader starting to walk off as soon as he knew Badger was coming. But Badger couldn't help himself but take one final look at Sharpace Rest, wave to Becky, Scraps and Max, then head off after Crow.
"Max is gonna make a great Black Raven, I told 'im that before I left," mumbled Crow, once they were further down the road, "I know they're gonna do well 'ere, they're all strong. They're all built for London... Oi, Badge', wot do ya think ya doin' carryin' all that? Do ya really need to bring this much?"
With that, Crow reached over to take a few of the bags from Badger.
"Got t' be prepared," Badger insisted.
"I remembah ya felt the same way when we first arrived. Though nothin' could o' prepared us for everythin' in London, could it?" mused Crow.
"Look, Crow... just because London didn't work out, it doun't mean that-"
"-I know. It's okay Badge', I know."
That was all Badger got out of him on the matter as they continued the walk towards the construction site where Roddy would be working. There were so many questions on Badger's mind, one of which was actually where they were ultimately going. At this point he knew that he couldn't get by in life through blind faith in Crow alone, but sometimes the excitement of the unknown was still appealing enough for him not to ask.
Fancy that – Badger being excited by the unknown instead of scared by it. Who would have ever thought he'd get to that point?
One of the other questions on his mind was if Crow had seen Umid before they left, since Badger had been too busy packing to look around for anyone and hadn't come across Umid himself. But the answer to that one was soon made apparent, since when they arrived at where Roddy was, Umid was waiting there with him.
"I wanted to give the others a chance to say farewell to you on their own," Umid admitted, when the two of them arrived.
"So he gatecrashed my tearful goodbye instead," retorted Roddy.
"Leave it off, Rod, no goodbye from you is ever gonna be tearful," Crow snorted.
"Nah, crying after you would be too much of a pain," agreed Roddy, "But I am going to miss both of you. Even if it will be good to get a decent night's sleep without worrying about what trouble you're getting into."
"Ya always gonna worry about me," Crow insisted.
"I'll leave that to Badger from now on," Roddy said, "Now be off with you and don't come back until you've made a name for yourself."
"He is joking. I think. You can come back any time you like," Umid quickly added.
"Th-thanks for sayin' so..." mumbled Crow, "An' listen, Umid, I'm sorry for all that stuff I said before. Ya were right to keep the auction goin' an' I'm glad it's worked out for ya, even without Sycamore. Ya truly are a Black Raven."
"He doesn't need you to tell him that," Roddy assured, a little more defensively than he'd usually be with Crow.
"But I'm glad of your words all the same," Umid concluded, "We will work hard to keep the Black Raven name going here for both of you."
"Thanks, we appreciate that," said Crow. Then it seemed that he'd run out of things to say, because he awkwardly turned away and mumbled, "We bettah get goin', Badge'."
"Right yer are, boss," Badger agreed, "See yer both later!"
And with that, the two of them left the site, Badger briefly wondering if the next time they saw this place that it would actually be complete and Roddy's family would have moved onto working on another project. But whatever the situation, he knew for sure that Roddy would keep on working and pleasantly grumbling about what a nuisance it all was. That was his way.
"I think they'll keep each othah on the right path," Crow mused, as if Roddy and Umid were the ones who needed help with that, "Umid's gotta be easiah to deal with than me."
"Anyone's easieh to deal with than you, Crowlo," joked Badger.
They heard the sound of dogs barking as they walked off. In their own way, it seemed as if Ringo and Sausage were saying goodbye, too. And Badger thought that at this point they must have said all their farewells for London, but he was wrong about that.
As they walked through another residential area, a large feline bounded across their path and into one of the gardens. Neither of them needed to look twice to recognise that one, but when they glanced over at where he'd gone, Badger saw a face that he wasn't sure he was ready to confront just yet. Even if in the light of day, the old man looked different than he had done that night at the aerodrome – kindly and a little tired, but without any of the careful reserve he'd had before.
"There yer are, wee kitty. Got some nice fishies fer yer dinneh."
To Crow, Raymond meant nothing. It was just nice to see Catanova have what looked like a permanent owner at last. But Badger knew that this person was their last link to Descole. And he was going to just walk away from that.
"The cat's called Catanoveh!" he called over, to the surprise of Crow as much as himself, "We looked afteh 'im fer a while. Please take good care of 'im!"
"Catanoveh, ay? Well, didnae yer worreh, laddie. I'll look afteh 'im!"
Which was the end of that. Badger felt that he could walk away from the situation knowing that, even though they might never have closure, so rarely in life did you ever truly get that and not having it wouldn't stop them from moving on. The only thing that would stop them from getting on with their futures would be them, which wasn't going to happen any more. At least not if Badger could help it.
This was the reassuring thought that Badger kept in his head when they finally reached King's Cross. He had built up a lot of anticipation about where Crow might be taking them, but what he didn't expect was for Crow to turn to him and say, "...So wot do ya think?"
"H-huh?" Badger stammered.
"About where we should go. Wot do ya think?" Crow clarified.
"I thought that yer were deciding that," Badger admitted.
"We're in this togethah. I don't wanna go somewhere unless ya wanna go as well, Badge'," insisted Crow, "An' aftah all I've dragged ya through, if ya just wanna go back to Mist'allery than that's fine with me. It's safe there an' we know that we'll do well. The othahs will be glad to see us as well, I bet."
"Nah," Badger said, with absolute certainty, "I doun't want t' go back t' Mist'allereh. It might be safe, but I still want t' try summit new. Find a 'ome that we can make our own, in yer weird, Crow way. Just because it weren't London doun't mean it's not out there."
This answer seemed to satisfy Crow. He smiled widely and stared out onto the tracks.
"Then it's decided – the next train that comes, we get on it. Though I 'afta admit that part o' me 'opes it's a south-bound one. Those northernahs are still a bit much for me," he hummed.
"Not much south left now, Crowlo," Badger pointed out.
They stood there together without talking for a while longer and the silence felt good. But not as good as what happened once the train started to pull up at the platform they were waiting for it at. Before Badger could make a move, Crow reached out and grabbed his hand. It was so sudden that Badger almost jumped out of his skin. But then he turned to look at Crow and the leader was staring at him, his face full of intrigue and a little bit of terror. Badger didn't know what to expect. This scored high on the chart of Crow doing things out of nowhere.
"Look, Badge'... aftah all we've bin through... I know that I ain't bin the best I could o' bin. An' I will try to get bettah, I promise I will," Crow whispered, all of this coming out of his mouth in such a hurry, as if he was worried the words would disappear if he didn't say them soon, "...But aftah everythin' that's 'appened, c-can we agree that we're togethah...? As in... togethah-togethah. L-like me an' Umid used to be. ...Are we togethah?"
Badger was very glad that he'd managed to make it all the way through his life up to this point. When there were so many times that he could have given up, both on Crow and on himself. But he was even more glad that he was now an older and wiser Badger than he had been at the start of all this. Against his expectations, he knew the answer to that question.
"...Nah, Crow. We're not togetheh," he replied, "Not like that. Not like 'ow I want us to be. Because believe me, I do want t' be with yer like that. But yer... yer 'aven't been good enough to me and yer 'aven't asked propehly. If yer do want t' be togetheh though, if yer truly do, then ask again properly when yer good enough and I might say yes."
Crow was stunned. He stared at Badger in awe. Then he let go of his hand and fell back, laughing his little laugh. He ran his hand through his hair, but then nodded hurriedly.
"Y-ya right, ya so right..." he hummed, "But I do want us to be, I definitely do. So I'll get bettah, so much bettah, an' then I'll ask ya again. 'Cause Badgah I... I lo- ...look at that! Train's 'ere! Off we go!"
All while they climbed onto the carriage Crow kept laughing. And Badger laughed along with him. Because Crow had asked if they were together and Badger had said no. But it was a good no. A no that might as well have been a maybe. Because maybe someday... maybe someday they would be together for real.
As they took a seat together in the surprisingly quiet carriage, Badger knew that their future was full of promise.
