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It was a beautiful day in Paradise, just like every day before it. The sun shone cheerfully in the sky, birds warbled in the trees, and the water was sparkling with possibility. The denizens of Paradise waved hello to each other as they passed, on their way to picnics or jobs or nothing at all; it was the kind of place where almost every day could pass by without a care in the world. Yes, a lovely day indeed, perfect for Blixer to sit huddled in his cave.
It wasn’t as if he was antisocial by choice. He’d actually consider himself more on the extroverted side of things, if he was being honest. Despite that, it was rare for him to poke his face out of his cave even though it was months after the incident.
With a sigh, he flopped back onto his old bedroll. Right back here after everything. Still stuck in a dusty, dingy cave. Just thinking about how much power he had at his fingertips when he first broke the Treeangle and took one of its pieces as his own… it sent shivers up his spine. Meh. Wasn’t as if he was ever going to get even close to doing that again. The whooping he had gotten was enough to prove that.
Blixer’s thoughts drifted to the first time they had seen the tree’s guardian, a tiny little shape so pure that Corruption didn’t spread to them, it damaged them. It seemed so easy to take them down in the moment he hadn’t given much thought to chasing them down. Maybe if he had things would have been different. Not a good different, though. He wasn’t stupid enough to pretend that Paradise would be better oozing corruption after how badly it turned out the first time.
From his spot on the floor, he could see the slight light shining down, obscured with rocky crags and cobwebs and glowing mushrooms. It was pretty in its own way, but Blixer yearned for the sunny skies and lush fields he had seen when he first left the cave. Once you see how wide the world truly is, it’s hard to go back. In fact, just thinking that caused the light to grow brighter. Closer. Bluer. “Hey, Cy. Time for our annual check-in?”
“You’ve come to look forwards to our rendezvous?” They tilted their blank, square face. It was the closest thing to a mood indicator he’d get.
“Eh. More like looking forwards to getting some fresh air for once.” He pushed himself up from the ground, stretched and popping his back.
“You are aware that you can leave this cave without me to supervise you?” Cyan, still floating, crossed their arms.
“It was a joke, Cy.” Blixer rolled his eye, bracing himself for the jump necessary to reach the tunnel leading up. It had the unfortunate downside of coating his bedroll in dust and pebbles, but there was always dust and pebbles down here. His claws dug comfortably into the grooves as he hauled himself up, Cyan floating slightly above him.
It felt like almost yesterday that Blixer was chasing them down, firing over and over again as Cyan made a desperate dash towards the top of his tower. He had been at the top of the world them, confident that he could send this interloper crashing back down where they belonged. They were damaged, blue shards spiraling downwards as they just barely stayed out of reach of Blixer’s swinging claws. Paradise’s last champion, ascending higher and higher into the red sky. And then…
Nausea squirmed in his stomach. Save it for later, Blixer. He finally reached the top of the tunnel, squinting as the daylight hit his eye. They stepped beyond the mouth of the cave, feeling the crisp satisfaction of a cool breeze wash over him. “Where are we off to today?”
“I was thinking the hills. It’s been a while since I’ve gone there, and the view is always nice.”
“M’kay.”
Blixer never thought that he’d enjoy spending time with the Guardian of Paradise, much less that he’d even be alive at this point in time. He had waken up on the forest floor, seeing the Sun shine bright in the sky. The Treeangle towered upwards, blazing the same bright blue as its defender. He had scurried away, terrified out of his mind that he would be caught and killed the moment someone realized he was alive. The only place where no one would find him was deep in his cave, and that was where he had stayed for a week before Cyan showed up.
And look, Blixer doesn’t think it’s crazy to think of himself as a pretty put-together guy. He managed to take over sleepy little Paradise in one whole day, constructing an awesome tower to oversee the whole place and a giant factory to keep it corrupt in the same timespan. He was nothing if not efficient, so it doesn’t really matter if he almost had a panic attack when seeing Cyan.
They had crossed their arms and tilted their head, remarking on how predictable he was. Blixer would’ve had a snappy comeback ready if his heart wasn’t trying to beat out of his chest. He had sputtered something out that had probably been a plea to not kill him, at which Cyan scoffed. They had come to make sure he wasn’t getting up to anything foolish, actually, so he could quit looking at them like they were going to evicerate him. The fear spiked and he snapped out that last time he had seen Cyan they had been shooting laser beams that vaporized anything they touched, so forgive him for being scared shitless.
It was easy to slip back into sniping at each other, as if he was still crowned and they were still trying to stop them. Gradually, his terror faded as he realized that they weren’t going to hurt him. Cyan, all things considered, had let him leave with a slap on the wrist given what he had done. They muttered something about how they were tired of fighting, so if they could just stay out of each other’s way that would be wonderful. It was more than Blixer deserved and both of them knew it. Cyan had left after that, telling him that they were going to check in on him sometime soon.
Blixer had entertained the idea of running off somewhere, but it was nothing more than a passing fantasy. There was nowhere in Paradise that he could go that wouldn’t know what he had done, and while Cyan might’ve given them a bit of grace the other denizens of Paradise wouldn’t be so merciful if they saw him. Besides, what would he even do? Where did you go in life after destroying Paradise? He was alive, and that was enough. He’d figure out all of that philosophical junk later. He played his guitar, he foraged for food, and he turned over everything he had done in his head thousands of times before Cyan came back a week later. Since then, it was like clockwork.
“We’re here.” Cyan settled down on the grass, crossing their legs as they looked out at the ocean.
Blixer flopped down onto the ground, sprawling out. “Damn, you weren’t kidding. Nice as hell out here.”
“It makes you wonder why anyone would want to destroy it.” Cyan mumbled. They seemed to remember that Blixer was there, freezing for a moment. “Apologies. I didn’t mean to-“
“Nah, nah. You’re good.” He waved a hand dismissively. Blixer’s feelings couldn’t get hurt easily. Not after his life. They fell into a comfortable enough silence, watching clouds drift lazily across the sky. When he was younger, he felt like there was an eternal itch underneath his skin, a burning restlessness demanding that something about this stagnant place change. Now it seemed comforting. “Hey, uh, how’s Cube doing?”
“Better. She hasn’t had a nightmare since last week.” Cyan said, running their hands over the blades of grass. “Boat and Helicopter have been keeping her company while I’m away. Last thing I heard, the three of them were going to try and check out the remains of the Factory and make sure it is out of commission.”
“Good, good, good.” Nightmares. Probably about him. Blixer’s ears pinned back in shame. “And Lycan?”
“He’s been living with Barracuda at the Volcano. They miss you. I haven’t told them where you are, though. Do you want me to?”
Huh. He never thought Lycan or Barracuda would ever want to see him again, not after the mess he made. Granted, they were better off than most of the people who got corrupted, serving as his secondish in commands, but it was probably still a nasty thing to go through. “Sure.”
“I will notify them next time I visit.” Cyan dipped their head. They were much more relaxed than Blixer had ever seen them, letting the calm of the hills wash over them.
“You’re keeping tabs on them too?” Duh. Of course they were. Blixer wasn’t special.
“Not as often as I do you. The Volcano is quite far away, and Boat and Helicopter have their own lives to lead. I would hate to ask for more after everything they’ve already done for me.”
“I don’t see why not. They’re your friends; friends do things for each other.”
“Maybe.” Cyan agreed. “Besides, they are far less… open to my visits. Never hostile, but very curt. Not like you.”
“Oh yeah? What am I, then?”
“Talkative.”
“Hey!” Blixer tries to sound outraged, but it’s a losing battle. They both laugh at that. Cyan’s is all pretty, like a bell ringing. Words slip out before he could stop them. “You should laugh more often.”
“Cube tells me that too. I think she’s worried about me. Says I’ve been sullen ever since…” Cyan trails off, that same chasm yawning between them. Since he corrupted Paradise. Since he made them fight tooth and nail to get it back to normal. Since he shattered them. “Well, she isn’t wrong. It’s hard to go back to normal.”
“Yeah.” Blixer twisted a dandelion in his hands, watching as the breeze sent the seeds fluttering downward. “Then again, there’s something nice about it. I mean, almost everything’s been fixed.”
You could evaporate the evidence of his brief but destructive regime, reverse the Corruption of the land and people, but you couldn’t get rid of the pain that ran deeper. Just being sorry didn’t help. You had to want to be better. You had to be better, and Blixer wasn’t sure if he was ready for that yet. “…Sometimes I wonder what you were thinking.”
“I wasn’t really.” Cyan turned to look at Blixer, still bouncing his leg nervously. “Thinking, I mean. Like, I knew it was a bad idea but I just didn’t care, Y’know? I was sick of constantly having to be so careful about everything. Oh, I can’t touch that or else it’ll get corrupted! I can’t talk to anyone because they’re scared I might corrupt them! I can’t live because my entire existence is a hazard to others!”
The outburst slipped out of him before he could even stop it, but Cyan nodded. “Go on.”
“I figured… maybe if that stupid tree was gone then people wouldn’t worry about if it would get corrupted or not. Pretty stupid, I know, but I was just so angry I didn’t care if it worked or not. And, uh, then it did work. I couldn’t just back down after doing that. I didn’t want to. It honestly felt pretty good. Like, you thought I was a monster before? Bam! How about now?” Blixer had been flying by the seat of his pants then, half drunk off of the Treeangle’s power as he slammed it into the ground over and over again. “I didn’t really know what to do with it, but the giant Tower overlooking the world was sick.”
“And a pain to scale,” Cyan added, but was in jest. “But I suppose I can see the appeal in such a thing. It was certainly unlike anything Paradise had, and the novelty of something new wasn’t lost on me.”
“Right? I wanted to shake things up, and I definitely did. I didn’t think it was gonna corrupt the whole place.” Blixer nervously chewed on his lip as he thought about admitting his true feelings on the matter. Cyan probably wouldn’t like it. Then again, Cyan had also seen him as a giant blood-dripping centipede monster, so it wasn’t like he could go any lower after that. “I was pleased, though. All of the people who were so afraid of getting corrupted just… were now, and they had to deal with my entire existence up to this point. I didn’t have to worry about accidentally ruining everything because I just did. It was the most free I had ever felt.”
“You certainly seemed like you were having a ball. I heard your guitar echoing out while I traveled. Not the worst thing to fill the empty air with.” What went on behind that head of theirs? How could they be so accepting of Blixer essentially confessing that he liked ruining Paradise?
“Yeah, well, then you rolled around. In the beginning I figured you wouldn’t be much of a problem ‘cause you were so fragile. A couple wrong moves and boom, no more guardian to worry about. Then you got the first piece back and you just kept going, smashing through all of my generals. I was definitely panicking when you made it up to me, and then…”
“And then you took the final piece.” Cyan finished. “It looked painful.”
“It was. It hurt more than anything than I had ever felt in my life, and I couldn’t stop it. At that point, I was just along for the ride.” Technically Blixer still had some control over the thing he had become, but his mind was clouded by so much agony all he did was thrash desperately. “The worst part was the centipedes. By the time my head cracked open I had basically lost it. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even scream. I just wanted it to be over.”
“It was a wretched thing to watch. That was the most afraid I had ever been.” Cyan sighed, fists balled tight. It had struck Blixer a couple weeks ago how alive they truly were when the two of them weren’t trying to kill each other. They hadn’t felt real when he was still in possession of the Treeangle piece, more like the idea of a guardian come to life. Now he could see the person beneath. “Perhaps I would’ve pitied you had I not been on the verge of death. As it was, I wanted to leave at any costs. Not very heroic, I’m afraid.”
“Hey, you had been through the wringer by the time I pulled that stunt. I don’t think anyone could blame you for that.”
“Perhaps.” It was hard to gauge what Cyan was feeling in the moment due to their lack of facial features, but they seemed deep in contemplation now. “I did not expect to come back to life.”
“Whatever bits of me were left didn’t expect it either. Or the lasers and the halo.” They laughed a little at that. Blixer, suddenly nervous, continued on. “It hurt, but nothing could be worse than being stuck as this thing for any longer. Gotta say, it was a bit of a relief that you were gonna blow me up. Shit, Cy, you looked like an angel, and there were worse ways to go than getting smited after everything I had done.”
Blixer remembered the final blow, sharp and piercing as the husk of his broken body shattered. He plummeted through the air, dazed and barely alive. Something above him was chasing him down, all blues and yellows and greens as its wings folded to its sides, arms outstretched. It was the last thing he had seen before it all went black, and when he woke up again he was alone in the forest. “I thought you were the most beautiful thing in the world.”
There’s a long pause as Cyan takes that in. “…I could say the same to you, although a different word would have to be chosen. Striking. Flashy, even. You were confident then, with your entourage there to back you up. I much preferred that to the weeping. You are an… interesting man, once someone gets to know you. I am glad I have gotten to.”
“You and me both, Cy.” Blixer was already on a roll with weird and personal questions, so he didn’t stop now. “Did it feel good having the Treeangle’s power?”
“It was magnificent. I didn’t have much time to reflect on it given the circumstances, but for a brief period of time I was invincible, I was unstoppable-“ There’s a sudden fervor in Cyan that surprises both of them, given how they pause and clear their throat. “It was for the best that I no longer bear such power. I suspect anyone would go mad with it.”
“I couldn’t see you as evil. You’re way too stuffy for that.” Blixer elbowed Cyan, who scoffed. “I just realized I never thanked you for saving me.”
“It was not as if I waited around for you to do so. Besides, I am dutybound to protect the denizens of Paradise. That includes you.” They looked a little embarrassed, moving their head away from him.
“I mean it, man. And thanks for checking in on me, even if it was only because you had to. It- uh, it means a lot to me. It gets lonely down there, so having you come by is… nice. Real nice. Super nice.” Blixer’s face flushed hot as he tripped over his words. Cyan didn’t seem to mind, chucking a little.
“About that.. Cube is throwing a party in a few days. I was wondering if you wanted to come over? It’s going to be small; no one outside of those I have met on my journey. I would enjoy your presence there. That is, if you wish to. If not, we can just meet next week.” They looked bashful, glancing at him as if trying to gauge his reaction.
Blixer didn’t deserve this. He didn’t deserve kindness or patience after everything he had done. He didn’t deserve Cyan, but there they were, waiting for his answer. Hope incarnate, shining their light onto him.
Maybe you couldn’t fix everything by just being sorry, but it was a pretty damn good first step.
“I’d love to.”