Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 116: Ch114. Acknowledgement

Chapter 116: Ch114. Acknowledgement

The air was thick with the scent of rusted metal and the sharp, electric tang of an impending storm. The landscape stretched endlessly around him, ruinous and filled with impossible waste that did not belong anywhere in his world.

Now that Miles knew that he and Kurt had come from different worlds, he was certain that those things scattered across the Horizon were pieces of trash, of waste that was thrown in there from gods knew how many different worlds.

But this time, it felt different. It felt like home.

Not in the comforting, warm sense that his world carried. But in a way that had changed him irrevocably.

Miles could not quite place it. But after everything he had endured in The Maw, after facing down the Revenants and overcoming the crushing pressure, he knew he was not the same man who had jumped goodbye to Kurt a while ago.

As he walked, the structure appeared on the horizon, jagged and imposing like some great sentient monument. Miles had trained here with Kurt, fought against every limitation he thought he had, and faced obstacles that nearly broke him.

Yet, here he was again.

The closer he got, the more his heart began to race. It was not fear. It was the anticipation of something he was not quite ready to acknowledge.

The ground beneath his boots felt like it was shifting, as if the Maw itself was still lingering in his bones, and with each step closer, he could feel the weight of everything he had endured getting a bit less heavy.

The entrance loomed before him now, the rusted hole looming wide and tall as if it remembered his arrival. He stepped through it, and the structure welcomed him with the same eerie silence it had before.

Inside, the same darkness awaited, along with the eerily pulsating veins of blue energy, the space still hauntingly familiar.

It felt like it had been years since his first encounter with Kurt, but it had been less – far less – than that.

And then, there he was.

Kurt was leaning against the far wall, arms crossed, wearing that signature cocky smirk. His eyes flicked over to Miles with an unreadable expression before narrowing in surprise.

"Well, well, well... If it isn’t the prodigal idiot," Kurt said, his voice dripping with mock amusement. "I thought I left you for dead in that hellhole."

Miles stood a few paces away from Kurt, allowing the silence to stretch out just a little longer before responding.

"Wouldn’t be the first time," Miles shot back, matching Kurt’s cocky grin. "But I’m not dead. Still kicking, still breathing. Still here to face whatever ridiculous jokes you’ve got in store for me."

Kurt’s smirk flickered for a fraction of a second. Just long enough for Miles to catch it. There was something else in Kurt’s gaze now. A mix of disbelief and something akin to respect. But it vanished as quickly as it had come, replaced by the usual snarky bravado.

"Well, you’ve certainly got more life in you than I thought," Kurt muttered. "You almost died several times, didn’t you? Guess you really do have some guts after all."

Miles did not reply immediately, choosing instead to look around the structure once more. It felt like everything had changed, and yet nothing had. It was all here. But the man standing in front of him? He was still Kurt. The same enigmatic, cocky figure who had trained him mercilessly, pushing him beyond limits that had once seemed unbreachable.

"Guess I learned something from all that," Miles finally said. His voice steady, but there was a quiet pride in it. "I survived."

Kurt raised an eyebrow, his arms still crossed, the confident smirk on his face never faltering.

"Survived? You? That’s rich." He pushed himself off the wall and took a step closer to Miles, inspecting him as though he were some kind of experiment. "Alright, then. So, how about you tell me how you managed to survive in that hellscape? If you’re back, I assume you hunted that thing down, right?"

Miles’ lips twitched as he thought back to the chaos, to the searing pain, the near-death moments, the relentless onslaught from the Revenants. But as he met Kurt’s gaze, he knew there was no point in hiding it. He owed it to himself, to Kurt, and maybe even to the future to acknowledge what he had learned.

But before he broke the silence, he reached into his back pocket and took something from it, tossing it toward Kurt, who caught it seamlessly in the air.

"Here, the dead proof that the thing is dead." And then, he began telling his tale, under the scrutiny of Kurt’s baffled silver gaze.

He did not respond immediately.

Instead, he just stared at Miles for a long, uncomfortable moment, his expression unreadable. Finally, he nodded, as though processing Miles’ words before speaking.

"Sounds like you finally get it." Kurt smirked. "I’ll give it to you, kid. You’re tough."

Miles hesitated for only a split second.

"Wait, you’re complimenting me? For real?"

"Shut it, asshole. I have a heart, you know." Kurt scoffed. "It’s just buried real deep."

"I can see that." Miles laughed.

"Shut up." Kurt grunted. "Let’s go down and eat.

They followed the winding passages with haste and ease, and for the first time in what felt like a lifetime, Kurt did not act like he was testing Miles, walking ahead with enough speed to check if he could keep up.

No, Kurt was giving a significant portion of his all into walking fast, and Miles was following, keeping up with him like it was second nature to him.

"You really got stronger, kid. Color me truly impressed." Kurt whistled. "When I first met you, I seriously thought you were just Revenant’s lunch waiting to be cooked."

"Yeah?" Miles rolled his eyes. "Well, I got news for you. Revenants became my lunch, now what?"

They laughed, a strange camaraderie flowing between them, and it was then that Miles realized.

It was not that Kurt was tough and merciless all the time because he was like that.

It was because Miles was weak, and now, Kurt had clearly acknowledged his strength, his growth. And it transpired in the loose, almost laidback manner in which he joked around with Miles.

It was the last drop that he needed to understand it.

He was back, he was alive, and he was changed.