The original guild members had immediately started helping out. Clover had taken over the garden. Botut had already begun to do a proper inventory. Titus had taken over the hunters, Godric was in the workshop helping Duncan, and Sebastion had taken over the magic training from Alex. It was honestly a massive relief. Though between everyone who had died and all of the dead people, Jaime had … well, rescued was the wrong word—recovered, maybe. Regardless, Tom felt utterly drained, even if the skill experience was worth it.
Which was why what he needed to do next felt so much more … slimy. When Skippy came back to Hopkins, Tom met him just outside the building. They had things to talk about. Tom and Skippy sat down on the curb in Hopkins parking lot just as it was getting dark. He had just finished his resurrection spree.
"Hey, Tom," Skippy muttered next to him.
"What?" Tom let out a breath.
"About that thing you asked me to do …" Skippy trailed off.
Tom quickly looked around. No one was around, but he discreetly threw up a sound barrier to stop eavesdropping.
"It was necessary, Skippy," Tom said as his back straightened.
"Dragging a train of goblins through the other settlements and into the middle of Hopkins was necessary?" Skippy asked.
"Look, if you hadn't done it, we would have gone in there with no more than a few thousand people, as opposed to the three thousand we did go in with," Tom said. "And what would have happened then? Our army would have been destroyed, and the remaining goblins would have been able to focus on us. With the [Sanguine Monarch] still alive, we would have all been dead. At least until Jaime showed up with the guild, then it would have just been another raid. But hey, no one died … permanently. Nothing was lost that couldn't be rebuilt. The ends justify the means."
Skippy just stared at him.
"But did we need really need to go in there and get fucked in the ass? I already destroyed the gate. With my class, I might have been able to get the bloodstone as well, even if I needed to kill the fucking [Bloodmage] to do it."
"Maybe," Tom admitted. "But what happened instead? What would happen during the next crisis? Even if we gathered up all our old guild members, would we have the numbers for the next time things went to shit? We brought a giant army there; everyone got levels, and most of them now feel a mix of familiarity and debt to the guild. And all that talk of taking Hopkins from us is over."
"That's pretty fucking cold, dude. I mean Jesus. I'm not really sure how I feel about that." Skippy admitted.
"Then just blame me," Tom stated.
"What?" Skippy asked.
"I'm the guild leader; it was my order and responsibility. Hell, I expect we're going to make even harder choices in the future," Tom said. "And when we do, it will be my decision. Not yours, not Jaime's, not the Major's. This is my shit show, and I'm responsible for it, no one else. If anyone ever finds out, you just lay everything at my feet. Because it was my fault, not yours. Ok"
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Tom placed his hand on his friend's shoulder. Skippy seemed like he had just shredded a large weight as he stopped slouching.
"Thanks, Tom," Skippy said. "Have you ever thought about going back to the way things were?"
Tom smiled as he looked at the sky. Noralons' three moons hung in the sky, peeking out from between the clouds. Snowflakes danced across the sky as he considered his answer.
"I hope it never goes back to the way it was," Tom admitted.
"TOOOOMMMM," Chloe called out, coming to him and tackling him.
Skippy went invisible on reflex.
"Come on, Tom, we're going to be late," Chloe said as she dragged him behind her.
"Chloe, wait. Slow down. Stop dragging me. When did you get so strong?" Tom begged as his little sister manhandled him with surprising strength.
"No, we're going to be late," Chloe stated.
She quickly dragged him back inside of Hopkins and pulled him towards the theatre. Skippy snickered as he followed after Tom. Tom chucked a regular paper airplane at Skippy, nailing him even as he attempted to dodge or go invisible.
"I can still see you, Skippy. Your [Reaper's Cloak] skill doesn't work on me." Tom pointed out.
Chloe dragged Tom into the theatre and quickly sat them down next to Alex in one of the few remaining seats. She immediately leaned against him, using him as a body pillow.
Alex, Abbadon, Duncan, Eve, Sam, Luke, Gareth, Travis, and even Penny were all already seated. Other people, his other guild members included, were spread out throughout the theatre. Tom thought he might have seen the major, but he wasn't sure.
Skippy plopped down into one of the remaining seats next to Gareth as he was chewing on a piece of jerky and sipping a mug of what Tom guessed might be beer. Alex smiled at Tom.
“You're late. Want any popcorn?” Alex offered Tom a bag.
"Um, what is this?" Tom asked.
"It's movie night, dummy," Abaddon said as he emptied an entire bag of Skittles into his reptilian maw.
"You know those orc tribes are still out there," Duncan pointed out. They won't fall apart like the goblins."
"We can take them," Tom said.
"And what about the [Apocalypse Force]?" Luke asked. "We have goblins, orcs, those assholes. Not to mention how messed up everything is with the system and that dungeon."
"Don't forget the frost wyvern in Langley," Abaddon added.
"The what?!" Luke asked.
"Not important," Alex said.
"It sounds very important," Luke protested.
"Who cares? We're heroes living our dreams as we fight monsters and live in a castle. Would you really go back to your old lives?! If you could"
"Yes," Luke said.
"No," Tom stated.
Everyone turned to him. Tom shrugged unapologetically.
"My sister is safe and happy, I'm surrounded by friends and people I care about, I have a job I actually like that I'm good at, and I have vast magical powers. Why would I ever go back to the misery of the world before?" Tom said
Eve rolled her eyes at him. "Yeah, yeah, because your life was so awful before."
Duncan elbowed his girlfriend as Tom gave Eve a look that said you're a moron like nothing else.
"My dad is an abusive alcoholic, and my mom is just abusive, and I had no future prospects. This is objectively a better life."
"Alright, enough heavy talk." Penny cut in. "We've all been doing stuff non-stop for the entire week. You guys need to take a break before your burnout. I've prepared everything for this evening."
The white screen came down over the stage, and the lights dimmed as a projector turned on.
Apparently, the scavenging crew had brought back an entire home theatre system that was the star attraction at regular movie nights. At the front, Tom could see someone opening a box.
"What are we watching?" Tom asked.
"Discworld Hogfather 2006," Alex said.
They all looked at Alex.
"What?" she asked. "It's a Christmas movie."
"No, it's not!" Godric called out.
"Wookie Christmas," Alex called back
Gordric shut up.
"Yeah, it's a Christmas movie that stars Death and the tooth fairy that you make us watch every year," Skippy said, rolling his eyes.
"Enough, everyone gets a chance to pick a move for the night. Alex won the lottery; it's her movie," Penny said. "It's a good movie, at least, right?"
"It's actually pretty good," Tom admitted as he leaned back as the film started up.
Like he said, life was good.
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