Destiny Village ~ Central Crossroads

[Dragonfree]

"I mean, you of all people would know you really don't want to get possessed by the Blacklight. You were fucked up about what it made you do for weeks." Dave chewed on his mozzarella stick, glancing at Soda. "You said you wanted to make up for it. Help clean up the mess. Right?"

 

[Namohysip]

That seemed to get to Soda quite easily, perhaps because he'd been thinking the same thing. "Y'don't think it's too early for me to get trying with that?" he asked, glancing away. "For all I know, there's still a little bit of it in me, or something, that nobody detected..." He sighed. "I... yeah, whatever, I want to help, sure. Just... don't know if they'd want that."

 

[Dragonfree]

"Who's they? What, Maple? Pop? Look, we can take whatever precautions. Breaker can check you out for anything suspicious. Hell, I can sniff around inside your head again if you want. For all we know anyone could have a secret Blacklight fragment in them, not just you. Apparently fucking Kyurem did. We'll probably want to double-check everyone."

 

[Namohysip]

Soda looked away. "They checked. They didn't find anything. That..." Soda sighed. "Fine. I'll help. If you think Maple would approve of it, or whatever... Look ,I haven't even talked to her yet. I don't know how to talk to her. Not after..."

 

[Dragonfree]

Fuck. Dave sighed, rubbing his face. "Look, you want me to come with you to talk to her?"

 

[Namohysip]

Soda hesitated again. "Yeah, I guess," he said. "I don't..." He grumbled again. "Fucking, I thought I'd be over getting nervous when talking to someone about... stupid shit I did, or whatever. Not that this is the same or whatever, but..." He shook his head. "Fine. Let me text her."

 

[Dragonfree]

Dave exhaled through his nose as Soda picked up his badge. "What could Maple say anyway? She tried to kill us while corrupted. Joule fucking did kill us, and they're still happily married, or whatever they are."

He stuffed another mozzarella stick into his mouth. Took a breath. "Look, just... I'd be very fucking surprised if she held it against you."

 

[Namohysip]

"Mmf." Soda finished texting and turned his badge off. "I get that. Still, it's one of those things where even if you... look at it from far away, you can still blame someone when you're in the thick of it. I guess. Not like I've never been there..." He glanced away. "Can't blame me for being nervous when she can--"

"You needed to ta--"

"--FUCK!" Soda threw his mozzarella stick in the air and it landed perfectly on Maple's head. She had emerged from a portal next to him.

"...Hello," the Smeargle greeted.

 

[Dragonfree]

"You've got..." Dave mimed brushing something off his head. And then half-wished he hadn't. Imagine this whole conversation playing out with Maple having half a fucking mozzarella stick sitting on her head.

 

[Namohysip]

Maple blinked, bringing a paw over her head before finding the stick. She pulled it off, inspected the cheese, and then glanced at Soda.

"K... keep it," Soda mumbled, grabbing another.

"Well," Maple said, performing an odd motion with her hand that made the stick disappear, "what did you want to talk about?"

 

[Dragonfree]

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

 

[Namohysip]

"Against the Blacklight?" Maple asked, looking Soda over, considering it. "Hmm... He is familiar. He knows how to fight." Maple glanced at Soda and they briefly locked eyes. It didn't last long; the Zoroark looked away quickly. "And I can tell," she said, "that he wants closure." She nodded. "You have my blessings, Soda. I won't stop you. But, please... be careful."

 

[Dragonfree]

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?"

 

[Namohysip]

Maple shook her head. "That's just it. We don't really know."

"And..." Soda finally found his voice. "And you're fine with that. With me going."

"No, not really," Maple said, "but I understand that you want closure for this. Just... be safe. Will you?"

"...So you're not..." Soda looked like he wanted to say, 'not afraid I'll turncoat again,' but didn't.

Maple tilted her head.

 

[Dragonfree]

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

 

[Namohysip]

"Trust him?" Maple echoed.

"Gah, sounds like I'm talking to a goddamn ex when you phrase it that way," Soda muttered.

"Soda, is this about..."

"The fuck else would it be about?!" Soda snapped. "I nearly turned this place into moon dust! I'm supposed to SAVE worlds! So, I just, fucking, what do you expect, me to just go back to normal? To expect everyone else to look at me the same again?"

"I suppose not," Maple replied, nodding, looking pensive. This only fed Soda's fire.

"You're never like this," Soda said. "When I screw up, you were always there to tear me a new one for slacking off. Any time I'm giving some kind of disrespect you're always putting me in my place. You usually saw through my illusions, which ones were real and were fake. Now you're just standing there like you don't care. I... I know none of this is the same."

As Soda spoke, his voice seemed to get wobbly at parts, but the tower never fell. He refused to let it fall. Not in front of her.

But what nearly made it collapse--nearly, but not entirely--was that flash of realization in that Smeargle's eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said, though her tone wasn't apologetic, and her expression was more wide-eyed than submissive. "I was... cutting you some slack."

"...Excuse me?" Soda said. "Slack. From you. After what I did?"

"After what you went through," Maple replied. "Pointing out small failures or petty grievances right now... I couldn't do that to you." She sighed, rubbing at her hat, thoughtful. "I really have built up an uptight reputation, haven't I?" She glanced at Dave. Yes, she remembered their first real encounter. How she'd taunted him, threatened him silently, back when she did not know their true allegiances--and before they could trust hers.

"Well," she said, "I suppose I've been... trying to break that down a little, too. Despite all my power, I fell for the Blacklight the same way you did... Ionys."

"Don't give me that," Soda said, half-dismissive, half warning. "You went nuts for a bit, sure. I planned out whole schemes, and--"

"I don't think that matters," Maple said firmly. "...Ionys, I trust you. I trust you because you're the only one who truly knows what it feels like to be warped by that Blacklight for so long. To be... blinded by it." She shifted her weight again, not making eye contact, but despite that, she looked genuine. And, for once, small. She glanced at Dave. "It must have seemed so obvious, in hindsight."

 

[Dragonfree]

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 job. She was never going to ditch him.

 

[Namohysip]

Silence fell over them. The chilly winds seemed to be getting to Soda, who tried to hide when he curled his body a little closer while eating. At least the bag kept the food warm.

"Gettin' old," Soda murmured. "I think eventually I won't be a danger anyway."

"All the more reason to make up for lost time now," Maple concluded, nodding. "...Do your best against the Blacklight, Soda. I'm... going to stay behind to support Cibus for anything that may leak through. We'll handle it."

"Mm. What happens after?" Soda wondered idly.

"The... God Squad will probably be disbanding," Maple admitted, looking away. "Most have found a home in Cibus. I need to focus on rebuilding Telum from within me. Joule will be there as well, retiring to recover from what happened here. He still isn't in his best shape."

"Tch... I dunno if I can live here," Soda said.

"I know." Maple considered this. "If you'd like... I wanted you to help me with Telum. Be its guardian. Flesh can be there, too."

"What, 'til I age and die? I'm not immortal, y'know." Soda smirked. "Sounds to me like you're trying to work me to death."

There was a smile in Maple's eyes. "I always was a 'hardass'."

Soda looked a little lighter.

 

[Dragonfree]

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 Flesh together at the Colosseum...?"

 

[Namohysip]

"Flesh and I fighting at the colo, huh..." Soda tilted his head a few times, like the very idea was physically rolling around in his head like an egg in a pan. "Yeah, I guess I could do that. Flesh is a little camera shy, though, so I'm gonna take a day to hype him up about it."

Maple nodded. "And I expect to see you in the training rooms the day after," Maple added, arms crossed.

"Wh--uh?"

"If you're going to be a guardian of Telum, no matter how short, I want you to be in top shape." She reached behind her, carving a portal. "I'll see you then."

Before Soda could object, she was gone. Soda rubbed his head, sighing. "Guess that's her way of... saying everything's alright," he muttered. "Damn gods. Always have to do things a weird way."