Chapter 74 – "Ashen Peace"
> "Joy doesn't replace scars. It just chooses to grow around them."
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Scene 1 – "Two Months of Sun"
> Narrator: "Peace does not rush. It lingers, like warm ash on cooling stone."
Montage of peaceful life:
Crops growing.
Laughter under the sun.
Jakku and Maiku playing cards.
Matthew carving small wooden flutes.
Reen and Gift tending the soil, often brushing shoulders.
Humanity growing and repopulating—70 012 human beings what an improvement.
Soft music hums in the background.
Then—
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Scene 2 – "Field Trip: The Supermarket"
Maiku finds an old solar-powered van. They get it running.
Jakku: "We're going shopping… in style."
At the supermarket, the crew acts like kids:
Matthew tries on a cowboy hat.
Dion loads the cart with candy and two cans of mystery meat.
Gift finds a leather jacket and dramatically slow-mo walks down the aisle.
Reen laughs harder than she has in a long time.
They don't need the food. But they need this joy.
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Scene 3 – "Arrival at Dusk"
As the group sets up a picnic outside the store, a silhouette appears on the horizon.
Atlas.
Dion freezes. Then sprints.
Dion: "NO WAY—ATLAS?!"
They collide in a massive hug. Shouts, laughter, disbelief.
Reen smiles in shock.
Reen: "...Demitrus Dionyous. Of course you'd show up now."
Gift watches—shoulders tense, smile fading just a little.
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Scene 4 – "Gift Watches Quietly"
Later that night, Gift walks out alone. Reen joins him.
Gift: "Didn't know he meant that much to you."
Reen: (gently) "He doesn't. Not like that. But... he meant something during the bad days."
Gift: (quiet) "Right."
They look out at the stars. She doesn't touch him. But she stays.
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Scene 5 – "Flashback: The Sparring Days"
Sepia-toned memory:
Atlas and Reen sparring again and again—he's loud, cocky, dramatic. She's calm, brutal, calculated.
Reen: "You telegraph every move. You always did."
Atlas (panting, grinning): "And you always cheat."
Reen: "I use logic."
Atlas: "Same thing."
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Scene 6 – "The Rematch"
Atlas demands another fight. Everyone circles up.
He charges. Reen sidesteps. Trips him. Pins him in five seconds.
Matthew: "...Brutal."
Atlas groans in the dirt.
Reen: "Same result. Every time."
They all erupt in laughter.
Laughing so hard they start tearing up.
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Scene 7 – "Farming Lessons (Disaster Edition)"
The crew gives Atlas a shovel. He uses it upside down.
Dion: "He's worse than me!"
Maiku: "Didn't think it was possible."
Atlas waters a boot. Tries to plant a donut. Jakku loses it laughing.
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Scene 8 – "Picnic Under Ash Clouds"
They eat by candlelight again—on top of an old abandoned tower roof.
Dion and Atlas sing an old song. Reen claps to the beat. Gift watches, quieter now but smiling again.
Matthew plays his flute.
Maiku: "The fact that a dragon can play an instrument is wild!"
> Narrator: "This peace was not perfect. That's why it mattered."
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Scene 9 – "The Sapling"
Cut deep below.
The sapling pulses green. It is no longer dormant.
The Root Avatar's body is twisted—but the eyes are open. It breathes again.
Root Avatar (whispering): "Let them plant. Let them laugh. They'll feed me all the same."
Scene 11 – "Gift and Reen, Again"
Reen walks beside Gift, handing him a cold drink.
Reen: "You're still the only one who can plant straight rows."
Gift: (half-smile) "Good to know I beat Atlas at something."
Reen: (quiet) "You didn't need to."
Reen: "I'm sorry."
Gift(frowned): "For?"
Reen(confused): "Wait why am I sorry. Are you jealous."
Gift becomes so red he looks like a tomato.
Gift: "...No!"
She leans forward and puts her head on his shoulder.
Their hands almost touch again.
It's a quiet moment but they bask in the moment.
To Be Continued....
> Narrator (Closing Monologue):
"What do you call a chapter with no war?
No blood. No fire.
Just laughter, clumsy hugs, old memories, and dirt-covered joy?
You call it dangerous.
Because peace, when it stretches too long, makes hearts forget how close the edge still is."
"And just when the wounds scabbed over… someone from the past stepped through the horizon.
Atlas—part legend, part memory.
A walking echo from when the world still screamed.
He brought no danger. Only questions.
And a reflection of something not yet said."
"Love, if that's what this is, blooms like a weed in post-war soil—
hesitant, half-grown, always glancing sideways.
She leaned close. He blushed.
They didn't kiss.
But sometimes not kissing says more."
"Carrots still get planted upside down.
Boots still get watered.
And somewhere out there, a dragon plays the flute.
Because survival is one thing.
But silliness?
That's how you know life's returning."
"Seventy thousand now walk the planet again.
They laugh in supermarkets. They duel for fun. They plant tomatoes and memories.
But down below… the roots stretch further.
Watching. Waiting.
Because peace isn't a wall. It's a lullaby.
And planet Julio never truly sleeps."