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Something rouses Galo from his sleep.
For a second, he's tempted to ignore it, burying his face deeper into the pillow, but the faint noise repeats; just a thud, really. Usually, he'd chalk it up to his rattling windows, but he's sure he closed them before collapsing into the bed last night. Besides, with the recent resurgence of B&Es around the city, he ought to be a little more cautious, too.
He gets up, winces at the dull pain in his chest as he unconsciously goes to scratch his torso; right, his bruised ribs. It's already light outside, meaning he would have slept past his alarm if he had set any. He creeps around the door, grabbing his self-made matoi on the way, just in case.
Galo knows his apartment, knows how to move in it without making a sound, yet, even before he enters the living room, a chiding voice calls out, "Your place has terrible, practically non-existent security. And you consider yourself a public officer?"
The tension bleeds out of Galo's body as he finally rounds the corner and there, on his couch, sprawled out as if he owns the place, is —
"Lio!" Galo finds himself blinking stupidly a couple of times; it's not like he isn't happy to see him, but — "What the hell! Did you just — did you break into my apartment?" Lio only tilts his head to the side, ever so slightly. Galo sags against the door frame. "Man, I'd have given you a spare key." Then, he abruptly straightens up again. "Wait, that's the fourth floor! How did you get in?"
Lio doesn't grace him with an answer to this question, either, and instead announces, "You're being kidnapped, Galo Thymos. Get ready."
"Huh?" Galo just utters eloquently. Then something gets thrown his way and he catches on reflex, realizing those are the sweatpants he left draped over the back of the couch.
"Put them on," Lio tells him. "Your briefs leave very little to the imagination."
Galo doesn't go red in the face at this. "Hey, my eyes are up here, punk,” he chastens valiantly. “Besides, you're lucky I'm wearing them at all. I usually sleep in nude."
"Is that so," Lio doesn't quite ask, his eyes blatantly not focused on Galo’s face. It's too early for this, he decides, and makes a beeline for the bathroom to save what’s left of his dignity. As Galo leaves, Lio mumbles something that sounds a lot like, "That’s too bad."
…
Whatever Lio's "kidnapping" plan entails — and he's very good at ignoring Galo's questions and whining about it — at least it doesn't seem to put them on some tight schedule, as Lio lets him take a shower and make breakfast in peace. (But maybe that's because he was hungry, Galo decides as he watches him eat a fair share of the food.)
They get held up at the getting dressing part as, for some reason, Lio shoots down most of the clothes Galo wants to wear and finally resolves to pick them by himself. Galo thinks that should give him a clue as to what’s going on, considering Lio’s outfit is also completely different from what he usually wears — no sight of black, leather or his knee-high boots. Instead, he’s dressed in a mint t-shirt, a denim jacket, grey pants and a pair of sneakers with high soles. It's such a unusual look on him, but a good kind of different, so much so that Galo doesn’t even protest that much when Lio makes him wear both a tank top and a long-sleeved shirt, along with cargo pants.
By the time they leave Galo's building, it's well into the morning and he squints at the sun as he follows Lio further down the street, to where a luminous green pick-up is parked.
"What," Galo exclaims, "is this?"
"Our means of transportation," Lio says easily, sliding into the driver's seat. He leans over to open the window at the passenger side and arches an eyebrow at him. "Are you getting in?"
"It's so vintage," Galo comments, but doesn’t need to be told twice. It's kind of cool, actually. "Where did you get it from?"
There's a beat of silence before Lio answers, "I borrowed it."
Something doesn't quite feel right with that reply and it takes Galo a second to pinpoint why. "Oh my god. Please tell me you didn't steal it." The engine hums as Lio brings it to life in lieu of responding. Galo closes his eyes. "Liooo."
"I would have preferred to take the bike, but it's out of question with your ribs," Lio says as he pulls into the traffic and Galo glances at him, suddenly a little panicked. He fumbles with his seatbelt as Lio continues in that scary, flat voice, "Even if I were the one to drive, assuming, of course, you'd let me."
"Ahaha, if you wanted another go at my bike, you should have just said so!" Galo knows his voice is too loud and high-pitched, and Lio won't be swayed by this thinly-veiled offer. Still, he keeps at it until they stop at the intersection, Lio's fingers drumming a rhythm on the steering wheel as they wait. Galo gives up, knowing he's not going to get out of this one. "Was it Aina?" he mutters eventually.
"Your captain, actually," Lio replies smoothly and Galo can't help but gasp at this blatant breach of trust from Ignis, his superior. "He called me yesterday, saying you got injured and are supposed to take some time off, but he wasn't very convinced that you were going to stay resting."
Galo just sulks in silence because, well, the Captain wasn't wrong. Obviously, he could not go to work, so he figured he'd at least go help at one of the settlement sides for former Burnish, hopefully without running into Lio or his lieutenants, or just playing it dumb if he did.
Then again, he didn’t consider how scarily effective his team and Lio could be when it came to getting on his case.
"It's just a couple of bruised ribs,” he sighs, props his chin up on his fist as he turns to look out of the window as they make their way through Promepolis. His knees keep bumping into the dashboard; the car wasn’t meant for someone his stature, that’s for sure. "Barely something that can stop me."
"Idiot," Lio tells him and Galo still gets amazed by how much emotion one simple insult can convey. After making a turn, he asks quietly, "...was it worth it?"
And Galo smiles because even if he's angry with him, he knows Lio gets it.
"Saving somebody is always worth it," he says. It's his job as a firefighter and it's what he believes in as a human being, too, simple as it is. "Though Lucia almost had my head for completely wrecking her new prototype."
Lio huffs at that, but it sounds more amused than angry now, so Galo risks a glance at him. They’re in a small, enclosed space and it’s a sunny day, so he can easily make out details he missed back at the apartment; dark circles under Lio’s eyes, band-aids and bandages on his hands that most likely hid cuts and blisters, things he could have easily healed with the Promare. Galo's heart aches, but he settles for a light tone.
"How have you been? Feels like we haven't seen each other in ages," he complains, though really, it was less than a week, and that's as long as it gets, at their most busy.
"Different priorities," Lio reminds, but it’s not said reproachfully. When Galo claimed they'd rebuild Promepolis together, he didn't take into consideration that there was only so much they could actually do side by side. At some point, Burning Rescue would come back to its designed duties, just as Lio and his friends would have to deal with, in Galo's opinion, the worst part of establishing this new world: myriads of bureaucracy.
"Well,” he hums in thought, “this week we haven’t needed to change our base of operations yet. I think whoever tries so hard to smoke us out," he snorts at his own wordplay, "is growing tired."
"Either way, I don't like you have to move at all," Galo says, for what time, he isn't sure. Burglary and thievery were especially common in the weeks following Parnassus' crash, but recently Lio and his friends assigned as representatives of former Burnish have been dealing with their various “headquarters” being thoroughly ravaged. It usually ends up with lots of destroyed files and makes handling all the paperwork harder, even though they obviously make digital records, too. It's petty and malicious rather than actually dangerous, but Galo hates that even after everything, they still have to run and hide.
Lio waves a hand dismissively, eyes on the road. "Me neither, but that was to be expected. Even if all of Kray's men were removed from positions of power, there are bound to be those who harbor similar distaste for us among the new ones." He gives Galo a sideways glance, his smile sharp and electric. "Besides, we have a pretty good idea of who the instigator is, Gueira and Meis are on it. I'm sure the new governor will be forced to make some things easier for us after we deliver that glaring obstruction of justice to him."
Galo can’t help his own smile at that — he doesn’t have much sympathy for people who still underestimated Lio, thinking he was only good as a leader in the field; they will learn the truth the hard way. And just so they’re clear, he reminds, “My offer still stands, you know.”
Lio inclines his head. “If you were to house a former terrorist, you need to get better locks, first of all.” Galo recognizes a rebuke, even a soft one.
“Fair enough,” he concedes, deciding to shelve that conversation for another time.
That brings him back to how this day started, though, and he can’t help but feel both embarrassed and annoyed. Lio clearly has better things to do than to essentially babysit Galo — who can make his own choices, good and bad ones alike, thank you very much — and he knows the Captain knows it, too, yet he called him instead of, for instance, sending one of Lucia’s robots to keep an eye on Galo. What’s more, Lio agreed to do it, and he doesn’t even seem irritated in a way he often gets when Galo ends up disrupting his plans.
He’s just opening his mouth to ask about it when a flash of realization gives him a hard pause. Truth be told, Galo has a hard time figuring out how Ignis thinks sometimes, but what he knows for sure is that the Captain cares about people, and he cares about his team. Although Lio has never officially been a part of it, he’s spent a lot of time around the Burning Rescue in last months and Galo would say it resulted in a beautiful (if sometimes, like now, troublesome) friendship. And Ignis is perceptive, knows how to judge people; perhaps he realized that Lio has been in need of taking a break, too, but wouldn’t admit it, so instead he sent him to Galo under the pretense of a mission that was actually a day off they could spend together.
“I can hear you thinking,” Lio says pointedly as he’s gaining speed on the fairly empty road. (Galo just hopes no police patrol is around; not only they're riding in a car that's most likely stolen, on the top of that, Lio doesn't have a driving license or any kind of ID, for that matter.)
Well, perhaps he is looking too much into it, but he’s starting to think that maybe he should thank the Captain after all.
Trying to hide his goofy grin, Galo glances around and — he pauses. “Wait,” he says, for the first time in a while actually taking notice of their surroundings. “We are leaving the city.”
“Astounding observation,” Lio agrees as they pass a digital banner saying, Goodbye, Promepolis.
Galo turns in his seat as much as it’s possible for him and he asks, “Lio, what’s going on?”
Lio worries his bottom lip before he starts, almost hesitantly, “Remember that conversation we had, back on the Parnassus?”
And it’s mostly due to the current context, but Galo instantly knows which one Lio means.
It was just three or so days after that night, and they were still not done with the wreckage inside of the ship itself. It’s been a particularly terrible, long string of hours blurring together and Galo honestly didn’t know how he was still standing. He found Lio at the edge of the dawn, sitting around the remains of the control bridge, hands bruised and bloodied, shaking despite the puffy Burning Rescue jacket he was wearing. Yet, his voice was steady, dripping with bitterness as he asked Galo, Haven’t you ever thought about living anywhere but in this damn city?
And Galo answered honestly, No. I was born here and I’ve never left Promepolis. It’s my home, for better or worse. And now it’s our turn to make it better. He could feel Lio’s eyes on himself and he floundered, Can’t say I’m not curious about the world, though!
He remembers Lio turning his gaze to the horizon. I’ve been to a lot of places, not always out of my own volition. Not many of them remained untouched by human hands. And people everywhere are similar. He shook his head. Hurt, scared, distrustful. Prone to give into their violent, ugly tendencies.
That’s true. But sometimes, in the moment you least expect it, they can surprise you, Galo reminded him, another side of the coin, even though it’s not easy, it’s never that easy. But then Lio found it in himself to stand up, his back against to the rising sun, basking his silhouette in hues of red and orange, not so unlike regular fires Galo put out.
Some day, when we finish what we have to do here, I will show you the world, Galo Thymos. And maybe, you will teach me to look at it and see what you see.
Back in the present, Galo runs a hand through his undercut and exclaims, “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me we’re going sightseeing! I haven’t packed for that.”
Lio actually goes out of his way to lean over and flick him on the forehead. “Calm down. We’re not done with rebuilding Promepolis by any means and I didn’t really have time to plan ahead, so we’re not going to a different city or anything grand like that.”
Galo sullenly rubs his temple as he asks, “Well, so would you finally tell me where are we going?”
Lio’s answer is as breezy and swift as the wind.
“The desert.”
…
While it’s true Galo has never left Promepolis, he thinks he explored the city pretty well, just like lakes, mountains and some caves surrounding the area. He’s just the kind of guy who likes to hike and dig into frozen bodies of water, alright.
The wilderness of deserts is something different altogether.
As Lio continues to drive them, the scenery changes; after leaving the city, they passed by some big ranches, wide expanses of fields with crops and animals. Now, however, they’ve entered the desert and what Galo immediately notices is how bright everything is in the sun. It kind of hurts to look at anything and he’s grateful when Lio produces two pairs of sunglasses from the glove compartment. The car scuffs up clouds of dust as the ground becomes more sandy and uneven.
“You sure this thing will make it through here?” he asks. He kind of would like to hold onto the roof of the car, to avoid aggravating his ribs further (and because that’s just a cool thing to do), but he had to roll the window closed out here.
“It will,” Lio says, driving with such confidence and skill that Galo can’t not find it attractive. He avoids another peculiar rock formation and adds, “It has a higher undercarriage and the tires are just the type for the desert.”
Galo hums; Lio seems to know what he’s talking about. Maybe he didn’t steal that car after all. “Are we going some place particular?”
“Yes. We will get there soon.”
True to the words, Galo can tell when they're reaching their destination, when he finally sees something different than dwarfish plants, strange rocks or dunes so high and winding they could be hills and mountains. He blinks a couple of time, but the view doesn’t change.
"Is that — a mirage? Because I can swear there's some kind of an oasis up there."
"And you'd be right," Lio confirms.
When they stop the car and walk the rest of the way to that strange phenomena, sand crunching under their boots, a figure goes out of their way to greet them. It's a young woman with goggles pulled up on her head, dressed in overalls that seem to be stained with soil and mud. Lio introduces her as Seri, a scientist working on revitalization of areas outside of Promepolis.
"Revitalization?" Galo repeats as they follow her into cool shade of trees. He’s quickly realizing his mistake; it’s not an oasis, it’s the woods. "You mean, because of what happened before we closed the rupture?"
"It goes further than that," Seri says. "Did you know that forty years ago, Promepolis was surrounded by a number of smaller towns and villages, and fifty percent of the remaining area were forests?"
"What, for real?" Galo exclaims.
Seri nods as they make their way further into the trees. "After the Great World Blaze, the Earth's ecosystems have been irreversibly altered and reshaped. At this point, almost twenty five percent of mainlands is made up of deserts and semi deserts, and that's not counting steppes. A lot of cities were essentially wiped from maps and now more than half of the world's population is concentrated in big metropolitan areas like Promepolis." Galo kind of gave up on trying to keep up with maths, focusing on the essence of what Seri is getting at. "Changes like that usually happen over many decades or centuries, not in less than fifty years. There's so much biodiversity that has been lost in such short span of time." She sounds mournful as she says it. Galo has never thought about it like that; he was born into the world after the Blaze and knew little else.
"But you're working on making things better, right?" he asks as they stop by a small lake, water clear enough that Galo can see his reflection in it. Seri seems somewhat taken aback; by his side, Lio remains quiet, but there's a smile tugging at his lips.
"Well, yes," she agrees, pulling at the strap of her goggles. "Of course, it's impossible to return things to how they once were. It's especially tricky around Promepolis, considering the volcanic activity in the area — most of them went dormant after Promare left, but they need to be continuously monitored," she explains. "It's a process that will take a lot of time and we need to be flexible, to adjust to what the Earth wants, this time around."
"You're already made incredible progress during those few months, though," Galo notices, looking around. He can hear some birds and he’s pretty sure he even saw a stray squirrel at some point — he'd have never guessed he was out in the desert. "How did you do that?"
"Ah, well." Seri's mouth goes a little tight and she picks up her pace. "I suppose it's better to show you."
The hum of machinery is so quiet that Galo picks up on it just as they get closer to the edge of the forest formation. There, he stands shocked, rooted to the spot as he watches the machines work.
"That looks like…"
"...things Krazor X would attack us with when we fought it, yes," Lio finishes for him. He's flexing his fingers in a seemingly unconscious way, the way Galo has noticed him do more than a couple of times.
"Foresight Foundation had a lot of money and resources to come up with technological solutions unavailable to most of the world," Seri says. "These are just some of them."
Lio continues, "Kray stole Deus’ patents related to the Burnish research, yes, but these are things he and his scientist came up with after he decided on the Parnassus Project. They were aboard the ship, but most of them ended up destroyed." Galo knew that; he still remembers the wreckage of metal parts. "However, he kept all the blueprints, so recreating them became possible."
"That's what Aina's sis has been helping with, yes?" he asks and Lio nods. Galo looks at the forest literally appearing in front of his eyes — a terraforming tool exchanges sandy ground for a suitable soil, another plants trees and bushes, different one reaches deep into the ground to bring out water and purify it.
It's a proof to Kray's brilliance, how he came up with all those inventions meant for the new world, the world he wanted to build upon literal genocide and dooming this Earth. It's so horrible that Galo feels short of breath for a moment. Lio's silence is so loud that it's almost crushing.
That's why it's a relief when Seri is the one to speak again, sounding less like a scientist and more like a real person she is.
"In truth, it repulses me to use anything that Kray had a hand in creating. However…" she comes closer to one of the trees, the one with deep brown bark and reddish tints. "That's rosewood. It has almost gone extinct worldwide due to overexploitation. But it's here, and it grows." She presses her palm flat against the porous expanse of the bark. "I would have never dared to do this back when I still had Promare. I had hard time controlling my flames, I avoided forests and parks and gardens, even though I've always wanted to work with flora. I would have been a literal forest fire in the making." She chuckles wryly and turns back to them. "I believe in intentions, though, and they set me and others apart from Kray. That's why we can do this, not thanks to his inventions or resources."
Seri doesn't walk them all the way back, having to get back to work. They trek through the woods on their own and then they’re out in the desert again.
"Do you come here often?" Galo asks as they walk to the car.
Lio shakes his head. "No, that's only my second time here. I understand less than half of what Seri talks about when she gets into it and I wouldn't really be of help. But I feel better knowing they're here, doing all this."
Galo does, too, but it's a heavy kind of knowledge, all things considered. Lio seems to agree because when they reach the car, he doesn't immediately get in, his hand stopping short of the door-handle.
"I know the new governor received a couple of requests to share the technology Kray has been keeping to himself,” Lio starts suddenly. That’s a piece of news if Galo’s ever heard any. “You’d think it’s only fair, considering how the whole world was affected by his actions, right?” His smile is rather a grimace, all kinds of wrong. “But for one, it’s a legal minefield, considering that Kray still hasn’t been sentenced. More importantly…” Lio forces the next words out of his throat, almost as if he’s spitting fire. “Many of the Burnish we’ve confirmed for dead so far weren’t even from Promepolis or surrounding regions. It's hard to say how exactly Kray got to them, whether Freeze Force was working outside its jurisdiction or were those political favors." It's horrible, and it's horrible that Galo doesn't really feel shocked about any of that. It doesn’t mean it’s not making his blood boil all the same. Lio closes his eyes. "He will never be held responsible for the full extent of his crimes."
And Galo could say something along the lines of, But he will be judged, and he will pay. He doesn't. Sometimes words aren't enough — it’s a hard pill to swallow. The fact some actions aren’t, either, is even harder. Still, he rests a hand on Lio's shoulder and doesn't flinch away when Lio grabs it and squeezes so tightly there should not be any blood flow in it. They stand like that in the desert sun for a while.
…
"How are your ribs?" Lio asks when they're driving again — further into the desert, not back, Galo notes.
"Peachy," he replies, and it's mostly true. Their visit to the forest left him a little breathless and aching, but it's nothing that couldn't be fixed with a press of a blessedly cold water bottle and an analgesic.
"Hmm." Lio regards him as he smoothly drives down from a rather steep dune. "I hope you're telling the truth. Ignis wouldn't be all too happy to hear that I overworked you while you were supposed to be resting."
"Please," Galo scoffs. "As long as we're not going hiking through those sand mountains, I'm gonna be fine."
The look Lio throws him is almost amused. "We're not hiking," he only confirms.
At some point, Galo realizes they have entered the volcanic area. He can tell Seri was right — it’s hard to believe a couple of months ago the volcanoes around here went into overdrive with activity, as now they just stand tall and silent, stray wisps of smoke rising from the craters. Even the sun grants them some mercy; it’s way less hotter by the time they arrive at what seems to be ruins at the foot of some volcano.
"That's the scene of Freeze Force's last raid," Lio says as Galo surveys what little there’s left of it.
"One of your hideouts?" he guesses. Lio shakes his head, just once.
"No. It was meant to be permanent. A city."
"City?" Galo echoes, stopping short when he notices something that might have been a child’s bike, once upon a time.
"I came to Promepolis because it was estimated to have one of the biggest Burnish populations, as well as strict laws and countermeasures against us,” Lio starts. He doesn’t come closer to the ruins. “I had my mind made up when Meis, Gueira and the other Mad Burnish decided to follow me. This is what I wanted to offer them. A place to call our own, where we could live proudly and freely." His expression turns sour. "Of course, knowing all that I know now, it would have never worked out, no matter how much we would have tried. In the end, I only made it easier for Kray by bringing so many of us into one place."
Sometimes, Lio will say or do something that will make Galo feel as if he's seeing him for the very first time, and it's one of those times. He shouldn't be surprised that even back then, Lio’s plans were meticulous and long-term, his actions designed with a singular goal in mind: to protect.
He can't believe how incredibly good Lio is.
"How was that gonna work?" Galo asks, to make him snap out of that forlorn, self-blaming mood and because he's genuinely curious.
It takes Lio a few seconds to understand the question. "Well, we had one building mostly ready, a few more under construction.” Now that he knows it, Galo can identify remains of supporting beams and rafters. “And there are pylons scattered across the desert, a lot still operational. But we rather planned on safely harnessing energy from the volcanoes.”
Galo looks up at the volcano towering over them, then back to Lio. “That sounds crazy, so I believe it.”
That gets a chuckle out of Lio. “Possible to achieve with our powers,” he claims. “The activity and high heat signatures in the area would also provide us with cover. As for potable water and sewerage…”
Lio walks him through the concepts of irrigation system, greenhouses and plant cultivation, pointing to specific parts of the area while illustrating key points. Galo thinks how much planning and consideration it involved, and how they didn't have the kind of technology Kray did, only their Burnish powers which, while incredible, couldn't accomplish everything.
“Thank you for showing me this,” Galo says when Lio is done, his haunted expression fading the more he talked. Now Lio tucks his hands into the pockets of his jacket and looks away.
“Are you hungry?” he asks.
“Well, now that you mention it…” Galo realizes he kind of really, really is.
The corners of Lio’s mouth lift up. “I have sandwiches.” And, after a pause, “Also, marshmallows.”
Galo catches on to the unspoken implication. He crosses his arms over his chest. “You really are telling me to start a fire, in the middle of the desert, no less?”
He gives in only because he likes roasted marshmallows. True to his firefighter heart, he makes a textbook-like bonfire, and for a while they just sit across each other, eating in silence. It’s close to evening by now and it has gotten colder, although it doesn’t bother Galo that much, as he runs warm, anyway. However, he does watch Lio, as he involuntarily seems to edge closer and closer to the flames.
“Careful,” Galo reminds him when he deems the proximity too high for comfort. Lio shoots him a puzzled look and understands only when Galo makes shooing motion with his stick, marshmallows on it shaking. Lio’s sigh is exasperated, but he leans away to maintain a safer distance.
Turning over his marshmallow, Galo finds himself asking, “When did your Promare manifest for the first time?”
Lio doesn’t seem taken aback or upset by the question, but he looks down to his hands. “I had them for as long as I can remember,” he says eventually, voice soft. Galo expected something like that and he listens attentively. “They probably attached themselves to me when I was very young. I don't know if any of my parents were Burnish, so I can't tell if there were some kind of genetic predisposition in play as well.” Lio pauses, eyes focusing back on the fire. “Long before I knew about Promare, the flames have always felt like an extension of me, yet they were also like separate entities. So much so that even when I was alone, I didn’t feel lonely.”
Something heavy lodges itself in Galo’s chest and he can picture it so easily, little Lio sleeping somewhere, cupping a small flame in his hand, both so he'd be ready to protect himself and he wouldn’t feel so alone.
Had it been like that for Lio all his life?
"It wasn't always running and hiding," he continues, as if picking up on Galo's train of thought. "I lived at many settlements, but some places had stricter regulations, some lighter. It was easier to slip through the cracks and blend in. I could attend school sometimes, work some jobs. I did my best to learn from experience. It wasn't all bad." He seems to consider the merits of sharing something. "It’s easier to sneak onto ships than planes, for example. Which isn’t so great since I have an awful seasickness.” He gives Galo a warning look. “Don’t you dare tell that to anyone.”
Galo is so terribly fond of him that he could announce it to the whole world. Instead, he just decides that on their next day off, they have to go to the beach.
“My grandfather was a firefighter, you know,” he starts after a moment, to be fair, and because he likes remembering him. “Before the Great Blaze and in the wake of it, later his health problems made him unable to continue service, and he had to take care of me after my parents died. Still,” he feels the need to put emphasis on this, “he was by no means weak! He had an unbreakable spirit and a no-nonsense attitude.”
“Sounds admirable. No wonder, though, since he had to put up with you,” Lio says with a little smile, teasing but good-natured, so Galo lets it slide.
“I often pestered him about stories from his firefighting days. Now that I recall them, I think it’s incredible, the way they fought fires. It’s not like they were fighting with matoi, of course, but technology and equipment available back then were nothing like what we have now.” Machines will fail you, even your body may, but it’s what you carry inside that will make you pull through, he would say, rasping his wrinkled knuckles over Galo’s chest. "I miss him,” he confesses. “After the illness finally took him, I had only some distant family members left, outside of Promepolis, so for the longest time I had been bouncing back between foster homes."
Now there's a furrow between Lio's eyebrows. "That probably made it easier for Kray to spin the story of your 'rescue', and keep getting recognition and admiration for it. I imagine that at some point, a decent guardian would get fed up with using a traumatic experience like that for publicity."
Galo’s mouth hangs open; he hasn't thought about it like that. Back then, despite being only a student and a budding researcher, Kray was already larger-than-life in Galo's eyes. After the initial flare around the incident died down, Galo hasn't seen him all that often — he assumed it was because Kray was a busy person, now he knew it was because the man couldn't stand him — but Kray was there for all the core events: having him settle into a permanent foster home after many grievances, high school graduation, then firefighting academy one, being accepted into the Burning Rescue. Always with a smile or a hand on the shoulder, surrounded by the flash of cameras. Galo by no means knew how to talk in interviews, but just recently he noticed how unphased by media he was.
There is no guarantee that anyone would have discovered Kray's true nature or his intentions — he fooled masses of people, young and old alike — but maybe someone would get just a hunch, a suspicion, since Galo was blindsided from the very start. He wonders, briefly, how his grandfather would have acted.
He sighs, runs a hand through his hair. "Ah, man, if I really were to die on the job involving a Burnish incident, he would have spun the hell out of that story, wouldn't he?"
"Most likely," Lio agrees testily.
"Well," he says at length, "it's good that you had your no killing policy implemented around the time I joined FDPP. And in the end, that's how Kray brought about his own downfall."
"That's true, but it doesn't lessen the wrongs he did to you," Lio states, almost stubbornly.
"I know," Galo simply says. Kray would always remain a bit of a sore spot and since his trial hasn't properly started yet, they were still bound to see a lot of the man. But he knew better than to dwell on the things he couldn’t change. "Thanks for getting mad on my account, though."
Lio's face remains stormy, but he just flips over his marshmallows, a bit charred at one side, not terribly, though, as their campfire has been slowly dying down. Galo finishes what’s left of his and he leans back on his hands, full and content. When he looks up at the sky, an involuntary gasp escapes from his mouth.
“Wow,” he whispers, “look at all those stars.”
Pollution in Promepolis has been clearing up, still not back to acceptable levels full-time, but even back when they didn’t have those problems, he’s never seen so many stars from the city. Here, it’s almost as if someone spilled a whole bunch of them on the dark canvas. It’s honestly breathtaking.
He tears his eyes away from the sky to look at Lio. “Let’s stargaze,” he says.
Lio looks at him, too, visibly confused. “What? Now?”
“Yeah! No time like the present, since we’re already here and all.” Galo pauses and doesn’t deflate — well, maybe a little. “Unless you have to go back?”
Lio blinks at him a couple of times, fishes out his phone to, apparently, type out a quick message. “...not really,” he says quietly. “I just haven’t prepared for that, I’m afraid.”
Galo can kind of see that; denim jacket definitely won’t provide him with adequate warmth at this time of the night. Still, he teases, just a little, “You took me out into the desert and didn’t even plan on staying to watch the stars? That’s so unromantic of you, Lio.”
Lio probably mumbles something unflattering about Galo under his breath and abruptly gets up, heading to the pick-up. Galo follows after him.
“I think there should be…” Lio climbs onto the truck and searches through the stuff there. He comes up with a worn out, fleece blanket. “There. I thought that’s what it was.”
(Galo once again reevaluates his opinion. Lio probably did steal that car.)
“Well, you’re lucky,” he says as he gets his bag from inside, “you didn’t tell me where we were going, so I just grabbed a couple of things at random. But they should get us set.”
And settle in they do; Galo has a spare sweater he gives to Lio so he won’t freeze, and they lay down in the back of the car on the blanket with the bag as a makeshift pillow. At first, Lio uncharacteristically keeps his distance, laying down almost stiffly, their arms barely touching, and Galo won’t have that, so he pulls him closer. That makes Lio retaliate by sandwiching himself against his side, putting his head on Galo’s right shoulder. Galo knows it will end up with him losing the feeling in his arm sooner or later and his ribs will also complain, but that’s a small price to pay.
The view of the sky from here really is incredible and for a moment even Galo finds himself at a loss for words. Then, his left arm shoots up from under his head.
“Look, that’s Polaris!” he exclaims, pointing to a particularly bright star.
Lio snorts. “Even I know it’s that one,” he says, lifting his arm from Galo’s chest to correct his hand not even an inch.
“That’s literally the one I was pointing at,” Galo protests.
“If so, are your sure your eye-hand coordination is good?” Lio teases.
“It’s perfect, stop trying to pick a fight!” To prove he’s right, he points to a group of stars. “That’s the Big Dipper. They called it the North Dipper in Japan, and each of the stars had its own unique name, too.” Lio seems to listen attentively, his hand still loosely wrapped around Galo’s wrist. “Pivot, Beautiful jade, Pearl, Balance, Measuring rod of jade, Opening of the Yang,” he recites from memory, “and the last one had several nicknames. End of the sword and Flickering light are my favorites. Um… and that’s about as much I remember when it comes to astronomy,” he admits sheepishly. Before Lio can make fun of him, he continues, “But! Check out this constellation.” He moves his hand to the left. “It looks like a slice of pizza with peppers and olives, don’t you think?”
He can feel his chest vibrate as Lio laughs, startled. “What are you —” he starts, then pauses, and Galo can almost hear him squint. “...actually, you’re kind of right.”
Galo grins. “Yeah!” His hand moves again. “And this one, it’s like if you gave Vinny a little bike.”
This time, Lio asks, just a tad incredulous, “How so?”
“Aw, come on.” Galo flips their hands, so he’s the one holding Lio’s palm instead, scarred and bandaged as it is, fingers curled over fingers as he explains, “See, that’s the hat, and there are whiskers. And the little teeth! And that’s a one-wheeled bicycle. Now that I look at it, I think Lucia would be interested in the concept,” he considers as Lio hums indulgently. Then Galo moves their joined hands and slowly, carefully traces another set of stars; a jaw that’s slightly ajar, a strong head and long, winding body with scattered scales. “And this,” he says, “reminds me of your dragon.”
Their arms grow tired and end up laying on Galo’s stomach, still touching, as the two of them continue to gaze at the sky. In a rare instance of self-reflection, Galo realizes they should probably talk about that, but for tonight, he’s content to just lay here like this.
And then Lio asks, “Do you think the Promare are happy?”
Even with everything they talked about today, Galo wouldn’t see that question coming; if anything, he should be the one asking, considering his connection to Promare was intense, but so short-lived. Still, he thinks he understands why it’s the other way around.
“I’d believe they are,” he answers, after a moment of genuine consideration. “They got to light the most spectacular fire this planet — this universe? — has ever seen. That’s pretty damn impressive. I guess they may miss some stuff about the Earth, like, food or cool bikes, but... they’re home now.”
While he doesn’t say anything, Lio seems satisfied with this response. And maybe Galo hasn’t thought that through, but then he’s the one asking, “And are you happy, Lio?”
Lio makes a startled noise, as if he’s not considered that before — which Galo can believe. Still, he waits patiently.
“...yeah,” he whispers, and he sounds kind of surprised, wondering, even, but his voice grows more sure as he repeats, “Yes, I think I am.”
Galo smiles, squeezes Lio with the arm he’s wrapped around him. “Hey, I am, too. What a lucky coincidence.”
“Indeed,” Lio agrees softly as the stars above them continue to shine.