Blooming From A Seed To A Tree (Project Moon Crossover Quest)

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Walking across the streets of this… not-City filled you with such strange emotions. These are your very first moments outside the Facility, wholly yours and separate from the lives and memories of A and Tiphereth A which you hold within you. From the sight of the pavement upon which you walk to the cold, fresh air flowing in and out of your lungs, each moment engraves itself into your memory. These are going to be your memories, after all, and though they may be small, feather-light pebbles now, they will, you feel, gather to be a mental anchor of your person, in time.

Each step you take is filled with a bounce that had never been there before, excitement and joy jumping through your body like an electric current. You can feel how your mouth curls into a smile that would have been comically out of place on your past body, your facial muscles jovially ignoring whatever attempts you try and fail to make to contain them.

Still, reminding yourself of Yesod, you keep them restrained to just that. This newfound emotiveness of yours does not chafe, but it is good to remember that it is an all-but-open invitation to those seeking to harm others.

Then again, you are no longer in the City - or, at least, you do not feel as though you are there anymore - so, who knows if there is a price to be paid for it. Should you even care if there is?

Well, no, but you have to admit that even this much is just so… embarrassing in a way you have never imagined you could feel. Did this embarrassment come from the looks and whispers random passersby's directed your way? Attempting to form an answer to that question had you step into a territory far too unfamiliar for you to succeed. A failure you would gladly bear.

If only that was the extent of the emotions you were feeling.

The only name, the only past, the only identity you may rightfully lay claim to is that of your role as the Manager. X. One of the cogs in the machine of suffering that was the Facility, forever turning forward in the hopes of one day reaching a scripted conclusion.

Yet for all the sheer evil it had caused, you could not extricate it from your world.

Wherever you looked, you could not help but feel that the darkness of this night is cast not by the absence of the sun's light but by the fate of the Seed of Light. It was the ultimate justification shielding every atrocity committed, the excuse equally dismissing and accepting each sacrifice.

It was the purpose of your life.

Not knowing if it had succeeded despite Angela's betrayal or if she had truly torn down all hope of its realization…

It was a return to an anxiety you were far, far too familiar with. That twisted, cold viper coiling itself around your limbs as the workday began, its fangs sinking deeper and deeper into your neck with every passing second of ominous quiet, the pressure paradoxically only letting up when everything finally started going to shit.

A shuddering breath slipped past your lips, breaking the otherwise jovial tint your visage had taken.

You had not given the sentiment of leaving the Facility serious thought, in retrospect. You were made for it, after all, so that may or may not be a coincidence. Regardless, even if it had not been your entire existence, that single thought banished all notion of simply leaving your past to be the past and embracing the promise of a future.

"You were made for it, after all."

What a terrifying thought to echo, and wholly yours to boot.

The moon gently casting its light onto the world below felt like your only companion, beckoning you to spread your wings and soar in the open sky. But how could you, when your young wings were drowning in tar?

Stopping your walk for a moment, you dragged your hands across your face, some indescribable emotion overpowering every other sensation. A part of you wished to once more wield the TimeTrack protocol, if only so that you could give yourself all the time you need to process this.

You wanted - needed answers, if you were to face the world. There was simply no other option for you.

Trying to argue with yourself about that would lead you nowhere, especially this soon.

You simply had to keep walking forward, hoping that your path, whatever form it may take, would lead you to the outcome you were seeking.