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Chi felt pretty good about her life.
Last week, she had fought with all her friends, and the Dark Spirit had been defeated. (Or, at least, that's what Failboat called it. Erica called it the Dark Curse, and there was a whole argument about that, she didn't intervene.) They'd saved the world as a team, and now, they could take it a little easier, spend more time with their friends than battling gods. Sure, Joker disappeared into thin air, Pirahnyawn walked away the first chance he got, and Rose had both goddess duties and a general dislike for a lot of them, bringing the party down to 7. But Chi thought that was okay! She had everyone she cared about still with her, and they were going to continue being a cool monster-fighting team for the foreseeable future.
Deko left quicker than she would've expected, a mere day after the final fight, but after one tearful goodbye, she decided to try her best to move on from it. Thinking too much about his leave wouldn't have been what he wanted, and they were still a 6-person squad, right?
Nope. Lanc gave up on the team as well, and that was not one tearful goodbye - there was enough to account for five. She tried for so long to convince him to stay, argued with him more than she ever had before, used her brain to its maximum capacity to counter his points, but it wasn't enough. He didn't believe in the FailFleet Miis, and he didn't want his dear friend to cling onto the idea that this was permanent. However, she did, and he was left with little choice but to rid himself from the party, alone. It broke him about as much as it broke her, but it had to be done. Thus, only 5 remained.
Chi was finding it increasingly hard to stick with this. Her two best friends were already gone, leaving her with no-one close to her age. But that was fine! It had to be! She had all of these incredible role models to fight with, after all. Bob, the coolest demon hunter there is. Smuk, the dedicated caretaker she needed. Erica, the best big sister she could ask for. And Failboat.
Failboat, who had recruited her into this party in the first place! Failboat, who brought them all together, and led the charge into the final battle! Failboat, who dedicated his life to making sure everyone on his team was getting through this!
Failboat, who recruited 4 children to face off with the most dangerous force imaginable. Failboat, who took almost the whole journey to even get everyone acquainted with one another. Failboat, who had (even indirectly) hurt each and every one of his own party members.
Safe to say, he was a complicated person. A saviour of the world, a recognised hero, and the guy who ate Deko's birthday cake are one and the same. By all logic, it was not a good idea to put him on any kind of pedestal, but despite everything, Chi did see him as some form of role model. He'd done all he could to make sure she was okay during the adventure, and able to continue fighting in her usual good spirit! That was commendable, and she formed a surprisingly clear mindset about him as a person. He was an idiot, but the kind you could depend on when push came to shove. In all honesty, that was her goal in life: her brains were almost nonexistent, but her heart was fully functional, and she didn't mind her own stupidity if her actions could outshine it. This man, she thought, had struck that balance.
She thought.
There was a lot of screaming coming from downstairs, mostly from Erica. Chi decided to stay holed up in her room, this wasn't her argument, and it wasn't hers to fix. The two of them could patch things up, they always did before! Mistakes were made, feelings were hurt, but it couldn't be a dealbreaker. Hardly a week since they fought the Dark Spirit as a unit, and that wasn't going away anytime soon, not if the team leader himself had anything to say about it!
Although, she couldn't actually hear Failboat's voice that much. There were some short sentences, in the gaps Erica took for breath, but they didn't seem fully formed, or finished for that matter. Did he have something to say about it? Bob and Smuk were down there too, but in her ears, they hadn't said a word between them. Maybe they were as helpless as her. This wasn't their fight, and all they could do was stand and watch as they continued going at each other. Or, at least, Erica going at Failboat.
There was hesitation. There was a lot of time for Chi to think, 'This is a mistake, I shouldn't go down there, I'll only make it worse.' And yet, she heaved herself up from her bed, moved as slowly as she was able, and crept down the stairs. She got a fairly clear view of the situation from this distance.
Smuk and Bob, standing closest to her, not wanting to be in the vicinity of the cleric or the cat. Failboat, standing a few meters away from the door, shaking like mad, mortified by Erica's rage. Finally, Erica herself stood in the doorway, one foot already outside. Her staff was grasped tightly in hand, and every so often, she would point it directly at Failboat's face to illustrate something Chi couldn't understand. The kind of language the woman was using, told Chi that she hadn't been noticed yet.
"I can't deal with this anymore!" Her eyes fixated on Failboat's, shrinking in size the more they met. "You're one of the most fucking irresponsible people I've ever met. For someone with the highest position of power you can get, you make the most incomprehensibly inane decisions you can at almost every moment, and you can't face the consequences for any of it. What the hell was your plan for putting an egotistical space goddess, an even more egotistical literal fucking plant, and a teenager with no identification on your team? And not only is that just your Realm of the Fey squad, you couldn't even befriend any of them properly! Your apologies are a joke, and no-one's laughing, when all you say is 'Oops, sorry, won't do that again!' for the fifty-thousandth goddamn time. It's always you who starts the problem, it's always you who half-asses fixing it, and it's always you who doesn't lose anything for it."
"Erica, please, just think about right n-"
"Oh, don't you dare pull the card that you're losing me, think about the implications of that for one second. Do it, I dare you do that instead. Oh wait, there's no thoughts in that head of yours! You just leap into action, hope for the best, and drag everyone around you into your own mess in the process. Including four children, might I add? Most of whom you've barely gotten to know this whole time? Closest you've gotten is Chi, and that's just because she's the only one who's anything like you."
She stepped down into the hall at the mention of her name, still choosing to remain quiet. As soon as she finished her sentence, Erica looked around the room, and eventually locked eyes with the girl.
"Erica?" Chi spoke up, "What's happening? I-I know the problem, I think, but you've been arguing for so long, and I can hear it from upstairs, and I just-"
The cleric put her foot back inside the inn. After some more hesitation, she walked over to where Chi was standing, practically hearing her increased heart rate. She shouldn't be here.
"Chi, how long have you been there, and how much have you heard?"
"Not that long, about a-a minute or two. But I've heard almost everything you've yelled at Failboat."
"Please, leave. You don't need to hear this, Chi." Erica warned, "I don't want you here for what's about to happen, you've seen enough already."
"No!" Chi stamped her foot, "If everything's about to go wrong, I can't just look away from it, I need to know. Erica, y-you're not leaving us, are you? Leaving me?"
Erica stayed silent. The words had actually hit her this time. Nothing Failboat had tried to say had meant anything, it was yet more meaningless apologies from him. But the young child, abandoned by almost everyone she knew, unable to handle the very prospect of her departure? It was a lot to think about... and there was only one thing she could say in response.
"You don't deserve this." She held Chi's shoulders, "You deserve better than Failboat, better than this whole adventure has done for you, and better than me. I can only wish you the best of luck, as I-" She paused, once again. Releasing Chi, she turned back around, towards the door. "As I leave."
"...no." Chi whispered, unable to take her eyes off the sight. Failboat looked utterly dejected, as did Bob and Smuk, unable to do anything.
"You two," Erica eyed them, "didn't really do anything wrong, and I'm sure you'll be fine without me. Failboat, you are an idiot of the highest caliber, and I hope I never see you again. But please, do something good in your life, and make sure she's in good hands." She pointed her staff to Chi, frozen in place. "Goodbye."
She walked out the door, and slammed it behind her. No-one dared to speak up for a while, choosing to stay in their places, and process what just happened. Erica had made her final choice, and left the party - and she wasn't doing it alone.
"She's right, Failboat."
Bob broke the silence, and all eyes diverted to him.
"You're a terrible leader. Frankly, I don't know how you got this far. You can't get out of your own head, and that is going to ruin you. And after the events of today, however accidental and seemingly insignificant it is to you, mean something for Erica, no matter where your intentions were, or how much you're at fault. Pay attention to your surroundings, and the people you affect on a daily basis - so far, you've essentially done the bare minimum for that. I'm not sure if I can really be comfortable around you anymore."
"Bob, w-what are you saying?" Chi was not ready for this. Erica leaving was yet another huge blow, but even Bob? It can't be happening, not this soon. They were a team!
"Chi, Smuk, are you coming with me?" He stepped towards the door, and looked back at them, expression unreadable. "I think we've reached the natural end of the FailFleet Miis. Not much point in sticking around."
"No, this isn't done yet!" She snapped, voice uncertain of anything, "It's been a week since we defeated the Dark Spirit, how could we fall apart now?"
"You're right." Smuk sighed, "We should've just broken the party off a week ago."
"S-Smuk, not you too?"
"I wanted to keep it going, but at this rate, I just don't think it's reasonable. I'm not going with Bob, not right now, you need someone other than Failboat here," Smuk elaborated, "but as much as I hate to say it, this isn't lasting long."
Chi took a seat on the stairs, in attempt to calm herself down from all of this happening at once. Smuk sat down next to her, for the same reason.
"I still need to get my stuff, but after that, I'll be leaving." Bob explained, walking back to his room, presumably for that. "See you around..." He thought out loud, "probably not, actually, but still."
The moment Bob stepped out the door, only three remained.
Failboat hadn't spoken in a while. Everyone had been tearing into him, and promptly getting far away from him afterwards. Needless to say, he was hurting, but Chi, the fifteen-year-old girl who was alone for most of her life, had just been subjected to all of it, and she needed help much more desperately than he did.
He turned around to find her, but saw the mage nowhere.
"Chi ran back to her room," Smuk walked down from the stairs and met with Failboat, "I think I heard her say she wanted to be left alone, and with all that's happened in the span of a few minutes, I think that's, regrettably, for the best."
"...I get that, I really do." Failboat claimed, before embarking up the stairs himself without another word. Smuk wanted to intervene, knowing Failboat was likely to mishandle this, and yet, he didn't. Maybe because he had a shred of trust that Failboat had taken a lesson away from Erica and Bob's rants? Maybe because he didn't want to overwhelm Chi by making a bigger deal out of this than she clearly wanted? Probably a mixture of the two.
Failboat reached the second floor, and sure enough, a loud slam could be heard from Chi's bedroom door. He went to investigate.
"Chi?" He called into the room, "Are you in here?"
He grabbed the door handle, realising it was unlocked. He almost opened the door right then, but still didn't want to invade Chi's privacy, so he waited for a response to his question.
"Y-You can come in."
Slowly but surely, he entered the room, seeing Chi sat on her bed, looking down at the floor with tears in her eyes. Again. Failboat couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Chi in this state before Deko left, and it had only gotten worse since then. She was going through far too much in far too little time, it wouldn't be easy to cope with. He sat down next to her.
"Failboat," Chi got out between breaths, "why were they all so mad at you? I thought I could trust you, after all this time spent under your leadership, beating the Dark Spirit together, what have you been doing that I just haven't noticed?"
"Chi, that is- that's a question I don't know how to answer." Exactly what he wasn't hoping for. "But the truth is, I have not been a great leader. In fact, I've not been a great person in general. I've made terrible decisions that have negatively affected all of you, and I can't find enough words in the language to apologise for that. None of this is your fault, I want to make that crystal-clear to you! Erica will probably make some attempt to keep your contact, and I wouldn't doubt it if Smuk and Bob did the same. Most likely, Lanc's been trying to reach out to you since he left. If anything, you were his only reason to stay! You were incredibly valuable to the team, more than I was, and I was supposed to be the leader."
"That's pastence." Chi realised, meaning to say 'past-tense.' "You're saying the team's officially over?"
"Yes, it is." He had to face reality at some point, and so did Chi. "There's only the three of us left, it's not exactly much of a party. I failed you, Chi. I wasn't good enough for anyone, but someone as young as you absolutely shouldn't be in the care of an idiot like me. Wherever you go from here on out, I can only hope you're better without me."
Chi was full-on crying at this point. For the third time this week too, she had to find a better way to deal with this, but it wasn't entirely unjustified, right? A grand total of 8 days ago, she was preparing to save the world with the only friends she'd ever had, and as for right now, she had nobody. Bob, Deko, Erica, and Lanc had all walked out the door. Even if she'd probably see some of them again relatively soon, it didn't matter, not one of them was physically able to stand by her. All because she hung onto the notion that the FailFleet Miis meant something, that they were a team dynamic, maybe something more meaningful. The past ten minutes were enough to prove her wrong on their own.
Even Smuk had given up on the team by now, leaving Failboat as her last chance, and that had similarly gone out the window. Her image of him should've been torn to shreds by everyone, including him, but even when she eventually packed up and left, much to her own dismay... she couldn't let go so easily. There was good in him, that was obvious, and if no-one else was going to acknowledge it, she could still know it herself. He was an idiot, clearly, and not an ideal role model, but he couldn't be a bad person. He was comforting her right now, as she cried her eyes out. That's something.
Joining The Incident was a nostalgic mistake. A mistake Lanc had warned her against, a lot. But it was a mistake Chi was willing to make!
Maybe 'nostalgia' wasn't the right word for how she felt about her time with the FailFleet Miis. A lot of awful things had happened to her on that adventure, and they weren't easy to forget, and even harder to make right - Despite this, she had to try. Erica was clearly in a bad place, even worse than she was the last time Chi had talked to her, and she needed someone to trust. Mar was literally the Dark Spirit, he was not exactly a prime candidate for that. Plus, there were still some good aspects of the journey that Chi genuinely wanted to recapture! Such as meeting new people, learning the basic structure of society, committing arson, and so on. There'd be very noticeable bumps in the road, but she had the drive to continue on, and reconnect with the people she lost.
As it turned out, Erica was not the only example of this.
The three of them were walking through the streets of Neksdor, looking for faces to save, and ways to progress through the journey. Mar had completely blanked, and Chi didn't remember exactly what they did last time, so Erica was leading the way. As such, when she noticed a very familiar Cat hiding behind a small building, she paused for a few seconds, glared at him, then continued walking.
"Hey, wait, Erica!"
He got up from his position and stepped into the street, Mar and Chi finally seeing him. His catsuit was torn up, his glasses didn't have glass in them, and his entire demeanour could only be described as dishevelled, though Chi had no idea what that word meant.
"Failboat?" Mar questioned, the other two stunned into silence at his presence. "I-Is it really you?"
"I think so? I'm losing track at this point," he admitted, scratching his neck in nervousness, "what are you- any of you doing here?"
"What the hell are you doing here?" Erica turned around to face him, not exactly being able to avoid this conversation longer.
"Uh, let me explain in short." Failboat took a deep breath, everyone waiting on his answer. "This space demon with a thousand faces became obsessed with me, and now I'm on the run from them. Kronkui told me I should hide out here, but I knew I shouldn't've have believed him, this was probably his plan all along. Feel free to ignore me, I'm not of much use anymore."
"Wait, that can't be right." Mar realised, "If you're still the Cat class, then you should have kept your levels! This is perfect, if we recruit you onto the team, we have someone with pre-existing skill!"
"...I have not practiced in three years." Failboat begrudgingly told him, "My levels have reset completely."
"Damnit."
Chi decided now would be a good time to join the conversation. "Then you can build your levels back up through joining The Incident, can't you?"
Mar hesitated, before nodding in agreement. Failboat and Erica were equally stunned into silence.
"Chi, what are you doing?" She snarled, "Why do you want him on the team?"
"Come on, Erica, it's been years since you've talked to him! It looks like that space demon's done a great job of keeping his ego in check, so I'm sure he's changed, at least a little."
"Wha- hey!" Failboat objected, to no avail, "I can hear everything you're saying!"
"Yeah, we know." Erica simply responded, turning back to Chi, "I get that you miss the old days, but that doesn't mean bringing this moron back is a good idea. He was incompetent from the start, what makes you think this time'll be any different?"
Chi thought on this for a second or two. "He's not the leader. A regular party member had much less responsibility, and more time to make connections. What do you say to that, Failboat?"
"I think you're placing a lot more trust in me than I've earned," He responded, "but I'd be a fool to refuse this kindness! Mar, if it's okay with you, I would like to join The Incident, not least because I want to make it up to all of you, and also because the space demon is getting closer and I'm scared."
"Sure. We can always use more help, glad to have you on!" He extended an arm to shake Failboat's hand, before remembering the catsuit he had on, and quickly retracting it, offering a friendly smile instead. "Erica, I know you might not like this decision, but please just. Don't kill him."
"...fine." Erica reluctantly agreed, and the group made their way back to the Inn, Failboat in tow.
Chi did not expect her proposal to actually work, and yet, it was official. Failboat was back in her life, and in hindsight? She didn't know what to feel about that. In any case, she wanted to believe he'd become a better person with the time he's had, and that he'd only improve with less pressure placed on him. Despite this, he'd still made enough mistakes to last a lifetime, and it wouldn't take a simple apology to fix them, it would take months of hard work and friendship-building. Failboat was now her teammate, though, and there were lives at stake with this kind of mission. He had no choice but to try and patch things up, and she had no choice but to believe he could.
And, to the surprise of many, he managed it after all.
Well into the adventure now, Chi and Failboat had recently ended up in the same room again. They sat on opposite beds, and after a while of staring into blank space, a realisation washed over him.
"We still have to set ground rules for the room, don't we?"
Chi shrugged it off. "So? It's basic procedures for sharing a room, you say it like it's a problem."
"Not a problem, per se, just... a reality check, you could say. This is still something we need to do."
She blinked. "You've got to stop being so cryptic, man, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact that after knowing you for three years, doing everything I can to get to know you, with an asterisk," Failboat noted, remembering how bad he actually was at that three years ago, "we still need to do something as basic as setting ground rules when we room together. I'm willing to bet we've done this more than once!"
"Yeah, and I don't remember those rules, do you?" Chi fired back, ignoring the point.
"No, but I probably should. You're impossible to forget, and yet I'm somehow careless enough to do it anyways."
"Hey, don't lie to yourself!" Chi got off from her bed, and sat down next to him. "You're a fool, but you put a hell of a lot of effort into being your own kind of foolish. Not once have I seen you go out of your way to not do something, even way back when. Being un-careful doesn't mean you're careless."
"I don't think un-careful is a word, but regardless," Failboat continued, "that's not your lie there. I've failed to look after the people in my life time and time again, especially when I was meant to lead them, does that not seem careless to you?"
"It doesn't." Chi immediately said in response, genuinely surprising Failboat. "You were unsuccessful in that regard, obviously, but I can't say you didn't try. You messed up a lot of relationships, definitely through fault of your own, but for different personality flaws you've mostly ironed out, not because there was a lack of effort to make it work."
"Chi, I fumbled literally every apology, I could list twenty different times right now."
"That's twenty different times you've tried your best to save it! Sure, your words came out as a jumbled mess, and I see why Erica made a big deal of their meaninglessness..." Chi winced at accidentally bringing up that day. "Still though, there was always an honest attempt. Hell, words aren't exactly easy to form into sentences, I'm barely hanging on right now."
"Fair enough, but all of this is just hindsight." Failboat pointed out, "and sometimes, that isn't as helpful as you think. Most situations are best remembered in the moment, and back then, I was an irresponsible dumbass."
"And you've done nothing for the past three years except take that responsibility, and move past what you've done." Chi formed a smile at him, and despite his best efforts, Failboat couldn't reciprocate just yet.
"Look, all of this is appreciated, but I don't get why you're saying it. What did past-Failboat do to deserve this much sympathy from you?"
She took a breath. "Let me put it like this. I had a lot of role models three years ago, and you were one of them. You, I saw as an example of how to be a kind and well-meaning person, while still being a complete idiot in adulthood! Despite everything you've done, all the mistakes you've made that should've blown that mindset apart, it never truly left. It just became more accurate."
"...really? You actually looked up to me back then?"
"It was not a good idea, but yes. I did. For the most part, I let go of it when everyone disbanded, but we're back here again," Chi turned to directly face him, "and now, I have an actual reason to."
Failboat was able to return her smile, after a short pause to consider her words. "You know what? I'll make an official promise, right here, right now. I will never let you down again like I did last time. I absolutely wasn't planning to, you always deserved better, but after that, I'm left with no choice whatsoever."
"Sounds good to me!" Chi added, "And also a little bit like a ground rule."
He thought about this. "Sure. Let's stick with that."
"One more thing though, before I completely abandon the topic." Chi requested, met with a nod from Failboat.
"You didn't entirely let me down three years ago. The party falling apart wasn't all you, most people would've left no matter what you did. My point in saying this, though, is that you were actually there to comfort me when I broke down. I'm not sure if that day is the only example, but it's the one I remember. I didn't really expect it, but it wasn't... unwanted either, and on some level, I've always appreciated you for that! Not a massive gesture, not enough to change your mistakes, but something that stuck with me."
Failboat could only think of one appropriate response. "I'm glad to hear that. Now, want to set something random on fire?"
"YES."
And that was a wrap on the conversation. Chi never liked to stay too long on the serious topics, but it was nice to talk about this with Failboat for once. It served as a bit of closure, and she could finally put her weirdly complicated opinion on him into a real sentence. He was genuinely living up to 15-year-old-Chi's expectations, and she liked that.