Chapter 72 – "Peace Above, Roots Below"
> "Peace is not the absence of danger—only its forgetfulness."
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Scene 1 – "Sunlight on Ash"
> Narrator: "They planted joy into the cracks grief left behind."
Wide aerial view of the rebuilt society —green returns, buildings repaired, laughter in the distance. Children run through old battlefield fields now turned farmland.
Matthew: (relieved sigh) "It doesn't even smell like war anymore."
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Scene 2 – "The Farm Begins"
Reen, Maiku, Dion, Gift, and Jakku start a communal farm.
Reen: "We till the land. Gently. It's earned that much."
Dion holds a hoe the wrong way, slaps a seed packet upside down, and waters a rock.
Maiku: "...You've never planted a thing in your life, have you?"
Dion: "Hey, I once grew a bean in third grade."
Cue the whole crew laughing. Matthew starts humming a "Farming Song" (badly). Jakku throws a hat on Gift and declares him "Field Commander."
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Scene 3 – "Underworld Bloom"
Cut deep underground.
The Root Avatar, battered, crawling, whispers to a seed in the black.
Root Avatar (whispered): "Not dead. Just waiting. Roots don't rise. They spread."
It plants the seed into fungal soil. The roots twitch. The atmosphere goes quiet.
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Scene 4 – "The Dinner Table"
Everyone's sitting around a long wooden table, eating food grown from new soil. It's the first peaceful meal in ages.
Reen: "I forgot what full feels like."
Gift: "You forgot how to chew."
Jakku: "You all forgot how to shut up."
Laughter again. The food's not perfect—but the moment is.
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Scene 5 – "Reen & Gift"
Later that night, Reen and Gift are checking the fields under moonlight.
She hands him a glass of water.
They sip. They talk for a while. It goes quiet for a moment.
Their fingers almost touch as they pass the cup back.
Reen: (softly, smiling) "You're different now."
Gift(smiling back): "We all are."
Reen(softly): "I'm grateful I met you."
They lock eyes. It's intense—but not rushed.
And then—
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Scene 6 – "Jakku Interrupts"
Jakku (yelling from the house): "GIFT! You said you'd help me with the damn fence!"
Gift (awkwardly): "...Duty calls."
Reen smirks. He runs off. She watches him go, slight red—quiet smile on her lips.
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Scene 7 – "Matthew and the Wind"
Matthew sits near the hilltop, playing a simple tune on a handmade flute.
Maiku : "I'm surprised a dragon can play an instrument."
> Narrator: "Some wounds speak. Others sing."
Birds chirp back. He laughs. The land responds to the song—not magical, just… gentle.
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Scene 8 – "Maiku's Quiet Flame"
Maiku leaves.
He walks alone and checks the crater one last time. Nothing but soil and shadow.
He lights a tiny fire near the site—not for war this time, but as a campfire.
He speaks to no one, but softly says:
Maiku: "If anything ever grows wrong here again… we'll handle it."
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Scene 9 – "Dion's Letter"
Dion writes to someone—a younger friend in another area.
> "We laughed today. I don't know how to farm. But we laughed.
That's a start, right?"
He seals it. Then realizes he planted carrots upside down.
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Scene 10 – "The Root Twitches"
Back underground.
The seed pulses.
The underground root system breathes—like lungs beneath the soil.
A single glowing eye opens in the dark.
> Narrator: "Peace is not eternal. It is only the breath between disasters.
And beneath joy... the roots still remember the war."
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TO BE CONTINUED...
> Narrator (Closing Monologue):
"Once, the sky screamed. The soil bled.
But now—peace.
Not because the danger is gone.
But because the ones who survived choose to smile.
Peace, after all, is not a reward.
It is a rebellion.
A stubborn choice to plant hope where memory still aches."
"They laughed today.
Not like soldiers who forgot the war,
but like people who earned the right to forget—just a little.
A crooked carrot. A fumbled fence.
A glass of water passed between hands still learning how to touch without trembling.
These are victories too."
"Beneath their joy, something old still stirs.
The Root Avatar does not rage anymore.
It waits.
It listens.
Peace blooms above.
But roots do not die.
They sleep.
They scheme.
And sometimes… they remember."
"This chapter was a breath.
A shared meal.
A hand almost held.
A laugh that meant more than all the swords ever swung.
But peace is not a promise.
It is a pause.
And deep below, something has already started again.
Let them laugh.
Let them build.
But let no one forget:
The Root is not gone.
Only... quieter now."
To Be Continued....