When She Wakes, Tell Her

"Kyahahahaha!!!"

Pele burst into a great, clapping laugh. The pitiful wreck who had been wilting only moments ago was nowhere to be seen. Tears sprang to her eyes as she tumbled across the floor, rolling so hard she kicked up a cloud of dust.

"Whoa! Child of Man, you're the best! Seriously, there's no one but you!"

She pounded Phantom's back with her open palm. He angled his body a little at a time, careful that none of the blows would reach Hong Yumin.

"Pele, we have a patient here. Please restrain yourself."

"Ah, right. Sorry. I was just so happy......"

She apologized in a voice still bright with laughter.

"Haa. I feel so much better."

Pele crouched beside Heaven, one side of his head still caved in.

"Hello in there. You alive?"

"......I'm alive."

"Can't hear you~~. Are you alive? Your voice got all tiny 'cause your head's cracked~."

"............"

Heaven's back flinched. Humiliation, maybe. Rage. Whatever it was, he was plainly not enjoying himself.

"Oh? Are you mad?"

Getting no answer, Pele cheerfully kept turning the knife. She had more than one old grudge stacked up, and the smile on her face showed no intention of leaving.

"Mr. Scrub? The scrub who keeled over just from smacking his head a little? Did you faint?"

"......That is enough."

"Where's that voice coming from? Oh! It's coming from down below! So that wasn't your mouth. You were so smashed up I thought it was!"

Mm. Best to leave them to it for a while.

Phantom quietly slipped away. It was an entertaining show, but the patient was in danger.

"Mr. Dan Miryu, please heal her."

"Ah. Yes."

Dan Miryu, who had been staring blankly, called up Life. Clear green light wrapped around Hong Yumin.

Color returned to her haggard face. Breath that had been fraying, ready to snap at any moment, grew strong again.

"Nn......"

Hong Yumin let out a faint sound. The way she lay must have been uncomfortable; she twisted this way and that, and before anyone quite realized it she had burrowed deeper into Phantom's arms.

"Mm......"

Something soft met him. Phantom experienced an entirely new world.

Dan Miryu drew in a breath. Life closed. His brow was soaked through.

"Is she fully healed?"

"No. I have only barely restored her stamina. I meant to finish the work, but the wounds ran deep. We will have to watch her from here."

"Might there be aftereffects?"

"Hard to say. That is a question for a doctor......"

He trailed off and looked at Captain Kid.

Captain Kid was comfortably taking in the double act between Pele and Heaven. Had there been popcorn, he would have been working through it with dedication.

"Kid, could you examine her for a moment?"

"Yes? Yes. My apologies."

Captain Kid came over. Phantom moved to set Hong Yumin down, and she seized him tight and would not let go.

"Nnn......"

"Hm......"

It was an awkward situation.

"I don't believe her life is in danger."

Captain Kid took a step back. He was not a man without tact.

"Truly?"

"If she were really in a bad way, she wouldn't even talk in her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sleep. She'd be lying there like a dead mouse."

"And the aftereffects?"

"That will take a precise diagnosis by machine. Eyeballing it won't do."

And, well.

"For now, we'd better leave things as the patient wants them."

"Understood."

Dan Miryu accepted it. Phantom blinked.

"Do I not get a say?"

"The person comes first, wouldn't you say?"

Captain Kid shrugged.

"Well, then......"

Phantom shifted with care, so that Hong Yumin would not be uncomfortable.

Hwang Seokgu rubbed a finger under his nose.

"Youth. That's what that is."

"Heh."

Sword shook his head.

"What a mess......"

The grand battlefield out of myth was nowhere to be seen. A picnic had broken out in its place, and all of it in the span of a few minutes.

San-gun nudged Sipsado with his head.

"Krrng."

"......"

Sipsado stayed as if she had been nailed in place. Only her eyes stared openly at Hong Yumin.

San-gun gave up on hurrying her and settled into a loaf. His tail tapped the dirt, thump, thump.

Phantom cleared his throat under the stare fixed on him.

"Pele. Are you quite finished?"

Pele, who had been tormenting Heaven, stretched in vast relief, as if she had poured out every last grudge.

"Mm-hmm. All out of my system. How about you? Is the Child of Heaven all right?"

"As you can see, her life is saved."

"Took ten years off me."

Pele stroked Hong Yumin's hair. Red strands came loose beneath a god's hand.

"Nnngh."

"Oh, sweetheart. Pretty thing. You had such a hard time. There, there."

Divine power rose from her palm. A warmth like a mother's embrace spread in every direction.

A bird wheeled above the volcano's summit. Hot-spring water that had crouched inside the rock stirred awake. Plants and animals living beneath the volcano swayed in the wind, and people there split timber and hunted. It was an ordinary scene, and a gentle one.

Then, softly, the landscape folded away like a mirage.

Those who had sunk into it opened their eyes, dazed.

"Everybody loosened up? It's over, so don't strain yourselves. All that's left is going home."

Pele smiled, warm in a way that did not belong to a young girl, a transcendent dignity seeping through. It was the sort of smile that made a person understand why she was the mother of Hawaii.

The chilled air eased. The subjugation party's shoulders grew a little lighter.

"More importantly, you......"

"What."

"So you were a man too. Hey. Hey."

"Have you gone senile?"

"Is there anything this one won't say? Blasphemy. That's blasphemy."

"What are you even saying?"

Pele poked Phantom's forearm with her own. He frowned.

"Is the comedy routine over?"

Heaven rose, his broken head restored.

"Yes, it's over. State your business, and then kindly remove yourself."

"Boo. Get lost."

Someone flinched.

"Hah. I will not be remaining long in any case."

"Then give us the recitation."

With a sharp crack, Heaven mended the split in his head once more and opened his mouth.

"Champions gathered according to fate, I offer my sincere praise for bringing the prophecy to a successful end. Because everyone here was present, the chaos that would have arisen in days to come was prevented. A great crisis of humankind has passed."

Heaven looked around him. The fated subjugators filled his sight. Each of them had overcome the death that came for them and reached this place at last, and they deserved respect.

It was, regrettably, a history that could not be left to later ages. Even so, humanity's last mage—and he himself—would remember it for eternity.

"Thanks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to you, annihilation has receded. Fate has returned to the share of those who choose for themselves."

"What do you mean by that?"

Phantom asked.

"Hm. There was something I ought to have explained beforehand."

Heaven recounted the conversation he had shared with Pele. He left out what concerned Phantom.

"Interesting. To slip free of a fixed fate."

Phantom murmured it under his breath.

"An achievement beyond the telling."

"What are you so proud of? You deserve a thorough beating."

"............"

"You talk prettily for someone who would have cut us loose if we had failed."

"Tch. Heaven of all peoples, and he stoops to a bat's tricks. Narrow little wretch."

Shall I smite them?

Heaven gave it serious thought. Even Sodom and Gomorrah had not been quite this trying......

Unfortunately, the offenders were a god and an outsider. Punishment would accomplish nothing. He would only earn more abuse.

With a sigh, Heaven hurried toward a close.

"In any case, the Heavenly Punishment that meant to commit evil has been subjugated, and you are owed a lawful recompense."

The light that composed Heaven blazed.

When the light went out, nothing in particular happened.

"......Gave us something nice."

Pele, who recognized Heaven's blessing, smiled bitterly. He had handed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠over a vast blessing she would hardly have dared to touch. Even to her, a god.

Power welled up. A spark no bigger than a mote flared into splendor. She was one step nearer her prime.

"Are you finished now?"

"No."

Heaven reached upward. When he clenched his fist, the clouds that had crouched there with ill omen shattered and vanished.

"The Heavenly Road has closed."

"Yes. It will never open again."

Heaven's body slowly thinned.

"One last warning. The danger......"

"......isn't over yet. I know. That much, at least."

Behind Phantom's mask, his eyes glinted.

"Heaven. Is Forever moving?"

"......No."

Already moving.

"You would do well to be careful."

Even if fate had broken.

"Once Forever is complete, this universe will become a child's toy. That must be stopped."

"Heaven. I told you before."

That he would steal annihilation.

"That will be my first act as a Phantom Thief, and my last."

"......Is that so."

Don't count on it.

"Have you nothing more to say?"

Nearly transparent now, Heaven looked at San-gun, at Sipsado, and at Hong Yumin.

"When she wakes, see that this is delivered."

"I am sorry I could not help."

"Do not forgive me."

Phantom's mask displayed a mute icon.

"Didn't catch that. Tell her yourself, later."

"Ha......"

To the very end......

And so Heaven vanished.

A clear sky came.

"Waaaaah! Let's go! Today's fried chicken!"

"Order as much as you like. I will provide it without limit."

"Yeah!"

The long, long script had reached its end.

It had been precarious, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and full of twists, but did this much count as a happy ending?

"......"

Inside a noisy hospital, in a lobby where countless people came and went, a young man sat.

He had a cap pulled low and a hood drawn up, and he slowly raised his head. Green pupils contracted as they took in the clean ceiling.

"......It's time."

He rose. The hood slipped back, and the hair it had hidden came free.

What escaped past the cap was a vivid green.

As if it held life itself.