I was really nervous as I was getting ready to have a 'Guys' Night' with Monarch the Titan and Manuel Noceda. I was fretting on if they would like me or if Evelyn couldn't handle the thousands of Grimwalkers, however she put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Caleb. I can take care of the grimwalkers whilst you can have your night with your friends, I know how long you've waited for this." Her dazzling sapphire eyes glinting in the evening sun. "But, what if they think I'm boring? I died in 1640! What if things have changed too much? And I have not even met Manuel before! What if I make a bad first impression?"
"You are not boring, my love. You are one of the sweetest people I have ever known, witch, demon or human, and I'm sure he'll be glad to be your friend, it worked for me," she said kissing my forehead. "But you and I were raised in the same century!"
"It doesn't matter, your never ending kindness has only faulted you once and that was Philip's fault! I know they would be glad to have you in their friend group," she cooed with her hand on my cheek.
"I love you," I replied letting my head slightly rest in her's as I layered my hand over it and briefly shared a kiss. "Now go! Otherwise you will be late!" she pushed gently with a playful smile. "Cranberries! You're right!" I stumbled as I attempted to put my shoes and coat on. My shoes were just a boring leather pair however my coat was (gladly) not my blue one but a green one with a C on the top right side; almost as if it had replaced my other one, which had the symbol for 'Old' Gravesfield on it. It was given to me by Evelyn's father who noticed I forgot mine in the human realm and along with making palismen, he was also gifted in sewing.
After I said good bye to my love, I then quickly dashed out of the door and into another part of the afterlife. My humble, sweet home was soon behind me as I had entered a strange yet interesting room. I was amazed as it was quite marvellous how abstract the architecture was. Some sort of lake had swallowed the floor but like Jesus Christ himself, I could walk on it. "Caleb! Welcome to my humble abode! How you doing today?" Monarch said coming from just around the corner of one of the strange pillars shooting his 'finger guns' at me, he said it was a gesture used in the present. He was not at his actual size and instead he was just a few feet taller than me. He was wearing a brown dressing gown with a shirt that said 'Bad Girl Coven' on it with a picture of one of Evelyn's descendants riding on an owl palisman. His pajama pants were a black colour with all the different glyph patterns scattered across it and his feet were in purple, fluffy slippers with a yellow and blue lightning bolt. "I am doing quite well, thank you Monarch," I answered politely. "Please, no need for being so formal, this is a guys' night! And we're supposed chillax and have fun," he said putting his claws behind his back and falling onto an armchair that came out of nowhere. "Oh, sorry," I apologised with shame thinking that he saw me as too 'uptight'. "Hey, hey, it's ok! No need for apologies either, atleast in this circumstance. We're here to have fun with each other, right? We aren't here for making their others feel uncomfortable," he said standing up and putting his still massive claw gently on my tiny shoulder however was still comforting. "Thank you, Monarch," I said with a small but grateful smile. "No problem. Hey! Manuel! Good to see ya man!" he said running off to an arriving Manuel Noceda who was carrying some sort of bag saying WallStore on it.
He had a shirt saying 'Cosmic Frontier' on it with what looked to be some sort of flying vehicle. Sadly, one of the bad things about being raised in the past is that you don't know the world you used to walk among. "Hi, sorry I'm late. My abuela would not stop hugging me! I swear I was about to die again!" He panted sounding out of breath. "Hello, I am Caleb Clawthorne and it is a pleasure to meet you," I greeted him with my hand offering to shake.
"Hi! I'm Manuel but you can call me Manny!" He said returning the handshake.
"So, you guys ready for, GUYS' NIGHT?!" Monarch explained with his fist in the air.
"Heck yeah! I have been dying to show you guys," Manny started as he tried to get something out of his bag, "The full Collection of the Cosmic Frontier movies! Ow!" he hissed as he tried to hold the weird box things as if they were playing cards but to no avail due to his previous comment and how he held his hand in pain as the boxes dropped onto the floor. "Great! I know this is a guys' night but we literally have eternity! " Monarch exclaimed happily.
"What's a movie?" I asked in confusion which gave Manny a look of shock.
"My dear friend have I alot to teach you!" he said resting his hand on my shoulder while clenching his fist and lifting it towards his chest. Then we sat down on 'couches' as Manny put some sort of disc into this box and the weird flat black box which I heard is called a 'Television' began to play. Hours had passed and we were fully invested into the story however we soon noticed that we had watched all of the 'movies'. "Aww, man! I forgot tobring the last one! Dang it!" Manny expressed with a disappointed look layered on his face. " It's alright, we can just wait for next guys' night!" I tried to comfort him.
"Yeah, it's just this is what lead me to meet Camila, my wife when I was alive. We were at a school and I was getting my lunch when we first met. We talked about stuff and then I asked her if she was into Cosmic Frontier and ever since then we were inseparable! Next thing we knew we were dating, married, had a house together and even a kid, a beautiful daughter!. I remember the last thing I did before my heart stopped was that I gave her this Azura book that I found in a book shop that I thought she might like, but I never got the chance. I miss them so, much," he confessed with tears prickling his lashes.
"Wait a second, have you not been following a long the story?" Monarch pointed out.
"What? What story?" Manny snuffled as I handed him my handkerchief.
"Dude! She loves that book to death, you don't even know!"
"She, she does?"
"Yeah! It actually leads her to-, oh my me!" Monarch stopped himself, "You thinking what I'm thinking, Caleb?"
"Brilliant idea! We can show you the entire story of Luz Noceda and the Boiling Isles!" I said with enthusiasm. "A.K.A, me! I'm the Boiling Isles! Well, I was," Monarch exclaimed.
Many more hours later, we had finished the entire story up until now on this smaller box that Monarch had made bigger so that we could all watch and the had been a lot of tears that had been shed, punching of a punching bag and more hatred for Philip. "That, that was such a happy ending! I loved it! I'm so happy my babies are ok and happy!" Manny teared up again but this time for joyful reasons.
"Yep, she's actually more than ok, I don't think I've seen her this happy since the day she first read that book and made a video diary of it!"
"And I think I've gained a hatred for all emperors," Manny said.
"Doesn't everyone after Belos? Oh and by the way if you wanna give 'em a good bunch of fives then just ask," Monarch offered.
"Yes please, I need to get some anger out," he said cracking his knuckles.
And just like that, Monarch snapped his claws and Philip appeared on the floor cross legged with playing cards in his hands the said 'UNO' on them. "What in the Heavens? Where am I? Adolf? Voldemort? Gothel? Claude? Where is everyone?" he pondered until Manny walked in front of him, picked him up by his shirt and punched him back onto the floor. "Who in God's name are you?" he asked wiping the blood from his nose.
"Well, you know that kid? Luz Noceda?" Manny started.
"Oh Lord don't even get me started on her, she's an insufferable, disgusting, horrible specimen of a human being," Philip replied.
"Well it just so happens that I'm her Dad, and in fact, I find you an insufferable, disgusting and horrible specimen of a human being and you will pay for hurting her and her friends!" Manny picked him up again and threatened to punch him again without saying a word. "Caleb! Caleb, help me! This man is crazy! Please!" he pleaded as he tried to struggle out of his grasp.
"Popcorn?" Monarch offered giving my a striped red and white box of weird, fluffy food. Manny then punched Philip again which lead to both me and Monarch eating the strange but tasty food. "This is for King, Gus, Willow, Amity, Vee, and most importantly, THIS ONE'S FOR MY BOY HUNTER!!!" Manny yelled punching him and kicking him in between names then finishing with a body slam.
"Yeah! Manny, you beat him up! Tear him to shreds!" Monarch cheered him on whilst sipping on a strange drink which said 'Pitt Cola' with a straw. "How is he even bleeding? We're dead," I whispered as to not draw any attention away from the fight. "I dunno, now watch the fight! It's getting good!" Monarch continued sipping on his drink. "Soda?" he offered again, however when I took a sip it felt like acid on my tounge and so I spit it out. "Well, to each their own," he shrugged it off and continued sipping after I gave him his drink back. Then we realised that Manny was about to stab Philip with what looked to be the same knife that he killed me with. "Ok, that's enough," I stood up from out of my chair and tried to pull Manny away before he tried to kill him again. "Oh, come on man! Things are just getting exciting!" the titan groaned.
"As much as I despise Philip, killing him again won't solve anything, Manuel, please stop!" I admitted. "But it won't unsolve anything either! Aaahh, meeee!" he moaned as he joined me and picked Philip by his shirt bregrudgingly who looked like he was about to throw up and pass out at the same time. "Oh, come on! I wasn't gonna kill him, quickly!" he frothed at the mouth.
"Ok, look. I think you're getting a bit, no, alot obsessed with this guy, You're looking like you have rabies!" I tried to reason with him.
"Well can you blame me? This guy almost, actually, he did kill my daughter and tried to kill her friends, her girlfriend and her adopted sister! You have to expect I'd be atleast a little mad, aren't you mad at him for killing you, your pet bird and nearly your wife?"
"Wait, what?" Philip snapped back into consciousness.
"Of course I do! But I don't put all of my energy into hating him! It's just not worth it."
"Excuse me, did you just say Luz has a-"
"Well, I just want to protect my family from all dangers!"
"Hello? Is anyone going to listen to me-"
"I know you do, but Luz is grown now. Last time I checked she was having her 18th birthday, was learning King's new glyph language and has a palisman! I don't think you need to worry for her safety anymore, not with her new family around to protect her."
"Eh-hem? I'm speaking-"
"Does that mean she will forget me? Or dis-value me?"
"Of course not! She will love you and miss you every day! But she's moving on with her life now and she doesn't need protecting anymore," I assured him.
"Ok, well I guess I could be a little less obsessed?" he said unsure of himself while smirking.
"EXCUSE ME BUT MAY I PLEASE SPEAK?!" Philip screamed; ruining the moment as everyone turned towards him. "Go on then, what's plagueing your bigotted little mind?" Manny asked bluntly. "Did I just hear that Luz has a, girlfriend?" he asked disgusted while I remember one of the reasons why everyone hates the 1600s. "Yeah, Amity Blight. You know that youngest kid of that really influencial family on the Boiling Isles," said manny as I gave him The Look but it was already too late due to the look on Philip's face so soon after we through him out back into Hell. "Well, I have to say that was the most fun I've ever had since watching Luz destroy Belos!" Monarch chuckled. "Agreed, even though you were kinda going over board there, it was kind of carthardic watching him get torn to shreds."
"Yeah, although I think I bled my knuckles a bit," Manny said looking at his bloody red hands.
"By the way, where'd you learn to fight like that, dude? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were raised inthe military just like Hunter!" Monarch asked.
"Oh, well I had a military dad and I joined the military for a few years before quiting, I decided I needed to spend more time with Camila and I was seeing her less and less. And with a baby on the way, I decided I was more needed by her side and learn to take care of the baby and help her then dodge death every second. At least I got to meet my daughter, even if I only met her for a short while," he monologued in a meloncholy tone as tears lining his eyelids.
"You miss them, don't you?" the titan guessed with no reply but somehow knew the answer.
"You know, you're a hero right?" Monarch comforted him with a 'hmm?' coming from Manny. "You're the one who introduced Luz to that Azura book, if she never read it and fell inlove with it she would have never found the Boiling Isles and therefore wouldn't have saved the Demon Realm! It's because of you that she was able to bring a 'light' into so many lives!"
"Yeah, I just wish I could talk to them one last time," he replied wiping his tears from his face.
"Well, put it this way. You will one day it will just be more than a few decades away," I tried to comfort him aswell. "I guess so, thanks guys. It was nice to hang out with a couple more guys instead of my family."
"You're welcome!" I answered.
"Err, is this a bad time to admit I'm not a guy?" Monarch asked nervously.
"Oh, sorry! What are your pronouns?" I asked respectively.
"Still he/him but I identify as genderfluid."
"Sorry! We didn't mean to assume!" Manny appologised.
"No no! It's fine! I had a fun night too. We should do this more often!" the Titan suggested.
"I'd be down, maybe this time I can remember the next Cosmic Frontier movie," Manny joked.
"Yes well, Evelyn's probably wondering if we're drunk out of our minds so I better get home."
"Ok then, see ya round Caleb!" he waved speaking weird 21st Century language.
"Good bye, friends! I wish to see you again," I waved in reply as I began my walk home back to my side of the afterlife.