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It’s about an hour after the Second Great World Burning when the first wave of panic hits.
It’s not like Lio hasn’t been scared before this point. He’s been teetering on the edge between mind-numbing terror and all-consuming rage for the better part of this entire thing, only held in place between those two by sheer determination, the knowledge that everyone was counting on him, and Galo Thymos’ unwarranted optimism and burning soul.
He holds himself together through the attack on the Parnassus, fighting Kray, being used as the engine’s core, burning the entire world to satisfy the Promare’s ceaseless hunger—
But as soon as he and Galo are back down to Earth (literally) it hits him.
Namely, it hits him when Galo starts telling Burning Rescue about the Burnish still trapped in the Parnassus’ engine and trying to help set up some kind of coordinated effort to get them out.
“We’re gonna need medical tents set up, as many of them as you can get, Captain.” Galo crosses his arms as he addresses the tall blond man with mirrored sunglasses. “The Burnish might be able to heal from their injuries, but I’ve seen what that engine can do to people, and it’s not pretty.”
Lio feels a chill run down his spine. That’s certainly putting it mildly. He was in the perfected Promotech pod, even if Kray did have him strung up with barbed wire and pushed far past what it was ever intended to do— he doesn’t even want to imagine what it felt like to be in his bastardized version, if the pain his people were put through was so intense it made their Promare rip up out of the Earth’s crust—
Then the thought rips through him just as fiercely, the sound of Galo explaining a shortened version of the absolute fever dream of an experience they’ve just been through fading into the background—
He’s alone, in a way he hasn’t been in a very long time, and he shouldn’t be.
His stomach lurches, and if there were anything in it other than bile he might not have been able to resist the urge to throw up. While Galo is busy explaining things, he turns on his heel and marches— somewhere. He doesn’t even know where he’s going, but he needs to go.
“Lio? Hey, where are you going?!”
He doesn’t stop when Galo calls out to him. He doesn’t even stop when he hears him following behind, still calling out to him. And he only stops when Galo reaches out and grabs his elbow because he stumbles, and Galo’s grip on him is the only thing keeping him from falling over.
“Lio! Hey, buddy! Talk to me!”
“Nn…” Lio’s head is spinning, his stomach is still doing flips like it’s trying to squirm up and out of his throat, and his muscles suddenly feel weak. Galo puts an arm around his shoulders to keep him steady as he tries to lower him to the ground, even as Lio tries to resist. “Let me go, Galo. I need to go to them…”
“I know you do, Lio, but there’s some stuff we gotta take care of first. Captain’s on the radio right now pulling rescue teams and paramedics from all over the city so we can—”
Lio doesn’t actually manage to say any words as the lump in his throat grows so big he feels like he might choke on it, but he shakes his head so violently that it makes Galo pause mid-sentence anyway.
“Not them— I need—”
That’s as much as he can force out before he starts coughing so hard he can’t make words anymore, and now he has no choice but to end up on the ground. Galo’s hand is on his back, alternating between patting it— surprisingly gently— and rubbing in circles.
When the coughing fit passes, or at least dies down momentarily, Lio tries to force himself back to his feet— but either Galo is stronger than he remembers or he’s even weaker than he feels, because one of Galo’s hands on his shoulder might as well be a ship’s anchor.
“Lio, what do you need? Tell me and I’ll get it for you,” he says, his other hand coming down on Lio’s shoulder as well, and it might as well weigh a thousand pounds. “Just— stop. Please.”
Something in the way Galo’s voice cracks on the word please makes something surge through him— a not quite all there memory of hands pounding on his chest so hard his ribs crack, of that same voice cracking, of Stay with me and rough lips on his own and his own heat flooding into him with a little extra he doesn’t quite recognize—
The memory goes as fast as it came, though, and Lio feels… Hollow.
He doesn’t realize how hard he’s shaking until Galo grasps one of his hands between both of his own and starts rubbing from the back of his hand along his arm, like he’s trying to soothe him— or warm him up.
He’s so cold. He can hardly remember ever feeling so cold. For a moment, the panic rises in him again, fresh— fear that in satisfying the Promare’s desire to burn, he’s burned them out— but if he reaches deep down inside of himself, he can feel that spark there, curled up and quiet like a sleeping child but still there.
And then his first panic rises up all over again.
“Gueira, Meis—” he chokes out, because if he feels this weak, this vulnerable, how must they feel still locked up inside of that— that thing?
How selfish of him; all of the Burnish must be captives of fear and agony, but in his single-minded panic, all he can think about is them. He lives for the Burnish, to help and protect his people, but Gueira and Meis—
They’re his. He’s theirs. Without them standing at his side, he feels lost and incomplete, a feeling that has been slowly ripping a hole through his chest since he watched them disappearing into the distance as they shot him off into a volcano to save his life.
The Burnish need him right now, but he needs them.
He’s about to shrug Galo’s grip off and go to them, when Galo says, “Alright. I’m gonna go get them. But you gotta let Remi take a look at you, okay?”
Lio blinks.
It takes a moment to sink in, and then he’s shaking his head. “Galo, I can’t— I have to—”
“Lio, you’re shaking, your body temperature is way down, and your eyes can’t focus. If you need Gueira and Meis, I’ll go get them, but you have to let us make sure you’re okay. Okay?”
No, nothing is okay right now— but Lio takes one look at Galo and he knows it’s not an argument he’s going to win.
But more than that, when he looks at Galo and sees the hard determination in his eyes, he feels a rush of heat in his chest and knows that he’s going to do whatever it takes to follow through on that promise.
The certainty he feels is scary. Lio doesn’t trust easily— he barely knows Galo.
But they did just save the world together, so maybe— maybe he can let himself trust just this once.
And maybe he’s too desperate and too weak to do anything else.
Words are still a struggle, so finally he just nods. Galo squeezes his shoulders, and smiles radiantly at him.
Lio knows he must be dehydrated, or about to pass out, because of the fact that he uses the word radiant to describe his smile, and also it makes his heart and stomach flutter and makes his anxiety… Not disappear, far from it, but fade into the back of his mind.
He slumps forward against Galo, leaning against him and soaking in the feeling of skin against skin and the warmth of Galo’s body heat as Galo calls out to someone.
“Lio, Remi’s going to look you over and make sure you’re okay,” Galo says as he puts a hand on Lio’s back to steady him as he pulls away. “I’ll go get Gueira and Meis. I’ll be back before you know it. Just rest for a little while, okay?”
“Galo…” Lio sighs, letting his eyes slide shut against the almost blinding light of both the rising sun and Galo’s reassuring smile.
“Hm? What is it, Lio?”
“I just…” Lio tries to find the words, but it’s not his parched throat or the weakness in his muscles holding him back this time; it’s the way he can’t quite think of how to put everything he’s thinking and feeling into something as small and simple as words.
So instead he just says, “...Thank you.”
And Galo’s smile makes it worth it.
Galo rescues people. That’s his job; it’s what he’s good at. No matter what he’s been through, no matter how sore and tired he is, that’s his first priority.
And helping Lio? Some time in the last— couple of hours, that’s become his second biggest priority, and the chance to do both at once is something he’s not going to pass up.
After Remi heeds his call and comes over to check on Lio and— make sure he isn’t about to die (again, his brain provides totally unhelpfully, making his stomach do a series of really horrible flips) or something, he seeks out Aina and her sister.
“Heris!”
She’s in the middle of a conversation with Aina, which he feels a little bad for interrupting, but this is way more important anyway.
She jumps at the sound of his voice, but Galo strides right up to her with raw determination.
“Galo!” Aina crosses her arms at him, but Galo has a mission and a promise that he has to fulfill, and he won’t let anything get in the way of that.
“Is there a way to get the pods in the engine open? Particular pods, I mean?”
“Ah…” Heris frowns. “Without the auxiliary engines, it’s not possible to start up the system that would let us open all of the pods at once… But if we had a generator I might be able to get the computers running long enough to open them manually one by one…”
“I bet Lucia can rig something up from Freeze Force’s engines! I’ll go get her!”
Bless Aina and her ability to pivot so quickly in an emergency.
Galo knows his way around mechanics, more or less, but he leaves this particular job to Lucia.
Everyone is moving and no one knows entirely what’s going on, so things move in a blur and he finds himself back inside the engine of the Parnassus with a car battery the size of his bike hooked up to the burned out remnants of the computer system.
While Heris fiddles with things he doesn’t understand or know how to fix, he looks out across the dark engine and tries not to think about how many people are trapped in there and what they’ve been through and what kind of condition they’re going to find them in— instead he tries to think about how they’re going to get all of them out and what they’re going to do to help them after. Hopefully the Captain has things started with the medical situation by the time he has things started here…
All of a sudden Heris makes a squeak of— surprise? Triumph? It makes him jump. The whole place makes him feel creeped out down to his bones, memories of what happened there only like… An hour ago running in his brain at light speed.
Exploding into the engine. Seeing Lio on the ground, half dead. Fighting against Kray’s fire. Lio, half dead. Trying to bring him back, desperately, having no idea if he could. Lio, half dead—
That, and the fact that he’s well aware that all of the pods around him are filled with Burnish who have been viciously tortured for the past several days.
When he and Lio… Merged in the Promotech pod, he’d felt their cries of triumph more than he’d heard them, reverberating through his burning soul— no, through Lio’s, but they had been one and the same at the time, in a way he couldn’t quite describe or even believe if he hadn’t been the one living it.
He’d also felt their pain through him— and his pain.Their battle cry and belief in Lio was only fueled more by the anguish and the aches and the terror that his victory helped to relieve.
For Galo, remembering this only amplifies his desire to save every single one of them— to rescue them. Rescuing people is what he does. He’s saved Lio, and the world, and now he’s going to save the Burnish, or at least help to do so.
But it also makes him feel guilty, because even though he feels a powerful urge to save every last one of them, he feels an even more powerful urge to give Lio exactly what he needs right now— and what he needs are his generals, so that’s who he’s going to find.
Besides, he tells himself, he has to start somewhere, right? There’s no reason he can’t start with the two of them— they’re as important as anyone else— and if they can get them back up and on their feet, it’ll help boost morale. All of the Burnish looked to Lio like a saviour. Having the former Mad Burnish working with Burning Rescue to put everything back in order— it would be unifying.
He keeps telling himself that and trying to push the guilt down even as Heris calls him over to the computer terminal.
“You were looking for specific pods, right?” Her hands scurry over the keys faster than Galo can keep track of. “None of their identities are recorded—”
Galo puts his hand on her shoulder and leans towards the screen.
“G-Galo?”
He stares at the rows and rows of little boxes on Heris’ screen, flickering from the generator power that Aina and Lucia have rigged up. He counts up the rows, and then across, until finally jabbing two fingers at a pair of the pods.
“Those ones,” he says with certainty.
“...Alright.”
Heris is giving him weird looks out of the corner of her eye, and it’s not like he blames her. He’s not exactly making a lot of sense. How would he know which pod has which person in it, any more than she does?
But he remembers hearing Gueira and Meis call out when Lio called to the Burnish to give them their flames so they could burn the world to the ground. He remembers their triumph and enthusiasm when Lion reached out for their flames, how much raw belief they had in him when their cries of “Boss!!!” rang out through all of the Burnish looking to Lio as their leader.
It amazes him, really. Lio amazes him. He might have called Lio ice cold during their face off against Kray, but mostly because it sounded cool; it’s not true at all. Maybe he wears a stern face, but only because he needs to be strong for the Burnish; he burns every bit as hot as Galo does, and together they burned so strong their flames covered everything and saved the world.
In that moment he felt the Burnish— felt them the way Lio must feel them. And he felt Gueira and Meis, reaching out to Lio without question or hesitation because they believed in him that much.
Galo may not be the smartest guy out there, but he’s got a sharp memory when he actually tries. Maybe he’s running off of instinct more than anything, but he remembers where that flow and those cries came from.
It wouldn’t stop him even if he didn’t, though. He’d open every single one of these pods by himself if he needed to.
Heris’ fingers fly across the keyboard some more. She spits a few curse words that make Galo blink and blush. Then, finally, there’s a big mechanical CLUNK as something in the engine starts to move.
“I’m going to bring the pods one by one into the loading area,” she says. “Hopefully the overload and the crash didn’t damage the loading gear too badly…”
“Can’t you just open them up where they are?”
“I could, but without the main power I can’t extend the catwalks, so they would just drop out into thin air.”
Okay. Loading docks it is.
Galo is practically vibrating as the pods lower into the loading dock, which Heris had to give him instructions on how to get to three different times before he managed to find his way.
He can’t see through the tinted glass of the pods without the power lighting them up, but it’s quiet— eerily quiet. Too quiet.
It’s dark in the engine, with only the emergency strip lights being powered by the generator, and even then not very brightly, so Galo has his flashlight, and it’s making his skin crawl. He still hasn’t had time to process what happened here, what he saw and heard and felt, and the unease is settling in and ramping up his anxiety by degrees of ten.
He steps forward, holding his flashlight up to the pod. He can see something human-shaped inside, but there’s no sound or movement; part of him feels like he’s in a horror movie, and another part of him feels like it’s crawling up into his throat as he wonders—
Is he too late?
They seemed fine when Lio called out to their flames, but he remembers what happened to the pizza maker after just one turn in the engine when Heris was testing it— how could all of the Burnish here have been put through the engine for so long and still come out in one piece?
He pushes the thought out of his head and forces himself to focus on the here and now when he hears Heris over the intercom say, “Alright, Galo. I’m opening the pods now.”
He steels himself for whatever he might see as the weird machines come down and open the pods.
He doesn’t realize he’s stopped breathing until the pods are open— and there are Gueira and Meis, slumped and clearly not conscious, but in one piece.
A lot of tension slides off his shoulders, but he only takes a split second to feel relieved before he kicks into rescue mode.
Problem one: they’re still up in the pods.
This isn’t actually a big problem, because he doesn’t want them to fall and get hurt, but he does want them out of the pods— so as he approaches one he says, “Hey, Heroes, how do I get the restraints to release?”
“I’m— working on that,” she replies, not exactly sounding confident. “These weren’t exactly made to be opened on a whim, and the system sustained heavy damage…”
“Is there a manual release?”
“Not necessarily, but they were made to withstand heat and struggle from the person in the pod, not external force. You should be able to pry them open.” She pauses. “Galo— are you sure you don’t want me to call Aina or your other teammates in? You might need some more specialized equipment for this.”
“No, no, I’ve got this. Let everyone else focus on getting things ready for all of these pods opening up. Do you think you’ll be able to find a way to get the rest of the pods open?”
“Not without main power— but once things get stabilized we might be able to reroute some from the city power grid. I’ll work on it.”
The announcement system cuts out again as Heris goes back to what she was doing, and Galo now has a problem to focus on.
Step one— medical. He climbs into the first pod— Meis, this one is Meis, the one with the long black hair that’s still hanging in one eye— and quickly checks his vitals.
Pulse is strong, breathing is shallow but steady… He doesn’t wake up when Gueira gives him a few testing pokes, or when he lifts his eyelid and shines the light in his eye, but he groans and shifts.
So… Unconscious, but very much alive. Too responsive to be in a coma. Probably just exhausted by everything he’s been through, and he’s not quite sure how Burnish healing works? Would it work for something like this? Did him and Lio using the Promare to burn everything… Mess it up, somehow?
He doesn’t have answers to those questions, so he keeps doing what he does best.
He climbs out of Meis’ pod and into Gueira’s. He sees more of the same, steady vitals and shallow breathing—
And just as he’s reaching for the catch on his wrist bonds, Gueira starts screaming.
Galo screams too, in surprise, and nearly falls out of the pod but catches himself at the last moment— which might not actually be the smart decision because that’s also the moment Gueira starts thrashing around, even though the restraints don’t let him get very far.
They do let him smash his head right into Galo’s, barely avoiding breaking his nose. This time he does fall out of the pod, flat on his ass and clutching his sore and probably bruised nose—
Just in time to avoid being torched by the sudden burst of flames out of the pod.
Galo rolls across the floor to get out of the way, as the fire is close enough for him to feel the heat on his skin— but it ends as quickly as it began, one big fireball that disappears as soon as it hits the open air.
Galo has seen a lot of Burnish fires, and he’s gone up against Gueira before— his experience on both fronts leaves him puzzled and concerned, because something is off, even if he can’t quite explain it.
“Boss! Meis!” Gueira yells as he thrashes around— until he starts choking.
Galo jumps to his feet, going right back into rescue mode, and climbs right back into the pod even though he knows Gueira could just catch fire whenever he feels like it.
He can’t administer proper care with Gueira still hanging up, but he does his best to try to help him clear his airways, sliding a hand behind his back as best he can without hurting him even as Gueira is still squirming and struggling against his shackles.
“Gueira, hey, calm down! If you keep struggling like that you’re gonna hurt yourself! Hold still and I’ll get you down from there, okay?”
“B-boss…? Meis?”
Gueira stops struggling to peer at him, probably having a hard time seeing him in the darkness with Galo’s flashlight shining in his face— but when he does recognize him he tenses up again.
“Y-you…!”
“I’m here to help,” Galo says immediately.
“Where’s Lio?! What about Meis?! Is he okay?!”
“Lio is getting checked out and helping figure out our next move for getting everyone out of here. I told him I would come and get you guys,” Galo says. “I brought Meis’ pod down too. He’s unconscious, but he’s in one piece and breathing, so I figure he’s just exhausted. But once I get you guys down we can get a real medic to look at you and you guys can help Lio out. Sound good?”
Gueira’s breath stutters as he lets out a big sigh that makes his entire body droop. “Lio… He’s okay?”
“He’s pretty exhausted and shaken up,” Galo replies honestly. “But he’s way too strong to let that stop him for long.”
Gueira laughs a shaky laugh. “You don’t even know the half of it, Matoi boy.”
Galo knows he’s being teased, but he’s glad Gueira is feeling alright enough to tease him, so he lets it slide as he shoves his flashlight in his mouth to hold it steady as he starts to work on the shackles.
They’re so tight that Galo can practically see them digging into Gueira’s skin— probably tight enough to cut off circulation, which is worrying, but Galo’s a rescuer and not a doctor and also he understands basically nothing about Burnish physiology so he focuses on what he can do and starts trying to pry them off.
He can see what Heris meant by the pods being made to keep the Burnish in instead of keeping people from getting them out, because the shackles give surprisingly easy to him just trying to pry them open with his bare hands— but it’s still not easy, and for a moment he thinks he will have to wait for specialized equipment (or Varys) until with a loud SNAP the mechanism holding the shackle shut breaks and it springs open.
Gueira cries out, and Galo worries for a second that he hurt him somehow, but Gueira just pulls his shaking wrist close to his body as he breathes just as shakily.
It must be from the strain of being held up so tightly for so long. It makes Galo feel angry and sick— but it also motivates him to hurry up and get them down, get all of the Burnish down, as quickly as possible.
“Hang on, Gueira. I’ll have you down right away or my name isn’t Galo Thymos!”
And if Galo Thymos is one thing, it’s a man of his word.
“I’m telling you, I’m fine. Just… Tired.”
Not for the first time, Galo’s coworker completely ignores him.
The first time, it annoyed Lio. The second time, he thought that maybe he was deaf. Now, the third time, he’s circled back to annoyed— but with a certain air of resignation.
It’s not like this is the first time he’s been ignored. First time in a while, maybe, but at least the person ignoring him isn’t hurting him.
Remi— Lio is pretty sure that’s what Galo called him— decides he’s finished looking over the little marks and scratches left behind by the barbed wire Kray had him strung up in. Normally they would have healed completely by now, but his flames are just a little flicker— as tired by this whole thing as he is, probably (or so he hopes)— so even though they’ve already healed a lot faster than a non-Burnish person, they’re still very much there.
He types something out one-handed on his tablet before pulling out a small flashlight.
“I’m going to take a look at your pupil dilation,” he says. Lio nods and tries not to wince or flinch when Remi holds his eyelids open in each eye and shines a light directly into them, then goes back to write something else on whatever report he’s filling out.
Lio’s about to try his fourth plea that he’s fine when Aina jogging up to them grabs his attention.
“Remi!” She stops to catch her breath and wipe the sweat from her forehead. “When you’re done here, Captain needs your help showing the medical teams where they can set up.”
“Understood.” He turns back to his tablet. “Well, Lio, I still think you should get checked out by a proper medical professional when you have the chance— but from what I can tell, it’s just a cocktail of exhaustion, malnutrition, and dehydration.”
“I told you—”
“That doesn’t mean you can just go recklessly charging in to help,” Remi cuts him off, making the spark inside of Lio flicker with annoyance. “You need to at least eat something, and drink plenty of water. I would prefer you would try to take at least a short nap, too, but I can tell I’m not going to be able to get that much.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Aina says, leaning in so she’s close— too close— with her hands on her hips and a stern expression. “That we’re used to dealing with stubborn people. Really, it’s no wonder you and Galo clicked so quickly— you two both need to learn when to relax and let others take care of the heavy lifting for a bit, okay?”
Lio has no interest in losing a staring contest with Aina, but she’s clearly not backing down either— and it’s only when Remi sighs and puts a hand on each of their shoulders that they look away.
“Alright, you two. That’s enough.” Remi looks to Aina first. “Aina, just because Galo isn’t here doesn’t mean you have to pick up his stupid alpha male posturing act.” Then, he whips his head around to Lio. “And don’t think that means you’re off the hook, either. Aina is right, you know. I still don’t really understand what you and Galo did— but whatever it was, the two of you saved us. All of us. So you’ve earned a little rest. Let us start repaying you by getting things started here— and when Galo comes back, you better make sure he stops and takes a break, too.”
“Ha! Good luck with that. I don’t think even Lio would be able to convince that big dummy to sit down and take a break for more than a minute or two.”
Lio doesn’t pause to consider what Aina might mean by that, why he would be any better at convincing Galo than any of his friends or coworkers, but he does ask, “Is that supposed to be a challenge?”
“Why, do you— Hey! Galo!”
Lio and Remi’s attention both snap away from Aina and instead in the direction she’s waving.
In the distance, Lio sees Galo, but he doesn’t wave back— and he can see why.
He has Meis slung over his shoulders in— fittingly— a fireman’s carry, one hand making sure he’s secure, and his other hand is occupied helping keep Gueira steady as they walk.
Lio is on his feet and heading for them before anyone can even say anything. He hears Remi call out to him but it’s just noise as he strides, purposefully, towards them.
Gueira sees him, and yells out, “Boss!” and suddenly he’s running towards him, and Lio is running too, and they meet in the middle with a THUD as they literally tackle each other and end up on the ground in a pile of limbs and laughter and unashamed tears.
The laughter doesn’t last long, though, because as happy as Lio is to see him alive and well— clearly exhausted and hurting but in one piece and walking— the moment he’s reassured that he’s there and alive he remembers the last time he saw him, and suddenly he’s wrestling Gueira until he’s straddling him and pinning his arms down, glaring at him.
Gueira realizes what’s happening quicker than Lio expected and swallows as he says, “Uh oh.”
“Uh oh is right! What did you two think you were doing, sacrificing yourselves like that?!”
“C’mon, Lio, did you expect us to just let that Freeze Force bastard kill you?!”
Gueira is pinned down, but he doesn’t let that stop him from raising his head far enough that it can’t be comfortable for his neck. Lio leans in, glaring right back at him, until their foreheads are touching.
Then, Gueira goes from staring him down to grinning at him. “Besides, we weren’t really sacrificing ourselves— we knew you’d come to rescue us. And you did, so no harm no foul, right?”
“Gueira, I swear, you two are—”
His head snaps up as he suddenly realizes—
“Meis!”
Lio feels like his heart stops beating when he takes a second to really process Meis slung over Galo’s shoulders— unmoving, clearly not conscious. But Galo just nods towards Burning Rescue’s setup where Lio just came running from and starts walking.
Lio and Gueira scramble to their feet and follow after. Lio lets Gueira follow closer— mostly because he still looks so exhausted and Lio is worried he might not be able to catch him if he goes down, but Galo most definitely will.
“Galo—”
Aina reaches out to him, but Galo just shakes his head. “Your sister asked me if I could send you over to her. She needs some help in the engine room.”
“Alright.” She looks… Unsure, but Galo just nods and she takes off calling back, “Remi, tell Captain Ignis where I am!”
“Do you have things handled here, Galo? Aina said the Captain needed my help with something.”
“Yeah, I’ve got everything under control! Tell him I’ll get everything taken care of here and then I’ll come join you guys.”
“Don’t rush. There will still be plenty of work for you to do later.”
Remi looks at Lio almost sternly, and Lio nods. He’s not sure why they all seem to think he’s the key to getting Galo to slow down, but…
Well. The idea of sitting and resting when there’s so much to be done doesn’t sit well with him, but Galo and his beloved ‘generals’ deserve a break, and if he can make them do that then he most certainly will.
Galo climbs into the back of the truck and carefully lowers Meis from his shoulders to a cot Remi had set up when he’d been looking Lio over. Wisely, he immediately gets out of the way so Lio doesn’t have to make him get out of the way to get to Meis.
Gueira is right behind him, of course. The two of them crowd around the cot, Lio pushing Meis’ hair back away from his forehead.
He’s even thinner than he was the last time Lio saw him— Gueira too. And that’s saying something because all three of them have been living off next to nothing for as long as he can remember.
It’s one more testament to the Foundation’s cruelty that makes Lio rethink his decision not to murder Kray Foresight, his hands clenching into fists on top of the cot.
Gueira leans against his back, head coming to rest on his shoulder as they both stare down at Meis just… Waiting for him to open his eyes.
“His vital signs and everything are okay,” Galo says, making Lio remember that he’s there. “His body temperature is kind of low, but considering everything that’s happened, I’m not surprised by that. But I’m not a full on doctor or anything, so when they get the medical tents and everything all set up, they should definitely take a look at him— at all of you guys.”
Galo is frowning with his arms crossed. He looks… Frustrated, as he looks down at Meis. When he notices Lio staring at him, trying to figure out that look on his face, it disappears and turns into a smile.
“Well? Told you I would take care of everything, didn’t I?” He grins brightly. Even though Lio is exhausted and worried, that big smile makes it impossible for him not to feel a little like smiling.
Gueira grumbles something that Lio doesn’t understand, even though he’s mumbling it almost directly into his ear. Without even thinking about it he reaches up to pat him on the head.
“...Thank you, Galo,” he says, because those are the only words he has right now.
He’ll think of some way to thank him properly later.
“Actually… There is one more thing you could do for me if you’re feeling up to it.” He knows he’s already asked a lot of him, but this is a simple favour, and Galo beams so brightly when he realizes he can be helpful… “Your lieutenant told me I was malnourished and dehydrated.” As if he didn’t know that already… He’s been stuck in a volcano for god knows how long. “I’m sure all of us could use some water and something to eat, but I don’t want to leave Meis in case he wakes up. Will you go get us something? Please?”
“Yeah! Of course, Lio!” Lio wants to laugh at how excited Galo looks over being asked for a favour, but he refrains in case Galo thinks he’s making fun of him. “I’ll be right back! Stay right here!”
Galo sidles around them, being careful not to jostle him or Gueira, and jumps out the back of the vehicle.
Lio tries not to feel bad about his ulterior motives in getting Galo to leave the three of them alone.
It’s easier when, as soon as Galo is gone, Gueira wraps his arms around his midsection and leans almost his entire weight against him. Lio is exhausted— so exhausted that he almost falls over— but he holds himself up to give Gueira something solid to lean against.
“You okay…?” He keeps his voice low. There’s still light coming in from the door of the truck that’s been left open, but inside the truck itself it’s cool and dark, sending a shiver down Lio’s spine but helping with the headache that’s threatening to climb up into his skull.
“Will be,” Gueira murmurs much more intelligibly right into the side of his neck, angling his head so his lips are pressed there. “Would be better if Meis would wake the Hell up already…”
“Yeah…”
Lio frowns and furrows his brow, staring down at Meis unconscious on the cot. He looks so peaceful… If it weren’t for the past god knows how many days and what they’ve been through, Lio would think he was just sleeping.
He pushes his hair back again, but leaves his hand on the side of Meis’ face, gently cupping his cheek. He’s so cold… But then again, so are the two of them.
At least the gentle rise and fall of Meis’ chest is a comforting sight.
Lio calls up his flames, feeling them rise up under his skin. He practically breathes a sigh of relief when they listen to that call— but they feel so weak, and he can’t even hear the voices of the Promare…
Still, he lets his flames reach out through him and call to the flames inside of Meis. As soon as he realizes what he’s doing, one of Gueira’s arms detaches from around his waist to tangle their fingers together as his flames join Lio’s in reaching out for Meis’.
He remembers the first time they did this— unlike the first time they met, when they extended their flames out of their bodies to join together in a sign of solidarity, this feels so much more… Intimate. He was scared of it at first, even just the thought of it when he saw Gueira and Meis doing it for the first time long before he was involved with them… But like with everything else, his trust in them grew and grew until it just seemed natural.
Now it’s as natural to him as breathing. His flames, even as weak as they are, almost reach out to Meis’ without him even trying, as Gueira’s tangle with his own as if they’re one and always have been.
Even though he can see Meis breathing and Galo’s reassurances are still ringing in his ears, feeling Meis’ flames respond to his still makes Lio breathe a sigh of relief.
“Meis…?” Lio keeps his voice at a whisper. “It’s okay, you’re safe now…”
“Yeah, asshole,” Gueira says at normal volume, his voice a little hoarse. He gently kicks one of the legs of the cot. “Wake up already.”
Lio smacks Gueira, making him laugh, and his heart aches and swells as he realizes how much he’s missed that laugh. Whether he’s cackling while they run circles around Freeze Force, whooping it up as they ride their bikes full tilt through the desert and scorch everything in their path, or giggling and snorting at his own dumb jokes or something stupid Meis has said, Gueira’s laugh always brings him comfort.
Just like Galo’s smile, now that he thinks about it.
(He files that away to be dealt with later.
Much, much later.)
Meis mumbles something, and Lio’s attention snaps to him immediately.
He and Gueira are leaning over him, holding their breath and staring at him with wide-eyed anticipation, when his eyes start to open.
“...You’re the asshole,” he mutters, barely intelligible, and there’s a second of processing before Lio and Gueira dissolve completely into fits of uncontrollable laughter.
Lio is laughing so hard there are tears streaming down his face and he can’t keep himself up properly anymore, falling back into his ass and hands as he giggles so hard his chest starts to hurt. Gueira is even worse off, lying on his back with his legs in the air, kicking wildly with his hands folded over his stomach like some kind of cartoon character.
Meis groans and rolls over so his back is facing them, reaching for a pillow that isn’t there to stuff it over his ears and block out all of the noise they’re making— or at least Lio thinks that’s what he’s doing when he instead just slaps his hand over his one ear.
Lio is just about to tell him not to go back to sleep when he sits bolt upright, wide eye turning on them.
“Gueira…? Lio…? You’re…”
“We’re alright,” Lio says before Meis can even finish his question.
He can barely finish saying that before Meis dives off the cot and straight into the two of them.
They end up in a pile of limbs and sharp elbows and knees on the floor, not an unfamiliar position for the three of them to end up in, but Meis has his arms locked around them in a vice grip so tight it’s making Lio’s ribs creak.
There are lots of things he could say— he could lecture Meis about sacrificing himself just like he did Gueira, he could reassure him that he’s okay, he could thank him— but when he feels Meis’ shoulders shaking, and hears his breath start hitching as he barely holds back sobs, all he can do is bury his face in his shoulder and hold him.
The three of them stay there on the floor holding onto each other for a while, until Meis pulls back to rub tears out of his eyes. His breath is shaky, but he collects himself.
“...Is it really over, then?”
Meis and Gueira both look to him, the same way— well, the same way they have since the day they met, really.
The absolute last thing Lio wants is to disappoint them.
“The fight against the Foundation? Yes,” Lio answers. “Kray Foresight and his Freeze Force lackeys have been exposed to the world, and they’re going to go to prison. For the rest of their lives, hopefully. But—”
“But the work doesn’t stop there, huh, boss?”
Gueira and Meis are both smirking at him, and Lio can’t help but smile back.
“Not by a long shot,” he says. Then, his expression grows dark and serious. “We have plenty of our brothers and sisters still stuck in those pods. They’re going to need medical attention, food, and water, just like us. And after that they’re going to need a place to stay and someone fighting for their right just to exist. Our job doesn’t end just because Kray Foresight’s experiments on us are finished.”
Meis and Gueira are both smiling at him, but the looks on their faces are ones of pure determination. Even though they look exhausted and like they’ve been through Hell— which they have, all three of them— they aren’t about to give up, just like him.
“We’re with you, boss.”
“Yeah, boss! Now and always!”
Lio is always proud of his two faithful generals, and has been ever since the day they agreed to follow him, to believe in him, even when all he had done was show up in the right place at the right time and say some pretty words. Even when they had no reason to believe in him and had every reason just to dismiss him as some sort of crazy idealist— which he sort of was, looking back on it.
But right now? He’s sure he’s never been more proud of them than in this moment, to the point where he feels tears welling up in his eyes just looking at them.
“You don’t have to keep calling me that, you know. With the Foundation taken down, there’s no more need for me to lead Mad Burnish… I’m not your boss anymore. I’m just the same as everyone else.”
“C’mon, Lio… You don’t really believe that, do you?”
Meis reaches out to grab him and pull him into a hug, practically dragging him into his lap, and Gueira is quick to pile on top so he’s sandwiched between them.
“Mad Burnish or no Mad Burnish, you’re always gonna be the boss to us— and if you think for one damn second that you’re not special after everything you’ve done, especially what you did out there today, you’ve lost your damn mind.”
“Yeah, boss! You’re gonna have to do a lot more to convince us that you’re not the most amazing person ever!”
“Yeah, you can try. Don’t think you’re going to succeed, though.”
“You guys…” Lio hates how his voice cracks as he laughs, but it’s not like either of them will judge him for crying. “I love you two. So much.”
“We love you too, you big dummy.”
“I’m the dummy? After the stunt you two pulled?”
“Hey, like I said before— it all worked out, didn’t it?”
“You’re never gonna let us live that one down, huh?”
“Maybe if you two work very hard, you can make it up to me.”
Meis and Gueira smirk, first at each other, then at him, as Meis cups his jaw in his hands and guides him up to kiss him.
Lio practically whimpers into the kiss. Realistically, he knows it hasn’t been that long since the three of them were last together in the settlement; most of that time is a blur of pain and half-consciousness anyway. But it’s been so long since the three of them were separated for any length of time, and he was so scared for the two of them…
The kiss breaks when Gueira tilts his head away so he can kiss him instead, and Lio melts into that one too, and when all three of them are boneless and breathless they all just sort of melt into a pile on the floor of the truck. Lio draws them in so they can all press their foreheads together in a slightly creative version of a huddle.
This is of course the exact moment Galo chooses to come back, which Lio only notices when he hears the creak of someone getting onto the steps, and Galo clearing his throat.
“I’m not, uh, interrupting anything, am I?”
Even with Meis and Gueira practically squashing him, Lio manages to sit up. Galo is standing in the doorway, carrying a case of bottled water in one hand and what looks like a bulk-sized box of protein bars in the other.
“If it’s to feed us, I’ll allow it,” Lio says, and Galo laughs as he hands over the goods.
“I hope you guys don’t mind these. It’s pretty much all we had.”
“We’ve eaten worse,” Meis says as he grabs a bottle of water and tears into the box of protein bars, grabbing a handful.
Considering they’ve survived off of convenience stores and dumpster diving for huge periods of time before, he’s not wrong.
Lio manages to extract himself from the pile they’re in as Guiera and Meis go straight for the delivered goods and Galo stands there looking quite pleased with himself. They look to him as he gets up.
“Not joining us, boss?”
“In a minute,” he says, reassuringly. “I just have some things I need to talk to Galo about first. I’ll be right back.”
They look at him… Oddly, then at each other, before nodding and going back to what they were doing.
Galo is looking at him oddly too, but Lio takes him by the elbow and guides him out of the truck.
“What’s up, Lio? Something else you need me to do?”
Galo looks like a golden retriever wagging its tail and waiting for a treat from its master, with the way he’s standing there with his hands on his hips and his eyes bright and glittering.
“Not right now, Galo. I just wanted to talk to you for a bit,” he says, and before Galo can deflate, he gives his head a shake. “Besides, I’m sure we’ll both have plenty of things to do soon enough.”
“Yeah…”
Galo sighs as they both look out across the top of the Parnassus at the city beyond as they walk towards the edge, where they had both been standing not so long ago, fresh out of saving the world.
There’s still a lot of saving to do, though.
Lio can see a lot of damage from where he’s standing, though it’s hard to tell how much of that was from the earthquakes, how much of it was from the Parnassus’ launch, and how much of it was from his earlier assault on the city.
Even more important are all of the Burnish in the pods right underneath his feet. He’s glad to have Gueira and Meis out and safe, but seeing the condition they’re in and knowing that there are so many more people just like them waiting to be rescued just makes the guilt well up in him. Not only because he’s standing there not doing anything to help, but because he put two specific people ahead of so many others for his own selfish reasons.
“...I wanted to thank you again, Galo. Properly.”
“Huh? Lio, you don’t need to worry about that— you know I’m happy to help! Rescuing people is my job, after all!”
“Of course it is,” Lio says. “But you wouldn’t have gone out of your way to find two specific people if I hadn’t asked you to, not to mention the fact that you deserve to be resting just as much as me—”
“I didn’t get strung up inside the engine and turned into a human battery—”
“Galo, will you shut up and let me thank you already?!”
Lio turns to face him and glares hard. Galo was about to say something else, but whatever it was stops dead in his throat, leaving him standing there with his mouth hanging comically open. His jaw snaps shut after a moment and he puts his hands up defensively.
Lio sighs and shakes his head. “Really, Galo Thymos, for someone who likes to brag so much, you really are terrible at accepting thanks.”
“Well, most of the people trying to thank me aren’t you, Lio.”
He says it so plainly, so sincerely, and like it’s something so incredibly obvious that Lio is taken aback for a moment, before raising an eyebrow.
“And what does that mean, exactly…?”
“You just helped me save the world! Without you, the whole Earth would have been doomed! Finding your friends was the least I could do for you.”
“I could say the same for you, Galo. Without you, I would have never been able to stop Kray. He would have gotten away with everything, and my people would have died, and everyone else would have been doomed.” Lio shakes his head as he crosses his arms. “And besides— even if that were true, that’s still no reason for me not to thank you. It’s just common courtesy, isn’t it? And you went out of your way to do something like that for me. I can’t just not thank you. So… Accept it, alright?”
Lio winces at how much it feels like he’s lecturing Galo when he’s trying to thank him, but Galo is smiling when he looks at him.
“...Thanks, Lio.”
“Idiot. I’m the one trying to thank you.”
“Well, you’re just going to have to put up with it, I guess.”
There’s a moment of silence, the two of them just staring at each other— and then they burst into mutual, uncontrollable laughter.
By the time the laughter passes, Lio is breathless and wiping tears from his eyes, and Galo is doubled over and still giggling softly to himself.
“Oh well…” Lio says with a sigh. “I guess we’re both just hopeless, huh?”
“Maybe so,” Galo says as he wipes tears out of his own eyes.
“The two of them are grateful too, you know.” Lio looks back at the truck. He can’t see Gueira and Meis, but he smiles anyway. “They might have trouble saying it… Trusting people outside of the Burnish is difficult for them… But I know they feel the same.”
“I really don’t do this for the thanks or the praise,” Galo says. “Being treated like a hero feels nice, but I would still do it even if no one ever thanked me for anything I did. ...But if you want to praise me, I definitely won’t say no.”
Lio can practically hear Galo’s non-existent tail wagging as he looks at him with glittering eyes.
“Ugh, for a second there I thought you were going to show some actual humility.” Lio laughs and shoves Galo, without much intent behind it. Galo laughs, too, then throws an arm around his shoulders to jostle him a bit.
Galo feels warm. Lio shivers slightly. He remembers that he’s not wearing a shirt, something he should probably be more aware of. Galo isn’t wearing one either, but Lio can’t remember ever seeing him wearing a shirt in the first place, so that doesn’t seem unusual.
“Are you cold?” Galo asks. “Do you want me to get you a jacket or a blanket or something?”
“No… I should be okay,” he says, giving his head a shake. “I just… Have to get used to the Promare being so quiet and distant, that’s all.”
Not for the first time, he reaches deep down into himself, swallowing down his nervousness. For a moment, the fear creeps up that he might reach into himself and find… Nothing.
But the flicker is there, as weak as a cigarette lighter but there, and Lio lets out the breath that he didn’t know he was holding in.
When he and Galo joined together in that strange engine made by that strange scientist in a way Lio can’t even say he understands, they had done something that no one else had ever done or probably would ever be able to do again. They had saved the world.
But there were still consequences. There were always consequences, no matter how good your intentions were or how well-meaning your actions.
Lio just hopes they’re the kind of consequences he can live with. He’s riding high right now. He hopes the crash isn’t a hard one.
Ignoring his reassurances, Galo pulls him closer with the arm around his shoulder. Lio flushes as his face is pressed into Galo’s bare chest— but he’s so warm that he can’t bring himself to complain.
“Well, until your flames wake up, I’ll just have to help keep you warm, huh?” Lio feels when Galo laughs, which is a familiar but entirely unfamiliar feeling. “Like I told you, I’m with you through spark and flame.”
“You did say that,” Lio says, voice muffled by being pressed against Galo’s chest.
And he believes him.
“For now, though, let’s get you something to eat before you pass out or something, huh?”
“I’ve gone longer without food than this, Galo,” Lio says, even though he doesn’t know if that’s actually true, because he’s still a little fuzzy on how long he was actually in that volcano.
“Not when you were—”
“—being used as a battery for a spaceship engine?”
“Yeah, exactly!”
They walk back towards the truck. In there, Lio knows Gueira and Meis are waiting, ready for him to tell them what their next move is— and equally ready to make sure he’s in prime condition. Out here, he has Galo to lean on, warming him up with that burning firefighter’s soul of his.
There’s a lot of work to be done— he has a feeling he won’t be getting a chance to rest for a while, not that he would want one when there’s still so much important work to do— but he’s not alone.
Through spark and flame, huh…
Galo feels warm. So does Lio.