Greyashe chapter 342 is entitled 'Guy, interrupted.'

Previous chapter 341: But, can it be done?

Next chapter 343: Fist full of existence.

Summary page.

-Short summary-

Guy revisits home to find not much has changed, much to his chagrin.

-Long summary.-

It had been rough going for Guy when he left Kani and the others. For one thing he wasn’t even entirely sure where he should go or what it is that he should be doing. He had been with the group for a time approaching a year, and had figured things would in some facsimile always be that way. Though really he can’t blame anyone but himself for the events that had led to the break up really. If he really wanted to, he could have stayed with them indefinitely. The problem with thinking that way is…

Well, what is the problem with thinking that way? That he’d always be friends with them?

Unable to come up with a satisfactory answer to this question is what had prompted Guy into striking out on his own. Even with his very limited understanding of magic and it’s inner workings, he could tell things are getting serious. Serious to a point that even he ---the King of flippancy had started to get concerned. Concerned enough to think that maybe, just maybe hanging out with the group isn’t the right thing to do. It’s not natural so to speak.

So after pontificating on the point for what felt like eons, the fighter decided that this would be a fine opportunity to head back home. It had taken him some time since he doesn’t drive and literally lives off the road. He had scraped up the last of his earnings (both ill-gotten and otherwise) to hop a ride to Oakland where he had been born and narrowly escaped wiling away his youth in. Not surprisingly upon entry into town the fighter is filled with a sense of malaise, remembering all too well why he had left home in the first place. Still he’s here now and there’s never been a time where he’s shown his back to a challenge so he pressed on until he found ---her.

Alicia-Ellen Copeland. She and guy had been childhood friends sharing almost everything with each other. Even now she barely looks any different than she had when he left home almost ten years ago. Still with the same strawberry blond hair, deep hazel eyes, with a beauty mark under the left. She had gotten taller, but she still has to look up to meet his gaze. She still has the same annoyed expression she had in childhood when he’d run off and leave her alone. Of course then he always had come back in a few hours, and not disappeared for nearly ten years, but who’s counting?

She socks him with a right hook to the jaw. Apparently she’s counting.

Guy stumbles back and rubs his jaw, complaining that she still puts too much strength behind her jabs. He’s beginning to regret showing her how to fight. Alicia argues back that he doesn’t get to talk about regretting anything when he’s the one who nearly left for an entire decade! She regrets even knowing him! How he could he show up now?! Does he have any consideration for her feelings?

Guy sighs thinking about how similar she is to Kani. How come the women around him always have to be so hostile? He offers a lopsided apology which only infuriates her more. She then frowns and asks ‘how many’? Guy eyes her incredulously and asks what she means? She narrows her eyes and repeats the question. Guy thinks for a moment and upon realization breaks out in a cold sweat. He instead asks how everyone is doing, but is surprised when the girl grabs his shirt and lowers his face to hers. She repeats her inquiry in a whisper enough to curdle death this time and Guy answers sheepishly that he kind of stopped keeping track. Alica rages and asks why does he run around and do dangerous things like that? She’s right here isn’t she? Why does he need to run around bedding women?

A pause.

Alicia realizes what she has said, blushes brightly and turns away from Guy. Guy smirks and asks if that was an invitation? Alicia tells him to die, and he shrugs a shoulder replying that he wouldn’t touch her even if his life depended on it. Alicia asks what that is supposed to mean, but Guy has already started walking away. She fumes and follows him asking what he means?

Later the two are walking side by side as Alicia explains the situation in Oakland now. Guy glances around at the suburb. Oakland is tucked behind the metropolis of Sparc, which is known for it’s bridge to the Southern continent. As such it is a hub for people who want to travel south where the weather is warmer, and closer to where Aerhaart –the capital where the Kaiser mage lives is. Sparc isn’t the only way into Oakland, as Guy had found in his wandering. Of course it’s the ritzier way of getting into town so it’s not surprising that coming from the west is a viable option not many speak of.  Guy marvels to himself about the world’s needless vastness. What’s the point of making something so huge that a guy can’t see all of it in his lifetime?

Guy can feel Alicia’s eyes on him and he asks what the matter is. She frowns and comments that he’s different. Guy makes a face and retorts that it’s almost been ten years. It’d be weird if he wasn’t different wouldn’t it? Alicia shakes her head and replies that she’s not talking about his looks, but his entire being. He seems more…mellowed out now. The Guy she knows usually would be all over the place looking for fights and being a general pain in the behind. Guy thanks her for the astute observation, and claims that he’s just tired. He asks if his house is still intact, and Alicia hesitates before she answers. Guy picks up on this and asks if there’s something he should know?

Alicia genuinely seems forlorn when she looks up at him again. Guy frowns and asks again if there’s something he needs to know, and she finally reveals that his father is on his deathbed at home. Due to the roving magicians, it had been all but impossible for anyone to leave town without being killed, and without the proper medical professionals his father who had become sick was left to only get worse until now where he is in a brittle state. Guy absorbs this information and rubs his chin, asking about the magicians. He’s assuming if they’ve come to this Podunk area, that they’ve pretty much completely overrun Sparc, huh? Alicia is taken aback by his inquiry but affirms his suspicions. They appeared in town suddenly, and keep the town on a constant state of alert. Anyone who tries to leave Oakland is mercilessly killed. She’s seen a few people who tried to get on the 567 (when it finally arrives due to being perpetually late), die after a few magicians surrounded the bus and used their magic to burn, electrocute or crush them. Eventually the ‘late’ bus became the ‘bus that never comes at all’, and the few people left simply eke out a scared existence in town. For some strange reason the magicians don’t attack if they stay put.

Guy nods and then stops walking as the two have reached his house. Alicia gives him a worried look, and he in turn smiles and comforts her by saying he’ll be okay. He’s a jerk who would leave town for almost ten years, but not one who would avoid seeing his Dad when he is in town. Alicia nods and asks him to go easy on the old guy. He’s not in his best condition. Guy laughs and replies that she should be saying that to his dad not him. He asks if she’ll come in too, but she declines citing that their reunion should be between them. Guy’s smile fades and he looks wistfully at the house before bidding her farewell and walking to the front door. He searches behind the window shutter, and finds a hole where a key is lodged. After getting it out he uses it in the door, and strides in leaving Alicia out front on her own.

Inside the house is neatly arranged –almost exactly the way it was when he was still living here. That thought alone sends a cold chill up the fighter’s spine. It’s as if all the old memories he had been pushing down with some success had suddenly caught a second wind and are forcing their way back up without his permission. He remembers how he and his family would gather around the table and eat a microwave meal since as his Dad put it, ‘Son, your mom is great at everything –especially looking pretty, but don’t let her get anywhere near a stove.’ Still he enjoyed those days until his Mother passed away and he and his Dad were left to fend for themselves.  Their relationship deteriorated after that which had led to guy leaving home at fifteen. The fighter strolls over the cupboard and is assaulted by dust when he opens it. Inside are the good china that his mom would never allow them to use which always lead to his Dad complaining about why they bought it in the first place. Those were good days….

Hearing a sound the fighter turns around and sees his father leaning against the door frame supporting himself with a walker. He is deathly thin and his hair a ghastly shade of dirty sliver. Gone is the robust man of his youth, replaced by this shell dressed in half buttoned polo and sweatpants. Yet his eyes…they still retain the sharpness that stabs Guy in the chest. Those eyes betray the rest of that body in their desire to live.

The man asks in a raspy voice if he thinks he’s welcome here? It takes a moment for Guy to register that the question was fielded to him. Guy responds that it’s still his house right? The man---his father, makes a wheezing sound and asks if he thinks that he has any claim to this place after being gone ten years? Guy corrects him meekly that it was merely almost ten years. His father wheezes again and calls him an idiot. He should have stayed wherever the heck he was because he’s not welcome here. Guy frowns but keeps his distance. His father surprised at his calm response continues speaking, noting how much trouble he was after his mother passed away. Yeah he can grasp that it was traumatic for him, but what good would starting trouble do for him? For his father? All he had done is run around being a public nuisance. What would his mother think of him giving his father so much grief? Was he fighting against his own fear of mortality by picking a fight with every person he met and being a general pain?

Guy shudders. If his own powers of observation are good, his Dad’s are divine. They are ordinary humans without a doubt, but their ability to empathize with others is nearly farseer tier. It’s exactly because of this that Guy is more hurt and annoyed at his father’s observation than relieved. If he knew all of that then why hadn’t he stepped in to help when he was hurting instead of pushing him away?

The old man slumps into a chair at the kitchen table and motions to the fridge. Guy opens it up and finds a six pack of beers. He takes one and tosses his Dad one, surprised that even in his sickened state he catches it with relative ease. The father takes a swig, and then glares at his son. All the boy had an aptitude for is causing pain to others in his opinion. Probably the only decent thing he had done is to run off when the going got too tough for both of them. His father wheezes and smiles mercilessly, so had he messed something up to a point of no return and then ran home with his tail between his legs?

Guy snarls at his father to shut up as he crushes the beer can in his hand causing it to splash all over the counter he leans against. Even he….even he has….

The fighter stops himself mid-sentence.

Realizes he has nothing to say, and…

Storms past his father and out the door.

His son gone, the old man takes another drink and sighs deeply, sadly.

Outside Alicia waits and asks Guy how things went, but can only sidestep out of his way as he storms by. She pursues him and asks what he’s doing? Guy in turn asks her if he takes the road toward Sparc will he encounter the magicians? Alicia answers affirmatively, but then asks again what he intends to do? Guy responds by running away at full speed, leaving the confused girl in his wake.

The road leading to Sparc is blockaded by overturned cars and buses which the magicians have fashioned into a bonfire. Some stand staring vacantly into the flame while others mutter unintelligible chants at it. However they are all at attention when Guy Cowan appears in their midst. Guy’s eyes are set forward gazing into his targets with an unreadable emotion. The magicians nearest to him wordlessly exchange glances and rush in for an attack, which is met with unbridled violence. Guy rams his fist into the face of one magician while greeting another with a head-butt. A third tries his luck and the mighty Cowan undeterred hits him with a body blow.

Even he….even what he does has meaning….!

He will show them, and him….that even he exists with meaning!