It felt like he'd been trapped there for days.
... well. Maybe 'trapped' was a little too harsh of a word to use, but wherever he was and whatever he was right now, it felt like he'd been in that state for a long, long time. Star knew he wasn't awake-- or at least, that his body wasn't --but not much more than that, beyond what little he could glean from brief moments of awareness, where he was able to be himself, and not...
... not part of All. He could feel them, sometimes, brushed up against him... the other minds whose touch was disorienting, gentle and good-natured as it was as they wrapped slender, frail arms around him and cradled him with their hands... and even when he fought them, they didn't fight back. Didn't grab. Didn't hold. But more always found their way to him, and sought to lull One back into All again.
We need you. Stay with us. We need you. Stay with us.
And the only reason they wanted him to stay was because they were scared. Star knew that. But he couldn't help them if he wasn't him, which was a concept that his sisters didn't seem to grasp as he struggled against the pull of the collective consciousness; to be himself, to be One, who could help if he was given the chance to be One and not All-- which just seemed to be nothing more than a recursive, endless 'argument'. Over and over he tried to plead with them, he can't help them if he's All, he can't, he can't--
But there were more of them than there were of him, and One would succumb to the gentle, comforting pull of All once more, until he was able to open his eyes and try again. And for the last hour or so of real-world time, it had just been a constant loop of that cycle, only managing to wriggle out of the tangle of Dependent minds by a little bit each time.
Sure, yeah, that meant he'd eventually be able to get out-- wake up on his own --but there was no telling just how long that would've taken in the waking world, or even what was going on in the waking world with dozens upon dozens of shaken, crying Plants and his physical form lying crumpled in a heap in the middle of the street.
He needs to wake up. He can't stay here. He needs to--
But when he opened his eyes again... there was something new, this time. A light, glittering above him like sunlight on the surface of the water; bright and warm and (most importantly) familiar, brushing against him-- against Star, and only Star --as though it was searching, scanning the mass to find him and invoked a sense of alarm in him. A fear of missing his chance. He's here, he's here, he's--!!
Outside, though, for a few moments... moments that felt way, way too long, like they dragged over hours instead of seconds... there was no evidence of any of what was happening inside; no response from the unconscious Independent whatsoever. No twitches, no flutters, nothing at all; and to Vet, reaching further, beyond physicality... he'd be presented with an endless void where there normally would have been something waiting. Life, emotion, memories... or perhaps it was more accurate to say that all of those things were there, but on a scale so massive and ever-changing that one thing could simply not be detected over anything else. Indistinguishable from one another, as it was 'meant' to be...
... at least, until something did perk up amidst the everything and nothing, desperately threw out it's hand... and lines of teal-white slowly traced up over the soft slopes of Star's face...
