Forever Elysium Bound

Brokenly back together

For Rufus, life had started over for him. He knew nothing with only one person to trust at the start, yet he felt it really was ok to trust him, maybe he really was his dad. Gizmo though had began going around town, telling everyone to absolutely not mention anything about Rufus' real past, for it might hurt his mental healing process and cause him to go insane again. Everyone was for the idea, though they were still a bit afraid of what Rufus could still do so they tend to keep their distance. Rufus just sees this as most of the town likes to keep to themselves.

It had been a year since Rufus forgot who he was and things had changed greatly, though yes he was still a bit of a walking tornado, he never did it with harsh intent of any kind anymore. He was trying to be helpful in fact as Gizmo was teaching him how to take over the job of being the town doctor, fireman, and policeman. Of course everyone was concerned at first about it but Rufus wasn't aloud to do any of it on his own, always with Gizmo by his side. And those two were even forming a nice relationship of their own. Gizmo felt like he actually had a son that he wanted to care for and help grow, and Rufus felt like he had a really caring father.

One day though, things began to turn sour. Rufus accidentally began a fire in city hall, but to be fair the candle and gasoline should not have been that close to each other, that is just a safety hazard. But of course Rufus' favorite little buddy Wenzel was not letting him hear the end of it.

"Really Rufus, I don't think a fireman is supposed to start fires."

"Oh will you cut it out already Wenzel, I told you it was an accident, and lit candles and gasoline just shouldn't be close together in the first place."

"Well any smart person would have not knocked both of those over."

"A smart person would have not put them near each other in the first place."

"You can say that all you want but that doesn't change that you did something really stupid."

"You know I just wish there was an off switch on you that I could punch to make you shut up."

"Oh and now you are being a horrible police officer by threatening violence on the innocent, what's next, you'll mess up being a doctor too?"

"Can you just can it for once, god you are so annoying."

"Oh Rufus, you never change, no matter how much you forget."

"... and just what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh whoops ... well I already spilled it, might as well say the rest." Wenzel then went on to explain what Rufus used to be like before the memory loss, how he used to be much worse yet still hasn't changes. How the only thing that has changed was that he stopped being crazy. Of course Rufus couldn't just believe this, how could anyone believe this, no one could ... but he couldn't shake the stupid idea from his mind. Later that day Rufus goes into Gizmo's office and starts trying to look for that tape recorder Wenzel mentioned, if he couldn't find it then that is proof that Wenzel is just lying. However though Gizmo catches him in the act.

"Rufus, what are you doing rummaging through everything?"

"... Dad, you wouldn't lie to me right?"

"Of course not."

"Then is there a tape recorder in here?"

"Now what's with the sudden question?"

"You're not answering me."

"Well I won't answer until you do."

"Alright fine, well it's just that Wenzel started saying how apparently in the part of my life I don't remember I was much worse with the danger I caused. That I did it out of malice to get what I want. That you aren't my dad and that I went crazy before I lost my memories. Of course I don't believe him but ... it never hurts to be extra sure right?"

"Right ... Rufus, I need you to listen carefully and calmly to what I'm about to say."

"Wait so he was telling the truth?!"

"... Yes Rufus, what he said is true, that was who you used to be but that isn't who you are now." Rufus was basically ignoring the nice words because now he was pissed. His life was a lie and Gizmo is the one that made it that way.

"Where the hell is that damn tape recorder?"

"I will not tell you, if you listen to it you might relapse back into your insanity."

"But those are MY words, those are MY memories, I should be able to know them!" 

Rufus then began basically tearing the place apart to find it, he was just so mad learning that the only things he knew were just lies. Gizmo tried to stop him and calm him down but it was to no avail. Rufus finds the recorder and books it out of there, out of town. He doesn't want to be found as he listens to the small parts of his true past. Eventually he gets far enough and starts listening, he listens to every single bit. It all sounds so foreign and yet so familiar, so familiar in fact that he gets small flashbacks from time to time. When Gizmo was getting rid of memories, he was more suppressing them then removing them. After listening to all of it Rufus still didn't have all of his memories, but he had just enough to now feel like he was going a different kind of crazy. His life was crap compared to now, but his life now was nothing but a lie. He just really didn't know how to feel about any of this, it was all just insane.

Eventually Gizmo was able to find him and catch up to him. When he found Rufus, he was crying listening to the tapes again.

"Rufu-"

"Leave me alone! All you did was lie to me and take away my life from me!"

"Because there was nothing else to do to help you, you were so lost in your insanity that the only thing that could be done was to forcibly give you amnesia."

"Isn't there crap called therapy."

"Well I am not a therapist and you know that, I did all I could to just try and help fix you. I told you your life was this way so that way I could stay with you and try to help you through another harsh time of learning how to live with your amnesia. I didn't want to see anything else bad happen to you, and after hearing everything you said in those tapes, you really needed help getting out of a bad place."

"... just why does the world want me to suffer."

"I can't answer that well Rufus, the best I can say is that sometimes just multiple bad things happen to people, and others need to give a hand to help."

"... I remember what you and me were like before everything, why did you want to help me? If anything you had even more of a reason to lock me behinds bars now since I was crazy."

"Because you had already been through enough, nothing needed to be added on to the list of bad things happening to you."

"... Why did you tell me you were my dad, you could have just said you were a friend."

"Because I knew you needed someone to truly feel like you could trust them ... and having you as a son isn't that bad."

There is a shared silence between the two for a bit.

"... My life can just never be simple huh."

"Rufus, you were never simple the day you came to Kuvaq."

"... thanks for being a pretty good dad Gizmo."

"You're welcome Rufus."

The two then go back to town, Gizmo giving a very good talking and warning to Wenzel for breaking the promise of not telling. Rufus still barely remembered his old life, but he was fine with that now, who needs it anyway, it did its purpose, it was new Rufus' time to shine. And so he continued his life as the son of Gizmo, a PoliceFireDoctorMan in training.