Chapter Text
FINAL CHAPTER
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Sleeping in my own bed after months of living in the fortress almost made me uncomfortable. There was no constant hum of machines, no footsteps trying to silently slink down the hallway, no sound of the ocean rolling against the rocks in the distance.
Replacing the sounds now with things that I’d forgot to miss. The old grandfather clock down the hall from my wifes father, dutifully keeping time while the house had been absent. Branches of the overgrown tree beside my bedroom window occasionally buffing against the house, another activity to add to the clean up chore list. Soft conversations sneaking their way up into my room from the lab down below, both my boys and the others comforting and caring for each other. Well, I guess that wasn’t so different now was it.
If you’d asked me four months ago how I expect the return home to look like this certainly wouldn’t have been my ideal description. My world had been turned upside down and flipped right back around to where this almost felt normal. I suppose this was just the tail end of the whole ordeal now. Things should start feeling normal again soon enough.
I’d heard from almost all of my contractors already, full of concern and curiousity for their respective bots. Pharaoh’s work family had been the most concerned, they even offered to fly over here to see him. I’d told them all that each of my boys would be back to work as soon as they were able to, but not to rush it. We had a lot to discuss as a family, and a lot of healing to do together.
I guess I was most concerned for Skull and Ring though. The thought had crossed my mind of putting them offline or shut down until I could find them a job, but it made me sick to my stomach imagining either of those scenarios. Slim chance I’d put either of them offline, they were both such lovely boys once you got around their shells. Both of them deserved a fair chance at finding a place for themselves.
Next, was probably going to be Dust and Pharaoh. I wasn’t exactly sure what the relationship status was with both of them, but I’d heard through the local gossip that both of them had become ‘very good friends’ with some of the third line. I imagine that’s why the third line was all here now. If they’d each found someone they cared about, then who was I to oppose them? Unfortunately, that sentiment might not be so well received with others. Both of them had really good work families, but I wasn’t sure how lenient they’d each be. As long as they knew I’d support them that’s all that mattered to me.
Last, and certainly not least, my beautiful baby Kalinka. How was she going to go back to a normal life? She had missed so much while she was gone. So much schoolwork, all her friends from class, dance recitals, birthday parties...And her family. I hadn’t seen her in what felt like ages. We had barely even had a chance to talk yet, at least have a real conversation. Not that she was quite in the mood yet to talk about what had happened while we were apart.
She’d been safe though. She was never in any real danger I don’t think. The Wily bots would never let here get into trouble, or willingly put her in any sort of danger. I knew they took great care of her, and she was obviously quite fond of all the Wily bots in return. They all simply adored her, I don’t think I’d ever have to worry about her around the Wily bots again.
What about me...was I still going to pretend the Wily bots were all domination driven machines? Was I supposed to continue on as if they hadn’t changed my life? Where would I be standing now if I had just left my boys with Wily as he’d first requested? Would everything have turned out okay? Would my boys have been returned to me, or would they have been torn apart with the same amount of mercy shown to the Wily bots? I’d like to believe they would have come back, but who knows what would have happened to them if I hadn’t originally offered to stay with them.
Slowly, the sound of light footsteps approached my room before the door softly creaked open. Sitting up in the dim light I could see Kalinka silhouetted by the hall light behind her.
“I can’t sleep...” She was so soft spoken, almost whispering.
“Me either, come here.” I said as I patted the bed beside me and fluffed up the blankets a bit.
She quickly made her way under the safety of the blankets. I pulled her in snuggly beside myself as I lied back down.
“...I miss Star...” Kalinka admitted quietly as we settled down.
I truthfully wasn’t expecting that. I’d known the fifth gens were taking care of her, but I didn’t know how close she was with them. I should have assumed as much, she was a sociable kid.
“Did you like him?” I asked vaguely to see if she was in the mood to talk.
“He was really nice. He took care of me a lot more than the others.” She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. “He was so sad though.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I think sad that I was going to leave. He was so scared when Rock came to get me.”
Understandably so; I’m sure Wily had filled his boys with horror stories of the blue bomber. At least they were cautious.
“He said he would come and visit me once he had his fight with Rock...but, I don’t want him to get hurt.” Her eye welled up with tears almost instantly.
“Shh, shh. It’s okay. I’m sure he’ll be okay. And I’m sure he’ll come and visit you.” I flat out lied. If Rock’s aggressive performance this go around was anything to compare he might actually be getting progressively more violent. I had no idea what he’d do to the newest Wily boys, but I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty.
“But what if he DOES get hurt?”
“He has a big family to help him, and Wily will fix him up.” I tagged that last bit on, but remembered the original state we’d seen his boys in. “And, when he does come to visit, we can take care of him too.”
“Really?” He teary eyes looked so hopeful.
“Absolutely, I mean, it’s about time I started teaching you how to take care of your brothers. And if Star’s going to be visiting you should know how to take care of him too.” I smiled at her as her frown disappeared.
We were both interrupted by another small knock on the door as it creaked open. I wasn’t expecting Ring, but I suppose the living room might have still been too lively to sleep in.
“Oh...sorry, I’ll go to Pharaoh’s room...” he sounded so sad.
“Oh come on, there’s plenty of room. Come here.” I floofed out the other side of the blanket and shuffled over a bit to make room.
He didn’t snuggle up like the others, but he did make himself comfortable.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Kalinka asked as she wiped the last streaks of tears away.
“...yeah. It’s so quiet here.” He smiled at her softly as she climbed over me to lie between the two of us instead.
“Oof, Kalinka.” I moaned as she kneed my stomach. “It is pretty different. You can stay here tonight if you like.”
“Thanks, Dad.” He waited awkwardly as Kalinka settled in again before putting his head back on the pillow.
“You two get some sleep now, goodnight.”
“Goodnight, papa.”
“Goodnight, dad.”
I put my head down, looking for a moment at my two children. I doubted I’d get any sleep with the two of them here, but I’d rather have them here than be uncomfortable by themselves. Things were rocky with Ring at the start, but I was glad to see that he came around in the end. And I was equally as happy to see how much Kalinka already liked him. It was starting to feel almost normal again.
Nothing would even be exactly normal again, but this new normal was really growing on me. This might be better than where we left off. No, it was absolutely better than when we left. I closed my eyes with a content smile, finally feeling like everything was going to be alright.