The Beats Go On

Chapter 34: Food Court

🍑Chapter 34: Food Court

Rey was indeed in the food court, searching for canned goods to take back. He'd forgotten that he was low on food when he went back to his house, and had realized he needed some upon opening doors to an empty cabinet. He'd walked all the way here with little troubles, remembering the time when this mall was heavily visited by people in his town. Man, the corruption thing had changed all of this. The court felt so weird in an abandoned setting, almost unsettling in a way.

Rey was searching the emptied "restaurant" areas, hoping for something that wouldn't go bad easily. It was practically the apocalypse now, and all he'd found were things like salt and packages of ketchup. He wanted food, not flavorings. Rey was also on guard, seeing as any corrupted creature could attack him. He wasn't ready to fight exactly, but guard could still help him be alert to his surroundings.

He decided to go to the back end of one of the restaurant areas, jumping over the ordering desk. Looking around, Rey found a can of peaches on one shelf. It was still intact, and not dented. He reached for it, but he paused. Something about it seemed...familiar. He couldn't tell what it was though, so he simply shrugged it off and carefully took the can anyway.

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The group meanwhile, was busy following the signs to the court. They hadn't really seen anyone in this mall, not even in places they assumed one would hide in a corruption apocalypse. There was no background music while walking through the mall, which made the wall even more awkward. Malls were supposed to play music, right? Yeah, and there were supposed to be people talking...but no.

The mall did look nice though. When the corruption was all over and there was peace again, the group would remember to check back here for sure. It would be nice to see everything once the place was fixed up. It was better than the silence that remained within the group at the moment, as nobody seemed to have anything to talk about. Digo hoped to break it, though.

"I wonder what color this treeangle will be..." he said.

"Well, Rey is cyan, so maybe the treeangle is cyan?" Ami suggested.

"That would make sense..." Coco mumbled.

"Maybe it's a color close to cyan, like a darker blue or purple? Oh wait, we have the purple treeangle, don't we?" Ina said.

"Yes, and we also have the green one" Cho replied.

"That me!" Ari exclaimed happily.

Coco shook his head at Ari's mannerisms. It was cute, but also slightly awkward.

"I can't wait to get that piece so we can move on and find the rest, not gonna lie" El said.

She was kinda tired from walking around in loops, searching for clues. Plus, it was getting late and she wanted to rest.

"That reminds me, are you and Pepe going to stay here after we get this piece and set sail again?" Ina asked.

"Yeah, might as well. We're back at home, so" Pepe replied.

Cas was busy looking for those mall stations that had orbs containing the candy, hoping he could break them open and get free candy. His mom usually never let him get candy from those, so it was up to him to bring his own coins to deposit. Now that it was the corruption apocalypse however, he could get a lot of things for free. So far, he hadn't found any such thing, but it would be great if he could find one. Bonus points if he found a candy store, though chances were it had already been raided. That reminded him...

"Anyone else miss their parents?" Cas asked.

"Actually...yeah, I kinda do..." Digo sighed.

Ami stayed quiet while El nodded.

"What be parents?" Ari asked.

"Oh, you never had them? Pepe and I didn't really have any either, but they're the shape that takes care of you as a child" Cho explained.

"Don't remember. Oh well" Ari shrugged.

"It does make me wonder what happened to them though. They might be corrupted now, but...I hope they haven't gotten a worse fate, like being killed by a non-corrupted..." Coco mumbled.

"Yeah...or being put under a corrupted army, like Sese's..." Ami said.

He didn't want to cry, but it was a sensitive topic.

"I don't want the ones we care about getting hurt, that's a-"

"Guys, look!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked ahead.

They'd made it to the food court, a wide, open space under a glass ceiling to see the sky, which had somehow gotten darker with clouds. They saw that it too, was barren, and there had been a lot of trash tossed around here and there. Ina sighed, and went over to pick up some of the trash to throw it away. She knew manners didn't matter in an apocalypse, but it never hurt to help. Suddenly, Cas spotted someone running across the court.

"HEY!" Cas shouted, hoping to get their attention.

Rey skidded to a halt and looked up to see the group. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it wasn't a corrupted foe.

"You're the one!"

Rey began to walk closer to them.

"What?"

"The Riddle of the treeangle, you line up with one of the clues!" Cas exclaimed.

"I don't get it, just get to the point already" Rey said.

"We need you to come back to the town when you're done with your goods, okay?" Pepe grumbled.

"I mean...I'm already done, but okay" Rey replied.

"Oh...ok then"

El fistpumped the air.

"Let's be on our way, then!"

So the group began heading back, with Rey in the middle to prevent him from getting lost. Rey looked down at the can of peaches he had in his arms, making sure not to drop the other cans. He kept trying to figure out where he'd seen them...and then he saw the brand name. This...this was the kind Erl liked, or, used to like when he was still here. Rey sighed to himself, looking away from the can to prevent any tears.

He missed him.

If only he could join him.