Chapter Forty-Six: The parting of the ways

 

Mizrahs POV

Nagy, Domino and Zidane had gone below deck, I couldn't believe the rumours I had heard, but judging by what I had seen it had to be true. Thunderchild, losing his mind?

"Stress shows itself in many ways..." Snikity had said softly as we watched the two genomes and Nagy walk below deck.

I sighed and shook my head, it was true what that Sam had said, there had been no winners in this war...we had all lost, no more so than the man with the blood of thousands on his hands. Would he ever be able to forgive himself?

Someone leaned on the handrail next to me, I turned to see who it was and saw it was Kitiara.

"I guess even heroes aren't infallable." she said after a few minutes.

I turned back and continued to look over the coastline as we made landfall.

"No-one is infallable Kitiara."

"I guess not."

A seagull wheeled past the ship and glided on the thermals alongside us for a moment before diving back down.

"I wonder what the outcome of all this will be?" sighed Kitiara.

"For us, or for them?"

"For them...for this world..."

I twisted a strand of my raven coloured hair around my finger distractedly whilst thinking, Kitiara had asked a question I had asked myself several times on this voyage back home, the answer was not that forthcoming.

"I don't really know...it was close..."

Kitiara nodded, her pale skin seeming paler than usual.

"I wish I hadn't gotten tangled up in all of this."

"I think we all do."

"Where do we go from here?" asked Kitiara, her eyes glazed over slightly, as though she was staring at something I couldn't see.

"Only one place we can go...home..."

"Home...I thought I knew what that meant." sighed Kitiara as she turned away from the hand rail and strolled nonchantantly across the deck, her destination unknown to all of us...and probably to her as well.

I stretched, nursing some aching muscles in my back as I did so, then I took a gentle stroll up to the bridge of the Red Rose, where I was somewhat suprised to see Beatrix, her head was bandaged up, but she was conscious and in command.

"Greetings Mizrah." she said, with a slight inclination of her head.

"Greetings, it is good to see you awake again."

Beatrix nodded.

"It is good to be awake again, although it feels like one of those nightmares you can't wake up from."

"I know what you mean."

"At least you can go home...for us citizens of Gaia...the world will never be the same again...the destruction of Treno was probably one of the worst disasters ever to befall Gaia in terms of life lost...I'm not sure how we're going to recover from this."

I patted her on the shoulder.

"But you will recover Beatrix...you will..."

With those parting words I went below to try and remember the way to my cabin, sleep was beckoning me at last.

 

Domino's POV

The world seemed so unreal as Zidane and Nagy walked me back to my cabin on the Red Rose, it was as though I was sitting on the outside watching in, life moving past me without any concern for my feelings, I saw crewmen walk past, some of them covered in oil as they moved from shift to shift, I felt the movement of the airship, slowly swaying in the turbulence of the coastline area...but I felt nothing.

Nothing but emptiness.

It was as though Reiganna had reached into me and torn put of me out, if there had been anyway I could have just returned to my original genome state, to just be a soulless drone, my god I wished that I could have done it. Having no feelings at all was better than feeling empty.

I said nothing as they walked me into my cabin and sat me on the side of the bed, Zidane and Nagy both asked me several times if I was alright, but I just made a dismissive noise, staring into the middle distance. In the end they gave up and left me be, gently shutting the door behind them as they left.

She said that it wasn't the end, that he would come back...but in the deepest recesses of my heart, I feared that he would never be the man I loved again...that knowing what he had done had changed things forever, but who was I to make such judgements on him considering the crimes I had commited.

I slowly turned around and laid back on the bed, just staring at the ceiling.

It was going to be a very difficult time...but...with the strength in my heart...I might just make it.

Failure was not an option...I had to be strong for him...I had to be there when he finally came back.

My life depended on it...on him...

 

Nagy's POV

"We'll stop off just outside the Evil Forest, and you can return to your Discworld...shouldn't take much more than an hour."

"I'll spread the word." I replied, before looking at something on the horizon.

"Is that smoke?" I asked, suddenly feeling concerned, we had destroyed Lawrence, hadn't we?
Zidane glanced up and then across at the map chart at the back of the bridge.

"Treno." was all that he said.

I walked across to the telescope on the bridge and swung it around to take a closer look. I couldn't see too much at this range but I could see a small swarm of airships, mostly privately owned, landed around the outskirts of Treno, other airships were in the sky buzzing around, a couple of warships hovered nearby.

I sighed, before looking across at the Illustrious, under tow on our port quarter.

"What a mess. I wish I could stay and help clear this up."

Zidane shook his head, sorrow in his eyes.

"No...your world needs you...we'll manage...Gaia seems to be getting used to war now. You wouldn't believe that we had a decade of peace before the Eidolon wars."

He sighed and looked away, I took the opportunity to leave the bridge and walk down below to find the others. It didn't take me long, they had all gathered in the mess hall. Kitiara and Xola sitting in the corner, both of them looking quiet and pensive, I noticed that they sat a little bit further away from each other than normal, Mizrah and my Snikity sat near the doorway, neither of them looking up as I walked in.

"We'll be going home within an hour." I announced as I walked in.

There was no response from anyone, I pulled a chair up to Mizrah and Snikitys table and sat down.

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this," said Snikity after a few minutes "But I'm looking forward to seeing Ankh Morpork again."

I laughed, as did Mizrah, even Kitiara and Xola smirked.

"I guess we've all aged a bit in this past few weeks, we've seen good people die...we've seen evil born...but we've also seen the eventual triumph of good over evil, with all the associated consequences of victory. We've fallen apart, drawn apart by the want for power," I saw Kitiara visably cringe as I said these words "But we've stayed together...and it will make us stronger..."

"I'll drink to that," said Mizrah, raising the glass of water she held in her left hand "and to him."

We all nodded, thinking of our departed colleague.

"To Thunderchild." we chorused.

 

The rag-tag fleet of airships split up near the ruins of Treno, the Lindblum fleet and Illustrious heading south towards Lindblum, whilst the Red Rose turned east for the Evil Forest and then Alexandria. The sun was just beginning to go down as the airship slowly touched down outside the forest, its propellors whirling slowly as a group of figures climbed down out of the air ship and ventured forth into the forest.

 

Domino's POV

We all gathered in the cave in the middle of the Evil Forest, I carried a vial of liquid Reiganna had given me before the incident with Thunderchild, I knew what I had to do with it, so I offered Ash, Jessie, James, Pikachu and Meowth a drink before they left back to their own world. Reiganna assured me that within the hour they would have no memory of even coming to Gaia...as it should be, it was not fair on such a young child as Ash to remember the hard times that he had been placed in, in a way I was jealous of them, being able to shrug off such hard times, I knew that hundreds, if not thousands of people on Gaia were wishing they could do same thing.

I bid them a fond farewell as they walked through the portal and left them with a warning not to return to Gaia, as I might not be able to protect them next time...not that I really protected them this time.

Then came the turn of the people from the Discworld...

"I wish that our visit could have been under better circumstances..." said Nagy with a sorrowful look on his face, as he put his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently before going back to stand with Snikity.

"As do I...here's hoping the next time we meet will be in happier times."

Kitiara and Xola walked up to me next, Kitiara going down on one knee, her head bowed.

"I beg forgiveness from you and your people for the acts I have commited...in time I hope that we will be friends."

I placed one hand on her head briefly and nodded.

"Time heals wounds Kitiara...even deep and bloody ones...time heals all."

She rose and nodded, even smiling briefly, Xola smiled too, her eyes sparkling as she shook my hand.

Then Mizrah stood between the two groups, and bowed to me, her raven hair cascading over her shoulders.

"In the behalf of the Discworld, we wish you thanks from the bottom of our hearts, and hope that this visit will be the first of many...in happier times."

I nodded and smiled.

"I look forward to seeing you again some day...soon."

"As do we."

I walked across to the portal and focused on it, and thought of the Discworld, this time there was no struggle, nothing resisting me, I presumed it was because of the death of Lawrence, and I quickly found the Discworld, this time it was outside a rowdy looking pub. I heard a small cheer from behind me, and as I turned I saw Nagy smiling.

"That's handy...right outside the Mended Drum...talk about time saver."

I grinned and patted the portal pillar.

"I guess this is goodbye...for now."

Nagy smiled and patted me on my shoulder.

"For now...for now."

Then he strolled into the portal, closely followed by the rest of the Discworld group, when they had gone through and I saw them reappear on the other side, I released the portal and watched it collapse in on itself. Turning my back on the portal, I walked out of the cave and joined Alex who was waiting for me outside.

"Is it done?" she asked.

I nodded and said nothing, looking up through the trees at the sunlight which tried to filter through.

"Let's go then." said Alex, leading me by the hand through the trees and back to civilisation.

 

Mizrah's POV

I shivered as I came out of the portal.

"What a ride, huh?" said Kitiara with a impish grin.

"Now what?" asked Snikity, as we gathered in a circle.

"Now I guess we go our seperate ways." I said, with a slight sigh.

"That just doesn't seem right...after all that we have been through, I would like to think it's brought us closer together." said Snikity. Nagy squeezed her shoulder and rested his head on her hair.

"We all have our seperate lives, but...that doesn't mean we can't ever meet up again sometime...hey?" said Xola

"Sounds fair to me...but right now...at this moment, the only thing I want to do..." I said, making them all watch me quizzingly.

"...is have a drink!" I concluded with a smile, pointing towards the door of the Mended Drum which swung on one hinge.

"Right on!" said Nagy, punching the air with his fist.

We strolled into the drum like victorious warriors, Nagy ordered the first round of drinks as I spotted a familiar and welcome face next to the bar.

"Heretics..." I whispered as I threw myself into the arms of my husband.

"Mizrah...I thought you'd never return...why didn't you tell me? I heard that Thunderchild had died...I knew the guy well, I would have liked to pay my respects."

I shook my head, and put my hands on his.

"No...he didn't die...it's a long story." I gushed, tears starting to form in my eyes.

"Hey Miz...hey...hey..." he hushed, cradling me in his arms, and in that safe environment, the safest I had felt in what seemed an eternity, and in his arms, I told him my story...our story.

 

Domino's POV

The Red Rose had deposited me at the tower near Dali, I had requested it, I left Zidane with the knowledge that I would return to Tantalus within the week, I just needed a little time to myself first, Sam had wished me well and told me that the Thieves Guild and Tantalus were to form an alliance, and the Thieves Guild would find a hideout near or in Lindblum.

I sat at the edge of the platform at the top of the tower and watched the sun lower itself towards the ground, the birds wheeling past on the gentle breeze, far away in the distance a small streamer of smoke marked Treno...or should I say, Treno's grave.

I heard footsteps behind me, without turning, I already knew who it would be...the only person who would come after me up here.

"Alex."

"Domino."

There was silence as she walked over next to me and sat down, dangling her legs over the side.

"It's been a while."

"Yes...it has..."

"You ok?" she asked, turning her head to look at me, I just continued looking straight ahead.

"I will be...in time."

She turned to look ahead again, watching the sun sink lower and lower, then with a smile she put her arm around my shoulder, I flinched but didn't brush it aside...I needed a friend right now.

"He'll be back soon..."

I turned and looked at her, and smiled...for the first time meaning it, because I knew that she was right...he was strong and he would be back soon, and I would be waiting for him, because he wasn't the only one who was strong.

I could be, and would be as strong as he, for in my heart, I knew no boundaries of my love.

 

THE END