Archive - Ch. 10 - Rectify

    It took a few moments for Sky's eyes to adjust to the sudden light where there had just been darkness before. He looked around, and saw only white stretching on and on forever. He couldn't even see his friends anywhere.
    "Adam!"
    Sky looked up and sighed in relief as he saw Ty and Jason come running up to him.
    "What the hell just happened?!" Jason asked.
    Sky shrugged uncertainly.
    "You broke it."
    Sky turned as he heard Bodil's voice, expecting the god to be talking to him. But as he faced the other way, he saw that Bodil was looking straight at the boy who'd randomly joined them.
    Said boy looked rather nervous as Bodil strode towards him, eyes narrowed. "How did you get in there?"
    "I-I don't know-"
    "You must know. I didn't put you there, so you must have put yourself there."
    "I... I guess it was an accident..."
    "No, no, only the pure of heart can travel between dimensions." Bodil said.
   "Wait, would that mean you would be pure of heart?" Sky asked.
   Bodil looked at him. "Yes, which is more than can be said for you."
    "Wait, I'm sorry, but you're a total psycho. How can you be pure of heart?"
    Bodil sighed. "Mortals... It doesn't mean that you're kind of caring when you're pure of heart, it means it's impossible for you to lie. And among you mortals, that's hard to come by."
    He looked at Ian. "You're interesting."
    Ian smiled lightly. "Thank you."
    Bodil snorted and looked at Sky again. "How funny. I wouldn't expected you to be pure of heart. But not even you, the once and future ki... Oh." He hesitated as he got a good look at Sky and his two companions for the first time. "Oh, my..."
    Sky and Ty exchanged confused glances.
    Bodil laughed. "A fool I am! How did I not see it? You, all three of you... Ha! Oh, I don't need to keep you in here to be entertained by you lot." He looked at Ian and laughed again. "Oh, I can't wait to watch this!" He looked at Sky, now grinning. "Alright kids, you're going home."
    "Wait wait, we can't go home, Ty's trapped in a base remember."
    "I'll fix that." Bodil said. "You're going to have far bigger challenges down the road..."
    With that, he snapped his fingers, and all four teens disappeared from the pure white limbo.
    Bodil was left alone there, staring at the place they'd been and smiling lightly.
    "Why must you always do unnecessary things?"
    Bodil turned and blinked as he saw his companion; the black-winged Angel.
    He smiled. "Long time no see."
    "Not to us. A month compared to billions of years... You must be beginning to think like a human."
    "Perhaps I am." Bodil said. "Perhaps that's not a bad thing."
    "Ooh, you're really hanging out with them too much."
    Bodil rolled his eyes. "Shut up you..."
    "So, what made you help them like that?"
    "...I saw what they were going to become. I saw the greatness and the love; and the sorrow. It's funny, they think the war is nearing its end. But it's only just beginning. These three hundred years of humans fighting Teuthidans have led up to this, this battle. This stillness before everything comes crashing down. This war is only the beginning. The earthquake before the tsunami. The real battle will start so very soon in the long lives of you and I... I can't wait."
    The black-winged Angel stared. "You creep me out sometimes."
    "You love it." Bodil smirked.
    "That's debatable."

Bodil had teleported the four teens just outside the town of Farpoint, less than a mile from the base. Ty was back in solid form, thanks to Bodil, and everything seemed ordinary.
    "Well, this is home." Sky said. He looked at the boy. "Where are you going now then?"
    Said boy was looked around. "I don't really know..."
    "Don't you have a home or something?" Sky asked.
    "Um..." The boy swallowed. "No."
    Sky hesitated, then looked at Ty. "You guys head back, I'll catch up in a minute."
    Ty nodded and started walking down the road towards the base, Jason by his side.
    Sky looked at the boy as the walked away. "What's your name?"
    "Ian." The boy said.
    "That's a nice name." Sky held out a hand. "I'm Adam, most people call me Sky."
    Ian smiled a little and shook his hand. "It was nice helping you."
    "It was nice having your help." Sky said. "Hey, if you don't have a home, you could always join the Sky Army."
    Ian blinked. "Really? You think I could?"
    Sky nodded. "With a little training, I think you could be a wonderful fighter."
    Ian smiled. "Ya think?"
    Sky smiled back. "Absolutely."
    Ian hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah... I think I will do that."
    Sky beamed. "We'll be glad to have you."
    Upon heading back to the base and showing Ian to Amanda to be registered, Sky was simply walking down the corridor when he was suddenly stopped by a loud voice.
    "Vaerin!"
    Sky groaned audibly and turned around. "Hello, Commander..." He muttered.
    Void was a few feet away, glaring at him. "I told you not to go."
    Sky rolled his eyes. "If you honestly thought I'd listen, you don't know me very well."
    Void sighed. "Dahlburg, I swear, you are the most..." He blinked as he noticed the sword in his sheath. "What's that?"
    Sky looked down, then pulled out the rusty blade. "Oh, it's just some old sword. I found on the way there."
    "That's an old Sky Army sword, we don't use that style anymore. They're too heavy... Lemme see."
    Sky held it out to him.
    Void rolled his eyes. "Pro tip kid, always had a sword to someone by the handle." He took it from Sky's hands and looked at it closely. Then he flipped the blade over and froze as he looked at it.
    Sky blinked. "Er... Commander?"
    Void's eyes were wide as he stared at it, and he smiled just slightly, looking at Sky. "Follow me, Rookie." He said.
   He started to walk down the hall, holding the sword more carefully than before.
    Sky followed in confusion, watching him in a bit of concern. "Er... You alright, sir?"
    "I'm just fine..."
    "...Okay..."
    Void walked out into an underground courtyard-like place. But when Sky looked around, he saw it was more like a graveyard.
    Void strode through the rows and rows of graves belonging to recruits, and Sky saw several somehow familiar names; Marshal Paxwell, Higgins Kal, Jane Raymond, and more. Then Void stopped at the back row of the yard.
    He turned and looked at Sky. "This is Commander's Row." He said. "It's where all the past Commanders were buried, where I'm going to be buried, and someday when you die, you're gonna be buried there too."
   "Charming." Sky said sarcastically.
   Void ignored him. "This last one here, is hers." He sat down in front of the last grave in the row.
    Sky blinked. "...Hers?"
    "Her name was Lillian Rectify." Void said. "She was my Commander, my mentor... And my fiancé."
    Sky's eyes widened. "Oh..."
    Void was quiet for a moment. "She died on a mission. It was just me and her. And on that mission, she lost her sword. We didn't think much of it until she died. There's a tradition, kid... Look at all these graves. First six anyways. What do they all have that she doesn't?"
     Sky looked at the graves before Lillian's. They were all in order by the Commander; Farpoint, Ellis, Baxter, Redd, Bold, Pravda, and Rectify. "...They all have their weapons." Sky noticed.
    Void nodded. "There's this legend that no recruit or Commander can leave this realm to go on to the other side until they have their weapon. And Lillian's weapon was lost for sixty years." He looked at Sky. "Until you just happened to find it."
    Sky's eyes widened, then he looked at the grave. Void set the rusty sword down in front of it, before he settled down again and simply stared at it in silence. After a few moments, Sky sat beside him. "...How did she die? If you don't mind..."
    "No, no it's fine." Void said. "She died of Schronzia... Ever heard of it?"
    "Um... Yeah..."
    Void looked at him interestedly. Sky didn't look back.
    "My dad died of Schronzia."
    "...How long ago?"
    "...Couple months..."
    Void's gaze softened, before he hugged Sky gently. Sky stiffened slightly. "Um." He awkwardly hugged back. Somehow, hugging the Commander, it felt like he was close to his dad.
    Sky closed his eyes. "Th-Thanks..." He said shakily.
    Void let go after a moment and the two sat in silence.
    "...How'd you meet her?" Sky asked finally.
    Void smiled, not looking at him. "First off... When I was your age, I was... Well, I was a Greaser."
    Sky looked up. "No way."
    Void rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not, rookie, yeah I had a gang. There was me, a guy named Andy Race, and Gerard, who's dead now. And lastly, Doctor Rent was there too. He's been my best friend since we were kids. So um... There was this other gang, like the Socs in those Outsider books. Except they were called the Marquis, we never knew why. Anyways, one of them seriously pissed me off and I drew a gun on him. But before I could fire, somebody grabbed my hand and said, 'Now, now, pretty boy, let's not piss off any cops.'"
    Sky grinned. "Lillian?"
    Void nodded. "She offered to take care of the Marquis for me and I figured 'why not?'. I was sure they'd kick her ass but she said she wouldn't let my hand go till I put my gun away. And she kicked those Marquis' asses. And I knew I was in love with her right then. I didn't see her again till a few weeks later when me and the guys went to this diner, like we did every Wednesday, because it was Elvis night. And I saw her there at the bar alone. So while the guys went off to eat in the booth where they usually did, I sat next to her, and we started talking, and I fell even more in love with her. And later, I asked her to dance... She said no. But I saw her the next Wednesday and asked her again. And the next Wednesday, and the next but she always said no.
    "Then something happened. There was this huge gang fight. Gerard was murdered. And it sorta hit me that this was dumb. So I joined the army instead, and Remi went with me to 'make sure I didn't get myself killed'. Andy stayed behind though. He's a lawyer now. But anyways, when that happened, I showed leadership talent and Lillian took me as her apprentice. After a few weeks we went to that diner again when we were on a mission and she admitted she only ever said no to dancing because she didn't know how to dance, so I taught her.
    "Over the next few years we fell in love and had a relationship and everything was going well, and I was going to propose to her on the mission she died on. And I did, but she was dying when I did, so I still have her ring. And I never take mine off..."
    Sky looked at him sadly. "I didn't realize she was your mentor too..."
    Void just nodded. "She was everything to me." He said, and looked at Sky. "So if you ever get a girlfriend or a boyfriend or whatever else you could have, just don't let 'em go, okay? Don't make the same stupid mistakes as I did." Void sighed and stood. "Get some rest, Rookie, we're starting training tomorrow."
     Sky watched him as he started to walk back. "G'night, CV!" He called, shortening the name Commander Void, because it really felt too long.
    Void smiled a little and waved. "Goodnight, Rookie." He said, before he turned and finished the walk out. Sky remained by Rectify's grave for a few more minutes before he finally went back to his room to sleep.