Amends Part 3

One time on the news, I saw an online poll that had the citizens of Krimo decide what their favorite season was. I don't think I would've ever been able to make the decision, but I was sad when Fall got the lowest end of the stick. But, I mean, what's not to love?

The few trees that managed to keep themselves strong even with nothing to their branches, the raining autumn leaves from the middle and upper levels were like an early preview of how cool winter would be. But, heck, the holidays alone are some of the best ever.

The only thing I didn't like was the biting early cold front; it brought some terrible memories from a life that I didn't live anymore. But, even still, I managed to walk away from the Burrow. But, unfortunately, once I made those first few steps through, another one of my white lies got revealed.

Because with The Burrow still within the eyeshot, a mass of flies soon collected themselves from on high right in front of me to form Buzz. He usually has this uncertain debonair about him, but right now, he got far more layered up with various scarfs, thermals, and hats. Yet despite all that sturdy clothing, his body was still shaking like a scared cat.

"Are you okay Buzz," I said concerningly?

Buzz responded to me like a lagging computer as I had just arrived.

"Yeah, just don't do that well in the c-c-cold"

"Oh, sorry to hear that. Are you sure you can do this?" I said with concern.

"Of course, Dimitri, I'll have your girls by 5. I'm good for it," he said with half-closed eyes.

"Wait, what?"

"I mean, then let's get started," he said enthusiastically.

Unfortunately, I didn't realize how bad Buzz is in cold weather. The night before, he had a run-in with the Russian mob (something about a deal gone bad involving human trafficking), and to escape, he had pieces of himself hiding in their bases' AC for a good 3 hours. Combine that with the fall weather and reminded me about the times I had to take care of my senile granddad during the summer for an allowance.

Because of his senility, Buzz forgot the gifts I stowed away in the Rapids, along with the limited sales to all the Cons favorite foods. So months of planning and Gum style connections combined with Port-style bartering had now turned to a mad dash all across the lower levels to catch my gifts before some cunning salesperson or ambitious thief got to them first.

Due to this widespread expedition, I got forced to face the very reason why I even made this grand apology. Under my lovely sprint, I put on the mask of the nameless bystander while the people around me chatted away. Through halfhearted whispers and reckless rumors, I heard the tall tales of the people who killed the secret king of the lower levels. Some of the physical descriptions were off, and so were the powers but the main details remained the same.

Six people, born from the lower levels of Krimo, struck back against all the king's forces and all the king's men. First, they took his money from Robin Financial, somehow winning against all odds from the clutches of Omna. And even after getting captured by him, these rogues murdered the king on his stage after breaking through his self-made cage. The only thing known about these phantom thieves was their leader, an immortal demon drenched in an ebony cloak with a wrathful, horrible beast at his beck and call.

Technically speaking, though, tales like these were what I always wanted, but it didn't make the pain hurt any less. I wonder if my parents would've ever thought their daughter would turn out like this when they gave me this pocket mirror. Either way, I pulled it out one last time to give another quick smile as I found myself carrying a sofa full of gifts with Buzz on top of it for 3 miles straight till I made it home.

When I went out on my run, it was the afternoon, but because of all the back and forth running, sundown had already bathed the entire city of Krimo in a beautiful orange hue. At that point, I was physically and mentally exhausted from both exertion and malnutrition and saying I was late by a huge margin. My ponytail was hanging on by a thread, with tufts of it being frizzy and split up.

Upon my final push to the front door, I accidentally tripped over myself and scraped my knee. Buzz attempted to shuffle himself off the couch and held his outstretched hand even in his groggy state. Yet almost instinctively, I refused.

"I'm fine Buzz, you did more than your fair share today; why don't you go and get yourself home. I would hate for you to get sick because of me," I said through yet another layered smile.

Buzz respected my wishes despite his very distrustful eyes, as he soon left when the same swarm came in. With that, I snuck into the Burrow through the back and went all the gifts there. And with absolutely no time to waste, I ran into the kitchen woman on a mission.

I didn't bother trying to answer worried questions, only apologizing and deflecting before throwing myself into the kitchen. Then, realizing that my ingredients were completely missing and time was short, I decided to compensate on the fly while relying on an old favorite.

When you live in the lower levels, clean food often isn't secured, and due to our rather lax diets, there was always a recipe we could rely on if the worst came to worst for the worst of the worst.

And that was good old-fashioned Krimo crafted stew. Like some kind of computer program, I had unleashed multiple parallel processes, boiling the leftover white rice from breakfast while letting the I managed to procure in the pressure cooker while chopping up the leftover veggies with laser-focused precision.

The other Cons tried begging for help, but I didn't listen nor bothered to let them lift even a single finger. Eventually, their pleas seemed to vanish away at my work, with one principle statement ringing through my mind.

"Let me do this for you, please, let me make you happy, please just give me the chance to atone!"

When the boiling rice reached its peak, I tried to lunge towards it after finishing the last carrot. However, my stamina finally gave out between my rapid rushing and an injured leg. What remained of my ponytail completely came undone as I tried reaching out to catch myself. But even that was a mistake, as I reached out for the boiling pot handle.

Gravity and acceleration took their toll, springing the boiling water up in the air and dooming it to fall on my face. I tried bracing myself for the hellish splash, and while the sound did come, the feeling of it managed to escape me. Because I opened my eyes and removed my horrible hair, I realized that Eternus intervened again in the struggle as I saw his back steaming while looming over me.

However, Eternus didn't even flinch at the wound, instead fully focusing his grey eyes on me. With that, the other Cons managed to surround me and lift me back up while I remained slack-jawed. Gum tried to tend to Eternus, but he didn't even care about his boiled over back, instead promptly saying the question I've been trying all day to avoid.

"What's wrong, Fury?" he said with a somber tenderness.

The question then took me back in time to how I even got on this current path.