Chapter 88: A Heartfelt Reunion! (Part 1!)


    On a journey of a thousand nations and peoples, a Scarecrow has changed and been changed.


    Nearly a year since the Scarecrow wandered out of her field and into the wide, warring seas of Iozia and Tripolia, and she has come a long way. From humble upbringing and unknown origin, this hay girl has been seeking, searching for an answer.


    An answer to a question… that was herself.


    Once unable to live without seeking others, the Scarecrow had a distinct discontent. A perpetual unhappiness behind the unending smile, of never truly finding hearts to fit with. Instead of being able to fill her own heart with love, she sought to put her love into the hearts of others.


    If she could not be of use, what was the point?


    Without use… she thought herself a failure…


    She needed someone.


    And there was… an Elf!


    One that held a lot of insecurities, a lot of red hair and freckles, and a lot of curses and cruel laughter. Many derived from a tribe that valued strength in the masculine, and this Elf could not provide.


    He felt… weak.


    This Elf was joined by a Soldier, A Tripolian, and A Kid. All of them are a ball of problems and complaints. And all of them a blanket of kindness and humor. They had each other, and soon they’d have another.


    When meeting the Scarecrow, they all had a mixture of reactions and transactions. But, over their collective journey, they changed along with her. Once seeing her a tool, then an acquaintance, then a friend, then a confidant, and then a loved one.


    One such loved one, was an Actress. Through her friendship with the Scarecrow, she had helped her see the world in a new way. And gave her an instruments to summon herself.


    Her most prized possession, a guitar.


    And a more major, although intangible, a sense of self worth.


    Soon, this Scarecrow would impact their hearts, their hopes, and perhaps their very souls with her unwavering kindness and determination.


    All… except the Elf.


    He saw the Scarecrow and thought her an idiot, a gullible fool whose sociable persona gave her success where he had failed. That she was rewarded for kindness, and he suffered for his unasured pride.


    How was he losing… to her?


    In a moment of confrontation, the Scarecrow gave him some key advice. Perspective from a simple body. That soon long as he focused on himself, he would forfeit others. That you can improve yourself, along with others.


    What matters is that you try to make a world with less suffering.


    From that, the Elf realized how close he and the Scarecrow were. Both of them were struggling with wounds inflicted upon them by unknown parties. Struggling, screaming, raging would not stop the pain.


    You have to learn to sew yourself and sew the people you love.You must love yourself and others, lest you forget what you’re fighting for. That you’re only weak if you decide you are. You deserve better than what rulers inflict on you. What you were made from and born from doesn’t have to define all that you are.


    The truth will set you free.


    “Ya should not surrender, for your life is yours.” Resting her chin on the balcony, Vega spoke softly into the spring wind.


    After several months of training, Vega remembered all that had happened to her. Of course she had to, it was a new year!


    From her room, Vega saw a few thousand grand sights. One of which, drum roll please, she wasn’t in Uvi Jantok anymore!


    Of course, she could see the black walls from miles away, but right now, she was sailing on a luxury, all expense paid, coastline cruise. Best part about it, Vega had plenty of company.


    The coastliner, designed in the image of a sleeping turtle, was made out of red tropical wood and fitted with dozens of potted flowers and beautiful trees. In fact, it was originally Oligarch Tibato’s before some watchmen found (cough cough, fuck paying for shit, cough cough) it in a dock.


    Pushing herself off the railing, Vega looked to her right, seeing the continually rebuilding Uvi Jantok. Although a yellowish blur, she knew that this place would not be too distant. And of course, she and her friends would have to revisit.


    Speaking of, her friends were on the deck, leisurely enjoying themselves. Florato, having decided to cut her hair to a more manageable size, had changed the most. Having started to join the others in their training, she moved swiftly and with a lot more confidence. Of course, she had a ton of confidence to begin with, but now she seemed as strong as Amir, at least in spirit.


    Playing her ocarina, it sounded like a wonderful songbird, floating in the glowing sky above. As Florato finished the end of her melody, she waved up at Vega who responded with a relaxed smile.


    Similar in mood, Kaliba rested in a bowl of grapes. Sleeping soundly, the crow was maintaining a sense of grace and kindness not usually seen.


    Krimm and Sorbet were not too far from Florato, enjoying the light dishes that the crew were providing them. Practicing both curiosity and patience, Sorbet tended to savor and chew on her food a lot more. And as you might expect, Krimm showed no fashion and simply ate the food like they were snacks. Upon seeing Sorbet’s giggling face, Krimm moved a tad slower, out of respect.


    “Man… this is all-all gonna go away pretty soon…” Letting her eyes droop down, Vega felt a chill roll down her stomach. Walking away from the balcony, she pushed open the doors to her private room.


    This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    There wasn’t much in there, simply the expensive bed and furniture. The one thing she had brought was a strange looking book. Haphazardly bounded with red, thorny vines and made out of iron sheets, this book sort of resembled Vega.


    Picking it up, she sat down on the bed and laid the book on the lap. The only light was coming from the balcony but at this distance she couldn’t see the cover. Her eyebrows were bent and her eyes squinted down. Hunched over the book, Vega almost seemed to curl around it.


    “...will it be enough…” Hugging the book to her chest, Vega stared out at the wall before here. She wasn’t seeing the wall, but a memory from a not too long ago past.


    Of Ani Arma and their fight. Although she managed to surprise him and give him some damage, he absolutely floored her with his speed, strength, and unending stamina. He was more than human, some awful force had to be powering him.


    But that’s not what made her off put, it''s the fact that he outsmarted her. He had every counter to her strategies and if he hadn’t spared her, it would have been over.


    Absent-mindedly, Vega had started to scratch the back of her head. After the fight with Ani Arma, she had to get more repairs, putting solid plate metal at the back of her head. It wasn’t there wasn’t any fabric or thread.


    It was the fact that it wasn’t healing.


    Florato had told her that the fabric, although stitched in, wasn''t ‘sewing’ the same way as before. Where Vega could heal and stick a random limb back on and it would work, the back of her head wasn’t working the same.


    Sure, she could heal from other battles and she had healed since then, but the fact that this one injury couldn’t be fixed like the others disturbed her like no other battle had.


    Gripping hard on the book tight, Vega realized that she was accidentally damaging it. Placing it right beside her, she fell back and laid out a big sigh.


    “Will I be enough?”


    “I hope so.” Skull said.


    “What the fuck!?” Falling off the bed, Vega searched for the voice and eventually stumbled upon her shadow, now changed once more.


    “Sorry. Can’t control when I show up and all.” Shrugging, Skull spoke apologetically.


    “Skull! It’s been a while bro-bro!” Beaming with newfound joy, the scarecrow scrambled towards Skull.


    “Its only been a day!” Backing away slightly, Skull held his hands close to his chest, yelling with a bit of laughter.


    “I know!” Vega mimics a hug of Skull, since she can’t properly hug him. And for some reason, he embarrassingly squirmed out of it.


    “Hey hey! Okay! Jeez…” Skull rubbed the back of his head, recovering from the gesture.


    “How goes the Soul-soul Gem making?” Hoping to her feet, Vega opened up her shirt and pulled out a pen and pad.


    Flipping through a couple of notes like ‘how much do mercenaries cost?’ and ‘number of war crimes committed by Oligarch Tibato’, Vega finally stopped on a page that said ‘Soul Gem Production’.


    “Ya sure ya don’t want to talk about what’s happening? Ya seemed a little sad before I got here…” Shifting through her shadow, Skull looked like he was sitting on the bed. Vega looked down for a moment, before shaking her head.


    “We only got a month on our hand-hands and I’m not wasting time here. Come on!” Vega spoke with a military voice and immediately, the two constructs stood at attention. For a couple of seconds Skull looked around, unsure of what to do.


    “Oh right!” Skull wove his hand and from out of sight, summoned a clipboard and donned a visor on his head. “Soul Gem production has increased by ten percent in the last two weeks, with today being the highest all year with four Soul Gems.”


    “And today’s description?” Vega tapped her pen against the notepad, increasingly in speed.


    There were a few columns, type, number, and volatility. There was a small scribble in the margin saying ‘from Skull, stop overdosing on Soul Gems’.


    “Two support types of quality M and Volatility J. One transmutative quality NC with Volatility K. And finally, one destructive Soul Gem of quality NX with volatility XK.”


    “An NK XK? That’s the-the second one we have! Nice work.” Vega wrote down the progress with great speed and enthusiasm, while Skull seemed to be nervously happy with the compliment.


    “R-right. Right-right!” Flipping to the next paper on his clipboard, Skull cleared his throat and steadied himself.


    “Good. Good. Now your recon. Reports?” Vega bent her head forward, without


    looking away from her notes.


    “Unable to scout further. All exits from the Lai Bank have been checked with no known way to open. Though that is subject to change.” Skull momentarily laid his clipboard on his lap before lifting it up again.


    “And the patrols?” Vega lingered on this sentence the longest, as if holding her breath.


    “No change in patrol. Watchmen still haven’t suspected a thing-thing.” With an clear retelling, Skull put Vega’s worries at rest.


    “Alright! Then that means-”


    “However.” Holding up his hand, Skull forced Vega to stop and listen. There wasn’t a sense of urgency in his voice, but a mild intrigue. “I did hear something from the watchmen.”


    “What-what was-was it?”


    “Something about a party? It''s supposed to happen in a week or two, but I didn’t get too many details. What I have heard, it''s got to be big.” Using his arms to stretch out wide, Skull sought to show that it was going to be something huge.


    Although his skeletal frame could not fully show it, Vega imagined a grand party. An event in stark contrast to Uvi Jantok. Where the rebuilding, husk of a city was still underway, the lights and glamor of Jantok Sky would glow and sparkle. Where there was wood would be marble, and were there was sand would be jade.


    “Hmmm…. Okay…” Vega jotted the idea down, smaller than the other notes, with a couple of question marks around it. Putting the event off, Vega’s face relaxed into a slight frown. Sitting back down on the bed, the scarecrow found herself in the same emotional place.


    “Now. Is there something about ya?” Floating over to Vega’s back, Skull seemed to rest his head against hers. Like made Vega a little more open, as if she could feel his trusting presence more.


    “Me?” Tapping her chest, Vega scoffed at the notion.


    “Vega, whenever I show up, you’re in emotional distress-tress. It''s kinda in my job description now.” His casual tone and leaning posture made it clear that he wasn’t suspecting anything, he knew what was going on. All Vega had to do was to say out loud, to put her heart in the air.


    Her eyes wandered back to the book. Still shrouded in darkness, Vega didn’t know what to make of it.


    “Skull… have ya ever felt… stuck?”


    “What…what do ya mean-mean?” Gently sending his clipboard away, he floated to Vega’s face. He went close, close enough that he lowered his voice a little. Vega got up and started to pace around.


    “Like… like you’re moving down the road of life when suddenly…” Stopping before she completely her next step, Vega looked frozen in time.


    “...” Skull stared at her, waiting for her to complete her thought.


    “Ya can’t move?” Letting her foot fall back down, Vega turned to point at Skull. Quickly she swiveled her head to the balcony, to the light of the day. She clutched her chest, tight enough to wrinkle it.


    “Ya see everyone speeding away, on-on their nice horses and shoes, while ya are chained. By yourself, by your situation… by your station.” Letting her hands fall, Vega held her head, looking out at the beauty beyond.


    Standing there, Vega looked at a world full of beauty while encircled by dark and shadow.


    “There is a whole world out there… and I can’t see it right now. I want to see it all! And yet… I''m not sure whether I’ll survive out not…not…” Wandering over to where the book laid, Vega’s hands shook as she reached out to touch it. Her left hand gently unraveled and rested on its irregular cover. Closing her eyes, the scarecrow let out a sigh.


    “Yes. Absolutely Vega.” Skull appeared from the shadow she casted on the book and rose to her eyes.


    “...Ya do?”


    “To be honest… ever since…. ever since Kaliber died.” His voice showed no lie. It hurt her like a thunderbolt, traveling through her body in a hot sharp pain. Of course Vega knew, there was no doubt. That the one she searched for was dead. That her search was really for herself.


    “Ya know…I never thought I’d get here. I’m stuck, I thought. That this mystery construct wouldn’t show-show. That’d be here! Forever while the world moved on without me…” Letting out more angst and tension than he expected, Skull wove his hands over head in a great display of giving up. Once he realized, he dropped his arms and held one shyly.


    Vega giggled at this gesture, and it genuinely made her feel better. That there was someone who got it. Skull moved back, more composed and ready to express.


    “But… ya did show up. Ya pulled me out of the stupor, out the cement. That there really was-was a construct like me. And for once, I didn’t feel so unsure about everything.”


    “That I could relax, be less caught up in my own head and more… into the lives of others… that i didn''t have to watch the world go by and be a part of it.” Motioning to hold her hands, Skull got close to Vega and looked down at her. For some reason, it made Vega smile and her chest warm. She had to keep going. That she wasn’t stuck so long as she moved.


    “So what I''m trying to say is that… things can change. I’m proof of that, you’re proof of that. Please Vega… you’re going to survive. And…”


    On the paths of life, some stay close and some never meet again. People that always stick together, and others that forget them.


    But, rarely, as we continue forward, we find our paths leading in the same direction.