Skull Kid looked up into the sky. Clouds, as dark as night, blotted out the sun. They were biding their time, waiting to flood Termina with their downpour. Skull Kid did not want it to rain while he was in such a sad place. He rose from the hill where Tatl and Tael rested in an eternal sleep. They would never wake up, even though he desperately wanted them to. But Skull Kid knew he wouldn't get what he wanted. He was trash. Trash doesn't get what it wants. So he slowly dragged his feet out of Ikana Canyon. He felt like he had to force his feet to move. It took hours to simply get out of Ikana. When Skull Kid was almost out, he saw a circle of rocks. They were so perfect, a beautiful ring of stones. Skull Kid could tell the man sitting in the middle felt the same as he. The soldier waved at Skull Kid. Skull Kid gave a half-hearted wave back. He wished he could live like that man, exposed to nothing but rocks. But he wasn't. He had seen things. He had seen things like the gravestones of Tatl and Tael. He had seen things like the suicide of Czan. This soldier had seen none of that. Skull Kid suddenly felt strong feelings of scorn for the naïve idiot. Skull Kid thrust his head in the air. He had finally found someone he could look down upon. But then he realized that people at least treated the lonely soldier with respect. Skull Kid did not get such treatment. But he desperately wanted it. Czan had shown him how it felt to be accepted. And Skull Kid wouldn't leave such a life behind without a fight. He would make them like him. He didn't care what he had to do. He would be accepted. And he was prepared to make that statement into a reality. He walked faster than he had walked in a while. Maybe because now he had a purpose.
