"Hey. Heeey. Time to wake up," a mischievous and juvenile voice echoed in the silence of Emilia's slumber as her eyes fluttered open and her vision became less and less blurry.
"If you don't, I'll have to get up to some mischiefs."
With a gasp, Emilia jolted herself up awake, her body only covered by a white nightgown.
"Huh? What? Where… am I?" she muttered, glancing around the expansive white void where she found herself.
"Hi!" a blonde-haired young boy with brown eyes and white fox mask tied on the side of his head leaned right in front of Emilia's face with a smile on his face.
Emilia only stared at him with wide surprised eyes that complemented the confused expression on her face. 'Who…?'
"Uuhh… Hello. Anyone there?" the young boy waved his hand in front of her, trying to get a reaction.
He straightened his back and held his chin in a pondering manner. 'Did I mess up?'
"Uh… Excuse me?" Emilia finally managed some words. "Who… who are you? And where is this place?"
"Oh," the young boy's expression went to a bright smile of relief as he clapped his hands in understanding, making Emilia unsure of how to react. "Mhmm."
Same for his strange behavior, the nod he gave her only further confused Emilia.
"Who I am, is that right?" the boy finally spoke. "Let's see. The name that guy had given me was something like Reg… tus… Or was it Ri… ee… gg.. Uuuuuhh…"
He stared blankly in the void for a short moment before getting annoyed.
"Aaarrgh!" he groaned in frustration as he scratched the back of his hand. "You know what. Just call me Ryu."
Emilia only stared at him like an enigma not worth deciphering.
"Okay… Ryu, was it? Where am I?" Emilia hesitated a little bit.
"Oh, this place. How do I put it?" Ryu flopped on the ground, sitting cross-legged.
"I need your help," he slightly raised his arm, pointing his finger in the air.
"Help?"
"Yep." Ryu nodded. "I need your help to get inside that door behind you."
"Hmm?" Emilia turned her head around, noticing the polished wooden door that stood 3 meters behind her.
"What is…?" her words trailed off into silence, her voice barely a whisper.
"Ace," Ryu had a smirk and almost amused foxlike expression on his face as Emilia shot him with a surprised look in her eyes.
"How…?" she began, Ryu immediately cutting in on her.
"Do you want him to wake up?" he asked, the glint in his eyes saying that he already knew the answer.
"What do you…?"
"I mean…" he jumped off the ground and slowly landed on the ground as if he was levitating. "It's pretty obvious when I look at you. Plus, I'm tired of waiting for him to wake up after all this time."
Emilia's words stayed stuck in her throat.
"Though I've gotta admit you're pretty impressive," Ryu had another bright smile plastered on his face. "Normally, any human in your shoes would have already broken down or strayed off their path completely. But unlike them, you've held on pretty great."
"But I can kind of tell that it's not just through sheer willpower that you've managed to remain sane. He also played a role," Ryu continued, Emilia's body having frozen in place from his words.
"I don't…" she held her head down, her words caught by a hesitation she couldn't deny.
"No need to hide it from me," Ryu started walking around Emilia, as if trying to enclose her in a circle of truth. "That's just the way humans are."
"No matter how strong or resilient a human is alone, they inevitably face a wall. Humans are social creatures by nature after all. They find strength in others. And because of that, they're able to go beyond what they couldn't do alone. So, by that principle, I'm pretty sure you're already aware of it yourself, right?"
He stopped in his tracks, glancing down at her with a curious gaze that seemed to be able to peer into her soul.
"It's only human to seek connection and comfort from another, even if it's in a different form than usual. And that's exactly what that guy is to you, right? Like a drug that you're addicted to. A sleeping prince that belongs to you and you alone. That's why you always cling to him every night."
He stood in front of her and then crouched, clasping her face with his hands and raising her head until their eyes met.
Anyone could feel the weight in Emilia's gaze. The pain. The sorrow. The loneliness. The burden. The guilt. Everything in her eyes screamed of only those things. And Ryu? He was contemplating everything with a calm and serious expression.
"In the gray and lonely path you had chosen, he's probably the last thing that can hold on to. The only one that's close enough and the only one who wouldn't care. That's just the way it is. So tell me. Do you want him to wake up again? No. That's not accurate. Do you want to save him?"
"Huh? Save… him?" Emilia couldn't understand what Ryu meant by that.
"Mhmm," Ryu smiled bright while giving her a nod.
"Hop!" Once again, Ryu stood up and straightened his back.
And as he did, he offered her his hand. "Aren't you curious? About the darkness in him? About why he's the way he is? If you are, take my hand. And icing on the cake, I'll even put a little extra for you."
Ryu raised his other arm, placing his index finger close to his lips, giving Emilia a scheming and mischievous smile.
"If you do help me find the true Ace, you'll be able to save him from himself. Doesn't that sound like a fair deal?" he grinned excitedly as if he was a child waiting for the okay to go on an adventure. "So, what do you say?"
Emilia studied Ryu's expression, his words and his offer. God only knows how many secrets surrounded Ace and Emilia's desire to know them. But because of everything she had experienced and seen from Ace, she knew better than to inquire.
At the same time, other images came to mind. Whenever Ace's past came up or whenever he acted up almost irrationally, Emilia couldn't ignore the look in his eyes. Beyond the cold darkness and empty abyss in Ace's gaze, an intense, raging fury would flareup whenever his past came up, but more than that, beyond the rage, there was definitely something else. Something she herself had experienced and went through.
'But it was different,' Emilia reflected on her thoughts.
Indeed, whatever was hidden deep inside Ace's being, it was of a completely different nature from her trauma and her past.
Once again, she locked eyes with Ryu, a solid realization coming to her.
'I wonder what he knows about Ace.'
She then stared back at the door behind her where Ryu affirmed Ace was somewhere within.
Ace came once again to her mind.
'Save him. I wonder what he means by saving him.'
Emilia stared once more at Ryu. Though his words seemed to carry no falsehood, his mere presence was suspicious as it is. But if he was the same as the being she had once meant, then maybe it was worth a shot.
Even if she had her reservations about Ace, mixed feelings that she couldn't quite understand herself, she still wanted to know more about him.
She took Ryu's hand who then helped her up.
"Let's do it," Emilia gave a response, making Ryu pleased with the look in her eyes.
"Hehe. Nice to be working with you," Ryu hid his real thoughts behind that smile of his. 'Wow. To think her eyes could still lit up like that. Things should be very interesting from now on.'