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It’s happening again, his dreams coming back, haunting him. It’s always the same Beach. Din found himself lying on the sand, the waves gently washing his feet like a caress. And he was always alone, no one there for him. But there’s a voice, a voice that he was so familiar that it hurt to even to think about whom the voice belonged to. And the voice would be calling to him. It’s only one sentence ever, repeating again and again, in a heartbreaking tone.
“I’ll be waiting for you on the Beach.”
---- years ago----
It all started in the capital, on that day they lost their president due to the voidout, the whole city disappeared in seconds. Then there’s a second time, they lost another city. And that’s when they learned the existence of Death Stranding, that it would end the whole world with it.
Normally, when people died, they went to the other world, and never came back. For centuries, clergies, poets, and philosophers alike had assumed various concepts of being dead, what happened after people died was always a mystery to all, but now with the Death Stranding, people finally got to know what the other side was like beyond the world of the living.
The first thing that appeared was the reversed rainbow, somehow it didn’t have the color blue, some said that it was because blue was the color of death. And then was the rain, soon it was called timefall, as it fast-forwarded the aging process of whatever it touched, but it couldn’t wash everything away, the past just wouldn’t let go. It was dangerous to linger in the timefall, if one did not seek shelter in the timefall, the dead would come back in the heavy rains and devour the living, making voidout to take cities after cities with them. They were called BT, Beached Things, just like a whale that was stranded between the beach and the ocean.
Soon after the beginning of the Death Stranding, the whole nation crumbled. People tended to live inside their homes and hardly got out, having relations became a rare thing, some people could not even stand the touch of the others, but people still needed rations and equipment in order to live, thus porters—the people who delivery—were needed, and then came the Bridges and the Fragile Express.
Din and Paz were sleeping when it happened, a nuclear bomb was delivered by Fragile Express, and the whole Middle Knot City was destroyed, Din only got the chance to take off in time, to escape it all. But he never thought himself a survivor, not when his life was saved by the price of his husband’s.
After that Din took the job as a porter, almost every living person he knew would consider him a mad man, no one would forsake the lives within the walls and choose to be a porter out there sending deliveries. The doctors diagnosed him as suicidal apt, assuming him not suitable for the job, but he didn’t care. Din knew he couldn’t stop whatever he was doing, because when he was not occupied by the ceaseless delivery orders, he would be dragged into the endless thoughts of one man that he loved, a man named Paz Vizsla.
The BB in his arm began to bubble, its green ears curled in a way that made his heart soft, he originally found this BB in the hands of the terrorists, and he took it with him when terrorists laid unconscious after their gun fighting, they were not dead of course, no one dared to start a voidout.
This BB was very unique, they said through the comm of his cuff links, no one had saw this kind of BB, they only knew the BB who looked like a normal human baby. But this BB was indeed an infant, no matter what species it was. And every time when Din saw the small face and cute big eyes of it, he dared not to think of the old times when he and Paz were hoping and waiting for a new life of their own to come. But it never came, it didn’t get the chance to see the world, it didn’t even get fully grown, it died before it could take a form in his belly, due to some congenital disease, the doctors said.
Din often thought that this was his punishment for being a man like himself. He once thought about dying, but Paz was always there for him, waiting for him to come to term with it, though Paz himself was obviously suffering a lot for their unborn child.
A cry from the BB startled him awake, it was raining, which meant that the chiralium density was increasing in this area, he must hurry, no one dared to stay in the timefall, and he was lucky today, he found a rain shelter nearby and there were already two porters in it, as they were waiting for the rain to stop, one of the two started to talk, of a man named Sam Bridges—The Man Who Delivers—a true legend, the man said.
Din had heard the name many times during his deliveries, the man who was supposed to unite the whole nation again, the man who was a repatriate that could come back from death.
The rain seemed going to stop, and he was thinking about leaving when a man approached the shelter, and in an instant Din knew that this man was Sam Bridges, not just from the judge of his clothes, but his deliveries as well, no one would be like him, carrying so much goods at once.
“They said you are a repatriate,” Din couldn’t help asking, “that you can come back from the world of the dead.”
The man, Sam Bridges, turned his attention to Din, and to Din’s surprise, he answered, “Yes.”
“What’s it like, coming back from the other side?”
“Not good at all, you wouldn’t want to know.”
And that’s where their conversation ended.
Din was dreaming again, it’s always the same one, the voice of Paz calling to him.
“I’ll be waiting for you on the Beach.”
But this time it was different, he was not alone. There was a boy crying not far away from him. He was going to check on him when a man approached the boy, and Din was astounded to find that it was Paz.
“Are you alright?” Paz asked.
The boy didn’t answer, just staring into the eyes of Paz, and that’s when Din realized that the boy was himself, this was his first-time meeting Paz.
Paz was gently wiping away his tears when the BB cried, and he was disappointed to find himself lying on the bed of his private room, and the BB, it was crying for no reasons. Din took the pod in his arms, comforting the BB to sleep again, and its little paws reached out as if trying to touch him.
He was rather unlucky today, the timefall trapped him in the wild, and he could sense that the BT were nearby.
It’s getting cold, that’s the sign of the BT coming. The BB started to cry as Din was slowly surrounded by BT, and Din was sure he was about to die as the prints of the BT approaching, and that’s when something happened. Din didn’t know how, but the BB seemed stopped crying and reached out its hand and all of sudden everything disappeared.
When Din was conscious again, he found himself lying on the Beach, and there was Paz, standing in the ocean.
Din was running toward Paz before he even realized what he was doing, and the mere seconds of his running felt like a lifelong process, he was so afraid that this might be an illusion, that this was just another dream of his.
But it was not a dream, the man in his arms felt so real, his touch was warm that it almost burned him. Din was crying before he knew it, and Paz wiped away his tears gently as he did before when they first met.
“I thought I lost you.”
“No, you didn’t. Cyare, you and I are always connected.”
“What?”
“Here,” Paz put a finger near Din’s heart, “this is what connects us together.”
“But now it’s not the time, Din,” Paz said as he leaned forward to bring their foreheads together, “You should go now.”
“Wait! Paz!” Din shouted as an invisible force in his belly tried to drag him out. The last thing he saw was Paz smiling at him, and he said,
“I’ll be waiting for you on the Beach.”
“I got you!”
The first thing Din saw was a man he met before, Sam Bridges.
“Do you remember anything?” a stout man next to Sam asked.
“What happened? I remembered I was surrounded by BT then everything disappeared and … wait, I saw Paz!” Din was about to jump off the medical bed when the stout man who looked like a doctor stopped him.
“Your BB is very unique, you know, where did you get it?” the stout man asked again.
“None of your business.”
“Well, I took liberty to check it while you lay unconscious,” the stout man was holding his BB now, “and it surprises me to find out that it’s not registered in the system, and its looks? Well, no one has saw this kind of species before. It’s rather strange, but it does function as a normal BB, right? That’s how you got away from the storm.”
Din was a bit confused by the word of the stout man, “What storm?”
“You didn’t know?” the stout man said, “there was a huge storm before Sam found you in the wild. You should thank Sam, you know, if it’s not for him you would not be in here, even with a BB it’s still dangerous out there.”
The man he mentioned was sitting next to Din, and Din couldn’t help noticing Sam’s BB who was now giggling at him.
“Oh, it seems Lou quite likes you.” the stout man chuckled.
“Lou? You named your BB?”
“Yes,” the stout man said again, “Sam did, does your BB got a name?”
“No.”
“Well, it should have,” the stout man said while approaching him, “after all, it’s a unique BB. And speaking of which, here’s your BB, I adjusted some aspects of it, so now it’s all good now, you see? No more crying.”
“You should get some rest now; we’ll leave you to it.” The stout man said, “And by the way, you can call me Deadman.”
And then it’s Din and his BB alone again.
The BB was sleeping, its green ears swayed a little as if it heard something, suddenly Din poked the pod and the child was reaching its paws out as some kind of response, at that moment, Din knew he would name the child, and be its father.
When Din was sending deliveries out there, he used to take orders without rest, somehow it kept him from the fact that he was no longer being with Paz, and the dreams always haunted him, but after the accident of that storm, things changed a bit.
He could feel it in the air, something was different from before, like a veil was removed and he could now see the picture.
“Can you hear me? I’m Deadman, I studied your log and indeed, your BB is very unique,” there’s a voice coming from Din’s comm, “I believe your BB is able to transfer you to the Beach.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m saying that you may able to jump to other’s Beach but I don’t know how, but your BB is certainly the key. To find out the truth, I need more time and research.”
Din was really confused, “What do you mean? Jumping to other’s Beach?”
“Oh, I forgot to explain it for you,” Deadman said again, “let me make it short, when people die, their Ka, their soul will go to the other world, that is, the Beach, and everyone got his or her own Beach. But your BB can transfer you to someone else’s Beach.”
“It was Paz,” Din suddenly realized, “The child sent me to Paz’s Beach.”
“Ah, that must be your husband, that’s reasonable. But one thing I don’t understand, how could you come back alive, you were surrounded by BT, and you are not a repatriate, there supposed to be a voidout.”
“Perhaps it’s Grogu.” Din suggested.
“Who?”
“My BB, I named him Grogu.”
“Good name, well, I still need more research, could you come back to the city with Grogu after your delivery?”
Din was checking his weapons when the hologram of Deadman entered his room, “I think I may have some clues, your BB, no…Grogu has a special force within him, I don’t know how but he seems can keep the BT out, like making you off the radar of BT. What a gift!”
Din looked the pod, Grogu was smiling, turning his head to toe, and he was wondering how could a child being so small and so powerful at the same time, and how lucky he was to have him.
Deadman’s assumption seemed to be correct, Din never got caught by BT out there in the wild, not even in high chiralium density areas. And during his journey Din learned from other porters that Sam Bridges was heading to Edge Knot City, and with hope he may end the Death Stranding.
Din’s dreams were still haunting him, but he’s not alone anymore, Grogu was there with him, and every time when Paz was calling to him, it felt like home, when Paz said it’s not the time, Din was heartbroken, but now Din could sense the moment was near, it’s almost time.
And it was a month later that Din felt it. Paz was calling for him in his dream again.
“It’s time, Din. I’ll be waiting for you on the Beach.”
“Wait for us.”
When Din woke up, a need surged in his belly compelled him to open the pod of Grogu, Deadman once warned him that simply taking Grogu out of his pod had 70 percent risk of malfunctioning, but now it’s time, time for him and Grogu to be united with Paz on their Beach.
And they made it, Paz was standing in the ocean when Din opened his eyes, Grogu was squirming in his arms, desperate trying to reach Paz, so Din ran.
Paz held him tight like a rope, But Din didn’t care, because it’s three of them now, he’s finally home.
“What took you so long, Din’ika.” Paz chuckled, “But it doesn’t matter. Because we’re home.”
“Yes, we’re home.”
End.