Let's Leave.
The group had just experienced a wild occasion and were currently enjoying themselves underneath the shade of some trees whilst still on their elephants. Surprisingly the trees were filled with grape vines and wild grapes.
Cyrus was cautious of this until he saw Terra eating a bunch of them without problems. 'Is this guy oblivious? Does no one here wonder why there are grapes in Africa? Well at least it's not as bad as having a tiger in Africa," he whispered.
Terra had eaten his fill of grapes and was stuffed while the others were eating away at them more slowly, surprisingly even Edith, as she wanted to enjoy this sensation for a little while longer.
With nothing to do for the ride except eat grapes, he decided to see just how mischievous he could be, he threw one grape at Vito as quickly as he could and then repositioned himself to make it look like he had been eating this entire time.
Vito felt the attack but when he looked behind himself it didn't look like it had been Terra at all, his eyes were closed as he bit into a grape and grabbed another one while whistling blissfully. He wanted to assume it was Cyrus but could he really blame someone who was that far away from him?
Evidently, he let it go, that was until he felt another strike at his back. He looked behind but still couldn't make out the culprit, he wanted to assume who but didn't want to falsely pick somebody.
Both Cyrus and Dawn saw this. To Cyrus, this was funny so he didn't say anything, to Dawn this was none of his business.
This time Vito waited for a few seconds and focused on hearing who was behind him and doing what, he was waiting to hear any quick moves being done by someone, and soon enough he heard them.
Turning around he saw Terra with his hand up and a grape in it. "So it was you!" he yelled.
"No, it wasn't I was trying to see if I could throw this grape into my mouth," Terra defensively said raising his hands up.
"Yeah right, I bet you-" Just then a grape fell from the sky and hit Vito on the head. It was perfectly thrown to land right where he would be in the next few seconds and the one who had his hands up early enough to do such a thing was Terra!!
"Terra you bastard, so it was you!" he yelled
"That one wasn't me!" he complained.
"So you admit to doing all the other ones earlier don't you!" Vito said as he started chucking grapes at Terra.
As grapes were being thrown, Cyrus couldn't help but laugh and say to himself, "Yeah that last one was me." But as he was laughing, a stray from Vito hit him dead on his forehead. it was thrown with enough force that his head swung back a little without dropping his glasses.
"It seems you want a fight!" Cyrus said as he started chucking his own set of grapes at them.
"NO! Stop!!! I'm right in between you guys!" Dawn complained as he was taking collateral damage from the mayhem. It was unavoidable and necessary for this fight.
The boys were now in an all-out grape war as each side was fighting for their own personal interests. As for Dawn, it was for survival.
Not too long after Cyrus called for a cease-fire.
"What's wrong" Vito asked, "You chickening out?"
"No it's just that, it's been awfully quiet at the front, Vito where is Edith?" he asked.
"What do you mean where? Edith is right in, front....of....me?" he said slowly as the realization hit him. "She's gone!" he exclaimed.
"Huh, well this is strange," Terra said, "I never quite thought that I would ever lose a girl in the jungle riding on an elephant. It just feels like something that is hard to lose even if you want to. So what do we do now?"
Vito thought for a moment and then offered, "What are we split up?" he said.
Everyone turned their heads to him and said, "No."
Cyrus was the first to make up his argument known, "Haven't you ever watched a horror movie? Splitting up is the worst answer."
Dawn put in his opinion too, "We are in Africa, I mean it's not Australia but it's still in the wild, for all I know we could get lost and have to live off honey for a few hours."
Terra whose eyes had darkened when he had Vito's suggestion replied, "Nothing good ever comes from splitting up."
"So what do you suggest we do? We march out a parade yelling out her name!?" Vito asked.
A few moments later, the boys were now marching their parade and yelling out Edith's name out loud.
"Edith! Edith where are you!?" Vito asked.
"Edith you were supposed to be in front and you ditched us!? Not cool," Terra shouted.
"Edith, it's getting late, I wanna go back to the base." Dawn put in.
"Edith, we have some sandwiches! They were made by Sasha, I'm sure you'll love them." Cyrus yelled.
Vito looked at him strangely after hearing that, "Is she a dog? You're offering her food."
"If it works it works," Cyrus said.
"Guys I don't think this is working, perhaps she is a lost cause," Dawn said.
"And what do you mean by, a lost cause?" Vito asked as he brought his elephant closer to Dawn's.
"I mean are we even qualified to look for her? We should just get John to do this or-"
"Listen here Dawn, we are a team! We don't ditch other teammates, we look out for them and help one another with no exceptions," Vito passionately let out as he placed his fist on his chest.
Cyrus turned to Terra and elbowed his shoulder, "Should he be the one saying that? I mean he did try and kill you before."
But as he was talking to Terra, Terra felt like something or someone was calling out to him, when he closed his eyes he could hear the faint sound of a trumpet. 'Is that what I think it is?' he asked himself.
"Guys! I-I found her!" he exclaimed randomly and this even shocked Cyrus who was right next to him.
Everyone looked at him confused.
"No time to explain, follow me!" he said riding off towards the sunset.
"Wait up!" Vito said as they all hurriedly chased after him wondering why he was so insistent that he knew the way. Not too soon after they followed him they got their answer for they too could hear the sounds of the elephant blowing its trunk.
After following for a while they saw Edith and her elephant standing near a cliff.
"Edith!?" Vito exclaimed.
"Oh, you guys finally made it, where were you guys and why did you take so long?" she asked.
"We were looking for you," Cyrus said.
Edith just shrugged and waved to them, "Anyways come check this out."
Though tired and frustrated that she was putting her disappearance aside like this, they came closer a bit closer to her.
They had now borne witness to the sight that Edith had been marveling at for so long. Over the lake that they were once in, they could see the rays of the sun shine upon the water and the image of the sun itself was reflecting upon it.
This had caused the water to glow and glisten and it had also reflected off to the leaves and grass making for the pasture to look greener than ever, and the wave of fresh air that had hit them from such a height was cool in such a way that it made them feel more relaxed.
"So this is what you ran off to see?" Cyrus commented with his arms crossed, "It's"
"Beautiful," Terra finished as he gazed upon the field.
Cyrus was going to say something else but decided to keep to himself and just enjoy this moment. It was something he felt like they earned to experience at least once with the whole end of the world happening and whatnot.
"This is a beautiful sight to have," Vito said, "Terra you better not let us lose this by losing in that tournament you are going off to," he said.
"What!? Terra turned and faced him with his arms wide apart, appalled that he would even say such a thing.
"Yeah Terra, If you lose we'll throw you off this cliff," Edith added.
"WHAT!?" Terra turned back in shock.
"Actually wouldn't this place be gone if Terra lost? Shouldn't we just throw him off now?" Cyrus asked.
Terra had taken two steps back away from everyone as he went, "HUH!?"
Edith smirked as she looked at him with a wicked eye, "Good idea, Vito grab the legs, I'll grab the arms."
Vito didn't need to be told twice, he instantly went to work with Edith while Terra was running for his life.
"These guys are cruel, after all we've been through," he cried running away from the cliff.
The trio ran off and this just left Dawn and Cyrus alone by the cliff.
Dawn sat down closer to the edge of the cliff, so close that his legs were now dangling off and a simple push would be all it would take to throw him off of it. Cyrus stood a little further back behind him.
"Are you okay?" Dawn asked Cyrus, "Not like it's my business but you seem a little tense. Around John to be specific," he said.
Cyrus was a little shocked to hear this but not by much, he didn't do as good of a job at hiding it as he normally would do. Though he wasn't expecting Dawn to call him out, he at least expected Vito to be the one to do.
"Dawn, can I ask you something?" Cyrus said as Dawn shook his head silently, "If you had the option to become the representative of this planet, would you take it?"
At that point in the conversation, the mood had shifted and it wasn't as silly as it had been a few moments ago. "If you are asking for my opinion then you should know that at any other point in time, I would have said yes without hesitation."
Cyrus looked at him curiously as he turned his head, "But now?"
Dawn was in a deep thinking state, he had one leg crossed up brought near his face, and placed his arms around it to hold it still. "Now I am not so sure, I thought being the representative meant being the 'King of the World,' or at least something of that sort."
"But looking at Terra I don't get that feeling at all, he is more of a carefree idiot who walks around living life normally, I almost can't image him ever having a bad day.
"I wanted to become the representative because I wanted power and recognition, all the women in the world, all the money in the world, all the respect one could ever get. This planet would essentially be my property," he let out.
As he was saying this Cyrus noticed that the one foot he had on land was shifting to the side a little and his fingers were curling up. There were visible signs of hesitation written all over him. And yet there was also a certain firmness.
"What about you Cyrus?" he asked, obviously expecting to hear a similar answer that he could relate to.
"I-," Cyrus stuttered as he wanted to think more about what he was going to say, "I have never considered wanting to be the representative, it is a silly question if you ask me," he chuckled lowly as he too sat down by the cliff.
"I see, so you never consider the possibility of becoming the representative? Mhm.." Dawn became quiet for a few seconds as he contemplated whether to say this or not but knowing that there might never be a time to, he did it anyway.
"Have you ever thought about death?" he asked. This made Cyrus show a reaction he normally wouldn't have as he froze on the spot and his eyes widened up a little, "I guess you have huh? You don't have to tell me why though."
"I'm sure you've heard a little about this from Alex, I wanted to end myself at one point but I was too cowardly to carry through, I was in so much pain that I wanted others to feel it too but I didn't know how to fight properly back then. "
"So I was too scared to hate myself and too weak to hurt others, what a mess I am," he chuckled.
"I thought that if I could maybe kill Terra then I could somehow take his title and then go off myself in the tournament so that the world can know my pain. I don't even know why I ever had such a crazy thought like that, it's not like killing the representative lets you become him."
When Cyrus heard that he couldn't help but nervously smile a little at this because he knew that it was exactly how it worked.
"Still, I don't envy him anymore," Dawn said looking at Terra, "He is stronger than me for sure, imagine the pressure of having to carry an entire world on your back, an entire civilization, and one screw-up and everything is gone before he can even say goodbye."
Cyrus let out a chuckle as well, "He may not be showing it, but he is just as worried as you think you would be, he just isn't showing it on the outside."
"Still more," Dawn said, "He has the strength to not let his worry show on his face and that takes a lot of effort when one is truly troubled, it's enough to make me respect him a little."
Dawn now laid on his back by the cliff and blurted out, "I don't know what I want anymore, but hopefully before the day that this planet blows up, I'll get to figure out that answer," he said. "Holy sh*t, am I having a mid-life crisis?" Dawn realized as he sat back up.
"Ha ha ha, you are way too young for that, you are in the clear," Cyrus cheered him up.
Later the two of them decided to break up the fight between Terra, Edith, and Vito as they had successfully gotten him off the ground and this had Cyrus worried that Vito might actually throw him.
Coming up to the end of the path where a large stone wall could be seen John had been waiting for everyone patiently with drinks he had prepared and in his butler uniform.
"I hope the journey was delectable, I have prepared you beverages and hope they are to your satisfaction. We may leave after you have been refreshed.
Edith got off her elephant first and was excited that she would finally get out of her wildlife-surviving clothes and actually wear something more comfortable and up her style. She grabbed her drink and drank it and then grabbed another one.
The one she had grabbed was for Dawn and he almost let out a cry seeing her do this as his mouth was hanging wild, he rushed to stop her as Cyrus backed him up and she fought for his drink.
In the end, Vito gave her his and she calmed down from creating another ruckus.
"Alright everyone, we may now evacuate these premises as I shall be back to clean this area later," John said.
One by one the group walked through the portal that was on the stone wall and each let out a sigh of relief as they did but Terra didn't walk through, instead he stopped right before he could, he couldn't tell why but for some reason Terra had felt to himself that this would be the last time he would be visiting this place.
He turned around to look at the scene once more as he could see far past from where he was to the land that was below him with how far up he was. Terra let the wind blow in his face as in took in a deep breath and let out all the nerves he had hidden inside of himself.
As he was buying his time, John walked back through the portal and asked him, "Terra, are you coming?"
Terra had his face go red as he jumped back from the slight embarrassment he felt for trying to feel cool and enjoy the moment, "Uhm, yeah I'm right behind you" he said back to John with a nervous smile.
John smiled as he saw this and let Terra know, "I'll leave the portal opened for you Terra. Take your time," as he went back through.
"Thank you," Terra smiled brightly.
Terra walked up to the edge of the hill that he was on, he could see the cliff that Edith had tried to throw him off of earlier and could even see the lake and elephants that were going back down as well as all the other animals in the area.
Taking in this sight, he let out one big shout to all of them, "Goodbye Africa!" he echoed from the hill. He didn't expect a response he just always wanted to do something like this and have a big exit like they would do in movies.
As he was about to turn around he could hear the elephants below him blowing their trumpets for him despite being so high up, and then he could hear the roaring of the lion and the tiger, the bellows of the hippo, the whistles of the giraffe, the neigh of the zebra and even the chatter of the monkeys.
And that wasn't all that was there, crocodiles, deer, lemurs, anteaters, snakes, buffalos, and so many different animals that had been hiding somewhere nearby were all revealing themselves in front of him now and letting out some kind of sound to signal a fare well of sorts to him.
This surprising display of adoration for him from animals he hadn't even met yet filled his eyes with tears, he didn't expect anything but received everything that the land had to offer.
At that one moment, even though it was childish, even though it was short, in that one moment that he had, Terra Vian truly felt like he was the King of the World.
As Terra walked through that portal he once more whispered in his heart once again...
"Goodbye, Africa."