The Price For Immortality

War and Peace

At that moment, the door to the roof bursts open. Everyone's heads turn, and they see two people race through it. Ken and Ben run over. They both stop and lean forward, gasping for breath.

"Man, that's a lot of stairs!" Ken says through Keru.

"Uh-huh," Ben agrees.

Everyone stares at them for a moment. They aren't sure whether or not to speak. Valt isn't sure if he should continue what he was saying.

At last, Ken and Ben recover. They stand up straight, and Ken holds up his puppets. "We found Gabe!" Ken says through Besu.

"Yay!" Everyone cheers.

"Where is he?" Lui asks.

Ken and Ben stare at Lui. Ben lets out a low growl, and Ken visibly scowls. Lui steps back half a step.

"We broke Luinor," Valt says. "Lui's not mean anymore."

Ken and Ben look at Valt. They still look somewhat suspicious, but they let it go for the time being.

"Where's Gabe?" Shu asks.

"Oh, right!" Ken says through Besu. "Gabe!"

At that moment, a third person walks through the doors to the roof. Everyone turns and stares in complete shock.

"W-what?!" Lui stammers.

Standing there is Gabe Brunai.

And he's alive.

Lui stares in shock. Everyone can see that he's clearly trying to hold back tears. He doesn't want Gabe to know what happened, though it's kind of obvious. You can tell something's different about Lui just by looking at him. His eyes don't look as angry. His hair's fallen flat around his face.

His mouth is hanging open in complete wonder. His eyes are wide.

"You're alive?!" Lui shouts.

Gabe looks confused. "Was I... dead?"

Lui's breathing is shaky. "Yeah, you were."

"I don't remember being dead." Gabe finally notices Lui's appearance. "What happened to you?"

Lui's hands are shaking. He tries to resist his sudden, inexplicable urge to run over and hug his 'friend'. Could he even call Gabe that? He is the closest thing to a friend that Lui's ever really had.

"Luinor's broken," Lui says.

Gabe just assumes that Lui's transcended anger into an abyss of anxiety. The stages of grief smacked Lui so hard that they sent him into an alternate reality that coexists with theirs. Basically, Gabe assumes that Lui got so angry that he's not even angry anymore.

"How'd that happen?"

Lui looks around at everyone. "I lost."

Yeah, Lui's definitely angry. He just doesn't realize it. His anger boiled so much that the entire pot evaporated. "You lost?"

"Yeah." Lui looks away. He can't look Gabe in the eyes. He can't let him see how weak he truly is without Luinor's power.

"Oh."

Lui's eyes flicker back to his friend. He almost can't control it anymore. He just wants to run over and hug him. He's so grateful that he's alive. Lui can't believe he ever killed him. He committed murder. That's something he never thought he'd do. What was he, insane?

Ken and Ben decide to take Gabe back home. Lui watches them leave the roof. He almost runs after them, but stops himself. They don't need him, Gabe certainly doesn't need him. He's needed by the Bey Club right now. Needed. He's not wanted. Just needed.