#chiro SRMTHFG | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

halloweennut · 2 years

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Once Shattered, Now Whole FINALE

buckle up buckaroos. there’s a LOT to unpack here, and everything will be followed up in PART 3. cw: medical talk, puking, pain.

now with art!

Mara felt her stomach sink down to her feet, even as she snarled in disgust. She immediately grabbed for her blaster as she dropped to a defensive position, but no longer found it at her hip. The Skeleton King dangled it in the air, condescendingly before he crushed it in his hands. He dropped the mangled metal to the ground with a laugh.

"Where's the Alchemist?!" Clayton shouted.

"He's still here," the Skeleton King said. "Just...indisposed."

"Can't think of any original plots, bonehead?" Sprx taunted. "Been here, done this before."

"What's the deal, Skeleton King? We know this game," Chiro added. "It's almost dawn now, you won't have any power when we wake up!"

"That's why," the Skeleton King said, raising his hands. "I have to act before then."

Dark tethers sprung from the ground, grabbing Mara and dragging her down into the earth, only for her to reappear with a desperate gasp of air next to him.

"Let me go!" she shouted.

"Mom!" Chiro shouted, running towards them. More vines sprouted, grabbing his ankles, and he fell hard.

"Anyone move, and I'm afraid your dear little captain won't join you in the waking world," the skeleton hissed, dragging a talon over her throat from ear to ear. Mara went rigid, feeling the hand linger on her throat before grabbing her chin and twisting her head back. She yelped in pain, forced to stare up at the Skeleton King. "Now, my former general...what do you know about this?"

The Skeleton King held up a silver and jade ring, and Mara gasped. "My ring! Give it back!"

"In due time, but what. Do. You. Know?" he snarled.

"What do you mean? It's just mine! It's important to me!"

"Why?"

"It's...," Mara stopped. She could never really remember why, just that it was in her pocket. "It's mine. That's all."

"Think, think really hard," he dangled it in front of her. "Surely there's something odd you can remember."

"Why do you care?" Mara snapped.

"Answer my question, or perhaps...," the Skeleton King hissed, looking up at the skyline. "I banish this last part of my old self forever."

There was a hiss of feathers above them. The feathered beast had returned, but in its horrid claws was the Alchemist. He looked spent and worse for wear, even as simply a soul. The beat landed hard on the ground, pinning him down. The Alchemist shouted in pain before looking around him in shock. "No!"

"Al!" Clayton exclaimed.

"It wouldn't take much for me to finally destroy him," the Skeleton King said, almost happily. "He'd be a distant memory again."

"Mom, don't tell him anything!" Chiro shouted. "We just need to wake up!"

"He'll destroy the Alchemist even then!" Nova said. "There's no way out-"

"Sweet Nova, how correct," the Skeleton King said in mock sweetness. He held the ring up again. "Now...your answer?"

"I don't know," Mara pleaded. "It was in my pocket after I escaped a rift in space, that's all I remember!"

"Stop, she doesn't need to know!" the Alchemist rasped out. The beast gave him a squeeze in its talons. Antauri looked up at the ring himself, and recognized it immediately. Mara had never described it herself, only stressing how important it was to her.

"That's a Verron artifact!" he said. "But she's never been to Verron!"

"Why can't I know?! What are you keeping from me?" she shouted. The Skeleton King held the matching one, the two rings floating next to each other.

"Shame you can't remember your own wedding, but the immemores spell is powerful," he taunted. Mara went silent, only for a moment.

"WHAT?" Mara screamed. "I've never been married, I've never been to Verron -"

"But you have to have been," the Alchemist asked. "How else could you have been in Limbo, where things are linked by memory to the living world? How else would you be connected to the Power Primate? How else could you have gotten the ring?"

"But it went missing decades ago! You died before she was born!" Antauri exclaimed. "It makes no sense!"

"The rift I opened," Alchemist wheezed. "Through space and time...it must have just been enough for her to walk through."

Mara looked pale. "Alchemist, what did you do-"

"Why don't we have a look? You're still yourself, body and soul, after all."

Before Mara could give another word of protest, the Skeleton King placed a heavy hand on her head like a vice. She couldn't shake the weight, despite her struggles, and suddenly found herself fully immobile. The Skeleton King was whispering something she couldn't make out, and yet, it sounded so familiar. The whisper crept deep into her until she felt it in the deepest corner of her mind.

And then she screamed as it tore it apart.

Pain gripped her harder than the vice of the Skeleton King's hand, and soon she could barely muster a sound, her mouth staying open in a silent cry. Chiro could only watch as her eyes slowly went black from the outside in, unable to spring forward to action, too afraid that doing so would hurt her permanently in the waking world. And the Skeleton King kept whispering. Antauri could make out the words, recognizing them from years ago when the Alchemist had erased himself from their memories. He had thought it was only a soothing sound at first, and realized too late what they had done, not until he furthered his training with the Verron Mystics. An immemores spell undoes its work the same way it is cast, the same spell murmured once to forget, twice to return - it should have been gentle. But from the Skeleton King, it turned to torture. The lake and cliffs, the desert, and the corpse of the snake beast ebbed away, leaving them all in bitter darkness. The team huddled close together, peering into the darkness, but all they could see was nothingness.

Until, slowly, a dream began to unfold. A transparent, hooded figure stepped close to a control panel, pulling a lever, the electric bolts from the machine following cables that appeared with the electricity up to a platform. To arcs stood, crackling with light until a blue and magenta rip in the air appeared, spreading into a large rift. The hooded figure stepped forward in excitement, the wind generated by the force of the rift whipping his hood back. The Alchemist, young, foolish, proud, stood there, watching at the rift glowed and cracked.

And then, another figure joined. Captain Mara, just as young and proud, stepped forward, crowned ephemerally in blue and magenta. The rift crackled closed behind her, and the Alchemist stepped forward, extending a hand with reassuring words. Only for Mara to quickly pull a gun in self-defense. The scene changed again, showing Mara sitting and staring crossly at the Alchemist across what appeared to be a small study on Verron - Antauri recognized it. The Alchemist seemed apologetic but was failing miserably at being humble. She threw a book at him. Another memory at the study began, almost melting into the previous: Mara excitedly telling him about some exploit, gesturing wildly as he watched her, enthralled, before commenting that he hadn't seen her smile before. Mara stared at him at that.

Another, her poking fun at him for having grease on his forehead. She had forgiven him.

Another, Mara and him meditating, sporting a gray robe.

Her rubbing his knuckles as he sat, frustrated over something on a worktable.

Mara pushing the hood away from sunken cheeks and mismatched eyes, leaning forward to kiss him.

More and more memories played out, and tears streaked down living Mara's cheeks as each one unraveled and she remembered. Chiro felt his stomach sank - his mother had never known who his father was. But now he had a sinking feeling that the knowledge was locked from her own mind, especially as the wedding ceremony played out, the rings the Skeleton King held like a trophy being exchanged.

And then, one last memory, brighter than the others as it had been the last sealed away.

"I wish I could stay..."

"I know, but for the sake of keeping time in order-"

"I know....but what about the baby? What about-"

"Everything will be alright, I promise, love."

"I'm going to miss you. Just, don't let the monks do the memory spell on you. I don't want you to forget me, I don't want to forget you."

"I won't. And even when we're far apart, you'll shine brighter than the sun in my memories."

Chiro sank down to his knees at that, staring blankly at the ground as the memory dissipated like smoke. It was only then that the Skeleton King stopped, letting go of Mara completely. She dropped to the ground, gasping and coughing for air as she gripped the ground for something solid to cling to. Mara slowly looked at the Alchemist's eyes still shining, wet. He looked away, ashamed. "You...you did the memory spell."

The soft words weren't a question, but a statement of the absolute. "I- I asked you not to. I told the Mystics I wanted to remember."

"I asked them to. I- it would have been easier for you to-" he tried to explain.

"Easier for you, you mean," Mara tried to hiss. It was weak. "You can't just- I was pregnant, if something had happened-"

"I know," he forced out, talons pressing harder into his ribs.

"Wait, if those two were together...," Gibson began. "And Mara was pregnant when she came back, then that means-"

"The Alchemist is my father," Chiro murmured. The lynchpin of the prophecy that spurred everything was his father. The evil he had to face was his father's corpse.

"What a touching family reunion," the Skeleton King taunted. His gaze focused on Chiro. "And how ironic- my greatest foe is my son."

That broke Mara and Chiro's daze.

"He is NOT YOUR SON!" Mara screamed, in unison with Chiro's own agreeing shout. She tackled him at the waist, trying to knock him down and fully intent on smashing his face in with her fists. Unfortunately, even in dreams she wasn't able to do so, only pushing him back a few inches before he grabbed her and held her fast by the neck.

"MOM!" Chiro shouted, running to her aid, despite the shouts of his team. The Skeleton King gave him a withering glance. Clayton watched the entire scene unfolded, the monkeys shouting for Chiro, yelling at each other to wake up as they fought against the Skeleton King's nightmarish hold on them and on Mara's neck. He felt useless.

He looked at his friend, fighting against the beast's claws in a panic, eyes never leaving the group. Clayton couldn't ever recall him ever looking so panicked. Even when things were bad, the Alchemist had a smooth air of confidence - confidence that had always been his Achilles heel, so sure of himself - hell, he'd seen him scared. But not this. The Alchemist locked eyes with him, and in a moment, Clayton knew what he had to do.

Clayton closed his eyes, and breathed. He forced himself to recall everything Alchemist had ever taught him second hand from Verron, everything in perfect counted measure...and he woke up.

It was painful and startling, practically jolting from bed and probably three feet off it. His body protested as he scrambled to his footing, running through the robot, yelling and shouting for everyone to wake up as he banged on doors and walls. The Robot, sensing the tension, snapped every light on to full brightness, tapping into Otto's workshop playlist and blaring it. It was the worst rave Clayton had been too.

But by God if it didn't start waking people up. Sprx and Nova were quick to join him, gunning for Chiro and Otto as Clayton ran to medbay where he knew Antauri, Gibson, and Mara would be. The doors snapped open with a hiss. Antauri was shouting for Mara to wake up, trying desperately to reach into her mind, as Gibson frantically ran to them with smelling salts and a syringe of something he didn't recognize - more than likely something to bring her heartbeat back to a normal range. Clayton could see the monitors going haywire with her vitals.

"Clayton! Keep Chiro out of here!" Gibson ordered, grabbing Mara's arm. Clayton snapped his attention to the hall, watching as everyone approached. He barred them from running in.

"Clayton what the hell!" Chiro snapped. "Let us in!"

Clayton spread his arms to block the door. "Kid, trust me. You don't want to go in."

Chiro looked at him in shock, but it soon twisted to anger. "Last I checked, my mom was getting strangled by the Skeleton King! I need to make sure she's okay!"

"Let Antauri and Gibson do what they need to-" Clayton fought. Chiro tried shoving past him. "Chiro!"

Otto and Nova were quick to grab their leader. "Let me go!"

"Chiro, enough has gone on tonight, just calm down!" Sprx said.

"How am I supposed to?" Chiro snapped. "Everything just-"

There was a sudden cry, a mix between pain and alarm, as well as a few shouts and the clatter of metal and plastic. Chiro took the still second as they all froze to break from Otto and Sprx, sliding under Clayton as the doors slid open for him. He hissed a thank you to the Robot under his breath before quickly standing up to assess what had gone on. The monitors that had been hooked up to his mother had been sent to the far corners of the room, some broken or fritzed, and Antauri and Gibson were coming out of a daze, watching as Chiro approached Mara, warnings weak on their tongues.

Mara was crouched on the floor, leaning heavily on her palms. Chiro could see the fine spiderwebbing of cracks under her palms in the floor, and, just barely, a fading green glow from her fingertips. She was breathing heavily and shallowly, and he couldn't really ever remember hearing the sound she made before. Mara was pale, eyes far away and wet with tears as she grit her teeth.

Chiro could imagine where her mind was. He knelt next to her, clasping her hand. The green glow left instantly, and Mara's daze snapped with a gasp. She looked at him, tears freshly pouring as Mara grabbed him and pulled him close. She sobbed, burying her face in his hair. Chiro held her back, fighting poorly against his own bout of tears- the events of that night had hit him deep, like an everburdening chill that grabbed onto your sternum and couldn't be lifted. He didn't even really register what she said between sobs.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry star sweeper, I'm sorry," Mara repeated. The sobs couldn't be abated, even as Chiro tried to tell her otherwise that it wasn't her fault. It was then he felt the rest of the group approach, holding him and Mara tightly. Clayton pulled the two close- the last two connections he had to his friend after the monkeys. The monkeys themselves did similarly, trying their best to calm and soothe.

"Easy, cap, easy," Clayton whispered. "You'll cry yourself sick."

"I don't think medbay is equipped for that right now," Sprx added with a cursory glance around. Mara choked out a wheeze of a breath, an attempt at laughter. "What even happened?"

"I-," Mara barely managed to hiccup before she turned a shade green. "I think I'm going to be sick-"

She clumsily broke from the cuddle pile, stumbling to the nearest waste receptacle with a retch. Clayton kneeled next to her, rubbing her shoulders. "Hey, is there any water in here?"

"Just saline and IVs," Gibson stated. "Otto, could you?"

"I'll grab those crackers too," the green monkey replied before ducking out.

"I'm going to go shift patrols- I don't think Mara is going to be in any condition to fly today," Nova said. "Sprx, I'm going to need a list of reserve pilots to pull from."

Chiro moved to go assist, to be useful, but Antauri stilled him, gesturing for the young hero to follow him to the hallway. "Everything is under control. Gibson is more than likely going to give your mother a sedative to sleep so her body can rest."

"Antauri, what happened?" Chiro whispered.

"Mara woke up...," he replied. "I believe that having her memories restored triggered her connection to the Power Primate in full force. Instead of building up, or having a born connection like you, it put a tremendous amount of stress on her.

He glanced back to the medbay doors, as Otto entered, hissing in greeting. "Not to mention having memories restored in an instant, and very painfully. There was bit of a power surge for her."

Chiro nodded slowly at that. However the Skeleton King had done it had looked painful, and then the weight of it all crashing down in one fell swoop. He couldn’t even really accept it.

"Chiro, as second, I'm asking you to take the day as well. You received quite a shock as well," Antauri said. "All of us have."

"But- we need a plan, Antauri. The Skeleton King knows who my mom and I are to the Alchemist," Chiro replied. "By all technicality, he's my father."

Antauri grabbed Chiro's forearms. "No. Your mother said so herself. He is not."

Chiro looked at Antauri, stricken. Regardless, he had to fight his father's corpse. He would never get to know him, the old him, after him and the Skeleton King fought. He sighed. "Alright...I'll take the day. But tomorrow-"

"Tomorrow we plan and we try to get some intel," Antauri finished. "Just get some rest. I'll make sure everything runs as it needs to."

"Thanks...," Chiro trailed off, looking back at the medbay door. "Can I check on my mom first?"

Antauri nodded. "Come, before Gibson gives her the sedative."

Mara looked more her color, but run down as hell as she sat on the floor. She gently nursed a bottle of water and the remaining half of a saltine. Otto had sat next to her, quietly eating a cracker in solidarity as Gibson ran over whatever data had been collected, Clayton applying ice to his knees. She perked up seeing Chiro. "Hey."

"You feeling okay?" Chiro asked, sliding down next to her. Mara looked blankly at her water bottle.

"Not really, star sweeper. I feel like I got pushed out of an airlock," she replied, leaning her head back on the cabinets. "I don't like the idea of you seeing me like this."

He shook his head, leaning on her shoulder. "No, it's okay."

There wasn't much else he could say. What could he? Everything had changed in the span of one nightmare, and now, they had to settle with all the new, missing pieces.

"I...I wish I had gotten my memories back differently," Mara said. "I feel - and not to give bonehead any kudos - whole, remembering."

She held up a hand, looking over the ridges, folds and scars. She could remember the first time she had summoned any spark connection to Power Primate. It had taken months, far longer than she had recently, to do. Mara had been proud and watched the Alchemist grin back at her in amazement.

"Aurelius. Aurelius Ethelwin," she murmured. Chiro looked up at her in confusion.

"Huh?"

"The Alchemist's real name. Aurelius Ethelwin," she continued. "That's who I married. Not the Alchemist, not some undead corpse of him. Just...Aurelius."

"I like that name," Otto said quietly. "I mostly just called him dad."

"Most of us did - we were just children, after all," Antauri said.

"Does this mean we're Chiro's siblings?" Otto asked. Mara weakly snorted at that.

"No, but you're my family, no matter what," Chiro laughed. He felt his exhaustion then, once he saw that Mara and everyone were okay, more or less, and the adrenaline faded out. Mara couldn't quite shake her unease, and nodded more to herself when she saw Gibson go through one of the drawers for a syringe and sedative, more than likely. She put down the water bottle and wrapped her free arm around her son's shoulder. She didn't know how to feel, wanting to go through her memories but wanting to avoid them, to ground herself but couldn't feel her own center. An old habit reared its head, buried in her mind for sixteen years, and she flexed her hand, draped over her son's shoulder, to rub her thumb over a silver and jade band on her ring finger. The metal and crystal bit her finger familiarly, but finally sensing it on her hand placed a heavy leaden weight in her stomach. If the Skeleton King gave it back, where was the other?

#srmthfg #srmthg #srmthfg skeleton king #srmthfg oc #chiro srmthfg

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