draftware

washed away

washed away

The train ride to the lower afterward was a quiet one. Craggy was "borrowing" a train from another conductor (Scriff was already set to scold her about that once our adventure was over), but we had one last stop. Once we got the train into the station, she took hold of both Rakonto and Amark's unconscious bodies, and we headed towards the dried-up seabed at the edge of the beach. It wasn't entirely empty, there was a small reservoir of water from the next lowest afterward to ensure that water can get from the bottom all the way to the top. "So we just leave 'em here?" Scriff said.

"I... I guess we do. This is how Tammy ended up in the afterward, right? And this is how I ended up here, too?"

"How much do you think they'll remember?"

"If they're anything like me, next to nothing, but I guess we'll wait and see."

"Should we say some words on their behalf?"

"They... tried to ruin our story."

"Oh, right, um..."

I turned to her. "But it is great that you're thinking about people like that. That makes you a really good person, Scriff. Cherish that."

It was weird to lay them to rest. It felt very cold and ceremonial, like a funeral, but these were awful people that just needed their nastiness washed away in the trip up the pipes. "What about the other Watchers?" Emmi said.

"I mean, I'd hope they lose traction with Rakonto gone... but, yeah, I dunno... wait, hold on, I had an idea."

We turned back towards the dilapidated city and made our way back to Tammy's old apartment. "Simon, Richard, James... please tell me you remember this place."

"Yeah, looks like my aunt's musty old apartment," Richard said, "Only went there once, she lived all the way in Oswego so I had to take a flight from Portland all the way to Chicago and then catch a--"

That's not what I meant. I had them rifle through Tammy's old things, had them flip through a copy of afterward...please, just remember. "None of this is familiar?" I asked.

"Not a word," Simon said, putting down a discarded packet of red.

I sighed. "I guess... I guess we have nothing left to deal with on our trip. Craggy, let's go borrow that train one last time."

We made our way back to the train station, pausing just a second to stare out towards the small reservoir. "Please... whatever happens to you guys... may it be for the better..." were my last words to the former heads of the Watchers.

We boarded the train again, pushing past the former Conductor and nearly giving him a heart attack, and Craggy took the controls once more. The train slowly rumbled up the tracks back home. "I just feel like we could have done more for them," I said.

"ᗯᕼO, TᕼE ᗯᗩTᑕᕼEᖇᔕ? ᗪOᑎ'T ᗯOᖇᖇY ᗩᗷOᑌT TᕼEᗰ, I--"

"I... I mean the Retconologists. James, Simon, Richard... I feel like we could have done more."

"It'll be alright," Scriff said, throwing an arm around and then resting her head on my shoulder (to the best of her ability), "and if nothing else, I can help 'em out! I think I could teach the Lizi a thing or two about how to actually care for your human friends."

"That's really nice, Scriff, but... wait, Craggy, why are we turning?"

"Ｉ ｎｅｅｄ ｙｏｕ ａｌｌ ｔｏ ｋｅｅｐ ｔｒａｃｋ. Ｗｅ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｐａｓｓ ｆｉｖｅ ｓｔｏｐｓ."