"Amu. Come in, Amu. This is Miki speaking. Over."
Amu took a moment to set her notebook down, casting a quick glance at Fumi before picking up the radio. There didn't seem to be a big change in her condition, but really, there was nothing to worry about; Fumi wasn't badly hurt, just completely exhausted.
"I'm here. Did you figure anything out?"
"Ah, that's…" Miki sounded excited, but also a little scared. "A lot of things, I think. First, remember the train station? Well, I walked back there, and…"
She listened intently. What Miki was saying was interesting, and getting more so, but she'd been getting a little creeped out sitting there effectively on her own. The fog meant she couldn't see more than a few meters past the edge of her chaos-repelling pattern, and the pure silence was nerve-wracking. Hearing Miki's familiar voice helped her relax, even if just a little.
———————
"—So I think this place is literally a dream, or at least it acts that way. Not just that, there's also… I mean… me.
I'm a dream, Amu, and that's probably why I got larger when I came here. You didn't dream of being a pixie, you dreamt of becoming me. In here, that's…"
Her hands felt clammy. What she'd said to Amu was true, but it didn't feel
right. Not anymore. Less than a year back, she'd been the one to tell Amu what it meant to be a Chara, that she'd die if Amu stopped dreaming about her. That was less true now, thanks to Amu's exaltation and its help, but it didn't change what she was underneath.
Amu didn't answer for a long time, and Miki found herself getting more and more afraid. She'd said they were siblings, even called her 'sis'… Amu wouldn't change her mind, but if she did, Miki didn't know what she'd do. She'd already been rejected by Yoru—called a freak, if not in those words. It was a little too true. She knew why she'd been born, and this wasn't it. She was never intended to be a real person.
Ran and Su never worried like this. Sometimes, she wished she could be more like them.
"I… that's…"
Amu echoed her last sentence, obviously fumbling for words.
"—Miki." Her voice trembled slightly, and Miki realised she'd worried Amu, too. Then it firmed. "I… I don't
care. I told you already, you're my sister now; all three of you are, and that won't change, no matter how you got here. Do you know what my dream is now? Because it isn't to
be you."
Miki jerkily shook her head. A second later, realising she was talking on the radio, she said "No."
"Just before Samael. Do you remember?" Amu said, speaking softly. "Me and Mom, relaxing on a park bench while the sun shone down on us. You were there, but she didn't know you were there, and I was too selfish to realise it mattered. That's what…"
She drew a breath. Miki's hands shook, but they were tingling now, and she didn't feel clammy anymore.
"I want to do that again, but with all five of us. Six, maybe, and Mommy will just have to find a bench that's large enough for everyone. Then, afterwards, I want to have a picnic—my entire family, Ikuto and Utau too, maybe the Guardians if they aren't too busy with school… all of us sitting in the park under a blue sky, with birds singing in the distance. That's what I want to do,
with you… big sister. Does that sound good?"
"Yes," she whispered. "…Yes." She adjusted her beret, which had slid to the side and was threatening to push her rose off. "Wait. Amu, shouldn't you be the big sister? I mean, even just… You out-mass me by twenty-five kilos, geez!"
Amu laughed. "Not right now, I don't! Besides, you said so yourself. If you're my dream for the future, shouldn't that mean you're older than me?"
"I don't think that's how it works." She couldn't stop smiling, though.
———————
"Okay, so… you think this Igor could help us out, and it should be possible to find him in a dreamscape. You're basing that on visiting him in a dream. Any more details? Anything at all?"
"Well, technically on Exa telling me about it, since I can't remember a single part of it myself… and I don't think I should tell you any more, or you might create a fake. This way we'll be able to tell."
Miki very pointedly didn't say anything. This place being the way it was, she suspected her radio didn't actually use radio waves anyway, and Amu might be able to tell just how pointedly she was being silent.
"…Look, it's the best idea I have. You don't have to, if you don't want to, but I think it's our best chance to get out quickly."
"No. No, you're right." Miki squeezed her eyes shut, thinking. "Though didn't you also say he did something to Dia? I'm not sure…"
"Dia?"
"Oh." She blinked. "The fourth chara, the one who's still in her egg. We've been calling her Dia, because it's diamond-marked. Come to think of it, is she still with Utau?"
"She'll be safe there. …He did. I should have thought of that, of course that means you shouldn't—"
"No. I'll go." They couldn't wait any longer; if they were
lucky, they wouldn't be away for more than an hour. If not… there was no guarantee that time wasn't slowed down here, like it would be in dreams. Anything might have happened.
"Miki…" Amu's voice was pleading.
"I will. We can't just keep waiting, and besides, whatever he did to Dia seemed to help, right? I'll be fine. Don't worry about me."
She'd worry enough on her own. Dia should probably have hatched, by now, if she herself was any guide; what Igor did to her might have hurt her. Amu hopefully didn't realise that, but realistically—since they shared most of their memories, and definitely everything that far back—she probably did.
"…Call me the moment you get back, all right?"
Yeah. She did.
"…I will. See you later, sis."
She put the radio back in the bag, opened the door, and walked out of the supposed subway station without a second glance backwards. Maya was waiting around the corner, where she was—Miki had to do a double-take—cleaning her hair by the expedient of upending a portrait Miki was sure had shown a lake. The water was silty, but Maya didn't seem to mind.
[ ] Attack the problem obliquely. Amu did describe some of her nightmare; paint that scene, along with Igor's car.
[ ] Paint just the car, or perhaps the side of the car, with a door.
[ ] Try painting the inside of the car.
—
[ ] Bring Maya.
[ ] Ask Maya to wait.
—
[ ] Obligatory reminder that write-ins are a thing, as if you need one.
A/N: Yes, you can consider this a motivation shift. It might not sound like a valid reason to gain Essence 5, but when you consider what it'd take to get there… I think it's fine.
