melodiesofeternity | A Starlight Carol

Papyrus looks, but immediately regrets it. Staggering back, he has to squeeze his sockets shut. No. No! This is just so wrong. So very, very, very wrong.

And yet, the ghost pointed them along for a reason, no doubt. So, taking a breath, he opened his eyes again. Looked away from the corpse, of course, but continued along.

"WE SHOULD PROBABLY SEE WHERE THIS GHOST WANTS US TO GO. IT... MAY BE IMPORTANT."

Uendo does his best to shield Sasami from the sight of Claire's body. Having to see corpses is bad enough without a familiar face among them.

"Y-Yes... You're right. Maybe we'll get this over with faster if we do what they want." God, let this be over soon. He's not sure how long he can keep staving off the panic growing in his gut.

Sasami didn't catch sight of Clarie's body as Uendo had stepped in to prevent her from seeing it. However, this place, these bodies...

"I don't want that power anymore. I'm sorry I ever wanted it..." she uttered, clinging to Uendo. She's afraid everything here is because she held onto the Calamity Knight "job". Is it? Who knows, but she's preemptively thinking it.

As they proceed, they can hear the roaring of a dragon echoing in the distance. The noise is powerful enough some of the rubble moves, yet there is nothing in sight— It is probably very far, in spite of how clear the roaring is and how it affects their surrounding.

Should they continue walking, ere long they'll stumble upon a graveyard. Most tombstones are broken and shattered, but there is a blank once next to which the Ghost now stands. When did he get there anyway? He didn't walk alongside the heroes... Perhaps ghosts have their own ways.

Sasami shivered at the roar. Bahamut. It had to be him.

She found herself heading for the graveyard, shivers really going down her spine as she saw the shattered tombstones.

It’s the last one that makes her curious.

Okuyasu gulps and walks up to Sasami.

"Hey. Don't look. I'll let ya know if you can open your eyes."

Asriel walks closer, slowly towards the ghost. And the tombstone. Somehow, his body is no longer shaking as he moves, and his arms hang limp at his side the closer he gets to the lalafell.

"...I've already seen my own grave." He mutters, gazing down at the blank one as he takes a closer look. Someone has to examine it. It might as well be someone who's used to seeing their own name on one.

Papyrus joins Okuyasu, setting a hand on Sasami's shoulder. "IT'S... THIS CAN'T BE REAL. IT. MUST JUST BE A WARNING! WE CAN STILL SET THIS RIGHT!!"

Can't they? At the very least, they have to hope. They can't just admit defeat!

Even if that grave is foreboding, and even if he can't look away.

Upon inspecting the tombstone, each of them would read something different. Namely, they would see the name of their world and their own name, not that of the others.

R.I.P.
Here lies

Earth

This world, its home universe and all its people ceased to exist when Sasami / Okuyasu / Asriel / Papyrus died to the Calamity.

??? - April 11th, 1019

The Ghost remains silent.

Uendo is afraid to look at the tombstone. It can't be anything good. But there's nothing else to do, and so he braces himself for the worst.

But it's not enough. There's no preparing for this.

"It... It can't be..."

Didn't... Takeshi's notes say something like this? Something about the old Heroes serving as a link between Crystallis and their homeworlds? Is that what this is about? Is Vaikuntha the same?

Then, if he dies here... everyone back home will...?

He falls to his knees. It's as though his very SOUL has been shattered. Not just him, but his world- no, his entire universe would disappear?

It's not real. It hasn't happened yet. It's not real. Just a dream. A warning. Not real. The future isn't set in stone. It isn't!

He clutches his skull, squeezing his eye sockets shut tight. Breathe, Papryus! Sure, he has no lungs, but...

"IT... PLEASE, TELL US. IS THERE STILL TIME TO CHANGE THIS FUTURE?"

They've come so far. It can't just end now!

“NOOOO!”

Sasami burst into tears seeing this. It... it couldn’t happen, could it? No, not Earth, not Jurai, not her friends and family on both worlds!

“What do we do?! This... this can’t be true!”

The ghost still doesn't say a word.

However, he extends a hand toward the characters, as if he is offering to shake their hands.

Accept? Or refuse?

Papyrus, though startled, takes that hand. This spirit can't be too malicious! Maybe he just wanted to warn them. To give them a stronger resolve.

Horrific as it all is, he'd rather trust than turn away.

Uendo rests a hand on Sasami's shoulder, but try as he might, he can't think of anything comforting to say. His mind is too numb and scattered.

His other hand starts reaching towards the ghost's before he even has a chance to think about it. Inside his head, Patches is nodding along -- 'Maybe he's trying to help us! It's worth a try!' -- while Kisegawa is protesting -- 'Don't be daft! We have no idea what he'll do!' -- and Uendo hesitates, frozen by indecision, stomach twisting with anxiety.

What's worse? Acting on a whim and suffering for it, or being too fearful to act at all?

In the end, he doesn't know what drives him to take the ghost's hand. Or whether he's even the one really doing it. It could be any of the others in charge of his body right now and he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Sasami sees Papyrus and Uendo both take the ghost's hand. Sasami's unsure right now, but there's a bit of group mentality going on here. If not taking it means being left here, she doesn't want that!

She'll take the ghost's hand.

Asriel slowly rubs his face.

Come on. There's no way him dying would destroy Earth. He's not that important.

Up until recently, him dying would have been a blessing for it.

But he doesn't particularly want to get killed by some stupid giant dragon.

"Tell us what we need to do." He says, taking his hand as well.

Those who took the Lalafell's hand, or connected to him by touching someone who touched the Lalafell hand, will find the atmosphere around them changing. They're still in the cemetery, but in spite of being the same place it feels very different. The sky turned blue and somehow, all fires went out. Instead, now flowers are blooming as if the catastrophe had never happened in the first place.

The Lalafell changed, too. Now it's a little girl who looks up to those who took her hand.

"H-Hi... I'm sorry for those t-things... That's the only way I could cheat-cheat and get to you past h-her... But I don't have a lot-lot of time..." A pause. "W-What the ghosts showed you... I-it's the future as it's written now... The summoning of B-Bahamut will destroy everything... And when it do-does, your worlds will die with it... I-I can't explain why, it-it's complicated... Maybe someone else could explain it..."

She let go of the character's hands. Those who didn't take the Lalafell hand or connected to it are stuck in the nightmarish version of the graveyard till it's over, unfortunately.

"You can rewrite that future... B-But it'll ask a lot out of you... That's w-why I used Starlight to contact you... That embodies the-the spirit you'll need to have... If you f-fight just for yourself, you'll fail... If you g-go at it without joy or love, you won't find the s-strength to walk through it... For you-you to succeed, you're going to have to f-form a special bond with V-Vaikuntha and its people... Not unlike the b-bond people feel during Starlight... If you c-can't do that, you w-won't be able to rewrite this ending..."

"If-If you have questions, I'll answer anything I can... S-So long as the answer doesn't put m-me at risk..."

Sasami blinked as she saw the girl before her. She recognized her from the first day she came here. How she told her to trust her Moogle after the stupid thing was so annoying and protective--

And Sasami let out a gasp of shock as what the girl said clicked in her head.

"That's why you told me to trust my Moogle so long ago!" Sasami said. "We've been going through this the wrong way, haven't we?"

The change in scenery brings a loud gasp from Papyrus, followed by a soft sigh. Everything's... okay? They can still change the future? Ah, what a relief! What a blessing. And the way sounds oh so simple! Love and kindness? Compassion for Vaikuntha itself? Simple, really!

At least, simple for a sap like Papyrus.

Though, this does beg the question. "WHAT OF THE SUMMONING ITSELF? THE SUPREME EIDOLONS? WOULD THEY STILL AID US IN SAVING THE FUTURE?"

"Believe me, I'm not going to be fighting for myself. Not much point in that."

Asriel says, glancing to Papyrus. "But I think we can do something about the 'joy' and 'love' part. The people here have been nothing but good to us. Can't see why we wouldn't give back in kind. Why's it important, though? Is the summoner.."

Like him?

"...depressed?"

"I-I think you've been doing great..." She replied to Sasami before replying to Papyrus. "They-They will help, yes... If you do-do not awaken them all, it will be much m-more difficult for you to succeed..."

She then turned to Asriel.

"The summoner is... Sad... B-But she..."

She stopped, looking down and hesitating before switching topic.

"V-Vaikuntha isn't t-too different from her... Didn't you n-notice weird things...? Like those h-holidays... H-How they m-made the Jobs... The way c-certain people decide to speak or b-behave..." A pause. "I-It is a place for broken souls to heal... You can o-only win by healing those souls... But you'll h-have to fight sometimes... Sometimes, w-when someone is so sad and a-angry, they refuse to be healed... And they choose o-oblivion..."

"The summoner is a girl..." Sasami uttered, pondering this. Of course, the girl mentioned a lot about this world that made sense.

"But, we're not doing enough, aren't we? Celebrating the holiday just with us..."

Wait, there was that Halloween incident, that building that celebrated those other Heroes of Light!

"Ah!"

"BUT WOULD OBLIVION TRULY MAKE THEM HAPPY? IS THERE NO OTHER WAY TO BRING JOY BACK TO THEIR LIVES?"

Death just seems so... final. So hopeless. Like admitting defeat and Papyrus, stubborn as he is, is not one to call it quits.

"IF WE CAN JUST REACH OUT TO THEM, SURELY THERE MUST BE A WAY TO SWAY THEM FROM SUCH A DISASTROUS PATH!"

Isn't that true? One can hope.

Uendo is still struggling to process the sudden change in atmosphere, let alone the little girl's advice. If you fight just for yourself...

...No, that's something he'll have to think about later.

"So... You're that girl who used to appear in Curti Center?" He's never met her himself, but the description matches. "Then, the person pursuing you... Is it the summoner, or someone else? Can you tell us that much?"

He tries to keep his voice gentle despite how upset he's feeling. The girl sounds like she's having trouble speaking -- it would be cruel to frighten her further.

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eternitynpcs - 2019-01-06 15:56 (UTC) - Expand