Dracken and Brownbeard had made it back to Moonbrooke a few days later, Lily had been slowly regaining feeling in her legs and mobility was coming by much easier now. Though she sat still as Dracken placed his hands on her knees, magic flowing from him and to her. "I'm not sure what you did, but I can at least give you mobility for the time being, I think you're blurring the line too much for yourself, Lily." His white mask tipped up as if the monster was looking at the builder. "Malroth has been nicer the last few days, from what the others tell me."
"He has, yeah." Lily wiggled her toes then slowly began to kick her legs. "Thank you."
"Any time you start to lose feeling, let me know and we'll work on something." He stood and moved away from her. "We'll need to head out tomorrow, go enjoy festivities for the night."
Lily waited until Dracken left her alone in her room before she got up and changed into her dress. She would go find and talk to Malroth, see if she could see where his headspace was at. She walked outside and looked up, the sun was setting, and the others were readying the fireworks.
The builder stood next to the cannons, looking down at the battlements where she saw Malroth standing on his own. "He makes quite the lonesome silhouette, doesn't he? It looks like he needs a friend to talk to, I think." The King gave her a look that told her to go down to her friend. Lily nodded and used her windbreaker to quietly glide over. She landed quietly behind Malroth, though it wasn't hard since the fireworks were much too loud for her liking when someone accidentally set one off. She climbed up the few steps, taking pause when she heard Malroth mumbling to himself.
"Why did I say that to her? Why would I do that?" He gripped his face, growling softly. "Something isn't right… there's something wrong with me…" He flinched when he felt eyes on his back. He turned, frowning at Lily. "Oh. It's just you. How long have you been standing there?"
"Just got here, Mal." Lily took a step closer, frowning when he started pacing along the edge of the battlement.
"You uh… that Kazapple Cannon of yours is really something." Malroth stopped pacing and looked beyond the fireworks, at the cannon that soared above Moonbrooke. "Guess you won't be needing me around to beat up the monsters for you anymore." He walked by her, stopping when he was next to her, but not letting himself brush up against her. "You build this, I mash monsters. But you don't need me anymore – and I don't need you. Once we get back to the island, we can go our separate ways."
Lily stood there as Malroth started to walk away, her chest tight and lips pursed as she struggled to keep the tears from falling. She turned to the area beneath her, jumping down and setting to work on ripping it all up. Moonbrooke had no more use of this, but the Isle did.
When she was done, she was sweating, and the celebration was still going strong. She turned back towards the castle, seeing Anessa was walking towards her. "Planning on using those on your island, Lily?"
"I am."
Anessa put a hand on her hip, trying to calm her smile. "Are you enjoying the fireworks? Lord Jeremiah tells me he is saving the best for last, so it seems we still have quite a treat in store for us." She led Lily to the top of the gates, sitting down on the stairs off to the side where Lily hadn't rebuilt. "Let us enjoy the finale, hm?" When Lily didn't sit next to Anessa, the general grabbed Lily's hand, making her sit down. "Lily… this may be a time of celebration, but I cannot stop thinking about you and Malroth. I am sure he did not mean the wounding words he said to you. We all say things we do not mean in the heat of the moment." She leaned back as the fireworks seemed to calm down for a moment. "I am sure things will work out between you, but Malroth is a stubborn sort – you must make the first move."
Lily stared at Anessa for a moment, a small smile spreading on her lips. She wondered if Anessa knew the advice she gave before it came out of her. Lily pulled her legs to her chest, resting her chin on her knees as Anessa leaned forward, excitement in the way the general moved. Lily looked up as the sky was lit with like a kaleidoscope of fireworks.
Lily and her little ragtag team of fighters stood on the docks, the people of Moonbrooke were saying their final goodbyes to the friends before they would get on the ship. Lily looked over them all, making sure everyone was there. Anessa, Zara, Esther, Jeremiah, Gerome and Hayden. Lily was honestly surprised that Hayden wanted to come with them, but she couldn't deny him, afraid he would just stow himself away on the ship. She saw Dracken in his dracky form sitting on Malroth's shoulder.
"Long time no ocean, Lily! Are these the willin' warriors ye'll be bringin' back with ye? They look like fierce fighters to a man – especially this one!" Brownbeard laughed as he pointed to Esther. "They said this island was a forebodin' place where no man dares set foot, but it looks like that was all a load of old bilge!"
"Brownbeard, if it's all the same to you, I'd like to get home as soon as possible. And I'd like it even better if you smeared Moonbrooke off your map." Lily whispered to her captain before climbing onto the ship.
Brownbeard followed her onto the ship, his map out as he studied it. "Ya know… why's this an island in the first place? I always thought that Moonbrooke was on the mainland…"
Lily turned to Brownbeard, a look in her eyes. "That was the piece I was forgetting. Thank you, Brownbeard. Where I come from… it is apart of the mainland." She touched his shoulder before tucking herself below deck so she could sleep the whole way home.
"Oh, my! Look at this! It's a little dock house!" Anessa gasped as she stared up at the small house on the docks, it was a slight mess, but it looked homey sitting up high on the large docks with room for storage beneath.
"That's me home! Miss Lily built it for me, I don't like to go far from the ocean, you see." Brownbeard followed the others off the ship when he anchored. "Give Lily time to recover and she'll have you all sorted!"
Lily glanced to Brownbeard, smiling at him. "You deserve to have a roof over your head, Captain."
"LIIIIIIIIIIII-LYYYYY! MAAAAAAA-LROOOOOOTH!" Lulu came running over the docks, all but tackling Lily and Malroth, ignoring the pained whine and the annoyed snarl she received in return. "I'm so glad you're back! We've been waiting for over a year!" She pulled back, looking at the others from her small pile of friends. "This is who you've recruited to serve in Lulutopia's military? Half of them look like they're ready for retirement…"
She finally scrambled off of the two, not seeing how Malroth yanked himself away from Lily. "And what's with that grim and grumpy look on your face, Lily? Where's your usual sunny smile?"
Malroth let out a laugh as he walked away from the others. "This isn't my fucking problem, I'm out of here."
Lily went to run after him when Lulu grabbed her arm. "I get it now! You two had a lovers-quarrel back in Moonbrooke, didn't you?! Gosh, you're like children! What happened – did you make fun of his ponytail? Did he make fun of your pigtails? You shall have to apologize immediately!" Despite her words, Lulu didn't let go of Lily's arm. "After we take them to the Hermit!"
Anessa stared at the Great Sabrecub that Lily was riding, the small beast had come up and tackled her, rubbing those dangerous looking fangs against Lily's face as if it had missed her. "Uhm… Lily… that small beast-"
"His name is Salmon." Lily glanced back at Anessa, raising a brow at the general. "If you wish to have one, I can make a trip at some point to get you one, but they eat a lot."
"Well… my concern was actually that he's uhm…"
"On this island, it's Lily's goal for humans and monsters alike to get along!" Lulu chimed in as she walked behind Lily and Salmon. "I have a friend Chimera, she's the sweetest and takes me flying every now and again."
"A… chimera is your friend?" Anessa slowly looked back at her people, suddenly wondering what she got them all into.
"Welcome back-back-back, Lily! Take it these fellows are your…" Hermit's words stopped as he stared at Anessa. "Good-good-goodness me! What have we here? Who is this mighty, muscular, merciless-looking maiden?!"
To bring Hermit back to the here and now, Lily cleared her throat. "The King of Moonbrooke told us that our world is a lie, Hermit."
"Whaaaaaat?! Why would he do-do-do that?!" The Hermit disappeared for a moment, only to reappear next to Jeremiah who jumped away from the ghostly monster. "Wh-wh-what a load of pop-pop-poppycock! How could our world by anything but the truth-truth-truth!?" He disappeared again, popping up next to Esther and Lulu, Lulu didn't jump but Esther was suddenly clinging to Anessa. "The idea is clearly complete cod-cod-codswallop! And don't repeat it to anyone else – we don't want people pan-pan-panicking over these lies!"
Gerome held his head, unable to try to focus on the jumping Hermit. "Gadzooks! Will this glowing gadabout not sit still?! I am becoming quite dizzy…"
"Mister Hermit, sir. We of Moonbrooke seek your blessing to take up residence on this island." Anessa straightened up, a hand over her heart as she spoke to the monster.
"Why does everyone ask for my bless-bless-blessing, Lily? It is your island. But of course, if you ask me, I will say yes! We could do with a few folk-folk-folk as fierce as you!"
Esther clasped her hands together and sent a small prayer to the Goddess. "Lily tells us this land is threatened by the forces of the Children. Please tell us how best we can help in driving them away!"
"Oh, we don't need to worry about that anymore. Ever since Lily left, the monsters stopped attacking!" Lulu laughed, suddenly stopping when she felt the weight of Lily's gaze on her. "What?!"
"I'm back, you know. They'll only follow. Had it not been for Drac- Tiny… we would have been spotted by a ship of Hargon on the way home. We have to prepare." Lily scoffed as she climbed the ridge overlooking the temple. "Which way are we going, Lulu?"
"Cerulean Steppe!" Lulu was right behind Lily, pointed towards the mountainous area. "That way!"
The group landed next to the last builders slate which stood next to a large dusty field in the valley between the mountains. "We can make a castle here!" Lily listened to the others shout about things they wanted built, but she was too distracted by the fact that Malroth wasn't anywhere nearby. She closed her eyes, doing her best to picture what everyone was shouting at her. As she stood there, all that came to mind was Moonbrooke with it's tall walls and snowy fields.
"We can build that! Leave it to us!" Jerome laughed and ran away from the slate, the others of Moonbrooke hard on his heels.
Lily turned to look at what appeared on the slate, just seeing an outline of a castle with traps and snow surrounding it. "Guess I'll go… get a powie yowie…"
"There are some on Moonbrooke!" Anessa smiled up at Lily before she took off after the others.
"Wait… are they going to build a castle without… a blueprint?" Lulu turned and looked at Lily, frowning. "Will you be alright?"
"I'll be fine… I'm… I'll be gone for a few days… if you see Malroth, will you…" Lily scuffed her boot on the ground, a soft sigh leaving her. "Never mind… when I get back, just give me an update on the Isle."
Brownbeard frowned as he anchored at the small island, seeing Lily shuffle slowly off the ship. "Did Malroth not want to come with you?"
"No, we uhm… we had a fight. And I haven't seen Dracken since just before we docked at the Isle. I'll try to be quick; I just need to find a powie yowie." Lily whispered as she left Brownbeard alone on that small, ruined dock.
Finding a powie yowie wasn't hard, they were all over, along with a good chunk of Hargon forces. Lily managed to tempt one with treats before finding a hot spring. She gathered the materials and led the way back towards the ship.
The powie yowie lifted Lily up, putting her on his shoulder as he took longer strides than her, and the other monsters left him be. Even if they were glaring up at the builder. The two got back to Brownbeard who didn't even flinch at the large white monster. "All set?"
"Yeah." Lily looked to Brownbeard, eyes pleading with him. "Will you take a detour though?"
The warm breeze caressed Lily as Brownbeard docked at the familiar island, two people fishing on a hill. "Gillian!" Lily jumped off the boat before Brownbeard could finish what he was doing. She ran up the hill, throwing her arms around the purple haired girl. "Oh, Gillian!"
Finn gasped, running over to Lily and Gillian, who was struggling to get the builder off of her. "Wot's gotten into ya, Lil?" Finn wrapped his strong arms around the builder, patting her head when she nuzzled against him.
"Is it bad… that I just want to hide here with you guys?"
"Nah, ain't bad, sweets." Gillian put a hand on her hip and looked around. "I ain't see Malroth, though." It seemed to click though, Lily coming alone with only her captain while Malroth was missing. "Y'all have a tussle?"
"Yeah, something like that." Lily pulled away from Finn, smiling at Gillian. "I brought you a present though."
Gillian's eyes nearly bugged from her head as Lily pulled out the largest fish she'd ever seen. "Crickey! That's absolutely bleedin' massive! If I'm bein' 'onest, I never in a bazillion years thought you'd actually go out an' catch one. You was supposed to be me apprentice, but yer 'ead an' shoulders above me now!"
Finn was jumping up and down as he looked at the fish. "'Appy days, Lily! Wiv a fantastic fish like that in the tank, Gillian will finally 'ave the corkin' aquarium she's always dreamt of!"
"Eh… not quite so." Gillian put her hands on her hips, shrugging. "There's just one thing that ain't quite right. One final thing I need ya to sort out for me." She watched as Lily tucked the salmon back in one of her watery pockets. "Lemme start by sayin' I'm chuffed to bits wiv the King Salmon wot ya went an' caught. It'll be the 'ightlight o' me aquarium, no doubt about it."
She led the smaller female to the aquarium, jabbing a finger at it. "Just 'ear me out – 'ave ya seen the size o' that thing? Ya can't stick a fish that big in a tiny tank. The poor blighter won't be able to swim!"
"Oh, you want a bigger tank." Lily gave a sharp nod and turned away to get what she needed to build a bigger tank.
Gillian was leaning back, watching Lily build with awe in her eyes. She jumped up when Lily finally placed the large golden fish into his tank. "Blimey, Lily! That King Salmon looks right at 'ome in its new tank! This aquarium… it's exactly like the one I always dreamt of 'avin'… In my eyes, there ain't nothin' better than watchin' a gorgeous fish swim about 'appy as Larry!" She hugged Lily, keeping her arm wrapped around the builder's shoulders. "Thanks, mate. You've made a little girl's dreams come true. Yer a legend, mate. Guess that means you ain't me anglin' apprentice no more."
Gillian finally pulled away and walked over to the aquarium, put her hands on the glass. "There's just one more thing… ya seem like a lass 'oo's in demand at the moment but do us a favor – when you've finished yer adventures, I wanna see this island o' yours. Watchin' ya build got me thinkin' – I could do wiv expandin' me 'orizons! There's a world o' discovery out there waitin' for me!"
"Oh, Gilli!" Finn wrapped his arms tight around Gillian, lifting her up and spinning her away from the tank. "I been waitin' fer ya to say them words!" He kept a tight hold on the fighting Gillian as he turned to Lily, grinning from behind his mask. "Go fight yer battles, Lily. We'll be waitin' right 'ere fer ya to come get us to go back to your island."
"Thank you, guys. I needed this." Lily kissed them both on the cheek… and mask before dipping her head and leaving them to go back to Brownbeard and her powie yowie pal.
"You're back! Oh, wow! Powie yowie's are big!" Lulu laughed, clapping her hands. "By the way, I've been searching for Malroth. I've searched every square inch of the island, but there's no sign of him anywhere… But I promise I'll find him, wherever he's hiding! You should take your new pal to meet the Moonbrookians!"
Lily and the powie yowie made their way to the area with the people of Moonbrooke, they were just getting started on the base of the castle when Lily came up and guided the monster around where she wanted the snow to be, he seemed happy to help for a treat. She was about half way through when Anessa found her. "Lily! The snow fields are coming along great! Are you enjoying it?" When Lily only stared at the general, Anessa sighed. "I only ask because you usually seem so happy when you are building, but now, your face seems altogether more forlorn…" She reached out, her hand falling short of Lily when the builder leaned back. "You are thinking about Malroth, are you not? I too feel responsible for what befell in Moonbrooke… but at this point, we would only anger him more by confronting him directly-"
"Anessa, I can't even find him to talk to him directly. Now, if you don't mind, I've set out where I want the powie yowie to make snow and I'm going down to set up traps." Lily backed away before disappearing around the side of the half-built castle wall.
"Hnnnngh…" Malroth slowly began to lift his head, his eyes unfocused as he stumbled to his knees. He rammed his head against the rocks next to him. "What… what's happening to me?! Every time… she builds… something…!" He let out a roar as he clawed away his gloves and jacket, seeing how the green scales slowly traveled higher up his arms.
You have done well my lord
You kept the builder safe from harm as she
Filled the world with the power of creation
But soon, she will have served her purpose.
Soon, it will be time to end this farce.
"HnnnnnghaaaaAAARRGH!"
"Malroth!" Lulu panted as she ran up to Malroth, stopping half a step away from him when she saw the sickly green scales. "Malroth? Are you alright? I've been looking everywhere for you."
"…Lulu?" Malroth was panting, sweat making his skin slick as he leaned into the girl, his head on her shoulder. "I… I'm fine… I was just feeling a little… light-headed…" He stood up straight, rolling his shoulders as he did. "What do you want?" He jerked back some when Lulu all but exploded on him.
"What do I want?! I want to know how long you intend to hold this grudge against Lily! You two need to make up right now!" Lulu stomped her feet and puffed her cheeks out as she stared Malroth down. "What's the point of building our very own paradise if our friends aren't there to enjoy it with us?! Lily needs you, Malroth!"
"Just shut up, would you?" Malroth crossed his arms, glaring right back at Lulu. "Every minute I spend around her makes me angrier and angrier! I want to smash and destroy and obliterate until there's nothing left! I… I don't know what to do…"
"Oh, Malroth…"
"Lulu, tell me… can she and I… can Creation and Destruction ever really get along?"
Lulu stared at Malroth for a moment, her eyes burning as tears started to well up in them. "Malroth? I don't understand… you two have had so many wonderful adventures together. If that doesn't answer your question, I don't know what will." She reached up, touching his cheek. "I know that if you talk to her, she'll do whatever she can to help you. That's just how she is. She'd make you a whole world to destroy if that's what you truly desired, I know she would. You've always been there for her, right? I know for a fact she would love if you asked her to be there for you.
Such impertinence…
Let us end her life this instant, and be spared from her ceaseless prattling…
Malroth suddenly jumped away from Lulu, his eyes wide as he stumbled down the sand dune and rolled away from her. "Lulu get away from me! Don't ever talk to me again!"
"M-Malroth…?" Lulu rubbed her eyes and face, trying not to let her ugly sobs out. "What's gotten into you?"
Lily didn't register the rain that started pouring over her head as she set the contraptions she had brought back with her from Moonbrooke. At least, until she heard an all too familiar voice boom from above her. "Hey, man! You broke out of prison, man! That wasn't part of the plan, man!" Shane stood tall from his ship, glaring down at Lily who was now soaked to the bone. "And now you're back here doing the do again, man. We're not gonna stand for it, man. We're gonna have to teach you a lesson, man… all of you builders, and all the evil things you've built, are about to go down the pan, man!" He looked around her beach, seeing the traps she laid out. "I see you've lined up some of your toys on the beach for us, man. All the better to wham and bam – so thank you, man! You've escaped us once, man, but this time you won't get away! It's game over, man! Game over!"
Lily slowly started to back away from the ship as monsters began to climb down and head her way. She slid her blade from its home, slowly swinging it around to get herself used to the weight again. She helped defeat Atlas, she could handle these guys. If she couldn't, then she certainly didn't deserve to end up going against Hargon later on.
