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"I can take it."
Troy kept his feet marching, eyes forward.
"I can take it."
Through five years of first semesters. He kept marching forward.
"I can take it."
Through everyone fawning over him because of his last name. Everyone assuming that he had the Lougferd money, just because he carried the name. As if he would want that money anyways.
"I can take it."
He kept marching forward, even when he pushed himself in classes that never made sense to him. He wouldn't let his father buy his way through. Even if he kept having to take the first semester over and over again, he would do it.
"I can take it."
Troy didn't let the past chain him down. He just carried the weight with him as he walked forward because that was all he could do.
"Dad, why isn't Mom home yet?"
"I'll tell you when you're older, Tramilton. For now, just hold this for me."
"But why?"
"Because you can take it."
It became a part of him that day. Those four words became ingrained in his mind, something that he would always fall back on. When he didn't have enough points to bring friends home, when he wasn't signed into the newest security system his father created and he had to run away, when Randallion refused to acknowledge his existence.
"I can take it."
His entire world crumbled down to that little phrase.
And then he didn't want it anymore.
"I can take it."
What a load of bullshit. What a load of crock. What a load of absolute dumpster oil. Was that what Troy wanted to be? Someone who could just– just take things? Just force himself through it? Force himself into everything?
Troy didn't go into steamsledding thinking that he would love it. He didn't. But he steamsledded. And he won first place.
And the crowd cheered his name. His. Name. Not Tramilton. Not Lougferd. No.
No, they called his name. His! Name!
"Troy! Troy! Troy!"
Anything that was insurmountable was suddenly something he could do. No matter the pain he had to bear to get to there, no matter the excruciating disaster that he got himself into, he could get himself out of it too. All without the Lougferd money. All without the Lougferd name. Troy's name was the one that the crowd called when he steamsled.
"I can take it."
"Troy! Troy! Troy!"
He started to build himself around the idea of being himself. Being someone without the last name that shackled him to a past that haunted his every footstep and a mansion that felt colder than the island that was home. Someone who wasn't Tramilton Lougferd, who had a destiny and a title and maybe a father who would commit heinous atrocities for him and his brother.
"I can take it."
"Troy! Troy! Troy!"
And then he fell down a hole in the ground.
He met an owl-man that was so anxious he lost feathers at the slightest inconvenience and the smartest fucking rat-girl in the entire fuckin' world. And Runt earned that title with each invention she made and showed him and Blink.
Runt made him love inventions again.
After an insane adventure that left him with not a few scars and more friends than he had ever had in his lifetime, Troy didn't know what to do with himself. He didn't know where to go. Who to talk to now. The people at the university looked at him with either awe for saving everyone or fear that he was still a terrorist.
"I can take it."
"Troy! Troy! Troy!"
Surprisingly, he found himself crashing with WD. The two of them weren't really close-close. Not like he and Blink were, not like he and Runt were. But she still saved his ass on more than one occasion and he saved hers at least once. So she let him stay with her in Cogtopolis as Ripley got herself sorted with the Free Thinkers still in shambles.
It was of no surprise then, that WD was the one to clock him.
Runt and Blink had just assumed it was a mantra of his. Like people yelling his name. Something that he needed to say in times of battle. But they weren't in battle now. (Tell that to his mind. He still reached for his super-cool sled at every new noise.)
Ripley had asked him to do something for her. Just to visit someone up on the surface really quickly, it wouldn't be too dangerous but there could be some danger involved, and he really didn't have to do it, but if he could–
"Yeah no problem, I can take it." He said offhandedly to Ripley as he made her a frappe, something that Randallion had come up with. Ripley seemed to like it, and she wanted more, and even though he didn't particularly like the smell, he could take it to make her some more.
"I can tak–"
"Why do you keep saying that?"
Troy stopped moving. He was cleaning the cup that WD had used to eat noodles the night before, he was a clean freak at his core, despite how he had spent most of the first half of the adventure with the mess in his pants. At least when he was staying somewhere else, he was a clean freak. People needed to understand that he could take care of himself, that he could make sure that sickness wouldn't take him away too–
He turned to look at WD, who had asked the question. One of her ears flicked as her eyes scanned him. Worry was clear in her gaze, and a frown was tugging on her mouth like gravity. Maybe Runt's levitation finger-gun thing would work on her frown?
"What do you mean?" Troy tried to deflect, rather shittily. He's deflected better in fights. But he's caught off guard right now, and WD wasn't someone he was supposed to be wary around. He wasn't supposed to be fighting anymore.
"You keep," WD hesitated. She seemed uncertain now. Weird. Usually she was really confident, despite being wrong. But she was Ripley's girlfriend, and she had helped a huge bit in defeating Aldrick, especially with her really cool armor.
"You keep saying that phrase." WD finished lamely. She was messing with a mess of metal in her hands, twisting the bolts this way and that, and Troy wondered if this was the one that wouldn't explode on her. Right as he thought it, the sparks started to fly, and Ripley slapped it into a bucket and slammed a lid over it to contain the explosion and not harm her girlfriend's hands.
They were so cute.
"What phrase? I haven't had anyone screaming my name since the final fight after all." Troy grinned.
"I can take it."
"Troy! Troy! Troy!"
WD, who usually avoided conflict unless someone was confronting her girlfriend, looked up and stared directly in Troy's eyes.
"You keep saying that you can 'take it.' Troy, what does that mean?"
Ah, that was the problem with staying with WD and Ripley. Because now Ripley had cocked her head and tilted her head to look at Troy with considering eyes. This was bad. Ripley was a genius, but only when it came to inventions.
Runt made him love inventions again.
Ripley hurt him in a way, because she reminded him of what his father could have been. If his father hadn't lost himself to his grief. If his father hadn't thrown himself into his work. If his father hadn't worked himself into his whimsy world and if his brother Randallion hadn't been forced to take up the mantel from his father. If Randallion hadn't been forced to pick up the pieces of the company in the wake of their mother's death and left Troy a ghost in his own home.
Unwanted. Unneeded.
"Ahahahah, to be quite honest, I don't know." Troy lied. Most people didn't realize, but he was good at lying. Playing parts wasn't easy to him. Playing perfect son to Extraordinary Lougferd was a part in a play that he could never get right. Playing little brother to Randallion Lougferd was a part that was doomed from the start, Randallion never wanted him to succeed. Playing parts was hard. But lying? Lying was easy.
"I think it's something I heard a long time ago and liked, so I started repeating it." Troy waved his hand, and with it, his explanation into the wind. Ripley accepted it, her head already turning and her eyes glazing over with the thought of inventions.
WD's eyes were still on him.
He was going to have to find another place to stay then.
~~~~~~~~~~
Staying with Pinch at where the Wondrous Trade Company island that was currently being rebuilt, Troy wandered around.
He had thought this was a good idea at first. After all, he wasn't particularly close to Pinch. Hell, he was practically in the man's black books because he and Blink had lost Runt once. It was mostly his fault. He should have kept a better eye on his friend, but he had been a terrible friend then. He was a better friend now. He was working to be a better friend. He kept in touch with Runt and Blink more, and WD too now that he wasn't living with her and Ripley.
But being here, living with Pinch, was turning out to be a very bad idea.
Because for some reason. Pinch had taken one look at him and turned all "big brother" on him.
It certainly wasn't a soft big brother, oh hell no. Troy didn't think that there was a soft bone in Pinch's body. The man had grown up on the streets of Reclaim, had run the Streetrats since he was a young guy. No, Pinch was a rough-and-tumble big brother. He picked Troy up by the scruff of his neck and pulled him to come eat food with the rest of the Streetrats when they gathered for dinner. He yanked Troy around and took him to the yard for some "exercise."
(It was just throwing a ball around. Throwing a ball back and forth at each other. It shouldn't have been so much fun. Steamsledding was more fun. But this, spending time with someone and throwing a ball back and forth and catching it—
For some reason, Troy felt a smile on his face after it.)
He pulled Troy around. He pushed him. He yanked him around by his arm and his leg and his shirt and his cloak.
Randallion would never. Randallion was too busy. Randallion would ignore Troy. Randallion would focus on his work.
Pinch found a way to focus on his work and to pay attention to Troy at the same time.
And Troy didn't know what the hell to do with this information. He didn't know how to feel. He didn't know how to react. To know that his older brother could have but didn't honestly broke him more than he thought he already was.
So, Troy wandered around the island to avoid the man. The man that could be like a big brother to him but Troy could never allow such a thing. Troy already had a big brother, and while he didn't particularly soft memories of his brother, he still had one. He cared for Randallion, he loved him. His love for his brother hurt Troy, just like his love for his father hurt Troy deeper than a knife to his stomach.
He didn't have any soft memories of his brother, not recently.
But he did remember a while ago. There was a time, when the two of them would play in the snow. Their mother calling them in, and they tumbled into the home, laughter making their cheeks rosy and their noses were numb from the cold. Troy and Randallion had taken turns, poking at each other's noses and trying to bring feeling back into them. Mom had brought them a pot of cocoa and they had shared it, poking at each other and making each other giggle the entire time and nearly spilling the liquid chocolate onto the ground.
Childish giggles always haunted Troy whenever he drank hot cocoa.
It's why he preferred liquor now. Whenever he could get his hands on it. For some reason, Pinch was hiding it from him.
The damn mousey hypocrite.
Wandering down in the lower cells, the cells under the prison, Troy lingered in the one that he was thrown in before. He stared at it, feelings swirling in him that he didn't care to identify. He didn't want to identify these feelings. He traced the path he had carved in his escape attempt, the one clockwork that he had programmed with his voice to protect him. He wanted a friend, truly. He remembered when he was younger that he used to try and make friends with the clockwork soldiers. He wanted friends so badly when he was a kid and his mom went away.
He knew it was a lost cause the second one of them replied to him as ["Tramilton Lougferd"].
He came to the place where he had killed the man.
Troy hadn't meant it.
"I can take it."
He certainly hadn't meant it. Yes, he was an angry person, underneath everything. He held his anger tight to his chest, he refused to let it go after this entire adventure. His father has changed yes, but that does not mean that his anger is gone. He holds onto it tightly.
This anger only came out at certain times during the entire crazy adventure that he had been on. But he wasn't a murderer. Not like Blink and Runt thought that he was at first. He wasn't a psychopath, not in the slightest. But he was angry. He didn't mourn this man's death. There was no reason to. This guard had been doing his job, had known that it would come with risks. But Troy supposed he could mourn the person he was before he had killed the guard.
"The littlest Lougferd, come to play in the caves again?"
Troy turned his eyes away from the blood splatter that had turned brown and could nearly blend in with the stones themselves and looked at the cell in front of him.
The Overseer, in all his crafted glory, lounged about in the cell that once held Mai.
Troy turned to the guy, sauntering over. After all, there were bars between them. They both knew that the Overseer could rip through them like paper at the slightest inclination of his, but Troy had something over the guy.
He had information about Blink.
The Overseer wanted that information about Blink.
So he would stay in his nice little prison cell while Troy held his cards close to his chest. Like he was playing poker back at the university. No one really knew if he was bluffing or not, and that was because Troy didn't really act. He didn't really lie there. No, he played poker, and that meant holding your cards so close that meant no one could think you had a good hand at all. He had weaseled so many cogs out of the upperclassmen with that sort of playing, it had never failed him. Now though, he needed to use it here.
Troy would do everything for his team.
"Once you're on the team, you don't get kicked off!"
Even if it meant playing mental poker with a psychopath that was interested in one of them.
"Heya Overseer man. Didn't know you were down here." Troy greeted him. He looked a little worse for wear, especially with the extra arms. It looked like they could use a little maintenance. Maybe he could tell Runt about him being down here? She could fix them while also putting in a fail safe to make sure he would never go on another rampage OR get out of here. "How you doin'?"
"I could be better." The Overseer drawled out. "Information is scarce down here."
Ah. Already hinting that he wants information about Blink with the subtlety of Troy smashing someone with his really cool sled. C'mon, didn't he know that he would have to work for it? Troy didn't give out information about his friends, his family, without good reason.
"Oh I imagine so." Troy grinned, the bars between them feeling real under his fingers and yet they felt as imaginary as the world that his father lived in. They might as well be, with such a dangerous man on the other side.
But he would stay still in his cage, in his prison, because Blink wanted a better man. So the Overseer would force himself into being that better man. The Overseer did so indeed like Blink. Troy hesistated to call it love, he refused to even. What the Overseer felt for Blink, Troy didn't know what to call it. It wasn't love. Troy didn't know what it was, but it wasn't love.
It could grow into love. Maybe. One day.
Troy didn't know if the Overseer was that patient, but he did seem like a patient man, the first time Troy had the displeasure of meeting him at a gathering in a ballroom. So he could wait while they played their mind games until Troy gave in and told him what he knew about Blink. But until that happened, Troy would play poker, and the Overseer would be patient.
"It must be aw-ful-ly lonely down here." Troy continued, his fingers drumming on the iron bars. This place was not lit well, but it was the not-lit-well of a prison. Not like the not-lit-well streets of Reclaim that Troy had come to love. He preferred Reclaim's streets. Runt had been right, when she said that Reclaim was beautiful, and didn't need Extraordinary's help to make it beautiful. "No one to talk to. Only your memories to keep you warm."
Ah. A slight tightening of the skin around the eyes. Troy was playing a dangerous game, but all games of poker had different stakes. He was good at playing with dangerous stakes, as seen when he had talked to the crazy lady of the church that Aldrick had led.
And the Overseer knew that if he hurt Troy, he would have no chance with Blink. They were walking the thin line of being polite to each other for the sake of someone else. It was a line that Troy has walked before, he might as well be a master tightrope walker at this point with all his practice when he was younger. Lean too far on one side, the Overseer would have too much knowledge of one of Troy's teammates. Lean too far on the other side, then Troy could very possibly be dead because he antagonized the Overseer too much.
The careful walk was something of legends, but it was something that Troy could do.
"I can take it."
"It is quite lonely down here." The Overseer acknowledged. He leaned back on what looked like a cushion, and something in Troy's chest sparked. It was funny, how this man managed to get a cushion, and yet the other prisoners, before and after his reign on the place, couldn't afford to be given the basic necessities. Mai had never been given a cushion. She had squeezed the roserose plushie that Aeon had given her tight. Maybe he had taken slight pleasure in the reddening of Aeon's cheeks, but he never would have dared to tease the fox woman.
While he's beaten Onyx and tied him up into a bow, he wouldn't tease the fox woman. She was just that slightest bit too scary for him to tease properly. Besides, if he teased Aeon, then that would pass back to Mai and Blink. He didn't want those two teaming up on him.
Troy was getting distracted. Back to the Overseer.
"I know it is." Troy sighed. And he was tired of playing poker. He had no want to play poker now. Blink was well on to forgiving the Overseer and maybe thinking about starting a relationship with the man. Everything took effort nowadays. When he was on that crazy adventure beneath the world's surface, he felt like he could go for days. Like he could do anything, become anything, for his team.
"I can take it."
Now though, now it felt like it would take Aldrick coming back to make him have any sort of energy these days.
At least then, he would have a goal. Something to work towards.
He had nothing right now. No goal, no future. He was the son of no one important, no one extraordinary. He was the brother of no one, no one that liked to talk, no one that was friendly. He wasn't really a friend. He had gotten better, but he wasn't really a friend. The best, his best, was that he kept in contact.
It wasn't the best. He would never be the best.
"Blink is doing well." An interesting thing about poker is that you could lie about your cards. What you had. What you raised. But Troy? Troy had nothing to lose when he raised. Because he had lost everything already. "He's making a lot of progress on what he wants to do. I think you'd have to get any more information from Aeon."
He bared his teeth at the Overseer in a grim smile.
To the man's credit, to his credit, he only leaned back with his head tilted. The only sign that he was apprehensive was the tighter skin around his eyes and the tightening of his knuckles. All six of them.
"I'll be in touch." Troy promised emptily.
He was going to leave the Wondrous Trade Company island soon. And the Overseer would lose his only connection to Blink that was amicable to him.
Now, where to go now?
~~~~~~~~~~
Reclaim felt like Home.
There was home, and then there was Home. Home was up top, where he could never escape the Lougferd name. Home was the university, where he tried to carve his name out. Home was a cold, empty place where he could never truly be himself or talk with someone else because they were always so busy with something else.
Troy remembered Randy shooing him out of the office when he was younger. Telling him that he had a business meeting and he couldn't play with him today. Troy remembered his father paying too much attention to his inventions to notice Troy touching something. Too lost in his delusions of grandeur and inventions and the future to focus on Troy and the now.
Troy still had the lingering scar on the back of his thigh.
Reclaim though? Reclaim was Home.
Troy had found himself in Reclaim. He had found Blink. Or rather, had been instructed to find Blink. But he found him. Runt found them. They found the Inventor's workshop. They searched for the Inventor in Flora. They somehow got separated on that mountain and Runt went to Cogtopolis and for some reason Aeon betrayed Blink again as they tried to get to Cogtopolis and Aldrick tried to kill them all.
Blink got drunk. That was funny. Troy smiled as he remembered the frosted tipped feathers. He wondered if the crazy anxious owl-man still had them or if they had called out due to stress yet.
Walking the streets of Reclaim, Troy realized where he was going before he had even thought about it. He couldn't bother Blink. He was trying to rebuild, in Candle's honor. Troy couldn't dare to try and walk on those streets. Not like he was. He wouldn't dare.
Three Strings' home though? That was a place that Troy could force himself to visit. He liked Three Strings. The crow-man was so nice, he liked the cups that Troy brought him whenever he had the time to visit and could bring himself to come back home. He always strummed the banjo and chatted and sang with Troy and laughed at his stories and never asked for much in return.
Troy really appreciated it.
He didn't know how much more he could give.
"Mr. Three Strings sir? Are you home?" Troy called as he knocked on the door and opened it after hopping across the water steps.
"Troy my boy!" Three Strings called.
"TROY!" Runt's squeaky voice called out, just before she rammed into his chest with a hug.
This was also why he loved coming here. Runt. She was growing up. She would get to grow up.
Fuck. She bought herself more time and she gets to grow up. Troy would probably tear up later tonight thinking about everything that Runt had gone through on the adventure and everything she had done, knowing that it had been on borrowed time.
But no more borrowed time for Runt. She was the height of his shoulder now. She was growing. Reclaim had food. Good food, food that Pinch was making sure that was getting down here in good condition.
Now wasn't the time to think about that. Now was the time to focus on Runt and Three Strings.
"Heya squirt!" Troy ruffled her bangs and she swatted the hand away, her chest puffing up. Troy drank it in eagerly. The deep breath she pulled in, the air she pushed into her cheeks, the faintly glowing ribcage that he could see if he focused.
He treasured it more than his sled.
"Who the fuck are you calling squirt! I'll outgrow ya before you know it!"
"I'm sure you will." Troy teased. "Maybe when we're both old and I'm hunched over."
"Troy boy, you didn't let us know you were comin'! I woulda made you a cup if I knew." Three Strings called in the background while Runt puffed up more and was about to start ranting about how she'll find a way to stop aging so she could be taller than Troy.
"Thanks for that Three Strings, I appreciate the thought." Troy smiled, still avoiding Runt's swatting hands and prodding fingers. Her keen eyes were studying him. Shit. Did Pinch call her? No, couldn't have. They didn't have phone lines down here. Not yet.
Troy still had a little time to pretend to be okay.
"I can take it."
"Oh it's no ptoblem at all Troy my boy!" The crow man trilled, strumming on his banjo and humming along. Troy could barely make out the words, something like "good old boy, that Troy?" It didn't matter, not really. But it warmed his heart just a little, and it eased the ache in his back between his shoulder blades that he didn't even realize was there.
"Troy, how long you stayin'?" Runt asked, grabbing his hand and tugging him deeper into the home, towards the workshop she had started setting up amidst the cups that Three Strings had around. There were schematics strewn around, the entire place screaming of mad genius and everything that had a purpose was placed there on purpose. Nothing like Extraordinary's inventing space, which made no sense but was also so clinical at the same time. When Runt had seen it, she had laid off on showing Tory her inventions for a little while, until Troy asked her what she was working on and she had waffled for a little bit until he asked again.
Then he couldn't get her to shut up. It was so nice.
"Oh, as long as I can, before I annoy you and Three Strings into kicking me out. Then I'll probably stay with Graphite." Troy shrugged, his smile coming so much easier now that he was down in Reclaim. It was funny, the Reclaim citizens couldn't get enough of the sun when they went up to the topside, but Troy adored the darkness of Reclaim. It calmed him in a way that nothing else could. He was safer in the dark, he had preferred darker spaces when he was a child.
Easier to hide.
"Well you've annoyed me the second you walked through the damn fuckin' door, but knowing Uncle, you probably won't be thrown out till you die." Runt teased as she picked up an invention and started fiddling with it, before pressing it into Troy's hands. He blinked down at it, not comprehending it. It looked kinda like the Mites that Runt had modified, but different still. She was always changing them.
"What's this then?"
"It's a companion!" Runt said proudly, preening brightly. "You can take it with ya and tell it whatever and I've made sure to enhance it so it can tell ya wherever the fuck ya are and it can tell ya where ya wanna go too!"
A living compass. Runt was incredible. Truly, incredible. The smartest fucking girl in the entire fucking world and there really was no one to compare. Ripley of course was someone to compare her to, but Ripley and Runt were in their own fucking leagues. They also preferred collaboration to fighting each other, so that was just a moot point.
"Holy fucking shit." Troy grinned. "Is this the prototype? Or a beta?"
"I gave the prototypes to Pinch and Blink to test it out properly! It took a few tries to get quite right, but I did it! This is actually the gamma model, and I wanted to make it absolutely fuckin' perfect for ya." Runt puffed her chest out.
"You're absolutely a-ma-zing!" Troy cheered, holding the gamma model carefully as he wrapped his arms around Runt carefully and jumped up and down on the safe boards in the cabin. "This is so amazing Runt! Think about all the people out there that are going to benefit from this! All the explorers that are going to be able to use this!"
Runt squealed, poking at Troy's ribs to try and find his ticklish spot and made him put her down, but it was halfhearted at most. She was happy and ecstatic that he was happy and excited and her cheeks were flush with life.
If this is what Runt was coming up with when she was this young, Troy couldn't wait for when she was older. He couldn't wait to see what she came up with.
The fact that she was going to get to grow up–
Troy pushed the thought away. He couldn't tear up here. He wouldn't cry. He couldn't remember the last time he actually cried. Maybe when Mom had– but he hadn't cried in forever. If he teared up in front of Runt, she'd immediately tell Blink, who would fly over here and try to help in his own way.
He couldn't burden his team like that.
"I can take it."
"Yeah well, this one is yours." Runt managed to wriggle her way out of the hold Troy had on her. "And it, it has coordinates. To Reclaim, to, to here." She looked away. "To where Blink is stayin' too. And to Cogtopolis. So like, if you ever wanna, come annoy us. You can just, you know."
Troy tucked the Mite-compass into the pocket close to his chest. The one right above his heart. Right where it belonged.
"I'll take this as an invitation to come annoy you whenever I want."
"You'd better fuckin' not Troy!"
"Troy! Troy! Troy!"
"I can take it."
"You're welcome any time Troy my boy!" Three Strings hand gently placed itself on Troy's shoulder. "Our home is yours."
Warmth chased away the ice that was trying to lodge itself in his heart.
Home.
~~~~~~~~~~
Troy didn't wait to outstay his welcome with Runt and Three Strings. He couldn't do that to them. He needed one last place that he could come to of the world was falling down around him again. He needed that one last safe place, even if it was the most selfish thing he could do.
So he left when he felt the ice around his heart thaw just the slightest bit to keep beating, and when he felt like the ache in his upper back, between his shoulder blades was eased enough that he could breathe without problem. He left when he could breathe in the air of Reclaim and breathe out home in the same sentence and believe it in his heart.
In his soul, he knew he was scared. He had never stopped being scared. He had never grown past that scared little boy who had embodied his father's words on that day. But it was different this time.
He could take it.
"I can take it."
The Mite-compass glowed a gentle gold color, as opposed to the cold purple of Clockwork soldiers, and he followed the instructions to where Blink was staying. The street was filled with light, that was nothing new. Reclaim was filled with beauty and light, but even more so wherever Blink was.
His best friend was someone who, when he finally learned to stand up for himself, was more than capable of incredible and wonderful things. He was so smart and cool, and the street that Troy was walking on was only really the start to what Blink had planned, he just knew it.
Candle's Street was beautiful and bustling, full of light and practically glowing with the amount of people that Blink had managed to draw in with his project. Troy was so proud of his best friend. He swiped a finger over one of the candles flames, quick enough that the heat couldn't burn, but slow enough that he could feel the heat and feel it dance on his skin for a brief second.
"Hey! Idiot!" A voice called from above, and he rolled his head back lazily to grin up at the person he once shipped with Blink. No more though, he had another idea for who might be a good match for her, and it wasn't Blink. No, Blink and Aeon weren't good for each other in that sense, and it was better in the long run that they stayed friends.
"Sup Aeon? Staying out of trouble?" Troy greeted, his super-cool sled shifting on his back as he shrugged a shoulder. He didn't need to carry his sled always anymore. He wasn't on a mission to save the world as he knew it. He wasn't on a life-threatening adventure. He didn't need his sled.
He felt better with it though. Safer, more secure. He felt more in control when he had his super-cool sled with him.
Aeon jumped out of the window she had poked her head out of and scaled down the building with ease, tossing her red hair over her shoulder.
"As much as I can with birdie and bunny in my vicinity. I swear they just bring trouble wherever they go." Aeon complained good-naturedly, and Troy nodded. He understood all too well. Mai was the reason he went on the crazy adventure in the first place, and Blink was his best friend, so of course he knew just how much trouble he could bring on his own.
"But they make up for it in spades." Troy rubbed his finger and thumb together. "At least, I know Mai does for you, doesn't she?"
A slight flush of red dusted Aeon's cheeks before she socked Troy in the shoulder.
"Shut. Up."
Troy stuck his tongue out at her, a laugh on the edges of his tongue, but he wouldn't let it go. He was on Candle's Street, he could never laugh here. Here was somewhere that deserved reverance and honesty and all the lovely things in life. The light that was glowing here could only mean that it was welcoming to all, but clearly that all did not include Troy. Blink was kind like that.
Blink was Troy's best friend, but Troy knew that he wasn't Blink's.
Blink had so many people that were his friend, that could be his possible best friend. A possible best friend that wasn't Troy. And that was fine. Blink deserved a better friend than Troy could be, and Troy could certainly never be a good best friend, and certainly not a best, best friend. Blink deserved better than what Troy could be. Troy could never be a good son, could never be a good brother.
Troy could never be a good best friend to Blink, he never has been, so it was best that he had found a best friend in someone here in Reclaim, on Candle's Street.
"So what have you been up to?" Troy asked as they walked along, his super-cool sled shifting with each step. It was a comforting weight. "Besides becoming fast friends with Mai?"
"I will cut your tongue out. With my boomerang." Aeon threatened with no heat. Troy knew she wouldn't actually do it, or more rather, couldn't. Troy was one to brag, but he knew that he had been one of the four reasons why Aldrick hadn't been able to complete his plan. Aeon may have been up on that mountain, but she certainly wasn't the one that had dealt the final blow.
That honor belonged to Blink, and Troy was so proud of his best friend.
"Troy! You came to visit!"
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Or in this case, think of the devil and he will appear.
Blink flew down from one of the perches up high, floating like he belonged in the air. He was finally at ease with the element that he had been at most odds with, and when he landed, he stood tall. No longer cowering and holding himself back and cringing downwards like he had been wont to do on their adventure. No, the adversities on the adventure had seen Blink grow into a true owl-man, instead of the one that Troy had met at the beginning of their whack-a-doodle crazy-ass adventure.
"Blink! My man!" Troy greeted and threw his arms wide and wrapped them tight around his best friend. Blink wrapped him tight in his feathery arms, even shaking him back and forth a little as the owl-man cheered in Troy's ear.
He must really be happy to see a teammate.
"Do you like Candle Street, Troy?" Blink asked excitedly, dragging him along and away from Aeon, who just shook her head and jogged to keep up with him. "It's coming along so great and I'm so happy with what we've done so far but—"
"You still want to do more." Aeon sighed.
"Of course he does." Troy grinned, quite comfortable with the hold that Blink had on his arm. It wasn't harsh, like Randallion's could get, or squeezing too tightly, like Extraordinary's could be. It was loose, and Troy could pull away if he wanted to. Which he didn't, because he was happy in his best friend's hold. "When Blink goes big, it's time to go home."
"Speaking of!" Blink pulled out something that glowed gold. "You need to tell me your coordinates so I can put it on the mite-compass thingie that Runt came up with. She said she was giving you one soon."
"Oooooohh, yeah." Troy chuckled, trying to think his way around this. He didn't have a home. He had home, with Extraordinary and Randallion. "Maybe she can sync it to my Mite-compass itself?"
Blink's hazel eyes immediately focused on him.
Troy got the dooming feeling that he answered wrong.
"Hey Aeon, we'll be around, I'm going to go show Troy my home, okay?" Blink said casually, and Aeon nodded, disappearing around the corner like the fox that the woman was a hybrid of. The doomed feeling loomed as Blink's face grew severe and quiet as he tugged Troy along, his grip full of quiet strength. That was just like Blink, the capable one that always helped people, despite how flustered and anxious he got.
Oh shit. Was he worrying his friend? He shouldn't do that, not with his bad heart. He really really shouldn't worry him like this.
"Blink, you really shouldn't worry like this, what about your heart?" Troy fretted as he was dragged along Candle's Street. They walked up some steps with Blink still not saying anything, not rising to the bait and wasn't that just worrying in its own right, until they came to the roost and Blink unlocked the door and shoved Troy in and then closed the door behind him.
Troy got the distinct feeling that he was being cornered, and his fingers twitched to hold his super-cool sled in a defensive position. It wasn't needed, not in the slightest. He was with his best friend after all, even when he wasn't Blink's best friend.
"Troy, you always know you're welcome here. Or in Reclaim. Or in Cogtopolis. Right? You know that, don't you?" Blink asked, his owl eyes unusually hawkish as he looked at Troy.
Troy tilted his head as he pondered the question. Questions? He kind of understood where Blink was coming from. He wanted Troy to know that his team wouldn't leave him behind. Never abandon him like another team did. They would always open their doors up out of the goodness of their hearts.
"Of course I know that man." Troy grinned at his best friend. It apparently wasn't enough, because Blink's frown grew. "I mean, Runt gave me explicit permission to come annoy her and Three Strings! So I definitely know I'm welcome there."
"Troy." Uh oh. Blink looked incredibly serious. Something was wrong, did he find out what a horrible piece of shit Troy still was after all the changing he had done on the adventure? It would make sense. Troy could never change who he was at his core.
"Troy, you realize we don't do this out of obligation, don't you?" Blink said calmly, as he walked over to his kitchen area, and Troy followed like a lost dog.
"Well yeah, I suppose—"
"Because you are one of the most frustrating, ridiculous, incorrigible people that I've ever met. And I've met a lot of people like that in Reclaim with my life down here." Blink poured a drink for himself and for Troy. Alcohol, by the smell. "You refuse to acknowledge that people can love you because you're you, and you don't like being seen as anything other than a captain and a team leader. But you are more than that, you know? You're a person who has needs, and that includes a home that you feel safe and content in. Not one where you feel obligated to stay, or a place where you feel like you're trapped by the people there."
Blink handed him one of the drinks. Troy just looked down at it, not really thinking about taking a drink right now. Last time him and Blink got drunk, they both ended up with frosted tips on feathers and hair respectively. While fun and funny, it was also a shock for sober Troy.
"And you have a temper, and we both say things that we shouldn't." Blink said, taking a sip of his own drink as he leaned against his counter. "But Troy, I want nothing but the best for you. Everyone does. Runt does, WD does, Ripley and Three Strings want the best for you too. Pinch too, when I managed to get ahold of him, he asked about you first. And I can tell that the only one who doesn't want the best for you, is you."
Blink was always best with the harsh truth. It always came spilling out of him at important moments.
"You always had that catchphrase, you know?" Blink looked out the window, at Candle's Street. "That you could 'take it,' no matter what 'it' was. I never really thought what that could mean, what that would mean for your health, for your mental health."
Blink turned and looked at him, his large hazel eyes glowing gold, like refined Wondrous coal in the candlelight.
"You don't have to take it. You know that, right? You're my best friend, and I want you happy."
Troy wondered if this was cosmic payback.
He had helped Blink get over people walking all over him, and now, now Blink was helping him with his problem.
~~~~~~~~~~
He sent the coordinates to Runt to remote-program into his Mite-compass and breathed in the fresh air.
The mountain always felt like a safe space to him. Even when he first came up the mountain and Runt had been so upset at him for finding peace here. It could become home for him. Home that was something that was safe and his and no one else's, because they would have to work to come up here.
Runt would come up here in a heartbeat. Blink would fly up without question, hell he'd probably come up just for a drink and to congratulate Troy on finding a place all on his own. WD and Ripley would no doubt invent something that could bring them here in a jiffy.
The mountain was defaced a little by Extraordinary's flying machine crashing into it, but it was growing back to itself. It would recover. It would become beautiful and wonderful once more.
The cabin was nice, and he needed a little more to make it completely home, but it was homely. It was lovely. Troy found peace here. He could find peace again, in fact he felt it the moment that he stepped foot on this layer of the mountain. The ache in his chest unwound and he felt no need to carry his super-cool sled.
Staring at the stovetop, he wondered what he should make.
He oculd make soup. He could make some sort of cider.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts, and he went and opened it without much deliberation. It could be any number of people. Hell, for all he knew, it was Pinch who was making sure that he was eating, or the Overseer who escaped and wanted more information on Blink.
It wasn't Blink. It wasn't Runt. It wasn't WD or Ripley or Pinch.
Instead, there stood Randallion. Looking for all the world like he was lost in the snow and the ice and was bundled up completely, but here he was. Standing in front of Troy's door. He had come to Troy's door.
"Can I come in?"
"I can take it." Part of Troy whispers still. He could take whatever his brother tried to dish out on him. If his brother had come to make him come back home. He could take it.
"I don't have to." A much louder part hisses back. It sounds like Blink, like Runt, like WD.
It sounds like Randallion, when he was shooing Troy from the office when he was very young, telling Troy that he could take care of everything now. It sounds like Randy, who played with Troy when he could before the work got too much and he couldn't play anymore. It sounds like Randy, who drank hot cocoa with Troy while their mother fussed over them and they giggled together over their silly games in the snow.
"I can take it."
"Troy! Troy! Troy!"
"I don't have to."
"I think I have some hot cocoa." Troy said, as he stepped away from the door to let his brother inside. "Would you like some?"
A soft light of hope shone in his brother's eyes.
"I'd like that."