Chapter Seventy-Seven - Onward, Without Hesitation
Written and created by Ben Rivera
As the night began to fade and the sun began to rise over the horizon once more, a few hours had passed ever since they'd gotten onto the train together. Since they'd gotten on it late and were heading right to the end of the path, they had the car to themselves and played around a bit. A pile of cards staying in the middle as they all sat on the floor of the locomotive, Ben's legs crossed, August further away near the chairs with his legs out, and Alex sitting on the chairs upside down with his hair still in the bun. All of them examining their cards, their eyes meeting one after another, Alex on the far left, Ben in the middle, and August on the right... suddenly, the white-haired Reaper slipped a +4 color-changing wild card onto the pile,
"Color is now green,"
Announced the Emperor's son, to which Ben scoffed audibly, yet the others still unaware if he'd been telling the truth from that auditory display of dissatisfaction. With it now being Al's turn, he winced picking out one card in particular sucking in the air through his teeth flicking it onto the pile with a spark of white lightning for just a mile second generating from the speed he'd thrown it at. It had been a green +2 card on it, and just then- it was all riding on Ben. And so, he exhaled sharply, then smirked, Alex's hair moving irregularly like a gust of wind had thrown it back for August's eyes blinking to see his father stretching,
"Wait a second.."
"Alright, boys, sorry to say it but- Plus Four, the color's blue, boom, bam, skip August, skip Alex, reverse back to me. Color's red, Uno, Uno Out,"
First, a wildcard holding a +4 on it, the color was shifted to azure, then a 2 and following that, a 1, skipping August then Alex then switching it back to himself. Then finally- the suffering had ended with the color-changing, a 7 being slammed down and finally, August was given 12 cards with the final one being a wildcard. Just then... August and Alex threw their cards in defeat as Ben couldn't help but laugh at the younger boys taking all the cards to reorganize them and shuffle so they could play another round,
"And here I thought you wouldn't lose to an old man-"
He teased at them both to which August just rolled his eyes with Alex gagging childishly, even though none of them stayed it; they both knew he'd cheated somehow. Standing up to stretch his body for just a second and expand his joints, August raised his limbs into the air with a strong yawn- the rumbling of the train, he'd already come accustomed to. Alex then had the gull respond to that tease with a soft insult smiling for a minute pulling up his hood again,
"Says the guy that can't even decide to keep his glasses or not,"
"Good job, Al, you really got him there; critiquing his fashion choice when we were playing a game... like that makes any sense,"
Ben snickered at their childish banter, sorting through the cards as August prepared to sit down and go for another round satisfied with the interruption he'd made into Alex's comment. Who, might I add, had been grumbling like a child as he fixed his hair- and they went for another round.
Hours after that, The Emperor had been laid against the floor with his hands against his chest eyes wide open with Alex's head against the peak of the old man's. Patting his hands against his chest, bored out of his mind, August's head popped up from the ceiling abruptly now chewing on a chip. As he swallowed the remnants of the hardened snack, Ben felt the crumbs bounce against the barrier protecting his skin eyes closed compared to the younger man opposite to him.
"I got a question- have you ever cheated on someone before? Both of you?"
Alex thought back to his last relationship before Rose and Hazel, rubbing his chin and stroking the hairs right there for a moment. Searching his memories, he snapped and pointed at August with a new answer,
"Nope!"
Proud of himself for that, Ben shrugged with his shoulders rolling back and nodded, as if still ashamed of his past self for doing something like that. Raising an eyebrow, August immediately jumped to the conclusion that he'd done something to hurt his mother back home and without hesitation, went to chop at his head. Instead, the electricity from the invisible shield around the Emperor discharged against the fist of the Reaper so he'd hold it in anguish momentarily and step back. Popping open one of his eyes, Ben explained hurriedly so he didn't have to break his son's arm right away,
"Not your mother, August. Trust me, even if I did do anything like that, I'm sure she'd just wanna join in-"
The crudeness of his father's comment had sent August to facepalm and turn away from the man as Alex laughed loudly and Ben withheld the same chuckle. Whispering after his relative had stated that as he scrunched his nose with the tips of his fingers, "TMI, Dad... TMI," despite that comment though, having been reassured, the Reaper began to wander back to his first intended question. Sitting at one of the seats after already having jumped down and unattached his feet to the metal ceiling of the train- he sat at the seat and rubbed his chin.
"I don't regret it, of course, that's one of the reasons I hate myself but- I was young and stupid then. I can't stay on the past forever and if I hadn't moved on then I wouldn't have found your mother. I still think about that girl sometimes, I wonder if she's doing okay now, and if she ever healed. The thing is though, you're asking me about Celine, aren't you?"
Inquired the Emperor to his son, the representative of the World Arcana, with Alex listening intently to them both. Seeing this as his chance to get some parting wisdom before they would inevitably have to go soon and leave, Amara made sure to keep listening. After the depressing nod that came from the head of his son, Ben sat up and explained something about Celine,
"I'm going to tell you the harsh truth. I know you have this sort of feeling inside of you that Celine is waiting for you on the other side but... what if she's not? What if you get sent down to Hell or what if you don't die at all? Are you just going to stay hung up on the same girl forever, or are you going to move on? Plenty of fish in the sea, son, you just have to find the right one for you,"
August's eyes watered at the thought of it, not seeing her again, not being in her arms, and feeling the warmth of her body against his own. He scratched at his neck... he knew he was right, but that didn't make it any less difficult. Ben patted his son on the leg sending him a hopeful smile that screamed, "I believe in you," before going to stand up and sit somewhere else as Alex put up both thumbs giving off a goofy grin to his mentor. Fiddling with his fingers after sending back a somber snigger to them both, the young Reaper sighed, as if twiddling his thumbs like a child. He thought back to the time when he first came back, and how he'd believed to have moved on from her with that scarf, now.. he didn't even know where the scarf was. He pulled at the collar of the suit with tears building up in the corner of his optics before leaning back.
One way or another, everything had to end and nothing lasts forever. That was the way destiny worked, the way God had intended it, and all of them agreed, no matter how horrible and malevolent, contradictory and hypocritical He was... He did make something so beautiful.
Finally, they'd arrived at their destination, and just then, as Al stretched and August cracked his back- Ben stepped from in front of the station parked there made of metal and glass. The rumbling of the train had meant it'd completed its path, sinking into the ground below so the metal would take it apart, the Android conductor gave a solemn goodbye to the trio on their journey to the unknown.
August and Alex waving back at him, they both commented like idiots as the patch of green had them mechanically been moved to disguise the field with more blades of grass. Stepping in front of the corner of the station they'd been dropped off at, Ben was nowhere to be seen- their eyes looking for their elder guide. Just then, they caught his location and didn't need to exchange words, they looked at one another and ran toward him on the steep hill of bright green. Skidding to a grinding halt at the peak of the high ground, the wind began to push against their faces, the distant running of the stream nearby with the birds chirping in in the distance overhead.
It was truly marvelous.