Dave once told PM there was a saying that went: "home is where the people you love are". If that was the case, dying didn't mean going to limbo for PM... It meant she was going home.
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The Peregrine Mendicant wasn’t sure just how many years she had been the head of New Can Town, the home to the carapaces that had survived the war against Lord English. Sometimes it felt like five-hundred years had passed since then, sometimes it felt like only twenty.
Despite her already old age, her memories from before the war had remained intact-- the good and the bad. She had tried to erase them from her mind during the first few post-war years; they hurt too much. As the years passed, however, she found the pain had disappeared, allowing her to revisit what she had left of her two beloved dersites.
The years passed and she eventually became old and frail, her body starting to give in. The ability to run was the first thing to go, followed by the ability to walk long distances for a long time. Eventually, she had to stop making her deliveries as the chief postmistress and instead had to confine herself to her office. It didn’t matter, though, because for as long as she could use her hands and her mind, nothing would separate her from her one-true passion.
At least, not until death came knocking by.
Death had been a visit she had been waiting for quite a while, you see, and it did not catch her by surprise. One morning, she woke up and her old body let her know she would not make it to see the next day. She arrived to her beloved post office later that morning, and she informed the staff that she had no intention of staying in her office that day and would deliver some mail in person instead.
They all watched her put a few letters and packages inside her old mailbag, put on her hat, and leave the building, wordlessly letting them know that the staff would be one carapace short the next day.
As she began delivering her mail, she decided to take the long routes so as to see as much of the town and talk to as many carapaces as she could. It was already late in the evening when she came back to the post office, her mail all delivered, and everyone in town knew by then that their beloved founder would soon depart them. The post office staff watched quietly as she entered her office and took off her bag and hat, putting both on top of her desk.
She took one last look at her office before stepping out and closing the door. She then looked at the staff and was moved to see that they all had tears in their eyes. She took the time to give them a little farewell speech, reminding them of the importance of their job and appointing someone to take her place. After she was done, she thanked them all and walked out of the building, head held high.
Outside of the building, she was surprised to see the now adult Dave Strider waiting for her. Even though all the humans were on good terms with the carapaces, Dave had been the only one that really saw them as equals, especially after fighting alongside WV during the war against Lord English. After WV’s death during the war, Dave made it a point to stay close to the carapace community, even building his own house in New Can Town for whenever he’d visit. PM eventually grew close to the young human, feeling as if he was the only one she could talk about WV and her life in exile with.
PM walked over to Dave and felt oddly touched that he had taken off his sunglasses the moment he saw her. He explained that he happened to be in town and wanted to walk her home, if she didn’t mind. PM smiled at him and told him to lead the way, both knowing perfectly well that she hadn’t bought his lie about ‘happening to be in town’. She knew someone from the staff had let him know the news, and frankly, she was happy they had.
As they walked to her house, Dave asked her to tell him stories about her time in the desert; about WV, AR and WQ. They were stories she had told him a thousand times before, but that he enjoyed hearing again and again. By the time they reached her house, she had just finished telling him about the time she once caught AR and WV having a very large midnight snack at three in the morning.
She looked away from Dave to open her door and, when she looked back at him, she saw that Dave’s eyes were starting to water. He rubbed the tears away with his hand and quickly put on his glasses, offering her a smile when she playfully rolled her eyes.
“Well, Dave, thank you for walking me home.”
“No prob!” he answered, giving her a thumbs up. He then lowered his hand and put it in his pocket. “Do… Do you want me to stay with you a little longer?” he asked, his voice starting to crack a little.
“No, that won’t be necessary, thank you, Dave. I think I’ll be going to bed, I’m a little tired.”
“You...You sure?”
PM smiled at him. “Don’t worry about me. Don’t forget that someone will be waiting for me over there.”
Dave smiled. “Yeah, I know.” He took a deep breath and extended his hand. “See you later, then?”.
PM took his hand and shook it. “See you later, Dave.”
He nodded at her before turning around and walking away. PM started going into her house, only to turn around when he heard Dave call her.
“Hey, tell WV I said hi!” he yelled. He took a short pause before adding, “And tell him I miss him!”
“I will!” she called back.
I’ll tell him very soon.
**************
When the Peregrine Mendicant woke up in limbo, the first thing she noticed was that her body felt full with energy; it felt like she was young again and, for all she knew, she probably was. She stood up and felt as if though she could run for several miles without a problem. She then looked at her surroundings and realized limbo wasn’t what she expected. Yes, it was like being in an never-ending white room, but it wasn’t empty at all. There were carapaces all around, walking, talking, playing-- it was as if they didn’t even care that they were, well… dead.
PM began walking around, not sure in which direction she was going. She felt oddly at peace, not really in a rush to find her old companions-- she had a feeling she’d run into them soon enough.
She had, after all, all of eternity to find them.
After a little while, she came to a complete stop and suddenly felt out of breath. Sitting on the floor far in the distance were two dersites she hadn’t seen in a painfully long time. AR was talking heatedly about something while WV, who even in limbo proudly wore his mayoral sash on top of his rags, quietly listened to the other dersite.
PM wanted to call out to them, but there was a knot in her throat and words would simply refuse to come out. It didn’t matter, in the end, because WV saw her. She watched as he sat straight up and stared at her, his mouth slightly open. All PM could bring herself to do was wave and smile dumbly at him.
AR, who was still quite engrossed in whatever he was ranting about, didn’t realize WV wasn’t listening anymore until the latter put his hand on AR’s mouth to shut him up. AR started protesting but stopped when he realized what WV was looking at. He took off WV’s hand from his face and slowly got up. Even at a distance, PM could see him trembling with shock. WV followed suit and the three carapaces just stood still and stared at each other.
PM eventually took a few steps towards them, her eyes starting to well up with tears. Before she even realized it, she had started running faster than ever before in her life, and she didn’t stop until she came crashing into their arms.
