Chapter 420: Reunions And Farewells
They then made a video call to Winston’s wife. The call connected after two rings.
A woman’s face appeared on the screen with elegant, silver-hair and laugh lines around her eyes that spoke of a life well-lived.
"Winston, I’m in the middle of—" She stopped. Her eyes went wide. "Is that...Is that..."
"Hello, Iris." Luca said, giving a small wave. "It’s been a while!"
"LUCAAAA!!!!"
An explosion of shock went through Iris’s Iris.
"I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! I-I MUST BE DREAMING! AND YOU...YOU LUCA, YOU HAVEN’T AGED A DAY!"
She had the same reaction as her husband.
"I’ve developed wrinkles and look like a prune—and you’re standing there looking exactly like you did thirty years ago! This is completely unfair! Is it a special cream?! A diet?! TELL ME EVERYTHING!"
Luca laughed. "Good genes, I suppose."
"Good genes?! That’s all you’re going to give me?! After thirty years?!"
"Iris, you look beautiful nontheless." Luca added. "You were pretty when you were young, but now you’re elegant. Age suits you."
Iris’s indignation melted into something softer.
"You always did know exactly what to say." She sniffled. "It’s so good to see you, Luca. Truly."
She then showed him her grandchildren. Several bright-eyed children who appeared on screen and waved energetically.
"See this is your Grandpa Luca—No, I mean uncle Luca—wait that doesn’t make sense either!"
"Whatever! He’s basically the reason you have all the toys and ponies you have today!"
Luca waved back back, told them a few jokes that made them giggle, and answered their questions about the "funny clothes" he was wearing with playful evasions.
When the call finally ended, Iris was dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.
"You have to visit Sally, Luca." She said, her voice firm despite the tears. "She’ll be so happy to see you again. You were her favourite after Winston, after all."
"I will." Luca promised.
—
They were back in Winston’s office now.
Luca sat in the chairman’s chair as Winston had insisted, practically shoved him into it, while Winston himself perched on the edge of the visitor’s seat, still bubbling with excitement.
But some of that excitement had settled into something calmer. Something more focused.
"So." Winston said, folding his hands on the desk. "Why are you really here, Luca? I know you didn’t just come to catch up. As much as I wish you had."
Luca tilted his head, a mischievous smile playing at his lips. "What if I came to ask for ownership of the company? What would you do then?"
He said it as a joke. He was about to wave it off, to laugh and say he was only teasing.
But Winston spoke first.
"I’d give it to you."
Luca’s smile froze. "...What?"
"I said I’d give it to you." Winston’s expression was completely sincere. "If you want it, it’s yours."
"Winston—"
"Of course." Winston continued, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "My personal stake in the company is only about sixty-five percent right now. The rest belongs to shareholders. And my family would need to keep some shares as well—I can’t leave them with nothing."
"So realistically, I could give you about fifty percent of the entire company."
He looked up at Luca with something that was almost an apology in his eyes.
"I hope that’s enough. I know it’s not everything, but—"
"Winston." Luca held up a hand. "Stop."
Winston stopped.
"I was joking."
The older man blinked. "You were?"
"I was joking. I don’t want your company. I’ve never wanted your company."
Winston studied his face for a long moment, searching for any sign of hesitation. Then he let out a long sigh. Not of relief, but of something closer to disappointment.
"I know." He said quietly. "I knew back then too. You were always...untethered. Above things like money and ownership." He smiled ruefully. "It’s a pity, though. You’d make an excellent chairman."
"I’d be terrible. I’d spend all the profits on fast food and strange experiments."
Winston laughed. "Probably. So what is your actual purpose? Why are you here?"
Luca considered the question for a moment. Then he reached into his jacket and pulled out the same ledger, filled with detailed medical information about their injuries.
"Let’s just say...." He said, sliding the notebook across the desk. "...that I have a bunch of horses where I come from. And they all have injuries on their legs."
Winston’s expression immediately sobered.
Despite being the chairman of a tech company, he had never stopped loving horses.
It was why he had built his headquarters here, in the valley, instead of in some massive city.
He slid his glasses further up his nose and opened the notebook. His eyes scanned the pages, moving back and forth with the speed of someone who had spent decades reading technical documents.
As he read, his expression shifted—first to concern, then to surprise, then to something approaching disbelief.
"Some of these horses." He said slowly. "shouldn’t even be alive anymore. These injuries—" He tapped a finger against one entry— "this one has been suffering for years. Multiple years. That’s not...that’s not medically possible for a normal horse. The stress alone would have..."
He looked up at Luca with a question in his eyes.
"They’re a special breed." Luca said carefully. "More vitality than a normal horse. Much longer lifespans. Think of them as...exceptionally resilient."
Winston frowned, clearly sensing that Luca wasn’t telling him everything.
But after a moment, he simply nodded. Luca had always been mysterious. That was part of who he was.
"Alright." Winston said, closing the ledger. "I can help you. In fact—"
A grin spread across his face.
"—you’ve come at the perfect time! We’ve just finished developing our latest generation of equine prosthetics. The newest specs! Completely revolutionary!"
"We were going to announce them to the distributors next week, but..." He waved a hand. "For you? I’ll send over every model you need. The entire Gen-7 lineup!"
Luca raised an eyebrow. "Won’t that cause problems with your distributors?"
"I’ll handle them. Don’t worry about that." Winston’s voice was firm. "You came back after thirty years, Luca. Thirty YEARS!This is the absolute least I can do."
He held up a hand before Luca could protest.
"And don’t even think about offering to pay. I won’t accept a single cent. This is on me. Consider it a gift from an old friend."
Luca opened his mouth to argue, then closed it.
The man had made up his mind, and nothing was going to change it.
"Thank you." He said simply.
Winston shook his head. "I’m the one who should be thanking you."
His voice dropped, becoming more serious.
"You changed my life, Luca. And not just mine. Think about all the people this company has helped. Soldiers. Children. Elderly people who thought they’d never walk again."
He gestured at the building around them.
"All of this, it traces back to you. If the world is going to thank anyone for the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve been given a second chance at life, they should be thanking you."
Luca said nothing, but a quiet warmth settled in his chest.
He had told a few ideas to a desperate stable boy thirty years ago. He had never imagined it would lead to all of this.
"We’ve come a long way since the Sally prototype." Luca murmured.
"HA!" Winston’s laugh was triumphant. "Back then, the model looked like it came from the medieval era. Rustic doesn’t even begin to describe it. But now—"
He gestured proudly at the prosthetics his assistant had brought over.
"—this is the Gen-7. The latest! The greatest! I was personally involved in this project, so you know the quality is unmatched."
"I’ve got twenty-three units ready to go." Winston continued. "Do you want me to send a team to fit them onto your horses? We have specialists who can—"
"No need." Luca said quickly. "I’ll handle the fitting myself. If you can just calibrate all the parts to the specifications in the ledger, that’ll be more than enough."
Winston nodded without hesitation. Then he got up and went to the main lab with Luca where a team of the brightest minds in the robotics industry had gathered.
"Alright, listen up!" Winston clapped his hands. "We’re recalibrating the MGX-9 series. All of them. We need twenty-three units modified to these exact specifications." He held up the notebook. "This is priority one. Everything else is on hold."
"Sir." One of the lead engineers ventured. "the MGX-9 series isn’t even released yet. The calibration protocols alone will take—"
"Then you’d better get started."
"But the shareholders’ meeting—"
"Cancelled."
"The demonstration for the medical board—"
"Postponed."
"The—"
Winston fixed the engineer with a look that brooked no further argument.
"This man." He said, pointing at Luca. "is the reason this company exists! Without him, there would be no Iris Bionic Technologies!"
"No prosthetics!"
"No breakthroughs!"
" None of it! So when I tell you to recalibrate the MGX-9s, you recalibrate them. Understood?"
"YES, SIR!" They said in unison.
"Good. Get to work."
—
The next two hours passed in a blur of calibration.
But while the scientists worked with quiet intensity, Luca and Winston sat together and recalled the past.
They talked about Sally, and the way she used to nuzzle Winston’s shoulder when she wanted treats.
They talked about Iris, and how she had supported them both during those frantic two weeks in the barn.
Winston also mentioned the early days of the company, when it was just Winston and a handful of employees working out of a converted stable.
Luca listened, and laughed, and asked questions, and for those two hours it was almost like those thirty years had never passed.
Finally, one of the lead engineers approached them.
"Mr. Goldfield? The calibrations are complete. All twenty-three units are ready for transport."
Winston clapped his hands together. "Excellent! Load them into one of our trucks immediately."
—
Outside the building, Luca and Winston stood together near the truck, the moment of parting drawing closer.
"Will I see you again?" Winston asked. "Or is this another thirty-year disappearance?"
Luca was quiet for a moment. Then,
"You’ll see me again. Probably not thirty years this time. Maybe a couple. I might need repairs on these prosthetics eventually. Or replacement parts."
He smiled. "When that happens, I’ll come visit."
Winston’s face lit up. "Really? Y-You promise?"
"I promise."
"Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! I’ll make sure the next batch of MGX-9s are just flawed enough to need repairs! Maybe I’ll install a part that breaks after two years on purpose."
"Winston, that’s terrible business practice."
"I don’t care! I want you to visit!"
Luca just chuckled and pulled Winston into one last hug.
The older man’s body felt different than it had thirty years ago—softer, rounder, carrying the weight of age and success and too many hours in board meetings.
But the heart beating beneath it all was the same.
The same earnest, passionate, deeply good heart that had loved a horse enough to change the world.
"Take care of yourself, Winston." Luca said quietly. "And lay off the burgers. You’re not a young stable boy anymore."
"You sound like Iris." Winston sniffled. "She’s been saying that for years."
"That’s because Iris is a smart woman. Listen to her."
They pulled apart. Winston’s eyes were wet again, but he was smiling.
"Go on, then." He said gruffly. "Go save your mysterious horses. And don’t be a stranger."
Luca climbed into the truck. The engine rumbled to life.
And as he drove away, he glanced in the rearview mirror and saw Winston standing alone in front of his gleaming glass tower, one hand raised in farewell, the golden statue of Sally glinting in the sunset behind him.
—
Luca drove deep into the countryside, where the roads grew narrow and the trees grew thick and the only witnesses were the birds and the wind.
He parked the truck in a secluded spot, transferred the cases of prosthetics into his spatial portal one by one, and then he began to walk.
He knew where he was going. He had known from the moment he arrived in this world.
The tree stood alone on a hilltop, its branches spreading wide against the sky.
It was ancient and beautiful, the kind of tree that had witnessed centuries pass beneath its shade.
And at its base, half-hidden by wildflowers and soft grass, lay a small stone marker.
Luca knelt beside it.
The inscription was simple. Just a name, and two dates, and a few words beneath.
—
SALLY
Beloved friend. Faithful companion. She ran free.
—
Luca reached out and touched the stone. The gesture had the same gentleness he had shown the golden statue hours earlier.
"Hey, girl." He murmured. "It’s been a while."
The wind stirred the branches above him, and the leaves whispered in response.
"I met Winston today. He’s doing well. Got a bit of a belly now—you’d probably poke him with your nose and make him jump." He chuckled softly. "He still talks about you, you know. All the time. You’re on the company emblem. Immortalized in gold. Not bad for a horse from a little farm in the middle of nowhere."
He traced the letters of her name with his fingertip.
"There’s another world now. A world with horses just like you, but...different. They’ve got human halves too. It’s strange. Beautiful, but strange." He paused. "I think you would have liked them.
He sighed.
"But you’re gone now. Still...you were loved. Winston loved you. Iris loved you. Their children and grandchildren know your name."
"You lived a good life didn’t you, old girl?"
He rose to his feet, and the wind stirred one more time, rustling the wildflowers around the grave.
It almost felt like an answer.
Luca opened a portal. The familiar shimmer of light and energy crackled into existence before him.
And then, with one last glance at the tree and the stone and the valley that had changed so much in thirty years, he stepped through.
Back to Lunacris. Back to the centaurs. Back to the work that still needed to be done.