"How's your head?" Curly asked. The three of them were high in the sky, making a lap over the island, still trying to calm themselves over that last close call. The sky above them was a beautiful blue: puffy clouds dotted the sky sparsely, the sun hanging high and a refreshing breeze coursing gently through the air. The island was still floating in the sky by some invisible force, although the ground below was clearly visible, the tips of the tallest trees below just grazing the lowest point of the island's undertow. Just a few moments longer, and Ballos would have gotten his wish.
"I'm not sure," he replied, his voice a little cracked and both his eyes narrowed, trying to calm a minor headache. Quote and Curly weren't helping at all; they both sat on top of his flat head rather than grip onto his ankles perilously hundreds of feet over the nearest solid ground. The hole Balrog had made with his skull was plainly visible in the grassy, empty field of the island's western side. "That was too close. Is that what it's like to be you guys every day?"
"No, just every weekend," she answered with a laugh. Quote chuckled to the joke as well. It reminded him of how he didn't have any idea how long he was actually awake, from the moment in that cave without so much as the Polar Star so long ago, to right now, sitting on Balrog's head as they made lazy circles over the island. "I thought we were scrap metal for sure two or three times, there. We owe you another one, after your help moving the boulder for us in the Labyrinth."
Balrog paused before answer, looking down across the island for something. "Nah, don't thank me," he said. "I was just doing what Misery asked me to do."
"Misery? The witch, Misery?"
"The one and only."
"I thought she despised our very names. Heck, I thought you would rather see us dead than come to our rescue. Are those kids safe?" She sounded conflicted: she wasn't sure if she should still be angry at them both for what had happened in the Sand Zone.
"They're safe. They were with the Doctor before Quote busted 'em out. Not a scratch on them." Curly gave a heavy sigh of relief at the good news. "And we don't hate you, we were just doing what we were told. You guys beat Ballos, right? When he died, it lifted the curse on us both. Now neither of us have to take orders from anyone – with Ballos dead, I'm willing to call our score even." They made a wide turn around the mountain at the top of the island, bringing the entrance at its base into view. Someone was just making their way out of the island, a wooden stick in their hand and supporting their weight while they walked lopsidedly into the open. "Hey guys, there's Misery, just at the bottom of the mountain. You should wave to her!"
They both hesitated a little at the offer, but they waved down to her anyway. It took a moment for Misery to look up and see them, but when she did, to their surprise, she waved back. "I thought you two were just jerks," Curly said, her arm still above her, waving slowly to Misery below. "But I guess I'll buy that it was all the Crown's fault. You did mention it in the Labyrinth."
"Yeah, I'd probably get the same vibe if I were on the receiving end, too. You reap what you sow, and all that; Misery was the one who forced Ballos to create the crown in the first place. She didn't really expect eternal servitude to an inanimate object in return, though."
"She made him create the Crown, huh? Is that so?"
"That is so." There was a bit of an awkward silence between the three as they continued soaring over the island. Balrog's little stubs were really putting in a huge effort to keep them up, but Balrog himself didn't look like it was bothering him at all, and that he could keep it up for as long as he wanted. "So!" he said light-heartedly, ready to change the topic.
"So?" Curly responded, wondering what he had in mind.
"So what next? Ballos and the Doctor are gone, our curse is lifted…any ideas on what you'd like to do or where you'd like to go next? I can take you anywhere you'd like; just say the word."
They both raised their eyebrows in thought – they hadn't really thought about what they'd like to do next. Quote just wanted the Doctor gone, but Curly remembered their objectives from a decade ago about the Crown. Either way, their needs were satisfied, and they had nothing left to do. "You're right," Curly hummed, thinking hard about what she'd like to do next. She hadn't thought about her own personal preferences since the Labyrinth. "Our mission is done and completed, and I hadn't really thought this far ahead. But," she chuckled, "with my legs in this shape, there's not a lot I can do right this very moment. How's about we go find some place with an awesome view to start with, and work our way up from there?"
"Yeah?" Balrog asked, looking over the seemingly limitless forest stretching into the distant mountains peeking over the horizon. They seemed like a good place to start looking. "Hey, um, awkward question, but…" He paused, trying to drum up his nerve to ask it.
"Hey, you don't need to be nervous, Balrog, everything's cool between us. Right, Quote?" Quote looked at her, then down to Balrog, and thought about his answer. He and Misery really made his life difficult, but he didn't doubt his explanation that they were just following orders; he nodded once, looking back down to Misery as she kept walking away from the mountain towards the enormous pit where the cabin used to be. They would have been left to die if it weren't for those two. "Quote says so, too, so just say what's on your mind, Balrog."
"Well, I was just wondering…I've been enslaved by that Crown all my life, so I don't really know what it's like to be 'free'. Would you mind if I came with? To your 'some place with an awesome view'?"
"Oh, like you need to ask!" Curly replied, a huge smile on her face. Not that Balrog could see it. "The three of us can live there together, no problem!"
"You really mean it?" he asked, almost unbelieving that Curly would offer their hospitality just like that, considering their relationship up until this point.
"I'll even let you pick the spot. Just find us a good place; it's gotta have a great view, and the ground's gotta be sturdy enough to build a house on. A big house; because you're a pretty big guy, Balrog, you're going to need a lot of room to get around." She paused a moment before continuing. "And I'm going to need the space so I can find a hiding spot to keep my panties safe from a certain someone." Quote turned his head slowly back towards Curly, his eyes wide at the sentence and his expression surprised. "Yeah, Quote," she said sternly, not the least bit amused, "I knew since the beginning."
Quote waved his hands at Curly back and forth, shaking his head, trying to convey to her that she had the wrong idea and it was just an accident, nothing more. She didn't look like she was buying it, though. "A panty thief, huh?" Balrog asked, amused. "It's a good thing you told me, Curly. Now I'll know to find a good spot to hide my panties, too." They both looked down towards Balrog's face; he wasn't serious, was he? He was just pulling their legs, right? "Nah, I'm just kidding," he said with a laugh, causing the other two to relax at the joke. "Or am I? I guess we'll find out!"
How's it going, you guys?
Man, things have been so awesome here on the island lately, it's tough to pick a place to start, you know? Everyone's so happy and everybody's so productive now that they know they don't have a guy like Date watching over their every move, ready to snatch 'em up and take them someplace they don't want to go. The whole place has just been bustling with activity; it seems like every other week someone's found some new underground vein and raising a new village.
I guess I can start with what's going on in the Labyrinth. The Gaudi are just as friendly as ever; they're very sociable, you know, they always find something to talk about. It's always a party with them. They were pretty freaked out when the island started to fall, they say, but they knew they were tough guys; since when does a little thing like getting crushed ever stop a cockroach, right? They have that little green guy and his nurse who call themselves physicians looking after them, although he keeps insisting that they're not what he specializes in. Even if he's not, the guy seems to know his way around his medicine when it comes to the Gaudi all the same.
Jenka's doing all right. She was really surprised when she was told that it was you guys who caused the island to fall and then made it stop falling. She seemed really sad and distant for a little while after that, like she knew someone that just died or something. Her dog Hajime couldn't be happier, although his not really allowed past the fence around the house, living in the Sand Zone and all. Last I checked, she and Professor Booster have really been hitting it off – he's been visiting her place more and more frequently, even knowing how dangerous the Sand Zone really is. That sly dog, am I right?
King and Toroko have been given proper burials at the graveyard next to their village. The sword you told me to place next to his tombstone is there, so you don't have to worry about that. They were both buried next to Arthur's grave; we thought it was only appropriate given how they were both heroes for their times, too. We had a memorial service to them both and everything, it was really sad. Be sure to pay your respects next time you visit, eh? You wouldn't want King's spirit coming after any of you ungrateful outsiders, you know.
What else, what else…oh, how stupid of me! I forgot about how I was doing! Me and the gang are doing pretty awesome, good health and high spirits all around, but you want to know the amazing part? With Itoh's engineering genius, Kazuma's programming smarts and mom's opposable thumbs, we managed to create a machine that changed us back to our human forms! Let me tell you, flexing my thumbs and not being covered in inch-thick hair all the time really makes you appreciate what you have when you can't do it for a few weeks, although Itoh and I have noticed that it's suddenly really cold all the time. There's a gimmick to the machine, though; every time we sneeze, we're changed back to our Mimiga forms, just like that. Mom tried to explain it away with some kind of babble about magical runoff or whatever, but it just flies over my head. It can be really inconvenient sometimes, what with clothes suddenly being too big or too small and dropping whatever we happen to be carrying at the time, but I think it can come in handy, especially during the winters.
Misery is doing good, too, although she's not the most extroverted of people to be around, you know? She spends most of her time on the surface, just kinda staring out over the edge and towards the horizon. She's friendly – ask her a question and she'll answer, or invite her to dinner and she'll be there – but she's not as involved in any of the projects that could really use her help as she could be. I think she's still recovering from her mistakes that she made, about that whole 'being cursed' thing that nobody will explain to me. I'm sure her time with Date and his insanity has really hurt her, too, on the inside.
Kazuma spends most of his time with his pet dragon rather than doing something actually productive. I can't totally blame him, though; if mom's example is anything to go by, parenthood is a real chore, and Kazuma's kid is no lightweight. Dragons grow pretty fast! It was half the size of a house when we first saw it, and now it's almost too big to move around inside the island. Do you have any idea how much they need to eat on a daily basis? The cleanup is pretty brutal, too, so I forgive Kazuma for slacking off. On the bright side, how many people can say they're a dragon's daddy? How many people can ride on a winged lizard all over the globe as much as they like? How many people never, ever have to worry about being bullied over anything again? Exactly one, that's how many.
We built a special incinerator to take care of the last of the red flowers. It's airtight except for the funnel going straight down and out of the island, just so nobody has to worry about inhaling any fumes or something. Can't be too careful, you know? Everybody wore protective masks and gloves while they uprooted and moved the flowers to the incinerator. Not a single petal was left behind; we've been looking all over the island for any that might have slipped past us, and we occasionally find a petal or a seed somewhere. No outbreaks, though! Everybody knows the dangers of the flowers now, so they're treated like live dynamite while they're moved to someplace more secure.
Well, I'm about to run out of paper here, so let me just wrap things up. Mom, Itoh and I plan on heading back to our homes on the surface in a little bit – they just have some things to build and teach to the Mimiga before we can go. Kazuma will be staying, though, to look after his dragon, which would be easier in a place where it could actually stand up. Be sure to visit before then! Everybody would like to see you guys once more before we go, and Misery always seems to liven up whenever Balrog's nearby. We know your 'address', too, so we'll be sure to set you guys up with a phone-line or something to let you know when we're in the neighbourhood. I can't wait to see your house when it's finished!
Love, Sue Sakamoto
Curly was comparing her letter with the letter she had written to Quote in the Plantation, noting the incredible differences between the handwriting. They had picked a spot in the mountains with an absolutely gorgeous view of the forest and the sprawling ocean underneath, and they had visited the island a few times again to see how things were going and to talk with some good friends, but she had never seen Sue as a human. She was already making plans to visit one last time soon, before the group took off again.
Her broken legs had been healing pretty well – being a combat android, her recoveries were fairly swift and effective compared to the average human's, but it was still taking some time. She was strong enough to stand with a pair of crutches, but she was totally immobile without them until they were totally healed.
The spot Balrog had picked was fabulous, meeting all their requirements, and it even had a small cave nearby for them to use however they felt like. They considered just making their home in the cave, but it was tossed out when they all agreed that they had enough to do with spelunking for a lifetime. It made for a good garage, or temporary shelter until their home was finished, at least. None of them were very good handymen, particularly with their handicaps (Quote was wearing a splint on his left arm while his shoulder patched itself), so they had been bringing in some help from the island to make their dream home a reality.
"Curly!" Balrog shouted down the mouth of the cave, grabbing her attention from the letters. "We just finished putting the last touches on your room and Quote's room. Come on, give it a look!"
She folded the letters back up neatly, placing them back onto the makeshift table. "I'm coming!" she shouted back happily, reaching for her two crutches and pulling herself up from her stone chair. The house was utterly bare of any furnishings and it was only half-done, but Curly and Quote agreed, it was a beautiful building all the same. She hadn't told anyone yet, but she wanted to make another one in the island once this one was finished, to restart her orphanage. She had a feeling that neither of the boys would have any problems with it; she could probably find someone, like Kazuma or Jack, to look after the orphanage whenever she was away, but they could worry about that later. For now, life was good.