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There came a time when the thrill of the chase slowly found itself replaced by fatigue. Those days rarely came by, especially for a man like Caeli, where his workload blossomed from some sort of interest of his. From chasing down bounties and hearing blood rush in his ears to peacefully snooping about other universes to understand those unique stories, he had all the dream jobs he could wish for with time to spare.
However, after an impressively difficult bounty, he found himself really needing a break from the hustle and bustle of life, even if it was just for a day. As usual, his loved ones around him advocated for rest. Mainly it involved Zorro trying to coax him back to bed and getting some more sleep, but someone like Caeli couldn’t define a lazy day as strictly lazy. No, his days had to be full of life with something going on, otherwise he’d go crazy from it.
He had other plans instead, and upon hearing them, Zorro only laughed, saying that those were indeed wonderful plans. Be sure to send him photos! Caeli wasn’t one to refuse and quickly reminded the other about the abilities of the person he was going with. Probably not the most pleasing ones, but she knew how to take them.
In no time at all, Caeli had gotten himself done and dressed and gave his outfit one last look over. Nothing entirely showy by his standards, but why would it be? There really wasn’t much else to wear aside from the most uncomfortably constricting clothes, those that felt glued to his skin and made it difficult to breathe at times. He couldn’t exactly blame those though, as they were the only kinds that didn’t get snagged on his mechanical supports.
No matter though, he learned to live with it.
His knuckles rapped on the door to a certain room. Hollow knocks rang through into the space beyond, his ears perking to hear any kind of movement inside. As he stood there, waiting for a response, Caeli couldn’t help but have a faint thought creep into his mind. What if she was still asleep? She wouldn’t be happy being woken up like that.
What a silly thought. She liked her sleep, yes, but did she really have a need for it? If he thought long and hard enough, dusting the unused bits of his mind free from dust bunnies and cobwebs, then he swore she mentioned something along those lines. Yes, she did… well, no matter! Sleep wouldn’t be missed once she learned what he had in mind for the day!
A quiet noise sounding like a groan made its way past the heavy wooden door, complete with all of the reluctance someone who was perfectly happy with lazing around in bed would make. Not a second later, her feet hit the floor and the door swung inward, revealing a very short woman with dark red horns and a half-lidded glare.
“You-- oh, what’s up, Dad?” Vyomi asked, her voice lightening slightly upon seeing who it was, “I thought you were Ayumu coming to bother me.”
“Would Ayumu knock?” Caeli countered with a smile hidden beneath the mask.
“Yes, because they’d throw water in my face!”
It wasn’t a secret-- more of a shouted announcement during all hours of the day, maybe-- that Ayumu had a talent for causing trouble. Mostly, it came in the form of pranks or ill-fitting greetings where most people had to tread lightly so as to not trigger some kind of surprise. Still, Ayumu meant well and this was their best way of showing appreciation for everyone. Too bad that their twin was their target, but also their aggressor.
“You do the same to them,” he pointed out. There were too many times to count when Ayumu shouted obscenities at Vyomi because of some spur-of-the-moment idea.
Her working eye rolled to the ceiling as her face fell a fraction, though the facade quickly cracked and shattered into thousands of shards as an ear-to-ear grin split wide open. Just like Ayumu’s fleeting annoyance towards her, her’s was just as fast.
“Anyhoo~” she said, flicking her head to the side and looking up at her father with interest, “What did’ya want to see me about? If it’s about the spilled mug-cake DIY in the microwave, it wasn’t me!”
“I was thinking if you’d like to-- there’s a what in the what?!” Caeli instantly abandoned his round of innocent questioning to another train of questions of a more stern caliber. It was common knowledge that if Vyomi said anything along those lines, then it absolutely had to be her.
Vyomi’s arms flew up and she waved her hands to dissuade him. “Lapis Dei will find it and clean it up! Quick! What did you want to talk about so you can get me out of here before she finds out!”
Already, Caeli could imagine the yells of frustration and questioning once Lapis Dei finally got around to taking a look at the microwave. He couldn’t exactly let Vyomi get out of trouble, otherwise he’d get the boot too, but that would really throw a stick in the mud for their plans. Vyomi couldn’t leave if she was grounded, and no doubt Lapis Dei would pressure Caeli to punish her somehow for her mess.
He just had to choose the consequence of his actions instead. Just pretend he didn’t know, that would be perfect.
“Alright, fine, but you will tell her once you get home, right?” he asked with his best effort of putting reprimand into his voice.
An unconcerned shrug met him, Vyomi’s smile growing lopsided. “Can’t make promises! And oh! Where are we going? Please tell me!”
“I’m getting to that,” he promised, “Not a bounty this time around, but I noticed a little thing going on in a neighboring universe.”
He paused for dramatic effect and Vyomi held onto every word, her hands balled into fits and slightly pumping in anticipation. Her eyes glittered from countless thoughts and guesses flying around her mind at record speeds.
“Yeah?” she prompted.
Caeli dug into his pocket, procuring two slips of paper in colorful hues and equally exotic writing. In an instant, Vyomi snatched one of them, nearly ripping it apart with the force. With one look at it, her working eye suddenly widened in excitement and pure glee.
“You’re taking me to the fair?!” she gasped, “Isn’t this thing impossible to get into?!”
“About that…”
Obtaining those tickets had been a bit… unconventional. Given his notorious reputation of being on the more violent side and not wanting to pay, Caeli happened to find two people with those rare tickets and made sure they wouldn’t be attending another fair again. Anything for his daughter, of course.
Apparently, the unspoken answer got across to Vyomi and she let out a giddy giggle. She examined the ticket for another second before pocketing it, shooting Caeli another wide beam.
“More fun for us! When do we go?”
“Are you ready?” Caeli asked.
“Been ready to leave the country ever since I spilled that mug-cake!”
--
Getting into the fair had gone without a hitch and the two were bombarded with blasting music, wonderful smells, colorful sights, and the energy that would put any standard festival to shame. Bubbles floated through the air, picked up in dizzying currents as some of the more joyous attendees waved around scarves and towels.
Like the Solstice Library, this place was off-limits to most of the universe-traveling population and the waitlist to get those special tickets was longer than a standard mortal’s life. But unlike the stuffy library, the atmosphere from the colors to the people present was something akin to an explosion.
There was no way to tell where they’d go first. Upon entering, Vyomi’s eyes went wide as she stared at the sights surrounding them before going even wider when she spotted the dizzying and twisting roller coasters far above their heads. This had to be the mother of all theme parks! She couldn’t believe she missed out on that for so long. Maybe she’d bring Ayumu along next time.
On the other side of the spectrum, Caeli tried his best to get adjusted to the sudden overwhelming sights, smells, and sounds. They were all beautiful and bombastic, sure, but his ears were already wanting to fold in on themselves so he could never hear again. Still, this did seem like a fun outing once he got used to the din.
Beside him, Vyomi turned and opened her mouth, but the two gave startled flinches as a nearby person set off a party popper. Bubbles paired with ribbons and confetti flew through the air, slowly drifting down and settling over the others around. Vyomi’s shoulders became dusted with colorful paper as a bubble slowly made its way to Caeli’s nose.
Just as it became blurry, it exploded with a comically loud pop as his daughter reached forward and nicked it from the air.
“This is so much fun!” she exclaimed, spinning back around to see everything that they needed to look at, “And we just got in here! C’mon! We’re gonna go to those rides!”
A clawed finger jabbed up at the spiraling roller coasters, and Caeli felt his stomach do flips at the sight of them. Sure, his use of portals and his acrobatics in a fight were dizzying enough, but he could already feel his head spin faster than ever. But leave it up to Vyomi to choose the most terrifying of rides.
Quickly, he tried to diffuse things as she grabbed at his hand and ran forward.
“Hey! Why don’t we check out the games first?” he said, dodging around a tall woman with darkened hair and horns. She paid no mind to any of them, but it wasn’t like Caeli bothered to apologize. He doubted that any voice lower than a yell could make any difference here.
Or… maybe a yell was too tame of an exchange, as Vyomi also paid no mind to him. Like a surging tide, an unstoppable force pushing through very movable objects, she barged her own path through the crowds of people with Caeli helplessly trailing behind.
They passed by rows of vendors, each stall more eye-catching than the last as the competition with increasingly bold colors and words grew more aggressive. As they passed by and with words blurring in front of his face, Caeli could only make out phrases for remarkable merchandise. ‘Mind Blowing! Sweets that make you big-brained and other altering desserts!’ and ‘Sentient hats! Have a conversation and look insane!’ were among the few he managed to get glimpses of.
Despite all the flashy advertising, nothing appeared to deter Vyomi from her current course as she ducked and weaved around people and flags, leaving Caeli to take the collateral and run into anything and everyone. Though he had to be honest, he loved seeing her this happy and energetic in such a place. Once upon a time, she didn’t have much to truly smile about.
Caeli was abruptly thrown out of his thoughts as he suddenly ran into Vyomi, who didn’t move an inch. The crowds had thinned by now, he noticed, but that wasn’t saying much. While he muttered an apology that he couldn’t even hear, he followed Vyomi’s intense stare, right to a nearby game booth.
Not just the game booth, but an incredibly large stuffed animal with floppy ears. Was that a rabbit? His eyes were so bad, he couldn’t tell, but judging by her reaction and her justified love for rabbits, he had no doubt about what it was.
No words were shared between the two before Vyomi shot forward again, this time, her focus entirely on the gigantic stuffed rabbit. Even holding hands, he could feel how fast her heart was hammering, as if it were trying to break out of her chest to get as close to it as possible. He couldn’t blame her, not in the slightest. After what the two had gone through, she was entirely justified in latching onto anything that connected to Femi.
“How do I win the bunny?!” she said, slamming her hands on the wooden counter of the stall once the two made their way over.
It startled the person behind the stall, who turned out to be a short woman with long wavy hair that moved as if it had a mind of its own. She gave a small noise of surprise and a quick retaliation with an approving look, her dark eyes narrowing at the claws on the booth. As quickly as it arrived, her glower left and was replaced with a smile.
“Welcome, welcome!” she greeted, swiping at some of the hair that drifted into her face. Caeli found himself staring at the anomaly, questions about how that could happen filling his mind. There was no kind of static electricity around. “You want to win the bunny? Well, sure. Got some change on you, though?”
Right. Currency. Caeli had completely forgotten about that minor-- well-- major detail. Even with millions of gems under his name, no one had the mind to actually carry them. When someone was as infamous and as powerful as the Interitus family, money didn’t matter. Whatever it was, they got it in the end.
That, and Vyomi ate all of his money.
A hoot of laughter behind him spurred him from his thoughts and he turned his head to see a group of teens saunter by. They all roughhoused as they made their way along the wide path with playful kicks, punches, and shoves. Each responded in kind with their own paybacks for the other.
What they didn’t seem concerned about, was the bag of gems hanging out of their pockets.
Being the lowest of the low, Caeli wasn’t above petty thievery and a small smile tugged at his lips from underneath the mask. Raising his eyebrows as his mind began to churn again, he looked back at Vyomi as she helplessly turned her pockets inside out... meaning that she belched some of them up. A few pieces of gems fell out pathetically onto the table, much to the booth owner’s dismay but acceptance.
“Fine,” she said, her shoulders sagging and her head lulling to the side. She straightened up again and dragged the gems over to her, counting them out carefully, as if there could be any errors in counting two pieces. “You get a shot. You see those jars at the other end of this? Just knock them all down in one go…”
Her voice trailed off, as well as any retort Vyomi had in story faded into the background noise as Caeli drifted away from the two, eyes trained on the bag of gems as if it were a shiny rock and he was a magpie. That would fix their money problem!
Giving a cautious glance around him, he realized that robbing some poor kids wouldn’t go unnoticed in such a crowd. But still… it would be easier to slip away and melt into the sea of people, never to be seen, or even recognized again. Besides, he’s pulled off entire murders in the middle of staring eyes. His footfalls were light against the ground as he slunk his way over to the group. None of them were on guard in the slightest, only being a bunch of kids in their element. Too bad for them, it was something he was counting on.
He slipped in behind them, reaching out surreptitiously for the bag, the gems glittering in the many glittering colors of light. His fingers brushed along the bag, its contents tinkling together. Of course, the oblivious teens paid no mind to his presence behind them.
Just like that, he strode away, tossing the freshly acquired bag of gems in his hand loosely. Easy as pie, and he didn’t even need to teleport this time.
However, that feeling of triumph equivalent to stealing candy from a baby was incredibly short-lived when he finally saw Vyomi and the booth owner again. Instead, he felt shock rip through him as he watched his daughter reel back her arm with a worn baseball clutched tightly in her hand. It looked as if her grip was so tight that it nearly burst.
Before he could even think about moving, she suddenly shot the baseball forward with all of her might. It flew through the air so fast that even keeping his eyes open still made him miss it hit the propped-up cans, There was a resounding crash, and with a jolt, he had to duck as a flyaway can, bent and battered from the supersonic impact, flew at his head.
A new triumphant laugh resounded from Vyomi, who erected her fingers in the “L” hand signal. Clearly, she was proud of her devastating accomplishment of demolishing those poor innocent cans. Grinning wildly, she spun on her wheel, gleefully looking over at her father.
“Those cans had it coming!” she said, pumping her fist in the air as she skipped towards him and the rabbit. Behind her, the shell-shocked vendor owner stared at her once-pristine set up now tattered and broken, visibly deflating as she saw the mess. Her expression was equally dismayed and accepting.
“Can you do it again? I didn’t see the full thing,” Caeli said, finally picking himself up and closing the distance between the two.
Behind Vyomi, the woman’s face grew stricken, her hair shooting up into the air as if surged through by an electric current. Her eyes widened and she quickly looked around for an escape, biting her lip. A standard reaction, Caeli noted with a hint of humor. Anyone who didn’t know about them certainly had their thoughts scrambled the moment they found out what they were truly capable of.
Vyomi stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m broke now! But I can slap it with a chain! But in a second! Bunny!”
Spinning on her heel and not waiting for the woman to do or say anything, she fell into the gigantic stuffed animal with a happy squeal. Her arms tightened around the toy and with a tug, she tore it off its hook with another sound, but this time a loud whoop. She turned in a circle, the rabbit's legs and ears flailing in the air. It was quite a cute sight, and Caeli could just imagine Femi in her arms instead. Wait until she heard Vyomi found a new bunny.
“Aren’t you two cute?” Caeli teased, “We need an extra ticket for your new friend.”
“It’ll be my plus one!” Vyomi said innocently, wrapping one of her arms around the rabbit as if it indeed was one of her good old friends. “Or we can boot you off the roller coaster!”
That idea didn’t sound half bad, but Caeli found himself slightly taken aback by the tease. Most of it came from mock hurt, but he couldn’t believe that Vyomi read his mind so well. How did she know? Though now, he wasn’t going to admit it.
“Me?” he scoffed, folding his arms and sticking his chin in the air to repair his wounded pride, “You think I can’t handle those…” Caeli trailed off, now staring up at those dizzying heights. Nope. Don’t think about them. He lowered his head again, trying to keep his eyes intense. He couldn’t be a loser parent right now. “Those rides. I’m just worried your bunny will fly off.”
“That’s why safety precautions exist!” she said joyfully. Vyomi bounded up to him and tapped him on the mask, the stuffed animal trailing behind. By the end of the day, she would have that thing a mess. “But let’s go! Distractions over!”
Once again, Caeli could only open his mouth before the growing nerves mounted full force on him as Vyomi grabbed his hand again and dragged him back onto their previous course. Swallowing heavily, he stared up at the towering coaster, feeling his inevitable death tick closer and closer in a march. Thank god he didn’t eat anything before this.
--
Vyomi got off the ride with a skip and a hum, the bunny flopping around her as it slowly recovered from the steel-like hold the restraining binders were. So spry and energetic, nothing like Caeli as the world spun in front of him. He stumbled like a drunkard out from the exit gate, his knees wobbling despite his support, and hunched over as if he had a weight on his back.
“That was so much fun!” cheered Vyomi, shooting her hands into the sky as if reaching back onto that horrifying twisty, and tall ride of death. Behind her, Caeli acquainted himself with a bush to get rid of the twisting feeling in his stomach.
He barely heard what he said, everything continuing to turn on its head around him as he shoved his mask back on his face, finally taking a few breaths. Fun? That was not fun. That was a torture death trap and he’d have to be ripped from the nearest lamp post to get back on that thing. Next time, he would watch Vyomi instead.
“Yes!” he said, his own words coming out heavier than lead, “Very very fun… twisty!”
“Oh, cheer up, will ya?” He felt his arm jerk to the side. In his state, he didn’t even register her hopping up to his side and playfully punching his arm. “It was only just a few death-defying loops! What’s the harm in that?”
“My health,” he groaned.
“Don’t be such a baby,” she chided, slapping him on the back. Caeli lurched again, afraid he’d turn up with more missing stomach contents. “Let’s do something slow for old men like you would like! Wanna get food?”
Food. That didn’t sound appetizing in the slightest, even if it was fair food. Especially now when his head felt like even standing was the greatest sin to commit. Still… fair food was fair food, and maybe he could walk off this horrible feeling.
“Elephant ears?” he weakly suggested. Nothing could go wrong with those.
“You bet! Come on, old man!” Vyomi said, once more grabbing his hand and making her own way through the crowd. How she knew where to go was beyond him. All of these clashing colors weren’t helping his throbbing head. People blurred past the two and Caeli could do nothing but close his eyes and will the effects of the roller coaster away.
With hope, food would help him. Good thing that he was eating after going on that crazy death trap, rather than before.
--
Luckily, his sickness left when they finally found a stall with a short enough line, which probably took longer than it would’ve by just choosing the nearest vendor with a longer line. However, when they got their food and found seating-- which was a problem in of itself with no seating found at all. With equal luck and a bit of intimidation, they managed to get a six-person table just for the three of them. The rabbit was included in that count.
Caeli’s mask sat in ready reach on the table as he took his first bite out of the elephant ear. True to its reputation, the fair snack was great. The wonderful blend of bread, sugar, and butter felt like a piece of heaven. He savored it so much that he quietly choked, forgetting about his mask. He slammed it back on his face, swallowing and taking a few deep breaths.
Laughter burst out of Vyomi’s mouth, who hadn’t cared to chew her food at all. Already, half of her ear was gone and her cup of lemonade was devoid of any lasting drops.
“You suck at eating,” she teased. Rubbing salt into the wound, she took another massive bite out of her food.
“It’s not my fault this stuff is so good,” he said, chancing his own bite before securing the mask back on, “You can certainly agree.”
Vyomi gave a start as he pointed at her elephant ear, in which she gave a scoff. “At least I’m not choking on air!”
“Respect your elders,” he teasingly chided, completely skipping over the fact that she was in fact thousands of years older than him. In order to drown out her retort, he gave a loud hum as he took another bite out of the ear.
“You’re impossible.”
“Respec--”
“Say that one more time and I’m putting you on that roller coaster again!” Vyomi said, grinning from ear to ear as she backed her dad into a metaphorical corner. Of course, he had no rebuttal, his stomach flipping over unpleasantly.
He set down his elephant ear, feeling a little paler in the face. “I think I’ve lost my appetite…” he said, staring at the piece of sugary bread with a new critical eye. Nope, just thinking about that horrific ride was enough for him to feel like doubling over again. “Can we try something tamer than that instead?”
Her head hung back as she nearly topped backward off of the bench. “But that’s boring! You’re such a boomer!”
His mouth fell open in complete bemusement. Boomer? She was one to talk. While he did come from a place that was less technologically advanced than her home, he was still fresh to being over a century old. Vyomi had experience and plenty of it, but she was still in the thousands of years old camp.
“You never listened to my suggestion,” he complained.
Like that morning, eyes rolled towards the sky. “Sure! Sure! What is it, boomer?”
While it did involve heights and moving parts, it was certainly more tame than that death trap they were previously on. It was far more Caeli’s style, especially when it came to gigantic moving machines. Something far far more tame… yes, that was nice.
“What about the Ferris Wheel?” he asked, “It doesn’t try to kill you.”
She tapped the side of her temple, grinning evilly as she studied his face. “Unless it falls off the center thingy and rolls down a giant hill!”
A shiver went down Caeli’s back and he rapidly shook his head, the feeling of spinning over and over in an uncontrollable spiral. Could he even portal out, even when he was flopping around like a fish inside of a box? If that roller coaster was a torture device, then that scenario would definitely be a death trap. A colorful way to go though… no don’t think about it.
“Let’s do it then..! Less morbid, though.”
--
The clouds hung low, casting the once beautiful and vibrant park in shades of black and gray, promising a storm. Around the dilapidated booths and torn-up buildings, the air became heavier and heavier. No doubt, rain would soon be upon the vacant grounds. Skeletons of rides once standing so tall, marred the ground as if they melted toward gravity. Chunks of metal littered the concrete, which was now cracked with blackened plants ground out from it.
Amidst the suffocating silence, the echoing sounds of metal clanking stretched along the old fairgrounds, shooting through scraps of metal and torn cloth stands. They rose higher and higher into the air as a lone figure climbed up the bowed structure of the old Ferris Wheel.
A radio-like device swung at her hip as she found footholds and hauled herself up to a cabin of a suitable height. Her hands scraped against cold metal, biting into her fingers and shooting into her arms. This place was nothing like it was in its glory days and she hadn’t visited it since Caeli had… well… this was the first time in a long time since they visited it again.
The last time they visited, it was so lively. But just like him, this place had fallen into disrepair.
Finally, she made it to the top and sat down on the damp and moth-eaten cushion. The metal beneath her feet was dotted with grime and lichen, slick with condensation. It should have been clean and free of grime.
Vyomi looked out of the window, which had long since been shattered. Clouds continued to roll and roil from beyond, and she could smell the promise of rain with the sour tang of iron and rust with it.
“It’s always been a nice view.”
The communicator at her hip crackled to laugh, cracking her heart as it did. Gingerly, she turned and picked up the device, holding it gently in her hands as if the slightest movement would break it. This fragile thing… it held more of her life than it or the person who used it would ever know.
“I kinda like it quieter,” she said absently, rubbing her thumb along the speaker. Why couldn’t he be here with her now? “You get to hear the person next to you.”
“I thought you could hear me,” crackled Caeli’s voice, driving a dagger into her heart.
“I always could, but now… I just want to hear only you.”
Her father fell silent for a few moments, leaving her to want nothing more than to see him again, to have him next to her and fully visible. She couldn’t know where he was anymore, the only signifier being the communicator in her hands. At least she could talk to the dead now.
“It’s funny,” she said, leaning back and her voice cutting through the silence, “You have so many days off now, so we can hang out here more. Too bad the people aren’t here.”
“And I doubt any team of clean-up crews would like rummaging through this,” Caeli said, “But that doesn’t mean that we can’t have fun.”
That was true. She nodded, knowing that he could see her, even if she couldn’t see him at all. That sounded nice. But for then, she wanted to sit with him for a while, taking in the scenery that was once so bright. Just like him.
“I miss you,” she said into the quiet. Before Caeli could reply, she already knew what he was going to say.