River thought he felt comfortably warm. There was something inexplicably safe and gentle about where he was lying, making him not want to move. His surroundings were very quiet, except for a slow and even breath next to his face.
He forced his eyes open, blinking several times to focus.
Aspen was lying against him, curled up as he was, with their foreheads almost touching. He looked at the other’s dark eyelashes beneath the brown hair that felt a bit unusual, considering he mostly knew Aspen in black and white.
Aspen inhaled deeply, then exhaled in a long sigh and shifted a bit, indicating he was about to wake up. Aspen moved his fingers and River looked down, noticing their intertwined hands.
They were on a bed. It looked the same as what he had at home, but he knew it wasn’t.
With his free hand, River brushed against Aspen’s cheek and the other man squinted and opened his eyes in confusion.
They held each other’s gaze, not saying a word, but the relief they shared was obvious. It had worked. They were gone, taken away as promised.
He remembered what had happened;
He had given up. He had wanted to do nothing anymore, but Aspen had interjected.
“No! Wait, let me take the reward! Take us away! Both of us, take us to your place!”
His decisive shout had surprised the Gamblers, who paused and exchanged stunned looks. [What?]
Aspen clenched his jaw and held River’s arm. “Is that not possible? Instead of healing him… Instead of- …Can you take us to your realm?”
River looked at him with sheer surprise.
The Gambler’s paper form shivered, then he laughed. He laughed loudly, joyful and fascinated. [Take you along? To our place? Yes! Yes, gladly! Come to our place, little humans, you suit us much better! I will gladly give up my price for it!]
[It’s not enough], the other Gambler commented, but immediately agreed. [But it will be with my part. We will each pay for one side. Powerless they might be when they come over, but they can grow.]
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Aspen’s hand clasped around his. He tugged at his clothes, eyes desperate. “Come along? Come with me?”
River stopped breathing for a second, then lowered his head to knock it against Aspen’s and forced out a nasal hum.
He… if he could have a place where he would belong, would he choose death? Of course not. He liked being with Aspen – he did not want to leave the other alone. Not voluntarily. If there was a way out… he would gladly take it.
[Then this will be your wish], the Gambler had giggled. [And it’s certainly the best I could ever imagine!]
Ccv jii tf gfwfwyfgfv joafgkjgvr kjr yijmxlcu bea. Rbk, olcvlcu tlwrfio bc atlr yfv, tf tjv j ubbv offilcu bo ktfgf tf kjr.
Vibkis, j gerailcu rbecv mjwf ogbw rbwfktfgf.
“Cgf sbe jkjxf?” Ktf nblmf kjr ufcaif jcv bcis ktlrqfgfv, lcafcvfv ab cba vlraegy atfw lo atfs kfgf ralii jriffq. Pa kjr kflgvis ojxf – ilxf rbwfbcf lwlajalcu j tewjc nblmf yea ojlilcu.
River turned his head to the voice, slowly sitting up. Aspen did the same, rubbing his eyes tiredly.
The first Gambler was holding the second one back. It was amusingly clear who had spoken: the second Gambler excitedly moved and, if not for the first one, would have likely hurried over.
There was nothing feminine or manly about either of them. River found himself unable to describe the two beings at all – there were no human words for it. Without having seen them before, he would not have been able to imagine them in any way. They did not even look similar. It was like his mind attempted to register their forms and failed.
Maybe, he thought, if he had seen this before, he would have gone insane. Now his mind merely hitched, then calmed again, accepting the indescribable as exactly what it was.
Nothing a human mind would be capable of doing.
“Awake, awake”, River’s easily excitable Gambler declared. “Hello, welcome! Welcome, welcome! Welcome to our home!”
The moment the second Gambler finished speaking, more and more figures appeared in the darkness behind the room that suddenly ended.
Aspen looked around – their bed was standing on wooden planks floating in nowhere. It confused his senses, but his head adapted quickly. A new “brain”, formed to understand what was not possible to be understood by a mere human.
“Welcome!”
More and more voices greeted them in excitement.
The two former humans had a feeling of being surrounded by puppies. The Gamblers were so obviously overjoyed to meet them that it was hard to accept.
“It will be fun with you around”, one commented happily.
“I think it is good. They suit here better”, another joined.
“Shall we make them a home? We should make them a home, like the one they lived in before. Who is helping?”
“I am helping!”
“I am!”
“Let’s make it! We can show them how it works!”
“Why are they not talking? Did something go wrong?”
“Humans often don’t talk.”
“Can they talk? Some can’t, right?”
“They can, right?”
They chirped and babbled, unconcerned by the two former humans on the bed.
Aspen exhaled slowly, then leaned his head on River’s shoulder and nuzzled it there.
River stiffened at the contact.
“When you live, I’ll be at your side”, Aspen muttered breathily to him as if still tired. “When you die, I will follow. Wherever you go, I’ll be with you. You won’t be alone anymore, River. And neither will I.”
The only response Aspen got was a subtle quiver, making him smile a little.
Their two Gamblers left the mass behind and approached. They bent over the bed and suddenly, there were two humans standing in their stead. They looked too human even, too normal, too perfectly average.
“From now on, you will be with us”, River’s Gambler said with a perfect smile. “You can go where you want, you can do what you want. You are not powerful enough to break the rules, anyway.”
“Don’t talk too much”, the other one chided. “We can explain slowly. Humans need time to adjust. Let them rest.”
River swallowed heavily, feeling a lump in his throat at their gentle kindness. “…Is it okay? Is it okay for us to be here?”
The Gamblers shared a glance, then laughed. “It is perfect.”
Aspen wrapped his arms around River and pulled the other into a tight hug before River broke down into shaking sobs. Exhaustion was slowly falling off him like a skin he was shedding.
“One more thing, one more thing!” River’s Gambler suddenly ran off, leaving them behind.
Aspen slowly moved to sit closely next to River, their bodies warm against each other, before they both looked into the direction the Gambler had vanished to.
When the figure returned, it bent back down towards them, opening the two large hands.
River choked up again, unable to breathe and realizing he did not need to, while Aspen laughed, sweet and joyful.
The gray mouse uncurled, then got up on her hind legs. Blinking her huge black eyes, she appeared to be smiling. When she spoke, her small voice had a squeaky tone to it.
“Master!”
Awwww, the perfect ending! Everything comes together!
YESSSS ITS PERFECT AND SHU SHU IS BACK TOO OMGGGG….legit made me tear up 😌 I love it so so much! Thank you so much for all your work in translating! My heart feels so nice after reading this epilogue uwaaaa ❤️❤️
Correction, thank you for all of your work in writing! It’s the habit of saying translating 😆 wish you all the best 😊
Thank you so much for this wonderful ending!!! Also, thank you for writing this masterpiece! I really love it!!! 😭😭😭
Ahhhhhhhhh crying!! What a great and fitting ending for them!!!
shushuuuuu!!!! (っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ
It’s a great ending, no one gets left behind or forgotten. ಥ‿ಥ
If I had ended the story that was this depressing on an equally depressing ending, it’d have made myself sad
if that happened, I’d be sad with you.. and will chase you with knives and onions for making me cry even at the very end. 🧅🔪🔪😂
I’m telling you it’s not tears. Something went into my eyes you see.