Chapter 177: Moving On.
"Good morning heroes~" Eris chirped at Sol and Ikaris, and then waved as Dina and Arla followed them into the kitchen.
"Morning Eris~" Dina stretched and yawned, casting her laziness on Arla as she dropped her hand on her shoulder.
"A pleasant morn, lady Schneider." Arla rubbed her eyes and attempted to straighten her hair, but as soon as she raised her hands her bedhead sprung up again causing Dina to snicker while sitting around the table.
"Did everyone sleep well?" Eris bounced around the table setting their dishes while Sara started sharing the breakfast beverages.
"You're in high spirits today." Sol stared at her with a chuckle. "Did something good happen?" He queried, taking his seat while Ikaris sat quietly next to him.
"It is quite the opposite, actually, this is the most depressing day of my recent life." Eris answered without missing a beat. "I am very depressed today!" She laughed and then sat, clapping her hands and allowing the other maids to continue where she left off. "I feel like shit today." She smiled at them.
"Eris..."
"It's okay, I understand, I'm just sad." Eris snatched a bottle of wine for her passing maid and drank it all the way down to the half point and then immediately cast [heal] on herself, detoxifying her body. "It's..." She sighed deeply, and with a heavy hand on the table she looked up at them. "Is this how Usami felt when I told her I'd stay?" She asked, and the life in the room drained completely.
"We've imposed on you long enough, Eris." Ikaris leaned on the table with her hands clasped and regarded her with a stern tone.
"You're not moving to another city, or another country, fuck it isn't even another planet here; you're going away completely, back to earth, a whole other universe!" She exclaimed, and everyone went silent.
"...Is it that you're upset because we're leaving, or are you feeling guilty because you're going to get left behind?" Dina asked, and Eris sucked in a breath and averted her eyes.
"What's the point of a fantasy world if all of my closest friends are dead or gone, I had some hope after seeing you all again, I hoped you'd change your minds, but now you're going to leave..." She frowned, and Sol lowered his gaze and nodded.
"I understand how that feels..." He stared at her. "When I died, when Ikaris saved me, I thought I was getting the full cliché isekai, I'm sorry to say but you already know things don't work in real life as they do in books and stories, all those stupid little fantasies we used to watch and read, thinking it's gonna be the same-"
"I know that already." Eris groaned and covered her face with her palms, sucking in another breath and sniffling.
"Fuck -its just not easy to accept this reality anymore, Han died, Bruce died, Idria died, Billions of people died, and they still hail me as hero, I don't feel like a hero, I don't even feel like myself, the most I've felt like myself in years has been the last two weeks since you guys came back... And I'm afraid that when you go I'm gonna lose it again."
"Well." Sol sat straight and stared Eris dead in her eyes. "I guess you have a choice to make then, Eris."
"What?"
"I said make your decision, I don't like flaunting power, but I am the Godslayer after all, if you want to come with us, I can take you, we won't be there forever but we plan to spend a long time on earth.
"But why not here?" Eris asked out loud and then slammed her fist into the table again, except this time her hand split the table down the middle and everything flew about resulting in Arla making an uncharacteristic dive from one side to the other and saving a slice of pie she was about to bite into, sticking the landing and rolling to a perfect stop.
"Aside from Han, you're the only one who planned to stay here, Bruce wanted to go back, Dina was gonna go back as well, Usami had her brother, and I never wanted to be here at all, which meant Ikaris was going to return with me, as much as it drew us all together, Arkadia was a mistake." Sol answered her.
"I can visit ever so often, but there's no way I would stay here and look at this place knowing it's where our future was nearly destroyed." He gestured out the window at Arkadia and Ikaris who had not even budged closed her eyes and crossed her legs.
"Arkadia is painful." Ikaris agreed with Sol. "I don't want to be here forever."
"I couldn't just leave on a whim like that-"
"Then why are you asking me to change my mind on a whim?" Sol narrowed his eyes at her, raising his hands when a simple wave from Ikaris righted and fixed everything that had been shattered and broken. "We never intended to stay here, Eris."
She took a moment to watch Arla walk back to the other side of the table and sit daintily to eat her cake before she looked at Sol again.
"Sol, why does it feel like you're not taking anything I say seriously, in fact, it doesn't feel like any of you are."
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Eris." He responded likewise and folded his hands again. "The truth is; it doesn't actually matter to me whether you come or not, you want to be with others who you could share your experiences with, you have that here, just go out more and make some friends."
"If what you want is to rekindle your old friendships, then Usami, Dina, and Ikaris will be on earth, and speaking of her; that's exactly how she felt when you made her leave, I understand you found love -It's amazing that you did, but what you also did was abandon her, even jf you weren't going to go away with her you didnt need to ignore her to the point where she isolated herself, and dont you even try refuting that.
I know you, I know that's what you did." He stared at her uncaring of how his words made her feel.
"If what you want is empathy, I understand losing a someone you loved, I understand being left behind, I understand having nobody to relate to, but if you're looking for sympathy you're better off trying to spark a fire in the dead of space with a stick and a rubber duck."
"What the- fine... fine, but just one more day then, there's so much that I have to-" She rested her cheek on her fist.
"No."
"Not even that much?"
"Not even." Dina spoke up.
"Ugh, when will you return?"
"When he's old enough to remember." Ikaris answered nonchalantly, and Sol looked at her with a warm smile and then acknowledged the healer hero once more.
"I see." Eris shrugged. "I guess its out of my hands then, huh?"
"It was never in your hands to begin with, this is a new chapter of our lives, you already had your new beginning and you made your choices, I do not want to be swept up in yojr atonement for them." Ikaris spoke again.
"You..." The healer sighed and relaxed completely in her seat. "Then, do you need anything before you leave, I at least wanted to throw you some kind of sendoff party."
"That's unnecessary." Dina shook her head. "I don't think any of the five of us like parties enough to keep attending them over and over again like this." She explained and Eris's eyes slightly widened.
"Five?"
"I am going with master Vestic." Sara spoke up, placing a fresh glass of drink before him and smiling softly at her.
"When did you decide this?" Eris stood up, clearly unable to accept what she was hearing. "Are you also becoming one of his women?"
"Eris." Sol called her out on the tone of scrutiny she had used and the face that both Dina and Arla had reacted to it as if it was slander. "Don't give me a reason to hate you." He warned her. "Did you even know she hadn't slept the five years we were gone?" He asked.
"That's impossible-"
"She's been spending sleepless eternities in her shadows waiting for us, for me, do you think I'm gonna leave her ever again after that?"
"She's Arkadian."
"As am I." Arla raised her brow.
"The time has been set for midnight later, regardless of anyone's reservation, I'm leaving, and I'm taking them all with me." Sol stood and lowered his head towards her, making this the first time since Atla that he ever bowed properly to someone.
"Eris, thank you for everything, you didn't need to take us in, you didn't need to feed us, everything you've done has been from the goodness of your heart." He raised his head, looking to his sides and seeing his three following his example and Sara doing the same behind him, and even the other maids in the kitchen with them.
"For your sake, I'll find a way to make a link from us to you, but just know, my offer still stands, if you choose to, I'll take you back to earth with us." He stepped from his chair and looked to the door.
"Earth." Arla mused.
"How wonderful."