Aphelion touches down right outside Nova's village, and the sight within is downright chilling. The villagers are still as statues, yet still active, waiting for orders that'll never come. The markazian keeps her gaze to the grass, face hardened in deep thought, and it isn't until Al touches her shoulder that she allows herself to breathe again. "Don't worry, I can fix this," he gently reminds her, and he's rewarded with a quiet nod.

…

Hours have passed, and Nova watches from beside Al's console as he continues his work to restore the villagers one by one. "Thank you, Al. For everything, truly."

"Ah, it's nothing a genius like me can't handle. You've given me challenges worthy of my skills, more than I've had in a long time!"

"Still, I feel like I should pay you back in some way. Can't do that until the bakery opens again, though. Hey, what if you use the bakery to advertise the Roboshack?"

"Sponsorship? That works for me."

"Consider it done. On the subject of this," she gestures to the situation, "I have to ask, what about the other creatures?"

"Well," he begins rather bluntly, "I'll need to frame up a tower to send out a signal that'll reverse the effects from afar, or at least prevent further infection. That should take care of the local wildlife, and the PDF will deploy satellites that'll reverse anything outside of our perimeter, or anything in this quadrant. Thanks to Nefarious back in the day, there's plans set in place for these sorts of things. Instinct should take over for the rest as far as going back to normal behavior, but people like us need a bit more of a personal touch in reversing biobliteration. A lot more complex memories and behaviors to keep intact."

"I see. Do your thing, but something temporary's fine. Anything more permanent, the elders won't want up any longer than it needs to be. If they give you trouble for the tech let me know and I'll speak on your behalf, but my village isn't quite as strict as others on that stuff. We've had Grummelnet vendors for trading purposes, so I don't see them fussing too much."

Clank watches from afar as the two of them work, and a wave of stress melts away from him. It's over. Nefarious is gone, at least for now, and he can focus on his own promise to help repair things here.

"That should do it," Al smiles to his current patient. "Considering my work has always been top notch, you shouldn't have any side effects worse than a slight headache and dizziness. Don't operate heavy machinery for at least twenty four hours, and let me know if your condition changes. Take care!" The fongoid happily waves back to his savior, and meets up with the rest of his celebrating friends. "Alright, that's the last of the villagers. All that's left are you and Nova's parents," he tells the metal markazian.

"Good, I can't wait to be myself again," Saros sighs, a deep wave of relief finally washing over him. "Thanks for letting me help out with this, by the way. I wanna help make this right, and I gotta admit it's nice to see what I'll go under before it happens." His fingers trace the strange looking device mounted above him; it almost seems inspired by some old sci-fi holofilm's ray gun tip, with silver rings and a bright green antenna pointing towards the patient.

"Guess it's your turn now," Nova gestures towards the spot he should stand in.

"I'd rather your parents go first, if that's fine."

"You sure? I wanna see my parents, sure, but you can go first if you want; I know you've got to be ready for it."

"I am," he confirms. "Rather let you guys reunite first. Not like I'll have to wait long."

"Thank you, Ross. I'll bring them in." It feels so bizarre to lock their arms together and gently urge them forward, placing them one at a time onto the 'X' marked on the floor like posing action figures on a shelf. Shaking her head, Nova decides to push away the thought, to simply focus on the task ahead and fix this mess.

"I'd move your dad," Saros suggests. "If it's anything like mine, your mom won't have any memory of her time under Nefarious."

"Oh, right," Nova agrees. "Don't wanna scare her by making her see him first-thing. Could you move him back? Thanks," she adds, watching her friend do just that.

"Speaking of memory," Al interrupts when he returns, "If there's anything you want me to remove, Saros, I can. At least, while you're still in this form."

"Remove memories?" Nova asks, intrigued by the concept.

"Yes; in this form, memories are stored in a more computer database-like state. Files can be altered, viewed, copied, or removed entirely."

"So you can remove it? All the trauma of Nefarious gone, just like that? That's amazing, I have to admit I'm a little jealous."

"Hold on," he argues. "I don't know if that's a good idea. I don't want to throw anything off memory-wise, and I don't want to go back to how we used to be."

"Oh, right. You make a good point."

"But, I gotta admit that I'm curious about Nefarious' reasons, you know? Why go through all of this trouble? What about you?"

Despite her best judgement, she can't help but be intrigued. "I gotta say, I am a bit curious. You still have intel on him?"

"Al can pull screenshots, records on his script and his notes. Didn't have time to read much, but I did get some. Maybe I got more than I think and didn't pick up on it at the time."

"Alright! Maybe we'll learn something, but we can go through it later. I wanna focus on rebuilding for now."

"Sounds like a plan."

Nova then smiles, turning towards the task at hand. "Your turn, Mama. Talk to you soon." Squeezing her mother's hand, she backs away and watches Al's machine work.

It only takes a moment, and Corinne opens her eyes for what feels like the first time in a long time. The first thing that meets her eyes is a wide, toothy grin surrounded by a much, much shorter fluff of curls than she remembers. Her hands shake, gently framing her daughter's cheeks and brushing a curl from between her eyes. "You're alive! Oh, sweetheart, we thought we'd lost you! Wait, where's your dad?"

"Same here," Nova mirrors, her own voice cracking just as much. Then, ever so gently, she wraps her arm around Corinne to lead her out of Al's space. "Let's wait out here, okay? Dad should be out really soon."

"What happened?" The mother groans to herself, rubbing the space between her eyes with her fingers and rubbing her face. "It's like my brain is underwater, and I can't remember much after your party."

"I'll explain what I can later; for now, just rest, alright?"

The mother then blinks, getting a closer look at her baby who wears an armor she's never seen before, and seems to stand straighter and prouder now. She almost speaks on the matter, but as her name is called from behind, James runs over towards them and sends all of them crashing down into a tight hug.

There's relieved sobs and muttering from all parties that Clank can't help but watch fondly. "It is good to see them together again," he tells Al, who'd moved to his side to see what all the commotion was about.

"Yeah," he agrees, pulling out his data pad and showing off the results. "For those two, it's a complete, 100 percent reversal." Nova's mom cradles her face, and the two of them check their baby for any injuries and have by now settled down a bit. "It's like it never happened at all."

"Alright then, your turn. But first…" The tech wiz mumbles to himself while furiously tapping on his keyboard. Then there's a short ding, not unlike some kitchen appliance, and he procures a flash drive. "Here we are; one copy of every file in your brain with Nefarious' name on it. Ready?"

With a nod, Saros steps into place, closing his eyes as Al pushes the button. There's surprisingly very little pain or discomfort as the whooshing sounds of the ray gun gradually warm up once more. In fact, it almost feels as if the metal is washing away like soft rain on his skin.

Wait.

Skin.

A pure joy fills his heart, the heart he can feel beating again. He takes a breath, and realizes that he can smell the humidity of the jungle, and the soot and dust of the village temple. He doesn't dare to move, or laugh, or cry, until the machine comes to a complete stop.

He touches his face, and allows the joy of being alive again to wash over him, to finally be free again.

"Thank you Al! Oh, you're a genius and a saint!" It intrigues him, however, that Al doesn't return the joy; not exactly. "Is there..is there something wrong?" To his great relief, the hum the mechanic gives off isn't a dull one; rather, a light and curious one.

"Interesting….According to my scans, you're 100 percent organic again."

"But?"

"There's the tiniest dot of metal, right there," he shows Saros on his tablet screen. In the hippocampus of your brain."

"The what?"

"The part that controls emotion and memory. Now, I've analyzed the device, and what I could salvage from it's code explains how it managed to hack your brain. And the code for your biobliteration seems more complex than the average fongoid's, or Nova's parents, even. It seems almost personalized to you, and it takes in data from that chip. Did you wanna hear it?"

A biting curiosity gnaws at Saros' gut, and despite his better judgement, it does sound interesting. "Sure, tell me."

"It seems to rely on isolating specific emotions, and amplifying them in accordance with suggestions or orders from Nefarious. Seems unstable; experimental specifically, as if all the bugs weren't tested out yet."

"Makes sense; I had a crush on her, and that's what the Doc targeted. That explains why I was part of the script. He said something about testing implanting memories, I think. The earring must have inserted it."

"If I may," he says, putting the work away for a moment, "I'd like to study the code further. I know you've got things to do, but stop by the garage sometime!"

"Yeah, sure. I want to make sure that this is over. One hundred percent over."

"I think you're good on that," Al assures him. "The device is completely inactive. Probably shorted out from the Zoni charge you took. But there's nothing organic for it to turn back to; it's an installation."

"Meaning your scanners didn't see it, so it's there unless I remove it through surgery?"

"Yes," he confirms. "Or we re-biobliterated you and took your cranial circuitry apart piece by piece to find and remove it, but I don't blame you if you never want to be robotic again. It looks like the chip is completely dead anyway, and a clean installation, so there's no risk of infection; It's already healed. Nothing to worry about."

"Really?" Raising his eyebrows at the close call, he shrugs, allowing himself to stick his hands in the pockets he has again. "Hell, I'll take it."

James' hand hovers one of Nova's cheeks, the side once cut by Saros' knife, although he'd never know it from the lack of a scar. "We're so glad you're alive! When Nefarious shot our old ship we were worried you didn't make it out of warp."

"The Zoni, dad," she explains. "They helped me. I jumped all the way to Terachnos, and I crashed, but They protected me. And Mama," she says, showing off the harness that now lies over her chest, "I know everything now. I found him. Or, well," she shrugs, "He found me."

Corinne follows her child's eyes and finds Clank himself, whose yellow arm politely waves to them. The image seems vaguely familiar, and only in this moment does it occur to her why. "I knew you would, sweetheart." Upon recognizing the question about to come out of Nova's mouth, she clarifies. "The day you were born, I remember sleeping more soundly than I had in a long time. I remember having this dream, where a chorus of voices showed me this moment right here, seeing your friend there. That chorus, the Zoni, They told me one day, he'd bring us together again after a celebration goes wrong."

Nova blinks, not expecting to hear such a thing from her. "Wait, the Zoni have talked to you too? I guess that makes sense," she then decides, "With Them helping you a long time ago and all. But why didn't you tell me? I could have prepared for Nefarious, I could have-"

Shame fills the mother's eyes, and she sighs. "I know. You'd have done everything you could, but it wasn't your time. Not yet, and that's not your fault. And that's why I'm so, so incredibly proud of who you've grown to be." A stray curl is brushed from her daughter's face and tucked behind her ear. "I couldn't tell you for the same reason the others couldn't explain; to protect you for as long as we could, until the time came where you left Quantos."

"The original plan was to give you the bag we gave you before, the day after your birthday," James explains. "We were going to have the elders contact the Zoni, try to find Clank. We were going to tell you that there was someone waiting to meet you. Someone important, and you'd know them when you saw them. Nefarious just...pushed you out the door a lot harsher than we planned."

Nova breathes in, trying to take in the information and think back to that moment, and it all feels like a lifetime ago. She recalls the panic in their eyes as they shoved the bag in her hands, thinks of the way her hands trembled under it's weight. The scene then shifts as she imagines the original plan, and how that might have turned out. "I would have been so excited," she chuckles. "I would have been so happy to go out and find my own answers. I kinda hate that it was kept such a secret for so long...but it's a bit of a comfort to know that you actually were gonna tell me eventually."

"Speaking of," she says with a lighter tone, backing up out of the hug and looking around to find her companion once more. "Where is Clank? I'd love to-"

She could almost sense an unnatural attunement to her hearing, and very suddenly. A sort of bright outline of a perked lombax ear surrounds her own as the sound of a distant starship engine whirring to life distracts her, and her heart completely drops.

"What?"

Recognizing that look, Corinne taps her shoulder with an encouraging smile. "Follow him." James nods in agreement, with a grin of his own.

"B-but, Aphelion's parked miles away, I'll never make it!"

"You're an Albedo," she counters, "And we Albedoes thrive on the impossible. Now go!" As her mother gently shoves her forward, Nova stumbles as she takes a few steps, still looking back.

"I-I'll visit, I promise! I'll tell you everything I've been up to!"

Corinne cups her hands together, making up for the distance between them. "We'll be here! Tell us later! You can make it!"

The young woman starts sprinting, waving back a breathless "Thank you! I love you!" as she makes her way towards the sound.

Only then does Saros introduce himself to them. "If you'd like, I'm happy to fill you in on what I can."

"Who are you?"

"A friend of Nova's."

…

Cutting through the trees, Nova ignores the leaves and twigs sticking to her hair. Over the sound of her footsteps and hurried breath, she can hear Aphelion shift into another gear. It's still too far, but she's still got time! She has to have time. The hoverboots roar to life, and the young markazian ignores the brush scraping against her at much higher speeds.

The trees then disappear, in favor of a fast approaching cliffside. In the distance, she sees Aphelion down below, slowly hovering upwards, and she overclocks the boots.

Clank grips the controls, taking one last look at the path to the village. 'This is for the best,' he'd decided, although thinking about her likely reaction to being left here makes him unsure. He then thinks of the look on Nova's face when Nefarious used his own words against her, and thinks of this village. Her home; where she was born and raised, and where she was supposed to be before Nefarious-

There's a sudden noise he doesn't expect, and it's coming from outside. From outside the moving ship and it seems to be coming from above.

The warbot opens the cockpit wide open, and sees what it is.

"Clank!"

Nova's arms are spread wide, and that intense focus he's come to love and respect meets his eyes-

And she's also falling straight towards him.

"Nova?!"

Without a moment's hesitation, he punches a button on Aphelion's console that launches him upwards, and they reach for each other's hands. They manage to connect, meeting face to face as they continue to fall. "What are you doing?! You would be safer here! This is your home! Why follow me, after everything that has happened to you?!"

Nova simply grins wide enough to stretch across her face and squint her eyes, raising her voice to project over the wind. "Because I promised myself a long time ago that I'd protect my home, no matter what!" The markazian pulls him closer, placing her forehead on his. "Clank Apogee, you're my home!" With a flick of her wrist, she clicks him onto her back; on command he activates his helipack, lowering them both into their respective seats.

Wrapping her hands around Aphelion's controls, she looks over to her partner. "And don't you ever forget that."

A wave of relief washes over Clank, one that feels as if all is finally right in the universe; his universe, at least. Placing a hand on hers, his eyes brighten enough to give the entire ship a warm, green glow. "I never will," he says, before leaning back into his seat to get comfortable for the long drive home.

Saros pauses in his explanations, just long enough to look up to the skies and smile, seeing Aphelion disappear into the distant stars.