A pair of closed eyelids trembled once, trying to open but to no avail. They tremble again but nothing happened still.
"...Great," Her soft voice echoed throughout the darkness. She tried to open her eyes one last time but they remained close. "Where even am I?"
"Awake at last," Another voice remarked, her tone carrying exhaustion. "Have you always been this much of a deep sleeper?"
"I don't know—wait a damn minute... who are you?" She inquired to the voice resounding in her head. "And how are you speaking directly in my head!?"
The voice remained, as if deep in thought. The one outside tried her chance at walking around her, luckily her legs seemed to be working still, despite the lack of feeling in them. She advanced clumsily, nearly stumbling a few times but with each step, she regained feeling in her numb limbs. "At least you can move," The voice commented.
"Are you gonna tell me who you are now?" The girl inquired, coming to a stop.
"It is not that I don't want to, but..." The voice grew quieter with each word, uncertain as to how to proceed on the matter.
"But?" The girl spoke, refusing to leave the voice go silent again. "Don't tell me you don't know?"
"...That is the issue, yes." The voice admitted, the girl clicked her tongue. "I know, that is far from ideal but considering how current predicament, we could maybe put the matter on hold."
The girl shrugged her shoulders, "If you want, so let's figure out where we are."
"Ah, I can help you with this!" The voice claimed, excitement apparent in her voice. "The place in question, I don't know but from what I can see... we are in a sort of dump yard."
"You can see?" The girl raised an eyebrow.
"Quite clearly, unfortunately. All around you are body parts—twisted and broken beyond recognition."
"That sounds awful." The girl stated flatly. She felt the matter should impact her more but it barely made a ripple in her mind. Brushing her thought with a shrug, she asked the voice, "Besides that, do you see anything else, anything that could help us get out?"
"...I see a steel wall in the distance behind all the broken bodies. Start there" The voice replied, her tone cold. "Go straight for now."
The girl obeyed, walking straight ahead, her arms extended forward just in case something came in her path, and maybe just a lack of trust at the voice. For the duration of the trip, no small chatter were exchanged, only directions were given. "We've arrived," The voice informed the girl, who used her hands as she walked along the cold steel wall. "What are you searching for?"
"A door, a window, something really..."
"You really have no idea what you are searching, huh?" The voice sighed. It wasn't like she had a better idea. The girl kept her hands on the wall, until...
"OH SHI—"
She lost contact.
The voice didn't see anything out of the ordinary either. The wall was there, until it wasn't. The dark dump yard had been replaced by a deep fall with no end in sight.
"You could've warned me, you know!" The girl exclaimed, feeling herself free-falling.
"I would have if I had seen anything, as far as I know, you just started falling." The voice answered back immediately.
"Right... I totally believe you..." The girl would have rolled her eyes if she could open them.
"Oh please, keep your doubts to yourself. I never asked to be with you in the first place!"
Before their bickering could escalate, the surroundings changed. A grand, verdant forest came into view, tree shot up in the sky, foliage blocking the sky, but allowing sunlight to pass through. The girl stood on her feet, completely intact.
"...Feels awfully familiar." The two spoke at the same time, surprising each other.
"You too?" The girl asked.
"Yes but why?" The voice raised another important question. Why did this place feel so familiar? As far as they knew, neither of them had set foot there, save for now.
"Let's explore, maybe we'll find out something useful." The girl resonated, taking her first step, guided by the voice in her head. One step at a time, she made her way deeper inside the forest, sliding between trees, stumbling on roots and rocks every so often. "...I hate not being able to see a thing and how long have I been walking?"
"About an hour, I think." The voice announced flatly. "It seems like there's no end to this forest."
Silence settled between the two, the only noise that occasionally arose was the small breeze shaking the leaves. The girl sighed, "Can we talk about something? That silence is driving me insane..."
"I'm not opposed to the idea, but what do you want to talk about?" The voice questioned.
"Hmmm... how about... what will you do when we get out?"
"What I would do?" The voice repeated. "Well, it's not like I could go anywhere with me being in your head."
"Then where would you like me to go when we get out?"
Just as the voice was about to answer the girl's question, her attention was caught by something—or rather someone. There was a woman with short black-hair, fair skin, wearing a regular military uniform. She rested against a tree, eyes closed, her chest rose and fell rhythmically. At her side were the broken hilt of a katana and its sheath.
"At least we aren't alone in that maze of tree," The voice commented. The recurring feeling of deja-vu intensified as the two of them stood before the woman,
"What..." The girl whispered, her eyelids opened at last, revealing two carmine-color eyes missing the light of life. "...am I doing here?"
"What are you talking about?" The voice inquired with an amused tone.
"...Stop fooling around, Goddess of Death. That is your doing, isn't it?" Kuyo's voice boiled with annoyance and anger.
"What if it was? Be honest with yourself, you had no idea what to do back there." The Goddess added, making little effort to hide her haughtiness. "I was planning to help you with that, you know."
"Uh-huh, I totally believe you. Oh, and were you, perhaps, going to make me jump off a cliff as well?" Kuyo retorted, arms crossed.
"That would have been funny, but no. Plus, with me being around you, that would have been just an inconvenience."
"...What does that mean?"
"I will tell you if you listen to my request."
The Gear could feel the smugness in the Goddess's voice, but she couldn't do much about that. So, with a sigh, she asked, defeat resounding in her tone. "...What do you want?"