Never Fade Away: Epilogue (ch. 68) (Complete) (Patreon)

The world didn't stop for anyone. Not even for the man that took it behind the shed and shot it between the eyes.

A year ago, the world died. A century of generational momentum brought to an abrupt stop. Stopped by one man making a decision and deciding that enough was enough. Every world leader was dead. Every Corpo exec was dead. Governors, Mayors, team leads for Corpo divisions -- the head had been cut off the snake, and the rest of humanity spent a year thrashing blindly. It would have been nice if everyone decided to make the most of the second chance that they got.

But that wasn't human nature. A void in power wanted to be filled, and there were plenty that saw it as an opportunity to fill it. There used to be a saying, back on the day -- scum and cream rise to the top. Only for the past century that hadn't been the case. The top was choked off by scum, and the cream died a dog's death long before they reached the top.

Maybe that would change. Maybe it wouldn't. But that was the point. Humanity had to decide if it wanted to learn a lesson from the past or if this was just a delay to an inevitable conclusion.

Becca tilted her head back, looking up at the pale blue sky through a canopy of leaves and branches. Beyond the treetops, she saw a shuttle car that spewed green particles as it lowered itself down to the ground in a field not far away. Becca didn't slow down, turning her attention back down to a well worn path through what had become a slow growing forest.

The landscape around Night City was completely unrecognizable. The dusty dirt was gone, replaced with a dark brown rich soil that was covered in grass and shrubbery. Trees had sprouted up, some quickening agent in the terraformers that had researchers scratching their heads made them grow up quick. Trees that should have taken a century to grow sprouted up in a single year. As Becca began to crest a hill, she saw that the change went on for as far as the eye could see.

An endless sea of green with dark blue waves crashing upon a spotless white beach. She lingered a moment, drinking in the view and noting that there were a couple more cars parked in a grassy field. She also saw signs of conservation efforts.

Religion never made much sense to Becca, but she was starting to wonder -- it had barely been a year and already people were giving him a lot of opinions. “I'm pretty sure L hated nature…” Becca ventured, seeing his poser gang caring for the forest that seemed to spread across California and beyond. The mistake was an easy one to make, Becca could admit.

It wasn't just around Night City. Over a hundred years of ecological damage was undone. Soil was restored, plants that hadn't seen the light of day in about as long were sprouting once more, trees were back and the ocean had never been cleaner. It was an easy mistake to make that L liked nature when he had taken such care to recreate it. Much easier than thinking that he thought birds were annoying and that botanic gardens were stupid.

They were missing the point entirely. They cared because they thought L cared, rather than appreciating nature for what it was after they had nearly lost it. And it didn't matter. Because that was their choice.

Becca must have lingered at the clearing for longer than she thought because she heard the sounds of footsteps coming from behind. No. She didn't just hear them. She felt them. A lingering sorrow mixed with cautious excitement. Becca already knew who was coming before she looked over her shoulder to see a tired looking Kaiden and Jack.

Kaiden raised a hand as a greeting, “Waiting for us?” He asked and she could feel the bone deep exhaustion he carried with him.

Becca smiled, “I guess so. You look like scop,” she pointed out and maybe she was waiting for them because she found it easier to continue down the winding dirt path.

Jack snorted in agreement, “Gonk for brains won't sleep.” She said, digging an elbow into Kaiden's side, who bore it with a good-natured smile. Affection blossomed between them. Becca wasn't sure if they were a thing yet, but they were going to be.

“Too much to do. I'm the one that got straddled with the job of picking up the pieces,” Kaiden replied, stepping out of the way of another poke as the three of them walked. A small sigh escaped him while Becca hummed, looking off at the path before them. She knew where it would lead. She walked it a hundred times by now and she wasn't the only one. It was probably the best kept secret left in the world.

“Hm. Well, the world hasn't ended yet, so you can't be doing that bad of a job,” Becca teased.

“That's mostly because L tossed the nukes into the sun,” Kaiden replied dryly. “People have long memories when it's inconvenient. There are still plenty of old grudges that people are trying to settle. But…” he trailed off and Becca felt a flash of pride.

She favored him a smile, “But?”

“Things are going our way,” he admitted with a far away look. “L thumbed the scales in our favor. We- Night City, is the only place that can produce his tech,” he answered. A fabricator that was located in the bowels of L's tower that was blackboxed to hell and back, making it the one fabricator that still had the designs for L’s tech. The other fabricators were still out there, and Becca knew that the new corpos were going to be fighting for those scraps tooth and nail.

And there were other scraps of tech out there lacking proper protections. Like the GN Drives that L gave the Aldecaldos or to Night City. She had no idea if anyone would ever get lucky and reverse engineer the tech, but until then… Kaiden, and Night City, was an oasis in the desert. The one place where fully realized GN Drives could be built.

It was strange to think that the first piece of tech L built ended up being his most important.

“That makes us important. And people were already getting used to the idea of a System Alliance, so it's been… easy to herd them in that direction,” Kaiden said and Becca chuckled. She could hear the air quotes around easy. “Also helps that we have a boogeyman to scare everyone in the right direction.” Yeah, Becca imagined a hostile galaxy would make for strange bedfellows.

“Think it's going to last?” Jack questioned and, to that, Kaiden could only shrug.

“Probably not forever, but I can seeing it last awhile,” Kaiden answered after a moment. “The military is being built up, a governing body too. It's a pain in the ass trying to represent the whole world, but… I don't know. It feels like we're going to manage it.” It sounded like he was being optimistic, but that was just in the air. Everything had been torn down. Eventually, the System Alliance would probably become another rotten organization, but it wouldn't because of a lack of effort from guys like Kaiden.

Rules would always be subverted. No matter what measures were taken, corruption would always sink in through the cracks. It could be delayed, but it was inevitable.

That didn't mean it wasn't worth doing.

“I'm sure it'll work out just fine,” Becca decided. “Who knows, maybe you'll get a turn to sit in the big chair, Mr. President.” She teased and Kaiden looked vaguely horrified by the mere idea. But, he was rescued from the mental image as they arrived at their destination. The forest began to thin out into a little grove between the nooks and crannies in the hills.

At the heart of it was a tree. An old one. It was probably the last natural tree on the western coast before entire forests got reseeded. In the past year, things had changed little by little. Flowers had been planted. Mementos gathered up at the base of the towering tree that had once appeared so withered. Almost dead and clinging on out of pure spite. Now, it's branches were once more heavy with leaves. The dirt path was a well walked one, and Becca saw that they weren't the first to arrive.

David and Lucy stood before the tree, with Lucy glancing over her shoulder at their arrival. She wasn't surprised. For a number of reasons. “Becca. It's been a little bit,” Lucy greeted her, prompting David to turn around. He looked good. They both did. David was balancing out his chrome, even if at least fifty percent of him was steel. Lucy was growing her hair out and she seemed… older. More mature?

A mom, Becca thought, knowing the look. Hard not to, Becca supposed, when you were looking after a small army of children. “Just a bit. You two look good. Kids keeping you busy?”

To that, David chuckled, more at peace than Becca had ever seen him. “Busy is an understatement. Half of them are determined to be the second coming of L, and they're trying to get an early start.” He said with more than a little exasperation before he glanced at the tree.

“We didn't want to overwhelm anyone who was coming to visit, so we'll bring the kids tomorrow,” Lucy offered when Becca glanced around the clearing, not seeing any of the kids. It was a little disappointing to not catch up with some of them, but it would have been tough to find a moment with several thousand kids running through the grove. And Lucy must have sensed her thoughts because she gently grabbed hold of David's hand. “We can give you a moment.”

“It would be nice to catch up,” Jack agreed and while David and Lucy passed, Becca approached the ancient tree. It wasn't the first time she was here. Not even close. But, subtle differences caught her attention -- like a hoverboard that was propped up against the tree, and a familiar gun laying next to a bottle of tequila. So, she must have missed Silverhand. He had been making himself scarce.

Eventually, Becca's gaze landed on the engraved plaque while David, Lucy, Kaiden, and Jack gave her some space. She read over the plaque and it hadn't changed since she put the words to it.

‘Here lies John Shepard. The fool who fought the world and won.’

They’d had to set up some decoy graves. One that was in Night City where L's poser gang practically worshiped him like a cult. Though, they were in the minority. Mostly because his poser gang fully believed that he was still alive and out there. So, this small grave, even if it was surrounded by nature, was where they had him put to rest.

Becca crouched down, looking at the plaque for a long moment. “It's been a year,” she remarked, mostly to herself. They were all here to mark the anniversary of L's death. “It's been a real mess of a year. Not as exciting as the year before it -- hard to top you and an alien invasion, but it hasn't been that far off. But things are looking better. Brighter. People… have hope, I guess.”

She paused, considering what else to say. Sometimes she raged at him. Other times she just talked. Sometimes she was even honest. “You were right,” Becca said, looking up at the tree. “That green particles shit that unlocked your inner eye or whatever -- it's spreading. We’re called Innovators.”

It had taken her almost a year to remember that distracted muttering. Her panic at the situation hadn't helped things in the slightest, but her memory was jogged when the term started getting thrown around. Innovator. “There are a lot of us in Night City. It's where most of your tech still is. And people are freaking out about it, but it's just something else in the pile at this point. That might change when there are more of us and people decide on what normal is again.”

It was hard to describe. It was like a sense had been unlocked. Unlocked, rather than something that had been altered or given to her. Her instincts were sharper. She felt more in tune with her body, even the parts that were made of steel and chrome. She had just been walking down the street when some punk on a hoverboard was flying too low, dousing her with the green shit and…

“I've been angry with you,” Becca admitted. “Not because of the Innovator stuff, but because… you saw it coming. A whole year in the future. You said it yourself, ‘That's what it will be called.’” She paused, her lips thinning. So many things stood out to her during that time -- how oddly he acted. How he would look at people. How he just seemed to know things. “You saw the future. And you chose this.”

The anger was still there. A betrayal, it almost felt like. “You stopped us from bringing you back. No Relic. You blackboxed your DNA. You… chose to leave us. Leave me,” Becca amended, reaching out to brush her fingertips over his name. “And I was so pissed off about it that I forgot who you were. A gonk whose heart was too big.”

She had no evidence. Not really. It was just a suspicion because she knew L. She knew John.

“You can't help yourself from being a hero, and if you saw the future like I think you did…” Becca trailed off before a slow smile started to tug at her lips. “You'll be back to save the day. I don't know when. I don't know where. I don't even know how. But, you'll be back.”

A chuckle escaped her, “And I'll be there waiting. So… this isn't a goodbye, John.” She said, rising to her feet and glancing over at the others.

“It's a see you later.”

…

So ends Never Fade Away and I’m a little conflicted on this one. There were times when writing this story was some of the easiest writing I’ve done -- the kind where you check the word count and you realize it’s already been 5k words. Other times, it has been as painful as pulling teeth when I’m lucky to string a handful of sentences together. Sadly, I think that shows in some places.

Overall, I’m satisfied with how it turned out even if it’s not quite what I planned. Before the sequel gets posted, I might go back and smooth over some of the problem areas. But, in any case, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the story so far.

As the poll decided, A Golden Path (Dune/Asoiaf) will take Never Fade Away’s spot in my rotation. However, for a few weeks, I will be posting an interim story so I can re-read the first three books in the Dune series and build up my backlog a little more. Shouldn’t last more than a few weeks. I hope you all are excited for it because Asoiaf is a setting that I’ve been itching to write in for years now.

Thank you again for your support and I hope you’re looking forward to the sequel, The Rebel Path.