It was dark.
A girl lay partially slumped over a dirty table, using her arms as improvised pillows for her sleep-heavy head.
Across from her, a man arranged the playing cards in silence — his expression hidden beneath a worn fedora.
Outside, the world still rushed on, indifferent, but in there, things seemed frozen in place. The nameless child, despite her exhaustion, seemed incapable of allowing herself to rest, as if she feared what awaited her when she closed her eyes.
"Nightmares?" The hoarse voice asked, noting her restlessness.
She responded with a gentle shake of her head. Her fear was not the terrible images she saw in sleep… it was the possibility of not waking up to see daylight.
The vulnerability of falling asleep was her true terror.
Ironic, wasn't it?
A voice echoed, breaking the sweet rhythm of a symphony. The change was subtle, but like a cascade of dominoes, it became more discernible with each passing second… a lost beat, unable to recover its meter. All the fault of an irritatingly familiar voice.
The little girl reacted strangely, and then with a snap… something changed in her.
Slowly… Shelly lifted her head, allowing herself to face the fox on the other side. There was a strange, anachronistic expression on her face. Surprise, fear, and then a stunned realization.
"I… am dreaming, aren't I?" Otherwise, there would be no way that man could be standing before her.
She let out a weak laugh, taking in her surroundings with a touch of bitterness. It had been so many years since she had seen her home, and of all places, she hadn't expected to find it inside a nightmare. "This thing chose you to haunt me, then."
Her expectation was that once the charade was revealed, that shapeless mass would drop the act. But no monster attacked her, nor did the walls attempt to devour her and drown her in darkness as they had the last few times.
Having finished hiding the deck beneath the table, the man settled back into his chair with a sheepish air. "Haunt is a strong word — I'd call it supervision."
The surroundings, once painted with firm, crisp clarity, were losing their consistency, dissolving into sloppy smears.
That illusion was collapsing, it seemed.
"Those were simpler times, for me. You were still as talkative as a plank of wood… and just as thick. I spoiled you so well!" He laughed, leaning back in his chair, but there was no humor in his voice. Shelly, for her part, remained still, staring at the man's silhouette… wanting to stretch the vividness of that moment in her eyes.
"It wasn't you who ruined me." She replied dryly, but the Fox paid no attention. He was a recreation born from her own thoughts and memories, after all.
"Semantics, little one, semantics. Ultimately, it was still my fault. But look — you're alive after all of it. They always told me the new generation is doomed to surpass the next. I see the truth in that, now." Shelly clenched her fist tightly, driving her nails into the flesh of her palm.
"Things would be better if I weren't here." Those words made the man pause for a moment, his smile widening in an artificial way. The silence stretched, neither of them knowing how to proceed. Shelly lowered her head, staring fixedly at her small, completely empty hands.
She could still feel the handle of the black knife between her fingers, like a phantom limb.
It was then that he finally removed the peculiar hat.
Revealing, in fact, a hollow face.
Completely melted.
"Is that what you tell yourself every night?" Shelly's eyes trembled slightly, startled by the absence of the red eyes she had expected. "I've had similar thoughts. Long before you… and yet I lived long enough to find you." His pale finger slid along the brim of the accessory in a tender gesture. The object was no simple piece of fabric — it was a longtime companion.
The sinister face seemed to shift its focus between the girl and the hat for a few moments, mind already made up.
The fedora flew through the air, crossing the table and landing in the small girl's lap.
"I ask your forgiveness for this. Now, wake up."
Shelly felt her consciousness being pulled with an indescribable force, torn out of that small dark world. Her attempt to resist the current, to stay there a moment longer, to say one more thing… but the words died in her throat.
Because like any nightmare, it ends eventually.
***
The crimson light filtering through the cracks of a shoddily built cabin was painful to her eyes, accustomed as they were to darkness. How long had she been asleep? Or rather, how had she woken up?
The answer to her question came in the form of a delicate face, so beautiful it caused her distaste. The emerald eyes, full of anticipation, filled with joy upon noticing that the sleeping maiden had also escaped the clutches of the abyss.
"Shelly? Shelly?! Can you hear me?!" Giovanni shook her frantically, afraid to let her slip back into sleep. The lethargy from drowsiness and aching muscles vanished in an instant, and her first instinct was to kick the dramatic boy away. It was quite the surprise when the impact barely managed to move him, just like the first time — instead, it was her foot that hurt.
"Damn! Gah… how… where am I?" Using her arms, Shelly dragged herself until her back was propped against the nearest wall, finally getting a clear view of her surroundings. Eric, a little to the side, was kneeling with his hand on his head.
Sofia was staring at her with a mix of concern and embarrassment while Aguiar was laughing and whispering nonsense into the newly awakened giant's ear. It was Giovanni who knelt before her, composure restored and a gentle smile on his lips.
"You're safe. We reached the waterfall and found a way to drive out the song… everything is going to be fine now." They… actually managed it?
The disbelieving laugh that escaped her lips was genuine.
Not for a single moment had she harbored the slightest hope that this group would survive to the end of the expedition to the waterfalls. They should have been dead, and yet they were alive.
"Did you make a pact with some creature or something?" It was the only explanation for them still being on their feet after so much had been thrown against them. Giovanni swallowed hard and made a strange sign across his chest, quickly. "N-Never! Don't even joke about that! Anyway, it doesn't matter — I have a lot to fill you in on."
What on earth was that?
Setting the subject aside, everyone focused on the smaller boy when he announced he had something to say.
"I know everything must seem very confusing… and it really is. But this is serious — I know the way out of here."
***
The cabin was enveloped in an unnatural quiet, considering how loud its inhabitants could be when they chose to be.
The entire group was tense, listening to words they had longed to hear but had lost all hope of ever being real until a short while ago. Just a few hours earlier, they had been discussing how everyone was going to die, and now, there was even an escape plan.
Aguiar and Sofia were especially on edge.
They had avoided asking what exactly the boy had found beneath the black spring, since the focus was elsewhere and time was short — but now? Both of them wanted every last piece of information, and then some. Eric, finally recovered, rose to his feet, still wrapped in bandages from the battle against the Hydra, and spoke.
"How?" It was the question everyone wanted to ask. The violet eyes, weary, seemed less steady than usual, almost lost in thought.
"I'll try to summarize as much as possible, but it's still going to be bizarre, okay? I, Aguiar, and Sofia explored the area after we arrived. Oh, right, it was him who saved us from that massive, weird whale! We discovered that the music here protected us from the symphony, explored further and found a cave, and then… at the bottom of it there was a spring of black sludge, I jumped in, found the ghost of one of the rulers of this kingdom, talked to her about a lot of things, then she gave me powers, then I came here and healed you all!" Having said everything without drawing a single breath, Giovanni was red-faced and breathless by the end of the explanation, gasping for air.
Sofia, who thought she had been ready, upon hearing that Giovanni had found and spoken with a person from the Dream Kingdom still intact, felt the blood drain from her face and fell backwards.
"...What?" Shelly, for her part, went expressionless, trying to rationalize the nonsense that had just entered her ears.
The stocky young man further back combed through his silky hair with his fingers, staring at his companion, collapsed flat on the floor, and commented in an animated tone. "You, Giovanni… are truly GLORIOUS! Haha! How dare you hide this from me for so long?! Now it makes sense that you turned into a woman! Don't tell me you met that beheaded mermaid…"
"I did not turn into a woman,you moron!" The serious subject quickly unraveled into banter, and it took Eric stomping his foot against the cabin floor to bring them back on track. Giovanni cleared his throat with embarrassment while Aguiar gave a small smirk and fell silent.
Sofia also got back up with a pained grimace, rubbing her head.
"As I was saying… I spoke at length with this ruler, including about a way to escape from here; the problem is that it's anything but easy." There was no easy way to say it, but Giovanni still preferred to explain things as digestibly as possible.
"The floating castle is sealed. Even if we went there now, it would be impossible to find the gate. We need to find and kill the rest of the rulers here, take the key fragments from them, and get out. One of them, you've already met, Aguiar… the silk witch. The second, we passed close to where he lives, in that grey mangrove — he's a massive dragon! Finally, there's one I have absolutely no idea where to find, but it should be easy to locate with my powers — it's a giant golem in a factory."
The group took on a grave expression, especially Aguiar, who set the jokes aside and fell silent, his gaze going cold.
Each of those battles had nearly cost them their lives, and now they had discovered they would be forced to relive them — harder than before.
"We won't be able to kill her." The triton crossed his arms, recalling the massacre wrought by the hands of the corrupted seamstress. If twenty of them, armed and accompanied by Echoes, couldn't manage it, that small group would make no difference.
He didn't look down on his companions' individual strength… or his own. It was simply impossible, at present.
"I know — I'm not talking about charging over there with weapons in hand… we need time. First, let's go back to the mansion. There, we can regroup, train, and prepare. If everyone agrees, of course." The greatest benefit that acquiring Ophelia's gift had brought was… time after all.
Now that the symphony was no longer an inevitable mortal threat, they could rest and focus on refining their abilities. Giovanni himself had a list of things he'd been putting off until now because it had been impossible to stop and practice.
"I agree! We have so many new resources…" Sofia glanced toward her skirt, where the hydra heads lay inert. "But we haven't had time to really learn how to use them."
Eric and Shelly exchanged a look, being the most exhausted of the group. That nap had been anything but restful. Everyone urgently needed rest.
"Let's head back then."
"Just get going already…"
They spoke in unison.
It was decided, then. The expedition was over.
It was time to go home.
Shelly, isolated as usual in one of the corners of the cabin, silently watched the rest of the group discussing various things about what to bring or prepare for the return journey. At what point… had she become part of this?
The one who approached was Sofia, who offered a hand to the sullen young woman, a little hesitant.
"Aguiar is begging like crazy to go find something… want to come with us?" Shelly swallowed hard, feeling her hand tremble for no reason. In the end, she stood up on her own, crossed her arms, and positioned herself beside the shorter girl. "I need to stretch my legs… show me the way."
***
Giovanni hadn't expected things to end like this, but deep down, he was profoundly grateful. Seeing everyone well, working together, filled him with the hope that from here on, things tended to get better. At the moment, the only thing they were waiting on was the trio that had gone to explore the local clearings to return — with whatever it was they had gone off to find.
Aguiar was being quite secretive, and Sofia also seemed to be in on the scheme. The fact that she was keeping her thoughts shielded at every moment left him completely in the dark.
"What are those crazy people doing…" The boy sighed, soon noticing Eric a little below the tree where he sat, examining the condition of his weapons, which had been damaged in his last battle. The time spent inside his Soul Sea had left them in a usable state, it seemed.
It was still difficult to strike up a conversation with the Legacy… given the difference in their standing, but…
"Are you… Okay, Eric?" The question pulled the giant from his trance, who raised his face and glanced over his shoulder. No immediate answer came, but Giovanni wasn't in any hurry to receive one.
"I'll admit, you are more impressive than I imagined." The compliment came so suddenly that the delicate boy couldn't help but flush, caught off guard. Eric continued, paying no attention to Giovanni's reaction. "This is the second time I've fallen to the symphony and risen again through your aid. Do you know what my clan would say about that?"
When no answer came, the boy explained. "Shame. I would already be considered dead, having failed on my very first visit to the Dream Realm. My name would be struck from the records, like a ghost."
His robotic, steady tone remained unchanged.
Hearing that… was sad. In the short time Giovanni had spent alongside his companion, he had seen more than enough to notice that Eric was the most powerful Dreamer he had ever known. A figure to look up to. There was nothing in him deserving of shame.
The same could not be said of himself, who — for better or for worse — had been making increasingly questionable choices over the past few weeks. His bond of servitude with Sofia, the mortal gamble of diving into the sludge spring. He was constantly flipping a coin and praying for the best.
Even if things had worked out so far, that was still a source of shame that haunted him constantly.
"I... would be dead too. All of us would be without you here. So does it make any difference?" That was true for everyone in the group… if any one of them hadn't been there, the rest would have died. There was no piece more important than another.
"...In this place, I believed myself prepared for the challenges of destiny. But now, I see the error in my methods. I will remember this, Light Seeker."
The conversation ended in an instant, with Eric returning his focus to the mystical metal of his arsenal, but Giovanni didn't feel unsatisfied. In a simple gesture, the boy climbed down from where he was and sat beside his companion, this time. He wouldn't dare say he already understood what was going through the warrior's mind, but at least now, he could pride himself on understanding him a little better.
In his chest, the mention of his true name still echoed — the memories of the war he had waged for his identity in the black spring still fresh. Distracted by the gentle breeze, he almost didn't notice the vibration of several people approaching with a basket in hand. Inside, it appeared to contain… fruit and ice?
"Giovanni! We found the treasure! Time to hit the road." Aguiar shouted, climbing the dirt path up to the high point where the pair rested. Sofia was sweaty and fed up beside him, having spent more time than she cared to on that search, while Shelly followed behind, sighing.
"You really wanted… fruit that badly? Or better yet, is this thing even edible?" His doubt was genuine, given the lethal ecosystem of the place. "You are so innocent, boy! You'll understand everything… in due time." Aguiar remarked, accompanied by a low little laugh.
That statement gave Giovanni chills…