Rocky Road ~ House of Diyem, Eien, Mellow, and Toast

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut would've squinted if he could. "That makes absolutely no sense." He shook his head. "Forget it. Not important. This one wanted to check in and make sure your significant other wasn't becoming love drunk like when he spent too much time around Xernatus." Bahamut paused. "And I was napping because it's not like there's much else for me to do until we go to the moon. Can't exactly teach people how to not need their lungs."

 

[Disco]

"I am currently researching what information is available to reach a solution.", Raven commented before going quiet again.

 

[Ambyssin]

"The best solution is just getting the space noodle to do his air conjuring magic." Bahamut lazily waved an upper wing around. "Thankfully he's not friends with Karat or Deoxys, otherwise I imagine it would be an uphill battle."

 

[Namohysip]

"I am perfectly fine, thank you," Diyem said.

"Are you sure?" Owen asked.

"What? Why?"

"Well..." Owen glanced uncertainly at Cal, then at Bahamut.

"You're doing that thing you aren't supposed to do," Cal said, pointing at her own face.

"And that is..."

"You're smiling, and, like, there's actually a peaceful look in your eyes." Cal grimaced, looking at Owen. "It's kind of cursed."

 

[Ambyssin]

“Perhaps he is… content.” Bahamut stopped short of going to happy. He wasn’t sure if that would somehow hurt Diyem. “I don’t expect either of you to know what it’s like to have one true love.”

 

[Namohysip]

Owen was quiet.

"I'm just fine, thank you," Diyem muttered. "Eien has a special technique that can nullify energies and manipulate spirits, weakly. I cannot do such things to myself... but Eien can to me. She can suppress the reaction I get to positive emotions. My spirit has a tendency to slip into negativity by its very nature... but Eien can push it back, so to speak." He huffed. "Therefore, under certain circumstances, I can be happy."

"L-like right now?" Cal asked.

"Yes."

"Then how come you're still such a grouch?!"

Another huff. "I have an image to keep up."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut sighed and lay down on the floor. “Are you satisfied, then? Because this is just depressing for me.”

 

[Namohysip]

"I guess so," Owen said, frowning.

"Oh... and Bahamut," Eien said, her pupils dimming. "I want to thank you. Really. For all that you did to help me, I... owe you a great deal, don't I? Without your help, I do not think my rescue--and in general, all of this--could have gone nearly as well as it had..."

 

[Disco]

Raven looked down at Bahamut and then back at the books and records spread out around her, then back at Bahamut.

"Perhaps we could take a walk and simply talk about things.", she began, then frowned. "As long as you don't bring up the moon incident. I learned my lesson thoroughly while I was up there, no need to rub it in more...."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut never even had to tell the team the real reason he helped make Zacian and Zamazenta. Everyone just thought he was being stupidly paranoid. And now there was no reason to bring it up, since the best outcome happened. Again.

Well, perhaps the best outcome would've been that massive energy blast taking out Soda and the unown. So they got the second-best outcome.

"I think Team Spectrum would've figured something out." Bahamut rolled on his back. "They're relentless in that regard. Just watch how they scramble to come up with a means of saving Soda, despite the very real risk of rendering him spiritually hollow or, even if they're successful, the real Soda having to live with the reality of his actions for..." His head tendrils twitched. "Well, if he's with Maple's team, then that added guilt may follow him for eons."

He clenched his jaw. "Perhaps, when this is over, you might want to consider at least a temporary retirement from your escapades? You have a big family now, so you've got a perfectly valid excuse."

 

[Namohysip]

Eien nodded. "It's a sad fate no matter how you look at it," she said. "But... Bahamut, I do not think you understand. When I gave you the very power that could be used to kill me, it... it gave me peace of mind."

Owen seemed briefly shocked, but he hid it. He nodded along; the realization, followed by understanding, seemed to sink in for him.

"That peace helped calm the storm enough to allow you safe passage. That you had a sure-fire way to defeat me, to stop me... Even if you failed to save me. It truly helped. That peace I felt... I think it was what let me release the shackles on all of your... familiars? Ultra Shades? I do not remember the term..."

"There was no official one," Diyem said. "But after some talk, I think the correct term is Void Eternas. But I do not think the term will catch on."

"Ultra Shade sounds cooler," Cal added. "And familiar is cute."

Diyem didn't acknowledge Cal.

"But, retirement..." Eien coiled a little more. "I do want to help more worlds. And I know I can do much more. But even the Overseers take breaks now and then. Perhaps I can afford to take it easy on a friendly planet for a few millennia... Diyem, what do you think?"

"I suppose I could watch a civilization rise and fall for one cycle," Diyem hummed.

 

[Ambyssin]

"You know you can do much more." Bahamut sighed, releasing gold vapors. "I don't even remember the last time I thought like that. It went that way... then became 'Please don't let their disgust toward me undo their work.' And then 'Please just let me stay long enough to do something.' And finally 'Why even bother?'"

 

[Namohysip]

Eien nodded. "Every world is different. Some do not accept help. Others, you sometimes need to identify the problem... take it out, and leave. In fact, a world like Cibus is quite rare. I nearly destroyed their whole world--and decimated a whole archipelago--and yet, here I am, accepted with open arms and understanding. This is a good world. One that rose past its own strife. It's lucky to have someone like Pop watching over them; there are many that struggle without a god or, even worse, with an improper one."

"Time jades many spirits," Diyem said. "Immortal beings tend to have minds that can weather spans of time. But Bahamut... you were not meant to be immortal. Perhaps some of that has worn on you." Diyem shook his head. "There is not a solution to it. But I sense a darkness in you that... perhaps is more than natural."

"I only hope that someone can clear it of you," Eien said apologetically. "If someone is capable of kindness, I do believe that it is never too late to change... as long as you are given the chance. I hope that can happen to you, too... one way or another."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut shrugged. "The only thing with even the slightest chance of making that a reality is my dimension's version of your... husband." He pointed to Diyem. "Imagine if you were the size of a planetoid, couldn't think or feel, and flew aimlessly around the galaxy vaporizing inhabited planets instead of saving them."

He folded his wings over his chest. "That's the thing that might have a chance of clearing it. Through dying, of course. Which is why the irony of all of this is not lost on me. But I'm going to forget everything that happened on Cibus, anyway, so it's not like it will matter much." The necrozma sighed again. "At least some version of me gets a happy ending. I suppose that's good enough."

 

[Namohysip]

Eien studied Bahamut, nodding. "...There is still, in a small way, something selfless about how you saw your situation."

"Maybe there's someone in your world trying to fix it right now," Owen said. "Who knows, right?"

"There is little point in speculating," Diyem said dismissively. "...But it is a very mortal thing to hope. And sometimes, hope is what drives change to make it a reality. Still, I'm not one for symbolism of that nature. Platitudes." Diyem shrugged. "Bahamut's world is filled with distortions that will block most of these memories from returning to him until he is long dead, or that distortion if fixed."

"But there is still the smallest chance," Eien added. "It never hurts to hope, if that's all you have left when facing adversity. Channel that into a fighting spirit to regain what was lost." But then, she nodded apologetically to Bahamut. "You've heard this many times from others, I'm sure. But none of them understand your situation as well as you do. Still, I can send my well-wishes for your world. Perhaps it's in my nature after spending so much time doing the Overseers' work."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut would've squinted at Owen if he could. "I thought time was supposed to be at a relative standstill in our worlds while we were here?" He tilted his head at Diyem. "Because if that's not the case, there's a very good chance I could return to find Eternatus free of its seal and beginning the process of eroding the wall between dimensions. Which would, y'know, not be very good for your Overseers."

 

[Namohysip]

"I meant 'right now' as in, you know... at the time you came here," Owen said.

Diyem nodded. "Due to the way I took you from your worlds, time has not progressed where you came from."

"How chilling to think there is someone by my species name capable of something like that," Eien said. "Or, well. Some thing, at this point..."

 

[Ambyssin]

"I was under the impression that that was what your 'kind' was prior to all of this." And Bahamut would go back to thinking that when this was over, but that point had been addressed already. "Fortunately I was wrong. Seems to be a recurring theme when it comes to Cibus. But I suppose my continued wrongness is better for Team Spectrum's moral. So, y'know, go team and all that."

He folded his left upper wing so it looked like a flag and waved it around.

 

[Namohysip]

Owen sighed, shaking his head. "Well, at least you're kind of looking at the bright side of things," he said.

"And how have you been doing, Owen?" Eien asked. "You and Cal."

"Been holding up fine," Owen said, nodding. "Cal and I had a heart to heart, uh, in our storm place. It worked out... Cal says it felt like someone was influencing her, though. Was that...?"

"It was the Parasite at first... or the Parasite trying to control what I sent. Afterward, I started to regain control, and I tried to bring it in. But I couldn't have done it without your efforts..."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut shrugged. "Never understood that expression. It's not as if you two were actually connecting your hearts." A beat passed. "Though I understand humans have machines that can temporarily replace their hearts for medical purposes. You'd have to talk to the mightyena about that one."