Destiny Village ~ Parfait Way

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz listened attentively, tail swishing.

"How come I got the feelin' that you went on to have ten thousand comparable experiences? Wait, don't answer that, it was rhetorical. Still, was that the first of many such troubles?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut nodded. "The story was similar. I would go to a plant, seeking a home. I would try to endear myself to the locals by helping them. And instead of thanks, they would either try to capture me or chase me off, claiming me to be some sort of monster looking to enslave them. Sometimes there were people who would show me generosity. But they would almost always turn on me.

"The more it happened, the worse the sinking sense of loneliness got for me." Bahamut's eyes darkened. "I only wanted a home. But nobody believed I deserved one. Even Aesir, the realm where spirits dwell in peace and harmony, turned me away."

Slowly he lay down on his side. "When you're always on the outside looking in, eventually that loneliness shifts to rage. These people would mistreat me, but Aesir would still provide them a welcoming home when they were ready to shed their mortal bodies."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz rubbed her chin, and tilted her head.

"Lotta folks brought her by Diyem seem to have painful memories of unforgivin' worlds, but none so bleak as yers. Cibus sure seems like a paradise compared to what you're describin'. Was there really nowhere at all to settle down? No folks that showed ya kindness?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"There were places. But a handful of folks could not stand up to mobs." Bahamut laughed bitterly. "And, of course, there was Eternatus."

This shade was trying to tease things out of him. "If you want the so-called scandalous part, then you should've asked for it out of the gate." Blue and purple rippled through his eyes. "Eventually, when planets turned me away, I decided to turn my frustrations back on them. By destroying them with the same attack Joule tried to crater the city with before we fought him."

He stared off into the distance. "It was easy to justify it at the time. I knew about Eternatus by then. How it destroyed planets after I left them, trapping their inhabitants and ensuring they would never reach Aesir. So, I was saving them. Sending them to a safe, permanent home. Giving them a kindness they refused me." Bahamut's head tendrils shrank. "But I suppose it was really a self-fulfilling prophecy coming to fruition. They called me a monster, so a monster I became."

Bahamut's eyes regained their array of colors. "You won't turn out like me. Especially not if Brisa's beliefs forged the base of your identity. She may like battling, but I do not believe she truly possesses a killer's instinct. And neither do you." He put an upper wing on his top chest spike. "However, that's for the best. It's not a cross one should have to bear."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz' expression didn't change. She watched Bahamut, still rubbing her chin, tail swinging slowly from side to side.

A handful of people, unable to shelter Bahamut against angry mobs. That wasn't such an alien concept... It was what Jesse had always warned Brisa of. If it had ever come to pass, would he have turned his fire on the citizens?

To take such revenge... Destroying entire planets was an act so unconscionable it barely fit in Luz' head. Even so, her first taste of despair had changed her fundamentally. How would lifetimes' worth of despair, and having one's atrocities justified by this Aesir concept, affect a person's moral calculus? It wasn't something Luz could grapple with. The mere existence of the possibility of planetary annihilation in the first place, of a being that could shackle souls forever from the afterlife or from oblivion, of innumerable millennia of misery, felt like an injustice written into Creation itself.

"I'm sorry to hear of such a thing," said Luz, at last. "Yer own universe sounds . . . cursed."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Etherium was supposed to be a reset point for me," Bahamut continued. "I came across a planet that already been decimated. I was so tired of everything. So, I decided to try and make a home. I caused quakes and eruptions with Psychic to bring healthy, rich minerals to the planet's surface, then brought torrential rains to let the minerals mix within a vast pool of water." He strummed a wing against his hip. "And then... I waited. Waited for nature to take its course. For life to evolve. From single cells to primordial creatures to pokémon like the ones on Cibus. And rather than frightening the new planet with my powers... I tried to teach people how to look after themselves so they would only need someone like me for truly gargantuan problems.

"It took eons, but I got a home. And a wife. And sired a son." Bahamut's face and body darkened. "Then they were all taken from me. Eternatus attacked Etherium. Stripped me of my light. My friends sacrificed themselves to put it into stasis because I failed to stop it. When I tried to destroy it from within, an ally turned on me and killed my wife and son for their powers.

"I see our teammates walking around with the weight of the blacklight's corruption shackled to them." Bahamut shook his head. "Blowing themselves up or having their inner demons gain some degree of sentience." He chuckled. "There's a reason why none of it has gotten to me. I've already accepted I'm irredeemably corrupt. And I've certainly tried to do myself in, but Eternatus warped my body such that it will always pull itself back together no matter what I try."

Bahamut reached into his bag and pulled out his inert ultra stone. He dropped it at Luz's feet. "I don't blame you for not liking any of this. Esper thought it was all a joke. Once he realized it was the truth... well, I believe the truth might've frightened him back into the stasis you all had before you gained sentience."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz caught the stone with one foot and kicked it up to catch it in one paw.

"He oughta've known all that from his time incubatin'," she remarked, languidly. "Hope the fella comes out eventually. Hibernatin' in a rock ain't no kinda life."

She gave Bahamut a begrudging frown of understanding.

"There ain't a soul as can relate to yer experience, I reckon. An' if yer life is incomprehensible to all others, how then could they begin to judge it? All the same... I wish that you had not suffered so, Bahamut. An' fer an end to that sufferin', fer you and all those souls so imprisoned."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Well, people judge one another all the time." Bahamut shrugged. "For any number of reasons... not all of which are bad faith. It just happens. It's the nature of conscious thought, I suppose." He pointed at his head. "I can't act like I'm not guilty of it. I'm fairly confident some of our teammates are in relationships with one another, which I find foolish since, regardless the outcome for Cibus, we will end up going our separate ways and they will never see one another again. But those decisions aren't as stupid as most of the ones I've made, so I'm just going to let it all keep happening."

He finally looked Luz in the eye. "If you want to connect with Brisa, I think you need to drop the preconceived notions about what she expects you to be. If you're unsatisfied with how you feel she's treating you, then my belief is you should make her aware of that. She's not some emotionally-blunted loon like I am." Bahamut chuckled into his wing. "I do, however, think she views your relationship as a professional one and, as such, is acting how she feels your professional relationship should be. If you're based on myths or tales about a similar creature from her world, then it's going to be on you to make the change you want happen."

A smirk spread across his beak. "Or you could just ask her about Starr and Astrid and watch her melt into a nervous puddle. Entertaining for sure, but probably not productive."

Yes, he wasn't dense. He just had a sense of humor drier than the deserts in the Sand Continent.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz had heard that there was some romance in play among Team Spectrum, yes. She didn't really see the distinction between that and any of the relationships between posse members, but she got the impression Bahamut didn't care for that either, so perhaps he was merely being consistent. In any case, she had no objection, but just nodded along drily.

[You need to drop the preconceived notions about what she expects you to be. I think she views your relationship as a professional one. It's going to be on you to make the change you want happen. Or you could just ask her about Starr and Astrid and watch her melt.]

She grinned bemusedly at Bahamut's advice.

"You're onto somethin', but ya don't have it quite right. I reckon Brisa sees me as family... Thing is, her experience of family is all—" here Luz balked "—y'know, duty an' performance an' conditional acceptance. If I were more different to her, maybe we could be closer."

Luz shrugged expansively. "I could just proposition her. That oughta shake up her perception of me right sure."

She winked, despite the deadpan tone.

 

[Ambyssin]

"Why not? Icetales already has a harem. What's another one on this big, ridiculous misadventure?" Bahamut hoped Cola had gotten bored and stopped paying attention. This was probably not the type of thing he needed to hear right about now.

"In any case, there's plenty for the people of Cibus to like about you. Even if there isn't a clear path with Brisa, you can still make a family for yourself." Bahamut rose off the ground. "With the locals. Or the other shades. Or a combination, even. So, why not stay on Cibus when this is all over? You were born here. It's your home. Don't let anyone take that away from you."

His head turned around it while his body stayed in position. "Mmm. I think I found where Reshiram lives." With his head still on backwards, Bahamut bowed to Luz. "Best of luck, young one."

He collected his ultra stone, checked to make sure Cola was still in his bag, and headed off for Reshiram's house.

<><><>​

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz waved Bahamut off, out of habit and in thanks, although he might neither see nor care about the gesture. It had been an interesting discourse. Cibus sure was her home, but... Hadn't she told members of God Squad that she wished to travel with them when this was all over? Much to think on. Too much. Was this how Brisa felt all the time? Either way, it was terrible, and Luz did not care for it.

She sighed, wondered if her sighing was put-on considering shades lacked lungs, and approached Truffle's door to knock, and enter.

She had much to discuss with her decidueye friend. Including... Well. That.

'Oh, Truffle couldn't possibly be the spy! He's my best friend and he's so lovely and I trust him!'

Yeah. That wouldn't cut it.

Luz went in.

 

[Namohysip]

Leg's room was filled with that usual, spectral darkness like before. Truffle was in the main room, working on something slow-cooking in the oven, perhaps a side dish meant to be sliced and diced.

"Ah, hello, Luz," greeted the Radiant fighter. "I thought I heard talking outside. How are you doing?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Just shootin' the breeze with Bahamut about how pain an' aeons can change a person," she deadpanned.

Luz wandered over to Truffle's side and leaned on the countertop. "Say, how old are yerself an' th'rest of the Squad anyhow? Oh, an' is there anythin' I can help ya with fer yer meal, by the way? I got dexterous paws."

 

[Namohysip]

"Ah, that could help," Truffle said, gesturing to some untouched apples that needed slicing, but then he raised a wing with an amused glint. "But I'm quite dexterous myself, you know. Comes with the species." He bent his finger-like feathers, which glimmered with dark, spectral energy.

Truffle sighed. "I am going on perhaps fifty now. Sixty? We travel worlds with different day lengths, calendar systems... I'm afraid I simply do not know how long it has been precisely.

"Soda is older than I am. Radiance keeps him youthful, I imagine, but one day he may settle. Flesh... I believe he is younger. But his species is difficult to put an age to. Leg is the youngest. Perhaps only thirty. A recent recruit. And aside from Maple and Joule themselves, Potluck is the oldest, by centuries."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz' eyes widened and she tipped her head down as she gawped at Truffle. "Centuries? But the fella acts like a lil' pup! How come he's all . . . y'know, like that?"

She scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, all the more so for how it didn't make sense as a shade to perform a movement like that.

 

[Namohysip]

Truffle shook his head. "Potluck is... by his nature, that way, and perhaps even by necessity. He qualifies as feral, and his kind have two modes. Standby and... combat. Combat happens when under stress, and he becomes a very different person. Frighteningly so. We have a helmet that keeps him calm if he cannot break out of it on his own, ah—much like Owen, actually. They have that in common, from what I had heard about his time in the Voidlands and that... state he is able to enter.

"So, in a sense, Potluck is cheerful to stay sane. Eventually, perhaps that became his new mask, to replace the heavy one he had to physically wear..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz nodded, shrugged, and got to work slicing apples.

"Gotcha. Seems all of God Squad are troubled souls to some degree, then. Y'all seem pretty even-keeled considerin' what ya told me you've been through, yerself especially."

Dead wife, dead child, failed deathwish.

She glanced at Truffle, and her mouth tightened. "That's somethin' I've taken to thinkin' about a lot, as it happens."

 

[Namohysip]

"Ah." This was subdued and the light briefly left his eyes. He looked at the oven. "Yes. It is as they say. No member of our team has a happy reason for being here."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz kept chopping, her knife making steaady shnk sounds.

"I told you I wanted to travel with y'all fer perfectly optimistic reasons," continued Luz, evenly. "You didn't exactly dissuade me. But I've been thinkin'... Is there some cost, some price that would deter a person from joinin' the team? I'd have thought you'd pick up plenty of aspirin' champions to travel the multiverse."

Shnk, shnk, shnk.

"Hell, if I were in yer position, I'd wanna find a world that mirrored my own. Maybe one where things went a little better."

 

[Namohysip]

"...No," Truffle said darkly. "I do not want that. I do not want to see myself... another me, living happily with my family who happened to work things out. I... do not know what I would do. I do not. I do not..."

It seemed that there was no real coat other than leaving their home behind. And the way Truffle acted, he seemed keen on keeping it that way...