Prompts:
21. Never Again
22. Online
23. Failure
24. Rebirth
25. Breaking Away
"Never again," Fusoya declared, watching Zemus slumber in his prison. "We must leave this planet so Zemus can never sow his hatred and destruction. The natives are too primitive to resist."
"They can be taught," Klyua countered, calmly. "With the gift of our technology, they can work together to fight against Zemus or any other alien threat."
"No," Fusoya protested. "We put them at risk by staying."
"We owe them our protection," Kluya said.
"We owe them nothing!" Fusoya snapped, sharply.
Kluya smiled, grimly. "It isn't the humans we need to worry about Zemus corrupting."
Fusoya scowled but said nothing.
"The Lunar Whale is online," Fusoya announced, reluctantly. "Kluya, is there no way I can convince you to leave the Blue Planet alone? We can search for a better planet."
Kluya ran a loving hand down the piloting console. "No," he answered. "Instead, come and explore with me. Meet the inhabitants and learn more about their culture and customs. You will love it."
Fusoya frowned. "One of us must watch over the others."
"Of course," Kluya agreed, quietly. "You do our people a noble service."
Fusoya forced a tight smile, pretending he could ignore the growing shadows of his resentment.
Kluya was dead.
Fusoya knew Kluya had two children with a woman from the Blue Planet but never met his nephews. It would have been easy enough to find two newly orphaned brothers, but Fusoya did not even look.
Instead, Fusoya hid the Lunar Whale in the ocean outside Mysidia, then returned to the moon, prepared to forget the Blue Planet and the tragedy it had brought him. His nephews would grow up with the planet's natives, not knowing about their otherworldly parentage.
It was for the best.
Fusoya hoped Kluya would forgive his failure, knowing he didn't deserve it.
When Fusoya saw the paladin enter the Lunar Palace, he thought it was Kluya. Was it a Revenant, raised by the unholy magic of Mount Ordeals, here to seek vengeance? Or was Kluya alive again, rebirthed through sheer willpower, here to do what Fusoya could not?
Fusoya watched the paladin move uncertainly through the Palace. This was not Kluya, Fusoya realized with relief. But who else could it be, looking so much like Kluya in his youth?
Realization slowly dawned, and Fuosya then knew who it was. Burying his shame, Fusoya called out to Kluya's son, "At last, you've arrived!"
The moon shuddered as it broke away from its orbit, drifting toward the endless black of space.
"Are you sure?" Golbez asked – no, it was Theodor, Fusoya reminded himself. "Is this the right choice?"
"As long as there is darkness in the heart of men," Fusoya quoted Zeromus' ominous warning. "We must wait, and sleep, for men to fortify their hearts against the temptation of darkness."
"The Blue Planet may never be ready," Theodor said quietly, his face lit by the glow of the Crystals. "Will we sleep forever?"
"Perhaps," Fusoya said, hoping they'd never return to this terrible planet.