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At last, when Diyem was starting to give everyone the get-a-move-on look, he turned to Mia, and before he could say anything, her scythes transformed into hands once again, and she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She stood there, still, like that, for a few seconds...

Dave ruffled her mane. "If your dad approaches you for his thing and doesn't treat you like a fucking person, tear him a new one for me." He took a careful, steadying breath. "Goodbye, kid. I'm proud of you."

Dave blinked. "Yeah, wasn't planning on it." Stronger? "...Thanks." Dave sighed too, stepping closer and wrapping a paw around her. "Me too, kitten."

"Mozzarella sticks are okay," Mia said, tilting her head. "I like meat better, though. Maybe you can buy mozzarella sticks and get me something else. Like hotdogs." Dave chuckled. "Yeah. Maybe the two of you can have food while you talk about backup plans." Was Flesh... crying? Jesus. Shadow's...

A good dad? ...Sure. Let's go with that. Rocky winked hugely at Shadow and what the fuck had happened between those two when he wasn't looking. Even then... for some reason he didn't even understand, he raised a paw in a goodbye to Nate, too, before turning around. And there was Ionys and...

Dave hovered along the sidelines with Mia in vague discomfort. There wasn't really much point in big fucking goodbyes, was there? This was all about to be over. "I'm going to miss them," came a whisper. Of course Shadow chose to appear here. Of course. "You're kind of literally not," Dave...

Well, wasn't that fucking sobering. Dave finished the last of the calzone silently as Shadow pressed closer to Soda. He picked up a mozzarella stick of his own and raised it with him. "To bullshit battle culture. We'll see how it goes." <><><><><>

Shadow actually smiled back, miracle of miracles, ears perking. And then leaned into Soda's side, just to make it weird again. Maybe he was less like a kid and more like just a goddamn dog. "Yeah, well, I would say I'll miss you too, but you know. Memory wipe." Shadow's face fell, his ears...

Dave sighed, rubbing at his face. "I mean, it's not like he's evil. Some people's Shadows are running around as their 'dark impulses' or 'demon alter-egos' or whatever the fuck, but he's just..." He waved a paw vaguely at Shadow. "Pathetic," the other Mightyena suggested in a murmur. "Scared...

Shadow looked up at Soda. "I'm the part he hates." Dave snorted. "The part I hate. Right. Yeah, that about sums it up." "The part that's vulnerable. The part that feels things. The part that needs people." Dave rolled his eyes and stuffed another mozzarella stick in his mouth.

Dave waved a paw vaguely. "It was all a big thing about, you know, some shot-in-the-dark attempts to psychoanalyze why I'm not happy enough, and it's all a defense mechanism or something, and that's why I'm like this ugly flower that doesn't bloom, and sure, both flowers'll end up as piles of...

Dave sighed in exasperation. "Just won't fuck off," he grumbled. "And last time I talked to Owen he made a big flowery metaphor about why I'm a particularly trashy pile of ash, so that's how that's going." Shadow winced. "That wasn't the point." "Went to therapy, too. You know that? Fugu, the...

"My ki... oh, Mia?" Dave raised his eyebrows, shaking his head. "You'd have to ask her. Dunno if she's got any interest in staying in Telum. Hell, she's probably looking forward to finally not having any parental figures telling her what to do." He paused, looking off into the middle distance...

Dave took a deep breath and accepted the calzone, biting into it and chewing it slowly. He'd miss the X-Eye's food. You know, in the hypothetical where he wasn't about to lose all memory of it. Beside him, Shadow congealed out of the air, sidled closer to Soda, laid his head on his shoulder and...

Dave blinked. He hadn't really expected Soda to agree. Guess they were doing this fucking thing. He rolled his eyes after Maple, grabbing another mozzarella stick. "Fucking gods," he agreed. "Guardian of Telum with Flesh, huh?"

No more God Squad, huh. Small victories. At least Soda seemed happy about the idea. "By the way, uh, Soda." God, this was dumb. Why had he agreed to ask. "If you felt like warming up before we fight the Blacklight, Brisa won't shut up about this idea about getting me and Starr to fight you and...

Why was Maple looking at him? Dave looked away. "It does explain a lot, doesn't it." But really, Blacklight or no, when he'd asked Maple about Soda's story, her biggest concern had been his fucking privacy. She'd revived him after his biggest fuckup and immediately just offered him a fucking...

Dave sighed. "Look, just tell him you still trust him."

Was Soda just not going to say anything? Jesus. Dave looked at Soda and silently inclined his head towards Maple. "We will be," he said. "I mean, what do you think will happen?"

Dave glanced at Soda. "Well, we've been thinking it'd be good to have Soda along for that fight."