What do you think Kamiizumi and Minette's life together is like after BS? I never found any fanfiction of them. Can you be the first?
I need to apologize a little--ideas for individual scenes weren’t hard, but the flow didn’t quite come. This will probably need to be continued at some point for a more definitive conclusion. But I didn’t want to leave you waiting, either. SO.
Tsubaki padded along the boat without ever once losing his footing in spite of the waves rocking it. For a cat to lack such grace would be unthinkable. He had a few years tipping his whiskers, but he still had pride--and besides that, two masters who would be dismayed were he to start showing age.
Master Kamiizumi gave his head a light scratching when he walked by, callused fingers reaching behind his ears, and Tsubaki purred his satisfaction. Though the swordmaster was steering the boat, the man was always observant and well capable of double tasking for important matters.
His other master, Minette Napkatti, sat only a foot away, humming happily as she awaited a bite on the fishing pole. Or at least she was humming, until her head tilted toward Tsubaki's purr. Then she glanced his direction and saw how his tail was swishing in lazy delight, head pressed into Master Kamiizumi's grasp.
Tsubaki knew well what would happen next, but he still could not resist creasing his eyes shut and letting out an exceptionally loud purr.
"Kameowzumi," Minette all but cried. "Don't leave me-out!"
The swordmaster chuckled. "I have only two hands, Minette," he said, and of course, between petting a cat and steering a boat carrying the three of them, steering the boat won out (narrowly). So Tsubaki accepted it when Master Kamiizumi stopped scratching him to pat Minette's head. He stopped paying them any mind at all, instead nonchalantly cleaning his leg as some seawater had sprayed onto his paw. He wasn't going to get jealous with a kitten, after all. Oh, Minette did know her way with cats enough to be one herself, and she might be bigger than him, but Tsubaki knew that she wasn't full-grown by human standards. Still a kitten. A kitten that squeaked with delight to be given attention. He wouldn't begrudge her it.
That didn't mean he wouldn't claim whatever attention Kamiizumi had left over, though, and soon enough the swordmaster found himself pinned in his seat between the matter of steering the boat, patting Minette's head as she purred, and having Tsubaki climb into his lap and lazily stretch out over both of the man's thighs. Tsubaki let himself melt into the warmth, turning his chest and belly toward Kamiizumi and the rays of the sun. Here, the sea salt spray would barely bother him. Ah... paradise.
"...I will need to move at some point, Tsubaki."
"Yes," Tsubaki answered, knowing Kamiizumi didn't understand the feline tongue. His master's only shortcoming. "And until then, I'm going to sleep."
Minette's purring was interrupted for a moment as she giggled.
That day, and many others like it, were good days. Kamiizumi now had more time to spend fishing on the water, rather than darting this way and that after his human companions, and Minette was a more skilled fisher than he--as any cat should be, really. She caught fish for herself and Tsubaki quite easily, and Kamiizumi managed to get his own dinner. Once they were done for the day, they would meet up with Bismarck a little ways off from the dock and ensure that the big cat had caught enough food to fill his belly too. Then, they all set off for the cabin Kamiizumi called his own.
"It's so small!" Minette had said the first time she saw it, and it truly was. Tsubaki did not mind the size when there were rafters to climb and windows to slip out for a while, but he had seen many other human residences and knew it was small by comparison.
"A man should have no less than what he needs, and no more than what he can care for," Kamiizumi explained as he removed his shoes, gesturing for Minette to do the same. Tsubaki lightly patted the dust of the road off his paws at the entryway, then licked them to make sure they were clean. "I need very little, and I am frequently away, so a small house suits me fine." The swordmaster stepped over to the nearest window, opening it to let the sunlight in; Tsubaki could see the specks of dust swirl at the motion.
A moment later, the cat sneezed. Yes... he imagined the stale air would be even worse in a large house, what with his master's frequent travels.
"It's just, Bismarck won't find it easy to catnap in here," Minette said with a little worry, puffing out her cheeks. Then her eyes widened to alarm, and Tsubaki's tail went stiff at the pitch her voice reached. "When mew travel, will mew leave Minette here?! Please take Minette with!"
Kamiizumi looked from the window to her with a small frown, but thankfully, his tone stayed calm and steadying, letting Tsubaki relax. "Of course I would let you come with me, Minette. But you know I do travel at times. After all, that was how we first met."
"Minette...remembers," the girl said, her eyes casting down to the ground at the reminder. The first meeting was no longer a proud moment for her. She swayed on her feet with an awkwardness ill-befitting a cat, and Tsubaki rubbed himself against her legs to get her attention.
"Enough of that," he told Minette firmly. "We're not strays anymore." He rubbed his cheek against her again to emphasize that point. She was his kitten now, just as he was her servant.
She smiled. "Thank mew, Tsubaki. I'm sorry."
"There is no need to apologize," Kamiizumi said. "I know...as does Tsubaki...it can be hard to trust again sometimes. I would not abandon you, Minette. I have no expectation of needing to travel soon, now that Luxendarc has found peace, but should the occasion arise, I would be glad to have you by my side on the road. As for Bismarck, the nights are still warm at this time of year, and I shall get started on a shelter for him immediately. He will not have to sleep in the cold."
Bismarck roared dully from outside. Tsubaki snickered a little. The big cat was a little hard to understand with his rumbling calls, but it wasn't hard to tell that anyone would be grateful for shelter.
That time was not the last time Minette worried. Kamiizumi could not dine solely on fish--and frankly, neither could Minette, even if she tried to insist she could. Tsubaki did not exactly consider this a bad point of humans when it meant more fish for him, but it did necessitate that Kamiizumi make trips to the nearby village to trade fish and pg for other food. Minette went with him the first time, and it was no secret to Tsubaki that she was only going to stay near Kamiizumi instead of wanting to actually see the small town; her paws dragged as they approached.
People did not know what to make of a kitten that was both girl and cat. Oh, they found her feline garb appealing (as they should), but as soon as conversations started, there was confusion at how she spoke, bemusement at the meows interspersing her human speech. And from some, derision, and then outright laughter. Minette grew tense with anger, her hands shaking even as her voice broke, and Tsubaki knew she was on the verge of ordering him to attack and unsheathing her own claws. He was ready for it, too, spitting and yowling with his fur stood up to warn the brats just what a mistake they were making. It would be better if they backed off before it came to a fight, but he wasn't opposed to raking their smug faces with his claws.
Kamiizumi called them off with a voice as sharp as his blade before they could have the satisfaction. It made for a strained trip back to the cabin, and Minette had refused to go back to the village since. Kamiizumi had let the matter go for about a week or so, but following that he had tried to persuade her to come with once more.
"A lion does not flinch from a hyena's laugh."
"Minette's not a lion," the girl grumbled, keeping to the perch she'd found in the rafters, where the beams were strong enough to support her. "Bismarck's bigger."
Kamiizumi sighed from below, still preparing himself for the road. "You are a capable young woman, Minette. Do not let the small-minded bother you, when you could find others who do appreciate you."
Tsubaki caught Minette's dark look from where he sat to watch all, his own corner of the rafters. Her unhappy eyes said it all: people could be unpredictable, more trouble than they were worth. He opened his mouth in a faint meow of sympathy. Most people were entirely too much trouble. There were some good ones, and he had been lucky enough to find a few of them. But it was still nice to be able to hide and watch and be alone when he so desired.
Privately he thought Kamiizumi must understand that sentiment somewhat, to live the way he did. But the man was persistent. "One who does not wish to be alone must learn how to exist with others."
"Minette's not alone anymore," the girl protested, kicking out and swinging her legs. Master Kamiizumi caught one foot as he passed underneath, looking at her seriously with his dark eyes.
"Minette. Come down from there."
Tsubaki looked away when he saw Minette puffing up and began to slink off; this wasn't an argument that concerned him. And he knew it would be an argument; even if he wasn't looking, he could hear Minette standing up on the rafter, carefully but quickly, so that Master Kamiizumi couldn't touch her. Claiming every inch of high ground that she could. Not that the man would have used force, but no self-respecting cat let someone touch them when they didn't wish for it, and she obviously did not right now. Tsubaki slipped out of the window, letting them hash it out for themselves.
He was unsurprised to see Master Kamiizumi leave the house alone. The cat trailed after the swordmaster through the tree branches for a moment, gauging the harsh but weary look on the man's face, before he neatly jumped down onto the man's shoulder. The swordmaster, to his credit, did not jump. Tsubaki had gotten him quite used to this as a matter of routine. Going with Kamiizumi meant leaving Minette alone for the same time, but the girl had Bismarck for company, and... well, he did not like seeing either of his masters unhappy.
Kamiizumi let the cat ride on his shoulder, scratching his head gratefully. "She has so little trust in people that I worry about breaking her faith in me... I see once more why my old friend had so much trouble disciplining a few of his own. But she needs to learn."
Tsubaki mewed cautious agreement. Minette was both a cat and a girl; she probably should know some things of humans. But being a cat himself, he didn't have the first clue of what humans did that was important, let alone any inclination to learn for himself. It would be up to Kamiizumi to figure that one out.
So as to not confuse his little orphan friends on grandship, Alternis begrudgingly tells them that Ringabel is his older twin brother. Ringabel is elated with this revelation.
Alternis felt at times that Ringabel’s existence had ruined his life.
This was perhaps unfair, because there were other candidates for the role of ruining his life: his mother, Victoria, himself... but Ringabel was the most conspicuous one.
After his counterpart had merrily skipped across Luxendarc with both Agnès Oblige and Edea, Alternis had been left with the consequences. No longer was he able to travel incognito to gather information for Braev. Women recognized him and made references to incidents he had no knowledge about while getting far too close for his comfort, or they made a scene by slapping and yelling at him (the knowledge that here, too, was a place where he was “known” was far worse than any slap given, though the sisters in Caldisla came very close to topping it). Men recognized him for flirting with their wives, leading to him needing to avoid one town in Eisenberg in which he was wanted for a duel, because he did not need to add a slaying to his current infamous status. It had already been a close call when the flower chess monkey in Florem recognized him and reacted by pointing and shrieking with laughter.
Alternis was not sure what his foolish counterpart had done to warrant that one, but the fact remained. Ringabel was the top contender for having ruined his life before even touching the matter of having watched Edea sigh for someone that was him, except not. At least... at least her sadness had disappeared when the man finally returned. Satisfied on that point, Alternis had quietly relocated himself to Grandship. She had the dark knight of her choice to look after her, while the orphans had no one. (This was a bit unfair too, as the Proprietress of the Drunken Pig was always sure to feed them, but after the close shave of the orphans’ financial support, Alternis was given to feeling protective of them.) He did not stay often enough to be made a resident of the floating country, half out of the necessity of running errands and supplies for the orphans’ support, half out of sentimental attachment to Eternia, but at least once a week he saw the orphans, and their smiles made him happy.
So when shy little Tina would not even look at him but hid away, and her brother Ricken had to explain to Alternis “his” strange behavior over the past few days that he had not even been on the ship, the dark knight was glad for his helm. The children did not need to see the rage he was certain was showing on his face.
“First it was like you didn’t know us, and then when you did recognize us, you kept acting really strange. You didn’t remember anything Tina told you, and you kept laughing a lot, not quiet like you usually are...it kind of felt like you were making fun of her.”
This was the last injustice, the final indignity. He was going to kill Ringabel.
No. Edea would cry and hate him forever.
...He would mostly kill Ringabel, and then shove him into the white magic stasis chamber and leave the man there a few extra months to see if white magic could heal addled brains, too.
Edea would probably have issues with that too, but it seemed a bit more tolerable. Alternis mused over the fantasy to sate his anger a little before responding.
“My apologies, Ricken, but that wasn’t me. You can ask Zatz or Datz. I’ve been off-ship these past three days. I’m afraid the person you and Tina met was...” ‘Counterpart from another dimension’ would not go over well, Alternis knew that much. He sighed heavily. He’d long decided another, much more plausible explanation for the resemblance, but it was a relationship he was not eager to claim. “...My twin brother.”
“Whaaat? You mean like Molls and Pauline?”
“Exactly, though my brother is not nearly so considerate. He likes to...play pranks. In which he pretends to be me. He likes to cause trouble for me, and I think that’s all he meant to do. If he knew he’d hurt Tina’s feelings, he would most certainly be sorry.” Because Alternis would make him sorry after informing him of what his idiocy had done. But he said nothing of that, instead bending to meet Ricken at eye level. “Please tell Tina that I am very sorry as well.” The girl was hiding only a few feet away, behind one of the barrels, but Alternis knew from past experience that she was painfully shy and would most likely flinch away from him right now--part of why this made him so furious. Ringabel liked to dart across the world like a goblin in a scroll shop, little caring what he set off next. Some things were precious and delicate.
Alternis’ anger subsided a little when Tina dared to peek around the barrel at him. “You have a brother, too?” she asked, her voice so quiet the question was nearly inaudible. She was still feeling timid, then, but she was talking to him. Not all was ruined. He nodded to her, allowing a small chuckle to lighten the mood.
“Though some days I wish not, yes.”
After reassuring Tina that yes, he still liked her, and his “brother” most certainly did too but simply had a strange way of showing it, Alternis thought that that would be the end of the matter. He did not know what business had brought Ringabel to Grandship, but surely it had been a one time occasion, and it would hopefully be many months, if not years, before Alternis had to deal with his antics again.
It was two weeks, and Alternis was drinking beer with Zatz and Datz when his entire body seized up at a chilling call:
“Oh, brother mine...!”
His eyes glanced toward Darkbringer. Zatz was already scooting it behind the counter, and just gave Alternis a look in return for his glare. “Drinking buddies don’t let drinking buddies do stupid things. Besides, he’s sort of our drinking buddy, too.”
“Hey, he’s got some of the kids with him,” Datz commented.
Alternis turned his head to look and raised an eyebrow at Ricken sitting atop Ringabel’s shoulders. The boy pushed himself off in the next minute to run up to Alternis, and Tina suddenly appeared from wherever she had been hiding, both the picture of eager interest.
“Mister Alternis...! Your brother’s been looking for you!”
He wanted to tell his dear ‘brother’ to take a dive off the boat, but was well aware how poor that would look to the children. Instead he settled for giving Ringabel a flat look. “And what’s the occasion?”
“A family reunion?” Ringabel took the seat Zatz had left vacant, though he did sit far enough away to give Alternis breathing room; he had some sense of survival, then. “Please? Edea’s been worried about how long you’ve been away, and even Mahzer and--er--Braev have expressed concern.” He’d had to check himself from saying ‘the Lord Marshal’, just as Alternis sometimes had to. “It’s nothing unusual to be concerned for a wayward brother, is it?”
“I only called you that so the children wouldn’t be upset by your bumbling,” Alternis muttered.
Ringabel sighed. “I know how to be you, and I know how to be likable, but I don’t know how to be both at once.” At Alternis’ glare, he quickly added, “It’s a talent only you possess! ...But really, you could come home. If you’re avoiding me, then I could...”
Go away. It would probably only be temporary, but Alternis felt a bit of relief even with that. Ringabel would go away and, even if it was just for a little while, Alternis could be with the Lees for a while without him looming about. They’d missed him.
...They would miss Ringabel, too.
“Don’t be daft,” Alternis mumbled, taking another swallow of beer to help ease his next words out. “It’s not that hard for siblings to get along.”
Ringabel gave a surprised gasp, but Tina simply nodded like it was a matter of fact, the girl starting to smile. “Mm! Have fun visiting your family, Mister Alternis!”
There was a joyous reunion for the four heroes of light, until Agnes meets Planeswarden Airy.
...I cut it off at a slightly awkward point because it was definitely not a drabble any longer and I didn’t know what it was.
I’M ASSUMING THAT PLANESWARDEN/DIMENSIONAL OFFICER INTRODUCTIONS ARE ALWAYS, ALWAYS AWKWARD AT SOME POINT
and Agnès just manages to take the cake here.
Agnès blinked past the blood trailing into her right eye and stared up at the snake that had encircled Luxendarc, feeling numb. So this was the ruin she had brought on the world. All the teachings about the crystals, lies: they had brought damnation instead of salvation. All of Airy’s promises, lies: the fairy had changed into a twisted monster and attacked them at the Holy Pillar. Tiz and Edea had forced her to retreat into the pillar--into another world, the fairy had claimed--but now Tiz lay dead, and Edea had vanished with Airy in the light, and it was all her fault...!
And now a snake darkened the world’s horizon, as if ready to swallow it up. After the difficult fight with Airy, Agnès already knew there was no way she could face this monster. Not on her own.
Not on her own...she touched her pendant for one last reassurance, and then had a wild hope. Sometimes the pendant had brought help--from other worlds? Or times? Whatever they were, they had been help. They had not been false.
The snake lazily circling the world cracked open one eye that must have been as long as an island. Agnès brought up her hands to pray one final time, clutching the pendant tightly.
“Whoever you are, wherever you are...”
Perhaps she could summon an echo of Tiz. Perhaps she could bring back Edea.
Something in the air shifted; Agnès could feel a pressure bearing down on her. As though the circle had closed somewhat. She shook...it was such a powerful presence.
The pendant had only ever brought one person at a time. It had been enough before. It would not be now.
She would have to make it enough. She would have to make it bring more.
“Please...hear my prayer...” The pressure was increasing. She poured all her energy into the pendant. Urging it to awaken, not knowing if it even could. It was not one of the four crystals, after all. She knew not why it possessed the strange ability it did. But if there was even the smallest possibility that it could bring enough help, she would make it so.
“I am Agnès Oblige, vestal to the crystals, and I have failed, but this world does not deserve destruction!”
She would have given her life to save it. She still would. Her heart was pounding as the pressure bore down on her even more, a distant but huge roar growing closer. The snake was coming. The snake was coming to devour the world, and she would be one small morsel on its tongue. She opened her eyes to stare up at the impossible sight of a snake as big as the world bearing down on her, its mouth gaping open.
“Bring this world its warriors of light!” she screamed, barely hearing herself above the deafening roar of the world’s end.
Beneath the roar, beneath her scream, there was a third sound she sensed more than heard. Her hands suddenly pulsated with pain as a blue light shot out from between her folded fingers, splitting the sky. Steel, gleaming and curved and huge, suddenly blocked her view of the snake's maw.
And after that...Agnès could not say. The pressure and blood loss grew too much, and she blacked out.
She wasn't dead.
That was the first thing she knew.
She wasn't dead, and someone was dabbing her hands with potion. It was the mushroom smell that tipped her off, one that had always been peculiar to the medicine.
She sobbed before she could even think to stop herself. The snake had been stopped. Help had come. She hadn't damned Luxendarc. Against all odds, someone strong enough had appeared.
But her crying must have alarmed the person nursing her wounds, because the light touches suddenly stopped, even as they cradled her hand more firmly. "Agnès? I'm not hurting you, am I?"
Her eyes flew open at the voice. "Tiz?" In the next moment, her heart broke and she was ready to apologize--the coloring of his hair and the eye she could see was right, but the fringe was too long and he looked strangely older--but then he smiled at her, and it was so much Tiz that she was certain. "Tiz!" She sat up to hug him; her head was left spinning at the suddenness of the movement, but that only made her more determined to hold on. She didn't want to let go. "You're alive... Thank goodness, thank... I thought you had died."
Tiz hugged her in return, rubbing her back. "Agnès... listen. Luxendarc is safe now. Airy's master is dead. You did great."
Relieving as the news was, Agnès had to protest. "I was the reason it was in danger."
"Because that damned fairy tricked you," Tiz argued, and Agnès was so surprised to hear the anger in his voice that she withdrew a little, thinking it aimed at her. But Tiz's face immediately softened when he saw her fear, and he lifted a hand to pat her hair. "If it hadn't been you she tricked, it would have been someone else. That Airy was an ageless creature. She would have simply bided her time until there was another vestal or vestaling. Don't blame yourself. It was all her. And you persisted, even when everything seemed lost."
"All I did was pray."
Tiz scoffed, pulling back a little and turning her hands toward herself. "All you did was charge a crystalline core so strongly that you overloaded and shattered it. The readings were apparently going wild when you drew us in."
Agnès blinked at her hands and the slivers of her blue pendant embedded in her palms. Some had already been removed, leaving marks of skin still red and angry after the potion, but others seemed to be too deep to get out easily. Now she understood why her hands had been hurting. Though Tiz's words, she did not understand as much. "Drew 'us' in...?" She looked around for the others he was referring to...her confusion only grew. They were alone in this room, but the room itself was filled with medical equipment seeming more advanced than even Eternia's Central Healing Tower. Besides the soft gray walls and the comfortable beds for patients, everything seemed to be gleaming steel, and she immediately thought of the metallic mass she had seen right before blacking out. "Tiz, where are we?"
"This is the battleship of the planeswardens," he explained, though he seemed to realize instantly that it was not the most helpful explanation. "Um... I don't know if Airy told you, but her plan involved linking different worlds, you know? Now that they are linked, the planeswardens help to protect all the worlds, across time and space."
"Of course she told us," Agnès said. How could Tiz have forgotten that? He had been so angry and distressed when Airy taunted him about another Norende having been destroyed. "She was gloating about it. To hurt you..."
Tiz opened his mouth for an instant and then closed it, apparently second guessing whatever he had been ready to say. "Agnès... what's most important is that you don't blame yourself for her evil."
It was hers, too, for having been a fool. Agnès didn't say that, knowing Tiz would be upset by it, and she was not sure what else to say when he was withholding something from her. Tiz was not a liar by nature, and she felt like she should know what the issue was, but her head was still too muddled to tease out what was wrong.
After an awkward silence, Tiz fiddled with a small ring on his finger and talked into it, instantly gaining Agnès' curiosity as she realized he was talking to someone. "Agnès is awake. Limited visitors, let's not overwhelm her, please."
"Dibs! I have dibs!" a girl's voice tinnily shouted from the ring. "And ha, that's rich of you, Tiz."
"Indeed, Edea," a man's voice cut in. "Tiz has been keeping Agnès all to himself while she's been sleeping, and now he wants to do it when she's awake, too?"
"I was treating her," Tiz ground out, but he was starting to blush hard enough to reach the tips of his ears. Agnès was fascinated by the sight he made, but didn't really note the accusation that had been made against him. Her mind had stopped processing anything after the confirmation that Edea was present on the ship as well. "...I suppose the two of you should be fine. But seriously, take it easy? We need to explain everything to her."
"Edea's here..." Agnès sighed. Her heart felt full enough to burst, knowing both her friends had been saved from harm.
There was that strange look on Tiz's face again, like he wanted to say something, but he eased into a smile. "Mm," he said. "I was really happy the first time I saw her here, too."
And that didn't sound right either--he sounded genuine, but it wasn't the emotion that was the problem, it was the phrasing, as if "the first time" might have been a while ago--but Agnès wasn't allowed much time to think longer on it. There was a thunderous pounding down the hallway running alongside the healing room, and a glimpse of Edea's blonde hair was all the warning Agnès got before the younger girl jumped on top of her.
"Agnès! Agnès, Agnès, Agnès!"
"...What part of 'don't overwhelm'..."
Edea did not even pause in affectionately nuzzling her friend as she answered Tiz indignantly. "It's not overwhelming, it's making up for lost time, blockhead! You don't mind, do you Agnès?"
"How long have I been out?" Agnès asked; while she didn't mind the affection, per se, Edea's boisterous delight was frazzling. And unexpected in its intensity. "'Lost time'...how much time did I lose?"
"Oh, uh...." Edea hesitating set off alarms in the vestal's head. Edea was not known for being hesitant. "It's not just you, you know? Mrgrgr... Tiz, I thought you would have explained this part at least!"
"...Sorry." Tiz looked aside.
"Perhaps I could explain?" the newcomer at the door was a stranger to Agnès for a few moments, but then she placed his white blond hair and hazel eyes and gasped out loud.
"Alternis Dim!"
He bowed. "At your service, dear Agnès, though I'd prefer you call me 'Ringabel'. You see," he continued when she stared at him blankly. "I am Alternis, but considering I'm from a world where Alternis is infinitely more lovable, I've had need of a different name to distinguish me from the less adorable dark knights."
"He's from bizarro world," Edea told Agnès. "Don't worry if you don't understand him, he doesn't make sense by default."
"He's from some world, anyway," Tiz said as 'Ringabel' pouted. "And that's the thing, Agnès. All the Dimensional Officers are from different worlds. We've just happened to be brought together. The worlds have many things in common, and we've all known you as a friend, but..."
It still took Agnès a moment to piece it together after Tiz's words lapsed awkwardly. "Don't blame yourself for her evil." Tiz and Edea both looking different from as she'd just seen them, older. Why it had been a long time since they had seen her. They weren't... "... My friends are dead and gone."
"...We gave the Tiz of your world a proper burial. He's resting in peace with his loved ones," said the Tiz that wasn't her friend, while the Alternis who wasn't Alternis gave him a long side glance. "We didn't see Edea at all. Did she fall in the Pillar?"
"Yes..."
"Then she may have survived after all," 'Ringabel' said, focusing on Agnès again. "After all, that's how I got my start as Ringabel. Fell through the Holy Pillar into another world, and survived perfectly whole. With, perhaps, a touch of amnesia--but that only helped my mysterious charm!"
"Ugh, Ringabel, you didn't need to add that part, you're worrying her," Edea said grumpily. "Look, Agnès, I'm a lot tougher than him, okay? I'm sure your Edea made it just fine."
"Is there a way to look for her?" All well and good to think Edea had pulled through with nary a scratch, but Airy had been right beside her. Agnès could not simply take it for granted that--
"Ringabel!! Where did you go?"
It was such a tiny, unthreatening voice, not even calling for her, but Agnès' heart plummeted so fast and so far, it was like she had been dropped into an icy lake.
Airy.
Tiz was instantly furious. "She is not okay," he hissed at Ringabel. "You know that, she should know that--"
"I know, I know," Ringabel said instantly, raising his hands placatingly. "She must have thought Agnès was asleep still--Agnès, it's fine, she's not the one you knew. " He didn't waste a second more in turning out of the room, his hand reaching up to scoop a terribly familiar fairy out of view just as she appeared in the doorway. "AIRY--you have an abominable sense of timing--"
"What is she doing here." Agnès' voice was too flat to turn it into a question.
"She's a planeswarden too," Edea said, holding onto Agnès' hands. It no longer felt like a comfort, but a restraint. "Even though some of us don't really like it. But she really is a different Airy, Agnès--"
"--She's lying."
"No, we know she's different--Airy died, Agnès, Ringabel is one of the Warriors of Light that saw her die--"
"He's lying. You're lying." That was how Airy worked, after all, tricks and lies, and she was still alive and fully capable of manipulating people. Agnès' mind was spinning wildly now that she realized how complacent she had been. Letting herself think these were her friends, when she had known she'd brought her friends to their dooms. Letting herself think Luxendarc was safe--how could she know? Perhaps it was still in danger, perhaps it was already gone, she kept letting herself be tricked. Her throat choked up with unshed tears, and she tried to yank her hands away from Edea. The girl only held on tighter. "Let go of me!"
"J-just calm down first, all right--?"
"Agnès, please," Tiz said, reaching out to her. "Airy isn't going to do anything to you, we'll make sure--"
"Stop!" She flinched away before his hand could touch her shoulder. "Stop pretending to be my friend!"
His hand stilled instantly, but Edea's hold on her was firm. Agnès' struggling grew more desperate and intense as she tried to get away, wanting to be anywhere but here, and then--
She yanked both hands toward her chest, and this time she was strong enough to pull Edea slightly off balance. Her hands touched.
She hissed in pain as the shards of the pendant scraped against her hands and each other.
A blue light appeared, and she was gone.
She was aware of a period in which she did not have physical form.
She couldn't speak, or blink, or talk, or move. She couldn't even see or hear, really. She just was, a loose collection of thoughts that had once been a fool of a vestal.
...
The existential terror kept her frightened for a while, but then she decided that things had been constantly going wrong around her for a long time, even before reaching the Holy Pillar, and if she was the common factor, perhaps it was better she couldn't be "around". She would just be. Or not be. Whichever was the case.
...
She had long become bored of not just frightening thoughts, but all her thoughts and herself entirely, when a sudden jerk anchored her back into reality.
"Trés magnifique, Yew! It worked!"
"Ah! Your Holiness! Hands apart, please. You've got some very unstable crystal material that can manipulate time-space on you, and we don't want to lose you again."
Agnès stared at the two speakers, a beautiful young woman with silver hair and a boy with brown hair and a pair of reading glasses resting on his nose, absolutely lost as to who they were, or how she was flesh and blood again, for that matter. Though the gleaming metallic sheen of the room gave her some idea where they all were, at least.
The boy blinked at her confusion, and then stammered. "O-oh, right, you haven't been the pope. Sorry, Lady Agnès. Force of habit. I'm Yew Geneolgia."
"Magnolia Arch!" the woman called out with a smile.
"...Planeswardens?" Agnès asked faintly. She had no idea why the heir of the Geneolgia family of all people would be out on a ship like this, but clearly life was just not going to make sense anymore.
"Exactement!" Magnolia nodded. "We'll make sure to explain everything properly this time, Agnès. All we ask is that you stay calm, okay? If you disappear again, the entire ship will be in an uproar. Again."
"I suppose I don't want to disappear again, either," Agnès allowed. And having nothing but her thoughts for that time had given her some opportunity to process them, the initial panic long over. "But I am going to need a very detailed explanation on how Airy is not a lying monster."
"Of course. Yew, why don't you take her to the break room to have a seat? And while you start explaining, I'll make us some tea."
"Missing a loved one? Looking for closure?" crap. That was what Mob was doing circling the area, calling to hear his prerecorded voice. Wondering just why he was sent away from an incident he thought he could had prevented. Whyy u do this to me rose?
... House of Cards alternate ending where Reigan defeats that guy with another one of his secret techniques... please...
I mean, Reigen DID defeat the guy.
Ito walked in intending to kill the esper responsible for all the documented explosions. He walked out having killed Reigen. Ito failed. Reigen made him fail
“Throwing away his own life to thwart people trying to harm Mob” Reigen’s secret technique.
Huh. Was candy wife ever a real person? She was always just... There. And married to Peppermint Larry no less.
THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO FLEX MY DISCOURSE MUSCLE
the concept of her sentience is A Very Debatable Thing because at times she seemed to have it and other times she didnt, which usually had to do with jokes and shock value, granted, but it’s still worth looking into....... dot dot dot.... like at the start she was just kinda there to illustrate larry’s a nutcase for The Laughs™ but as it went on it got more? Complex? she sort of developed her own personality based on circumstance and the viewer making inferences, she was even shown moving on her own a few times. which was weird. really weird in retrospect. candy wife in general is such a mindfuck because she seemed to be both conscious and unconscious at the same exact time. Schrodinger’s Sentience
there is only one theory involving her that actually makes sense to me and it’s something my sister told me a few months back, basically there was this episode where flapjack had these pancakes! and to make a long story short they eventually rotted. and the god damn plate of pancakes gained sentience and could actually move around. im not saying candy wife is slowly rotting but im definitely saying shes slowly rotting and my interpretation of her is essentially a giant hunk of rotten candy
a giant hunk of rotten candy with a great butt, that is
