Chapter Text
The younger man has gotten on his nerves, many times, but what can he honestly do? Poor guy, all he wanted to do was go home. Currently, he thought it would be nice to humour the other's passion for baseball. It seemed like playing the game cut 10 years off the lad, he was jumping around and yelling for Batter to throw the ball. A smile on his face was undeniable, same can be said for Batter. It was refreshing to see someone this happy since most of the population were Elsens. "Hey, hey! Catch! Aw, I missed it." Batter chuckled, "hey, not bad, you're improving. At least you got the basics." Joyful, is what Batter thinks about the situation. It empties out the pain he feels, a sudden pain inside him that he does not understand. To see a grown man in his 20's, still living life happily, something he has not done in years. He has not seen his wife or child, nor his friends. Does he miss them? In reality, no. He can not even remember what Hugo looked like, albeit he remembers his wife, they have been together for 5 years, how could he not? She was ethereal, long flowing white hair flowing her shoulders all the way to her feet, grey skin with a metallic shine. She had no face, but regardless of that, he would still love her to the very end. Or that was what he thought. He had long given up the hope of finding their child and her, she and Hugo may even be long dead. He lost feeling, it was not like he could not feel emotions, but maybe affection was no longer in the list.
"Oi, were you even listening? I have been repeatedly calling you 'cause I think we should go. I need to get back to the mercs, they're real important to me! Plus, where would they get a better Scout?" The last sentence had an hint of smugness, the usual routine Batter has to suffer from. "Alright then, kid. Let's get a move on."
***
9 months later and Scout still has not been found. Everyone's life was a lot more hectic, Spy had been devastated, going back home to tell his wife about it. What choice did he have, giving horrible information about her son and let her at least know the problem, or do not inform and make her worry? Miss Pauling was now concerned, she felt bad for rejecting the man every time he confessed his love to her. She was interested for a reason, a hidden reason she does not want her co-workers, more like friends honestly, even though they have given her nothing but kindness, she still has the nagging fear of them finding out she does not like men. Pauling was still a child when she noticed she had no attraction to the boys her mother always told her about. It was hard hearing her mother go "look at that boy, Paulie! Would he not be the perfect husband for you?" while Pauling nods and awkwardly smiled at the older woman. She sighs, too much about worrying about a friend is tiring, and gets back to work, doing her assignments given from the Administrator, while also on the look out for any signs for Scout.
***
The merry-go-rounds go round and round, like they are supposed to. But in this world, time does not exist. The calendars are weird, the time feels different, as if you woke up from a 'quick' nap and end up waking up in the middle of the night. What month even is 40th Lowen of 19XX? Certainly not how real time, or as Scout knows, works. He has been wandering alongside with Batter, from East to West, North to South. Surprisingly, this world has radios, but even the radios look and sound off.
[Listening to Everywhere At The End Of Time may help you understand the feels of this part.]
All the radio does is whines, and even then when music actually starts playing, it is like a broken record, forced to play the same melodies, over and over again until someone puts it out of its agony. Scout was lost in his thoughts, when The Batter opened a seemingly invisible door, which leads to a childhood memory of some sort. To Batter, it is when he went to the baseball field to play, the bright greens popping from everywhere, the baby blue sky was engulfed with cotton candy clouds. It was hard to remember things like these, too hard. Oh! There was his mother, cheering him on. "Go, boy! Swing that bat of yours, show them that you can surpass them!" And there was his father, sitting there after years and years of training him, watching his son finally get to a respectable rank when he was still in grade school while smoking a pipe, nodding his head for approval. Batter holds back tears, his father had never done that, was it finally enough? No, it was time to grow up, find out that in manhood, there was no such thing as tears or whining. He had to learn this is what they called turning into a man, acts of affection would be done in handshakes and nods, no more hugs and kisses. "Oh, it is a strike! There it goes, what a powerful swing! The Eagles win another point!" The crowd was big, huge even, with patrons of the prestigious school he enrolled into. His mother was delighted when he got in, the exams were extremely difficult, something maybe not what a grade schooler would learn. If only if he could go back... "We miss you, child. I had such a rotten mothers' day. Please come back." He snaps out the dazed daydream he had, only to close his eyes and wait for another one of his memories to appear, wanting more time with his parents, with a little more of this child-like ease of life.
There was Scout, who goes back to when he was 6, his mother left him at the playground with his brothers. From oldest to youngest, Jamie, Oliver, Randy and Alex were there playing with him, the ones closer to Jeremy's age going to play with themselves instead of young Jeremy. "Ok, so what do 6 year olds like to do... Oh, I know. How 'bout we play in the sandbox? I know you like sand and the beach was where Papa liked bringing you." Jamie said out loud. He was 8 years older than Jeremy and was very used to being a lone child, so getting tasked to take care of his brothers was a tough job, especially when Mom went out to buy groceries or work. This job was what Oliver usually did, he was basically made for caring for children. "Alright, kid. Let's go to the sandbox. Do you not want to make sandcastles?" Oliver carried Jeremy to the sandbox while Jamie walked off to look after Randy and Alex, those two were always in trouble. A few painfully quiet minutes passed and then Jeremy asked : "do you think Papa will be back, Ollie?" Oliver looked at him, shock was splattered onto his face. When he was a kid he did not have to ask that, none of his siblings did, Jeremy just lived a lot more unfortunately than his other 7 siblings. "Yes, he will, Jeremy. Has Papa ever broken his promise? No, he never did, he will come back, ok?" Jeremy at this point was starting to tear up, the longing of a father figure was something that tugged at his heartstrings the most. Sniffling, he continued to make his sandcastle, only now there seemed like there was no point. What would a sandcastle be without a king and a queen with their sons? Nothing, just a waste of space, he knocked the sand building down, the grains spilling all over his trousers. "Hey, why'd you do that?! You worked very hard on that." A sudden outburst from Jeremy was nothing new, they have had experienced this before, but this was new. "I wanna go home. I don't like it here." He broke into tears, just like a waterfall without a button to stop. The sky was now a blend of vermillion and light pink, white streaking it for a final touch. The last thing showed before the dream ended was Oliver calling Jamie, Randy and Alex to pack up their items and go back. Scout and Jeremy were two different people now, a Jeremy who had a backstory painted with the deepest shades of blue, while Scout had no personality, just a husk of what the Jeremy used to be.
***
"Calling for everyone to gather at base, calling for everyone to gather at base." 10 months. It has been 10 months since Scout's disappearance. Spy has gone completely hollow, there was almost nothing to live for for him. He was unresponsive to most questions asked to him, hardly interacting with his team while hiding in his smoking room for hours at a time, not even going to see Sniper. Sniper has missed the youngest merc a lot, without him, there was not much to do, but he could cope with it. The cheerfulness of the younger one being gone was horrible, no joy to spread, excluding Pyro albeit he brings more havoc than joy. Medic misses the monthly visits from Scout, without anyone other than Heavy coming in the medbay, save for the occasional check-up, it was rather lonely. It did not really have much of an impact on the rest of the team, but of course they still miss him dearly. It was supposed that Scout was dead, until Miss Pauling called them up. "We've got clues," she started, Spy gradually getting enthusiastic, hearing news that your supposed long dead son was found, or at least some traces. "As we know, the last time we saw him was after our battle in 16/4/19XX. But we found some information other than that, from Engie. Alright, tell them." Dell walks to the table where the mercs were sitting. "So, as you know, he touched my gadgets, which I had not modified to bring the user back to the original dimension, it was intended for an animal to be the subject. But, there is a way to bring him back, it was more of a experimental option though, so I never thought of using it or even trying the gadget itself. Unfortunately, I have not made the function but I will try my best to make it." Spy stands up and grabs Dell. "You. Better. Dell, you do not understand how it feels to have a missing son. If you do not find him, I will break the respawn machine and kill you." An aggressive tone was very visible, crystal clear. "I will, believe ne.
***
"Batter?" Batter looks at Scout, they went out the room a few minutes ago, laying on the white floor and rethinking what they saw in there. "Hm? What is it?" Scout stares at Batter, a long silence floated in the air. "You're like my dad, I mean ain't like I don't have a dad, but you act like one more than my actual father." Now this piqued his interest. "And why is that?" "Ok, this is really dumb, but my Pa left me and my brothers a long time ago. I never saw him after my 5th birthday. I used to miss him a lot, I really did. Still do a bit." Batter speaks up : "You know, I can understand," Scout looks a little confused and shocked, "my dad never approved of the things I have done. When he goes to any of my baseball games, he would tell me about how my position was wrong, nagging at every little thing. It ends up with me getting off scot-free if I was lucky or get hit and end up with a few scars. Some have not even healed." He lifted his sleeves up to reveal bruises and black and blue blotches. Most of them have healed but it was still very clear they were there. "Woah, that's messed up." Batter snickers, "I grew up in the 60's, what can I say? It's just to let you know that you're not alone, alright? I care for you. I think your Pa cares too, he probably still cares for you and will come back to your mom soon." Scout thought about it for a while, then responded. "Thanks, Batter." A soft smile stayed on Scout's face for a while. "You're welcome."