Welcome to Gaia! ::

The little boy offered up a nod. He was very much okay, this was really a wonderful place after all. Surely she felt it to, the comforting warmth that said everything was okay, everything was safe and sound. And he was strong, the King had said so himself!

He patted her hair comfortingly, mimicking the head-patting he had received himself.

He moved among him, faces both familiar and unfamiliar, a black shape against the silver. No Voice to play them like pawns, no kingdoms left to war against, no prize to be won. Just... themselves.

"You fought well, Herald," Aymet spoke quickly before the former and once-again Silver Arynek vanished back into the crowd. They seemed happier here. "You should be proud of yourself."

"And he was a friend to me. A good friend, and a good soldier." The King grasped his hand and shook it firmly. "You were a worthy opponent, Night of the other place. It is good to know I have you by my side, in all worlds."

"You again." Whatever Aymet might have felt about this strange afterlife, it was clear that Amrita was not something he had expected in it. Guilt rose like bile in his throat. He looked away. "I am too late. The Voice tricked us all, and I could not save her."

"I do not have your friend, and I never did," he frowned. Even in the peace that came in the wake of accepting his inevitable end, the mentions of the other Aymet didn't help that much. Only one of them was real, and it wasn't the Shadow. With the power and knowledge he had from the lifetime in this world, the Black King would have been unstoppable in any. Revenge was a very dangerous element in the right hands. "But regardless, he is gone. Elsewhere. Dreaming no longer. I cannot help you. What of my Moon, my queen and advisor? Will you return her to me?"

"Though I suppose I should thank you anyway," he said with a dark laugh. "You must have been the true inspiration for the Moon I knew. You are still so much like her... or rather, she is like you. The stubbornness, the passion, sometimes lost but always strong. She may be gone now, but I will remember her, and if fate allows it I can Name her anew. Memories that we are, she would not have been mine without you."

"Of course," he responded to the not-Hermit, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Everything about him was a King, his design, his purpose, his entire self. He could imagine no other life for himself. "We all have a purpose, and that is mine. Or was. I shall simply have to find a new and greater one now."

For once he smiled, a whole row of sharp teeth. "And woe and misfortune upon all who stand in my way..."

He turned to Lumi again.
"No, but I-" But she wouldn't let him finish, her attitude making him smile despite the somber air about them. She went on to say that she didn't think she knew that, otherwise she might have remembered him. And the way she said it... It was a good thing... On his name he was going to tell Lumi that she meant something to him when he woke up. She needed to know, he needed to tell her. And, frankly, he wasn't too sure that he cared what she said in return, just as long as she didn't push him away.

Julian wanted to believe what she was saying about the tears, but deep down he knew it was a lie. She'd cried and he wasn't sure why. But if she didn't want to tell him, he wouldn't press. He wouldn't forget her, either, of that he was sure.
She kissed his cheek and rushed off before he could even say goodbye. Yeah, that was definitely Lumi.They both had a habit of doing that.

Sin's words stung a little, he wanted to tell her that it did matter. Sure, this world was created by a pitiful thing, sure their "lives" here were just made up, but these fragments weren't nothing. They were fragments, pieces of his friends. She wasn't Sin, but she was a part of Sin. And that mattered.
But she was moving away before he could say that and he wasn't sure... Wasn't sure he should follow.
At least... he hoped that she understood he wouldn't forget this, not if he could help it. Honestly, he didn't know if he wanted to remember but something in him knew he probably would. It hurt to think that, but he supposed that sometimes some of them had to remember, no matter how much it hurt to do so.

He would have said goodbye to Mort and told him how beautiful Om had been, said that he'd want to catch up with Belladonna on all he'd missed the time he'd been away from school, but he just... couldn't do it. He didn't do well with goodbyes, even worse than that, he was a bad reminder. He doubted Mort would see him as such but that didn't mean the thought wouldn't still be there.
Or maybe it was the ranger in him, or the shy nerd. Either way, he couldn't go over there. It was better to just... smile and ride off into the sunset, no goodbyes. Goodbye was too finite, too much of an end.
And there wasn't anyone else to say goodbye to, not really. He would see Alex and Sophie on the other side, he could get to know them there, if they wanted. He could always use more friends.

One small wave to Sin, his smile bittersweet as he did so. There wasn't any use in trying to make her understand, it would just hurt her if he kept pushing. Just a wave and a smile, as if he was just going on a little trip.

He caught Lumi's eye as he backed towards the pillar, gave her a little smile. One clawed finger touched his chest, then the side of his head, then pointed to her as he mouthed, "I'll remember you."
And like the champion he'd become, had tried so hard to live up to, he took his leave, closing his eyes as the white pillar drew him from this world, quietly and with no real goodbyes.

They didn't need to be said.

[End]

Vaska's eyes were locked onto his ponytail that fluttered lightly, the tips starting to fade, the strands starting to slip away... his finger tips were losing that lovely tan, the skin falling off like flakes of bark, and if he could see behind him, his little bone wings were losing their ends as well. They flexed slowly, in their natural habit, as his eerie dark eyes gazed at his slowly disintegrating hand.

So this was his end... he'd return to being nothingness. Or. Wait. He was already that.

Just a piece of someone else. Something else.

His emotions were no different than usual; placid, and unnerved. He had no goodbyes to say... no true emotions to feel as his body began to dissolve into the cyclones that surrounded him. He didn't panic, nor get upset... he just accepted it. A life of loneliness was possibly a good thing in this case. He had no worries or concerns of losing anyone, or having to watch them suffer, or wondering what might happen to them. No attachments, no links... He'd leave this world as he entered it.

Alone.

Lumi watched Julian from the corner of her eye. Frowning as he looked after her. She turned to look at him fully after Wilson's comment about finishing her goodbyes she couldn't help but want to run back to him. She wanted him to hold her until it was all gone but he needed to leave. Smiling she blinked back tears as she watched him fade, walking towards the pillar she reached out to where he had stood before dropping her hand.

"I'll miss you...but I'm sure she loves you."

It was bittersweet that he had to leave because she knew he'd have his friends back home. Hopefully the other her knew what she had.

Roch sighed and gave up on space. "Oh well, less bikes t'clean up this way, anyway," he said with a shrug.

Then he looked at them all. "Y'know, the guy I'm based on... I hope he has a damn good crew like this one."

Oh, she had found someone! Hmm, why didn't he see him too? Well, he had only been a part of the black kingdom for a short time, and to be fair he had also been completely distracted by the thought of more sandwiches and cookies.

Now he looked between Amrita, the black king, and the others that had seemed to find them. They were black kingdom too?

Rex scratched the back of his head, shrugged, then looked to Amrita expectantly. He had helped yes? Sandwiches now?

What a conclusion. What a life. Verusha couldn't help but chuckle lightly under her breath as she started to fade away, listening and watching those who were still mingling with each other.

There was sorrow... something she wouldn't have to deal with either. Her eyes closed, long lashes veiling those porcelain orbs.

"Alright then.. I guess this is the end. My part is done here."

With that, Verusha stood there, still, as her body began to return to whence it came, until there was nothing more of her.