His pants were a simple and unassuming matching black. His hair was long, dirty blond, brushing over his shoulders and swaying as he walked.
But his face…
His face was expressionless and cold...
Yet bearing a depth of emotion so profound, it made the kids freeze as if so part of them recognized him.
One of the boys tugged at his friend's sleeve.
"That man… he looks familiar."
The other nodded slowly, though not fully understanding why.
The man didn't glance their way. He didn't even seem to notice them. His steps carried him directly into the cetery by the roadside, moving with an inevitability.
He passed rows of graves, passed old stones cracked by ti, passed flowers wilted by seasons.
Then he stopped.
Right before the tombstone that bore the na:
ANGY VILANDROBADIA.
The world fell silent around him.
Not even the wind dared to rustle the leaves.
He lowered himself into a slow squat as his knees bent with the weight of grief he carried. For the first ti since his arrival, his hand moved... shaking slightly as he reached out and rubbed the surface of the tombstone.
His fingers traced the carved letters with a tenderness no one alive had seen him show. His thumb brushed the corner of the stone again and again, as though trying to feel so lingering warmth she might have left behind.
A red flower materialized between his fingers and he proceeded to place it gently on the ground.
He didn't speak.
He didn't cry.
He didn't breathe a word of goodbye.
But a sorrow so thick and heavy radiated from him that the sky itself dimd slightly, as though the sun bowed its head for the man who had saved the universe… and lost the only thing he truly wanted in return.
---
Miles away, inside the MBO Tower, Falco jolted upright as his senses spiked.
His heart throbbed in his ears.
"—no way," he whispered.
Without hesitation, he grabbed his device and called E.E.
E.E picked up instantly, breathless.
"You felt that too?!"
Falco nodded sharply even though E.E couldn't see him fully through the hologram feed.
"It's him," Falco said. "Gustav. He's back on Earth."
E.E didn't even reply, he just hung up to call everyone else.
Within seconds, Endric, Aildris, Elevora, Ria, Sersi, Xanatus, all received the sa sudden ssage through their communicators:
GUSTAV IS HERE.
They all answered with the sa stunned silence before their voices overlapped in disbelief and frantic urgency.
"But where?" Ria muttered. "He completely hid for years."
"He doesn't want to be found," Aildris added quietly.
Endric rubbed his temples. "If Gustav returned now—after the funeral—after everything—where's the first place he'd go?"
A sudden, collective silence filled the communication channel.
Then… all at once…
"THE CETERY!"
They scattered into the sky in bright blurs of energy, cutting across landscapes as they hod in on one familiar location.
E.E was the first to arrive since he only had to enter a vortex.
He appeared near the kids still playing on the street.
"Hey—did any of you see a tall guy with long blond hair and a red jacket pass here?!"
The kids nodded rapidly.
"He went inside the cetery!"
"He looked sad!"
"And… familiar!"
"Shit," E.E breathed as his chest tightened.
One after another, the others warped in:
Endric.
Falco.
Aildris.
Elevora.
Ria.
Sersi.
And the rest.
They rushed across the cetery grounds together, sprinting past graves until they arrived at the place they feared most.
Angy's tombstone.
And standing in front of it… was no one.
Gustav was already gone.
But sothing remained.
A single rose on the dirt still glowing faintly with the last traces of his energy.
And next to it…
A note folded neatly beneath a small stone.
The wind blew softly, rustling the edges of the paper.
E.E froze.
Endric's face paled.
Falco swallowed hard.
Aildris finally stepped forward and picked up the note with trembling hands.
He opened it.
They all leaned closer.
The world seed to hold its breath.
The note read:
---
"Don't look for .
I am not lost.
I just don't belong here anymore.
Take care of each other.
Live the life we fought to protect.
Angy would want that.
—Gustav"
---
The mont the final letter sank in, E.E covered his face with both hands.
"Fuck…" he whispered shakily.
Ria turned away with burning eyes. "Rival!"
Falco clenched his fists till his knuckles went white.
Sersi bit her lower lip with tears falling silently.
Aildris's jaw trembled.
Endric shoulders sagged as a shadow of grief crossed his face.
Sersi shook her head repeatedly.
"No… Gustav… you're not alone…"
But he was gone once more.
He had chosen to disappear and no one knew for how long.
He had chosen solitude over returning to the world Angy no longer existed in.
Because for him…
The universe may have been restored.
But his world had not.
The group stood before the tombstone with wind sweeping softly across the cetery. The rose lay motionless as a symbol of love, grief, and a farewell they were never prepared to face.
E.E finally broke the silence.
"He saved EVERYTHING…" he muttered bitterly. "Every stupid little thing. The universe… the planets… us… all of us…"
He kicked a pebble hard, sending it bouncing away.
"BUT HE COULDN'T SAVE THE ONE PERSON HE WANTED MOST."
Falco placed a hand on his shoulder.
"He isn't abandoning us. He's just… hurting."
"HURTING?!" E.E lashed out before his voice cracked. "He's dying inside."
Endric closed his eyes.
"He'll co back one day," he said quietly. "But not now. Maybe not for years. Maybe not for centuries. But he will."
Aildris let out a slow breath.
"Until then… we protect what he restored."
Everyone nodded even though their hearts were heavy.
Slowly, one by one, they turned away from the grave.
But Endric lingered a mont longer, gazing down at the rose.
"…Thank you, Angy," he whispered. "For giving us back our brother."
He reached out and gently straightened the flower on the ground before finally walking away.
The cetery grew silent again.
The sky dimd a little.
And sowhere far—so far that even their combined senses couldn't hope to reach—Gustav walked alone, carrying his grief like an endless shadow…
And beginning a new path no one could follow.
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