A couple of days, prior to what has happened. Two men where sitting in a room of a certain school. Where shelves filled with educational books were filling half of the space there, and the smell of coffee wafted in the air.

“Look at you now. You look like an old dolt that just came out of a business seminar” The person who was the principal of the school they were in right now said.

“Yeah, and you, too. Look how you’ve let yourself go. Compared to the muscular man a few years back, you're like a different person now. How much do you even weigh?" They both laugh at that. It was refreshing for him to see an old face from the past, unlike those people that he saw everyday that didn't realize what they were getting themselves into.

They spoke of the past for quite sometime. Reminiscing the good old days of their youth, when everything was all still fun and games. From the fist fights that they were a part of on the streets outside, to the girls that they used to woo. It was an enjoyable time.

“So… what’s your plan, Van? Just outright leaving him here?” He abruptly changes the topic.

“… I” Yes. That was the answer that he was about to speak out, but there was one part of him. The one that wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place, that spoke of refusal of parting ways. But things should be done sooner, before it’s too late for him to continue on with what he’s doing, is what he thought.

“I’ve finally found a way” He answered.

“I see… but isn’t this good enough for you? This kind of life, I mean?”

“To be honest… I liked it, but you and I know that this are just fabricated emotions that the boy yearned for. This relationship was supposed to be of mutual benefit between him and I, but I didn’t account for everything to escalate to this degree”

“I see…” He lays back on his chair. “Well, I’ll try to keep him safe while he’s in this city, but that’s how far my influence would reach. If he chooses to venture out, that’s his choice”

“Thank you…” He said sincerely.

“I also called up someone I know who’d do the jobs that you requested for. He should have arrived already last night, if I’m correct”

“Oh? You already found someone?” He asked, as he only told him about it just recently.

“Yeah, an old acquaintance from back in the day. I think you might remember who he is once you see him”

“Ah, don’t make me guess now. Come on, come on, who is it?”

“It’s… oh, speak of the devil. He’s here”

Someone knocks twice and opens the door, and then a skinny man with a pale complexion came in. He was sporting a brown coat and a blue suit underneath it while there were bandages covering half of his face, neck, and hands.

“Ah, looky here. If it ain’t the edgy bastard from back then”

“Kai!?” He said aloud. “I thought you were a goner you son of a bitch”

“Hah! I can’t die that easily, you know? It’d take more than one upstart Lord out there to kill the likes of me”

“Yeah-yeah, sure” The man named Van said while the new arrival sat at an open chair next to him. He was about to ask him about how he got possessed by a spirit that masked itself as a deity at one point, but he let it slide this time. The topic should still be a little bit too much, even for him, he thought.

“You better give me somethin’ pretty, too, cause I already started scouting ahead, and makin' sure those people think we’re after their reservoir” Kai said while making his thumb rub repeatedly over the tip of his index and middle finger. “Almost made me want to play with the Langston’s heir, too”

“Don’t worry about the payment, you fart. Just do it and I’ll give you all the supplies that you need”

“And you should” He said with a gruff. “I’m shootin' up to the top of the hit list for this, and I’m makin’ sure that I get every ounce of gold nuggets out of that little mine of yours before I hide again, you hear?”

“Yeah-yeah” He said dismissively.

“I doubt that they wouldn’t even know who you are already, since you killed a few of their men last night” The man behind the desk said.

“Meh, just a bunch of old dogs. Ain’t my fault that they die in just a couple of pokes”

If only he could do things with a bit more regard for someone's life, but I’m not one to lecture him either, he thought. There’s a lot of things that his done to get what he wanted in the past. He wasn’t saying that he wouldn’t do it again, though. If it needs to be done, then so it shall be.

“He also met someone last night. Isn't that right, Kai?”

“Ah! That, yeah. I met your lad last night. Came to my rescue like a knight in shinnin' armor” He said. “More of a squire that carries stuff, though, but still, he came swoopin' in”

“Oh? He didn’t tell me anything about it…”

“Hah! Cause the lad ain’t telling his Da any shit that’s why” He said with a laugh. “He’s grown balls big enough to put yours to shame”

“Ah, I get it, I get it, so stop it already. Sheesh”

The man had a crude way of saying things, and some of his way of speaking rubbed off on him while they were traveling in the old days. It became sort of a bad habit back then, and he had to tone himself down a few years back, because of the boy.

“So… now that everyone’s here, shall we get on to what the both of you came here to do?”

The man next to him grabs something from his brown coat. It was a small bottle with swirling dust that changed color once every few seconds. It exuded oppression and magnificence, as if it was asking them to bow down in front of it. But that type of thing wouldn’t work on them, not anymore, that is.

“Here” He said, as he put the bottle on the table. “Querkin told me that that’s just a prototype of his magnum opus, but he said that it should still do the job”

“Hoh” The man behind the desk took up the bottle and inspected it. “So, we’re using this, huh”

“How does it look?” Van asked. “Will it stabilize if I planted it in?”

“Hmm… I’m not too sure, but his container should already be big enough to handle this size, right? But…” He looked at him straight in the eyes. “What are you going to use to replace it?”

“I don’t have anything on me, but I’m sure that their project on artificial containers in the hospital here is almost good enough to keep my boy good for a few years, and if I drop in my research notes, too, it would progress far enough that he won't need to keep replacing it. So, I can just ask someone there to make him something new before I leave” He said. “And since Kai is here, I have a direct way of passing on my parting gift to him without any worries. I just need a couple more days to prepare it”

“I see…” He said. “How about the body? Is it done?”

He nods his head. “It only needs the container with the power source inside of it, and just a quick dip in the Chaos Waters and it’ll jump start the process”

“Then…”

“Yes, my son will be able to enjoy the sun once again”

~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~

Some days after that conversation between the three of them happened, the man named Van was now standing on top of an old radio tower while a snowstorm was happening. He was just wearing casual clothes even though the winds were howling in anger, and the temperature was reaching in the negative Celsius. He was just there as if he was sightseeing, but in reality, he’s not.

Screams and shouts were all he could hear along side the wind, but that wasn’t anything new. It was just like how he remembered it back in the days, when the Silent Wars of Eid was at it’s peek. When his group of misfits where a part of that bloody power struggle for their own selfish reasons.

“I guess it’s finally time to say goodbye…” He said, with a hint of sorrow in his voice. “Ah… I forgot the speech that I prepared just for this day because of those people. I should’ve written it down or something”

He looks down from the top where a group of eight headless dead bodies were piled together. He thought that it was laughable that they'd planned to take him down with only that much. If they really wanted to do something about him, then they should’ve at least sent those four instead. But if they did, then who would go and try to capture Kai?

“Ah, oh well, I’ll just have to wing it, I guess” He said, as if giving up. “How does this work again? Uhmm, link… link… ah! There we go!”

He then tried his best in saying his parting words, but he didn't know, that the further the distance, the less likely that it will transmit. He only found out about it after he already gave a long speech and explanation that lasted for at least thirty minutes or so.

“Ah… that didn’t go as planned, what the fuck. Should I do it all over again?” He thought for a while, but he soon came to a decision that he won’t. “Maybe it’s best that I don’t say anything at all, and just disappear like that… yeah”

A few hours later, two people then appear at the bottom of the old radio tower where he was, and he jumps down to greet the both of them. It may have been a suicidal thing to do if you jump down from that height, but that didn’t stop him from doing so.

His clothes flutter as he fell, but when he was about to hit the ground, he slows down and came to a stop a few inches from the snow filled concrete.

“We’re done. Let’s get the hell out of here before they catch on to us”

“Ah…” Before they started to move out of the city, he looked at the boy in front of him. With his black hair, facial features, and eyes that resembled his mother's, he saw his son once again. A feeling of wanting to hug him resurfaced from deep within him after so long, but he suppressed those emotions of his, since the boy in front of him was only just the spitting image of his son, it wasn’t really him… not yet, at least.

I guess it’s time to severe the tether, he thought. He was still reluctant, but he finally got what he wanted from this long-term investment. It was time to leave and get his lost son back.

He felt the sensation of the connection, checking in on how he was doing, not really seeing it, but feeling how he was. He rarely needed to use it since all this time they were together.

A feeling of drowsiness is what he got, meaning, Kai already gave him the parting gift that he made. Which would greatly help him out, but it’s more of a payment for what he’s done, rather than a sentimental thing from him. Still, he put his all into trying to make it work, and he did. He just hopes the boy wouldn’t meet him again. But alas, that isn’t how it works around here. Surely they'll meet again, not anytime soon, but one day. And that’s why he gave it to him in the first place.

“Goodnight and sweet dreams, Rei” Is the last thing he said to his adopted son before he cut the tether that connected them both, and then he finally returned to how he was before. Just another piece of shit in this world that wouldn’t stop trying to get what he wanted. Not like he changed in the first place, anyway.

“Let’s go and hunt down some of Her monsters now” He said with a grin, and the three of them disappeared from the city.

Only the slowly melting snow was left because the gigantic men that roamed and terrorized the streets all fled. Peace was once more in this city, and the sky soon cleared up, revealing the encompassing darkness of the night. Marking the end of this nightmare, but surely, there will be more to come.

Since everyone has something that they want to get.