The New World

Chapter 38

When Jim woke up again he was back in the vault in his room. He took a few seconds to take in his surroundings as he began processing what had just happened. 
"Was it all just a dream?" He started asking himself in his thoughts as he sat up and stretched. He then cried out in pain as his entire body was sore, especially his upper back. He then rubbed his eyes and realized that there was no bandage over one of them, which made him rethink his original thought. He then noticed he was only wearing dark green sweatpants, which he had no memory of changing into. As much as he would've preferred to stay in bed, he decided to get up anyways. He tried to walk again, but he was sore all over that made it more difficult. Grim then entered the room and told Jim "Lay back down, you haven't recovered yet." 
"Oh Grim, you're here too still, uh." Jim said as he was still confused about everything. He laid back down on the bed as Grim then said "Yes, and you weren't supposed to wake up yet." 
"I wasn't?" Jim asked Grim out of confusion. Grim replied "You've been through a lot so I am forcing you to relax whether you like it or not." 
"Fine, but before you do that can we just talk for a bit?" Jim then asked Grim. Grim replied "Might as well."
"So like, I had this weird dream where you disappeared and I met this ghost named Turg and I brought him back to life. We left the vault together and found out that he is his own species. We did a lot of things together and we fell in love, but I hurt him and he left." Jim tried to explain to Grim before adding "But I don't know if it was a dream or not, it felt so real but seeing that I am back here with you I think it was one."
"It wasn't a dream, Jim. Everything you said did happen, it's just that you died." Grim told Jim as he then remembered the fight with First Name. Last he saw of Turg was him falling out of the sky. 
"Is Turg okay? Is he alive?" Jim asked Grim out of genuine concern. Grim didn't have a face but they looked down at the floor. Jim then knew what they were going to say.
"He didn't survive, but it was not the fall that killed him." Grim answered Jim's question before then telling him "Now go back to sleep."
"Wait no-" Jim tried to stop Grim but with a snap of their fingers Jim was out again. 
Jim woke up again about two days later feeling less sore and just less terrible in general. He was able to stand and walk without being in pain anymore. He noticed that his clothes he was wearing during the fight were now all clean, restored and all laid out on his bed. He didn't put any of them on though, he continued to wear nothing but the dark green sweatpants. Jim started wandering around looking for Grim and he eventually found them where all the computers were. They were typing away on one but stopped when Jim entered the room. They turned to look at him and said "You're awake again."
Jim nodded and asked Grim "What you writing?"
"Stuff." Grim replied. 
"I figured." Jim then said as there was an awkward silence between them for a few seconds. Grim then asked "How are you feeling now?"
"A lot better, I feel like I could run a mile." Jim rather excitedly responded before then adding "Though my stomach still hurts a bit."
"Unlike your other partner, I can't fully heal wounds, I only bring people back to life but I do try my best." Grim told Jim before he also added "You died from severe organ damage and blood loss, so that's going to hurt for a while."
"Still better than the mutant plant." Jim said as Grim logged off of their computer and stood back up, well, got out of their chair. Grim doesn't stand, they float. 
"Now I am going to assume you want to know the status of your other partner." Grim then said to Jim who asked "He's still dead, isn't he?"
"No, we gave him a second chance. Well, more like a third chance because you were the one who gave him a second chance but you know what I mean." Grim explained. 
"Yeah because you left and I couldn't kill anyone to summon you. Mind explaining that too though?" Jim responded with another question as he crossed his arms. 
"I just wanted to go back to my old job. It's been a few centuries." Grim answered. They then added "I am also going to be honest, I wanted to be away from you for a bit too. Don't think I am forgiving you for what you did, even though it brought a lot of business for us." 
"What? Causing doomsday? Come on, those people deserved it." Jim said in a rather cheery tone. 
"Just because people slightly annoyed you doesn't mean you cull them all." Grim told Jim. They didn't have a face but Jim could tell they were disappointed. Jim decided to change the subject back to Turg and asked "Anyways, you mentioned that Turg is alive. Where is he?"
"At your hideout of sorts on the docks." Grim replied. 
"Great, it's been nice seeing you again but I better go there then." Jim said as he tried to back out of the room while giving Grim finger guns, but Grim vanished and reappeared in the doorway to block Jim. 
"No, I am not letting you leave yet." Grim told Jim rather aggressively. If Jim hadn't been married to Grim for years he would've been intimidated. 
"Uh, why not?" Jim asked as he backed away a bit. 
"I am not letting you out dressed like that and without at least trying to eat something. I know how you humans are without it." Grim responded as he vanished again and reappeared in the kitchen. Jim wandered over to it while ranting "Y'know, I wish you wouldn't do that around me. I swear you're just flexing your cool magic on me when I got left with nothing."
"You sure about that?" Grim asked Jim upon entering the kitchen. 
"What do you mean?" Jim asked in response. 
"When Turg banished First Name from this realm all his damage was undone, so maybe you have your magical abilities again." Grim explained. Jim then said "Alright I guess I'll try one."
Jim tried to cast one of his more advanced fire spells on the floor and it worked. He had aimed his hands at the ground and a small flame appeared that quickly burnt out as there was nothing for it to burn, the floor wasn't very flammable. He then did another, which was essentially a flamethrower but coming from his hands and burned a circle around him. Jim then started laughing and shouted "YES! FIRE!"
"Do be careful with that, never know if there's a gas leak in here." Grim warned Jim as he continued to play with fire. Jim then threw a fireball across the room and set fire to a few things at the other side. 
"Hold on, I got this." Jim told Grim, who wasn't going to do anything about the fire anyways. Jim then summoned his freeze ray and used it to put out the fire, replacing it with ice instead. He continued to play with all his magical abilities until he tried one more. Jim reached out his hand as a broomstick formed in it. He then lifted it up and shouted again "I AM STILL WORTHY!"
"You done?" Grim asked Jim after having watching him destroy the room with his magic. Jim let go of the broomstick as it disappeared again and said in response "No, I feel so powerful right now." 
"When you're done I have some breadsticks for you, don't question where I got them but I know you literally killed people over them." Grim told Jim as he looked over to them to see that there was a plate of breadsticks on the counter. 
"Right, I did. Granted, they were most likely going to rob me." Jim said as he leaned over the counter and grabbed all four of them with one hand. He didn't know why he did when he would put one in his other hand to eat them one at a time, but he was committed to this method. Grim silently judged Jim over this, but the breadsticks weren't stale this time. Once he finished them he said "Didn't know I needed that until now, thanks Grim."
"Considering everything you've been through you definitely needed something." Grim told Jim in response. Jim then leaned over the counter again and responded "Y'know Grim, we really could've used your ability to just summon whatever out there." 
"I would rather have let you learn your lesson, which I believe you have. That's why I didn't talk to you a few days ago when we saw each other." Grim said as Jim quickly replied "Well screw you too."
"You promise you won't start another apocalypse?" Grim asked Jim while being serious. 
"I've been through enough bullshit in my life and I do not want to live through more to the scale of the past two years or whatever. So in short, no." Jim gave Grim an honest answer. 
"Anyways, while I still have this energy I am going to go find Turg. I'll come back here if it doesn't work out." Jim then told Grim as he left the room before Grim could block his path again, but Grim wasn't going to anyways. Jim went back to his room to change out of what he was wearing and back into what he was wearing previously. They were all cleaned and restored back to being in good condition, which Jim chose not to question as Grim worked in mysterious ways. He was once again wearing the jeans with light blue turtleneck, light brown coat and white shoes. He tied his blue sweater vest around his waist again and looked around for his machetes, but he couldn't find them. Jim didn't really need them anymore anyways, he was able to use his magic again. He left without them, but he did take his phone still despite it being dead. As Jim made his way toward the exit he saw Grim by the vault door, which was open already. 
"Listen, I know you're probably also mad at me for getting another partner without you knowing but I just thought you were gone. I still love you too." Jim told Grim as he approached them. 
"You needed someone like him in your life and I don't mind. Besides, I am going to be gone for a while still, he can keep you company instead." Grim said in response as Jim quietly added "That's even if he still wants me around."
Jim then hugged Grim, they were very cold and he remembered why he rarely did that to them.
"I don't remember you being a hugger." Grim pointed out as Jim continued. 
"It's something I picked up from Turg." Jim replied as Grim then hugged Jim back, their hands were cold enough to feel through his coat. 
"Well, this is goodbye for now. Thank you for everything, I mean it." Jim then told Grim as they let go of each other. Jim then added "I'll see you soon or in another life, depending on what choices I make." 
"I hope you only make good ones for now on, or at least not really bad ones." Grim told Jim as Jim started wandering away. Jim responded "Will try to." 
Jim then summoned his broomstick again and got a running head start with it before jumping onto it, but fell off immediately. It had been a while since he last used it so he had to quickly relearn how to. Jim tried again and that time he was successful, though he didn't want to fly too high up in case he fell off again. He noticed that a lot of the buildings that were burned down were back, but still looked dilapidated. All the damage done by First Name was undone, leaving behind the damage Jim and anyone else did.