Like Déjà Vu

10 - The Apocalypse

It had taken all hands on deck - or in their case, all hands on steel. Six days passed before Chi Chi was satisfied with their invention: A high ultra energy neutrino bomb, or as she called it, a huenob. The huenob had a spherical shape the size of a golf ball. It was further programmed to be detonated with a buttoned controller. One push of that button would cause the huenob to burst open, releasing a wave of neutrinos that would react with the nuclear bombs and kill it - hopefully.

During this six-day period, Chi Chi's illness worsened gravely. The project had been more tedious than she had initially thought, and it took the best of her. Her nose bled more frequently, multiple times daily. Her migraines worsened; sometimes, the wave would hit her, prompting her to groan whilst holding her head. Sometimes, when she coughed, she coughed up blood. Before huenob was born, it had worried her immensely that her death might come sooner than expected. But after the projected was finally complete, she had just one last request for God. Let me finish this.

On the seventh day, Chi Chi didn't rest. She prepared to set out to Great America. She grabbed the huenob and it's detonator, she wasn't going to let it out of her sight - not even for a bunch of banana. She was clothed in the only dress she had, the same black dress that hugged her body.

Eizō had been more quiet than anyone. He spoke, only when he was spoken to - like some kind of ninja who lived by a code. He claimed he had a friend in America who could help them gain access to the bombs; Chi Chi was counting on this very much. He didn't lie about that jet car of his. The smart car had flown itself to PabRed without a controller. It was a thing of beauty. Upon the car's arrival, Juanita had squealed with joy - she was finally going to fly.

Juanita's father never returned home. After Chi Chi killed Joanne, it was expected that he'd be free from the hex the old witch placed on him. It was easy to think that he had died a cursed man. Juanita's mother had given Joanne a proper burial befitting a monarch. Chi Chi thought it was only fair, after all of the money the hag had left behind. Chi Chi had taken a break from work to attend the burial, Toby too. Surprisingly, a large number of people - causing a massive hall to full to it's rafters - had come to celebrate Joanne's life, or her death, Chi Chi wasn't sure but everyone seemed to have more than enough to eat. It was at the burial Juanita's mother announced her plans to build a bar and name it after Joanne. May she live on, everyone had chanted with stuffed mouths. So, in a way, the bar was immortalizing Joanne.

Toby's father never called again. Poor Toby - being used by his father like that. To what end? Chi Chi often wondered. Toby wasn't all too bothered by it. It was like he expected his father not to. He claimed he didn't care; he had abandoned his father first after all. He got rid of the vials of Medusa, just as Chi Chi instructed, and he felt good about it. Good riddance, those were his exact words when he returned to his lab after dumping the vials that night. Juanita had embraced him, planting a peck on his cheek. And Chi Chi... Chi Chi had never being more proud. When departure day came, Toby packed food in his bag for the trip - lots of them.

Chi Chi tried one last time to convince Juanita to go home, but Juanita wouldn't budge. She said, "if this adventure is going to be my last before I become a waitress at my mum's bar, then I'm glad I get to spend it with you guys. Except you Eizō, no offence."

Chi Chi couldn't carry her gun; her hands were filled with huenob; she didn't trust Eizō, nothing about Eizō was worth trusting - she'd sooner kill him before she attempted to trust him with a gun; Juanita was a giggly girl who kept herself occupied with social media on her phone - she couldn't hold a gun. Toby was charged with holding the gun. Chi Chi didn't like the idea of leaving Toby with a gun; she recalled how he shot himself in her timeline. But she convinced herself, it was different now.