[Warning: Contains substantial spoilers for the ending of Void Jumpers: Volume 1: Between All Worlds]
Rowboat, spaceship, voidcraft. The life of the Quantum Family Rowboat was one wholly unpredictable. What once was a childhood memory had become a tool of survival, sailing the skies with a balloon - a method of jailbreak, surpassing the sound barrier, bolting through outer space - and exploring the Nova-Storm, the world between all worlds, escaping the bounds of Keenan Quantum's reality, and facilitating the creation of the Void Jumpers.
Keenan once dreamed of floating in the sky. He was born too late to explore the world, too early to explore space - but somehow right on time to pioneer a form of exploration undreamt of - once thought unachievable.
And now Keenan watched on in horror as that dream burned.
A horrid alien creature, birthed from metal and strife, ripped at the engine of the Mach Ba-Boat, sending it careening through the Nova-Storm. The under construction Void Station, built by Keenan and his new friends from across realities, drifted further and further in his view. Betrayal was a familiar experience to Keenan, but this stung. The surprise, the sudden attack. It was blinding.
The Mach Ba-Boat spun out of control, careening far, far into the void, blaring its sirens. A red light flashed the words 'This is bad.'
"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh this is bad... This can't be how I die!" Keenan yelled. He frantically tried to radio his new friends, "Don't you dare leave me with a cliff hanger!" he shouted.
But the radio, too, was broken.
It was a wonder at all how the Hot Air Ba-Boat ever functioned to begin with. It became increasingly unlikely that this invention would continue functioning when it was hastily upgraded in a prison - from a boat, to a spaceship. When Keenan retrofitted the vessel for traveling the void, Daquan Quantum warned that he would be crushed.
He was right.
All of Keenan's luck had caught up to him. There was no way this vessel should have worked to begin with. It was a wonder that it took so long to finally break.
Keenan was sent flying, into the vast expanse of nothing. The orange sky, the blue clouds, taunting him. The boat slowed, the chaos and confusion of the distant battle faded as the silence of the storm flooded his mind.
He stared up, through the liquid glass, at the calm skies of the Nova-Storm.
He floated, like he did that day on the lake, alone.
"Don't leave me here," Keenan begged. "Don't go," he said, to no one. "If you leave me I'll be alone..."
The Mach Ba-Boat floated, aimlessly.
Smoke spewed from its engine.
"I don't see a way out of this one..." Keenan whispered to himself. "Could you help me out here, Dad?"
Distant thunder rumbled in the storm.
No one was coming to save Keenan.
"Come on... Heavy handed symbolism, anything, something give me a sign..." Keenan begged, garnering no response.
"Is this really how it ends?"
The boat sputtered as a tiny explosion burst from the engine.
"Well, thanks for getting me this far at least, Dad. It was fun while it lasted. You were right. This boat is pretty fast. If only you could see me fishing now. Who knows. Maybe I'll catch a Shardigrade."
Keenan looked out through the glass, searching for a hint of the distant Void Station. He had flown well and truly off course.
"What a weird to go, even for me. Oh well." Keenan sighed. "There's nothing more to see here. I can feel the audience fading. Could you... Before you go... Just promise me something, alright?"
Keenan left room for you hold on to his words.
"Come back for me. When the plot calls for it. Don't let this be my last scene."
The silence of the storm was deafening.
"If you'll let me have some parting words before you uh... Focus on the rest of them - leaving me well and truly alone... Let me think of something. Something profound..." Keenan caressed his mustache. "No... No, not profound. That would make too much sense for my last words... And then I'd die with a super quotable final phrase, marking me as a hero, or whatever. No. The vibes need to be so wrong. I can't die. I simply can't. Because there's no way, narratively, anyone would let me get away with my last words being..."
Keenan thought hard, scrunching his brow.
"Pee pee... poo poo..."