It was getting late and everyone else was heading off to bed, but Elkay was sitting on the small beach, watching the waves from the weird, nonsensical lake that made up about a quarter of the floating island of Savepoint. Should there have even been waves? Elkay wasn’t sure, especially since there was no moon at Savepoint, it was literally just a massive rock that had been terraformed by a Life Goddess. Elkay also quickly noticed something else, the sound of footsteps. He rarely had actual time to himself these days, but since Elkay knew who the footsteps belonged to, he didn’t mind too much.
“Nervous?” Vikalos asked as he sat down next to Elkay.
“No, actually.”
Vikalos would check in on Elkay on the regular. More so than he did with everyone else. Elkay often wondered why, and he was under the impression that Vikalos harboured some guilt of his own. Apparently, when Arkay had been sent away, back when he was a Decay Lord and not a trapped deity, he had been under Vikalos’s care in a Deathven sector, and had been slowly improving himself. Up until Arkay had been (apparently forcibly) removed from Vikalos’s care, and not too long after, Arkay doomed himself.
“You’re not nervous?” Vikalos seemed surprised at Elkay’s answer.
“Why would I be nervous?”
“It’s your big day tomorrow. One of the bigger days of your life.”
Elkay shrugged. “It is an important day, yes, but not one to stress over. Everything has been arranged, everything is sorted, the majority of the guests will be arriving tomorrow. My only concern is whether Teekay is happy or not, but I am pretty sure he is. And everyone has been oh so kind to us, helping us sort out this wedding.”
Vikalos smiled. “It has been nice, seeing everyone work together. While I enjoyed working with Decaylings in Deathven, this feels like a nice, big family and I missed it. Admittedly, towards the end of the old Thantir days, that family feeling fell apart, but Retvik and Litvir have done a great job rebuilding. And Kal, bless their little non-existent hearts, have helped massively. I feel a bit bad for not inviting them to be official members sooner.”
“Why did you not offer sooner?” Elkay asked. “You clearly have known them for a while.”
“They’re former Metrum. The Metrum did not… go down nicely. Those who stuck around were left with a bit of a stigma and were considered difficult to work with. And when Kal shared Tah and Leh’s old, broken bodies, they were indeed grumpy and difficult. Also we… caught them illegally synthesizing drugs a few times, which I never understood because they can’t actually take drugs…” Vikalos paused briefly. “I just realized, you younger Thantir won’t recall when Kal weren’t six separate individuals. Same with Litvir. I think only Retvik and Arkay briefly met them when they used that mess of a red robot body.”
“Huh. Well, I would not blame them for being grumpy. Considering all the good they’ve done though, I… I always pick up a lot of guilt from them.”
“What do you mean?”
Elkay sighed. “Ever since I became a Divine Guardian, even when I turn off my telepathy, I constantly pick up on everyone else’s emotions. And underneath Kal’s emotions, they always feel a vast amount of guilt. I think they want to make up for what they did, but are trying to do so quantitatively.”
“I will be blunt, MOST Decay Lords harbour a lot of guilt. Our homes were destroyed, and often we are part of the reason as to why they were destroyed.”
“Maybe, but I pick up a lot of guilt from Litvir as well, when he’s not actively shielding his emotions. And, by the Light, that Letharus, he is filled with guilt, even if he has overcome a lot of it and has found some semblance of peace.” Elkay frowned. “I pick up on everyone’s negative emotions. It can be draining at times because I know there is little I can do to help. It is why I often come out here on my own.”
“Perhaps you should speak to Litvir. Or Eksi. Or even Letharus. Let them help you with your ever-expanding powers…” Vikalos paused, then smiled. “I still maintain that you ought to… rename yourself based on your empathy.”
“I do not want to rename an entire species myself. Even if I seem to be one of only two active Amalgam Mimics… I will be honest though, I do somewhat wish Arkadin was here. He… he got me and Teekay together. He also got Retvik and Gath together. And, I guess, Retvik and Litvir. Always tried to make everyone else happy. I think that rubbed off on Litvir too because now Litvir tries to make everyone happy, despite him being an utter asshole when he was mortal.”
“Litvir is self-aware though.”
“He is…” Elkay sighed some more. “Litvir has, weirdly, gone above and beyond what I expected of him. Teekay and I are discussing doing something nice for Litvir as a thank you for all the stuff he has done for us for our wedding. And with…” Elkay paused, then glanced at Vikalos. “Why are you here and not with Galyn and Itaviir?”
“What do you mean?”
“They are waiting for you.”
Vikalos blinked. “I… still don’t understand.”
“Ugh, my telepathy is playing up again and I think I am accidentally borrowing things from Eksi or something. But you keep on leaving Itaviir and Galyn to do their thing and they think you are avoiding them.”
“Oh…”
Before Vikalos could say anything though, something orange sparkled in front of them. Out of the sparkles, Teekay teleported into view, and he quickly spotted Elkay and threw himself onto Elkay’s lap.
“Hey, babe! I was looking for you!”
Elkay immediately smiled and gave Teekay a hug. “Sorry, I needed to clear my head a little.”
“No worries! I was just wondering if you wanted to sleep in my bed tonight.”
“I thought the bride and groom were supposed to not see each other before the wedding?” Vikalos asked. “Or was it not seeing each other in your wedding clothes?”
“You see, Tenuk mentioned that to me, and I told him that was fucking stupid!” Teekay tutted. “Anyway, Elkay, my angel, we should go to bed. We got a big day tomorrow. Dunno if I’m going to be able to sleep from the excitement, but we have to try.”
“Oh, my dearest, it will be the best day!” Elkay grinned as he climbed to his feet and scooped Teekay up into his arms. “You are right, we should try and sleep. Have a good evening, Vikalos.”
Vikalos smiled and waved as the couple wandered off. “Good night, darlings.”