Aftermath
The sun rose the next day, oblivious of the events of the night before. As darkness waned and blue light brought the neighborhood into focus, the cul-de-sac was slowly being emptied of people. There had been no deaths - the Bouchards had shunted much of the turrets' power into Madison's collection rods, leaving just enough to stun their targets. Throughout the night figures stirred, sat up with hangovers to put any pre-System blackout to shame, and stumbled absently to their homes. They were rudderless and empty inside, Father Gabriel's influence echoing like a distant reminder. A nightmare that left you with vague impressions and feelings of unease, but not a lot of clear specifics on exactly why you felt like you did.
Unlike a nightmare, though, they remembered exactly what they did. Their emotions had been muted, hollowed out, confused, and stolen, but Gabriel's absence did nothing to dull their memories. That, some supposed, may have been his cruelest trick of all. He gave them happiness, then stole it back from them, leaving them only shame, regret, and an empty pit inside of them for what was lost.
Some took the lesson for what it could teach them and vowed to get stronger. Others cowered deeper inside themselves, the fear and anger he put inside of them lingering like a barbed dart to the soul. Still others stumbled in shame, remembering the things they did and the things they did for him. The things they let him do. No one died in the attack but Gabriel might still receive some experience from his time in this small neighborhood.
They found Cass the next morning, legs hanging off the edge of the stage and a thousand-mile stare on his face.
"Where is Gabriel?" Zavier asked. Tess still couldn't speak to him and neither of them could meet each other's eyes. Zavier gave her a pained look as she turned around and walked back to their house before returning his gaze to Cass. "Where is he?"
Cass's voice was quiet, laden with a wash of different emotions. "He's gone."
"Dead?"
"Just gone."
"What did you do, son?" Zavier's voice felt like it hung in tatters. He expected a blow-up or an argument, name calling or vitriol. Instead, Cass just hopped down off the stage and walked towards one of the empty houses on the street without a backwards look.
A week passed, the neighborhood running in stark darkness - except for the occasional flashlight or pit fire. Some mingled around the gathering area in the evenings but it was half-hearted at best, the echo of family gatherings in a house that was now abandoned and destitute. Their numbers dwindled and, without anyone willing to bring them all together again, the status quo returned. Neighbors they may be, but oceans separated them.
"He's not dead," Ed said as they sat around the table studying the arrow hanging in the air in front of them. Cass hadn't returned, but had finally stopped disappearing every time Luna showed up to try and talk with him.
"Where do you think Cass took him?" Tess asked.
"I don't think he took him far," Zavier said, replaying that night in his head. "I remember hearing the sound of a motorcycle right at the end. It didn't register at the time but now I'm sure that Cass brought him to the one you stole from those bikers."
Ed nodded. "That would make sense. He was moving for a while and his direction shifted constantly. It's been pretty constant now. Wherever he's at he seems to be stopped for a while."
"Another neighborhood?" Tess asked and they all shared a dark look.
Ed reached out and took their hands in his, meeting both of their eyes. "I need to go. I need to follow him before he moves again. I can't let him get so far away this time, and maybe I can help stop him from harming another neighborhood."
"But he knows your face, man," Zavier said.
"Bah," Ed waved it away dismissively. "I'm an artist, remember? I'll be whoever I need to be."
Zavier sat back and ran his fingers through his hair. "I really thought we'd have more time. I was excited to see what else you could teach me."
All three of them held looks of regret. "One day, man, I promise. But before I go I can show you one more thing that might be useful. Watch how I do this," and he drew a pattern in the air, a small orb of light bouncing and bulging in place until it solidified. As its edges grew hard it froze in the air, its warm glow lighting up the room.
"That'll be helpful tonight!" Zavier said, studying the orb and poking it with his finger. It wobbled in the air but stopped moving as its momentum was spent.
"Watch," Ed said, then held a finger up, pointing to another part of the room. The light moved to that corner at a leisurely pace. He whipped his hand another directly quickly and the orb shot like a blur and passed through the wall. Zavier whistled appreciatively when he saw the light shining from underneath the door. Ed made a 'come here' gesture and the orb floated back through the wall to his waiting hand.
"How long will it last?" Zavier asked.
Ed shrugged. "It's never burned out on me, I always have to will it away. It takes a small investiture of power to start it and a little bit of will to move it, but it only ever disappears if you send it away. I suppose if you took a hammer to the side of the head it might…"
"Hey, thanks asshole," and the two shared a laugh.
"If you give it mental direction it'll go where you want - you don't actually need to use your hands to control it. I just did that to show you when I was moving it. If you don't give it any directions it'll move with you, staying exactly in the same position relative to you as you move."
"Okay, that's cool and all, but I don't know if I should learn it. I'd need to wipe System Block from the Sonic Screwdriver to use it. It seems like a pretty low-level spell to replace it with.
Ed just shook his head and gave Zavier a look. "Zavier, do you know how to create System Block? If you had to do it again, could you?"
Zavier considered. "Well, yeah. I can't really forget anything anymore."
Tess laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. "So then if you need it again just make it again, dummy."
Zavier dropped his face into his hands. "I'm an idiot."
"True," Ed said, "but it's an easy assumption to get wrong. Your pen - sorry, Sonic Screwdriver, can only store one skill at a time but that doesn't mean you're stuck with only the skill you have stored. I don't know how long it'd take you to reprogram it with System Block, but I don't see why you couldn't do that as often as you wanted."
"Well damn," Zavier said. "You know, let me try…" he concentrated, eyes open but staring into nothingness. He held the pen at the ready as if wanting to write, but his hand only quivered in place, no patterns being drawn into the air. "Damn," he said finally.
"What was that?" Ed asked.
Tess considered him. "Did you just try to reprogram the Arcane Lightning from the Scamperers?"
"Yeah," he admitted. "It didn't work, obviously. I think it's because I never actually learned how to make the spell, I just accepted it when the pen asked if I wanted to place that skill into the slot."
"That makes sense too," Ed concluded. "It likely has a default mode for people who don't have the ability to program their own. They are probably stuck with whatever skill they accept until a new one presents itself. Still not a bad option though. You could always take a new skill and use it, then reprogram it when you need to. You would lose the new one but you'd be working off a bank of skills you've learned."
"So anyway," Ed slapped his knees then stood up and walked to the middle of the living room. "I think it's time." He hugged both of them then turned away, pulling out his brush. It halted in the air and he looked back over his shoulder at them. "I know it's not my place, but give Cass some grace. Teenage boys are volatile and feel inferior and challenged all the time anyway, and Gabriel's spells are strong. Even you two didn't notice the effect he was having. If you'd spent as much time with him as Cass did you might never have broken free." He smiled warmly at the way they looked at each other, tears in their eyes. He turned again, drawing a colorful pattern in the air that showed the rocky shore of Lake Michigan. He stepped through without a backwards glance, not noticing Zavier studying the portal with intense concentration.
Weeks passed and the air became colder. Winds blew a little heavier and rain fell a little more often, the drops carrying a stinging chill with them. Luna spent her days visiting Madison, if she had the time, or Cass, if he was not brooding on his own. Zavier visited the neighbors in turn but the few that had let him in didn't have much to say. There was a brittle edge to every conversation that risked devolving into defensiveness or sorrow. After a while he gave up on trying to bring the community back together.