10 Chapter 9: One Last Goodbye

The next morning

The first thing I saw when I woke up was a small stinky foot on my face, not a good wake up call

It seems that I fell asleep after singing for Marcy, looking at her now, a lonely girl and feigning rudeness to protect her from her own sadness

I always thought of making her my battle partner in this apocalypse, until I met her in person

I always thought of her as the vampire queen of over a millennium, but now she's just a girl who needs attention and love.

The last thing she needs is battles and worrying about surviving.

I was a normal person in my previous life, so I will do what any normal person would do in my place, I will take care of this lonely girl and give her a happy childhood.

(MC still has no romantic interest in her, she is 5 years old and he sees her more as someone to protect and love, not love romantically)

Simon will leave us in maybe 5 years, when he leaves I can survive on my own, I don't need a normal childhood or adolescence

I already had that

But Marceline doesn't, so I'll give her a relatively peaceful life (maybe not with my own hands)

I came out of my thoughts when I heard a yawn near me, it seems that Marcy woke up

"Good morning Marcy, I hope you had a good rest" I smiled warmly at the sleepy half demon

"Yahhw, good morning Blanche, thanks for singing to me last night, I usually have weird dreams, but tonight it didn't happen"

"I am happy to hear that Marcy, because today we will have a busy day, we will go to the city to get a part for a machine that I am building and then we will continue traveling"

"Woow, are you building something? Are you some kind of nerd? You just lack the glasses like Simon haha"

"Yeah, something like that, I guess I read a lot, haha"

"Haha, neeeerd"

We stepped out of the tent to see the sun come up, rising up through the clouds

"Wow, I hardly ever see the sunrise, I didn't know it was so beautiful"

"You will learn that there are beautiful things even at the end of the world marcy"

That was the opening sentence of Simon who had also stood up, my silly dad always wanting to seem wise and smart

"Dad, I think it's the right thing to say 'good morning,' don't you?"

"Haha, yes I guess so, or the correct thing is to admit that it was a great entrance, don't you think?"

He spoke in a smug tone as he showed me a picture of me sleeping like a baby with Marcy's foot on my face and slightly drooling like a baby.

That photo was destroyed by an ice spike 0.001 seconds after revealing it to me.

Simon shrugged.

"I knew you would do that, so I made copies and hid them everywhere, you better give up my dear snowflake"

"Damn...it's ok, you're right it was ''great'', you're always right"

"Mmhmm, well said son"

Our interaction seemed to amuse Marcy (again) that she laughed at my suffering

"Hahaha, Simon you are a genius, nothing better than putting a nerd in his place"

"Okay ok, I better go check the car and prepare our backpacks to look for that filter that I need in the city"

When Marceline saw that Blanche was far enough away, she turned to Simon quickly.

"Simon, did you say you had more copies of that photo?"

A warm smile appeared on Simon's face.

"Sure Marcy"

A few minutes later, our protagonists are ready to continue their search in the city for a good quality filter.

When they were about to leave the camp, Marceline asked curiously

"Hey Blanche, what's a filter? And what nerdy thing do you want to build with it?"

Remembering that she is a child and that children are naturally curious, I decided to try to give my best explanation.

"Well marcy, a filter is a device generally made up of a porous material that helps to retain and eliminate solid particles from the water. These allow to improve the quality of the water and eliminate harmful materials in it"

"I plan to build a water purifier to have drinking water at all times, even though it may not completely remove radiation from the water, it really won't affect us due to our special bodies."

Once I finished my explanation, I turned around to see if Marcy understood my explanation....

She was poking a dead bird with a stick next to Simon

That damn old man sure wanted a girl

"Do you understand what a filter is, Marceline?" Ask out loud to get their attention

"Huh? Or if a filter isn't just something you put on when you want to separate things from other things? Why do you always have to talk like a nerd?"

Marceline gave me the most annoyed look you can imagine.

I never wanted to hit a girl more in my two lives.

Leaving my explanations aside, we continue to go deeper into the city looking at the possible places where a filter would be needed.

We spent a few hours until Marceline abruptly stopped in the middle of the road.

"Now I remember! I know where there is a filter guys!"

"Really? Where Marcy?"

"Well...before I got here I was in a place called the 'clubhouse', me and my mom had to get there for a party, but she stayed behind and ordered me to come alone"

"When I arrived there was no party, just a bunch of strange statues (he's 5 years old, he doesn't know exactly what the skeletons are), inside the place with a lot of food everywhere and the water they had tasted good"

"My mom gave me a card that was used to enter, but the door was open"

"I spent a few days there before leaving and at that moment I found you guys"

"I didn't know that everything was so destroyed out here, it was a big surprise"

Simon looked at me surreptitiously, he seems to sense what was the fate of Marceline's mother

After a couple of seconds of silence, talk to her.

"I see, do you think you can take us to that 'clubhouse' Marcy?"

this is an opportunity I was looking for, not only can I restock and finish my machine

I can also show Marceline the last message that her mother left for her, Marceline has to know that she was not abandoned

Much of Marceline's emotional problems in the future are due to the fact that she always thought that her mother abandoned her.

That is something that I have to fix, maybe she will be sad for her mother at first, but it will be more beneficial for her life in the future

Finishing my thoughts, in a few seconds I could hear Marcy's answer

"Of course I can! Although I'm not a nerd like your Blanchie, I still have a good memory... I think"

Ignoring Marcy's unreliable response, we headed to her old haunt, guided by her on foot to a sandy, rubble-strewn spot of what appeared to be a small town.

Remembering that Marceline's late mother would surely be near the garage she stayed in, I surreptitiously wrote a note and handed it to Simon behind Marcy's back.

He seemed a little confused, but after reading what I wrote he seemed to understand what I wanted him to do

He quickly came into view of Marcy and began to pat his pockets, he seemed to be looking for something.

"Oh no, hey guys, I think I forgot something important in the camp, what do you think if you follow the path and I'll be right back, okay?"

"No problem dad, make sure you search 'thoroughly' for what you lost"

The meaning of my words was clear

"But Simon, it's very dangerous to be alone and if those weird animals attack us, I can defend myself but Blanchie is a nerd"

Her concern disguised as rudeness is quite adorable to me and Simon.

"Ahh, don't worry Marcy, Blanche does more than magic tricks and snowmen, he can protect you"

"Don't worry Marcy, we'll be fine if we stay together, and please stop calling me a nerd, I'm more of a prodigy."

"Pff, whatever you say neeeerd, it's fine Simon, but come back soon, I don't want to take care of Blanchie's weakling too much"

again lovely

So Simon went 'looking for something important' and we followed the path to the shelter.

It didn't take long and we could already see the entrance to the shelter at the base of a rocky wall, it seems to have a ventilation system and an open door

Once we entered the first thing I saw were several skeletons in different parts of the place, next to a reserve of food and water

A small place that seems to be the old place where Marceline slept, next to some boxes of different types of food with faces and accessories

This last one almost brings me to tears as I remember the lonely marceline talking to her boxes and singing about the red light, she didn't know it was her mother's farewell message and it took her more than a thousand years to find out(I cried too)

Marceline gave me a strange look when she saw my wet eyes.

"What's wrong with you, Blanchie? Do you get dust in your eyes? It's ok, it always happens to me, stupid dust, always annoying"

Ignoring Marcy's attempt at consolation which soon turned into complaints about the dust, I continued to inspect everything and it seemed like a good place to live.

(after disposing of the corpses)

But a blinking red light caught my attention, it seemed to be a speaker with a keyboard, that's the communicator where Marceline's mother left her last goodbye

It seems to be high above the ground, which explains why Marcy didn't hear the message in the first place.

"Hey Marcy, what's that blinking thing?"

"What, ahh the red light, I don't know, it started flashing shortly after I got here."

"What do you think if we lower it to the ground and see what it is? Maybe it will be something interesting"

"Wow really? I always wanted to know what that thing was, but how are you going to lower it? It's too high"

I have several options at the moment, but I think I will choose the easiest

"Well, if it seems too high, why don't we go up a bit?"

Marceline was surprised when the snow gradually accumulated under our feet to form a platform.

"Wow, what are you doing?"

"going up"

I controlled the platform to slowly rise towards the communicator, when we got close enough the platform stopped in mid air.

Marceline looked curious and looked under the platform to see what was lifting us, but she only saw air.

"Woooow"

Ignoring the innocent Marcy, I quickly grabbed the comlink and lowered it onto the platform, which began to rapidly descend under my control.

Once on the ground, the platform split into many snowflakes that scattered into the air.

The sight seemed to captivate Marcy

Approaching the communicator, look for the message box, when I found it I called Marcy

"Hey Marcy, this thing seems to be a communicator, and it looks like the flashing red light means it has a message, do you want to hear it?"

"Is it serious? A message? I thought it was the button to a secret entrance or something" Marcy seemed disappointed with the actual use of the red light

We sit in front of the communicator in silence to listen to the message

"Marceline, you're there, right, my brave girl"

It was a weak voice, it sounded young and cute

"I'm sorry I had to deceive you, but I know that you are very strong and that you can face this world alone"

"And that will not change you, because you have a big heart"

"I love you, Marceline, I don't have much time left, I hope you can forgive me"

-End of message-