The Kid
Epilogue
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The night was cold and silent. Clouds blocked out the moon. On seaside cliff in the middle of nowhere, two men faced off, gazes locked together. Neither willing to be the first to blink, their eyes' fought for dominance.
Rolan was the first to break the silence. "Just admit it. You're glad Phantom didn't die."
Alviss inadvertently blinked. Annoyed at himself for losing, he snapped, "I most certainly am not. My goal is to defeat the Zombie Curse no matter what." He glanced down at his arms. "It looks like I only have a year left, maybe a year and a half."
Alviss' Zombie Tattoo was only a little behind Rolan and Peta. *
"Are your still worried about that? I told you, you should embrace your gift!"
"Rolan, living corpse' and 'gift' are not phrases that belong together," Alviss said firmly.
His companion sighed. "Maybe once I become a zombie I'll be able to convince you that it's not so bad."
"No! I'll put an end to Phantom before I let that happen. It's only a matter of time before I find another way to kill him"
"Sure, because Phantom probably had two long lost girlfriends who carted around indescribably powerful ARMs," Rolan said patronizingly. "You know, I have my doubts about that even happening once. I bet your so-called friends conned you."
"Since when did you get so cynical?" Alviss asked.
Rolan laughed. "I probably got it from you."
The tension now broken, Alviss ventured to ask, "How is everyone back at the Castle?"
"Well, Phantom decided that trying to conquer MAR-Heaven again would be passé, so he's planning to take over Earth instead. He got it into his head that if he went to Earth he'd be able to fight lots of strong people like Ginta. Peta says that Earth people only become powerful when they cross over to our world, but Phantom wasn't discouraged. He says a strong will is the most important aspect of power anyway. Now he's researching ways to travel between worlds. The Gatekeeper Clown isn't any good since he wants to bring an army with him. Not that Phantom alone wouldn't be enough to subdue Earth. Phantom is amazing! He's just bringing followers along to do minor jobs like setting up another castle on Earth. He--"
"Enough about Phantom already!" Alviss snapped. "Tell me about someone else. How is Chimera doing?"
Although a little perturbed, Rolan answered the question. "Chimera went off on a quest to cure her old injuries. She found a map that supposedly leads to a spring with healing waters. It seems pretty implausible, but she said she just wanted an excuse to do something new. I don't see how she can just leave Phantom like that."
Seeing the direction the conversation was going, Alviss quickly said, "Never mind, tell me about someone else."
Rolan thought for a moment. "Well, most of our members have wandered off- those who survived, anyway. It's really just me, Candice, and Peta in the Castle now, with a few pawns/servants lurking around. We really need to recruit some new people. Chaton and Pano actually ran off with two of your team members."
"Yeah, I'm out here trying to avoid the wedding planning. Snow wanted them to have a double wedding, but there was too much conflict over Jack's insistence on an all-black color scheme. Alan said that even if weddings were for women he still wasn't going to get married while dressed like a goth. Then Jack and Pano tried to elope, but Snow dragged them back. She seems rather fixated on weddings at the moment. I think she's still upset over Ginta leaving."
"Speaking of Snow, she's currently considering an offer to join the Chess Pieces."
"WHAT? There's no way she'd do that!"
"Well, she does want to see Ginta again, and since we're planning on going to Earth we're her best shot."
"That's ridiculous. Besides, since she apparently has a double on Earth, what would happen if she went there and found two of herself, both in love with Ginta?
"A catfight?"
"I can't believe you just said that."
"Well, that's what Peta said. I'm not sure what he means." Rolan looked innocent, while Alviss tried to gauge if he was serious or not.
"So, is this why Peta wants to recruit Snow?"
"No, we just want access to the royal treasury."
"Well, good luck with that."
"Thanks!" Rolan said, taking Alviss words as if he'd been sincere.
Instead of correcting him, Alviss asked, "How about Ashe?"
"He's quite busy running his own chain of orphanages. Actually, we Chess Pieces helped him set them up a while back."
"You guys, involved in charity work? I don't believe it."
"It wasn't voluntary. Peta agreed to donate a quarter of all the Chess Pieces' money and labor to the purpose of helping children in exchange for Ashe joining the Chess Pieces. Ridiculous terms, especially compared to what everyone else got, but Peta says Ashe had him over the barrel when they were negotiating. That was because of you, Alviss."
"Me? I don't know what you're talking about."
Rolan continued, "I think Loco moved in with Chaton. She finds it difficult to take care of herself when she's in child form, so it's for the best. Oh, and Ian and Gido also decided to get married. Although I think Ian was a little shell-shocked when he discovered that Gido had decided to adopt the pack of orphans she was taking care of."
"I think that covers everyone I care about enough to remember," Alviss said.
"So, what are your team members doing?" Rolan asked.
"I thought Snow was busy planning weddings, but now it appears she's plotting treason. Alan and Jack are busy getting married."
"How'd Pano convince Jack to settle down? Every time I saw him he was surrounded by a parcel of girls."
"She threatened to 'render him incapable of ever cheating on her again' next time she caught him with another woman. Actually, I think the threat kind of impressed him. He seems to respect her more now."
"Can they really get married? Aren't they too young?"
"Actually, there's no age minimum for getting married in MAR Heaven. Snow checked. But I think that at the moment the marriage is really more a way for Pano to assert her claim, as opposed to a 'real' marriage. Either way it's not something I really want to think about."
"Fair enough. How about the others? Where's Babbo?"
"Do you think I'm telling you that, you force of evil?"
"It was worth a try."
"Actually, I'm not sure where he is. Nanashi seems to have vanished too."
"Didn't you know? Nanashi agreed to join the Chess Pieces. It turns out that he wants to visit Earth too."
Alviss was dumbstruck. Rolan took pity on him and added, "But in the end he just stole a bunch of our money and left during the night. I think he has a very short attention span."
Rolan expected Alviss to be relieved, but the other boy's scowl only deepened. "Come to think of it, I haven't seen my Gatekeeper Clown recently," Alviss growled.
Trying to change the subject, Rolan asked, "What's Dorothy doing?"
"Oh, she and her sister are on the run from Kaldea."
"I thought Dorothy wanted to kill her sister?"
"Well, I don't know if she really 'wanted' to, she was just required by her hometown's laws. She was planning to go ahead and do it, but when they confronted each other Diana broke down and started crying about how all the other Chess Pieces were playing cruel tricks on her and she hated her life. Dorothy decided she was just too pitiful to kill."
"That's sisterly love for you, I guess."
"Now Dorothy is plotting to take over Kaldea and force them to change their stupid law. I hope she succeeds. Forcing family members to kill each other is cruel and pointless."
"I agree. If it weren't for that rule, Phantom's life might be very different."
"What do you mean?"
"Didn't you know?" Rolan asked, surprised. "When Phantom was young, he accidentally fell under the influence of the Orb. His parents were supposed to kill him, but killed themselves instead. Phantom was very traumatized."
"Wait a second," Alviss said slowly. "You mean Phantom didn't come up with his delusions of world domination entirely on his own?"
"No, the Orb influenced his thoughts. Not that all Phantom's ideas aren't great, Orb or not!"
Ignoring Rolan, Alviss declared, "That means Phantom doesn't have to be evil! I just have to find something that cancels out that the Orb's influence, and he'll become a normal productive member of society! This is great!" Filled with inspiration, Alviss jumped up and went tearing off.
Rolan, on the other hand, could see some flaws in Alviss' reasoning. Wouldn't the Orb have already lost any hold over Phantom when it was destroyed? Or did the effects of that kind of thing linger? He wasn't really sure. But either way, he doubted that Phantom would ever become a "normal" person, Orb or not.
Rolan decided there was no point in disillusioning his friend. At least Alviss had the most precious gift in the world, hope. Which would keep him out of trouble for a little while.
Come to think of it, Alviss had been even more enthusiastic about freeing Phantom from the clutches of evil than he had about killing him. Didn't that mean that despite everything he said he actually cared about Phantom, at least a little?
Rolan smirked. And to think people said he was in denial.
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The End
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*In this story, Alviss' tattoo hasn't spread as far because of his close proximity to Phantom. In the actual MAR manga/anime there is no evidence that the Zombie Tattoo would progress more slowly for someone who was near Phantom, nor is there any reason that this would be the case. But frankly, it's the only logical explanation I can come up with for why in the real storyline Alviss' tattoo was much closer to completion that either Peta or Rolan. Phantom met both of them first, and given how impulsive he was in marking Alviss I don't know why he would hold off with his own allies. So I fabricated a reason for their tattoos to progress more slowly. I'm almost certainly wrong, but it's convenient for me to use this explanation for the purposes of this story.
Author's note: Thus it ends. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this story, and especially to those of you who reviewed! And if you actually read Author's Notes as well, then extra bonus points to you!