I warped us back over to the convenient dark alley. Though I doubt anyone would notice if I warped us directly over there, I don't really wanna chance it. Anyways, as Sis and I emerged from the alleyway, I took my hood off (it was broad daylight, after all) and we joined some other latecomers on our way to the statue. Baldy was also there with us, but he was jogging pretty quickly, and it seemed likely he was gonna quickly catch up with the initial rush. Y'know, he moved impressively quickly, given that he was wearing some pretty hefty armor. 

Sis and I just walked, though. I mean, whatever's left of the statue's still gonna be there by the time we get there, right? Not like getting there faster's gonna allow us to see something we otherwise wouldn't, right? Most people in our crowd seemed to share our sentiment, lotta mildy brisk walking with hands in pockets. Including me, of course. It didn't look like most of the people near us really cared all that much, just looking for something interesting to do. Can't say I blame 'em, destruction is pretty entertaining.

"Y'know, I've heard Marble Goby is really good." Sis said as we walked.

Huh? Where the heck did that come from? "Uh... what?"

"Oh, uh, sorry, just thinkin' out loud. It's the statue we saw earlier, right? That was made of marble, which reminded me about the fish." 

"I see." I said. Well, that makes enough sense, I guess. "Uh, I've never heard of... Whatever you said."

"Marble Goby. From what I'm told, it's among the best tasting fish from your previous world." Sis explained. "Though, I wouldn't know, since I don't eat."

"Huh. Wonder if it exists over here?" Though, I don't really like fish. 

"Think there's something similar. Got a different name though, obviously."

"Ah, yeah, that makes sense."

. . .

Well, that was weird. Anyways, it didn't take us long to arrive at the statue. Or, what remains of the statue, anyways. Which wasn't very much, it seemed.  Just some rocks on a pedestal. Small, white, marble rocks. The entire thing was wrecked, from head to toe. It was impossible what pieces were supposed to go where. Like the worlds hardest jigsaw puzzle.

For the most part, the people just kinda stood around the remains of the statue. Nobody really seemed to know what to do about it.

There was some idle chattering, and whispering amongst the guards, but, for the most part, silence filled the streets.

. . .

Eventually, someone up front, a tall, young adult looking fella with an almost buzzcut, reached into the pile, and seemed to shift his arm around for a moment. This attracted a good amount of attention from the crowd, and the silence seemed to grow silent-er.

He dug for some time.

. . .

After a moment, the man pulled his arm out of the pile. He held his hand up, seemed to be clutching something. Afterwards, he stepped onto the pedestal, and loudly announced-

"I got an ear!"

I could feel the awkward pause coming up, this time. 

. . .

Yep, there it was.

Anyways, someone in the crowd started cheering. I'm talking real hootin' and hollerin'. To be frank, it made him look pretty stupid.

Then, someone else joined in, and they, too, looked silly.

And, like dominoes falling in a row, before anyone could comprehend what was going on, 

mass hysteria. 

People screaming, shouting, jumping, and hooting and hollering a plenty, some dude took his shirt off, it was nuts. And, the weirdest thing is, I don't think anyone really knew why everyone was doing this. I mean, this was certainly no occasion to celebrate, but, regardless, a lotta people from all walks of life made fools out of themselves that day. It was oddly wholesome. 

Now, ordinarily, I would just, like, walk away out of fear of bringing down the mood, or maybe I'd just stand there awkwardly, unable to get my thoughts in order, or something. But, today was no ordinary day. As I'm sure you'll recall, I'm being impulsive today. 

"Wooooooooo." I shouted as I shot my fist up, and shouted. Granted, my voice doesn't carry all that well, meaning I was little more than a drop in the ocean of noise, but, still, it was actually pretty satisfying. 

Sis looked at me like I was the biggest idiot in the world. Which was fair, I kinda felt like that, too, but, hey, "When in Rome." I said. 

Sis shrugged, predictably.

The guards didn't seem to know what to make of this whole situation. Well, the ones that weren't part of it, at least. Actually, I bet the ones that were part of it were confused, too. I mean, there wasn't much they could do. The statue was already gone, dead. Couldn't stop that. As for figuring out who did it, well, without fingerprinting technology or anything, the only evidence they'd be able to get is getting a witness to talk, figuring out where the perpetrator might've went, but there's no way they're getting anything coherent out of this crowd. 

Some of them were trying to quell the horde, trying to regain some sense of normalcy, but that was a pipe dream. You'd need the wrath of God to stop this one. Most guards, realizing the hopelessness of it all, just stood there, probably a little scared and confused, or joined in with the crowd. The captain was initially part of the first group, but later joined the latter.  I noticed Maurice was near the edge of the crowd, laughing his rear off, with that raspy, old man laugh. 

Baldy was part of the former group. He had a hopeless look on his face. It wasn't the kind of hopelessness that'd make one cry, rather the kind that makes one stare. Utterly blankly. Utterly defeated. Standing a good distance away from the crowd, watching as if he wasn't there at all.

It wasn't a pleasant look. 

I think Sis noticed that I was looking over at Baldy. She looked over at him, briefly, and then back at me. 

"You wanna say somethin' to him, don't you?" Sis asked, though I'm sure she knew the answer long before she asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Was it showing on my face?" I joked.

"Of course not." Sis returned with a slight grin. "But based off my understanding, it is the normal human reaction to seeing something like that."

"Guess it is. Though, I'm not sure what to say, to be honest. Probably just wants to be left alone, anyways..." Regardless, I've never been good at consoling people.

"Well, that may be true. Both of those feelings are also pretty standard." Sis said. "Though...

Aren't you being impulsive today?" 

I chuckled. "I guess I am, aren't I."

After a moments hesitation, I began walking up towards Baldy. Sis followed me.

"Y-yo." I with a wave as I came up.

Baldy blinked heavily a few times, seemingly returning to reality from delirium. "Ah, Beyes, good evening." It wasn't anywhere close to evening, but that's the least of my worries right now. "I see you followed the screaming as well."

"Oh, uh, yeah." Mostly, anyway, but that's not important right now! "Well, uh..." Crap, uh... Ah, whatever, just keep it simple. "You good?" 

He nodded, and hesitated for a moment. "Hard to say." He said. Get the feeling that's a 'no.' "I won't lie. Certainly doesn't feel good."

"I see." I said. 

"You know, the captain's more of a front line man. He's rather busy most of the time, out doing whatever it is that needs doing, and, with all due respect, he doesn't exactly have the best head for logistics." Baldy began monologuing. Which I was thankful for, because it meant that I had to do a lot less work. "Most of the actual administrative affairs are left to me, his right hand man. It was my decision to set the watch to emergency levels." He sighed. "I've inconvenienced a lot of people. I'm told one man missed the birth of his son because of all this." Baldy explained. Oooh, that's really unfortunate timing.

Baldy continued, "I'm sure there are many other similar cases I'm simply unaware about. Still, knowing that would happen, has happened, I persisted. Rather, I made everyone else persist." He looked up at the sky, "But, in the end, it was all for naught. Our great city, just like many others, lies defiled. I can only be thankful that no one was hurt." 

He looked back down at the statue, and there was pause, for a moment. Well, pause with fanatic raving and chatter in the background, anyway.

"W-well, you did all you could." I said. "And I-I mean, surely someone saw something, I'm sure- I mean, it wasn't your fault." I was talking mostly on instinct, not really thinking about what was coming out of my mouth. 

"Fault is unimportant." He said. "There is always more that could've been done. I should have swallowed my pride, informed everyone about the situation. I should doubled the watch on the statue. I should have..." He sighed once more. "Well, it doesn't matter now. I was defeated, no matter how much I look backward. I'm going to be heading back to the guardhouse, the captain will take care of things from here." He said, turning and walking away.

"W-wait, aren't you gonna try to catch the guy?" I said, once again without thinking. 

Baldy turned over to me, briefly. "Of course I am." He said. "Though, I'm already well aware of the result, I have a job to do." He said, and continued walking.

I paused, for a moment. I tried to think of something, some sort of magic words that'd make everything better.

"Uh, good luck." Was all I could think to say. 

He turned to me once again, with a smile. It was a warm smile, though I could tell it was more of a mask than anything. "I never put much stock in luck." He concluded, and walked off towards the guard house.

. . .

"Think that helped?" Sis asked, after a while.

This time, I shrugged. "Probably not." I said.

. . . 

"Still, I'm glad I did it." I added. "Tried, at least."  

"Yeah. Bet S would've been impressed." Sis said.

. . .

I looked down at the ground, and I couldn't help but smile.

I chuckled. "Thanks."

"Yeah, whatever." Sis said. "Y'know, I don't think Baldy noticed I was there. That's some impressive tunnel vision, isn't it?" Sis joked, with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess it is." I said, returning the chuckle. 

And we stood there, chuckling, for some time.