9 Goodbye! Terra

After that little incident, Vito was no longer fond of anything that had tentacles on it. Squids included.

As the show was coming to an end Alex gave out another announcement, "And a final dessert to go with the meal you just had. This may be our last time serving you, so we want to ensure that it will be the most memorable."

Alex had said it in a friendly way that would have gone over the heads of most people, but to some people there including Cyrus, he knew that Alex was informing them that after today there might not be a tomorrow if Terra were to be eliminated from the tournament.

And for a moment those same people remembered just how lucky they were to be alive right now. Cyrus clenched his fist by his chest as he spoke to himself in a whisper, "You don't have to worry about "those things" anymore. Just live life, it's what she would have wanted for me to do."

Although Terra didn't purposefully look around, he could feel the gaze of several individuals piercing at him as if looking for an answer, or some type of reassurance from him that he would make it.

In the end, they all averted their gaze one by one, but Terra wouldn't pretend that he didn't know what they were doing.

The servants set out to lay down a single slice of chocolate cake, a biscuit, and a cup of chamomile tea. The chamomile tea is a good beverage to calm down one's nerves and make people relax.

As Alex came to place the food on Terra's table, he quietly whispered something into his ear and then walked away.

Although the main course of dessert is chocolate, some people who didn't even like chocolate have been given something supplementary instead. To one, caramel, and to another Vanilla, and so on. 

To each their own.

Vito who was looking around earlier and admiring the place was completely distracted and negligent of the events that were happening at his own table. So by the time he grabbed his fork and stabbed at the plate to get his cake, all he heard was a *ding* sound as the fork hit the plate.

'Wait what?' Taking a look at his plate, he noticed that his cake... his cake was gone!?

'Somebody! Somebody took my cake!! Noo! Cake!!' he screamed in his mind.

'Who did it?' he asked himself. 

"It was you wasn't it Cyrus?" he says as he points at him accusingly. "You took my cake!?"

Cyrus raises an eyebrow, smiles, and then lightly waves his hand dismissively saying, "Calm down, you're overreacting it's just a piece of cake."

"Overreacting!? It was mine, and you took it," Vito argued.

Cyrus starts laughing with his hand covering his mouth.

Vito felt annoyed that Cyrus would have the gall to do so, "What's so funny? huh Cyrus, What?"

Cyrus calms down and says, "I didn't eat your cake, Edith did."

"What? No, she wouldn't, Edith wouldn't just steal my fo-"

"Actually I did," Edith says shyly as she finishes the remaining of my cake she had with her.

In disbelief, Vito turns and asks her, "But why?" as his hands waved around in confusion.

"Look Vito, you made me upset with you yesterday and so I was pretty mad at you, and besides you haven't even properly apologized for what you did, so that also made me mad and you just kept making me upset with your behavior, so I stole your food."

"I steal people's food when I'm mad at them. It's the way I am," she answered as she turned her head to the side.

Vito was in utter shock at this girl. Even if he was upset with someone, he wouldn't go around and steal their food, that's unreasonable. And had this been someone else then he would have said or done something to reprimand them, but he didn't want to do that to Edith.

Cyrus who was wearing his biggest grin yet asked Vito, "What's wrong? you've found the culprit, aren't you going to punish her for stealing?"

"Cyrus, she's right. I did scare her yesterday and I haven't apologized. I am sorry Edith. For making you feel this way. If you're still angry with me that is fine but I do mean it when I say, I never intended to scare you like that." Vito said.

For a moment everyone was quiet as Edith looked down and considered the words said to her.

"Vito, give me time to think about it," Edith answered as she took a bite of the cake she had on her plate.

Vito would have normally been happy that he had professionally apologized and resolved the issue with Edith, but seeing her eat that cake after having eaten his. He was considering where he draws the line.

 "Well if you've gotten that out of the way, Edith aren't you going to tell Vito all the other ways that he made you mad?" Cyrus asks as he twirls a fork at her.

"You know like how he complimented Sasha and her likeness to Minty or maybe how he was staring at her much longer than he was at you when she sat down with us. Or perhaps how he hasn't noticed that you painted your nails red this morning."

"Cyrus!! S-shut up! T-that is not true, not at all! Stop making up these stupid accusations in your mind. What even makes you come up with these stupid suggestions?" Edith rebuttal to the best of her ability but it was mostly meaningless hissing.

Cyrus smiles and takes up his cup of tea, "You're stuttering again Edith. Anyways red looks so good on you but I believe yellow would look even better on you."

Edith stared down at the ground grinding her teeth. Until she finally lets out a *sigh* saying, "Thank you for your input on my nails, I think yellow- will look good."

Cyrus passes his plate over to Vito. "Have it, I don't need it, too much sugar. And besides I have my biscuit."

Vito contemplated on whether or not he should have it, seeing as how it was Cyrus who was giving it to him and he didn't just want to play by his hand.

But alas he gave in and took it.

I reluctantly eat the piece of cake while Edith is still staring at the ground. Cyrus is the only one smiling here as if he has everything under control.

Terra then let out a small laugh as he was intrigued by the entire situation that went down. He wasn't going to say it yet as he still had missed feelings from Vito, but he enjoyed the little banter that these guys had around each other when he was there, it felt refreshing to have this sort of moment again.

It had been too long since he last had something similar and it was because of that that he kept quiet during their exchange.

He had laughed so much that he had tears in his eyes and when he opened them he could see that his group was all staring at him intensely... each with their own expression. He wanted to ask them what they were looking at but then.

Alex approached the edge of the field and walked up over to a big tree, placed his hand on it, and then went to the next tree and did the same.

After which he seems to say some words to it in a whisper.

Then he comes back to the center of the field and fashions his sleeves as he prepares to make another announcement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming once more. It has been my pleasure as your host to serve you all in the time we had and I hope to see our paths align once more after today. But right now, it is time to say farewell."

"Terra, you may rise."

Terra gets up from his seat and he is met with the loudest cheers he has ever experienced in a long time. He marvels to see all these people chanting for him, for their savior, their chosen representative.

He does his best to not act shy as he approaches Alex to lead the way to wherever he is supposed to go.

"Are you ready, Terra?" Alex asks as he bows down to him with courtesy.

"As ready as I can be," Terra replied.

And with that, the earth began to shake, to be precise it was more like something was moving. 

The trees that had been touched by Alex were changing their shape. They were the largest trees in this forest so it's no wonder that they are causing this type of earthquake.

They begin combining into one structure that forms to reach Terra's feet. They become stairs—steps for him to climb and reach the top where a yellow bright light is waiting for him. The light seems to reach the sky and beyond.

It is so bright that one would wonder if other people around the world were seeing it right now.

Terra takes a breath and begins climbing up the stairs, Alex is following him from behind as an escort. He is making sure to stay behind Terra exactly 1 step at a time.

As Terra walks those steps many people watching right now could only imagine what type of conversation he must be having with Alex.

****

On top of the stairs leading up to the trees.

"So Terra, I hope you're not scared of heights, are you?"

Terra chuckled and responded, "A little bit, I've had some bad experiences here and there but nothing ever quite like this. This feels surreal. And the air up here is amazing."

Alex chuckles as well, "It's good to know that you are quite lively, you had a rough night and a rough morning."

"Vito right? Yeah, it's complicated what happened between us."

"Do you hate him?" Alex asks as he folds his arms behind his back.

"I don't but I don't enjoy feeling betrayed. I wouldn't want that to happen to my worst enemy, but maybe I'm going to a place with worse monsters than there are people. Maybe I am going to a place where the people are the monsters."

"I have already experienced that once before and I'm not looking forward to experiencing that again. Tell me Alex, is it wrong to be hopeful?"

Alex takes a deep breath from up to where they are before replying. He knows that in certain situations, one would have to rely on their own intuitions and experiences to carry them through. There is only so much advice that can be given to someone.

"You are a good kid." Alex spoke as he placed his hand on Terra's head, "It is not wrong to be hopeful but one must also be realistic in a sense. Know when to believe in someone and when to completely disregard the trust the offer."

"Not all people have a choice to do the wrong that they do and not all people have a reason to do it and yet still do. You have experienced both sides of the coin now, so the rest is up to you to figure out what to do with."

Hearing Alex mention "both" triggered a memory in Terra's mind.

"H-ho-how did you know about that? I haven't said a word about it to anyone in the last few years."

He raises his finger and says, "Don't stutter now. You'll end up becoming like Edith. Besides, we've reached the halfway point. It is time for me to leave you to continue on your journey. I can't tell you everything otherwise you'll never learn on your own."

"It has been my pleasure, Terra. Have a safe journey."

"But wait, Alex! What about the other planets? What will their representatives be like?"

"I don't know. You should tell me when you get back."

And with that, Alex made his way down as Terra scurried up to the top of the stairs to get to that yellow light. Now that Alex was gone he felt a lot less safe being on some magical steps probably around 50 feet high.

The wind felt nice. The breeze that was hitting his back felt like a gentle force that was pushing him to keep going forward like there was more waiting for him beyond that yellow light. And all he had to do was reach it.

Rushing across the steps, Terra couldn't help it with how nervous he was right now. He thinks to himself about all the crazy things he might be seeing soon, all the aliens, the spaceships, and most importantly the other representatives.

As he drew closer to the light, his pace began to slow down. Not because he was tired but, because the higher you go the harder it is to breathe because of the drop in air pressure and the oxygen levels.

Realizing that perhaps he got a little too excited he now needed to catch my breath but he didn't wish to stop and rest because he would be embarrassed if people realized that.

All of a sudden his vision got a little blurry as he finally approached the light that had been shining in front of him like a beacon.

"So this is what it feels like to be up close to it," Terra said out loud as he reached his hand towards it.

It felt warm, and as his hand touched it he could feel a sizzle sensation and a vibration through the air. This truly was a portal to a world far beyond his own.

"I wonder where I'll go once my body leaves this place," he asked but Alex had already run away to avoid answering his questions

Before he stepped in, I turned around to see the faces of all the people who had shown up for this event as well. Everyone here was chosen as a candidate and any of them could have been standing where he was standing.

And that made him ask himself, "Am I special? Am I better than others for being the chosen representative? Or am I just lucky and this whole thing was just up to chance and chance happened to pick me."

"Whatever it is, I've made my choice and I have a reason to fight for it. I can't let anyone else lose someone they care about. I will win."

Emulating Alex, Terra took a bow to all the people watching him right now and to the earth itself and he believed he caught Alex smiling as he saw him do so.

Taking in the sight of the earth one last time from the highest of heights he could reach, Terra world through the portal and into a whole new life.