Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ivy was feeling all sorts of emotions at once. Relief that Zero was still alive, anger over what he had done for the past few years, and grief over Skull Face’s attack on him.

The reunion would have been heartwarming if it weren’t for the circumstances. Receiving a phone call from your husband whom she hasn’t seen in years, only to find out that he’s in a New York hospital with a mysterious illness was the last news Ivy wanted to hear. Alas, after receiving the phone call, she immediately packed her bags and headed to New York City to confront him again. She saved all her questions until actually meeting with the man face-to-face. She had a LOT of questions.

She needed to first know what the hell was going on with this whole Cipher business. Hopefully David had a damn good explanation for it, because while she was relieved that he was still alive and knew where he now was, she was still pissed at him beyond belief.

Ivy stood in front of the hospital, gathering up courage before taking a deep breath and finally going in.

“I-I’m here for David Oh,” Ivy told the receptionist nervously. “I’m his wife.”

“Right,” the receptionist responded. “I’ll have a nurse escort you to his room.”

Ivy was eventually escorted through the plain white corridors of the hospital to the room that Dave was held in.

“Stay here,” the nurse ordered her, and then went into his room.

After moments of muffled talking, the nurse finally came out. “He wants to see you. You’re free to come in.”

And with that, Ivy quickly entered. She gasped in horror upon what she saw. Seeing him in this state came as a shock to Ivy. He was very sickly-looking, and it looked like he had lost an alarming amount of weight from when she last saw him years ago. It was like looking at a completely different person. Was this really Dave, Ivy thought? Only the prominent scar on his left cheek answered that.

“I’ll give you two your privacy.” The nurse left.

“D-Dave, I-I-“ Ivy sputtered.

“Ivy…” Zero weakly breathed out. “I’m so glad you’ve made it…I was scared that Skull Face had attacked you as well…”

“He didn’t…” Ivy muttered, stepping towards him. “But Dave…what’s going on? What the hell is Cipher?”

Zero paused, then tried with every bit of energy to lift his head up and fearfully look at Ivy straight in the eye. “…how did you find out?”

“Jack called me. He told me what you’ve done to him. The cloning and whatnot. He sounded really livid about it.”

Zero sighed. He couldn’t really blame Jack for snitching on him. After everything he had done, he had it coming, and he was tired of keeping secrets from Ivy anyway. Zero could barely even muster out a response before Ivy angrily shot him down.

“How could you do this to him, David?! He was your best friend! He saw you as an older brother! He trusted you, and you used him!”

“I-I did it for Jack’s sake…”

“You did it for yourself. You wanted it, not Jack. Jack never wanted this, and yet you betrayed his trust by doing it behind his back. Shame on you and EVA, and shame on Clark for doing the experiment. I thought you were better than this.”

Zero didn’t have anything to say; he just tilted his head down in guilt, tears starting to well up in his blue eyes.

“And it’s not just about Jack,” Ivy continued. “What about the children themselves? These babies are going to grow up and realize that they only exist to be raised as war machines and nothing else. They’ll constantly be in Big Boss’s shadow, desperately trying to live up to him as that is their only purpose in life. They’re going to end up depressed, or worse.”

“Ivy, just let me explain, I-“

“There’s no ‘explaining’ here. What you did was awful, and you’re going to have to owe up to it.”

Zero could barely see clearly at this point from how much he was crying. All he heard was just the tap of his wife’s feet as she stomped out of the room. He could only manage out a “Ivy? IVY!” before things went silent again.

Zero tried to call Ivy nonstop for the rest of the day with no success. He tried to call their son, Christopher, but he wouldn’t answer either, likely angry at him too. Was this really his life, he thought? The only two people he thought he had left giving him the cold shoulder? Guess this is what it felt like. Realizing that he was now going to die alone.

So he thought.

It didn’t take until a few days, but Zero finally got a call back from Ivy. He was almost brought to tears of joy from hearing her voice again, and hearing that she didn’t sound as angry anymore.

“Ivy, I’m so glad you’ve called back. I was scared that I lost you.”

“Of course I couldn’t leave you, Dave. I’m horrified and disgusted by what you did, but I still love you. Sorry I yelled.”

“I realized I’ve made a horrible mistake. You had every right to lash out at me.” Zero grunted in frustration. “Forgive me, Ivy. I never intended to abandon you. If I had let you stay with me in that apartment, you would’ve been seen as my accomplice. You would’ve been attacked as well.”

“Dave, it’s okay…I understand. You only did it to keep us safe…” Ivy angrily sighed. “I hope Skull Face eats shit for what he did to you.”

“Is Chris mad?”

“He was pissed at first but has since mellowed out. And he and his friends were going to try and get that winged dagger pin back. The REAL one this time.”

“I see. I’ll talk with him later so I can inform him on Skull Face’s whereabouts. I’ve exiled Skull Face to Africa where he hopefully won’t be a threat to anyone.”

“I hope he gets eaten by lions…”

“Tell Chris I said thank you…and I hope to see his face again.”

“And by the way, there’s a couple old friends of yours who wanted to see you again. One last time before you go back into hiding. They should be there in a few hours.”

He had a lot of people who worked for him, so he was confused at who these mystery visitors were. Only time will tell.

Chapter Text

Zero spent the next few hours doing what he normally did nowadays other than sleeping: watching old westerns on the small, hardly functional TV that the hospital staff gave him. It was lunchtime at this point, so he just stared blankly at the black-and-white scene of cowboys in a shootout as he munched on saltine crackers and periodically shoveled banana pudding into his mouth. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t gotten his tea yet. He mumbled about how inept the staff was before deciding he was bored with westerns and switching to a random game show.

He could only watch five minutes of it before the TV started having issues and going to static. He cursed and slammed the remote down in rage, and that’s when a nurse came into the room.

“Mr. Oh, you have visitors.”

“Let them in.”

The two visitors were brought in. One of them was an African-American man in khakis, a button-down white shirt, and red tie, and a Caucasian woman with reddish-brown hair wearing a casual blouse, jeans, and a lab coat. They both looked to be in their late 30’s to early 40’s. When Zero finally looked then in the eyes, he was shocked to recognize them as his old employees. Donald Anderson AKA “Sigint” and Dr. Jane Clark AKA “Para-Medic”.

“Para-Medic. Sigint.” He uttered their names.

Jane chuckled a bit. “It’s been over twenty years since the mission. You can call us by our real names.”

“How did you even find me?”

“Ivy got in contact with us and told us you were here,” Donald explained.

“We just wanted to see you one last time before you’re gone,” droned Jane in a melancholy tone.

Zero grumbled a bit. “IF I’m gone, that is. The doctors said that if I don’t die from the parasites themselves, then I’ll likely go braindead. That’s why I’m retiring. I won't be able to run the organization, so I’m passing the leadership down to you, Donald.”

“I won’t let you down, sir,” Donald stated, nodding. Donald noticed the staticky TV. “Want me to fix that for you?”

Zero weakly smiled, content that even after all these years, Donald still saw him one of his best friends. “Be my guest.”

Jane took a nearby chair, scooted it up to Zero’s bed, and sat down right next to him. She noticed that Zero had a heating pad under him. The same one that she remembered giving to him years ago. "Heh, you still have that heating pad."

"Never left home without it."

"I'm surprised it still works. That thing must be durable." She grabbed a veiny, bony hand, caressing it. “Are you in pain?” She asked, concerned over seeing him in this state.

“I’ve gotten used to it at this point. The medicine and therapy have somewhat helped. Regardless, my illness is terminal, so you must accept that this will be the last time I’ll ever see you and Don again.”

Jane nodded a bit, tearing up a little over parting ways with her old boss. “We swear we won’t tell anyone we met with you face-to-face. This will be our secret.”

“I plan on going into hiding again anyway. I’ll have to conduct my escape plan first to ensure my extraction from New York will go unnoticed. One plan I had in mind is orchestrating a city-wide blackout, but I’ll have to get the Pentagon involved in order to carry out such a feat.”

Jane giggled a bit. A sort of a mad scientist chuckle. “You really are the most powerful man in the world, eh? Almost like a Bond villain.”

Zero weakly laughed a bit.

“I’ll never forget seeing the first seven movies with you in theaters,” she continued. “And I’ll keep on thinking of you when I see future movies.”

Zero gave a heartier laugh. “Yes, because one thing’s for certain, they’ll keep on making Bond movies even when I’m long dead.”

“And hell, I won’t forget you taking me to England to see ‘A Fistful of Dollars’. That was a lot of fun too. I remember telling Snake about that movie during the mission once and-” she immediately became sad. She tilted her head in dismay and sighed heavily. “Snake…” she lamented, tears rolling down her eyes. "I regret doing that experiment. I never wanted to hurt Snake, I was just really excited over creating a new breakthrough in science and wanted to be the first person to clone a human being. But it wasn't worth it, and now we're facing the consequences because of it.” Zero handed Jane a tissue and she wiped the tears from her eyes. “We were so close during the mission and would talk for hours on end." Jane chuckled a bit, tears still rolling down her face. "Heh, I still remember always getting annoyed every time he hunted an animal and then asked what it tasted like. Now our friendship is ruined.”

Zero used every last ounce of his strength to lean in and give her a big hug. “You had a lot of good times with Snake and at least you can still cherish those, right?"

"Right..." Jane looked up at Zero and smiled. "Hey, Major. Can I admit something to you?"

“Go ahead."

Jane whispered into his ear. "I'll admit, I had a huge crush on Snake. But don't tell Don."

"Jane, I can hear you," Don rolled his eyes.

"Dammit," Jane muttered, as Zero couldn't hold back his laughter.

"We all have our crushes, no need to be embarrassed," Zero assured her. "I'd honestly be more shocked if Snake didn't have women falling over him. He is quite the looker, after all."

"And strange," Jane followed. "But his strangeness is probably what drew me to him. And the fact that he would actually listen to my movie tangents despite having never seen them. Honestly, I was really heartbroken when he fell in love with EVA instead. But sometimes you just have to let go of crushes."

"Yeah, like Don did with my wife,” Zero joked.

"Hey!" Don snapped.

Zero and Jane shared a laugh, and Jane gave Zero a kiss on the forehead. “Thanks for being the greatest CO ever. Don and I will miss you.”

“You’re welcome, and thank you for being such amazing employees. I wish you both luck in your future endeavors.”

After Don finished fixing the TV, which fortunately made the picture on it higher quality, the three said their last goodbyes before Jane and Don went on their way.

Zero was heartbroken to see them go, knowing that reunion would be their last time together in life.

All that was left now was to move forward and enjoy what little time on this Earth he had left, and Ivy was going to help guide him through it.

Chapter Text

July of 1977.

Zero had successfully shut down all power, communication, and transportation across the city of New York and slipped out of America without anyone knowing. His next stop was to Cyprus to visit Jack one last time before going into hiding for good. Ivy was already on the plane that was set to take him to the Middle Eastern island. The two have already talked it out and Ivy had also made plans to go into hiding with Zero.

One of Zero's old friends, Barney "Brave" MacAdam, had him and Taz set up with a retirement home that wasn't too far from Hawaii. Brave also arranged for his organs to be harvested and donated to Zero, since he didn't have much time to live himself due to suffering a brain tumor.

While on the plane, Zero had noticed Ivy was antsy when he turned to her.

"Hey," he spoke to her quietly. "You nervous?"

"A little."

"Don't be, Ivy. Brave told me this retirement home is very high-quality and luxury. Free drinks and breakfast cooked by five-star chefs. Its own theater, swimming pool, spa, and library, next to a tropical beach and with a beautiful view of the ocean, and it doesn't have that 'smell' either. We'll be as comfortable as possible, trust me."

"Still…Brave..."

"Brave would have wanted us to move on."

"Y-You're right." Ivy smiled a bit. "I'll be spending time with you in a beautiful place, that's all that matters to me."

"We also have special phones that will allow us to talk to Chris, but that's it. We can't talk to anyone else outside the retirement home."

Ivy nodded. "I understand. I don't have anyone besides you and Chris anyway."

After a short beat, Zero spoke again. "Hey, Ivy..." he chuckled. "Guess what Chris got back for me."

Ivy's eyes widened and lit up. "The pin right?"

Zero nodded and held up the winged dagger pin. "The real deal."

Taz gasped in joy. "Are you sure that's the real one?"

"Yep. Has all the same scratches and whatnot."

"And Chris managed to get it back?"

"Yep, went out to Africa, found Skull Face, and snatched it right from him."

"That's our boy!" Ivy giggled. "Want me to help you put it on?"

"Of course."

He gave Ivy the dagger pin and Ivy carefully attached it to Zero's shirt. She took one good look at the pin on his clothes and blew a kiss. "Lookin' good!" She complimented.

Zero gave a smile. He felt content right now. All that was left to do was to bury the hatchet between him and Jack.

Chapter Text

The plane had dropped the two off at Cyprus and both Zero and Ivy made their long trek towards the hospital that held Jack. The two hesitantly stood in front of the entrance.

"You go..." Ivy sighed. "I'll just stay out here."

"Are you sure?" Zero asked.

"I'm sure..." Ivy muttered. "I just won't be able to take seeing Jack in this condition right now. But I promise I'll see him sometime when he wakes up. Hopefully if he does."

Zero held Ivy's hands. "He will, Ivy. I know he will." Zero heaved out a sigh and with every bit of his energy reeled his own wheelchair into the hospital as Ivy held open the door for him.

As Zero payed his visit to Snake, Ivy decided to kill some time by taking a walk around the hospital and enjoying the Cyprus scenery. It was a beautiful evening outside, and it looked like the sun was about to set. Maybe when Zero was finished talking to Jack, they could at the moon, stars, and their constellations. Anything to spend as much time with Zero before he presumably suffers brain death. The thought of losing her Dave gave a pit in Ivy's stomach, but alas she had to accept it.

As she walked around the hospital, she came across a window and heard Zero's muffled voice through the walls. She peered into the window and could see Zero speaking to a bandaged man in bed, presumably Jack. She had noticed another man in bed was also in the room as well, to her curiosity. Did Jack have a roommate? Ivy thought. Ivy turned away because seeing Jack in this state was too painful, but she did listen to Zero's tender and heartful monologue towards him. It made Ivy tear up. Especially the part with Zero mentioning that he won't remember him when Jack wakes up. Tears started to stream down Ivy's face when he said that.

As much as she didn't want to give up hope, perhaps Zero was right about his condition being irreversible, and she would have to accept the fact that he was beyond saving and just let him go. Ivy had to go to a nearby tree and rest under it to clear her head.

It felt like almost a half-hour had passed before Ivy had heard the squeaking of the wheelchair. She looked up to see that the ailing Zero had approached her, looking concerned in seeing her crying.

"Are you okay, Ivy?"

"I-I saw Jack through a window, and I heard your conversation with him."

"And?"

"It was beautiful. But...it got me thinking. I guess there really is no chance to reverse this, huh?"

"Ivy, you know how much I love you with all my heart, and I'd do anything to spend more time with you, but whatever happens happens and we must accept it. I don't want you to spend the rest of your life dwelling on me, I want you to take good care of our family, and live a happy and long rest of your life doing the things you enjoy and going to the places you've never been to. I want you to live your life to the fullest. Please do it. For me."

Ivy wiped the tears off her eyes. "I will. Dave, before we head to the retirement home, could you watch the stars with me?"

"Yes, Ivy. I would love to. I do believe there are some stairs leading to the top of the roof. Perhaps the doctors could grant us access to it."

Ivy stood up and grabbed the handles on Zero's wheelchair. "I'll help you. You seem to have trouble moving that wheelchair around."

Zero sighed. "I think the muscles in my arms are becoming paralyzed. I can't even lift tea up with ease. I ended up scalding myself when I tried to drink some."

Ivy began pushing the wheelchair towards the hospital. "Oh, dear. Are you okay?"

"Honestly, a little burn is the least of my worries."

"Heh, let's try to forget about the pain and just enjoy this beautiful night."

"Indeed."

Ivy lead Zero up to the roof of the hospital and to the edge where they got a full glimpse of the glistening night sky and its constellations. Ivy sat down next to the wheelchair-bound man, taking it all in.

"Wow, it's beautiful."

"Indeed it is."

“A beautiful world we live in, huh?”

“That I ended up ruining.”

"Cipher ruined it, not you."

"I know it's tempting to defend me, but I was the one who created that damned thing in the first place. I must owe up to it."

"I'm just having trouble accepting the fact that someone as sweet and dorky as you would cause such an international catastrophe. I mean, you've always been a twit, but geeze."

"Sometimes people can go down a dark path. Just look at Jack."

"Right...Jack was never the same after that mission. He used to be so sweet and happy, but now he was like a completely different person. I blame that Volgin asshole or whatever his name was! If it weren't for him, none of this would have happened!”

"If it weren't for me getting into politics none of this would have happened. I should have just moved to Australia with you."

"We still got married and started a family right? Better than nothing."

"Right, well, that doesn't change the fact that my career didn't bring me anything good at all other than a nice house and a decent paycheck. I tried to do what's best for the country and what do I get in return? A firing squad threat, witnessing my lifelong friend become a sacrificial lamb for the government, federal jailtime after a false treason accusation, and a batshit insane second-in command. If only I had stayed with you; I'd be happier, healthier, and probably looked younger as well."

"Likely because I would have convinced you to quit smoking."

"Yeah, well, quitting would have done jack-shit for my health anyway. I was already bedridden and in bad health before those damn parasites entered my bloodstream."

"Let's just focus on the view and forget about the bad stuff at the moment. Look, there's the Big Dipper!"

"Heh, and there's Orion's Belt."

"Constellations are always nice to look at, right?"

"It's been a while since I've seen the night sky."

"Right, because you were in hiding the whole time."

"You know, that orphan I took care of whilst living in the U.S., Pacifica…she started working for me when I first conducted Cipher, and during my first meeting with her, she offered to take me out to see the skyline of New York City. I couldn't for obvious reasons, but it was a nice gesture, at least. She wanted me to be enjoy life. If only she were here right now so that I could tell her how sorry I am. Now all I can hope is that she's up there with the stars in peace."

“She’s…d-dead? What happened to her?”

“Skull Face killed her, implanted a bomb in her. She was only 25.”

“That’s awful…that fucker better keep his hands off our grandkids.”

“Chris is a member of the Navy, anyway. I'm sure he can take care of things. But just in case, I have Donald protecting him and his family. If anyone wants to hurt them, they'll have to get through Don and his high-tech weaponry first.” Zero sighed “Thank you two for being the little bright stars that shine in my life, I hope that when my brain seizes function, you and Chris will be the last it’ll remember."

Ivy smiled as more tears fell down on Zero's lap.

"You want to know what I named one of those clones?" Zero asked.

"What?"

"I named him David."

"Good choice."

"He looked like the strongest of the clones, so I just had to name him after myself," Zero chuckled.

"Heh, maybe he'll be the one that stops Cipher when he grows up."

The two enjoyed the night until they decided they were ready to go back on the plane and head to the retirement home, falling asleep together on the ride there.

A new chapter was starting, and although it seemed bleak, they still held out hope.

Chapter Text

After Brave’s death, his healthy vital organs were harvested and donated to Zero. The organ transplant was a success and ended up improving Zero’s state. Kayda also hired an elite team of scientists to try and develop a nano-machine that could help combat the parasites and slow down the disease’s progression.

Ivy was still made clear that a lot of Zero’s nervous system was damaged beyond repair and there was still a high chance that Zero would go into a permanent vegetative state during the later years of his life. Ivy accepted this and proceeded to spend every day with him like it was his last.

David Oh had made the decision to disown the name “Zero” and any of his names associated with his military career. Anything to dissociate himself from the man who created Cipher. He just wanted to forget about Cipher altogether and just live a normal life in retirement. The man known as Zero was now dead to him. He only wanted to be the man known as David.

Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Months turned into years. David continued to live on, and Ivy spent every minute with him. They would visit the beach together everyday. Every morning she watched the sunrise with him. Every evening they watched the sunset. Every time it rained they’d look at the rainbow. Ivy watched movies with him, read books to him, played games and did puzzles with him to keep him mentally healthy, and they would call their son every night before they went to bed. The two never grew tired of being together. They never fought. It was an adoring and inseparable relationship, one they knew would last forever, even in death.

David had forgotten about his past life all together. Not just from being preoccupied with living his now normal life, but also from his brain function eventually deteriorating as well, as the two had both expected. As the 70’s left and the 80’s had rolled around, Ivy had noticed that David was becoming more and more forgetful with each passing year. He started forgetting about Cipher and the Patriots, about Skull Face, about Miller. About EVA, Ocelot, Para-Medic, and Sigint. He forgot about his CIA career and about the Virtuous Mission and Operation Snake Eater.

Eventually he forgot about Jack. It went from him forgetting about what they were even fighting about to him forgetting about Jack as a person. David didn't lie to himself when he told Jack back in 1977 at that hospital in Cyprus that he wouldn't remember him once he woke up.

David could only remember a few things. His wife, his son, the faces who took care of him in the nursing home, and some aspects of his childhood and days in the SAS courtesy to his son sending him a photo album through mail.

While it was heartbreaking to see David's memory gradually slip, at least David won't live in guilt anymore and the good times he had in his life will be the last things he'll remember. Ivy did make sure to tell David about Jack everyday, but knew full well that eventually this memory jog won't have any effect when the time comes.

Eventually 1984 arrived.

It was the day of David's 75th birthday. Ivy woke up early and as she prepared some tea and breakfast to give to David once he wakes up, she was greeted by the sound of their phone ringing. She knew it was Christopher calling, because that was the only number that was allowed to reach that phone. She happily answered it.

"Hello, Chris! Sorry, but your father's still asleep. But once he wakes up you can call him back to wish him a happy birthday."

The two talked for a while, before Ivy was eventually dropped the news about Skull Face's death and Jack waking up from his coma. Ivy was ecstatic upon hearing this. She couldn't wait to tell David about this. Even if she knew he wouldn't even remember who the two were, it was still something she wanted to tell him. The phone call ended and she ran up to David to nudge him awake.

"Wake up, sleepyhead! It's your birthday, and I have some great news!"

She nudged him a bit more, but he didn't move. Ivy started to become scared.

"Dave?" She pushed him some more. "Dave, please."

To her relief though, David eventually moved. And then he woke with a yawn. Ivy giggled.

"Good, you're awake. I got a bit worried there."

"What time is it?" The elderly David groggily asked.

"11 am. You slept for a while. I got your tea ready."

"Thank you, um...Ivy, right?"

"Yep," she happily responded. "And I'm your wife, in case you've forgotten that.

"Right," David chuckled with a close mouth, smiling contently. "I remember."

"Do you also remember what day it is?"

"Frankly, I don't know..."

"It's your birthday silly. You're turning 75. That's a pretty important number."

"Right..."

"And your son also called. Your son, Chris. Remember him?"

"I do. He's going to visit us again right?"

"He will. I promise." Ivy held out a large green jello ring with a number 75 on it, with the candles lit up. "Here's your birthday cake. Make a wish and blow out the candles."

"This doesn't look like cake."

"I had to make do with the very limited list of foods that don’t give you issues."

"Fine," David grumbled. "It's the thought that counts." David attempted to blow out the candles but could only fail so many times before becoming out of breath and wheezing heavily. Ivy blew out the candles for him, and then set down the gelatin and gave him a breathing apparatus to help him breath correctly again.

"Maybe we should go out and get some fresh air," Ivy suggested. "Take a stroll along the beach maybe?"

"Yes, that would be lovely," David responded. And with that Ivy helped him into his wheelchair and pushed him out through the door.

The day was breathtakingly beautiful, as per usual on an island in Oceania, with a deep blue sky, large billowing clouds, and a gentle wind rustling palm trees. Although it was very hot to say the least, due to it being the middle of August. Ivy held an umbrella over David to shield him from the beating down sun.

After drinking their morning tea and having breakfast, and after Ivy gave him her birthday present (another fossil she found on the beach of course, but David still loved the present), they went out and took a gentle stroll through the jungle, eventually reaching a very gorgeous picturesque beach with clear cyan waters and gently rippling waves. This was always Ivy's favorite spot to bring David to every morning. As soon as they settled down, Ivy took out a boombox and turned it on. It blasted "Take On Me", much to David's annoyance.

"You're going to play that song again?" David grumbled. "Seriously?"

Ivy chuckled. David was turning into a grouchy old man apparently. Well, even more of a grouchy old man than he was in his 50's. "Come on, I give you baths and clean your toilet pan. The least you could do is let me listen to my songs."

"Alright, I suppose you have a point there. Thank you for doing so much for me."

"Of course. I'm your wife, I'm supposed to always be there for you. In sickness and in health, right?" She gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday, sweetie. I have some great news, by the way. Skull Face is dead, and Jack is out of his coma."

"Jack?" David was confused. "Who's Jack?"

Ivy sighed sadly. "I guess you don't remember, huh? Well, I'll try to jog your memory. He was your best friend. The two of you were almost like brothers. But then...things happened. The Skull Face man I mentioned attacked him and put him into a coma."

"That's terrible."

"But because he was your best friend, you saved him. And that's why he's alive and awake now. That was all because of you."

"I'm glad that he's awake now. And that Skull Face man, he's sounds horrible."

"He is, but he's dead now, and that's good. The first step for the world to take before it starts healing."

"Ivy, I'm hot."

Whenever David said that he was "hot", she took it seriously. She knew he wouldn't be able to last much long out here without getting heatstroke. Ivy turned off the music picked up the boombox, and grabbed David's wheelchair to take him back to the retirement home.

Another day well-spent with the love of her life, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.