All Set Aside

Sky willingly agreed to let Lou-Lou put on a show, thinking that it would guide his friends to happiness. The meeting with Ruby ended, and each individual person split off into groups of their own accord. Avie even split off from Sky, moving with Umbra to spend time with her, Hikari returned to Charlie, and Lou-Lou went with Ruby, leaving Sky alone.

As soon as Sky was left alone, he left the room, only to be greeted by Dani. She had held back during his entire reclamation to sanity and even then some afterward, returning by his side to be with him.

"I'm sorry, for everything Dani," Sky confessed. He held his head low, waiting for a punishment to come from her. Dani refused to dish one out, and instead grabbed his neck, guiding it toward her face for a light-hearted kiss.

"I've always believed in you, you know? I've always had faith that you'd make it out alive, no matter the challenge... until today. Until you fought Quake, that is. I'm just... just worried, that's all. I'm afraid I can't protect you if I need to, and you'll die if I leave you. I don't want to be weakened while you fight people so blindingly strong, I want to be by your side... but, I don't want to fight anymore," Dani told Sky. He was struck with the message. All of the requests from his friends were starting to pile up.

"We're done fighting. We need to build a little before we start destroying again," Sky said with a smile. Dani returned a smile to him and clutched his body tightly, closing her eyes shut with a tight lock.

"I heard about what happened with Faith... it's not like what she said had no merit, but I don't want it to bring you down. Nobody told you how to function, you found a method you saw fit and rolled with it. Your good actions aren't overshadowed by her preferences... no matter if she's your daughter. We'll get better... where did she run off to?" Dani asked, peering around the field they were stuck in to look around.

"I'm... not sure... I'm almost positive she ran off for good, considering how fast she was. I don't think we'll see her for a long time, if ever again," Sky said, staring at the ground.

"We'll find her, I promise. We have to build Alicas up... Faith will survive on her own. It was Illya's last wish, we have to fulfill it," Dani said. She grabbed onto the small handful of hair on Sky's belt loop, lightly analyzing it while peering down at it.

"She gave us a lot of trouble, but she did the right thing... she even wanted us to start a family. I'm surprised, I thought she got over you for sure, but I was also convinced she was just waiting for me to die in battle. She saved me multiple times," Dani mentioned to Sky, grabbing his hands to lead him to the other Arkians.

"I guess she was good... I just wish I didn't even plan to die, she'd still be alive and be able to guide me forward," Sky told Dani, watching her gaze turn from facing forward to up at his eyes.

"Guilt will eat you alive, Sky. You blamed yourself for Red, Domin, Illya, Ellie, Ullr, Drake, Xavier, and everybody else. We're not exactly free from blame. It's not your fault they died, it's our fault, and we repay them by moving forward," Dani said. Sky took her message to heart, breaking down each piece before smiling.

"And, before you start another topic, we need to talk about everything that happened! There were black strands everywhere, I've never seen those! And, so many other things that happened that I don't know, where do I start?!" Dani shouted out of curiosity. Sky couldn't help but laugh as he tried his best to explain.

"Black Strands are sentient on their own, it seems that letting them have a bit of your body allows them to manifest into a much stronger version of their previous standings. White, Red, Purple, Gold, and Black, I'd say those Five Forms are enough to sound confusing. Not to mention those Iridescent Ones... I'm not sure what happened either, but a lot of it came from the person from four hundred years ago tormenting us. He's gone, so if all of those things disappear as well, then we survived without issue," Sky explained. Dani was still confused, but satisfied with his explanation, shrugging her shoulders and waving at everybody else.

For the first time, Sky had a moment alone with all of the Arkians, some still mourning the death of Ellie and even Illya. She had made a great impact on the Arkians with the short amount of time she had.

As Sky began to apologize, Carl, Alexia, and Lia were the first to jump up and block it, admitting that it wasn't his fault, and never was. Sky had taken the burden of punishment on his own, debating whether or not being a leader meant to die for his people, rather than lead him.

With one last reassuring statement, Sky flipped his scarf to his back, clipped Illya's hair to his belt loop, and walked forward with a new smile, waiting for the challenges of the future, rather than of the past.

Quake had been defeated, everything leading up to his awakening and Avie's awakening had been taken care of, and all that was left was rebuilding Alicas to the best of their ability, and starting a life anew on Earth.

"We'll start with this party, then we'll make food stations, and it's all up from there. I couldn't have done it without you guys... but please, help me out one more time in helping the people of Alicas. Let's show them that we may be Arkians, but we aren't evil," Sky mentioned with a smile. All of the Arkians nodded, moving out to help set up stations for getting food, water, and shelter for the people of Alicas, wishing to create their new lives.