Legends of the Halcyon Era – A Turn For The Worst, Part 2: Farewell for a Friend

—–

Legends of the Halcyon Era

A Turn for the Worst, Part 2: Farewell for a Friend

by

David Oxford/LBD “Nytetrayn”

*****

Up on the surface, above the ruin Nytetrayn, Fenix, and Xenos were trekking through, Janine is keeping watch over a rattled and shaken Celeste, who had just been kidnapped by the Air Pirate and Fenix’s father, Trevor Creed.

As she looked around for any sign of trouble, she took note of her companion’s apparent despondency, sat down next to the girl, and put an arm around her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

Celeste paused, before she tried to get a response out. “I… I dunno,” she said, as she stared down at the ground. “Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“…what Creed said…”

Janine frowned. “What did he say?”

“He… just…” Celeste sighed, unable to get the words out.

Janine hugged her a little closer. “Just what?”

“How… pathetic I am…”

Janine raised an eyebrow in disbelief. “What?”

Celeste just lowered her head, and Janine shook her a little. “Come on, now. Seriously, you’re listening to him?”

“He’s right, though… You guys risked your lives, and I didn’t do anything but try and buy him off…”

“‘Buy him off’?”

“I… told him about what I can do… the refractors…”

“About how you can find them?”

Celeste nodded.

Janine frowned. “Did he hit you in the head or something?”

“He… kissed me…”

“Asshole. He would do that.” Janine shook her head. “But that’s not my point. Are you listening to what you’re saying? Are you drunk?”

“…no?”

“Seriously, listen to yourself. You think you’re pathetic because you didn’t fight him? Celeste, do you have any idea how much havoc I can cause? Do you know how much damage Fenix, Nytetrayn, and I combined can do? Now, think about what Creed did to us, and think whether or not you fighting him makes any kind of sense.”

Celeste nodded. “But… I didn’t… wasn’t even able to try… I cowered, even when Nyte… Nyte and you and Fenix were all…”

Janine sighed, and pulled Celeste into her lap. “Look, kiddo, we all are good at fighting. It’s what we do. You’re different. It’s just not in you. And frankly, that’s not a bad thing.”

Celeste sighed again.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of. What you just went through is the kind of thing women have nightmares about. What were you supposed to do?”

“You three nearly died for me, though. We don’t even know what’s happened down there. Why couldn’t I have been brave like that? Stood up to him…”

“I don’t know. Why didn’t you?”

Celeste winced, and forced herself to admit it. “I was too scared.”

“Anyone would be. Did you see the size of that guy? He’s probably like a tree trunk. That would not be fun.”

Celeste went quiet. She hadn’t even thought about that. She looked to the ruin gate, and decided to change the subject. “I hope they’re okay…”

“I’m sure they’re fine.”

***

“Well, this is a fine mess,” said Xenos.

Down in the ruin, Fenix, Xenos, and Nytetrayn were following the small trail of blood spatters down the tunnel that would lead them to Creed. Nyte didn’t reply to Xenos’ remark, and instead continued on with a look of fierce determination on his face.

“Speaking of Nyte’s love life,” said Fenix, “I see you had the guts to admit your love to a demented pirate, but still can’t tell Celeste.”

Nyte remained quiet.

“He still hasn’t told her?” asked Xenos. “Jeez, man.”

“Sad isn’t it? I mean, it’s obvious to everyone else…”

“Yeah…”

“I don’t even know,” Nyte said. “Just drop it, alright?”

“Don’t even know”? Fenix asked.

“What’s so obvious?”

“That the two of you like each other!”

“That you’re crazy for her!” Xenos added. “I left before long, and I still know!”

“…each other?” Nyte asked.

Fenix told him, “She doesn’t smile like that when she looks at me, dude.”

“Get her some roses and a buncha chocolate,” said Xenos. “If the roses don’t work, the chocolate’s always good.”

“…we’re… just friends…”

“…and don’t let her find the condoms in your wallet–” Fenix added, when he stopped what he was saying, as well as walking. “Woah, hold on.”

Nyte stopped.

“Oh god, hide the condoms. Girls have a condom-sense, I sa-” Xenos said, when he froze.

“You FREAKED out over this. You were all ‘I’ve gotta save her, Fenix, I gotta save her!’ You laid the smackdown on Creed and told him you loved her, and now you’re saying ‘we’re just friends’?”

Nyte wasn’t sure how to respond. “…I… was caught… in the moment…?”

After a pause, Xenos asked, “Can I kill him?”

“She’s terrified of ruins and Creed, so I was concerned…”

“CONCERNED!? I’ve been trying to kill that guy for YEARS! You opened a can of whoop-ass on him ON YOUR FIRST TRY!”

“Okay, kidd-o. You don’t just scream you love somebody because you’re caught up in the moment.. if it’s a fight. Now, sex is a different thing, but it’s not usually the guy doing that, y’see…” Xenos said, as he trailed off until Fenix gave him a sidelong glance. “…sorry.”

“You should be. That’s my line,” Fenix said with a chuckle.

Xenos grinned, when it finally dawned on him. “Wait, did you say he opened a can of whoop-ass on Creed?”

“Came a hell of a lot closer to it than I ever have.”

“…and I didn’t scream it,” Nyte muttered. “It was more like… a shout.”

Xenos and Fenix just looked at Nytetrayn, as if to say, “Really?”

“…I don’t know. I… just… Look, I wasn’t in my right mind when I said that. I don’t know the first thing about love, so how could I possibly say something like that, and mean it?” The pair continued to look at Nyte silently. “The whole idea’s still foreign to me, alright?”

“Love isn’t something you have to know about, it’s something you feel about,” said Fenix.

“Yeah. If you really know what it is, it’s not love. Fenix an’ I can tell you all about that aspect, but no, love’s something a bit more complicated.”

Nyte sighed. “I dunno. What if she really doesn’t feel the same way back?”

“What on Terra makes you think she wouldn’t?” Fenix asked. “You saved her life. Hell, you saved her life twice.”

Nyte thought back to some of Creed’s words. “I don’t know…”

“Nyte,” Xenos said, “once we get out of here with Creed’s head, you’re frenching Celeste, ‘kay?”

Nyte raised an eyebrow, and looked slightly perturbed, but quickly got back on track. “Speaking of Creed, the trail isn’t getting any warmer…”

“Well then, let’s get moving.”

Nyte nodded, and as they continued on, he thought about what Creed said, and decided that it didn’t matter. Whether or not Celeste were to put her life on the line for him was irrelevant; he did what he had to do.

The tunnel started to widen out, and got a bit brighter. There seemed to be a light source ahead.

***

Topside, Janine sighed, and hugged Celeste tightly to her.

“I’m just sorry this happened,” she said. “I never wanted you to have to get even an inkling of what that’s like. Creed put you through something he had no right to do, and it is in no way your fault. I just want you to realize that.”

Celeste just nodded.

“Besides. if you let him get to you, he wins. You wouldn’t want Nyte fighting so hard for you to be in vain, would you?”

“I… Nyte…”

Janine leaned back a little, and looked Celeste in the face. “Hmmm? Nyte? What about him?”

“Just… he was really fighting… for me? I mean, I know, but…”

“Damn straight, he was! He was getting you out of there, and there was no stopping him. Almost kicked Fenix’s ass to do it, too. He wanted to go after Creed on his own.”

“Yeah, but… I mean, he’d do that for anyone, though… right?”

“Anyone?” Janine shrugged. “I dunno. I think he might have listened to Fenix, otherwise. He wanted Creed to himself pretty bad, but he wouldn’t give up while you were down there. He was livid. He was… well…” Janine stopped herself from mentioning the eyes. Maybe that would be a little much to take in right now.

Celeste blinked. She hadn’t quite realized that Nyte felt that strongly about her. “He was really… all that, all because of me?”

“Oh, yeah,” Janine said. “All because of you.”

In that moment, Celeste’s concern for Nyte intensified.

***

The tunnel opened up into a huge, domed cavern. In the middle sat a tall pyre of rock, upon which sat a six-foot shard of crystal – a refractor. However, the refractor appeared to be dormant, while lamps set at the top of the cave shined down, bathing it in light.

“Hello, what’s this?” asked Nyte.

“This is interesting,” said Xenos. “You guys ever seen a dark refractor?”

“Nope,” said Fenix.

A familiar voice rang out. “Fascinating, isn’t it?”

“That voice… I know that voice,” said Nytetrayn.

The trio looked around for the source, and found Sherman East leaning against one of the chamber’s walls, wearing a simple black trenchcoat and a smile on his paled lips. “Hello, boys. Miss me?”

“Wait,” said Xenos. “Didn’t you die?”

East chuckled. “I find it immensely arrogant of you to believe that a being such as myself could see their end, thanks to the likes of you.”

“Well, that sucks.”

“For you, maybe.”

“I thought maybe all those things we found lying around made more of a difference, and… stuff.”

“I thought getting skewered by a refractor looked like it hurt like hell,” Nyte added.

“I must admit, I am impressed. You actually triggered a warp that sent my consciousness back into the dimension from whence it came. My body was almost totally destroyed in the process. I spent a long time in that otherworldly place, healing, regenerating, regaining my strength…”

“So what are you doing here?” Nyte asked.

“If you thought that it was beyond my ability to return to this frame of reference and exact my revenge, you were sadly mistaken.”

“Maybe we were hoping you were… above vengeance?” Xenos suggested.

“Actually,” Fenix chimed in, “we thought you’d rather run home to mommy and cry.”

“I mean, really, reveng– Fenix, you’re not helping.”

“Above vengeance? How silly. It takes a higher intelligence to even conceive of vengeance, after all. Vengeance is a really basic emotion, really; even the most primitive human understands it.”

“Yeah,” said Nyte. “Just ask Fenix.” The masked Digger gave Nyte the finger, to which he simply smirked.

Xenos continued, “I mean, how much grey matter does it take to get pissed and plot an infinite torture for someone who stepped on your foot? Or, in your case circuitry and programming and all that. Still, same thing.”

“Sadly, vengeance is an innately human trait… and no matter how expanded my consciousness becomes, it is still tied with my original programming… I am, at heart, still somewhat human.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. For what?”

“For conceding that I was right,” Xenos said with a grin. “You see? Doesn’t it feel good to admit having flaws and weaknesses? It’s the first step for recovery. Now, you see, a guy like me, I have tons of weaknesses: wine, women, gambling… and I like stealing things, too. But revenge? Psh.. What’s the point? I mean, if we really can’t do anything to you, why get revenge?”

“See, that’s the thing: If I do continue with my plan to take over the world, then eventually, you and that bitch are going to try to stop me. It suits my interests to stop you here and now, I think.”

Fenix raised his hand, and started bouncing up and down a bit. East looked at him, and rolled his eyes with a sigh. “Yes?”

“Actually, if you wanna take over the world, dude? I have no problem. Go for it.” Nyte elbowed him in the ribs. “What?! The man has ambition! You have to respect that, at least a little!”

While Nyte facepalmed, Xenos asked, “So, why all this talk about revenge?”

“Just because it’s necessary, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun.”

Nyte spoke up again. “Um, back to my original question: I didn’t mean, like, why are you here, in the realm of the living again. I meant more like, why are you here, in this particular ruin? Were you just waiting here, hoping we would show up, so you could (in theory) destroy us?”

East flashed a sinister smile. “Oh, my dear boy, no. Our meeting is mere serendipity, as now I get to kill two birds with one stone. Now, speaking of stones, what say you, we get this show on the road?”

“Show? What show?”

East floated up to the dark, irregularly-shaped refractor. Near the top were two bulges, which protruded from either side, and what looked like a metal handle stuck out of the top. “This show,” the Ancient replied as he grabbed the sword-like crystal by the hilt, bringing it to life. With that, the cavern was filled with an unholy emerald radiance.

***

Suddenly, Celeste’s eyes widened. This did not go unnoticed by Janine. “You okay?”

“Something… something’s going on…”

“What do you mean, ‘something’?”

“I… I dunno. I just started to feel… something. It feels like when I can sense a refractor, but…”

“But…?”

“…but it’s different, somehow.”

“Different, eh?”

“Yeah, like it’s… like it’s dark, or something.”

“Dark? How do you sense that something’s dark?”

Celeste shook her head. “I don’t know…”

“Hey, that reminds me… were you ever able to sense Adam’s refractor sword?”

“I don’t remember. I mean, with his sword, we didn’t even know what was going on at the time, and I just started being able to sense them.” She looked back to the ruin gate. “But this feels different from the rest… like, more twisted… like a bad feeling in your stomach…”

“How does it work, anyway? You being able to sense refractors, I mean.”

“It’s kind of hard to describe,” Celeste began, as she looked for the words. “I guess it feels kind of like a… a radar? It’s like…” Janine raised an eyebrow as Celeste struggled with how to describe it. “I… okay, imagine how if there are different lights around you, and you can see them, and the ones really close to you are more noticeable. Or sounds coming from different places. It’s… kinda like that? Only I’m not really seeing or hearing them, it just… feels like something else.”

“Wow,” Janine said. “That sounds kind of trippy.”

“Yeah.”

***

“Ah, of course!” Xenos shouted. “A refractor sword!”

“…a… what?” asked Nytetrayn.

“Brilliant! Use an energy source as a… as a… wait, wait, no…”

“Could have occurred to us a bit earlier,” Fenix said as East brandished the weapon with a thin smile.

“Actually, that’s kind of a stupid idea. I mean, practically speaking, these things aren’t that sturdy to begin with. And since they’re used as giant batteries of a sort, why make one that’s a sword?”

“Maybe it has something to do with being one of those ‘dark’ refractors,” Nyte suggested.

“The Ancients experimented with interdimensional travel on many occasions,” East said. “I am not the only result of such an attempt to reach new worlds. Other portals were opened, Some of the horrors that were unleashed would make even my fortress look tame…”

“More Lovecraftian novels?” Xenos asked.

“…and I can assure you, the Armageddon Shard is no mere sword.”

“Armageddon Shard?” Nyte asked. “Was that name given, or earned?”

East’s answer came in the form of a downward slash, which released a massive arc of energy that streaked towards the Diggers like a wave, tearing through the floor as it went. They quickly evaded the attack, as Nyte rolled to the side, and said. “…earned. Definitely earned.”

East flew towards Xenos. “You, with the big mouth! I think you’ll die first.”

Xenos pulled out his rifle and shot at East, while Nyte tried his luck with his Buster from behind, and Fenix attempted to draw a bead on him with his Plasma Caster. East merely raised his hand, which formed an energy barrier around him, and laughed as the shots pinged off. “Hm, that’s annoying,” said the Air Pirate.

“Kids these days,” East said, as he fired a beam of energy at Fenix, which blasted the ground below the masked Digger and flung him through the air with a loud, “OUGH!”

Xenos tried again, this time firing with both his rifle and his pistol. Unfortunately, all Sherman needed to do was whirl his sword in order to deflect the shots, before he hurled another arc of energy at the Air Pirate. Xenos scrambled to get out of the way.

Suddenly, Nyte leaped through the air from behind and delivered a kick to the Ancient’s spine, which sent him falling out of the air with a yelp, and he hit the floor on his feet, eyes ablaze. “That… was… RUDE!” East shouted as he spun, sending out a 360 degree wave of cutting energy outward.

East watched as Fenix and Xenos ducked beneath the chest-high attack, but noticed Nyte hadn’t landed yet. Instead, Nyte followed East down and delivered a two-handed clubbing blow, which snapped his head to the side. East turned towards Nyte, smiled, cracked his neck, and then hammered the stunned Digger in the stomach, taking the wind out of his sails as he doubled over with a loud grunt.

As Xenos put his rifle away and unsheathed his sword, he said, “Y’know… suddenly, I’m wishing Creed was here. He’d be handy, or something.”

“You think he’d help us?” Fenix asked incredulously, as he fired his Gatling Arm.

“I think he’d try and kill Sherman first, anyway,” Xenos said, before he charged and opened fire on East.

East ignored the energy shots from the pistol as they tore through his flesh, and nailed Fenix with another blast of energy. After letting Xenos get in a few shots, he fired a blast the pirate’s way, too, scorching his left leg as he dodged.

Meanwhile, Nyte stood, bent down, waiting for East to turn back in his direction. Once he did, Nyte charged forward and drove his shoulder into East’s midsection, and brought him down to the ground with a loud grunt.

“Spear! Spear!” Fenix shouted like a wrestling commentator, as he high-fived Nyte when he got back to his feet.

“Good!” East shouted. “But not good enough!” With that, he began to charge his entire body with a lightning-like power, forcing the three to keep their distance as he rose into the air again, cackling. “This is almost too easy! Seems you haven’t gotten much better since we last met…”

“It’s like riding a bicycle, you never forget,” Fenix said, before he nailed East with a grenade, which forced the super Reaverbot to stagger in mid-air, off-balance. Nyte quickly took advantage, as he jumped up and grabbed East by the ankles, and swung him into the central pillar, while Xenos discarded his sword and opened fire with both guns again.

“Gah!” shouted East, as he was summarily slammed and shot. Fenix unloaded a round from his shotgun, while Nyte added a few Buster rounds for good measure.

East rammed the Armageddon Shard into the ground, which unleashed a shockwave that spread across the entire floor and forced his opponents back. “Fools!” he exclaimed, as he ascended again, the emerald power coursing over his body seemingly healing his wounds. “I… am… IMMORTAL!!!”

Nytetrayn switched modes from Nyte Buster to Nyte Saber, and jumped in an attempt to lop off East’s sword hand. East parried the blow, and Nyte locked blades with the madman in the hopes of keeping him busy. East then smiled cruelly, as he sent a charge of power down the locked blades, and into Nyte’s arm. The Digger was blown back by the energy as a bolt of agony shot up through the appendage.

Xenos tried to fire on East again while he was distracted, but he simply took the shots with a laugh, and sent another wave of energy at the pirate, blowing him against a wall. “I know you can do better than that!”

“Ugh,” Nyte said, as he got to his feet. His right arm was now filled with a painful, tingling sensation.

Fenix loaded up his Plasma Caster with a shell, and fired again. “Tag. You’re it!” East let out a scream as the blast burned him, searing his flesh and tearing away his coat. Nyte joined in, as he activated his Gatling Buster and switched to Nyte Buster, and let loose with shots from both weapons.

East trembled in mid-air as the various shots hit him. “Dammit…! I’m getting sick of you…” he said, as he sent another blade of energy at Nytetrayn, his skin bubbling as it healed.

Nyte rolled out of the way, but grunted as his right arm hit the ground along the way. “The feeling… is mutual!”

East turned his attention towards Fenix. “Aw, fack,” said the masked Digger, as East was upon him in seconds. He slashed the weapon out of Fenix’s hand, and brought the point of the sword to his throat. Fenix froze, and glared at his assailant. “You hurt me,” said the Reanimator. “Now you die.”

“HEY!” came a booming voice, which echoed through the chamber. “Nobody beats on my boy but me!”

“What the…?” said Xenos.

“Hell of a sentiment,” Nyte muttered.

Trevor Creed leaped down from above, and slammed his beam saber into Sherman’s blade, shattering it like glass. Everyone else was stunned, not least of all East himself.

***

That included Celeste, up on the surface, as Janine noted her surprise. “What? Did I just grow a beard?”

“No… it’s gone now…”

“You mean the refractor?”

Celeste nodded.

Janine looked to the ruin. “I hope that’s a good sign…”

***

“…cool,” Xenos said, breaking the brief silence.

“What the…? Dammit!” yelled East, who backed away, notably on his feet now.

“Morons,” said Creed. “After all he said about the dumb sword, and you didn’t aim for it?”

“Well, I did…” said Nyte.

“Well,” added Xenos, “y’know, my weapons are mostly good for distraction against stronger opponents, so… yeah.”

Creed cheerfully waved his massive twin-bladed beam sword. “Mine’s bigger.” Nyte muttered something about how it was too bad his brain wasn’t, as well.

Meanwhile, Fenix took advantage of the distraction, and shot Sherman in the head with his Gatling Arm. The Reanimator hit the ground, bleeding. “F… you… FU–!” Nyte didn’t give him a chance to finish, leaping across East’s body and slashing his midsection diagonally with his Nyte Saber. Sherman screamed and coughed up blood as he was sliced messily in half.

“Bastards… it’s not… over yet…! Did you really think… I’d go after you… in such a weak body…?”

“Just die,” Nyte said.

East cackled, coughed a few more times, then laid still.

“…thanks.”

Fenix let out a snrk.

“Hm,” said Xenos. “So, is he coming after us in a super-armor next, or did he just think he was stronger than he really was?” Everyone looked around the chamber over the next few moments, but nothing happened. “Huh… guess it was the other one.”

Creed cracked his neck, and calmly sheathed his saber. “Well, that was interesting. Don’t see shit like that every day, no sir.”

Meanwhile, Nyte hadn’t deactivated his saber yet. “You seem casual all of a sudden…”

Creed raised an eyebrow at the Digger. “You got a problem, junior?”

“As I recall, you ran out on us…”

“Well, I was being shot at…”

Fenix growled.

“You’re scary,” Xenos said.

“Duh,” Nyte replied. “We were the ones doing the shooting.”

“Granted, I was the one with a giant tank made from Sealosian parts…” said Xenos.

“Seaslosian?” said Creed. “Really? I would have guessed Paulan.”

“Nah, had to go for Paulan bootlegs of Sealosian parts. I’m. Really. Broke.”

“Poor thing. Maybe you should stop, I dunno, warning people before you rob them?”

“I’ll try that. I have a history with these guys, so it seemed fair, though.”

Nyte grumbled.

“A history? Really? The boy didn’t try to kill you on sight?”

“Yeah… my crew was kinda stupid, and let them on my ship for breakfast. He didn’t learn I was a pirate until later.”

Creed stared at Xenos for a moment, dumbstruck, before he doubled over laughing. Nyte gave Fenix a “what now?” look.

Fenix racked a round into his shotgun. “I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna shoot him.”

“Works,” was all Nyte said, as he readied his Buster.

“…he just saved our lives,” Xenos said.

“He’s the reason our lives were in danger in the first–”

Before Nyte could finish, Creed casually raised his cybernetic arm, and blasted Fenix into the wall with a loud grunt. “Don’t sass me, boy.”

Nyte immediately fired on Creed, who leaped aside, converting his own arm into Buster mode.

“Okay, FINE,” Xenos said, as he threw his arms up in the air. “Get yourselves killed!”

“Oh yeah, you wanna save your girl’s honor, don’t you?” Creed taunted Nytetrayn. “Not like she has any to begin with…”

Nyte’s eyes narrowed. “Like you would know anything about honor…”

Creed chuckled. “I never claimed to have any.”

“You guys just live for hatred and murder, don’tcha? Well, here I go then!” With that, Xenos spun on his heel and started to leave.

“Hey!” Nyte shouted after the younger Air Pirate. “Don’t think we’re done with you yet, either!” Nyte fired the grappling line he’d integrated into his left gauntlet, and hauled Xenos back in with a yelp.

“You… don’t know… what hatred is…” Fenix sputtered as he got back to his feet, “until the day your mother… tells you… that the man you’re supposed to look up to… brutalized her…”

Creed snorted. “Still whining about that? My father wasn’t anything to look up to either, what makes you so special?”

Fenix’s eyes pulsed with a blood red glow. “YOU’RE NOT MY FATHER!” he shouted as he charged, swinging his twin beam sabers.

Creed raised his shields and blocked the attacks, laughing all the while. “You think it’s gonna help? You think any of this helps?!”

Over on the sidelines, Xenos said, “So what, you wanna kill me too, Nyte? I thought you were more civil than that.”

“Whatever. We’ll figure you out after we’ve taken care of Creed…”

“You’re nothing to me, and nothing compared to me, and until you stop comparing yourself to me, you’ll never be anything!” Creed shouted.

The only response Fenix could muster was, “SHUT UP!!!”

As Xenos looked on, he whispered to Nyte, “Is… Creed actually trying to be a dad?”

“I dunno,” said Nyte. “I mean… through cruelty and insults, yeah but… huh.”

With both sabers, Fenix stabbed into a single spot on Creed’s cybernetic arm, impaling it and shorting out one of the pirate’s shields. Creed let out a scream before he ripped the weapons from Fenix’s hands, grabbed him by the throat, and slammed him against a wall. Having seen enough, Nyte disengaged the line from his gauntlet and left Xenos tied up.

As he held Fenix against the wall by the throat and prepared a finishing blow, Creed told him, “I said I wouldn’t let him kill ya! I never said I wouldn’t!”

Before Creed could deliver his coup de grâce, Nyte came in from the side, ramming his shoulder right into the pirate’s midsection and forcing Fenix’s release. Creed stumbled with a yelp, as he held his wounded limb, just before Nytetrayn grabbed it by the wrist and drove an elbow down into the middle of his forearm.

The pirate let out a scream of pain, then delivered a knee strike at Nyte’s thigh. Nyte took the hit and was almost knocked back, but before that could happen, he wrapped his arm around Creed’s leg and flipped him over onto the ground by it. Creed landed heavily on the ground, stunned, as Nyte kept his grip on the leg by the foot, and dropped his elbow right into the side of his knee.

Creed screamed again, and as Nyte was getting back to his feet, he raised his hand, which now held a large pistol. After Nyte kicked the back of Creed’s knee, he grabbed the barrel of the pistol as Creed was about to fire and aimed it away, taking the blast in his shoulder instead. Nyte released the leg as he was blown backwards, tumbling across the ground from the shot.

Creed staggered back to his feet as Nytetrayn got to his knees, and holstered the pistol as he pulled out another weapon, a gun with a distinct design that looked much like Fenix’s. “I don’t like using this one… seems cheap to me,” he said, “but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

Meanwhile, Fenix groaned as he dragged himself back to his feet, and glared at Creed with all the hate he could muster. As he did so, he saw Nytetrayn pull something from his pack, though he couldn’t make out what it was.

The two opponents stared at each other from across the room, neither making any sudden moves. With the Plasma Caster aimed at Nyte, center mass, Creed said, “Now, are you gonna back off? Or do I have to get serious?”

Nytetrayn quietly kept his eyes trained on Creed for several moments, until he finally broke the silence. “Bite me.”

Creed moved to fire, but before he could finish squeezing the trigger, Nyte whipped his special trap-activating ball right into the barrel, jamming the gun and making it backfire. Creed shouted as the weapon exploded in his hand and threw him to the floor in a heap.

The ball bounced everywhere, all across the room at various angles and high speed. Like a rubber bullet, it struck the four occupants a time or two before proceeding to its next destination. “Yikes!” shouted Xenos, as it narrowly missed him on one pass, whereas it smacked Fenix right in the forehead of his helmet, and sat him down hard. Creed let out a grunt after it hit him, and even Nyte was taking care to use his arms to protect his head.

“Geh… I tell ya,” Creed said, as he pushed himself to his feet, displaying a slight limp. “Kids these days…”

As Fenix struggled to his feet and saw Creed start limping towards the exit, he shouted, “Don’t you dare…!” before he fell back to his knees, panting and unable to stand. Creed ignored his son, and kept walking, as Nyte looked on.

“Nyte… stop him, damnit…!”

Nytetrayn raised his Buster, wincing as he did so, and fired a couple of shots at Creed, but they missed. Creed paused, and glanced back at Nyte with a smirk as the Digger looked on. “You know, if I were you, I’d tell her before someone else tried to take her away again…”

Nyte didn’t have a retort for that. Creed chuckled, and kept walking. Nyte wondered for a moment if such advice was a show of respect, a warning, or something else. As he pondered it, Creed disappeared into the shadows, with only his laugh trailing along after him, and even that faded eventually.

Fenix sank back down to his hands and knees, still short of breath.

Nyte held up his hand and caught the ball as it was about to pass by, then put it away and got to his feet. He slowly moved over to Fenix to help him up, his right arm hanging a bit. Fenix’s head hung low, and his body trembled as he staggered to his feet. “C’mon,” said Nyte, “it’s time we got out of here…”

Fenix pushed away from Nyte, and after a moment, stood on his own, though he swayed a bit on his feet. Nyte looked at his comrade in confusion. “You okay…?”

“I’m fine,” Fenix said, as he turned to leave.

“Okay…” Nytetrayn said, before he headed over to Xenos and picked him up by the line that kept him bound. “Hi~” said the pirate. “That ball really hurt, you know?” Nyte smirked, and followed Fenix with Xenos in tow.

Some time later, back at the elevator, Nyte said, “Going up…”

Fenix just grunted.

***

“Hey!” said Janine. “I think I hear the elevator!”

Celeste perked up upon hearing that, and soon, the elevator arrived at the top. Nyte stepped out, put Xenos on the ground, and told Janine, “Brought you a present.”

“Nyte!” she said. “You’re okay! And… you have Xenos?”

Fenix stumbled out of the elevator after them, and leaned heavily against the outside of the gate.

Celeste ran up to Nyte, and hugged him tight. “Aah, whoa, easy there,” he said. “Damaged goods, here…” He was a little dumbfounded by Celeste’s reaction. “You okay…?”

Celeste just nodded in response.

“Hey, Nyte, remember what I said ’bout as soon as we got out of the ruin?” Xenos said.

Janine smiled at Celeste, then turned to Fenix. “You okay, kiddo?”

“…I will be.”

“I’m just glad you’re bo–er, the three of you are okay,” Celeste said.

Nyte awkwardly patted her on the back. “Sure you’re alright?” he asked.

“Yeah… now,” she said, as she let Nytetrayn go. A strange feeling washed over Nytetrayn, as seeing her warm smile made him forget about the pain he was in, at least for the moment.

As Nyte still tripped in his mind over what to say to her about the whole thing, Janine smiled widely at the two of them. Fenix noted the look on the young Digger’s face as well, chuckled, and reached over to pat him on the head. “No more I can teach you, young Padawan. You know what you must do. And if you don’t, you’re in trouble.”

Nyte looked at his partner, at a loss for words.

“C’mon, Jan. Let’s take Xenos home and have some fun.”

“Yeah,” Nyte said. “Home sounds good right about now.”

Janine picked Xenos up by the grapple line as the Air Pirate grunted, and helped Fenix walk off, with Nytetrayn and Celeste following.

“Jan,” said Nyte, “why don’t you show Xenos a good time tonight? All night…”

“Can’t I go back to my ship?” the pirate asked. “Please?”

“…no,” said Nytetrayn.

Fenix and Janine turned and gave Nytetrayn the scariest pair of glares he’d ever seen.

“…what?”

“Hey! Padawan! Make with the Jedi shit like me and Xenos taught ya!”

As Nyte looked back with a confused look on his face, unsure of what they meant, Janine asked Xenos tearfully, “What, you don’t want to spend the night with me?”

“That part’s cool with me,” the pirate said. “I’m just scared about what the kid’s plotting…”

Fenix glanced back and saw Nytetrayn’s confounded expression and winced. “Tell her, dumbass.”

“Oh. Er…” Nyte said, as he turned a few different shades of red. “Yeah, about that… when Creed kicked our asses and took off with you… um… I kinda… was worried… there… y’know, because… nothing bad… I didn’t want… to happen… and the thing about that is… um… well… what I mean to say is…”

Nyte started to sweat by this point, as he tried to continue on – something he didn’t even do when fighting Creed.

From afar, Fenix shouted, “The words you’re groping for, dumbass, are ‘I love you!’”

Janine squealed. “He said that!? How sweet!”

Nyte went from red to crimson in half a second. “Um… y-yeah… th-that…”

Celeste looked away and turned a little red herself, then gave Nyte a hug in response.

***

Back at the apartment, Fenix and Janine took Xenos to their room to introduce him to Jan’s new toy. The Air Pirate screamed like a frightened schoolgirl, and Janine cackled hysterically amidst several cracking sounds.

Meanwhile, Celeste and Nytetrayn sat on the living room sofa, the latter smiling as he listened to Xenos’ cries. He laughed out loud when Janine shouted, “Now, tell me you’re Dracula!”, followed by a whip crack. “Tell me!”

Celeste was sitting a little closer to Nyte than usual, and asked, “So… you really went nuts when Creed had me?”

“Well, kind of… yeah.”

“Next time, I’m not going to give you any warning when I show up!” Xenos shouted.

“Hey, Jan!” Nyte yelled towards the bedroom. “Show him what ‘no warning’ is really all about, huh?”

“I can’t believe he tried to rob you guys right in the middle of your fight,” Celeste said.

“Who knows what evil lies in the hearts of men?”

***

Xenos suddenly woke up to see everyone around him on the living room sofa.

“You alright?” Nyte asked. “Jan says you passed right out after she whipped one of the candles out.”

“You look a bit pale,” a worried Celeste added, as she readied a damp cloth.

Janine felt his forehead. “You don’t feel feverish…”

“And you were screaming ‘Not the holy water! Not the holy water!’ quite a bit while you were out,” Nyte said.

Fenix added, “Scared the bejeezus out of poor Cel, you did.” Celeste nodded, as she applied the cloth to Xenos’ forehead.

“I wanted you to think twice about sticking us up in mid-battle next time,” Nyte said, “but damn! I didn’t know you’d be such a wuss about it.”

“I’m going to kill you,” Xenos said. Nyte stared back, blankly. “And how. The hell. Was I. Supposed to know?!”

“Well incidentally, since when do you go into ruins for that stuff, anyway? You hated digging!” Nyte said. “So, how about we just call it even? You tried to stick us up, we scared the life out of you. Seems fair.”

“I do. But as I said about thirty times: I’m desperate.”

“What about selling some of your cars?”

“They got wrecked.”

“Ouch.”

“The rest I already sold.”

“Have you thought about opening a department store?”

“And how was I supposed to know you guys were fighting Creed, anyway? I asked that about a dozen times by now, but you just keep on cursing me out for trying to rob you in the middle of the fight.”

Nyte shrugged. “Well, yeah. And you could’ve just backed out when you saw.”

“Hey, I was shooting at Creed there! Sorry if machine guns aren’t the most accurate weapons!”

“So,” Fenix interjected, “as Nyte said, let us call it even. I think the sight of Janine handling a long, tanned strip of leather the way she does would be punishment enough for trying to rob people”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” asked Janine with a tearful expression.

“So, whaddya say?” Nyte asked Xenos. “…alright,” the Air Pirate replied, and Nyte gave him a hand up.

With that, Fenix slung a large duffel bag over his shoulder.

“Fenix?” Nyte asked. “What’s with the luggage?”

“Hm?” the masked Digger asked. Nyte pointed to the bag on his shoulder, as Celeste and Janine turned their attention towards their friend.

“Yeah.. about that…” Fenix said, as he shifted a little. “Nyte, you remember how when we first met, I was a bitter loner, seeking to hunt down my truant father and seek revenge?”

“…yeah…” Nyte said, as he and Celeste looked at each other for a moment, then back at Fenix.

“Well… look. It’s been fun kicking around with you guys, but I’m starting to think maybe it’s time to get back to that. Creed kidnapped Celeste, and beat the crap out of all of us, and kidnapped Celeste, and I couldn’t do jack. It’s time I found out why.”

“Wait, you mean you’re…”

“As corny as it sounds, I need to train, or something. And with you guys around, I can’t concentrate on what I have to do… so I’m leaving.”

Celeste frowned, and Janine just nodded, as she had gotten this speech last night.

“Where are you going to go?” Nyte asked, a sound of uncharacteristic uncertainty creeping into his voice.

“I dunno yet. Right now, I’ve got a ticket back home. I’ll probably kick around there for a while, but eventually I’m going to have to hunt Creed down again.”

“I see…”

“It’s not going to be the same around here without you, Fenix,” Celeste said sadly.

“Awww, c’mere, Cel,” Fenix said, as he gave her a hug, and she hugged back.

“Uhm… can I go back to my ship now?” Xenos asked.

“Huh?” Nyte said, barely paying any mind to the Air Pirate. “Oh, sure, go nuts.”

“I’m gonna miss you guys,” Fenix said. “But don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

Nytetrayn nodded. “Good luck…”

Fenix patted Xenos on the head, gave Janine a goodbye kiss, and, after a moment of deliberation, dropped his bag and hugged Nyte mightily. Nyte was stunned for a second, but then returned the gesture.

“See you around,” Fenix said, as he picked up his bag.

“Bye, Fenix…” said Celeste, while Janine’s lip trembled.

“Seeya…” Nyte said, as Fenix walked out the door, with it closing behind him. “…old friend.” He let out a deep sigh.

Celeste gave Nyte a hug, which he returned, and Janine joined in, trying awkwardly to bury her face in the much shorter pair’s chests, sobbing. After a moment of that, she instead settled for a group hug.

“So…” Xenos said, as he rubbed the back of his head. “I’ll, uh, be going, then…”

“Yeah, sure,” said Nyte. “Later, Xenos.”

“See you around Xenos,” Janine said between sniffling. “And if you ever want some company some night…” she added with a roguish wink.

“Right,” Xenos said, and then departed with a nod.

To be continued…

—–

Legends of the Halcyon Era is a work of fan fiction set in the world of Mega Man Legends. It is largely adapted from a series of freeform RPG sessions, combining ideas from several contributors, and further fleshed out here in a prose format.

David Oxford, also known as LBD “Nytetrayn,” is a lifelong Mega Man fan who, along with his wife Nadia, has co-written the Mega Man Robot Master Field Guide and Mega Man X Maverick Hunter’s Field Guide from UDON Entertainment, and runs The Mega Man Network (themmnetwork dot com). You can also find him on Twitter @LBD_Nytetrayn and @themmnetwork, and on Twitch and YouTube under the name “Nyteworks.”

You can also find Legends of the Halcyon Era as it updates at Archive of Our Own.

Character designs by LBD “Nytetrayn” and Victor Campan. Character art by Victor Campan. Logos by Tabby Ramsey. Arrangement (and Fenix’s helmet in the cover art) by LBD “Nytetrayn”.

Thanks for reading!