An arduous battle has finally concluded.
The city itself was pretty much gone. Destroyed beneath the catastrophic explosion. Nothing but smoke in the sky, endlessly rolling into heavens.
There was only silence, wind strolling through the area.
Crim lowered his arms, his flames fading into drifting embers. Chest heaving like he ran a hundred-mile marathon. Everyone was tired, fatigued, simply gazing at the destruction they created.
A second ran by, Crim's face slightly paled, "shit…!"
"Sin?!" Elaine's eyes widened instantly. "SIN!!" Her voice sounded through the ruined city.
Ai Mei, with her remaining energy, shot up into the air, panic cutting through her exhausted expression. "Sin!!" She called out desperately, "where are you?? Release your aura if you can hear me!"
But there was nothing.
Smoke, fire, ruin and debris, but no response. Crim clenched his fists tightly, but didn't give up, running around, checking anything that may have a golden-haired idiot laying under or on it.
Then something flickered.
Crim's head snapped sideways like a chicken, pointing towards the signature, "there!!"
The sisters immediately turned to him, gazing at Crim's finger aimed toward the center of the impact zone. A small flicker of chaos, barely visible. A weak wisp of frigid blue aura danced through the smoke, like a tiny flame refusing to diminish from the cold wind.
The three felt nothing but relief seeing this and didn't waste a second to move. Dashing through the terrain, leaping over craters and swimming past large boulders.
Getting through the smoke, there he was.
Skysin laid out, flat on his back, smoke curling from his body and ripped pants like a cigar. Burns and bruises covering his body head to toe.
Ai Mei's expression softened, using her telekinetic power to gently wrap around Skysin and lift him from the hole into Elaine's arms.
Elaine quickly sat down against a broken slab of concrete, placing Skysin's head on her thighs. "Sin…?" Elaine's voice was quiet, fragile, "how're you feeling?"
Skysin groaned, his eyes twitching open, one at a time. His blurred vision slowly focused, gazing at the three whose faces are covered in concern. Battered, exhausted, but still alive.
Skysin smiled, a crooked, stupid grin, "…we won." The young man laughed, weak.
Elaine giggled, Ai Mei covered her mouth with a chuckle.
Crim's shoulders sagged, tension disappearing like armor coming off, "jeez dude…" He rubbed the back of his neck, "thank Malerenz you're not dead."
Skysin snorted, "can't die that easily now…" The boy shifted slightly, "ow…!"
The group bursts into laughter. Maybe a bit half-delirious because their lives were on the line. Still, a victory was a victory. For the first time since Crim and Skysin arrived on this planet, everything felt a bit lighter now.
Ai Mei eyed everyone, Crim, Elaine, Skysin who looked like he survived an apocalypse of chaos.
"Let's head back to the guild guys," Ai Mei softly spoke.
The others nodded as the smoke above slowly parted, showing the beautiful orange sky above, glazed in shades of blue and pink.
****
A week has passed since the destructive fight against Greyvus and his entourage. The storm had passed and now came rebuilding.
News of what happened had drifted through the land quickly.
Bars and establishments talked and talked. A city lord who disappeared for five years returned, just to destroy his people's home?
Ridiculous, was a word. Coo-coo, insane, bat-shit-crazy were others.
They could respect the fact that Grevyus didn't drag everyone into this, but still, many citizens were affected. Mortally wounded, no, but they did lose their homes. Including the many people that lived in Heedin. An entire continent was near the brink of destruction because of Greyvus.
People began to move further north into Vallorey or south, wherever they could make a new home for themselves. Some of those citizens even moved to Tayon City, where the Vale Guild stood strong.
The common area of the guild, which was more home than business. A televisor on the wall played some kind of sitcom. Meanwhile Elaine sat beside Skysin on the couch, gently tightening fresh bandages around his arm.
Crim was nearby at a table, putting pumps and tubes together he got for Lucy.
The back door creaked open, Ai Mei steeped inside, a cool breeze trailing behind before the door shut.
A quiet pause at the entrance, eyeing Elaine putting things in the trash, Crim still tinkering, and Skysin stretching.
The violet-eyed boy looked like he fought a mountain and lost. Bandages wrapped around his torso, arms, shoulders, and parts of his neck. But somehow, he looked smug as ever.
"Man! I feel so much better," Skysin threw a punch into the air, "it's like I can take a whole army now—"
Skysin's arm cramped in an instant, and he folded clutching his shoulder, "oh gods above me…"
Elaine giggled, "you might wanna take it easy for a couple of weeks Sin." She tightened the bandage around his arm, "weird how you can even heal so fast. Or surviving that."
Crim didn't even look up as he sat his stuff down, "told ya. He's a roach."
Skysin flipped Crim off.
Crim shook his head, "took an explosion head on back at home too."
Ai Mei raised a brow, "wait, the thing you told me about?"
"Yep."
The half-fellen looked to Skysin, genuinely confused, "what are you?"
Skysin straightened his posture, brimming with blinding confidence, a bit too much, maybe. "What can I say?" He placed a hand on his chest. His nose looked longer from sheer ego, "I'm a grand man."
Ai Mei laughed, coughing into her arm, "yeah, whatever you say, girl-boy…"
Skysin's eyes narrowed, dramatically pointing to her, "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!!"
"Never."
"Get taller."
"Get more muscle."
"I almost died for this guild and a damn battery! But THIS is how I'm treated?!" Skysin fell to his knees, clenching his fist like a fallen knight, "my heroics…like shit falling from a bird…!"
Elaine giggled quietly, Crim shook his head, sighing as he smiled.
As Ai Mei and Skysin bickered like birds in a chirping match, Elaine reached over to grab a compact, metallic battery on the couch. She approached Crim, handing it to him, "here you go, Crim."
Crim took it, a bit confused, blinking, "ya sure?" He rubbed the back of his neck, "I can still pay for it, y'know?"
Before Elaine could even answer, Ai Mei pushed Skysin's head back like a toddler, walking over to Crim and jabbed a finger against his chest, "are you serious??"
Crim blinked again.
Ai Mei pointed over to Skysin, who had the face of a monkey, "you and this idiot literally risked your lives for this stupid battery!" She pointed harder, "Sin nearly DIED!!"
Skysin weakly raised a finger, "uhh…technically still alive here."
"Hardly," Ai Mei huffed, crossing her arms. But her expression softened, smiling, "still though…thank you guys, really. Me and Elaine would've died if it wasn't for your help."
Skysin waved it off, "meh, no need to thank us." He slouched over to Crim's side, swinging an arm around his pal's shoulder, "we're not heroes."
Crim nodded, "we just do what we gotta do. That's all."
The sisters eyed each other briefly, then sighed, understanding the boys were stubborn. Ai Mei scoffed, "well, we appreciate it, either way."
A comfortable silence settled over them—the kind that comes after surviving something terrible.
In the Omiverse, moments like this were not rare. For all its beauty, it was still an unforgiving place. Death and violence were constant realities, but nothing about them was ever truly simple. What looked black and white from a distance was, in truth, a vast gray area. People chased revenge, power, wealth, or countless other desires, and sooner or later, death always followed—whether present or waiting somewhere in the future.
Crim shifted the conversation, tilting his head toward Ai Mei, "by the way, where'd ya slip off to, Mei Mei? Your fingers were freezing."
Ai Mei stood quietly for a second. Like a light bulb, her brain activated, "oh!" She took a seat near an armrest, "I went to visit our grandmas tomb."
Elaine's expression softened the moment hearing that.
"It's up in the mountains," Ai Mei continued, "so it's usually pretty cold there."
Skysin paused, completely. The room kept talking around him, but his brain snagged onto something. Tomb. Mountains. His eyes narrowed, like a philosopher deep in thought.
Elaine noticed Skysin's pondering expression, "…you okay, Sin?"
Skysin looked up, slightly, the gears were almost visible as they turned in his head. But he finally looked toward the twins, "wait…"
Skysin took a second, "is your grandmas name…Taekhyu…?"
There was complete silence.
The girls froze, both staring at Skysin like he revealed one of the deepest secrets of the Omiverse to them. Taekhyu obviously wasn't their actual grandmother, not by blood. But she was a part of their lives for so long, since they were babies. Loved them like they were one of her own.
Taekhyu was family.
Ai Mei let out a nervous laugh, "w-wait a sec'." Disbelief on her face, she took a step forward, curious, "how do you know Taekhyu?"—Ai Mei's voice grew softer, fragile— "have you…met her before?"
Elaine leaned forward, "are you related to her Sin?"
Skysin scratched the back of his head. So many questions. Words weren't coming easy for him at all. How do you even explain something like this? It's like some kind of familial puzzle.
Skysin sighed, "honestly…it's probably better if I show you." Skysin closed his eyes, thinking. Tenko's essence is inside him, so, technically, all he had to do was release her, as if it was his own chaos.
Easier said than done, but it would be simpler to show them. As Skysin dug deeper, everyone felt it immediately. It wasn't his usual wild, frigid, storm-like chaos. It was different.
Gentle.
Older.
Colder.
Skysin raised his hand carefully, almost respectfully releasing a small orb of light from his palm. A pale, golden glow intertwined with icy blue wisps delicately dancing, almost like a snow globe. And the rooms temperature dropped slightly.
Crim raised a brow, slowly.
But the sisters looked like they seen a ghost. They recognized that feeling, the aura, the cold yet comforting presence.
Skysin looked down to the sphere, "when me and Crim first got here…we got attacked by bandits. I got knocked into the mountains to hold them back and crashed into it. Then I found this…tomb. I saw Taekhyu… and she had some kind of…message, for people related to her."
He held his hand out slightly, "and Tenko. Taekhyu wanted her to be kept safe with someone that had similar chaotic energy."
Ai Mei moved slowly and carefully, as if she was afraid the orb would drift off into the air. Standing by Skysin, her hand lifted to the energy. The instant her fingers touched the cold light, her breath hitched.
Nothing but memories flooded her mind. Taekhyu smiling near the lake. Brushing snow from Elaine's hair. Teaching the girls how to focus on their telekinesis. Teasing Raine and Audrey. Giving them wisdom.
And those long nights, watching Taekhyu sit alone in silence, pouring her chaotic energy into the sphere of light.
Again and again and again.
A sacrifice hidden behind warmth.
Elaine approached as well, tears forming in her eyes. It all hit her at once, letting out quiet sobs. Just pure emotion spilling over like a cup of water being poured.
She wasn't present, but Taekhyu felt close again.
Ai Mei's eyes shimmered, a small smile on her face, "Tenko…" She turned her gaze to Skysin, "so this means…"
"Yeah," Skysin replied, "turns out she's my aunt." He chuckled, disbelief in his voice, "didn't even know I was half-kitsune 'til I crashed there."
Maybe it was coincidence. Or maybe the Omiverse simply had a strange way of stitching broken threads back together. But whatever it was…it was good.
For years, the sisters would sometimes just sit quietly in the tomb before Taekhyu's coffin. Wondering. Hoping. What would happen to the child she sacrificed all of herself for?
But now, here he was.
A loudmouthed, reckless, cocky speedster that could probably piss off even the most forgiving saint in the Omiverse.
Skysin.
Through fate of cosmic nonsense, he became the one holding Taekhyu's final wish. The girls looked at him differently now. Not because he was some special individual or blessing from the gods above.
But because of connection.
Almost like he was a part of their lives long before they even met.
Ai Mei knew that her parents Raine and Audrey would've cried tears of joy knowing Tenko was safe. No longer frozen in loneliness anymore. Not hidden in a cold tomb.
Skysin closed his hand, Tenko's energy returning into his body.
"Y'know…Sin." Ai Mei spoke, "if there's anyone I'd want holding onto Tenko…" Her eye met Skysin's, "it's you."
Elaine nodded in agreement, a faint laugh escaping through her lingering tears, "I think you're literally the perfect fit. No one else would be better."
Skysin smiled sheepishly, "thanks guys." He sat a hand onto his chest, as if he could feel two heartbeats, "I promise, I'll do everything I can to get Tenko into her full form."
The sisters nodded. Somehow, they believed him wholeheartedly.
Skysin rubbed his cheek, awkwardly, "…hey" He chirped out, "if you guys don't mind me asking… what was Taekhyu like? It's been bothering me, y'know? Never getting to meet her…properly."
The girls smiled, and just like that, the atmosphere shifted.
Skysin, Crim, Elaine and Ai Mei gathered around the common area together, sitting across couches and chairs. Taekhyu came alive again through memory, the girls excitedly speaking of a woman they always looked up to. Her intelligence, benevolence and gentleness. Even the sadness behind those eyes she had.
The conversation drifted, all the kids talking of their parents, their family, and homes.
Skysin spoke about how terrifyingly loving his mother Valentine is. His obsessive sister, Juniper, being the general of the Omi-Sodaldo. And his Grandpa Al, the professional troller.
Crim let nostalgia run through his lips, speaking about his father Rust. The man could fix any car or lucanaship he came across, and the very reason why Crim loves those things.
Ai Mei and Elaine spoke of Raine and Audrey.
Raine, a calm and composed man who never raised his voice. A true master of Shang Fu arts. Audrey, one of the sweetest women they knew and loved. Someone who always supported them through no matter what.
Despite the grief, the loss, uncertainty, especially with Crim, Elaine, and Ai Mei, the four sat together. Sharing stories. Enjoying their time together.