As the last wire is pulled free and Josh reverts back to something at least resembling his old self, the cables and monitors withering and rotting away around them, Merton can't help a soft relieved laugh, wiping at his own drying tears before fumbling with the unfamiliar buckles and zippers of his newly restored tactical gear. Taking his jacket off, he moves to wrap it around Josh's shoulders over the tarp he'd put over himself, before sitting down on the ground next to him.

"And I'm Merton." And man, he never thought he'd be so happy to just be able to say his own name. "We came here to try and help you. When the bombs hit...you..." He paused, trying to figure out just how he was going to describe everything that happened.

"Wow, this is going to be hard to explain...Um...When the bombs hit, you were hit with their detritus. A substance called Stuff that, to give the simplified version of it, changes everything and everyone it touches, usually based on the thoughts and imagination of the people around it. When it hit you, it used you and this station to spread its influence, and yours, over the whole town. It...and trust me, I know how crazy this is going to sound...it used you to trap the people in this town in a black and white sitcom. And it's been a few years since you were last...you. Everything is different. The whole world. It's..." He looked pleadingly up to Hiccup for help with the rest. How do you tell someone the whole world they knew and everyone in it are basically just, gone?