Dust: An Elysian Tail
Before The Storm
Written by WildSnivy
Epilogue
Settling
Well, I think you know the rest of the story. Jin and Cassius died that night at the exact same time, and their souls intertwined with each other. An exceedingly rare occurrence, almost impossible. Over the next year, Gaius would continue to march across Falana, exterminating every Moonblood and sympathizer he could find.
By that point, the Moonbloods were almost extinct. And as a last resort, they ripped their souls out of the Life Thread and used them to create me. Their champion. The Sen-Mithrarin.
The warrior you know as Dust.
Fidget, I know this could not have been easy to read. I know you were very close to Jin, and I can't fathom how being reminded of his death can feel to you. I can't even begin to think about how Ginger's going to respond when she decides to pick this letter up either. But you both deserve the truth. And I hope I delivered.
You two are exceedingly special to me. Even with the two souls constantly warring inside me, I can feel Jin's presence shine through whenever I see you. I'll never be the friend or brother you lost that day. I'll never be able to live up to his standards, or replicate that personality you two adored so much. There's only one Jin, and I know I can't ever replace him. But it's because of him that I care for you as much as I do. And just as I'll never forget what you two mean to me, I know you'll remember me. As who I am, and who I was.
"Forever your friend, Dust," Fidget reads, gently peering over the top of the final paper at her friend. Off to her left, sitting at the table, blankly staring down at a cup of tea that has been sitting in her hand for the past fifteen minutes at least, is Ginger. She has been sitting there the entire afternoon, respectfully, attentively listening to the nimbat read the letter that had arrived just this morning.
And now, the sun is starting to take cover behind the forest glade to the west, the last few scattered beams for the day flushing out the town of Aurora in one last shower of yellow light. One of them has broken through the house's window, and is slowly creeping across the kitchen table towards Ginger.
Fidget sets the paper down on the stack in front of her and readjusts her posture on the table. Neither of them speak for a few moments, in silent reminiscence of their lost friend.
"What was he like?" Ginger finally asks. Her attention doesn't leave the teacup in front of her.
"He was..." Fidget goes quiet again, and Ginger finally turns her gaze away from her drink.
The nimbat speaks up after a second. "I think he was the best friend I ever had. I...knew for him for all of a day, maybe, but..."
Ginger offers up a faint smile. "Yeah. He did that a lot."
"You think, maybe, that's why I got along with Dust so well? Because bits and pieces of Jin were inside him?"
Ginger shrugs. "It's probably the same reason why I was scared of him when I first saw him. Cassius wore almost the same outfit he did that day."
Silence again. Broken only by a soft splash as a tear impacts the saucer Ginger's cup is resting on.
"I miss him, Fidget."
Fidget slowly nods. The cup starts to rattle a bit.
"I miss him so much..." Ginger puts the back of her hand to her eye.
After a second, Fidget curls up a bit, hugging her lower legs with her paws. "Me too, Ginger," she softly replies. "Me too."
Nothing happens for the next few minutes, as the two friends don't do much more than sit at the table with the letter. Ginger occasionally asks Fidget to see one of the letter's pages, and Fidget casually peruses the text once more.
The front door is knocked on. Fidget's ears flip up and she peers over at Ginger. She hasn't fully recovered yet; the sun reflects and refracts across the small wet stream down her cheek.
"I'm on it," she offers as she flies off the table.
Ginger shoves her chair away and motions for the nimbat to sit down. "No, it's okay," she whispers back. "I can take care of it." Fidget reluctantly obeys, and watches Ginger slowly walk towards the door and undo the lock.
Ginger puts her hand on the knob, and waits for just a second before turning it and gently opening the door. At her porch stands a lanky, white-furred Warmblood, with grey eyes and a familiar green hooded shirt.
The visitor flicks the hood off of his head and offers a friendly, almost apologetic smile. Ginger recognizes him almost immediately, and puts a hand over her mouth.
"Evenin', lass," Nikolai warmly greets her. "This...ain't a bad time, is it?"
"Nik..." Ginger ekes out. "I..I thought..."
"I'm sorry I didn't catcha earlier than this," the blacksmith replies, itching the back of his neck. "Once Zeplich burnt, I had ta duck out up north in Arrowshead for a spell. Heard you'd set up shop here a while ago, but..."
He smiles sheepishly again. "Never really got 'round to it 'til now." He looks around for a second, up and down the street. "Mind me comin' in? I went and brought ya some dinner."
Ginger pushes the door open a bit more and turns to the side, permitting Nikolai to enter the house. Fidget peers over at him as well, and her eyes light up immediately.
"Nikolai!" she exuberantly yells as she zips over to the blacksmith and gloms onto his neck.
The blacksmith staggers backwards for a moment, like he'd been hit by a rock, but regains his balance almost as quickly as he lost it. "Good ta see you too, Fidget," he beams as he gently strokes the nimbat. "You been doin' aight?"
"Yep! Great!" she replies as she finally releases her former employer. "Ginger and I were...just reading something, was all."
"What about?" Nikolai asks as he flips his pack over his shoulder and sets it onto the table. The letter's pages float up for a second under the wind, and catch his eye.
With care, he picks up the top page and quickly scans it. Ginger watches his eyes jump back and forth, and his face become more and more curious with each line.
"This Dust fellow's a friend o' yers, I take it?" he inquires as he sets the paper back down and starts unloading his bag.
Ginger walks up to his side and helps him sort out the various paper containers he pulls out of the sack. "You...may have heard the news that Gaius' men are retreating from Everdawn Basin? That the war is close to over now?"
Nikolai glances at her, skepticism abound in the neutral grey eyes. "Yer kiddin' me..."
"Nope! I was there with him!" Fidget chimes in as she flutters over to the packages, sniffing the rightmost one analytically.
Stunned, the blacksmith collapses into the chair at the head of the table. "What happened up there, lass? 'Cause from the sound o' things, yer tellin' me that..."
"He defeated Gaius there, yes," Ginger confirms as she checks the bag for any wayward contents. "Single-handedly, too."
"Hey!"
Ginger genuinely smiles for the first time today. "And you too, Fidget."
Nikolai gazes back over at Ginger as she retreats for some plates. "Then, what's he gotta do with yer brother?"
She doesn't move for a second, and just stares at the cupboard.
The blacksmith blinks and starts to correct himself. "I-I mean, sorry if ya don't wanna talk 'bout him. I...heard about what happened to him."
The house falls into another silent spell, save for the soft rattling of ceramic as Ginger slides some plates out of the cupboard.
"Ginger?" the nimbat addresses.
Ginger sets the three plates down at the table and hesitantly, softly smiles at Nikolai. "Well, you remember Fuse's clan, right Nik?"
Nikolai puts a napkin to his mouth and sets it down on the now empty plate in front of him. He also puts a hand to the side of his head and starts vigorously rubbing it. "So...they used the combined souls of that bastard and yer brother ta create him, eh?"
Ginger slightly nods over the sound of Fidget happily crunching away on one of the bratwursts Nikolai brought over. "It's a bit of a tall tale, I know, but..."
Nikolai's eyebrows jump up immediately. "Ach, Miss Ginger, I don't think ya'd tell me this story if it weren't the truth. The elders know a hundred and fifteen times more than I ever will. I believe in 'em."
"Dust isn't my brother, Nik," Ginger adds after a small delay. "He isn't Jin, and he isn't Cassius. But whenever I see him... I don't know..."
Nikolai takes a small sip of coffee before he says anything back. "Lass, I never got the chance ta say this 'til now. Yer brother was...no, is, one o' the damn bravest men I know."
Ginger exhales heavily. Her head droops.
"Ya know, when he first came to the forge and asked me ta train him, I thought he was right mad. But I knew he was askin' for the right reasons. Look, he may have thought you dead that night, and I can't hold him ta blame for thinkin' that. But he fought to the death for you."
He puts a hand to her shoulder. "Ginger, I think it's a safe bet ta say he loved you more than anythin' else in the world. And I'd say that's why you feel so happy around Dust. Yer right. By definition, he's not yer brother. But he reminds you of him. And you see him living on inside of Dust. He isn't Jin, but as a sister, you love him all the same, because he comes that damn close to it."
Fidget finishes chewing her dinner.
Nikolai removes his hand and takes another swig of coffee.
Ginger takes a dangerously unsteady breath. She puts a hand to her eyes, trying to mask as much of her face as she can.
The nimbat hovers over to her friend, and perches on her shoulder. "Ginger? You okay?"
She shakily breathes again and tightly shuts her eyes, her hand hiding the tear gently rolling out of the corner.
Outside, through the window, the sun finishes descending behind the forest.
Acknowledgements and Final Thoughts
As I finish this story, I'd like to take a quick moment to say thank you to some very, very important people to the creation and progress of this story.
Firstly, and arguably most importantly, I need to address the contributions of First Hero of Olympus. If you ever saw the review page for this story, go take a look at it and you'll see why I need to say thank you to her. I cannot imagine this story being nearly as well-written or polished without her feedback. So Hero, thank you so, so much. You were nothing short of vital to this story's successes.
Another one of my followers, COSDad, has been giving me a lot of private advice as well via PM, so I'd like to give him an online round of applause as well. His profile is currently blank, but he played a pretty big role in the story's development, and that can't go without credit.
And finally, I need to say thank you to you guys for reading this story! And it sounds like you've been enjoying it a lot as well, seeing as how we're creeping up on 1000 views and the story isn't even 3 months old yet. You guys are not numbers to me, and I credit a lot of this story's worth to the fact that you guys are simply a fantastic audience to write for.
If you're interested in reading more of my work, then my second story is a full-length story for the webcomic TwoKinds. You can find it at Fanfiction under the name TwoKinds: Redemption.
Please let me know if there are any major edits you guys would like to see, and thanks for a wonderful trip!
Cheers,
WS