Chapter Text
Lune pushed the coffee table back against the wall to prepare. Maelle needed space to work for Restoring Gustave and it wouldn’t do to have her hit someone in the process. Lune briefly wondered what would happen if someone were to get in the way while Maelle Painted but quickly dispelled the thought from her mind. She still had many burning questions about how the world worked, but they would have to be answered another day. Right now, the goal was making sure Gustave came back whole and as unharmed as one could possibly be after having been dead for the better part of a year.
Her head curiously snapped up to look at the door when she heard it open, but this turned to ire when she saw her least favourite of Maelle’s brothers enter the room. “Are you fucking kidding me? Why are you here?” she spat at Verso.
Verso stood there looking cowed for a split second of time before Maelle intervened. “I invited him, Lune. This is an important day and I want my brother here for it.”
She couldn’t hold back an expression of disgust from her face. “I don’t think he should be here given his history with Gustave.” Lune motioned to everyone in the room who had Gommaged because of his selfish actions. “And all of us, really.”
Maelle’s voice was steady but her eyes had taken on a sheen like she may start crying if this continued. “Verso was still part of Expedition 33 and helped us defeat my papa to get the Canvas back. He helped me Restore both you and Sciel when I couldn’t get it so I feel better having him around for this. He needs to stay.”
Lune’s fists felt hot with the fire she so desperately wanted to blast his ass to Hell with; but she conceded for Gustave’s sake more than Maelle’s. She wanted her friend and lab partner back just the way he was. Maelle being upset could lead to a mistake and she did not want Gustave to come back missing another limb, or something even worse.
Verso appeared to be studying Gustave and Emma’s family photographs like he would be quizzed on them later. He still hadn’t said anything but Lune knew him well enough to know the set of his shoulders indicated he was upset. I suppose this is fine as long as he continues to shut up and stay out of the way, Lune considered. He looked thin and exhausted. Verso was not adjusting to the post-Fracture world, which Lune almost couldn’t blame him for when he was very clear about not wanting to be alive, but she hated him for worrying both Maelle and Sciel sick with his behaviour. It was ridiculous of him to keep hurting himself when he knew he would never actually die and it only exacerbated Maelle’s unwillingness to make him mortal.
Lune began to feel annoyed just looking at him so she turned her attention to Sciel and Emma instead. Emma clutched onto Gustave’s prosthetic like a liferaft while Sciel attempted to calm her by rubbing circles onto her back. It was odd to see Emma so scared but she somehow still looked beautiful, like the red rim around her eyes only brought out the blue more. For a brief moment, she wished she could trade places with Sciel, but she pushed that out of her mind like most other thoughts that day.
Lune closed her eyes and turned her face back towards Maelle and the space in front of her where Gustave would be Restored. Sciel is better at comforting others than I am. The best thing I can do for Emma right now is help Maelle get through this and be here to provide Gustave with medical attention if needed, she told herself. What if he gets Restored but still has a hole through his chest or the other wound through his abdomen or both? Maybe I should have insisted on bringing another Expedition’s healer so there would be two of us just in case. I’m not carrying any more supplies than I typically do, fuck, I really should have brought more tints and—
“I think I’m ready to Restore Gustave now. I would appreciate it if everyone would be quiet so I can focus,” Maelle announced.
Lune took a deep breath to recenter herself. Worrying could not change anything at this point and she would just have to focus to be ready for whatever came next. Maelle pulled her brush out and made a series of quick movements like she was sparring with an invisible enemy until golden chroma petals accumulated and dissipated to reveal Gustave laying on the floor. He was definitely alive because she could hear him gasping for breath, but it sounded like his lungs were clear and he was not choking on his own blood. Satisfactory first assessment, Lune noted.
Maelle scrambled to his side and Lune resisted the urge to follow. She didn’t see any signs of injury yet and it would be best to not crowd him. Maelle would make him the most comfortable anyway. He bolted upright, coughed, and pounded his chest; which made Lune raise her eyebrows in awe. Maelle really did Restore him exactly as is if he still gets those annoying heart palpitations when he’s stressed. She briefly wondered if Maelle could get rid of those for him if he wanted her to but put that thought out of her mind along with the others in her growing pile. She still needed to focus on the situation at hand.
Emma finally moved to offer Gustave’s arm back to him but seeing her sent him into a state of panic. He began feeling around his chest with his one existing hand, which Lune intently observed to see if there were signs of damage. Lune cringed watching him fumble with the buttons on his uniform only to give up and rip them open in his panic. She remembered how depressed and humiliated he had been every time he needed to ask for help before he had his prosthetic. His apprentices had no idea that they probably saved his life by building the arm for him.
Gustave’s chest was finally exposed enough for Lune to visually assess it and breathe a sigh of relief. His chest looked completely unmarked, like nothing even happened to it at all.
He pressed a hand to his chest. “Am I dead? Did we all die?” he croaked.
Lune glanced at Verso. Yeah, we actually did all die when we Gommaged thanks to that asshole sitting on the coffee table who has the audacity to look like a scared child right now, she thought bitterly.
Maelle put one of her tiny hands on top of Gustave’s hand on his chest and the other on his shoulder to ground him, which Lune felt was a smart move. That typically worked when he was on the verge of a panic attack. “Gustave, we are all okay. It’s all okay. Take a deep breath. Emma has your arm,” she softly implored.
Emma’s terrified expression as she offered Gustave his arm sent a pang through Lune’s chest, which only intensified when he pulled both Maelle and Emma to him and brutally wept.
Gustave’s sobs violently shook his entire body and his voice sounded like he had been screaming for days. “I died! I KNOW I died! Is this real? Are you real?”
Tears were streaming down Maelle’s face. She had plenty of practice reorienting people after they were Restored but none had died a violent death like Gustave had. This was clearly much different but important data to have for any future non-Gommage Restorations.
“Yes, you did die. But we’re all real and we’re all here with you,” Maelle reassured him. “We love you and we missed you so we brought you back.”
“But HOW?” Gustave screamed, his voice raw.
He was always the type to obsess over a problem to his own detriment until he got an answer so Lune decided to provide him with a basic one immediately. “We defeated the Paintress and now Maelle has her powers. I know you have a lot of questions. We will tell you everything but you need to get your bearings.”
Lune hadn’t noticed she was clenching her fists until she felt them unclench when that actually worked. Gustave closed his eyes, took some deep breaths, and nodded just like he had after coming out of a panic attack many times before. Even though he was clearly struggling with this, Lune was reminded that he was resilient and smiled. “Good,” she praised.
Movement caught her eye as she saw Sciel scurry over and add herself to the embrace. After a moment of consideration, Lune determined that she no longer had to be vigilant for emergency medical issues and joined in. Her only option was to hug around the four people already hugging on the floor, but that suited her just fine. Everyone had worked so hard to make this day happen and keep the city running in various ways.
Movement jostled Lune out of her reverie. “Who the fuck is that?” Gustave asked while shakily pointing at Verso.
Verso looked extremely unwell. There was a sheen of sweat on him and Lune was absolutely positive the only reason he had not vomited was, knowing him, there was probably nothing in his stomach to vomit. The reminder of how he had been stressing the others out by starving himself pissed her off yet again. “No one important, don’t worry about him right now,” she replied. You’ll learn all about his bullshit soon enough.
Verso stood like it was his first time. He was clearly in no condition to be upright but Lune decided against trying to help him. If he wanted to suffer, he could suffer. His body would just reset him to perfect physical health if something bad happened anyway. Well, functionally perfect, Lune noted. She wouldn’t call him healthy. His chroma felt so fucked up every time she checked on him during the Expedition, which he must know because he was so grumpy every time she used any sort of skill that involved biological chroma sensing on him at all.
“I h-have to go now,” Verso stammered before bolting out the front door like a suicidal housecat.
The room sat in shocked silence. Sciel shot her a dirty look but she didn’t regret saying it. Verso really was not important to Gustave right now and he should not worry about him when he needs to focus on readjusting to living.
Maelle exasperatedly sighed in a way that was old beyond her years. “That’s my brother, Gustave. His name is Verso. He was living on the Continent. I’ll tell you all about him later. Right now, let’s just focus on helping you feel better. Can you stand? It would be good to take a seat on the couch instead of the floor.”
Gustave nodded and slowly stood up. He looked about as unsteady as Verso had but he managed to sit on the couch unassisted.
Emma looked from Gustave to Maelle and silently reached some sort of conclusion before turning to face Lune and Sciel again. Her Chief Councilor professional persona made a triumphant return. “We really appreciate you being here for this, but it’s probably best if you two go home now so Maelle and I can focus on helping him rest. He’s obviously very overwhelmed. Come back tomorrow morning so we can explain everything together.”
Lune had a feeling that Emma just didn’t want to risk having a difficult conversation too early if she and Maelle disagreed again, but it was her house and her brother, so she conceded and forced a lighter tone. “Of course, do you have anything else you want us to do?”
Gustave held up his prosthetic arm. “Could you take this to the lab so my apprentices can fix it?” he interjected. “I’m glad to not have to rebuild it, but it’s so busted from that last overcharge that I don’t think it would stay on if I tried. It needs tools beyond what I have here.”
“Yes, absolutely.” Lune affirmed. She took it as a good sign that Gustave was asking for help and turned to Sciel. She wasn’t sorry for saying what she said, but she was sorry Sciel was upset about it. “Would you like to come to the lab with me? We can go to Mathilde’s after, my treat.”
Sciel accepted and the two of them left through the door that Verso never shut when he left.
Lune decided to address the bourgeon in the room first. “I know you care about him, but you have to admit it was fucked up to have him there.
For a moment, the only sound was their footsteps and the swish of Sciel’s colourful skirt as she walked. She had taken to favouring that style of outfit when she wasn’t working at the farm. Her tone was uncharacteristically serious when she eventually replied. “Lune, I’ve never asked you to forgive him, but I have repeatedly asked you to stop being cruel to him.”
“Even if he didn’t do everything he did, Gustave still doesn’t know him and was obviously distressed by the presence of a stranger.”
“He won’t be a stranger for long and he did what he did because he was in so much pain that he didn’t see another way out. I know you don’t know what that feels like, but I do.”
Lune grimaced at the reminder that her friend had suffered so deeply. “That’s different, Sciel. You didn’t try to kill every living thing in the Canvas to handle your pain.”
“No, I didn’t, but I still think you need to let it go eventually. You know who else understands being in so much pain that you don’t see another way out? Gustave.”
Lune sharply inhaled. Sciel was not pulling any punches today. “Are you seriously implying that you think Gustave will forgive him?”
“I think it will take a while but ultimately, yes. I think he will. I think that if Maelle loves him, he will come to love him as well eventually.” Sciel loudly exhaled. “Verso will remain part of our lives whether you want him to or not. I’m not saying you have to be friends again, just at least tolerate his presence for Maelle’s sake. And mine.”
She mulled it over and decided that dealing with Verso in any way, including getting a dig in at his expense, was a waste of time. He didn’t deserve any of her most precious resource. “If it bothers you this much, I’ll try,” she promised.
They stopped outside the lab so Lune could go in to drop off the arm. Gustave’s apprentices were so excited to hear that "Monsieur G” would be returning soon and dropped everything else to finish the repairs as soon as possible. As their interim supervisor, Lune allowed it and returned downstairs to Sciel looking particularly pensive.
She noticed Lune approaching and her brow furrowed. “If you really want Verso gone, you should help him be happy enough for Maelle to grant him mortality.”
“Isn’t he still hurting himself?” Lune felt like that was a rhetorical question based on how unwell he seemed earlier but asked anyway.
“Frequently, but he will never get better if everyone treats him like a live explosive. It’s also fucked up for Maelle to hold that over his head when only she seems to be able to decide what ‘happy enough’ is.”
Lune sighed. Sciel was right, it would take a lot of gentle patience from everyone for Verso to become anything close to a person capable of functioning in society. Maelle was also clearly still struggling to process the original Verso’s death and chained the Painted Verso to life against his will to cope. As much as Lune wanted to drown him in the harbour, though he would probably enjoy that, she still felt for him. Deep down, she did not truly want him to kill himself, but she felt that he deserved the agency to choose after 67 years of torment.
They reached Mathilde’s while Lune was brooding. “It’s a nice day. Do you want to sit inside or outside?” she asked.
Sciel stared into the middle distance and deliberated for a moment before turning to directly face Lune. “I actually just want to go home. This has been an exhausting day and frankly, it’s making me worry a bit for Pierre’s possible Restoration because he didn’t Gommage either.” The hard expression evaporated from her face and was replaced with the exhaustion she mentioned. “We’re fine, I’m not angry with you, just please tolerate him. He took more extreme actions than Gustave and I, but it’s the same pain. If you don’t hold us to our worst days, don’t hold him to his.”
Sciel gave her a quick hug before reminding her that she would see her the next morning and walked off in the direction of her house. Lune clenched and unclenched her fists before deciding to go into Mathilde’s by herself anyway. An almond croissant and a latte would not fix any of her problems, but would be a nice treat to bring to the lab for while she worked even though she had taken the day off.