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middleofsomewhere2022-10-25 04:21 am
voidtreckermods) wrote in middleofsomewhere2022-10-25 04:21 am
We Approach Our Final Hour
The days after the celebrations are filled with helping those from system #1015 get settled, or just by resting and recuperating after what was a difficult battle.
A couple of days later however Void Minister Till once again calls all the voidtreckers, scientists and other interested parties to a meeting. She looks a lot less grim this time.
To Return Home
"We are now able to see the way to return you to your non-travelling selves. This will untether you from both the Voidtrecker Express and the void. Your bodies on your worlds are, for the most part, well. Tethering is a powerful thing so even those from places that do not have the technology to sustain an unconcious person for a long period of time will find themselves well, though feeling some lingering fatigue. Time has passed in all your worlds and I know it will be difficult to explain your absence." She smiled softly.
"We don't ask you to keep the void completely secret, but especially those from places with a low level of technology should use their discretion when talking about their adventurers. You will not be voidtreckers anymore. You all come from non void active worlds and so until those worlds join the void network you must remain on them. Those from the void can always visit you and we will endeavour to pass on messages between worlds if there are those you wish to remain in contact with. This is the option we expect most of you will take."
To Remain
She lets the any comments or discussions about that bubble for a moment before she presses on. "However, we are very aware that there are those of you who do not have homes to return to. Some of you were tethered on the brink of death. Some of you come from places now destroyed. Some of you have physical places to return but have found family and friendship in the void far greater than anything you had in your lives before." She paused.
"For you we offer another option. You may remain. We believe that as we detangle your tethers from the Voidtrecker Express we can tether you, properly tether you, to this void base." She looked around. "I won't mince words, this option means that your non tethering selves will be no more, your bodies back on your world will die. You will be like those of Osiga and now those of system #1015. You would not be able to return to live on your world." She paused, to let the gravity of that sink in.
"You will always have a home on this base and from here..." She smiled warmly. "You can do what you wish. There are many mission craft that would happily take you on if you have found you have enjoyed assisting worlds in need. Otherwise there are other craft, scientific voyaging craft, tourist craft. We will help you find a place. Though you are free to go your own way, this would be your base but you would not be obligated to remain here. You would be welcome to visit those who return to their worlds, though we would ask that you limited visits to your own, to avoid complications." Again she gave a moment, for the discussion around that to die down before she spoke again.
To Go Back
"Finally. We are aware there are some of you in very difficult situations. Where taking you from your world has led to your whole world, or large parts of it in grave danger. We are aware worlds have fallen, for lack of you. For you we make another offer. We do not make this lightly, it is risky and we ask that those taking it have very good reason.." She looked around, silent and serious.
"We believe that using what we learned of anchoring through time we can return you, not only to the place you were brought from, but the moment. You would remember all that has passed but to your world it would be as if you were never gone at all." A pause.
"Because of the grave risks associated with this, we will be sealing the worlds of those that return in this way. These systems will never become void active and no void craft may enter those systems. As I say, it is not an option we give lightly."
The Choice is Yours
"Whatever you choose we will support you in it. We are also aware there are many of your number not with you. Please be assured that we are working through their tethers. We will do our best to give them the same choices and at the very least we will return them all to their homes. I understand there is a lot to think about. We believe we can hold on to your tethers for a couple more days and so please take this time to talk it through and to say your farewells."
She falls silent and steps back, letting people talk and discuss, whilst remaining close.
A couple of days later however Void Minister Till once again calls all the voidtreckers, scientists and other interested parties to a meeting. She looks a lot less grim this time.
FINAL CHOICES
"Thank you all for gathering again. As you know we have been working on figuring out what was happening with your tethers, trying to untangle them from the Voidtrecker Express and find you a way home." She gave a tired smile.
"However with the resolving of the time paradox surrounding system#1015 it seems much of our work is out of our hands, your tethers seem to be detangling themselves and so our work quickly moved to keeping you all stable enough to remain here, because we are very mindful that you deserve a choice in this and a chance to say your farewells. You were brought here without your knowledge or consent and despite that have done a great service to the void so before I say anything else I wish to thank you, on behalf of us all."
To Return Home
"We are now able to see the way to return you to your non-travelling selves. This will untether you from both the Voidtrecker Express and the void. Your bodies on your worlds are, for the most part, well. Tethering is a powerful thing so even those from places that do not have the technology to sustain an unconcious person for a long period of time will find themselves well, though feeling some lingering fatigue. Time has passed in all your worlds and I know it will be difficult to explain your absence." She smiled softly.
"We don't ask you to keep the void completely secret, but especially those from places with a low level of technology should use their discretion when talking about their adventurers. You will not be voidtreckers anymore. You all come from non void active worlds and so until those worlds join the void network you must remain on them. Those from the void can always visit you and we will endeavour to pass on messages between worlds if there are those you wish to remain in contact with. This is the option we expect most of you will take."
To Remain
She lets the any comments or discussions about that bubble for a moment before she presses on. "However, we are very aware that there are those of you who do not have homes to return to. Some of you were tethered on the brink of death. Some of you come from places now destroyed. Some of you have physical places to return but have found family and friendship in the void far greater than anything you had in your lives before." She paused.
"For you we offer another option. You may remain. We believe that as we detangle your tethers from the Voidtrecker Express we can tether you, properly tether you, to this void base." She looked around. "I won't mince words, this option means that your non tethering selves will be no more, your bodies back on your world will die. You will be like those of Osiga and now those of system #1015. You would not be able to return to live on your world." She paused, to let the gravity of that sink in.
"You will always have a home on this base and from here..." She smiled warmly. "You can do what you wish. There are many mission craft that would happily take you on if you have found you have enjoyed assisting worlds in need. Otherwise there are other craft, scientific voyaging craft, tourist craft. We will help you find a place. Though you are free to go your own way, this would be your base but you would not be obligated to remain here. You would be welcome to visit those who return to their worlds, though we would ask that you limited visits to your own, to avoid complications." Again she gave a moment, for the discussion around that to die down before she spoke again.
To Go Back
"Finally. We are aware there are some of you in very difficult situations. Where taking you from your world has led to your whole world, or large parts of it in grave danger. We are aware worlds have fallen, for lack of you. For you we make another offer. We do not make this lightly, it is risky and we ask that those taking it have very good reason.." She looked around, silent and serious.
"We believe that using what we learned of anchoring through time we can return you, not only to the place you were brought from, but the moment. You would remember all that has passed but to your world it would be as if you were never gone at all." A pause.
"Because of the grave risks associated with this, we will be sealing the worlds of those that return in this way. These systems will never become void active and no void craft may enter those systems. As I say, it is not an option we give lightly."
The Choice is Yours
"Whatever you choose we will support you in it. We are also aware there are many of your number not with you. Please be assured that we are working through their tethers. We will do our best to give them the same choices and at the very least we will return them all to their homes. I understand there is a lot to think about. We believe we can hold on to your tethers for a couple more days and so please take this time to talk it through and to say your farewells."
She falls silent and steps back, letting people talk and discuss, whilst remaining close.
no subject
'Dians. Dead Guardians. He hates goodbyes.
A deep breath shoves the too deep, too sharp thoughts aside. He doesn't want them right now. His lips quirk up, crooked and eyes narrowed as he glances at Seto again, and something too warm, too soft gets caught between his ribs. Laced tight through the cage of his bones.
"Y' know, I misjudged you at first." He shares readily. Openly.
"I thought y' were sour an' grumpy, an' we wouldn't get 'long." There's an open snicker on his lips that doesn't make enough noise. Just a light shaking of the shoulder. But he doesn't want the sour note to remain; he knows now that there is so much more to his friend than that.
"I don't think it 'nymore." He grins eagerly, happily with a little nudge. "When did that happen?" he asks, a little open-ended, grinning, smiling, beaming. He might be teasing a bit, but he won't let Seto linger in the suspense. There's too much that needs to be said; and he knows this time, this time is a good one. He needs to tell his friend so much. And he knows he'll get it this time.
no subject
Turns out Esteban speaks first, and Seto manages to smile a little.
"To be fair, I was sour and grumpy when we met. I was worried about so many people, and I thought refusing to let you in would somehow make things better for me. That...was stupid."
He admits it freely, and looks at Esteban with a little smile. "You're too bright to keep at bay for long. Plants turn toward the sun, no matter how dark it's been."
no subject
The compliment blindsides him entirely. He flounders for a moment, motionless as the words catch up in his head, and the blood gathers at the tip of his ears, red points lost in red hair as Esteban sputters.
"Ah-- hey! Not fair!" He protests weakly at first, before his smile grows all across his face, touched and brightened by the few words. It feels warm. Less of a forever. If these are the last words he hears directly from Seto, they are words he'll be proud to bear for the rest of his life.
"See? Misjudged you," he tries again, because that was quite a mental tumble, and now he has to start over to get the words straight.
"Y' smile with y'r eyes, didja know?" It's not the perfect line he'd been going for, but he thinks it still works. It's still important. "Not with your mouth as much. But y' can see it at the corners," he explains, tapping the edge of his own cheeks as he goes on.
"It's warm when you do. Soft." Oh, how could he explain it better? "Like holdin' onto a baby bird." Yeah, this... kind of got away from him. So he tries again.
"Y' care so much. 'Bout everyone. Y' worked so hard t' get them all back, over an' over again." He knows the meetings that Seto had been sitting in. The times they'd done their best at untangling the train's memories together. The time they'd had such a big meeting with all sorts of people to try and see what they could gather.
"You did so much t' get them back. You're patient, an' steady, an' y' didn't let it drag you down." Oh-- he knows-- "There's been rough bits, but-- You still did y'r best through it." Another deep breath. What else? There's so much he wants to say to Seto. So much he wants to share.
"Watchin' you, with Snapper, an' Yugi, an' Daia. It was like seein' you come home. It felt like comin' home." Oh. Oh, 'Dians, he's kind of bad at this, but it means so much to him. He can only hope that Seto understands what he means, that he knows how much this had been important to Esteban. To see his friend happy. To see him find joy in his friends, the same way Esteban found joy in seeing him happy.
"I'm so glad," Esteban insists, presses his words with a gentle hand against Seto's shoulder. "That you are my friend. I'm so proud of it."
There is a tug, and Esteban opens his arms to hug Seto close, a tight, heavy squeeze as though he'd never want to let go. There are no words in Esteban's head anymore. They are gone, gone, gone, but for once, he's not worried. He said what he wanted to say.
no subject
His face flushes a little at the insistence that he smiles with his eyes...is he that easy to read? Is it a sign he cares too much? He takes a breath, thinks, and realizes...no, this is the person he wants to be now. He's happy that his friends helped him to become this Seto.
"I love you like family too, you know," he whispers as he pours all of that love into this embrace. He tucks his head against Esteban's shoulder, holding fast, knowing this is possibly the last time. At least for a while. He allows a comfortable silence to settle over them for a little while before pulling back, blinking rapidly to push something back.
Another deep breath as he pulls back just a little. "I...actually have a gift for you," he admits, withdrawing a small metal card sleeve from his pocket. It contains a card very similar to the Blue Eyes White Dragon Esteban has seen before, but this one is special: it's marked 'Sol Light Dragon', and the image very much resembles Esteban's draconic form.
The description reads: A dragon who is equally ferocious and friendly. His treasures sparkle forevermore, and woe will befall all those who seek to take them.
He carefully offers the card to Esteban. "I didn't have time to build a full deck...but this is a one of a kind."
no subject
"I love you." His friend is released, and Esteban grins, bright as all the suns in the sky again. There's relief, there's happiness to have the words spoken aloud, and the glow can't be contained. Not in his smile, not in eagerness. It just spills from him, without a precise form or manner, just joy, even through these sad partings. This isn't the end yet.
The card, he receives carefully, holding it very delicately with both hands, watching the small gift with wide, summery eyes. He shifts it lightly, reading the gentle writing that means so much, so much. About his hoard. About how Seto sees him. Oh--
Oh, he hadn't realized--
There's something caught in his throat, in the fragile cage of his ribs. It flutters uselessly against the bones, both bright and dry, like sand and still, it gathers just at the corners of his eyes; the lightest shiver of tears that don't quite make it to form. The corner of his lashes gets sticky with them, but his smile cannot grow wider than it is now.
"Thank you." It means so much to him. It means so much more to him. That Seto understood. That he remembered, and made this. The same way Esteban sees his friend-- a friend of his has seen him. "Thank you. I'll keep it with me, always!" he promises, because it's so precious to him. It means so much to him. He doesn't want to let it go, even as he dips to get his leatherbound journal, the one that had accompanied him on his journey all along.
The one with his friend's alphabets, spilling over its pages.
The sharp edge of kanjis are something unique to Seto and Daia (a little trait that they share, and Esteban had fun noticing it), and he pauses when he finds Seto's. His clean, precise writing makes it easy to spot. There is another piece of paper tucked into that section, and Esteban carefully pins the card between the pages, where it'll be kept safe until he can glue the sleeve to the paper, to make sure it will never fall out.
The paper he stretches out to Seto, a little embarrassed by how small his gift is in comparison.
"I'm... not really good with my hands," he mentions with a grin. "An' I know someone was offerin' foldin' lessons t' make these prettier, but I never got 'round to them." And he'd lost his chance when the soldier had walked away, a few months ago.
"So I just-- here." He offers the gift, no matter how small. He'd still poured some thoughts into this-- despite their limited supplies.
The paper is blue and deep, like the sea, like the night sky, with pale crisscrossing lines that splay along in a gentle pointed pattern of scales. Along the middle, a handful of snowflakes are carefully depicted on the paper, just a faint dusting of them on the entire square piece. His name is written. In Draconic at the top, in the pretty silver ink Esteban had found somewhere. Elvish, Common follow. Kanjis, he's struggled with, and he's filled paper after paper to write them cleanly as Seto had, and English are just a little crooked, just a little slanted.
Along with his names are words. Words and words and words, little pieces twisting around the vortex, as Esteban tried to put into words how he saw his friend. From 'patience' to 'comfort' to 'ice', 'choice', 'trust' and 'belief' shimmer side-by-side. There is a corner with 'fury' and 'flash of lightning', and another with 'try' and 'memories'.
On the other side, an entire section is set aside for Kaiba's friends. On pale, ice-blue, with cresting, churning wave, Mokuba, Yugi, Siebren, Snapper, Daia, and Leif are neatly scripted; dark constellations in Esteban's surprisingly steady hand, their names spread along in all the languages he knows. At the center, the simple sentence "how do you keep from withdrawing?" is penned, and though it wasn't the exact words that Seto had asked-- they were the words that Esteban had taken to heart. The words that had saved him from his own heartache.