DAY FOUR - THE END

[inferis]

[After relieving the Event Horizon of its 'crew', The Lewis and Clark shudders. After all, it suddenly has a lot more weight in it than it's supposed to. The very fabric of space seems to twist and turn around the Event Horizon. Anyone looking through the windows will see the Event Horizon being pulled through a black hole...just as the Lewis and Clark starts to drop downwards.

Moments later, and the Lewis and Clark has crash landed on the grounds of Paradisa, the ship is damaged, but the people inside are safe. The stasis pods have opened up, allowing those who were asleep within them to wake up. And what a sight there is for them to see. The doors open, allowing the survivors of the plot to step outside and regroup. It's time to take stock of injuries, and deal with the loss of those who have died. The dead will have all appeared in the clinic, including those who were sucked into the black hole...well, most of them have]

[[OOC: No sections! Feel free to make your own | PLOT WRAPUP | PLOT CHAT | PLOT HUB]]

Comments

[whichwayyoulean]

[The Once-ler's remaining where he is, after all, he can't exactly go walking about by himself.

...At least this ship is better than the Good Ship Trauma. He's not falling apart, like so many others who have dragged themselves out of that damn ship. He still can't decide if that's a good or bad thing for his general state of mental health. Probably bad. Maybe Allen was right. Maybe they were just too broken already to be broken any more.

He's frustrated, sitting here, though. So he'll be trying to look around as much as he can without his ribs protesting to see if he can find the people he hasn't been able to check up on.

Because it's going to be a lot easier to focus on those people than it will be to really take stock of those who won't be standing here]

[kungfuwitch]

[Stepping out of the wreckage nearby is Phoebe. She takes off her helmet and lets it fall to the ground, immediately looking for Adam and Peter who'd been right by her when the ship had fallen.

Her eyes fall on Once-ler. For a moment she doesn't recognize him, doesn't even seem to completely register he's there. All in all she looks like she's aged in the few days they'd been on those ships. She's dirty, smeared with blood (none of it her own) and hasn't slept in days. Her eyes seem sunken and hollow, the emotions of everything that had happened roiling just beneath the surface.

When she realizes she's looking at her friend her face falls as she takes in his injuries. They'd really gone through the wringer, hadn't they?]

[whichwayyoulean]

[He casts her a smile when he finally sees her. But even for him, there's something terribly off about it. It's more relief than anything else. AT least the swelling on his face has gone down, he can be thankful for those small mercies]

Hey.

[kungfuwitch]

[She glances back. Adam and Peter look alright for the moment. She can steal away for a few seconds to go check on one of her friends.

She steps closer, nodding]

Hi. We made it.

[whichwayyoulean]

Some of us did, anyway.

[Wow he was trying not to think about that and mentally chides himself for doing so, and for sounding like a jackass in the process]

Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. Yeah. We did.

[kungfuwitch]

[She looks away, squeezing her eyes shut as she tries to hold back the tears. Thanks, man. You just mentioned the ONE thing she was trying not to think about.

Her voice shakes as she softly repeats]

We did...

[whichwayyoulean]

[The Once-ler doesn't seem to br struggling with it. Mostly because he's trying desperately not to feel ANYTHING. It's how he's survived the whole mess and he's damned if he's letting go of it just yet]

Is Peter... [He can't ask if the guy is ok. It's clear he is not, so he lets the sentence hang there]

[kungfuwitch]

[She takes a slow breath, eyes relaxing a little though not opening just yet. She knows if she looks at him she'll cry and she doesn't want to do that... not if she can help it. He's been through enough without having to put up with that]

He's alive... I... [She pauses, voice heavy with emotion as she thinks back on the feeling of her skull colliding with his as she headbutted him]

I had to knock him unconscious to get him off the ship.

[whichwayyoulean]

[He understands that emotion well. A small crack could bring it all caving in, after all]

But he's off. That's... I'm glad to hear that.

[kungfuwitch]

[She nods slightly, her shoulders slumping. These have seriously been some of the worst days of her life]

He almost turned the Gravity Core on... we barely got there in time.

[whichwayyoulean]

The big spinning thing. [God he hates that thing so much]

...You were lucky. The people that got pulled into that thing...

[He looks down at his shattered knee, it's hard to forget that kid, how twisted she was] It wasn't good.

[findatree]

[Ted's been looking everywhere, trying to hurry. He has no idea what's happened, but it looks terrible. And he knows that the Once-ler won't be happy until he's seen that Ted is safe and unharmed]

Grandpa! It's okay, I'm here!

[whichwayyoulean]

[That much is very very true, and some of the tension the Once-ler has been carrying for the past four days vanishes when he sees Ted alive and safe. He may have his issues with the castle, but he is eternally greatful it kept the kid out of all this mess]

Hey, Tedster. You're a sight for sore eyes.

[He tries to manage a smile, but doesn't quite make it]

[findatree]

Gran-- Once-ler. [look you know things are serious when Ted is calling you by your actual name]

Something bad happened, didn't it?

[whichwayyoulean]

[He wants so much to shield Ted from this mess. He doesn't want the kid to know what happened. To know this place could be so cruel...that something like that could have happened to him.

...But he can't lie, either. Not with the state he's in. Somehow he doubts Ted will buy that he fell down some stairs]

Let me put it this way. You should be glad the castle put you to sleep.

[findatree]

[Ted looks at the man, taking in all his injuries. And also the things unseen: the hurt, the loss, the pain. All he ever saw of the old Once-ler was his arms and his eyes, but he caught a few things in the man's voice. He's catching those things now in the young Once-ler. Ted places a hand on the Once-ler's knee]

If you ever want to talk about it, I'll listen.

[whichwayyoulean]

[Even if he doesn't know it yet, the Once-ler has done exactly what he will do in the future. Try to bury away all his feelings, try to make them not exist in an effort to survive what he's been through. But that Once-ler back home hadn't met Ted yet, he'd been utterly alone until the kid came to find him.

...So this Once-ler has one good thing up already. He lets out a soft sigh, the corner of his mouth twitching a little]

I know you will. You're a good kid. [There's a pause, another breath. He's lost too many people he cares about. There are too many things he leaves unsaid] I'm proud of you.

[findatree]

[that... Hearing those words from an adult male does something to him. Of course he knows that his mother is proud of him: she stood up for him against O'Hare and was willing to help him get the seed to the center of town. He knows that his grandmother is proud of him: she's the one who put him on the quest in the first place, who enabled him every chance she could.

But... his father's not in the picture, so he's never heard those words from a man before. Ted calls the Once-ler "Grandpa" almost as a tease because he knows the man when he's old, but in truth this man is the closest he has to a father. Those four words from that man mean more to him than he ever thought. Knowing the Once-ler is a recluse doesn't stop Ted from what he wants to do more than anything right now.

He hugs the Once-ler around the waist]

[whichwayyoulean]

[He's glad to have said it, really. It was time he did that. He never knew when any of them would be gone. Be it being sent home, or... . He has enough to regret, he doesn't need to add this to the list. He honestly doesn't expect the hug, and yelps a little]

Ow ow, Ted, Ted ribs.

[Still, he appreciates the gesture, and hooks a lanky arm around the boy's head, giving his hair a gentle ruffle]

[findatree]

[he eases up but doesn't let go. Ted never got the chance to hug the Once-ler back home, and there's no telling if he ever will. If they'll ever even get to meet each other without the boards of the old man's window blocking them. So Ted hugs this Once-ler. Gently]

[whichwayyoulean]

[That's better, good Ted. Wow, he could use some painkillers, he is going to have all the painkillers in the world when he gets to the clinic, he has decided.

It will be wonderful]

When did you wake up? I asked after you and Phoebe told me you were in one of those stasis pods.

[findatree]

[he finally steps back and takes a seat so they can talk]

Just a while ago. I don't remember being anywhere except in my bed.

[whichwayyoulean]

[His shoulders relax a little. He's so glad, so very glad Ted was afforded this small mercy]

That's really for the best. There were some kids on the ship I was on... I wouldn't have wanted that to happen to you.

[findatree]

Once-ler... do we have to bury people again? I can burn leaves like I did for the people on the expedition.

[he sounds suddenly grown up when he says this. He and Sheena did a small honor for the dead back in that village, and something about this reminds him of that moment]

[whichwayyoulean]

[He feels a small stab of pain, perhaps anger towards the castle for putting this kid his kid in a position where he'd have to bury people at all. It wasn't right]

No. If people die in the live zone, they come back in two weeks. [He lets out a slow breath] That's what they tell me, anyway. I don't think they'd want to wake up underground.

...I think they keep them in some sort of freezers in the basement.