Scott and Sugar went out on a little walk the next morning. Both were sore from their recent adventures, and they needed time away from the Tempest Tide. All of them did.
"Can we do something about that man in my head?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
After some time, they ended up on the side of Mount Fuji.
"It's so much more beautiful than the photos."
"Well, that's one thing that I get to take off the list."
Sugar took out a piece of paper before eventually, the two had ended up at the Tempest Tide once again. They'd done a lot of renovations before eventually moving onto the inside where they replaced the hammocks with real beds. Sure, it was a mess when they travelled but at least they could have blankets for when they went somewhere cold.
"Anything else?"
The crew had been very scared for him. They mostly knew what was going to happen. BB and Scott had told Lia and the doc that he was simply going to die.
"Sure, we need to go to Mexico in about thirty years."
"Why?"
"I hear that they have good soda."
"Right."
They went there. For some reason, Lia had found herself feeling alone in the whole ordeal. She liked Sugar but knew that he was entirely alone in the ordeal and she would have to spend many years of her life without him, alone. She knew he was some kind of smooth talker and that he was smarter than he looked. Though, he was emotional. Far more emotional than BB and leagues ahead of Dials.
"Captain."
"Yes Lia? "
"You asked me to meet you in your quarters."
"Indeed."
"So?"
"I just wanted to ask you to say anything that you need to say to Sugar. He only has a few months left."
"Right. BB, tell me, how do you cope with grief?"
"I don't. Ever since I was a boy, I would just shut down my emotions for a while and then I would wake them up after a few weeks. Though I'm not proud of that, I am willing to admit it."
She was shocked at his response. He was a man of few emotions. Pathetic almost.
"Is there anything else that you want to ask?"
"Yes, I'm thinking about allowing Sugar to meet his grandfather but I'm not quite sure if I should. He has the right to know his family, but they don't deserve to know him."
She didn't have the answers. For all she knew, they didn't even exist. All she knew was that there was somebody that needed her.
"Go with it. Just do one thing."
"And that is?"
"Don't bring Scott. Bring me. No supervision. Just the three of us."
"Sure."
A few hours later, the trio had ended up in Backtown where BB had a small one-sided stare down with Dials before they honestly introduced themselves.
"Do I know you?"
"I'm your son. I come from a different time. But all you need to know is that I'm only doing this for him."
BB pointed at Sugar. Everyone there knew Dials was the smartest of them and had been very mentally active as of that time. Dials knew what he meant. This was his grandson.
"What brings you to me?"
Dials had dropped his melancholy demeanor for a second as to properly speak with them.
"Well, I don't have much time left."
"Are you sure that this isn't a problem for him?"
Dials may have regularly been mellow in his expression, but he was very open if the conversation called for such.
"No, the cause of the problem is Lighter."
"Impossible. He's been dead for several hundred years at this point."
"Actually, he's been dead for a single day."
"Do explain."
"Lia, you may want to leave."
She stood firm like a tree before BB's eyes, they turned red.
"Impossible."
"Leave, now."
She walked out of the hut.
"I know you were into the supernatural, but this is quite peculiar. Tell me his problems."
"We need you to remove him from my body, if not, then just let me know my grandfather."
Dials thought for precisely one second before coming to his conclusion.
"Lighter, he?"
"Yes father, now I'm begging you for old time's sake. Just help him."
BB was almost on the verge of tears. It was an act. He cared for Sugar, but he was definitely falling into old habits.
"I'll see what I can do. You know, I was once a supernatural detective in Thailand. Great place. You might not have heard about it. But back on topic, the agency had sent me against what were mostly hoaxes before eventually we ended up at a small place in Maine and let me tell you, it looks like something out of a horror novel because the place had been horrible with all kinds of injustices beyond human thought."
Dials had told the story mostly as a way of keeping Sugar calm during the whole interaction, but it was mostly just jittering his nerves more. He thought about how what he'd seen was possibly not even the worst things that had been possible in the world.
"Is this really necessary?"
"Yes."
Dials had made a contraption that was most in line with a torture device, but it allowed him to make proper diagnosis on his patients. Though, some patients weren't patient. Because of the subject being averted, she was able to return to the hut.
"So, what are you doing exactly?"
Lia had been suspicious to the validity of Dials's genius, and she'd seen old photos of BB, and she felt as if it was possible he was secretly a young BB.
"I'm using an old ritual I learned from a girl in Ohio State. Basically, it removes the two from becoming a single entity and allows for two weeks of good luck."
"How... interesting."
Lia thought that if he was a genius, then she would have to classify him as a mad genius. Something interesting had hit BB. Why would the smartest man in the world go to a college like Ohio State? Wouldn't a place like Harvard or Yale be a proper fit?