Litvir had briefly forgotten where he was, which had made both waking up, the banging on the door and the suddenly being thrown out of bed somewhat terrifying. Luckily, Litvir managed to roll over and avoid bashing his head on the nearby bedside cabinet, but still, that was not a good way to wake up, especially after a rather wonderful night.
The banging continued for another second or so before the bedroom door burst open, revealing the being behind the noise.
“Get up, you two.”
Galyn seemed very unamused at the sight of Retvik and Litvir, both indecent and definitely in need of a wash. While Litvir tried to pick himself up, Retvik immediately called out Galyn’s unsavoury mood.
“You look grumpy and seem unhappy with us. Did we do something wrong?”
Galyn grunted, looking away. “I have no problem with you both having intercourse but I would appreciate you both keeping your emotions outside of the telepathic and audible spectrums so I do not have to listen to you. I need you both up and dressed. Arkay is back.”
Retvik glanced down at Litvir in surprise, then turned back to Galyn, only to find that the hulking Decay Lord was gone. Galyn was stomping down the hallway towards the cargo bay, where his sensors had detected a large bang and some creaking. The security network had already informed Galyn who was making the noise, he just had to make sure that there wasn’t too much of a mess.
As Galyn stepped into the cargo bay though, there was barely any mess at all. From his first glance at the scene, he could tell that Arkay must have flown into the outside of the cargo bay door, opened it from the outside then closed it again, before stumbling into a pile of dirty linen that someone (probably Litvir) had left there instead of washing. Faint whimpers could be heard briefly, which abruptly stopped as they realised Galyn could see them.
“How was your trip, Arkay?” Galyn asked as he approached slowly. Arkay wriggled around, before sitting up, sighing. There was a golden shimmer across his body. Blood, but not his own.
“I killed him.”
“Are you well?” Arkay’s statement was concerning, but Galyn needed to make sure that Arkay was safe and secure first. He wandered over to where Arkay was sitting, and offered his had to him.
“Not… really.”
“Do you need help?”
Arkay looked up at Galyn, then took his hand. To his surprise, Galyn immediately picked him up and hugged him tightly, despite the fact that he was covered in gold blood. Arkay tensed up at first, but slowly started to relax, hugging Galyn back.
“I don’t know if I did the right thing…” Arkay eventually muttered.
Galyn tutted, holding Arkay in his arms as he led him out of the cargo bay, down the hallway and into the kitchen, where he sat Arkay down at the table, then proceeded to hand Arkay a packet of wet wipes, before heading over to the fridge.
“I am sure you did the right thing.”
“I don’t know though.”
“Well…” A sandwich appeared in front of Arkay. Galyn sat down opposite him with a sandwich of his own. “Why not talk me through your thoughts?”
Arkay eyed the sandwich, then Galyn, then the sandwich again, before eventually picking it up and taking a bite.
“He made my life a misery. He made everyone’s lives a misery. He would have killed them all if I hadn’t killed him.”
Galyn shrugged. “Sounds like you did the right thing.”
“You think?”
Galyn leaned across the table, smiling. “Of course. You went back and saved an entire universe that hated you. Again. Could have left all of those assholes to screw each other over, but you returned and saved them all. Except the Void Lord, I assume.”
Arkay looked down at himself. He was still covered in a thin layer of blood.
“He deserved it, did he not?”
“Yeah…” Arkay nodded. “He killed… so many… Nearly every friend I ever had…”
“So your problem is not that you killed him, but why you did not kill him sooner…” Galyn frowned. “That is… understandable. But what is done is done, and now everyone will be better off, yes?”
“Yeah…”
Before Galyn could continue with his wise words, banging could be heard. Heavy feet stampeded down the hallway and into the kitchen.
“ARKAY!” Retvik and Litvir both shouted at the same time, barging past Galyn. “YOU ARE BACK!”
Arkay smiled weakly, only to be completely bowled over by his fellow Decaylings, who were both hugging him tightly.
“We were worried about you!” Retvik beamed. “We missed you!”
“I missed you too…” Arkay sighed, hugging them both back.