FOREVERMORE
~Part Three Of The Forever Trilogy~
Chapter 52
Neither Heaven Nor Hell
June 22, 5001.
(Viola's POV)
It took us only a couple days to arrange a proper funeral for Rubin. Even so, it seemed like forever. All of us were stunned by the sudden turn of events, and we were still processing what had happened. It was all so sudden. I mean, even now as I was preparing for the funeral I was still trying to grasp the fact that one of my longest lasting friends had been murdered.
Topaz was the one who was taking it the hardest, that was for sure. She hadn't come out of her room since the day she came back. Diamonda told us to give her some time, but I wasn't so sure if that was the best idea. I mean, was she okay in there by herself? What was she even doing? Just sleeping?
I heard light knocking on my door. I stopped messing with my hair to walk over to it and pull it open. I was slightly surprised to see Jade standing in the doorway. She was already done, wearing a black dress and her hair arranged neatly down.
"Oh, Jade," I said. "What do you-"
"Come with me," she said, grabbing me by my arm and proceeding to drag me out of my room. It had been all so perfect.
"Whoa!" I exclaimed. "Where are we going?"
"We're going to get Diamonda and make her go check up on Topaz because I am sure that she has no idea the funeral's today, or that she's eaten since she's been in there, or if she's even okay! I mean, yeah, giving her time would be fine if Topaz was normal, but I'm pretty sure we all know that she is not normal and-"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" I exclaimed again, yanking myself out of her grip. "Don't ramble."
"Oh, sorry," she said Mareepishly. "Come on, we have to hurry!"
How she could move around so fast in heels, I had no idea, but I hastily followed her as fast as I could. Soon, we were on the leaders' floor, and then Jade rushed up to Diamonda and Am's door and beat the living daylights out of it.
"Diamonda! Get out here! We need you for something!" she declared. "I know you're in there! Come on!"
I heard movement from behind the door, and then it opened, revealing a curious Diamonda. She looked just about ready, too. Jeez, was everyone ready but me? I was faster when it came to knowledge, but other things, like fashion, not so much...
"What is it?" she asked us.
"We need to check up on Topaz," she told her, putting her hands on her hips. "It's been four days! I think that's long enough. Something's not right."
Diamonda sighed. "All right. Let's go."
Topaz's room was pretty much across the hall, so it only took us a moment to get there. Diamonda took charge, and knocked on the door. There was no response. I glanced at Jade to see her worried expression. We both looked to the older girl, whose lips were pressed down in a firm line.
"We're coming in!" she announced, before grasping the door knob, turning it, and pushing the door open.
We stepped inside. The room was pitch black. There wasn't a single sound. Since I was the closest to the door, I groped for the light switch. It took be a couple moments to find it, but when the lights flicked on it was nearly blinding. I heard a hiss. I saw Raiden laying on Topaz's stomach, and was squinting his eyes. Topaz was awake, too, and made a noise before rolling onto her stomach, knocking Raiden off.
"Topaz, you need to get up," Diamonda said gently, walking up to the bed while Jade and I stayed where we were. She didn't respond. "Come on, Topaz... The funeral's today..."
There was no response.
"Topaz... Just for one day... You can do it."
Still nothing.
Diamonda sighed heavily. "I'll take care of her, girls. You go finish getting ready. We'll have to leave soon."
"Okay," Jade replied with a sigh before turning to me. "Come on, Viola. I'll help you with your hair."
...
The funeral would be held at a cemetery in Unova. Nowhere else was safe, after all. Shirou had helped with the arrangements. Everyone was pretty much quiet on the way there. What was there to say, after all? One of our own had been murdered. But...
Hadn't the same thing happened to Scarlet? Her death hadn't hurt us as much. Maybe it was because she was such a jerk to us. But still. It didn't seem fair to her to me. But nothing could change that now. The bombing at Mount Silver in general and all the death there had bothered us more than our comrade's death. I couldn't really call her a friend, now, could I?
Anyways, we arrived there early. It was so quiet. There wasn't even any normal outside sounds in the cemetery. Topaz was with Diamonda, who was keeping a firm grip on the girl's arm to make sure she didn't collapse or anything. They had brought all his Pokemon, too, I believed.
Last month, Am had made it mandatory that all of us write wills. Some of us had thought it was ridiculous and pointless, but we were all glad we did now. This had made it very apparent to us that anyone could die. According to Rubin's will, Lady and Joy went to Topaz, Sir and Valor went to Sapph, and Serenity and Beauty went to Cerise. His belongings mostly went to Topaz.
We all understood now. They had been planning to get married for a long time.
I sighed heavily, crossing my arms over my chest. I heard footsteps and looked over to see Plato and Jade walk up to me. I didn't say anything to them, and they stayed silent as well. There was nothing to say, after all.
"Viola?" I looked over at Jade. "Do you... remember when Rubin first came to Twinleaf?"
"...Yeah," I said after a moment. "He was so out of place, with his Hoenn accent and everything..."
"I'm glad I decided to talk to him," she said, her voice softening. "I mean, if we hadn't met, all of this would never have happened. And though he's... dead... at least we can end this war."
"Yeah," Plato agreed. "We'd never have learned the truth."
"And I could have been forced to work for the Government, too," I said bitterly. "Same with you, Plato. You know how they 'recruit' high honors students if they excel in science."
"I'd rather die than to work for them," he spat. "Even back then. I highly doubt I would change my mind."
Jade sighed, and we both looked over at her. "Rubin had been so girly back then. I thought he was the cutest thing..."
"You did?" Plato asked, astonished, raising an eyebrow.
"What? No, not like that!" she exclaimed exasperatedly. "I mean, the way he was back then! You'd never think he'd want to join the Resistance, or travel across the regions. He was just so... so..."
"Innocent," I said quietly. "He was innocent."
"Yeah," Plato agreed. "That's the only word that can fit it."
We grew quiet again. What else was there to say? He was our friend, back before any of this crazy stuff had happened. He should never have died this way. He deserved a nice long life more than some of us.
...
(Sapph's POV)
It had been several days now, but I was still trying to accept the fact that my twin brother was dead. He was the only real family I had here in the future, and he was gone. I knew I wasn't alone; I had Gold and all my amazing friends. But I couldn't help but feel lonely.
"Hey, Sapph." I glanced up at Gold, who was looking down at me with concern in his eyes. "You okay?"
"I guess so," I said, my voice quiet.
He reached out and snagged my hand. It was a simple gesture, yet comforting. I cracked a thankful, yet sad smile, and he gave my hand a quick squeeze. I sighed as we continued to walk along, heading for the casket. It was time.
I looked around at everyone. They all looked solemn. Diamonda was still holding Topaz by the arm. The girl was a total mess. Her eyes were lowered, and she never looked at anyone. Already, I had heard, she was losing weight and she hadn't eaten anything for days.
Dear Arceus. I was glad I had managed to get a grip on myself.
Nobody really said anything. We'd already been thinking so much about Rubin, remembering him. We all gathered around the coffin. I fought the urge to cry at the sight of my brother laying inside the casket. It was yet another reminder that he was gone.
We all stood in silence, just being respectful. I pulled my hand out of Gold's, and wrapped my arms around myself. It was starting to get hot, and it wasn't helping that I was wearing black.
Back in the past, I had been so timid and girly. It was like Rubin and I had switched personalities or something. But he had always been there for me. He always had my back at school whenever someone picked on me or gave me a hard time. Even during our captivity, though we were separated, he was looking out for me. When we first met after escaping, it was like we switched roles, too.
I admit my brother really annoyed me at first. He was just so spineless it drove me crazy. But, thank Arceus, he got better, though it took him long enough. Only that his toughening up probably caused his death... At least I was proud to call him my brother now.
I missed him so much...
"He was a great guy," I heard Gold say, and I looked up at him. His expression was solemn. "Better than a lot of us..."
"Yeah," I agreed softly.
...
(Rubin's POV)
I should be in heaven. Or hell, for that matter.
But I wasn't.
I was stuck on earth for some reason.
I remembered everything leading up to my death. Absolutely everything. I had never been so happy before in my life. It had been so perfect. Nothing seemed like it would go wrong. But of course it did. In the worst way possible.
I was still confused on why the hell Synis murdered me. It seemed like he wanted Topaz, which made absolutely no sense to me. Why would he want her? How was she useful to him? I didn't get it.
Anyways, here I was, a ghost, trapped on earth. I was wearing what I had on when I died, but it wasn't damaged at all. At first, I had trouble moving around and stuff, since my body was no longer solid, but now I had a grip on things. Yeah, I was dead and a ghost, but I still had my emotions. And seeing everyone's reactions to my death broke my heart.
Especially Topaz.
I knew this would happen. If something happened to me, she would be utterly destroyed. And I was very much right. Already, she had stopped eating, and refused to leave her room, much less get out of bed. It was a miracle that they even managed to get her to come to my funeral. Raiden only allowed Gold, Cerise, Crimson, and Diamonda to see her. He'd threaten to zap anyone else.
I was stuck here, floating around in my own personal hell.
You know, you weren't supposed to go to your own funeral, but here I was.
No one was allowed at the funeral outside of my friends. That relieved me. I didn't want any lousy paparazzi to see Topaz in her current state, or any of my friends for that matter. Right now the casket was being lowered into the grave.
I managed to lower myself to stand on the ground, and then turned around to walk away. I couldn't take it any more, all of this sorrow. I would end up back at the base, but I wanted to be alone for a bit. I found a nearby tree, and leaned up against it.
"Hello, Rubin."
I froze, my body going rigid. I looked up to see Raven of all people. She was looking straight at me. I then remembered that she could see the dead. Like, ghosts. And I was a ghost. So she could see me. Holy mother of Mew, how could I have forgotten that?
"I am surprised to see you here," she said.
"You and me both," I sighed.
"You are not the only one here," she told me, serious as ever.
I blinked, surprised. "What?"
"Look around, silly boy," she said. "She is always around Madam Jewel."
I frowned, before pushing myself higher up in the air. I looked around for the girl. Jewel was with Cyan, Jasper, and Esmeralda, which wasn't surprising at all. And then I saw a girl hovering above them, slightly transparent like me.
She could have been no older than seventeen. For a moment, I wondered if Topaz just died or had a out of body experience or something because the girl looked startlingly like her. But as I drifted closer, I saw that they were totally different people. Her hair had no spikes, and was slightly longer, with little braids in it. They were the same height, but she built lighter. She was wearing a short kimono, too. She turned slightly, and must have seen me, because she whipped around to face me. Her eyes were brilliant scarlet, not the orange I loved. But she still looked so much like Topaz it was scary.
"You're the boy that died," she said.
"No, I just happen to resemble him," I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
She seemed unfazed. "You're Rubin Senri."
"Yes," I said slowly. "Who are you?"
"Topaz," she said, startling me. "Oh, I mean Topaz Bosco. Not your Topaz, obviously. She's still alive."
Holy shit, this was getting freaky. Not only did she look like my wife, but she had the same first name. This was insane. I had to be imagining things. There was no way her real name was Topaz, or that she looked like the girl I loved. I didn't know what to say.
"I'm from the future," she told me. "I'm Jewel's mother."
...And that meant she screwed Synis, the guy who not only dragged us into this mess, but had murdered me. Joyous. I was so confused right now. Why did Synis want my Topaz, then? Because she looked so much like this girl?
"How did you die?" I inquired.
She grimaced, and then sighed. "I... I was executed for having a child out of wedlock."
Whoa whoa whoa whoa! What kind of world was this?! I mean, that was just insane! Who would kill someone just because they had a kid out of wedlock?! I even thought that was out there.
"That's... insane," I said at last, astounded. "Who would make such a law?"
"It has always been like that in my time," she said softly. "I don't know where it originated from. But I still think it's a good law."
"How can you say that when it killed you?!" I demanded.
"I broke the law," she said, her voice still soft. "So of course I had to be punished."
I shook my head at her. I sighed, and closed my eyes. So I would be stuck here with Topaz Bosco, the mother of Jewel and lover of Synis. Now it really was hell, especially since she looked so much like my Topaz. At least I had Raven to talk to now. She was sane.
I looked out to the crowd; everyone was starting to leave. I had been buried. I looked back over at Topaz Bosco.
"How do you cope?" I asked her.
Her expression grew sad.
"I don't, Rubin."
And so...
THE PERMANENCE ARC IS COMPLETE
FINALLY
WE CAN GET TO THE GOOD STUFF
Not that the Perma arc wasn't good, it was. But the Cessa arc is full of some intense stuff.
So, Rubin is indeed stuck on earth as a ghost. Didn't see that coming, did ya? I gave Raven her ability for this very reason. And Topaz Bosco, too.
Sorry for such a short chapter... This was giving me trouble, so I just wanted to get it over with.
The first mini arc in the Cessa arc has some special guests: the PMTTS crew! If you've been paying attention to my profile and my blog, you will have seen that PMTTS is the sequel to Evermore. The main characters are the grandchildren of the FT gang. They appear the chapter after next. If you have any questions, just ask me on my tumblr.
OKAY I BELIEVE THAT IS IT
WAIT
IT'S NOT
THE FOREVER TRILOGY'S SECOND FREAKING ANNIVERSARY IS COMING UP ON OCTOBER THIRD
AND I WANT TO DO SOMETHING SPECIAL
SO
GIVE ME SOME IDEAS
It'll be for a special! It can be an AU, a parody, a series of drabbles, whatever. I'm saying this ahead of time so I can make it AWESOME because it's been TWO FREAKING YEARS since I've started this.
It's been a long time... And we're nowhere near done. I never thought I'd come this far or last this long, or even be this popular.
So
LET'S KEEP ON GOING STRONG