VB!Foxillians: Terminus

Doloris Terminus

- Ernst's POV -

"It's done, boss. Vileper is dead." Emist says, slightly downcast as he and Vimaat enter the door.

"Wonderful! Where's Vagabond? I promised him a drink of Mango punch once this was all over" Tsenre said with excitement as he approached the door.

"Vileper is not the only one to have left us unfortunately." Vimaat said with sadness in her voice.

"Did you fire the shot?" Viper asked as she got close to the doorway.

"Didn't have to. You don't have to worry about the remains either. They were both consumed in an explosion." Vimaat says as Emist leans his rifle on the wall next to the door.

"He told me to give this to you if he didn't make it by the way." Emist says as he hands me a small cardboard box. "Don't know what's inside. He told me that he wanted Vimaat and I to be here when you opened it."

Sophie showed up and we all sat in the living room where Bleach and Stephen were patiently waiting. As I opened the box I pulled out a black object from inside of it. It was a voice recorder.

"Something tells me that this contains his last wishes, whatever they are." Sophie says as I put the recorder on the table.

"I guess you guys want me to play it?" I ask as I look around. Everyone nods in agreement. "Alright."

Click

"Hey there Ernst, Emist, Vimaat. I hope the rest of the skulk is here listening too. If you're listening to this, my fall back plan probably worked and hopefully Emist didn't have to take the dreaded shot."

He really was ready to die, huh?

"I know that the plan was for me to shoot and kill Vileper, and I wanted to stick to that plan too. Either way, that plan didn't work out and I still died. I won't know if I got to use my homemade nitro or not, but I should probably thank you all for helping me acquire the components, especially Tsenre and Emist."

"So he was serious when he said that he wanted to go out with a bang right from the start." Emist commented.

"Enough about me, I'm no longer here, neither is Vileper. Don't let our brief existence in your lives change you all drastically. Go back to living life the way you have. I do have a few more final messages though."

"First of all, Ernst. You'd better make sure to treat Sophie like the queen that she is. You never know when someone or something will take her from you. While you're at it, make sure you protect her from what I failed to protect her from. I was very happy to see that you and Sophie are living the life that I dreamed to live with Sophie. Keep living it for me. Oh and there's a photo in the box. Please take good care of it for me."

I pulled the picture out of the box. It was a picture of a Vagabond with a large smile on his face. Bleach and Sophie on either side of him posing for the photo. Sophie clung to me and hugged me as she looked at the picture. I hugged her as we continued to listen to the recording.

"Second, Tsenre. I sure hope you're listening, otherwise, you ought to let him hear this. I'm sorry for threatening your girl back at the tavern on day one. I'm glad that you managed to tame the wild snake. Be nice to her and don't let her go, alright? You're what's keeping the skulk together."

Viper hugged Tsenre who then got headpats from the former.

"Third, Emist. You've shown me what was possible if Sophie had not confessed to me before Viper did, and while it's not the ideal life I've come to grow attached to, it's still a beautiful one regardless. Treat Vimaat well and give her lots of headpats for me. Revenge for all the times she frightened me."

Emist's hand came to rest on Vimaat's. Vimaat stood there sadly and solemnly.

"Finally, Bleach."

I could sense a little bit of pain in his voice.

"You were my best friend. You were a fantastic wingwoman. I'm happy to see that my wingwoman has found a partner of her own. Tell that little brat Stephen to take good care of you alright? And tell him that I would've taken the opportunity to visit if I'd have made it. Both of you take care, that ramen shop has potential."

Bleach smiled, a small tear formed in her eye.

"Alright, I don't want to wake up Tsenre and Viper in the other room so I'm going to wrap this up. The pain of witnessing Sophie and Bleach die has taken too heavy a toll for me to continue on so if I'm going to go out, I'm making sure I don't leave any obligations unfulfilled. This is Vagabond, Signing out, now and forever."

As the recording then began to loop, I looked around the room. Tears have now begun to flow down from Emist and Vimaat's faces. Stephen just barely managing to power through.

"To think that an incident that sent both of them into our plane of existence would give us more reason to cherish our partners. To think that Ernst forgoing a single event would throw our world into complete chaos and instability." Tsenre said, breaking the relative silence of the room.

"Everyone to the kitchen please. I feel that it is a good idea to... drink to Vagabond's memory." Emist says as he pulls out a bottle of mango punch.

"To the memory of a good friend, may his soul find solace. Cheers!"

"Cheers!"

Everyone downed their shots, except for Tsenre. He went outside.

I followed him outside and watched as he poured out half of the glass before downing his drink.

"Ever heard of pouring one out for the ones we lost on the way?" Tsenre asked as he looked into the sunset.

"Yeah. I have."
"I owed Vagabond that drink. I sincerely hope he reunites with his Sophie."
"So do I Tsenre. So do I."