Return of the Fallen Volume 10 Chapter 87
[Planet Kai]
There were no bodies after their deaths but in memory of them, Planet Kai became a final resting place so to speak. Kai, Glacious, Tilly, Etora, Granny Master. This was a place to remember and cherish them. After everyone had tested their new powers, Kazuki repaired the place and made tombstones for them.
Everyone was gathered here. After everything happened, things were still busy and at the time it didn’t feel quite right to hold a funeral or memorial. Now though things were in motion on one end and could be handled when needed. A small calm had formed and people could now have a chance to grieve properly.
Lamia placed a few flowers atop Glacious’s and Etora’s graves as she cried. Nunully, Tsura, and Mei all held her, and Mei couldn’t help but cry seeing Lamia cry. To shin and the others, Glacious was a teacher to them while Etora was like a fun uncle or older brother. Old Sid as well poured a bit of alcohol over Tilly’s tombstone.
“You were one wicked bitch but you were also my friend. Growing this old, you’d think one would have more so-called friends but truth be told having a real friend is a rare occurrence. Tilly you old bat, you were that friend.”
Sid then took a large swig of his drink before corking it and placing it into his chest pocket and patting it with care.
“This is your favorite drink but knowing you, you would be pissed if I poured anymore out and you’d probably yell at me saying what a waste. So, I’ll be keeping this with me, that is until it’s time for dinner. Then I’ll finish it all to the last drop, just for you, hehe.”
After that Kazuki opened a rift for Sid and sent him on his way. He was the type to busy himself and not linger on sad thoughts for too long. Working metal and shaping it to his best ability, sweating and hammering under the scorching heat of a bellowing furnace, that was his way of getting through things.
Kimi cried for Glacious. She recalled when she had arrived in his tiny world and how bitter and depressed she had become after losing her arm. She blamed Kazuki and lashed out at those around her but it was Glacious who lit a fire under her and pushed her to become stronger. He was tough but it was something she desperately needed at the time. She thanked him from the bottom of her heart and felt foolish for how she acted back then.
Sam held her and stroked her back, letting her pour everything out. Asuna and everyone else had their own thoughts, their own sadness, their own grief as well as their own happiness and joy. Good memories, bad ones, all of them became experiences and helped shape them for the better. Still, this was difficult. People had held themselves back for so long that now it was like the flood gates had opened.
Lin was no exception.
Standing at the foot of Kai’s tombstone, Lin fell to his knees and began to cry at the sight of it.
“Forgive me son, my boy. I did not look after you properly, I should have been there…I’m sorry.”
Kazuki held Lin’s shoulder.
“Father, Kai, and I. We couldn’t have had a better dad. You did your best for us, we knew you loved us.”
Lin shook his head and grit his teeth.
“I do love you but I was terrible. I should have seen through Sephra’s lies. I shouldn’t have fallen for her tricks. I was supposed to protect you two. I failed you both and I failed your real father Kazuki. I was always told that I was naive growing up. I thought when I started raising you boys, I thought I finally could change but I was a fool until the end. How can you ever forgive me? How can Kai ever rest knowing how badly I failed him, failed you both?”
Kazuki didn’t really know what to say to all of this.
“You…to me…to Kai, you are our real father. I don’t care what others say that to me is a fact. As for Sephra…Even I for all those years…Until the moment I was chained down to that table, I really believed that she loved me. She tricked all of us. She and Fera, fooled us. You can’t blame yourself. She was too deceitful and we were all blind. Brother doesn’t blame you…I don’t blame you so there is nothing to forgive.”
Lin cried harder hearing this and at the sight of his father crying, Kazuki’s stomach twisted in pain.
Alutra wanted to say something but she was at a loss. This was her brother’s children but she couldn’t come up with the words. When all of this had taken place back then, she was unaware for the most part. She knew that she had a nephew somewhere down in a Lower Realm and that her brother was raising him but beyond that, she was in the dark. When Orberus revealed the recordings from Kazuki’s golden compass, she was disgusted and enraged at Sephra and felt her opinion of her father was lowered to the very bottom.
She never understood how her father could simply watch along as if it was entertainment and she could not wrap her head around how a woman could take in two children, treat them as her own for many years and then flip on them as if they were nothing. Alutra held Kosaru in her hand and pet him gently. Even though she barely knew anything about Ksaru before finding him, even if she found out tomorrow that her little Kosaru was a monster, there was no way she could simply turn her back on him. He was precious, he was hers and she swore to care for him.
This only made Sephra’s behavior and betrayal even more baffling to her.
(Was Sephra acting the entire time or is she really so cold and can just turn her emotions and love inside out in an instant?)
Alutra really couldn’t understand.
Eventually, she walked over and knelt down next to her brother. A flower appeared in her hand before she softly laid it down.
“Kai, I didn’t know you but I know my brother and I know Kazuki. With my brother raising you and young Kazuki as your little brother, I’m sure you were a good person. Kind and smart and with these two you were probably very patient as well. Hopefully not as cunning as Kazuki but instead sweet like brother. Knowing what I know now, I wish I would have fought for my brother and stood up to fath…Orberus. Maybe then I could have done something against that evil woman. I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you.”
Kosaru could sense that Alutra was sad and his simple thoughts entered her mind.
(Sad…Don’t be Sad…Mama.)
This hit Alutra hard and she began to cry. She hated the way her family was. She hated how showing an ounce of emotion was equivalent to being weak in her family. She hated her father, her uncle, and almost everyone else. She understood why her brothers had left and how she wished she had tried to leave sooner. She understood why Lin wanted a family of his own. People that love and care for you unconditionally. Something she had only had from two of her brothers.
Understanding that, it hit her that much harder knowing that the family Lin had was torn apart by one of the people he trusted most in his world. For his own wife and daughter to betray him and his sons and then murder one and nearly murder the other. This was something that was soul-crushing.
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After everyone returned to Glacious’s tiny world, Lin came over to Kazuki and spoke in a somber tone.
“Kazuki…I need to talk to you.”
Kazuki could feel that Lin had something serious to discuss so the two took a walk alone toward the nearby forest. Walking and walking, Lin said nothing as they went further and further. Eventually, he took to the skies and flew to a far-off mountain where only the wind made a sound. Lin looked on at the false horizon as the artificial sun began to set before he finally spoke.
“Your real father…What do you know of him?”
Kazuki didn’t get upset with the mention of his father. As far as Kazuki was concerned, the man was nothing in his mind. There was no hatred nor love, just a simple nothing now. Shaking his head, he was honest.
“I don’t know anything. My first memories…I was already playing with Kai at the orphanage. A little later you and Sephra adopted both of us. I have no memory of my so-called real father nor do I wish to.”
Lin shook his head and sighed.
*Haa*
“Kazuki, you may not wish to know but this is something you must know.”
“And why is that? Why should I care about someone who abandoned me? Why should I care about someone who just gave me up?”
Lin turned to face Kazuki, a serious expression on his face.
“And did I just give you up, did I just abandon you? No! There were circumstances, reasons. Just as I didn’t just leave you, my big brother would never have done that without cause. All these years I couldn’t figure it out, all this time I wondered what took place but now I know. All of it was her doing, all of it was Sephra!”
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