Wait, What do you Mean you Saved the World!?

It was like waking up from a fresh nap in the sun, or feeling the taste of a warm breakfast in her belly, or a small child reaching out for a hug. Marine couldn’t tell what feeling best described it, but her soul felt warm and refreshed. She looked to her sisters on each side as color returned to their bodies. Life flowed into the Soul Lighthouse like heated steam, and as soon as their eyes opened, the water flowed again, washing away the leviathan and its corruption. 

“Hey, what happened?” Elbeth rolled over, her hair flowing everywhere. “We were fighting a guy, right?”

“Man, you were really ko’d, weren’t you?” Rani snickered. “Guess that makes you the useless sister now.”

“What are you talking about? It’s been, what, five minutes?”

“Ha! More like an entire day. Are you sure you’re still not asleep?”

“Well, it’s still not my fault! Marine, dear. Talk some sense into this gremlin we call a sister.”

Marine responded by hugging the life out of her. El could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I was so worried,” she cried. “I was worried you weren’t going to wake up, even if we won. I’m so glad you’re alive!”

“Easy, sister! You’re making my makeup run!”

Unfortunately, Rani had to join in too. “Yeah, get her sis! You deserve it!”

“I love you guys so much!” 

Marine erupted into a blubbering mess. Now they both had to deal with her waterworks, but it was all worthwhile, for now. Any further and they might start blubbering too.

Luckily, she didn’t have to cry for too long, as the room filled again with familiar white spheres.

“Wait,” Marine blinked. “Are those?”

“Wait, did they all die, again!”

“There’s 1, 2, 3, 4…We gotta get to them fast!”

The three split apart and ran around the lighthouse like lost chickens. There was work to be done.

Somewhere kilometers in the air, the white cloaked witch oversaw the wreckage that had just transpired and sighed. The voice in her head wasn’t mad, just disappointed.

“Ah, poo,” said Xim. “I knew I should’ve made an airship.” And with a twirl of her robes, she disappeared.

Fura stumbled around the scattered remnants of Trinity. It was a terrifying time to be sure, having to dodge all of that debris and flying masonry. If it wasn’t for her protection, Swell and Chloe would be deaf, at the minimum, but they were fine. They weren’t within the blast radius. The problem lay in who was.

“Vel, Nice!” she yelled. “Where are you!? Vel!” If she were able to pull away the stone, she would. Instead, Swell had to.

“I don’t think any barrier could survive that,” Swell grumbled. “They sacrificed themselves to save this realm. That was very honorable of them.”

“No…” Chloe meowed. “I’m the only one left.”

“No, everyone,” Fura’s nose backed up. “You didn’t. There had to be a way…”

It didn’t look like it on the surface. The blast was so large that it left a crater a hundred meters deep, and most of that was filled with stone and metal. Steam billowed from some crevices in the rubble. The heat must’ve been hotter than a volcano, they imagined. There was no way anyone could survive a catastrophe like that.

So imagine their surprise when a dozen or so faces dropped out of the ether and onto solid land. One of them was extra long.

“My horsey,” Cordelia moaned, her head in a delirious state. “I knew you’d come and save me.”

“He didn’t do shit!” Fuuma said. “You should all be thanking me for letting you all in my space. You’re all out, right? I don’t want you touching my stuff.”

“Like anyone would want your stuff,” Tama walked off. “You can have your gun back, too!”

“Shut up!” Fuuma’s face was red with fury, but a kiss on the cheek cooled him off immediately.

“Thank you for saving us, Fuuma,” Kuroni said. “You’re a real hero.”

The second their scent was picked up, Chloe leapt off Swell’s shoulder and went straight for her sisters, both also hanging off another’s shoulders as well.

“Khylee! Pazy! You’re okay!” she screamed.

“You’re okay too!” 

“We’re all okay!”

While the three cats got reacquainted with themselves, Gerthwyn took to Hideyoshi’s side to inspect him. He was pretty beat up from all of the demon fighting. His smile was real, if weary.

“It looks like the gang is back together,” she said. 

“Really?” Hideyoshi’s eyes lit up for just a second, but looking around, everything felt so small. He could see a visage of Lupa above him, Sawa to his side, the cats scurrying around. Their void couldn’t be replaced, and yet the ones still here were there. He could touch them. He could touch Gerthwyn. He'd need a lot of time to heal, but still, he smiled. “I guess you’re right.”

While it was heartening to see that some folks were able to escape the blast, they couldn’t shake the fact that a couple were missing. Mars, for one, to which Kuroni shed a tear, but for Fura, it was a checklist. Vel, Nice, Shige. Vel, Nice Shige. Vel…Nice!

“There you are!” Fura nuzzled against her. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. “I’m better than fine. I can feel Rani coming back to life. It’s a miracle.”

The two looked around. Aside from the desolate wasteland the explosion caused, the land was green again. Not a speck of corruption was left in the area. In fact, there may not be any corruption left on Elglynn Island at all. It was everything they hoped for.

“Is Vel with you?” Nice asked. “She was with you last, right?”

“No, I thought she’d be with you.”

The two looked to each other with worry. Perhaps their party wasn’t back together after all.

The boy expected to wake up in the Soul Lighthouse. It felt like the longest time had passed since the betrayal, but instead of Rani's reassuring lap, he got stuck on some rough architecture, his naked body splayed over what was once a battlement. It was a very rude awakening, embarrassing too. Did he actually go out into battle, or was that a dream, and he got blacked out drunk? Or was he still dreaming? That was a real consideration.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his ankle, and he was dragged further down the pile. The hands then grabbed his face, examining him violently. He couldn't fathom who would be so inconsiderate of him aside from four or five examples.

"Shige, is that you? Is that really you?" Vel asked frantically. "Did it work?"

"Wait, Vel!?" This caused more flailing around. "No! Hold on! I'm naked! Oh crap! This has to be a dream, right?"

She kissed him.

Shige blinked. "Wait...is this a dream?"

"I love you."

"Damn, it is a dream."

Vel pounced on him. It took a few minutes to sort everything out.

"The explosion was so sudden, I didn't know if I finished you when I put up all of my barriers."

"Yeah, I think you did." Shige looked all over himself. "I can't believe you went that far just to save me."

"Why wouldn't I?" Her brows furrowed. "Did you think I didn't like you?"

"I...I didn't think I was worth saving. I'm not a good guy, Vel. Even back in my world, I was a real creep. I thought being a hero would make me a better person, but...I dunno. I didn't like this past month at all."

"Shige, you're the most idiotic, perverted, sleazy, creepy human I've ever met, but you just proved that you're a good guy right there."

That was impossible, Shige thought, but knowing Vel, her bluntness never lied. It made him unfathomably happy. But her eyes were still glaring at him.

"What?"

"Don't you have something to say?"

"What do you mean?"

"Humans and elves are different races, but our expectations are similar. You know that, right?"

Shige realized what he needed to say, but he knew once he did, he'd seal away his dream forever. He wasn't sure if Vel would stop him, per se. Rather, he was more than likely to stop himself.

"Oh, sorry, Vel. I lo-."

"YOU DID NOT GET THAT KILL!"

Shige grabbed his elf and dove for cover. The voices were close, too close. He refused to be caught in this compromising position, but as soon as he recognized the voices, the two peered over the rubble. For two men in such bad condition, they were a boisterous bunch. Orcish and dwarven endurance was something else.

"My axe cut him clean!" Mars yelled.

"After I blew his head off!" Dige growled. "How did you not see that!?"

"He was still alive. You're just being a baby about it."

"Well, this gun's got some bullets left! I still got a grudge on ye, too, orc!"

"Wha- when did that happen!?"

"When you said those unkind things to me! I was very upset about that, y'know. You put me in a depression for a moment there, boyo."

"Get over it. That was friendly banter."

"Some friend you are then!"

"Yeah, I saved your life! And now you're gonna what, shoot me!?"

This was going to go on for some time. If Vel or Shige could stop them, they would, but both of them were exhausted, and all of the noise was attracting the others. Despite being the clothed one, Vel was the one wanting to leave.

"C'mon, let's get out of here," Vel said. "This is embarrassing."

But Shige kept watching them, as if he were deep in thought. She could usually get a bead on what he was thinking, but this was foreign to her.

"I'm envious of them," Shige said. "I really am."

"I can't believe they killed Akira Kasuga," Vel nodded. "What are the odds?"

That wasn't on Shige's mind. His thoughts were back on Earth, his old life, his fellow protagonists.

"I wish," he smiled. "That I had a friend like that."

"What do you mean?" Her voice was low, menacing, but seeing his eyes beam so longingly, she couldn't help but empathize with her human. The orc and the dwarf looked like they were about to kill each other in a few minutes. It was going to be a bloody affair, and it was best not to watch the upcoming carnage, but Vel, despite her biases, understood exactly what Shige meant. "Yeah, you're right. That would be nice."