"The girl with white hair asked me to follow her."
— Hey! Are you just going to stand there? Come on, idiot. He's waiting for us!
She said someone was waiting for us… but for some reason, she didn't say who.
— You're just going to stare at me with that face? — she laughed. — Hahaha… it's the only one you've got, right?
She laughed at my introverted ways, as always…
— Hahaha… come on, man. Let's go! He won't like waiting for long.
But, for some reason… I didn't feel sad, nor angry. I only felt… comfort. In a way I had never felt before.
— Well… okay. You're being weirder than usual, huh. You okay?
She was there… staring at me with those large purple eyes. With those marks that only she had. And, as always, I followed her.
— Jeez… you're strange today, more than usual. Don't tell me you're trying to provoke him.
Before I knew it, we were walking through those vast black corridors. As always, just the two of us… and yet, I felt like someone was missing.
— Look… I know you two don't get along very well, but give him a break, okay? — she said. — It's hard for us… they took us both from home way too early. It all weighs on you. We grew up in a completely different reality. I know you grew up here… but it's still hard for us.
The more she spoke, the more I noticed those corridors. Blocks lined up, ordered. That place was old, completely obsolete… like a dungeon.
— We grew close fast… but I can see that you and him really struggle. I hope one day you'll get along… but until then, I'm going to keep forcing you two to interact!
Every block in that corridor had a hellish stench of mold. Which was strange, because I didn't smell anything. I never did. In no dream do I remember smelling anything in that place.
Perhaps I thought that way because of her. The girl with white hair was always complaining about the horrible smell that place had… but there was something else.
— We're almost there… he said he'd be right there…
There was something else. The missing piece. What was it? That place had something more. No… beyond that… there was another person.
— There he is! Let's call him!
Ah, yes… I remember. That which was missing. That place gave off a horrible sensation… but I wasn't the only one who said so. There was someone else who felt the same.
— Hah! You're here! And you brought… him…
Yes… I remember that guy well.
— You said you weren't going to bring him. This… this annoying killjoy!
I remember some of his features. I remember he didn't like me much… even though we shared the same opinion about that place.
Something made me think our communication was never the best. But, whenever he appears in my dreams… I feel just as comfortable as I do with the girl with white hair.
Ah, yes… I remembered. The most striking thing about him…
— But okay… you already brought him, right? No problem, hah. You know how it is.
So… why don't we go have some fun?
Yes… the most striking thing about him was… that somber black hair.
— Well… let's go with… OUR DEATHS WERE ALL YOUR FAULT!!!!!!!!
WHOOSH!!!
A man just bolted upright in his bed, at a speed so sudden he felt his brain rattle within his skull. He thrashed in every direction: right and left, forward and back.
The pain came pulsing. His skull throbbed. It was done. A horrible, searing headache, served right upon waking.
— Argh… argh… this… this damn nightmare again.
He sat on the bed, his head still pounding. Sweat trickled down his forehead and nose.
— Argh… again… what day is it, anyway? It'd be ironic if it were Monday…
He stood up staggering, slipping on the slippers that sat by the bed. He grabbed his denim jacket tossed at the foot of the mattress and quickly retreated from the room, finding himself in moldy wooden corridors.
— Atchoo!… Argh… after these dreams… it's always horrible to smell things.
The man sneezed, his senses muddled once more. The body he had in his dreams was another. In that world that existed only in his head, touch was limited, almost non-existent. He felt no tastes or smells. Only a limited, yet useful, vision. Unlike his dreams, here in the real world, he felt everything—even if it meant an irritated nose from an allergic combo.
Treck… treck…
— Ahn?… Isn't today the day they go out?
The man heard a sound. Like something being removed or added. Perhaps calibrated. Steel grinding, as if clashing against itself.
He followed the sound.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
His footsteps went toward the noise, leading to a door.
— Damn… who's willing to work every single day…
Treck. Treck.
He stood before the door.
Truck… tru…
He opened it. He stepped inside.
— Ah… it's you. Mana…
He saw her.
— Hey there, Igyris… finally awake? I thought you were going to stay in bed all day… again…
Igyris spotted her: Mana. Sitting there, completely filthy with grease and oil.
Reeking. Covered in bandages, cuts, and horrible burns. Her body trembled; the pain was visible, despite the many dressings covering her. Her previous physical and emotional collapse was as clear as the waters of a pristine lake. Her eyes were glazed over, fixed on what was in front of her: the EdelGear, currently undergoing repair and calibration. It was clear Mana hadn't slept in days since they recovered the equipment. Her mind, once invaded by Camelius Lothin, was on the verge of collapse. A supernova that seemed to overflow with energy, but was only one step away from self-destruction. Soon, she would explode. Her mind and body screamed in agony.
— I think… you should rest.
— No, I won't!
She diverted her eyes from Igyris and immediately went back to calibrating the EdelGear.
— I need to clean… its impurities… clean everything they did to it…
Igyris watched her in silence.
— They'll pay… for everything… argh…
those… those goddamn bastards… hahah… hah… hahahah… they've got it coming… Naxel… gave us good news…
She didn't even blink. Her eyes were like glass. Red, throbbing. Deep dark circles, her voice trembling. Her whole body shook.
Pure mental suffering.
— Hahah… Naxel updated me… soon… we're going to the House Reixys territory… hahah… hahah… he told me it would be a direct strike… that's great, isn't it? Naxel told me everything depended on me… that we were going to blow all those bastards up as soon as I recovered the EdelGear… now… I just need to calibrate it… everything is going according to Naxel's plan… hahah… he… hahah… he said we'd avenge Naxes… and that… hah… Kameliel… not even he would be a match for the EdelGear… hahahah… finally… everything going according to plan… we're going to destroy everything!
It was clear: not even recovering the only legacy and memory of Naxes and the others had healed her mind from that selfish ideal.
Now, finally, she had embraced it completely. Her mind was still reeling from it. Having the EdelGear in her hands after so long awakened memories and feelings she had buried for her own sake. Camelius's sickening invasion of her mind had reopened wounds. And once more—worse than before—her Dark Determination burned like hell. She had mentioned Kameliel for the first time to Igyris and didn't even notice, consumed by morbid desires for revenge. Remembering what Naxes said had made her sicker. Just as before in her fight against Camelius, she accepted the dark side that pulsed and corrupted her heart.
Igyris watched her tremble. He heard her voice stutter, saw her unblinking red eyes and her hands quickly swapping parts and tools. All for the sake of following Naxel's commands as quickly as possible, to reach her goal: to personally destroy the Reixys. To burn them one by one, and with her own hands, extinguish their lives.
— Mana… I… I dreamed of her again… of both of them, actually…
— Yeah… Naxel said we're going! We're going there soon! I just need to finish regulating the EdelGear! Naxel encouraged me! He said we'd be invincible now! Hahahahah!
"Soon we'll be there… and soon it will all be worth it."
Destroy everything because everything was taken from us. In two different minds, trauma has different effects. Two minds that currently follow completely different paths.
Or perhaps not. Maybe they are closer than they seem. To question oneself. To fear. To yearn. Complexes that seek motives, that flee and return. Motives… to love, to fear, and to hate. What differentiates them? A voice… perhaps guides… perhaps a whole life that no longer exists.
"The plan at its current stage has only one objective. The project guides itself toward something. In this moment, the intention is to have weapons ready to fire."
— When we get there… don't forget to shoot everything… everything that moves… Naxel said that's the plan… he said the "project" has no chance of failure…
The stress was destroying her inside and out. Her jaw trembled as she spoke. Igyris noted every detail. And for the first time, Mana planted a seed of doubt about herself in Igyris's head.
He saw her as someone "complete," motivated by her idea of destroying the world. An ideal with strong motivation, to which she dedicated her soul. Her hatred was real, and she had reasons to hate. Igyris admired that without realizing it. But something else caught his attention even more: she wasn't just that.
Watching her like that, without sleep for days since recovering something of such importance… Even with the legacy of the man who raised her in her hands, the only memory of the only good part of her life, and even having won previously, Mana was completely broken. Trapped within herself.
Igyris saw something entirely different there.
A side he hadn't seen in her in the short time they'd spent together. A side where he saw sparks being lit by Naxel. A weapon. A highly unpredictable bomb that could explode anywhere. And the genius who carried that bomb knew it very well, and would make sure to use the destructive weapon he held for the sake of his grand and perfect Project.
However, in the depths of Igyris's heart, as he continued to observe Mana in that dense state of obsession and psychological conflict while she calibrated the EdelGear, a different feeling arose. He saw that perhaps the perfection he lacked wasn't in them—which comforted him for a moment. For, just like in his dreams, he felt he was among equals.
Igyris watched her for a moment longer. And in that moment, his heart, unconsciously once again, decided something. Staring at her, he remembered why he had followed her: in her existed a humanity that he felt was missing in himself. And in that moment, in her, he saw that humanity once more. So, in his heart, he thought: if they were equally broken, perhaps he wasn't so inhuman. On that day, after having dreamed, Igyris felt, before the broken Mana, that perhaps he was more human than his heart and mind admitted. And for a moment, that made him give a sincere smile.
— So… do you want some help there?
— Ah… sure… you know your way around tools… it'll be useful… the sooner we finish, the sooner we can act… and…
— Destroy everything?
— Yes… destroy everything.
Igyris offered to help her finish what she had started. Even though she was broken, he didn't offer empty words of support or affection, nor the charitable kindness of an "I understand your pain," for they weren't like that. What he offered was a chance for himself to feel as human as she was. Letting himself feel might be the key to not being consumed again. How do you fix what is broken? Just offer your hand and be human. For the first time, allow yourself to feel. And for the first time, before each other, they were equals.
— So Igyris… want to tell me about your dream?
Hours passed…
Tuc!
The door was heard opening and closing in quick succession.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
Heavy footsteps were heard. Someone, apparently carrying something, was approaching.
— Uhuu! I'm back!!!
A voice echoed through the rooms.
— Hah?… He's here, it seems. Finally.
A completely exhausted Mana finally gave in physically. Letting her worn-out and numb body fall back, she yielded to the fatigue.
Igyris watched her collapse. He sighed slowly as he pushed up the soldier goggles that protected his eyes.
— So we stop here? I was actually having fun…
He asked her, as the footsteps in the corridors grew closer and closer.
— Knock! Knock! Guess who?
The voice crossed the door where Igyris and Mana were.
— Just come in, Naxel… let's just… discuss the "project," shall we?
Mana's raspy voice questioned him, and from the other side of the door, only a low laugh of satisfaction was heard.
— Hahah… of course…
Truck!
He opened the door, holding shopping bags and boxes, with a gigantic grin on his face, from ear to ear.
— Ah yes… hahah! It gladdens me to see you both so lively and excited for our project, Igyris and beautiful Mana! I see you've already hastened the calibration of the EdelGear.
Igyris stared at him. A vacant look this time, different from the look he gave Mana. For Naxel was the total opposite. If Mana was the humanity that might live in his heart, Naxel was the complete lack of it. Even with such a wide smile, his eyes didn't convey anything, but his words did: a complete yearning for chaos. Naxel, just like Mana, was a part of Igyris that he embraced and could not deny. Even if that man emitted a strong sense of unnaturalness and destruction, before Igyris, they were also equals.
That was Naxel's theater. His show and his project. And Igyris and Mana were parts of that show, destined to dance to his tune.
— Well… hahah… I see the confrontation at the Glass Crimsons really did you good, Mana… you're nearly perfect.
Mana stared at him, her red eyes locking onto him. She had long since grown used to his personality, but that familiar attitude still demanded an aggressive response.
— Argh… shut up, idiot. Let's just talk about what matters, okay?
— Oh, of course, of course! Forgive me.
He leaned forward slowly in a gesture of apology that quickly dissolved, replaced by a straight posture. And once more, that malicious grin, from ear to ear.
— I won't waste your enthusiasm for the project in such a… draining manner. You both look wonderful for the next step of the game. Let's just move the pieces. Igyris and Mana… our next step in our declaration of war is a direct strike. I am happy to direct your hatred! Let's destroy everything!
In his game, he moved the pieces. Strings. Movements. His show. Naxel was nothing more than a hollow demon.