Chapter Twenty-Nine - Requiem for the Past
Written and created by Ben Rivera
A few still moments were left as the duo of relatives continually stared at the sight in front of them. The Father of these children staying in his knelt position so he could stare at the children he'd aided in to breed. And all the blue-eyed son of that older man could stare at was the beautiful and wondrous sight of his gorgeous mother. Her eyelids closed over the stale palette of her pupils, the vocals shed emitted had begun to reverberate and echo against the walls of this physical piece of mind. The Emperor beginning to lean against the door as his arms crossed over his chest, the nostalgic feeling of being with his mother beginning to wash right over him. As she'd always sing when he was about 6, only to him,
"You are my sunshine... my little sunshine~ You make me happy when skies are grey~ You'll never know, dear- how much I love you~
Please don't take my sunshine... away~"
Though his brother and sister were here in spirit as spirits in the crib, they'd also existed physically in the real world outside the Emperor's memories. As both the Magician and the rest of their allies there attempted to jerk The Hunter with his younger Empress awake from their apparent comas, a vision was shared between the siblings. Not of the current experience he was ensuring at the hands of their annoyingly wretched manipulative father, but of the events coursing at the same time as this.
In the Voids of their minds, there it went, a memory flying out from his neurons to their own. Madi and Jason turned to one another in shock, comically pointing at the other as they jokingly said in sync,
"AH, UGLY!"
Before sharing a common chuckle, the female of the two-stepping closer as she held her stomach about to use his shoulder as leverage. Until... their eyes spread wide, pupils shrinking at the memory they'd received and though they recognized their brother's presence throwing this to them- oddly enough, this wasn't from his perspective. The way she'd passed, her head rolling off her shoulders so her open eyes would stare into the emotionlessness of her son's soul. None of them thought to think about the truth behind the situation. Of course, they'd been in shock- and it wasn't just those two. Besides the Triplets, there remained only one original member of the Protectors group.
Matthew Miller. And just like that, from the scene Madi had seen in the past, the Magician had been left paralyzed. His eyes gradually losing their color as the brightness of his aura- another piece of his soul had just then broken off. And though Ben had shed a tear for the girl he registered as the Godmother of his children, it didn't hurt to have another drop from his left eye.
Just like that, it was like a contagious virus that'd spread from cells. Previously believing he had no tears left to unleash, Emma noticed her uncle right across from her aunt. Holding his head in his hands as he began to sob, loudly as the tears began to leak out as if from a spill. That same person who'd always been running beside him, she always put him into check ever since they were young- the only girl he'd ever known that truly thought something of him.
Not a creep, not a pervert... behind everything, behind the disgusting mask he forced himself to dawn every single day in high school- she saw him for who he truly was. A father who'd abandoned him, his mother under treatment for lung cancer, Madi, emotionally distant, and Ben, depressed with their mother. What more could he do... but he knew now, she was so much more than just his 'Speedster Friend.' He fought against his other self with her for the first time. He even got her to smoke a cigar with him that one time they were on his porch for the old house. She was so much more than just a blonde speedster.
Ella Garcia was an amazing loving mother, a wondrous woman to have as a partner, and a caring friend who saw the good in people for who they were. And unfortunately, none of her best friends were there for her final moments, all they could do is sit there and grieve as their family comforted them.
On April 10th, 2057, The Thunderous Priestess, Ella 'Ellie' Garcia had been killed by the Demiurge. Then, her soul was put to rest and avenged; when her Godson had finally slaughtered his tormentor of over 21 years. Seeing as how the trio of Triplets were all resting, Jason and Madi now sitting up as they previously laid on their rears. That which remained was their youngest sibling, his sister about to touch his neck or temples to see what'd been happening. But the second she was about to do so, the metallic clang of the Android crunching against the dusty bones of the burnt alive entered her eardrums. Artemis continued to walk amid the corpses, the heat causing some of her skin to begin to melt as she snapped her neck in odd contortions.
About to lightly press her palm to the Empress's chest so she could step back and the AI could take it from here, even that action was too much for her. As she began to raise her head, shortened brunette puffs moving with her skull, Artie, with the face of their mother, gazed at the woman to her front... all of them discarding their tears. In honor of their fallen ally- the Thunderous Priestess. Emma had quickly gone to everyone, waving her arms over her head so the others could train their eyes on her. The second she had all of their attention, she cleared her throat and assumed command of the group of her friends, family, and students,
"Everyone! There's no one else we can fight, and we can't run away! This news won't take long to reach the rest of the world, and if my father's subjects learn of this- it'll turn into the same hatred of the Government from the masses! We split into groups. Matty and I will cool off the area. Bella will out any remaining fires. Since he and I can't cover an entire area, Hazel, Genny, you can absorb the energy from the fire, Mei, too. Lynn will rebuild the buildings with her metal manipulation and then Mei will help her. Mom... stay with Dad and them, please,"
Ceci gave her daughter a tight embrace, arms around her back and pressing the girl on her forehead. For just a moment, she took in everything around her- the memories of her youth. When she saw her brother sneak out with Celine, everything they did to isolate him, how he'd believed himself to be so alone that he turned to depression because of it. All of that had happened because he hadn't felt comfortable telling his big sister about the girl he'd loved. Maybe if she'd been there for him then, none of this would have happened- they would have been happy together.
But they were cursed, destined to be born to these parents who had the blood of such creatures that were fated to be the most dangerous in the multiverse. The Requiem Emperor of Time, her dead old dad. And not to mention one of the most powerful special-grade crystal manipulating women in the universe, able to crystallize and harden her blood outside of her skin so she can create anything out of the material. She couldn't change her bloodline or her family, she had to fight for them, that was her destiny.
She loved her mother and father, who'd been through so much... none of them could be blamed for anything they did wrong. Em gave her mother an innocent peck on the cheek, to which Lane-Rivera began to yank away from her neck. Rubbing her arms and then giving her a butterfly kiss then running over to her husband, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Sammy deciding to pat her niece on the shoulder. Turning her chin so she could face her, seeing the look in her eyes... full of hesitation. And it was okay, Kelsey took her hand and ran to help the area around so they could find survivors and rebuild.
Everyone ran to go toward their goals, Gen and Emma running side by side as they shared a look. Everyone ran ahead into the destruction with the smoke, embers floating into the air from the burnt ground. Meanwhile, with everyone in the crater depressed and otherwise, Matt slowly yanked his phone from his back pocket. After dialing her number, all he got was a voicemail, and just then it was frozen to an ice cube then crushing it in between his fingers so it'd burn and melt. Just then, a gateway spread wide in the world so August could bend and politely place the body of the Blonde Priestess onto the floor.
Jason opened his eyes so his extremities could spread apart from his optics, he ran over to her body. The Reaper stands over his uncle with his hands in the pouches on his pockets, wiping the corner of his eyes. Rivera announced softly to them all so they'd catch his vocals,
"We managed to kill that asshole... some shit happened, though. Azazel got caught up in the blast of the explosion he lit off. Luckily no one else got caught in the explosion cept for the White House. What's wrong with this idiot?"
Dropping the unconscious burnt Karlo so he could rest, chest raising up and down at a gradual rate. Breathing ragged, Jason began to raise his hand to the sky as his extremities bent, cracking them forward. Cecilia was about to go over to stop him as she took him by the wrist, the Hunter then lightly pushed her away so she could fall on her side. Digging his hand right into the center of Azazel's chest, then the moment the negative energy had pierced into the young Detective's center- it had transformed. The usual blackness surrounding the crimson vibrancy of his pupils had faded to a white snowy background.
Shifted exponentially and shaped into positive energy, the reversed negativity had healed his burns. Karlo gasped awake, coughing as he held his chest, inhaling and exhaling longly. Rapidly exerting bursts of spits, he spits out his tooth so it'd fly and burn onto the superheated circular piece of ground. August nodded at the sight, stepping down from the steep higher spot of the crater then pushing his sole onto the rocks.
"I don't sense any more attacks... we should give her a proper burial. Right beside Henry,"
Jason began to lift her body into her arms, head reattached magically to her shoulders, Ella was carried through a portal in space. Azazel sits up with Madi following Matt, Artemis rubbing her chin turning to spot August staring at the distance. Turning away from the portal so she could step closer and pat his shoulder, the Reaper then twisted his waist so he could meet her salmon-pinkish eyes for a moment.
"Is something wrong, brother?"
He carefully reassured his robotic sister with the hide of skin resembling his long-deceased grandmother. Patting her shoulder as he faced her then turning toward the front-facing sight of the still-intact city,
"Nah, I'm fine, oldie. We can't just have... we need Rosalyn. And not just her, we need to find Ryder Karlo,"
Artemis crazily contorted, neck-snapping back and forth in rapid directions as she heard the name of the former Outcast. From her forearm up morphing right into a plasma cannon, August gave her a flick on the forehead so she could pass out into his arms. Rubbing her back, he mockingly cooed,
"Yeah, yeah, I know it's sad. Alright, I need to find Alex- actually, Nah. Fuck, where's that old guy..?"
"Right here,"
"Wow, you do like making dramatic entrances, don't cha?"
August had never met this person, but he was sure that it was who he'd believed it to be. The second he turned around, relinquishing the hold he'd held on his android sibling then throwing her limp body into the still-open portal. Wiping alone curl from his white mop of strands out of his line of vision, there he was, the first meeting between The Lunar Outcast and the Requiem Reaper. Stepping closer so he could extend out his arm so they could shake hands, August flicked his leg back so he could stretch out his hand.
Expecting a sense of familiarity with the handshake, all the younger man was given was a simple look of coldness and isolation. As of all the happiness in his eyes had faded so long again, as if it'd never been there in the first place. Parting his lips, he hesitated, knowing what he'd wanted to say,
"I... I'm sorry. I'd-I'd just like to see my son, my daughter, I only have a few hours left. And I never got to see them..."
With the tears prepared to spill out from the corners of his eyes, both artificially technological and composed of flesh producing the transparent liquid. August began to shiver as he held his chest, clearing his throat and calming himself. Ryder Karlo. The same as his son, his fingers covered by skin shaking at a subtle rate, the same as The Detective's hands back in the coffee shop the day they'd met. The Reaper had one finger ascend so he could wait, the tendrils and bolts of emerald lightning consuming his anatomy to warp him away for a second.
A half-second later, Alex had appeared beside Hazel absorbing nearby lit flames- disheveled hair taken out of the usual professional bun. Lynn, using her manipulation and mastery of the metal around her in the destroyed apartments and otherwise- spotted Whitney and Ed manifest passed out on the bench inside of a rebuilt park. Widening her eyes at their abrupt appearance, she ran over to them, a beam of metal heading to crush Beau. Catching it at just the last second, he threw it back into the floating abundance of metal pieces telepathically attaching to the stream of materials. Turning his head so he could spot Sunni and her recently popped-up teenagers she was caring for.
August then rematerialized to the forepart of the eldest Karlo, stepping closer as he realized the hunched-over posture of the Reaper. Hands-on his knees as he put up another finger so Ryder could stay back, the white-haired felt the crunching of bones beneath his soles letting out another cleansing of his throat. Just like that, August stepped back into the gateway yanking Karlo by his arm so he could follow slowly...
Though he was second to the Emperor's son, the moment he'd come out, Aug moved away as everyone turned their heads. Except two. Azazel began tending to his sister rubbing her back, with her bent over as she puked onto the field of grass. Whispers of affection and reassurance entering her ears as his big brother began to help her with her abrupt sickness. Just then, near the entering gateway, August began to stand back, stepping further away from this scene hands in his pockets. And the moment his vocals had been realized into this world, the Ginger Lovers and the Fool Detective widened their eyes. They'd never heard him before, and despite that- they knew who he was the second he spoke.
Their eyes met. A mix of blue, red, and green intertwined in the wheels of fate.. the destined meeting. Between father, son, and daughter.
"Are you okay, my son?"
Turned around from the memory as the surroundings began to disintegrate to nothing but a distant memory of nostalgia, Ben sucked in deeply. The very woman he called his mother having her face fizzle away to darkness, the sand of the land below seeping into the fabric of his shoes. The World Tree's illumination began to light onto his rear once more, Ben facing forward as his father took a glide across the grains toward the entrance. Hands prohibited from the prying eyes of his Guardian father so they'd be engulfed and swirl up into the light of the door. The tendrils yanking them as they swirled around their souls to inhale them forward, the Emperor and the Hierophant were magically spat out.
The environment began to combine itself as the pieces began to place along with the tiles of the destroyed ground. The debris began to rearrange itself as Ben stood with an idle face without batting an eye at the sight in front of him. It'd been replayed a thousand times before in his mind before this point in revisiting it physically. As he began to take his hand out from his pocket, the shiver of his extremities began to surround the rest of his bones. Inhaling sharply so he could feel the chilly wind of the cold seep and send goosebumps up his nape, Ben's breath. The rest seemed like a blur, the past of his mother's demise, the truth unknown, playing out before him. He was silent for the rest, it seemed like it was mere seconds before the flash in time was over, and Uraku had been apathetic to it all. Stepping out from his position at the side of his son, arms intertwined and shadowed behind his heavy sleeves, he began to lecture, as all fathers do, good and bad,
"Don't you see, son? Who you truly are? Don't be what those things made you…! You're a good person, you tried to save Ryder, you mourned your son, you even tried to avenge your mother when you ambushed Heaven, no matter what you do, you always do it for the sake of someone else! So why go through with something like this… and affect the entire world just because there's no other way?"
But what did someone like Ben say to all that? This was his own mind, after all, why did he have to witness his own powerlessness, when he could control anything and everything, just as he was born to do, he commanded, just as he will his subjects in the New Era of Empires, his father to,
STAY STILL,"
Forced upon this action, his hands and legs were sliced right off as the chains popped out from the grains to pin him down. Unable to break free with all the might remaining in his muscled arms, there was no point in effortlessly struggling with nothing to reach at the end. Proudly raising his arms to his sides so he could loudly announce to his father with the happiest of grins, the Emperor's mischievous snigger never washing away,
"Don't you see it old man?!
THE FUTURE IS SET IN STONE- I AM THE EMPEROR OF THE NEW ERA! THIS IS MY JUSTICE—!!"
As he cried that to the skies above thundering and bustling with lightning in the clouds, the Requiem Time Bender began to raise his arms higher. Limbs ascending to the air so the beam of their bodies would respond, the shaky look in his pupils began to shrink...
As Yua Sakura walked down the streets rubbing her arms' sides from the abrupt chill, she'd spotted the unique vision of regular people walking down the street falling as they held their chests in agony. Their bones snapping unnaturally, Yua then recognized this.. it wasn't just that these people were dying; as she'd thought, their genetic codes were being switched. Their bones rearranging for the sake of them adapting to the new changes their bodies were going through. This wasn't just specific in Japan, though.
It was a global incident...
And all he could do is laugh at the sight, but as the forsaken Father stared up at his son, he could manage to pick something out from the way that his son was cackling. It was forced, and though the light from the World Tree shined onto his face, hiding most of his features, except his bright azure eyes, Uraku swore he could make out a tear streaming down his son's face.
To Be Continued.