Downtime, for the child, was not truly a time for respite. It was true that, when she was not working, she had time to sleep, time to eat, and space to recuperate from injury in the privacy of her home. A physical relief of burdens, which she supposed counted for something. But mentally, home was no respite at all.
She did not enjoy work as a Fixer. But she almost preferred it to being alone in a room with only worries and harsh memories for company.
Though, on a second spin of that thought, she realized it was untrue. The Node was an ever-present diversion, was it not? And she did have a question to ask.
The child had come around on the multiversal construct, over the past few days. At first, she had considered it a distraction, a line for inane chatter of no consequence. Much of what the Moderator had said was beyond her comprehension. Talk of multiverses and cosmologies had little to do with day-to-day life in the City. Especially in the Backstreets, where survival was the primary idea of each dawn. She had participated out of social obligation and idle curiosity.
Then, the Moderator had revealed the Node's true purpose, and the capabilities offered. Yet, before she'd had time to process or consider, those capabilities, those powers had been lost to her. …She thought she might despise Kyoko and Undyne, just the tiniest bit for that. But it was history, at this point. Cooperation, being someone that
could be cooperated with, was key right now.
Those capabilities… The Node's Cores, too, had been the object of changing opinion. Her gut reaction had been to attempt to utilize them to gain an edge as a Fixer, or to obtain exotic resources from other worlds. The two Blur Cores seemed the most valuable for this. She could rise in the ranks, in the City.
But recently, she'd had another thought, one that almost didn't suit her at all. The child wondered if she could transcend the City itself.
Marvelously selfish and ambitious.
She shot a query into the chat as she changed, preparing for bed.
Yuri: Moderator, I have a question.
Yuri: …Moderator?
Undyne: Looks like they're busy.
Undyne: Or something.
Pyrrha: I wonder what they do when they are not here?
Kyoko: Probably the same thing as the rest of us when we're bein' quiet. Who cares?
Yuri: …Kyoko, actually.
Kyoko: What?
Yuri: I was looking at the Core descriptions.
Yuri: I wanted to ask the Moderator about how the Summoning Core worked.
Yuri: What does it mean to 'extrude' between realms?
Yuri: Questions like that.
Yuri: But you have firsthand experience.
Yuri: Could you…?
Kyoko: Sure. Why not?
Kyoko: Ask away.
Yuri: Can you just…
Yuri: Tell me about what it was like?
Kyoko: I gained access to a second body in Undyne's world.
Kyoko: Exactly the same as my normal one, I think.
Kyoko: Could control it as if I'd been practicing for years.
Kyoko: Which isn't far from the truth now that I think about it!
Kyoko: When you oh-so-kindly handed over control of the Cores to the moderator, I lost that body.
Kyoko: Disappeared.
Kyoko: Something of a strange yet familiar feeling, to be honest.
Kyoko: I haven't had control over multiple selves in years.
Yuri: So it wasn't truly a form of transportation…
Kyoko: No. More like a temporary illusion.
Undyne: Illusion, my ass.
Kyoko: Ha. You'd know.
Kyoko: But it wasn't real.
Kyoko: Everything felt real, looked real.
Kyoko: I could smell the damp, hear rushing water.
Kyoko: Look Undyne straight in the eye as I was stabbing her.
Undyne: Are you screwing with me!?!
Kyoko: But I wasn't actually there.
Yuri: So it's more like… a projection?
Yuri: Fuck.
Kyoko: Sure, whatever.
Pyrrha: If that's true, then this entire conflict with poor Scarlet has abruptly become ridiculous.
Pyrrha: Undyne.
Pyrrha: Do you understand what this means?
Undyne: …
Undyne: No?
Pyrrha: Kyoko was not truly there, during your battle.
Pyrrha: You were merely fighting a projection.
Pyrrha: If you had, Gods forbid, slain her, you would not have been able to claim her soul.
Pyrrha: You provoked her for nothing.
Pyrrha: You almost died for nothing.
Undyne: …
Undyne: GOD
Undyne: DAMN
Undyne: IT
Undyne: YOU'RE COMPLETELY RIGHT!
Undyne: NGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!
Pyrrha: You two have caused trouble for absolutely no reason.
Pyrrha: A completely pointless risk to someone's life.
The City had a very strange view on human life and its sanctity. This may seem like a strange tangent, there's a point here, promise! If you were to ask the average person in the City whether or not they valued human life, one would receive a myriad of answers. Some would claim they hold it in high regard, since the Head so clearly does as well. Some may brush it off, saying that individual humans mean nothing in the City. Yet more would claim that humans ought to be kinder to each other, since the state of affairs is so miserable for all. The medley of answers and beliefs forms the song of the City.
We all sing the same song, dance to the same tune. And when it comes down to it, nearly any person will kill any other to survive, to gain an advantage, or even for the pettiest of reasons. When death is an omnipresence, the spots of life that shine through seem all the more precious, don't they?
The child could
understand Pyrrha's stance. But that did not necessarily mean she
agreed with it.
Kyoko: Know what? What right do you have to say that to us?
Kyoko: What do you know?
Kyoko: Come to think of it, we don't know the first thing about you.
Kyoko: Name and that's it?
Kyoko: Hell, don't know what kinda world you live in, either.
Kyoko: Spill.
Undyne: Kyoko's got a point.
Undyne: Some of us have bared our souls out here.
Yuri: …Weren't you just screaming in frustration?
Undyne: I RECOVER QUICKLY!
Pyrrha: I'm sorry.
Pyrrha: You are correct.
Pyrrha: I live in a city called Vale.
Kyoko: Huh, didn't expect you to jump right into it.
Pyrrha: Our world's greatest enemy is, by and large, the creatures of Grimm.
Pyrrha: They are a force that everybody understands. They strike fear into the hearts of every person on Remnant.
Yuri: Is that the name of your world?
Pyrrha: Oh! Yes.
Pyrrha: Sorry, again.
Pyrrha: It has been theorized that the Grimm are, fundamentally, an incarnation of anonymity.
Pyrrha: In practice, they take the form of creatures of black fur and white bone, imitating various natural-born animals.
Pyrrha: Their nature is to destroy humanity, to reduce our creations to ruin.
Pyrrha: If the Grimm were allowed to roam free, there would be no intelligent life remaining on this planet.
The child wondered. The macrocosm of the City had been built for humans, by humans. Under the rule of the Head, it stood as a monument to that idea: that humans should belong here. Despite the perpetuated cruelty, the technologies beyond comprehension, and the blistering wastes that lay just outside the walls, it had stood, unchanging, for hundreds if not thousands of years.
Were the beasts that lay waiting in the Outskirts as horrifying as those Pyrrha described? As the Witches that plagued Kyoko's reality? Or were they more like Undyne? Reasonable, rational?
Pyrrha: Thankfully, that is not the case.
Pyrrha: Huntsmen and Huntresses fight tirelessly against the ever-encroaching Grimm threat.
Pyrrha: Not only that, they uphold the law and combat criminals.
Pyrrha: If Magical Girls are the heroes of Kyoko's world, and the Royal Guard the heroes of Undyne's…
Pyrrha: The Huntsmen are the heroes of mine.
Kyoko: Heh. You sound like a fangirl.
Kyoko: "Oooh, Huntsmen are so great and kind and fair!"
Kyoko: Gag me.
Pyrrha: I suppose you could say that I have a greater-than-average appreciation of their hard work and sacrifice.
Pyrrha: Would I be correct if I assumed you failed to receive much recognition for yours?
Kyoko: God. How old are you, anyway?
Kyoko: Spouting off crap like that to me?
Pyrrha: I am seventeen.
Pyrrha: What of the rest of you?
Yuri: …I am 25 years old.
Undyne: 22, probably!
Kyoko: Huh.
Kyoko: Ugh. I'm only fourteen.
Kyoko: Now I feel like a little kid.
Undyne: If it helps, I'm pretty sure you're more mature than I was at your age!
Undyne: I think I was still chasing around Old Man Boom when I was fourteen.
Undyne: Harassing mailpeople and Napstablook!
Undyne: Good times.
The child noticed a second avenue open up to her, in her mind. Even as Pyrrha continued to exposit on her reality. A second channel, one with a distinctly different feeling to it. The Node's main channel was public, and even in this short period of time, had accumulated a culture to it. Anything said. Anything went. Simultaneously, there was a degree of levity to everything posted there. This private channel, she sensed, was only accessible to her and one other. And to go through the effort to send something privately… she suspected there would be a matching amount of seriousness. It had been the case for the private channel Undyne had created, after all.
Node1127: Private Channel with Pyrrha
Pyrrha: May I ask why you were upset by Kyoko's explanation of the Node's "Summoning Core"?
Pyrrha: I understand that this is a strange thing to fixate upon. But it struck me as strange. And you didn't elaborate.
Pyrrha: It does seem quite convenient, allowing you to go about your daily life while still being able to visit strange lands, with no one the wiser.
It was still Pyrrha. Double-posting across channels.
The child did not know what to think of her, at the moment. The lecture on Remnant had been one of the longest stretches the otherworlder had ever spoken. And even when she did speak, she did not reveal much about herself.
She presented as having a strong sense of justice, and a value for human life that she might be willing to act upon. It was almost solely due to Pyrrha Nikos that the child had not been more talkative in the Node. See, both Undyne and Kyoko were not ones to shy away from violence. That much had been made abundantly clear by their very first interaction. She figured that they, if no one else, would understand life in the City. What it took, and what it took from you. They both seemed quite willing to shed blood themselves. But Pyrrha…
Justice, by some definitions, is simply a sense of what one finds intolerable. And the ability and desire to act on it. The girl from Remnant found murder intolerable, and claimed that she would prevent it. So the child found herself often second-guessing herself. Sharing as little as was necessary. Undyne and Kyoko, both seemed powerful enough that they did not care. But the child knew that she was not a great power, in this Node.
What did she have to say? What
could she say?
Node1127: Private Channel with Pyrrha
Yuri: It is unfortunate because I was hoping it would allow me to leave my world.
Yuri: Permanently.
Yuri: Instead of a means for escapism…
Yuri: I was hoping it would be a means for escape.
Pyrrha: Is your world truly so terrible?
Yuri: There is a saying.
Yuri: "The grass is always greener on the other side."
Pyrrha: I've heard of it, or at least something similar.
Yuri: Then you understand.
Yuri: When I was younger, my parents would tell me horror stories of the Outskirts.
Yuri: They would say that the humans living there would kill to live in the City.
Yuri: More than usual.
Yuri: To escape the horrors and monsters that live out there.
Yuri: I should feel grateful, they said, to live here.
Yuri: As someone who has seen horrors and monsters of the City…
Yuri: I'm not so sure.
Yuri: What I am sure about is that they are thinking the same thing that I am.
Yuri: "Anything has to be better than this."
Pyrrha: Oh.
Pyrrha: I am so sorry.
Pyrrha: This may be a small consolation, given that the summoning mechanic does not work as you'd hoped.
Pyrrha: But you should know that if you make your way to Remnant, I will ensure you have a place here.
Yuri: …Do you have that power? That strength?
Yuri: Or is this an empty promise just to make me feel better?
There was a long pause before the next reply. So long, in fact, that the child grew worried.
Node1127: Private Channel with Pyrrha
Yuri: …Oh.
Yuri: I see.
Pyrrha: No, hold on.
Pyrrha: I'm sorry! For the pause.
Pyrrha: The question simply caught me by surprise and made me laugh.
Yuri: Was there something funny about what I said?
Pyrrha: Only from my point of view.
Pyrrha: From yours, I understand. The question was not unreasonable!
Pyrrha: But you see, this is quite possibly the first time someone has asked me this.
Pyrrha: "Are you powerful enough?"
Pyrrha: "Do you have the strength?"
Yuri: Does that mean… you're some kind of big shot Fixer?
Yuri: But I thought you were still in school?
Yuri: A college student?
Pyrrha: It is true that I am still in higher education.
Pyrrha: I believe I mentioned that I attend Beacon Academy, back when I was introducing myself.
The child scrolled through the history of the Node, and found just that. Kyoko had made the offhanded comment that the name was meaningless to her, though things had progressed too quickly for anyone to request elaboration. In hindsight, a lot of things had happened quite rapidly in the first day or two. She might have to go back and reread it more in-depth. Perhaps she'd catch something useful.
Node1127: Private Channel with Pyrrha
Yuri: Yes.
Pyrrha: Beacon Academy is a premier Huntsman Academy.
Yuri: …You are a Huntress.
Yuri: You didn't say.
Pyrrha: Well, I am still in training.
Pyrrha: And I have personal reasons for not doing so, at this moment.
Pyrrha: The novelty of Kyoko assuming that I am helpless, a noncombatant, is a primary contributor.
Pyrrha: No one has ever treated me like a weakling before!
Pyrrha: Even Jaune treated me like an equal at worst, when we first met!
Yuri: Jaune?
Yuri: One of the teammates you mentioned?
Pyrrha: Yes!
Pyrrha: Though that is not the point.
Pyrrha: I am well known even among Beacon students, though I would prefer if you didn't spread that around.
Pyrrha: If I were to vouch for you, I am sure you would have a place in Vale, assuming you behaved reasonably.
Yuri: …There has to be some kind of catch.
There always was. The child refused to blindly believe in charity. Everyone, in the City, was self-interested. Selfish. It was simply human nature, and is there anything truly wrong with that? Even Aya, she was sure, had her own reasons for favoring her. The idea that Pyrrha Nikos, otherworlder and apparently a notable talent on Remnant, would simply assist her free of charge… unbelievable.
In this particular scenario…perhaps she should not have doubted her.
Node1127: Private Channel with Pyrrha
Yuri: What do you want in exchange?
Yuri: Do you want my services as a disposable Fixer?
Yuri: Information on Lobotomy Corporation? The Abnormalities?
Yuri: I'll sign a contract with Öufi if you need a sign or guarantee.
Pyrrha: Yuri…
Pyrrha: I don't know what those are.
Pyrrha: And I would not "dispose" of you.
Yuri: Then what?
Yuri: There has to be something!
The child's hands were clenched. Fists, shaking. If her voice were audible, it would be wavering.
Node1127: Private Channel with Pyrrha
Pyrrha: Yuri.
Pyrrha: We will figure out a method to move between worlds.
Pyrrha: I'm starting to see why you dislike your world so much, if this is what you have come to expect for assistance from a friend.
Were they friends?, the child wondered. They barely knew each other. Their only connection was through this Node. How could she say such a thing so easily, so freely?
Node1127: Private Channel with Pyrrha
Yuri: …
Yuri: If that is truly the case, then thank you.
Yuri: You have no idea how much this means to me.
Freedom… the thought was intoxicating. Countless Citydwellers had tried to free themselves from the City's shackles. As far as she knew, all of them had failed. If she could be the exception…
The child dared hold onto a fleeting spark of genuine promise.
Then, she buckled down, came down from the clouds, and returned to the surface of the City. If this didn't work out, she would not break. She refused. She'd face her reality as usual, one day at a time.
If nothing else, she had the L Corp contract to look forward to.
Dead Witch. That much, was a non-issue.
Dead family. A mom and her daughter. That stung a fair bit more, she could admit.
Kyoko hadn't even intended to go hunting Witches today, y'know? She had enough Grief Seeds stocked to keep her healthy for a good while now, even throwing away the one she would've given to the moderator. Only reason she'd fought this one was 'cause it happened to be on the way home from the market, she'd been taking a bit of a weird detour through the lesser-populated parts of the city, and she was in a good mood. Happenstance and nothing more. In any other timeline, she never would've even seen this Witch, let alone arrived in time to help. These two were doomed… pretty much no matter what.
Didn't stop the small ache of regret. She would've
liked to be able to save 'em. In an ideal world, she would've saved them.
Yeah, she knew that she wasn't exactly the
best person anymore. She didn't think that ideal hero, the girl that a younger girl had wanted to grow up to be, had ever existed, when she really put some thought into it. But it wasn't like she
wanted people to die or nothin'. It was just… a waste, right? A waste of life. Sure, Witches may have been above humans on the food chain, and yeah she
got that every Witch she didn't kill or delayed probably managed to off a couple, but…
These two didn't have to die. That was what she was getting at here. Maybe there wasn't a whole lot that coulda happened to save 'em. God knew she wasn't going to change her behavior.
…Look. It wasn't like she was actually gonna kill Undyne, right? She was just gonna rough her up a bit. Did, simply rough her up a bit. She couldn't take back any of the stuff she'd said, but she may have been exaggerating a bit.
Kyoko looked more closely at the Witch's victims. The mother, with dark hair and a white tank top. And the girl, with tufty green hair and cigarette burns on her face. Kyoko guessed they were caused by the Witch's influence. Their life forces had otherwise been straightforwardly drained, since they didn't seem to bear any other big wounds. Better than gory suicides, she supposed. Maybe they got to drift away quietly. Peacefully. She wondered if they were having a happy dream together in their final moments, before their souls got off to wherever they were going.
There was no telling.
The bodies would be found. But it'd take awhile. This house was out on the fringes of Kazamino, suburban. She doubted they had rent to pay, no landlord that'd pop up monthly; this may not have been the best house, but…she didn't really know how actually owning houses worked. Did people ever come around to check on you? Taxes or something? Either way, she didn't want these two decomposing in here.
After checking outside to make sure nobody was watching, she carefully dragged the duo to the door, left it slightly ajar so that someone would see, and absconded. The police would probably be called, and she guessed it'd be up to them from there, however they diagnosed it. Or maybe Kyubey would get involved before any normal people say. It was out of her hands now.
…Well. That was depressing. She needed to get her mind off things.
Fortunately, Yuri came to her rescue mere moments after the thought crossed her skull.
Yuri: …I am curious.
Yuri: Does anyone know if it is possible for us to view each other's worlds?
Yuri: Verbal descriptions are helpful, but it would be nice to see Remnant with my own two eyes, for example.
ModScarlet: Sure. Do inputFlow.
Yuri: inputFlow
ModScarlet: With a slash in front.
Yuri: /inputFlow
Kyoko stumbled.
For a brief moment, she became aware of what it was like to not be herself. A snapshot of what it was like to be Yuri.
She was taller than Kyoko. Wearier. Jolts of discomfort and pain could be felt all over her body. Hair let down loose. Exhausted slouching. A weight was at her hip. She only saw out of one eye. She saw a desk covered in documents. A hand held a pen. The air smelt of ink and electricity. The sound of dead silence.
A dozen impressions, gone in an instant.
Pyrrha: That was…
Undyne: The HELL was that?
Yuri: What happened?
Yuri: Did it work?
Kyoko: No kidding it worked.
Undyne: Is that what it's like to have a body made of flesh and bones and stuff?
Undyne: Crazy.
Pyrrha: You mean that yours isn't?
Undyne: Monsters are made of magic.
Undyne: Soulstuff.
Undyne: Hey, I'll show you what it's like!
Pyrrha: Uh.
Undyne: /inputFlow
Kyoko was slightly better prepared this time. She managed to take in a little more from this usage of the command.
Undyne, too, was taller than her. She figured this was gonna be a trend, given everyone was older than her. But her body had a really weird sorta…nebulousness to it? She didn't know the exact word, couldn't put the feeling into words. But it wasn't all there.
There were more teeth in her mouth. She was
also missing an eye. And wearing a full set of armor that probably would've been heavy, but she was strong enough that it wasn't a burden. Skin that felt weirdly slimy, scaly. Through the slits in her helmet, she was looking at a gushing waterfall.
Most notably: No trace of the wounds Kyoko had inflicted a mere couple of days ago. Very unlike Yuri's aching body. She was right as fish-rain.
Yuri: …Oh.
Yuri: That's certainly something.
Pyrrha: Strange. It's as if your entire body is made of Aura.
Undyne: Aura?
Pyrrha: If you don't have it…
Pyrrha: It's the manifestation of the soul.
Pyrrha: A barrier and a weapon, to protect one's self from harm.
Pyrrha: If your body is, itself, made of the soul, I suppose that makes sense.
Pyrrha: Yuri, you mentioned that you wanted to get a view of Remnant? Please give me a moment.
Yuri: Thank you.
Huh. Those two were surprisingly chummy now. Or was Kyoko reading too much into it?
Pyrrha: Alright. This should be a fairly good perspective.
Pyrrha: Jaune and I occasionally sit up here to look down at Vale.
Pyrrha: /inputFlow
Pyrrha held her hair in a long ponytail, a lot like Kyoko's. The surface of her skin bristled with that same nebulousness, the stuff that Undyne's whole body felt. Kyoko wondered if that "Aura" thing was just so common on Remnant that even schmucks like Pyrrha had it.
She was clothed in what felt like a school uniform, formal wear on top of a skirt, dress shoes. Some kinda circlet around her forehead?
…Yeah, Kyoko had to hand it to her. The view was pretty spectacular. The city, itself, was a vibrant spread of buildings, streets. Some parts kinda resembled parts of downtown, with large skyscrapers and office buildings. Others looked more old-fashioned, Western. Like castles straight out of Europe. She could see all the way to the sea, which stretched towards the horizon. Cool airships straight out of a video game soared back and forth.
Vale was a very nice place.
Kyoko: Wow. That's cool.
Pyrrha: I agree that this view of Vale is quite good.
Pyrrha: But you should see Mistral City.
Pyrrha: It's built over a mountain.
Pyrrha: So high up, that the mist blocks the bottom.
Kyoko: We're all doing this, then.
Kyoko: My turn.
Kyoko: /inputFlow
Kyoko wasn't picky, simply firing off the command. Nothing changed for her, but she guessed it probably sent to the rest of the Node the same way theirs did her.
Pyrrha: Your world looks surprisingly normal.
Yuri: …I could have mistaken it for a nicer part of the Backstreets.
Yuri: I think I could also make out a bit of your reflection in a window.
Yuri: Would it be alright if we went through another round of this?
Yuri: I'd like faces to put to your names.
Kyoko shrugged, then realized that nobody could see that. She pulled over to a random car parked by the side of the road, positioned herself to capture as much as possible in the side-view mirror.
Kyoko: Sure.
Kyoko: /inputFlow
Undyne: Yup.
Undyne: That's you alright.
Undyne: You look a little different, though.
Undyne: No sparkly red dress?
Kyoko: What, you think I wear the Magical Girl outfit every day? All the time?
Kyoko: My hoodie's great.
Undyne: I can get that.
Undyne: Anyway, this should be familiar to you.
Undyne: /inputFlow
Come to think of it, the helmet was new. And Undyne'd taken it off since her last snapshot, giving a full view of her face, as her reflection stared back from a pool of still water. Eyepatch, glowing yellow eye, blue skin, jagged mouth of teeth… yup, it was Undyne alright.
Pyrrha: …Even for a Faunus, those traits would be somewhat extreme?
Undyne: Faunus?
Pyrrha: The other dominant species on Remnant.
Pyrrha: It's a little reductive to say this, but they are similar to humans, but with some animal features.
Pyrrha: Velvet Scarlatina, for example, is an upperclassman with rabbit ears.
Yuri: …I wonder, do they originate from humans?
Pyrrha: There has been much debate on the topic.
Pyrrha: No one knows.
Yuri: Okay.
Yuri: I made it to the bathroom mirror.
Yuri: /inputFlow
Yuri somehow managed to
look even more tired than she felt. Instead of an eyepatch, she had a white cloth bandage over her missing eye. Her red hair fell straggly and loose, not well-taken care of.
Pyrrha: Oh, I'm last, aren't I?
Pyrrha: I'm sorry.
Pyrrha: Hold on, let me fish my Scroll out.
Undyne: Like.
Undyne: A piece of paper?
Pyrrha: A Scroll is a handheld computing device.
Pyrrha: You can use it to make calls and take pictures.
Undyne: Oh, like a cellphone.
Pyrrha: …Sure?
Pyrrha: This should do.
Pyrrha: /inputFlow
The moment Pyrrha sent didn't just contain a photo of Pyrrha, held on a fancy-looking handheld. No, it had four people in the photo. A blonde,
two redheaded girls, and a black-haired boy with a pink accent in his hair, all in a somewhat stylish black school uniform. Kyoko managed to identify Pyrrha as being on the left by the ponytail and headband.
Maybe it was a little silly to say this but… Pyrrha was really pretty? Tall, smiling, with bright green eyes. A really nice figure. Yeah, she was pretty in a western sorta way. She'd rock a Magical Girl dress.
Yuri: This is you and your team?
Pyrrha: Yes!
Pyrrha: Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, me, and Lie Ren.
Pyrrha: We form Team JNPR.
Pyrrha: Pronounced 'Juniper', by the way.
Yuri: You four look very happy.
Yuri: They must be good teammates.
Pyrrha: I couldn't ask for better.
The image of the kid from before, the dead one with the green hair, popped up again in her head.
Hell.
…Everyone, in the Node, had brought up someone else. Someone else they cared about, that they interacted with on a daily basis. Yuri had her Office. Pyrrha, her team. Undyne, her guards and also Papyrus the skeleton not-a-guard.
When was the last time Kyoko had talked to another person? Like, for real? Not just passing conversation, or taunting some random fellow she'd just stolen from?
…
She had a telepathic construct in her head that let her talk with people from across the multiverse. She had power, a collection of Grief Seeds for security. Skill with a spear to match even the strongest magic. A freedom from authority that lotsa kids would
kill for. She had it all.
And yet, Kyoko, at that moment, couldn't have felt more alone.
...a red herring.
