“You should leave,” Emilia told Boundary, not for the first ti.
The man had refused to budge the first few tis she’d said as much, first after they realized soone was coming, then after they realized just who was coming, and then after the man had entered the building and any hope they still had that he was just passing by disappeared. Now, the Risen Guard didn’t even acknowledge her words as he glared down the doorway.
“Seriously! You have a kid now! You shouldn’t stay here with us and—”
Emilia cut off, everyone stilling as Carne stepped into the room, his eyes looking oddly distant as they slipped over their group. ⸂Hello,⸃ Gale’s once-sibling said. He didn’t bother to smile, so at least they didn’t have to contend with the man’s creepy, fake kindness.
Beside her, Conrad watched the man with a bored expression, although Emilia could tell Carne was making him uneasy. He’d reactivated his defensive mbrane as soon as Boundary had moved them, but if anyone was capable of getting through it, she was sure it would be Carne. What better use for your ability to read the universe than to find ways through its most powerful techniques.
“Hello,” Emilia signed, rembering that the guy couldn’t hear visitors. His eyes looked her way, once again seeming to stare straight through her. Rude.
⸂Carne,⸃ Boundary said, tone not quite icy, but definitely unimpressed with his forr… sothing’s presence. The Risen Guard had never explained how the two of them knew each other, but Emilia had a feeling they’d been more than classmates or simply mbers of the sa organization. ⸂What are you doing here?⸃
Carne’s eyes slid back to Boundary, sothing soft entering them before quickly vanishing, and oh. So it was like that? Given Carne seed to barely be the person he had been before receiving the heartcore gift that had overwheld his personality, it was interesting to see that he still felt sothing more for Boundary.
⸂We have a similar goal,⸃ Carne noted.
⸂Oh?⸃ Boundary said, readjusting the yurken in his arms. If Carne had noticed the creature, he gave no indication. To Emilia, he seed almost incapable of seeing things or people he didn’t care for—or maybe things the universe didn’t need him to see.
The man nodded, shifted. He stared at a wall—the wall that faced the entrance to Clarity’s hideout. ⸂Yes. I have more mbers of my group to retrieve. Sawyer is quite worried about them. You are going as well. We should go together.⸃
“Do you know if Gale and our other friends are there?” Emilia asked, waiting patiently for Boundary to translate for her.
Carne didn’t bother looking her way as he said he was unsure—the universe would not tell him. ⸂They are not my story. They are yours. If you wish to find them, you will have to ask the universe to tell you your story.⸃
That was… an interesting way to put it… and slightly creepy. The idea that the aether could guide soone’s way had already been disturbing, implying that the universe could understand the future—or perhaps was so aware of all the things occurring within it from mont to mont that it could intuit which way would serve its reader best. Still disturbing, not to ntion powerful. She’d never thought of the universe as sothing potentially capable of thought or decision before this raid, and she wasn’t sure she liked thinking it capable of such now.
Then again, chances were the universe of the raid was just a simulated one. That was as far as their own training system had ever gotten: to making a copy of the aether within the Virtuosi System. Chances were, the universe around them was simply code, layered onto the real aethernet. Chances were, the real universe couldn’t be read like this… probably.
It was certainly easier to think it sothing that existed solely within raids, but mories of the real world—of forming skills to work within its rules, of fighting the monsters of war and seeing the way they interacted with the aether, of watching the way so Free Coloniers moved with the waves of the universe… Well, she really wouldn’t be surprised if she popped out of this raid and realized it wasn’t just a raid thing—not entirely, anyways.
She wasn’t really sure what she’d do with that sort of information—with the potential ability to reach out and ask the aether for her story.
⸂And what is the story you see for yourself?⸃ Boundary asked with the flawless deliverance of soone who had asked the question before and would ask it again.
Carne humd, turning back to them as he considered the question. He stared blankly into space and for the life of her, Emilia had no idea if he was faking not knowing the answer or was sorting through the information the universe was feeding him to find it.
⸂I will descend into the city of cursed minds, and retrieve what is mine. We will go together, but part. The city of cursed minds will fall. The man of cursed minds will die. The world will begin anew. The world…⸃ Carne trailed off, blinking so slowly it was eerie. ⸂The world will be better, I believe. It is a line, connecting my story to yours. I can see it, yet cannot. There are too many variables. You should not bring that child with you.⸃
It took a mont for Emilia to realize Carne was referring to the yurken, the man having failed to acknowledge it before that mont. “You should take it and leave,” she told Boundary, tugging furtively at his sweater—the man hadn’t even bothered to change into proper gear. “Go back to your family. This isn’t—”
⸄Do not say this isn’t my fight,⸅ he bit out, harsher than she’d heard his voice before. ⸄This is my world. It is my family who will be forced to live here if you do not find a way to break the blood curse.⸅
“I didn’t think you believed it would be good to bring about another blessing?” They hadn’t talked in such blatant terms, but of all the things she’d learned from Key and Rin about the Risen Guard, the fact that they didn’t want to risk another blessing seed accurate.
⸄I…⸅ Boundary ran a frustrated hand through his hair, his eyes flicking between Carne and her.
He trusted Carne, she realized. For all that the man had been corrupted by a heartcore so completely that his personality was barely what it had once been, Boundary trusted the man. Maybe not entirely—what would the point of letting Benny go with him as a spy be, if Boundary completely trusted him, after all. That shouldn’t have been a surprised—hadn’t he assured her several tis after they t in the city that the holess children would be safe? That the person with them wouldn’t hurt them?
Boundary trusted Carne, at least when it ca to so things. Was it just a remnant of friendship or affection from the past was the question, or was it based on sothing more—sothing actually worth trusting herself?
“Fine,” Emilia sighed, planting her hands on her hips and telling Boundary he could co, but only if he got rid of the yurken, grabbed proper gear, and told his husband was he was doing.
The Risen Guard blanched slightly, but agreed, nonetheless, vanishing a mont later.
[Emilia:and make sure he confirms with that you actually told him]
[Boundary:You know being a Risen Guard is a dangerous profession, yes?]
[Emilia:yes, of course i know]
[Emilia:doesn’t an I can’t think you’re better off staying ho where you’re safe]
[Boundary:Your friend broke into my house. How safe can it be?]
That… was a little fair. It didn’t an Emilia wasn’t worried for the man, for his husband and child. Logically, she knew they could use his help. He knew more about this world than the children, and if Carne was intending to split up with them soon after they entered Clarity’s city system…
It was hard, was the thing. Tons of parents had fought in the war, of course, so of them under her. It had never been easy to send them onto the front, knowing they may very well not return. It was also necessary. People died in war. People died fighting for a better, safer world.
She still didn’t want to be responsible for getting Boundary killed, and by the ti he returned several minutes of painful silence later, she was holding her {Blood Ball} out to him.
“Just so you know, I have no idea why this thing activates when it does,” she said, blinking away a notification from Villy, asking her to try and make sure his husband ca ho safe. “You should take it all the sa. You never know when it will save your life.”
Boundary didn’t hesitate to take it, not the way one of the kids might have. Perhaps because he understood more than a regular civilian that she wasn’t of this world—that his life was worth more here than hers.
Carne didn’t bother to say anything to them as he turned and began leading them through the building. Occasionally, his energy would flicker as he searched for the universe’s guidance—a clear sign that Conrad’s energy couldn’t completely suppress his abilities—but otherwise he was quiet—they all were.
⸂That guy is creepy,⸃ Conrad ssaged her. As much as he’d taken to his own aethervoice well, he wasn’t quite as imdiately skilled as Astra or V had been and couldn’t be trusted to speak privately to her through it. ⸂He can read the will of the universe? What does that an?⸃
As much as the other visitor had overheard her conversation with Boundary about Emile, he hadn’t asked any questions about it. Probably, he had been waiting for the man to leave so they could discuss it. That chance hadn’t co, and as they walked, Emilia softly explained to him—through normal talking—everything she knew about it. Occasionally, Boundary would offer up additional information, although it was nothing that suddenly illuminated the whole thing to her.
Really, she knew she wouldn’t be able to get answers she really wanted until she was back in the real world and was able to test things out herself. It was frustrating, though. She wanted to research it now! And that… that was kinda great. It had been so long since she’d felt passion for anything, her obsessive personality having long been knotted up to counter other knotting consequences. She had missed this feeling, and even though it was frustrating that she couldn’t vanish into the aether and pop out in front of one of the dozens of spots she knew bore scars from the war to examine them, it was exciting.
She wanted to be ho.
She wanted to research and learn, even if the fact that Payton would never be able to get her back to the perfect specin she’d once been was a bit sad. Sothing to learn to live with, her tangled up balance levels. Once, she had run from her trauma. Maybe it was ti to face it. It wasn’t sothing she’d ever escape, not as long as it lived as a ss of knots inside her, but maybe with a little work, she could accept it as just another part of the puzzle that made her her.
It was just hard, sotis. The her of now could never be the her of her youth, and really, she should probably mourn that person. Throw them a funeral.
Her heart clenched, thinking about letting that part of her go—of seemingly giving up hope that she’d ever be that person again. Probably, the healthier thing to do was accept that person was gone, and she would forever be this slightly broken, traumatized version of herself.
That sounded terrible, and she shook the thoughts off.
One day, she’d get there. For the mont, she’d just have to accept that she was this way for now and try not to fall back into a pit of despair as she lived. Better to focus on the present, and the nonsense two of the n in their group were arguing about.
Boundary and Conrad were the bickering pair, arguing about whether the visitor’s abilities naturally read the will of the universe or not—Boundary seed to think the man’s abilities should be able to do so, Conrad firmly believed they could not, although Emilia had a feeling he was disagreeing simply because he didn’t much like Boundary. Given they’d barely spent any ti together, she couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was causing such dislike.
If Carne was paying attention to their argunt, he gave no indication. He just walked on, leading them through the winding hallways and staircases until a na popped up on Emilia’s map, indicating they were getting close to the front entrance to Clarity’s city system. Not that they’d be going in the front door.
They’d be going through the sa entrance Conrad had broken in through. Not that anyone had actually said as much, but she was pretty sure that where they were going, and when they passed by the indicator, she was unsurprised.
They kept walking, and the idiot n kept arguing, Boundary’s tone growing increasingly annoyed while Conrad’s held a hint of amusent and fascination. She… should probably distract them, before a fight broke out.
“So…” she started, speeding up to step between the n, who had left her behind in their haste to argue with one another, “how long do we have left here, anyways? In the raid, I an.”
Conrad blinked at her. Boundary frowned. Even Carne paused to glance back at her, a vaguely concerned look on his face as he actually looked at her for the first ti. Rude.
⸂You don’t know?⸃ Conrad asked, sounding much too incredulous in her opinion.
Emilia shrugged, giving a short run down of all the things that had happened to ss with the already vague sense of ti she had in this world—even now that she’d managed to open a clock in her system access, ti seed to an nothing to her frazzled mind. ⸂Are you telling you know exactly how much ti is left?⸃
⸂Yes,⸃ he agreed. He looked like he wanted to tell her she was stupid before thinking better of it—or, perhaps, he rembered that she didn’t raid and had less experience with these things than most. ⸂It is good to know when your chances to win will end.⸃
“And ours will end…” she prompted, fighting down the urge to point out that they had no idea how the winner would even be determined.
The other visitor blinked at her as Carne forced Boundary to open a stuck door for them—apparently if he could get through Conrad’s defensive mbrane for more than his universe reading ability, he had no intention of doing so at the mont. ⸂Less than two days.⸃
Oh. Okay. Maybe she deserved to be treated like she was a little stupid, then.
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