Epilogue

Chiro slumps his hands into his jacket pockets and says, "Days like this shouldn't be sunny."

"On the contrary," Antauri replies as the wind picks up, "I think this day marks the beginning of a greater future. You've grown resistant to the Skeleton King's hold."

"I resisted an obvious attempt to trick me after falling for it—and that's good? That's like congratulating me for not wetting the bed. Not that I do that, I mean. Not for years, anyway, when I was a kid."

The cemetery is extraordinarily old, and Antauri places two flowers on a set of graves. "You wouldn't consider it prudent to be proud of a child for strengthening his bladder? That is still quite the accomplishment, no matter how late it transpires."

Chiro bends down next to his mentor and tries to smile. "Better late than never."

Antauri nods sagely and closes his eyes. "Well said."

"Thanks," Chiro says quietly, accepting that he is wanted and loved. He was on the edge, and his teammates held on, despite his faults. If only, in the close future, this same bond will happen to save them all in the end.

When Chiro watches his mentor fall into the pit through his own accord, he cannot make his thoughts coherent.

No. No. No!

How could he? They needed him here! How could he die so easily after he struggled so fervently to spare Chiro from the life of a martyr? And there he is—somewhere down inside the Dark One's egg sac.

Chiro swears, with tears swelling under his eyes as he refuses to be pulled away from the sight, that he hears Antauri scream.