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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.]
no subject
... Okay. I see.
What do I have to do to help?
no subject
[That is a...very sudden injection of bitterness into her tone.]
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.
You’re the ones who encouraged this nonsense by befriending that fake instead of bringing me back and you only started giving a damn about it when she was the one who started passing out in front of you, so you're damn straight I expect you to help sort this mess out.
no subject
... I'll do everything I can, of course.
But--what do you mean? "That fake"...?
no subject
She's a fake, you dolt. The real me, me, died during one of the Warden's tasks and you all have been having a merry little time with a photocopy while I've been rotting in my own subconscious. Thanks for that.
The exception of course being that time I got to be a skeleton.
[Oh yeah, Nessa mentioned something like that, didn't she....]
no subject
... I think I understand what you mean, but... I thought that the you we've been talking with is your younger self.
Isn't she still you, then...?
no subject
no subject
Is that not the case...?
no subject
I can't, with this. You people are all unbearably naïve.
[She reaches a hand in and grabs his arm, helping to pull him out of the pool.]
If I didn't need your help, I'd be punching you in the nose right now. Just get out of there and I'll explain how this works.
no subject
... Okay... but I'd really like an explanation of how it's naive, too... Nessa-san is important to me regardless of what form you're in, so...
[ first, he should grab for his shirt, though, probably. ]
no subject
Alright, listen up.
The nightmares of Esmau have gotten to the point where they're able to take shape and now she's trying to tear the place apart for two reasons. [She holds up two fingers.] 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 turns back around and gestures towards Minato and the orb now implanted in his chest.]
Like I said before, 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, whatever and whoever that means to you, then there’s two things you have to do. Find the Voidheart and defeat that Nightmare of Esmau.
no subject
Okay then.
[ a deep breath, and he squares his shoulders. ]
I'll do my best. We can talk about everything else after.
[ ... taking a look around the courtyard, do any of the paths look different at all, or are they all about the same? ]
no subject
...there's a concept that you need to start getting used to, Minato.
no subject
... What's that?
no subject
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.
no subject
He turns to face her properly then, shaking his head simply and quietly. ]
It doesn't matter which Nessa-san comes out of this, so long as it's the Nessa-san that you--and she--truly want to be. That's what's most important.
[ both as her adult self and her teen self. ]
But that doesn't make either you or her any more "fake" than the other. That's... what I believe.
no subject
[She looks away. She doesn't seem to have much of an answer for that, or at least, doesn't feel like pressing the point when there's more important things to be done.]
Your phone is in your jacket pocket. I added a few things to it. Go and get a move on, already.
[And with that, Minato can start exploring.]