2.19: Acceptance and Recovery

About a week after the funeral and things seemed to be calming down a bit. Of course, losing Carter meant ARA would be taking a heavy blow, this goes for Cecily as well. Although, she didn’t seem to be all too shaken up, at least when viewed from the outside.

Since Ed was still a bit gloomy, I had expected Cecily to still be bawling her eyes out, even now, but she’s actually doing quite the opposite.

“Goochigoo! Peekaboo!” she said, tickling Nelly all over.

It appears they’ve bonded quite well after a while. Guess even she noticed being mad at a baby wasn’t the best way to handle loss. I inquired about what she’s planning to do with her, since we didn’t manage to find her parents.

“I’ll adopt her, of course!” She answered back with incredible speed.

“A-Adopt?” I repeated after her, “Aren’t you too young to be a parent?”

“Nonsense, Lune! You’re never too young to take care of this precious bundle of joy!” She said, raising Nelly up with her arms. “Besides, if I don’t take care of her, then he’d probably be angry with me…” she said, slowly bringing Nelly close to her chest as she quieted down.

…Yeah, he did his best to save Nelly, so us not following his actions through would probably make him at least a bit mad. I know I’d be mad at Ed if I suddenly died and he just went home or something…

“In any case,” she turned to me, “let’s use this opportunity to practice parenting!”

And with that bold proclamation, we ran up to the Generals in search of any tips.

“I wouldn’t know.” Said Aaron, suspiciously turning his gaze away from us.

“I’m a General, not a father. I’m afraid I can’t help you young ones with this problem. ” Jorgen said as he sipped his cup of tea.

“Obviously!” Max looked like he had an answer, “A healthy child needs to be surrounded by love and affection.”

We told him we already gave Nelly enough of that to begin with.

“Not to her!” He yelled back, “Well, of course you need to give her love, but kids need to see their parents flirt and stuff. Imagine if you grew up with parents who bickered all the time, you’d probably grow up a bickerer too!”

What he said made sense to me, but Cecily obviously couldn’t understand the analogy Max presented to us. Even still, we didn’t really like the idea… Flirting was quite difficult with just the two of us alone, even more so when someone’s watching us, so we asked if he knew of anything else.

“Well then,” he raised his eyes up-right as he tried to think of anything else. “Oh, that’s right! Right now, you don’t really have any info on Nelly safe from her name, so you should probably get that put into the town registry.”

“The town registry?” we asked.

“Well yeah, every kid has to have their documents ready when they’re born. Stuff like full name, date of birth, their birthplace…” he started naming off all the basic stuff. “If they don’t have this crucial information in the registry, they won’t be able to get any legal documents, meaning they won’t be allowed to enroll in school, try for the ITA exams, meaning they won’t have the ability to get passports, meaning…”

I finished his sentence, “No leaving the country?”

He snapped his fingers at me with a Bingo! and continued:

“The whole process isn’t all that difficult, just go to the town hall and inquire about it, I’m sure they’ll fill you in on the details.” He said with a smile.

“Great!” We finished our conversation, “Thanks again, Max!”

“Anything for the young couple!” He smugly added back as we left the room, making us jump a bit.

And with that, we made our way to the town hall…!

***

The town hall was essentially just a bigger two story house, or at least that’s what it looked like from the outside, but as we entered it we realized it’s a lot more elegant than that. It had multiple people manning the register, and right next to the door was a porter who instructed us to pick out a number from a box in front of us. He then explained that we needed to wait for our number to be called out before we could proceed to the booth.

Cecily was a bit too overwhelmed by all this paperwork, but I was quite used to it as Ed and I had to take similar measures when we were getting our passports done.

We were sat for a few more minutes before our number got called up and a voice called out to us from booth #4.

“Hello! We’d like to put this little girl up in the registry.” I said to the woman working the booth.

She looked at us funny, even doing a double-take, before asking the question I was all too afraid to answer.

“Is this your child?” She said.

Now I didn’t really know what to say, but technically speaking we are her caretakers. I guess presenting ourselves as such would suffic-

“Yep! Nelly’s our child!” Said Cecily, grabbing me from under my arm.

Again, the woman couldn’t believe what she heard, and I was just about ready to die inside from shame, but I guess she didn’t really feel all too judgmental, so she continued with the registry.

“Ooookay… Well then, if you want to register this girl, I’ll need a name, date of birth, and birthplace for starters.” She said.

“Nelly… Grimheart.” I said with a flushed face. “She was born here in Bilgam, and her date of birth is…” I stopped after realizing I didn’t really know when Nelly was born, so I looked over to Cecily, in hopes of her finishing my sentence.

“April 15th, 1020AD” She said after thinking in silence for a bit.

But that’s the day of Carter’s… death.

I looked at her with a worried expression, but she simply smiled back and whispered That’s when he found her, right?

“Alright then, so from your previous registry entries, this child will henceforth be Nelly Grimheart, born on the 15th of April in the year 1020AD and is the daughter of Lune Grimheart and Cecily Grimheart, correct?” The woman working the booth said something embarrassing.

“A-Actually! We’re not married yet!” I quickly corrected her.

“Figures…” the woman said with a scoff. What ever happened to being non-judgmental, ya’ damned broad…

We had to wait for their professional artist to show up and paint her portrait, so they could finalize Nelly’s registration, but apart from that it was basically smooth sailing.

Leaving the town hall, I was quite frustrated with the whole ordeal. I never really liked paperwork, but I guess since it’s for Nelly's future, I had no choice but to endure that damned woman’s tyranny... Cecily was giggling and smiling to herself the whole way through, though.

“What’s got you so happy?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing…” She said, lightly blushing, “It’s just, when she mistook me for a Grimheart, I just got really happy somehow.”

Nelly’s officially our daughter as of now, but I still think she’s second to Cecily in terms of cuteness… by a small margin, though.

I don’t even know how it happened, but before I knew it I had apparently leaned in and kissed Cecily right on the lips. This shocked both of us, but I’d argue it shocked me more, honestly.

“Where’d that come from?” she said with a flushed expression.

“Guess that’s our first kiss…?” I answered back with a similar expression to hers.

“Humu, I wonder about that…” she giggled to herself, as if remembering something from the past.

“Hey, what do you mean by that? Huh??” I started interrogating her on the spot, but she simply giggled on without revealing anything.

Suffice it to say, Nelly was quite happy upon witnessing us flirting. Guess Max was right about that one…

***

Now that Nelly’s documents are done and dusted, we were left with the bigger issue at hand. Namely, Neo Urbana’s attack just a week ago that got Carter killed. Cecily declared war on them back during his funeral, but I don’t think we’re in such a position strength-wise to go up against them.

We decided to lay back for now and regain our strength, so that’s why we have so much time on our hands. I decided to visit Ed in the Medical Sector to check up on him.

“…Ed?” I knocked on the door of his room.

“…….” No one answered back, so I had to enter without permission.

“…Grim, ugh, fuck…” He said, lying on the floor hung over.

His room was all but destroyed, or at least that's how it looked like. I guess he didn't really take the news of Carter's passing all too well, and seeing his burnt corpse was probably quite disheartening, but if Cecily and everyone else is trying their best to move on for the sake of the gang, then I don't see why he gets special permission on that front. Honestly, I just wanna drag him back out into the sunlight, as he could use some vitamin D...

“Jeez, this place is a pigsty! Ed, since when were you a drinker?” I criticized his way of coping.

“Since I started drinking, dipass!” He hissed back with an annoying retort, before barely picking himself up from the ground.

“Whoa! You kept all the badges from the places we visited!” I stopped to commend him for keeping those safe at least. “Remember this heart shaped one we bought when we entered Bilgam? We didn’t know a lick of the Hianic language back then, and now look at us!”

“Grim, get out of my room and leave me to drown in my sorrows.” Ed said, weakly pushing me to the door as he reached for another bottle.

He tried chugging the bottle, but it was already empty. Honestly, that pathetic sight kind of made me laugh at him. The person who's earned my respect throughout my entire life decided to stoop this low, just this thought was enough to make me sick. When I remember the little boy who used to talk with Harper back in Springwood the whole afternoon, I... That's it!

“What would Harper think, c’mon man! What would Anna think?!” I shook him up by the collar.

“They’d, ugh, they’d think I’m a failure for not saving my friend…” he slouched.

“Wrong, they’d think you’re a failure for day drinking, now get the fuck out of this room and get a hold of yourself. Carter would laugh at you for looking like this much of a mess over him.” I tried reassuring him.

“Shut the fuck up!” he lashed out, “How the fuck do you know how he’d react to seeing me look like this much of a mess! We’re you his best friend? Huh?!”

Hey, Carter was a friend of mine as well! And to act like I didn’t know him…!

I promptly threw him out of the room.

“Let’s go for a walk. For old time’s sake.” I said, a bit pissed off at him.

We had made our way across town, with each passing store I had hoped to lift Ed's spirits as much as I possibly could. I know that losing someone is tough, but if you don’t pick yourself up, then it’s basically like you died as well…

I decided to use this time we had to talk about our future plans.

“We’ll be fighting Neo Urbana in a couple months, afterwards we’ll head off with Cecily and Nelly to the next country. Got any opinions on that?”

“……” He kept walking silently.

“…Cecily and I adopted Nelly.” I said offhandedly, not thinking too much about the bombshell I just dropped.

“You two did!?” He looked over at me with wide open eyes, “Heh, looks like mine and Carter’s plan really did work out, huh? You’re already at that stage!” He joked with a bit more vigor than before.

“Y-Yeah...” I said with a flushed expression, “By the way, why did you guys even try getting Cecily and me together?” I asked.

“Well,” Ed reminisced with a warm smile, “to tell you the truth, it was Carter’s idea. He noticed Cecily stealing glances at you from the start, so he told me to help you guys out.”

“Ya’ knuckleheads… Thanks.” I smiled as I gave him a one armed hug, "Hey, when Cecily and I get married some day, promise you'll stick around to be the best man? You'll have to do Carter's job and be my brother-in-law as well though..."

"I'd be honored." Ed finally smiled honestly for the first time in a while.

We had made it to a tourist shop by the time Ed started opening up a bit. I used the momentum to suggest we buy something as a memento for our time in Great Hiana.

“Sure,” he said, looking around for anything that suited the theme, “how about this?”

What he grabbed was a pocket knife, and while I do understand that that was supposed to commemorate our time as Generals of ARA, I don’t like the idea of having to explain to the border police why we’re carrying a sharp weapon with us every time we have to pass a border…

“Hmm, then how about… this!” He said, picking up a magnetic badge with a red Band-Aid plastered on it.

Ed…

To the rest of Bilgam, that badge refers to a local hospital with that logo, but to us, it reminds us of a certain red haired boy with a signature cool looking Band-Aid on his nose…

“Yeah… That’s perfect.” I ultimately wanted to immortalize him too, so I went ahead and approved of Ed’s choice.

After we had made it back, Cecily asked about how Ed was doing.

“He’s still recovering, but I think he’ll be fine.” I said as I reassured her.

Just then, Aaron quickly ran up to us, looking like he just experienced the win of a century.

“You guys!” He said in between breaths, “We just got word that Neo Urbana wasn’t behind the messenger attack! And the real Neo Urbana just barely won against Gilgamore Gang!”

“Okay…?” We said, waiting for him to explain what’s so good about this supposedly disconnected turn of events.

“It means” he elaborated, “Gilgamore Gang was behind that attack, and Neo Urbana just destroyed them! And on top of that, Neo Urbana is heavily wounded, more so than we are! We’re in a prime position to sign a peace treaty between the two gangs and rise out on top of this godforsaken underworld by splitting the pay between us 50/50!”

This news was amazing, as we not only lost another enemy without so much as lifting a finger, but we also got word of our final enemy wanting peace! But this could also be a trap, so we must proceed with caution…

I explained to Aaron this possibility, but agreed to follow him and sign the treaty anyways. He was glad, and told me another interesting fact.

“Ed said he’ll be coming, too.”

“Whoa, is he gonna be alright?” I asked, just in case.

“Lune.” Cecily pointed her gaze towards me, “He’ll be fine, believe in him.”

“Yeah… Well then, prepare a wagon for departure. We ride at dawn…”