Ruin // Danger Days (Book 3)

Epilogue: The State of Things

After that, the Killjoy 'army' was no more.

All of the individual gangs split off from each other. Without a General or a second, they had no central government, so what was the point of having a government at all?

The Nest was moved again. It was moved to what used to be the MARS brothers' base, as they had both died in the battle with BLI. Their house had everything that Killjoy nomads could need: a decent supply of food, running water, an electric connection, and most importantly to some, a television.

Dr. Death Defying was still broadcasting, though no one saw him anymore. Sometimes, Cherri Cola would broadcast too, but it was very rare.

Tommy Chow Mein was still selling and being an asshole as always, but sometimes, someone would report that they saw him crying in a corner of the Paradise Motel.

Sonic Revolution and Killer King ran away, just like they always had. But this time, they were together. And they always would be.

Mad Gear was killed. He did a performance that he called the 'Galactic Shatter', where he shot a giant beam of light into the sky. It, of course, attracted BLI's attention and got him, and supposedly his hallucinated partner Missile Kid, ghosted.

And the Ultra Vs? They descended into chaos.

The Val Velocity that everyone knew was no longer there. He was transformed into a very violent man, just as his lover had predicted. He tolerated nothing, that is, except for his gangmates Vaya and Vamos, who remained the same. Vinyl became more of a bodyguard to Val than anything else, and the gang's second, Volume, was Val's only advisor to the right decisions.

The only thing that made him happy anymore was music. He had found Sunset's old notebook of songs and would play them on guitar and sing them when he was alone. He even used the old Nest's recording studios to record a small album of them, that he liked to call Conventional Weapons. He never told anyone about it, though.

Every once in a while, he would take his walls down and return to the old Nest. there, he would walk through the graveyard that lined the back wall until he found the grave he was looking for.

He knelt down in front of her headstone, taking off his mask and reading it.

Here lies
Hailey Castellan
'Sunset Flash'
KND

"Hey there, Sunshine," he said, feeling tears begin to enter his eyes.

"Y'know, I've been thinking about you a lot lately. Not that I don't think about you every day, but I've been thinking about you more than usual. It's probably because it's our... first anniversary today."

He choked up, and used his sleeve to wipe his face. He moved to remove his mask, then realized it was already off and sighed. He only ever took off his mask anymore when he was here.

"I... I really miss you, Sun. It's hard living without you here. Just... ugh, you can't even hear me! What am I doing?" Val leaned back, facing the sky. Then, he looked back at the headstone, letting out a small sob.

"Just... be there for me, okay? I'm losing myself. I— need you."

Then, he stood. And when he walked away, there was something in front of the headstone that wasn't there before.

A small red velvet cupcake.