Crash and Spyro, A Friendship Across Lifetimes

Chapter 19: Life Goes On

THINGS had settled down in Budakan after Cortex was driven off the island. It had been nearly eighteen months since then, and Crash resumed a normal life on N Sanity Island. A new Budakan village arose from the ruins of the last one, and although hundreds of years of work on their great Native Fortress was burned down in a day, a new community, smaller yet humbler, arose to take its place. Crash tried to settle down in the village. He was welcomed their but didn't feel like it was home. After about eight months, he decided against the wishes of Coco to live on the beach about half a mile away from the village. Coco came to visit frequently, but did so less as the months moved on. Crash couldn't find happiness. He had avenged the Budakan people, but he had also lost someone, and a chance at true happiness. Coco once had expressed here love towards him, but that also changed with time. Crash never wanted to be with Coco, Tawna was the one whom he loved and now she was gone. It wasn't healthy for him to obsess over it; Coco had lost her brother too and she was able to move on given time, but Crash just couldn't. Coco tried to comfort him; she at first just wanted to be there for him while Crash still lived with her in new Budakan. But it didn't help. Crash saw Coco as a sister, and nothing materialized between them. After Crash moved out, Coco moved on. Life just didn't feel like it was worth it.

Coco was around seventeen years old when she came unexpectedly to Crash's place. She seemed happier than normal.

"Crash, are you around?"

Crash was standing on some rocks that bordered the shoreline. It was about twenty minutes before dawn. Crash starred at the pink and orange sky ahead. He dropped the obsidian rock that was in his right hand and turned to face Coco.

"Crash, what are you doing?"

This was the same place Coco had first found Crash, and again she stopped him.

It had been about two weeks since she had last come here. Here visits were less and less frequent, and Crash though she soon might not come back at all. But she did come back, and Crash was actually glad she came. Maybe she couldn't live without him. Crash waved and walked towards Coco, they both were smiling as he approached.

"Crash, it's been a while since I last saw you. I really wish you wouldn't live by yourself here." She looked over to the right were some small rocks outlined a rectangle. "I don't know why you subject yourself to this. I don't want to see you live the rest of your life alone. It just saddens me to see you like this. Especially since I know how much you care about others and life in general." Coco was wearing Aku-Aku's talisman that he gave to Crash. The artifact belonged to the tribe, and Crash didn't need to hold on to it after he defeated Cortex. Crash hadn't spoke with or without his SAD since the last time Coco came here; he was adamant about speaking again. "But it's nice to see you again. My visits with you in the past had been brief, and recently I felt like I came here only because I was obligated to. But tonight is different. Crash, you remember when I said I loved you almost two years ago. I meant it. And I still do. What you did for my people can never be repaid and I know my father and brother would have been proud of you if they were still with us. You're humble, selfless, and an altruist."

Crash was cheerful for seeing Coco again. All these years he had been pushing her away because he was afraid that he didn't deserve her. That he had lost Tawna and now he was just going to replace her. But tonight, it was different. Something changed as he was staring into the sky. He was ready to move on.

"This is why I've come here tonight. I know now why you moved out here, why you kept me away from you all this time. I was like a sister to you, and you loved Tawna. I can't replace someone like that, the only other person in the world like you who also had your first unborn child. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for making you so uncomfortable all these years. And I also came here to tell you that I'm getting married."

Crash was disconcerted by the news. Coco was one of the most important people in Crash's life now. He had pushed her away for so long, and now that he was ready to be with her, she had moved on.

"Kawabata and I are going to be married in two months, and I want you to be there during the wedding."

Crash and Kawabata had actually become friends since the rebuilding of Butakan. Coco had introduced Crash to him a while back, since Kawabata was one of the only other tribesmen who had spent any extended time with Dr. Cortex besides her father. Kawabata had received a prosthetic arm from the Doctor as a gift for knowledge on the Power Crystals. Though Kawabata hates the Doctor as much as the rest of the tribesmen after what he did to his people, he still had to be grateful for the robotic arm that Cortex gave him. It was quite versatile to; Kawabata liked to crush things with this hand to demonstrate what his arm could do. And as Coco taught him English since he wanted to learn it, he gave himself the nickname Crunch, and it stuck with him.

"I'd be honored to Coco. And thanks for coming Coco. I do miss you when you don't show up. I think I do want to return to Budakan, if you still have room for me" Crash uttered using the SAD.

Though Crash had mixed feelings about Coco's announcement, he still was happier for her. It was nice to be part of a family again.