TWs: Daddy issues, arguing, amnesia, a bit of blood, mention of body modification/mutilation, mention of dying/death. Stay safe :)
Silence took over the palace courtyard as everyone stared with wide eyes. No one spoke, no one moved.
'Did that really happen...?' Tord thought, his head reeling, 'It was that easy?'
"As for you, Laurel," John spoke, his head turning towards the blue-haired woman, "Don't think you're getting off easy."
Laurel blinked, tainted anger and shame evident as she averted her gaze, "Yes, sir."
Primis tore into Hellucard's remaining parts, eventually coming across the thing it sought. Its claw separated the small disc from the wires encasing it, holding it out for her creator to see.
"This is it." John nodded, inspecting it, "Thank you, One-One-Three-Seven. You're dismissed."
Primis whistled in response, going over to Bing's side, who took a step back. The drone hummed, nudging his cheek. The director sighed, holding Primis close, "Oh, you're back to normal."
"I have no idea what's happening..." Arthur whispered, grabbing onto Larry's arm.
"Edd saved us, Hellucard's dead, and I guess doomsday is canceled...?" Larry shrugged, looking around the scene.
"Where's Matthew?" The older tensed.
"He's fine- come on." Larry held his arm, helping him to walk forward.
"Dad!" Matt ran towards him, coming to a halt before him, placing a hand on his shoulder to let his father know he was there.
"Matt..." Arthur let out a breath, smiling. The younger wrapped his arms around him, hugging him tightly. Arthur gave a light chuckle, reciprocating the gesture.
"Larry!" Bing practically jumped on the other, picking him up and spinning around.
"P-Put me down, you idiot!" Larry flushed, pressing his face into Bing's shoulder.
"Yan, what happened!?" Katya shouted, looking at his foot.
"What do you mean?" The Russian asked.
"The slime- it can leak through nearly anything!" The ponytailed blonde grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to sit on a nearby rock, "How long has it been there?"
"I don't know... over five minutes?" Once he said that, Katya looked even more panicked if that was even possible.
"Kat-?" Kim furrowed her eyebrows in worry as she gazed at her wife.
"No, no, I can help Yan." Katya spoke aloud to herself, "We just have to hope whatever it's been mixed with hasn't infected his whole foot yet, or else..."
"Or else what?" Kim placed her hands on her shoulders, "Katya?"
"Oh, y'know... we would just have to cut his foot off before the infection reaches his whole body."
Yan blinked, looking down at his foot, "Ah, that's not good."
Edd examined the field, his eyes darting over the reunion with Larry and Arthur and to the rest of the group he guessed he was associated with. He recognized a few of them, most noticeably the person with caramel-colored hair kneeling on the dirt, digging his fingers into it. Steadily, he walked over and sat beside him, noticing the other's shoulders tense when he did so.
'Why is he acting scared?' Edd thought, 'He shouldn't be after everything he put me through.'
"Father," Mark spoke, glaring into the older's back.
"Markus...?" John muttered, turning his head, "You're safe."
"No thanks to you." The younger blonde rolled his eyes. John stayed silent like before, waiting for his son to finish, "Do you realize how much damage you caused? Not only with Hellucard or hell, the previous leader- do you even know the harm you put your family through- how much I had to go through?"
John was quiet for a moment before speaking, "Are you done...?"
Mark scoffed and turned around, "Duh..."
Once John realized Mark was about to leave, the former reached and called out, "Wait-"
Mark huffed yet didn't turn around to face him, "What?"
"I know I'm a terrible father, and I know I abandoned you and your mother without an explanation." John started, "You can hate me for the rest of your life, Mark... but just know I am sorry."
Mark looked at the ground, "Why- Why did you leave?"
"I left for your safety." John spoke, "The Black Army needed someone with skills like mine, and it turned out I was the only-"
"Bullshit." Mark shook his head, turning to meet his eyes, "I don't believe you."
"I don't expect you to."
Mark glared at him before storming off. John watched him leave, frowning.
The apparition flew around the palace grounds, seeing if everyone was alright and safe. He had already checked on Eduardo, the latter waving off his injuries as 'nothing.'
"But you got stabbed!" Jon had said, freaking out as he used a bit of his energy to press a towel on it and wrap the wound up, "How could you be such an idiot!?"
"Oh, I'm the idiot!?" Eduardo yelled.
Their small argument turned into ten minutes of arguing.
He searched and talked to the others around the yard and realized something.
'Where is You...?' The ghost thought, his eyes darting everywhere until they landed on a familiar ravenette, 'Maybe Yan knows where he is!'
He smiled before swooping down and landing before the two wives gathered around Yan. Katya seemed to be running a wet towel on Yan's foot, pressing into it with shaky fingers.
"Heya, you guys alright?" Jon questioned, standing to the side as he watched.
"Mhm, just fine, Jon." Katya smiled even if her eyes were wide and panicked.
"Need something?" Kim asked, furrowing her eyebrows as she tried rubbing her partner's back to reassure her.
"Uhm, I was just wondering..." Jon looked at Yan, who was already staring at him, "Have you seen You?"
Katya froze, and so did Kim. Yan, on the other hand, twitched. He placed his hands inside his coat pockets as he averted his gaze.
"You- he, uhm..." The Russian trailed off, watching the others all get along and check on each other, except for Tord and Edd, who seemed to be off in their own little world as they sat next to each other, "He's..."
"Dead...?" Jon whispered, covering his mouth as silent tears fell from his eyes.
"How-?" Yan looked at him, seeing that Jon was looking past him. Yan peered over his shoulder, seeing nothing.
In Jon's eyes, he saw the blonde. A fragment of golden light floated around Yan, almost as if it were attached to him. The light moved towards Yan's cheek, pressing into it.
Yan felt a sudden warmness on his face. His hand went up to his cheek, checking to see if anything was there, only to find nothing.
"Huh..." Yan peered at Katya, cursing under his breath, "Uhm, Katya..."
"Yes?" Katya looked up after a moment of silence.
"I can't feel my foot."
"Shit." Katya swore as she got up, "We have to get you back to base. Tord!"
The leader perked up, turning his head, "Yeah?"
"We need your car! Yan's going to die if we don't get him back to base soon!"
"Wha- Why didn't you say that sooner!?" Tord scrambled to his feet and threw Kim his car keys, "Don't worry about us; we still have cleanup to do here."
"Okay!" Katya helped Yan to his feet, wrapping his arm around her shoulders as she held him up.
Tord watched them leave, then glanced at the person still sitting on the ground. He held out his metal arm, "Need a hand...?"
Edd stared at it for a long minute before pushing it away, "I can get up by myself." He did just that, as well as wiping the dirt off of his coat.
They stood there quietly, staring anywhere but at each other until Tord sighed, about to speak.
"Don't." The brunette cut him off, "I don't want to hear excuses."
Tord raised an eyebrow, "What-?"
"First, you come back, only to betray my trust and blow my house up. Second, you take my friends and cat away from me somehow. Third, you took away the time travel device so I couldn't kill my past self. Fourth, we haven't spoken or even seen each other for ten years."
"Ten years- it's been nearly five years," Tord spoke.
"No, it's been ten-"
"Five years!" Tord affirmed, "I remember very vividly how I wanted you to leave the rebellion since I knew of Hellucard's weird obsession with you!"
"What...?" Edd looked lost as he averted his gaze.
"Yeah- we argued about it, we both said some things, we called off our engagement... and I regret everything about it." Tord crossed his arms, trying to appear smaller than he was.
All Edd could mutter out was, "We're engaged?"
Tord's eyes widened as he looked at the other, "Wh-What- Don't tell me you don't remember!"
Edd was silent, his face flushed as his eyes looked anywhere but him.
"You really don't remember...?" Tord's voice grew desperate, his eyes searching for any hint of a lie.
"I'm sorry..." Edd muttered.
Tord played with his fingers, pulling and pushing on his knuckles, "Don't apologize... I should've rescued you sooner."
Edd frowned, about to respond, when Jon appeared beside them, "Tord, I need to talk to you and the others..."
"What is it?" Tord appeared deflated as he turned to the ghost with tired eyes.
"It's about You..."
"What about him?"
"He's dead..."
Tord's eyes widened as his heart skipped a beat, "What-?"
"Dad!" Matt yelled from across the courtyard, "Are you okay!?"
"What's going on?" Pat rushed in to help, analyzing the scene.
"I don't know- he just started coughing blood!" Matt freaked out.
"Pau-" Pat glanced at his partner, who had already transformed into a beast, "We need to get him back to base. He might be bleeding internally, or he was somehow poisoned."
"He wasn't," Larry spoke, his eyes set on Arthur and refusing to look at Matt, "He's dying."
✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧NOTE✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧
Ofc, I update on Valentine's Day...
Because it's the day when I'm loneliest :)
And have nothing better to do...
Comments are appreciated 3