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[ENTER THE PALACE]
[You find yourself with a sensation like floating in water.]
[Above, the sky is dark. You can occasionally see things shifting, like gusts of wind, or perhaps waves of water. Is it…even a sky above you? Or is it some kind of giant ocean? Whatever it is, you can’t make it out very well. All around you, you appear to be floating in what appears to be water. It looks like a great, wide ocean of…space in every direction around you, with stars and lights twinkling in the distance. It looks like water and feels like water, but it doesn’t make you wet. You can reach your hand into it and pull some out, the purple and violet water and the tiny points of light inside it will even rest in your hands if you cup them to carry it, but once you’re not trying to hold it anymore, it’ll flow off of you, not a single drop remaining behind. You feel something similar if you go underneath the surface. The “water” doesn’t touch your eyes, mouth or nose when give the chance, it merely drifts around you, allowing you to breathe and see unabated. And you can see for a great distance, the twinkling stars illuminating the ocean of space all around you. Though perhaps less dark and empty, it feels every bit as vast as the sky above. You feel like you could swim forever and never reach the edge.]
[It’s quiet, here, with little noise around you but the starry ocean’s waves crashing back into its surface. It’s peaceful. In another situation, it might even be comfortable.]
[Above, the sky is dark. You can occasionally see things shifting, like gusts of wind, or perhaps waves of water. Is it…even a sky above you? Or is it some kind of giant ocean? Whatever it is, you can’t make it out very well. All around you, you appear to be floating in what appears to be water. It looks like a great, wide ocean of…space in every direction around you, with stars and lights twinkling in the distance. It looks like water and feels like water, but it doesn’t make you wet. You can reach your hand into it and pull some out, the purple and violet water and the tiny points of light inside it will even rest in your hands if you cup them to carry it, but once you’re not trying to hold it anymore, it’ll flow off of you, not a single drop remaining behind. You feel something similar if you go underneath the surface. The “water” doesn’t touch your eyes, mouth or nose when give the chance, it merely drifts around you, allowing you to breathe and see unabated. And you can see for a great distance, the twinkling stars illuminating the ocean of space all around you. Though perhaps less dark and empty, it feels every bit as vast as the sky above. You feel like you could swim forever and never reach the edge.]
[It’s quiet, here, with little noise around you but the starry ocean’s waves crashing back into its surface. It’s peaceful. In another situation, it might even be comfortable.]
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Two, no, it is what it is at this point. I need the Voidheart to stay alive. So that's what we're going to be dealing with.
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What about just me?
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...you might have some weird side effects when you get back to the prison, don't hold that against me. I worked with what I had at the time.
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That hasn't exactly helped the state of this place.
[She spins her finger around, gesturing to the area around them. By now, Tsumugi's strength will have returned enough that she can start to move and her vision will have returned to the point that she can look around and take in her surroundings. She's floating in a small pool of the starry water...in the middle of the palace's courtyard. Stone floor surrounds the pool she's in and there are paths leading from the center of the courtyard, going off in different directions.]
[And the state of the palace's courtyard is not very good, to say the least. It's badly damaged, pictures and portraits line the walls, but they're torn, faded, turned over. Statues are broken into pieces. The floor, walls and ceiling all have chunks missing, there's scorch marks, blade marks....it looks like a tornado and a bomb got into a fight in here.]
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...Oh, did you go back to adult when I wasn't looking?
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No.
I didn't go back to anything.
This is the exact bloody problem.
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I didn't go back because that little fake isn't me.
You know what happens when you let a Nightmare run wild and you live in a realm between dreams and reality? This. And every night that moppet has had herself an awful little dream about Esmau has just made her stronger in here and now she’s trying to tear the whole bloody place apart.
I told you that you needed to help me get my body back and you gave me that claptrap about "oh, but you're both the real Nessa to me!" You’re the ones who encouraged this nonsense by befriending that fake instead of bringing me back, so I expect you to help sort this mess out.
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Speaking of which, my other idea was for you both to run into each other, so I plain tried diplomacy...
What do I need to do?
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Esmau is trying to tear the place apart for two reasons. One, she hates me and she would really like it if I just didn’t exist anymore. She’s already succeeded at that once.
The second reason is that she’s looking for the palace’s Treasure. The real version of the thing I shoved into your chest - the Voidheart.
[She points at your chest and the glowing orb in it.]
The Voidheart is normally what keeps me alive. Something’s wrong with it and it’s hidden somewhere in the palace, now.
If you want to save Nessa, whoever and whatever that might mean to you, then there’s two things you have to do. Find the Voidheart and defeat that Nightmare of Esmau.
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Before I go, can I say one last thing?
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I guess.
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Because you are all one in the same beautiful person!
/2
[She tries to keep her face neutral, but her lips twitch a bit. Whatever reaction she wanted to have there, it's quickly suppressed.\
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[And she breaks eye contact, looking away.]
Look.
There's a concept you need to start getting your head around, Tsumugi.
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The “Voidheart” is the only thing that keeps “Nessa Houghton” alive. “Nessa Houghton” can’t survive without the “Voidheart”.
In the end, there’s only one real Voidheart.
Which means in the end, there can only be one real Nessa Houghton.
You can talk about both of us being real all you want. But there’s going to be a moment where you’re going to have to make a choice. And that moment is coming sooner than you think.
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Just get going. Your phone is in your pocket.
[And Tsumugi is free to explore...]
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[but then she's going to run away before Shadow Nessa can scowl at her more.]
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[Then she grumbles and walks away in the opposite direction.]