Another Stage
Yellow. Boiling yellow, an ochre flood, is all I see. Something washes over me, but I mush past it. I won't be pulled back. An Avenger never forgets. I need to follow.
Follow the Count, Edmond Dantes, the guardian of my psyche, deeper and deeper, his yellow coat bubbling before me (was it always yellow?).
I sink. I sink. I see the path before me, Aldebaran and the Hyades, the twin suns rising over the lake of Hali-
"Here already, my accomplice?" The Count's voice rings out from behind his mask. "We've made good progress."
And then, I'm falling. Falling, into endless yellow, plunging past yellow trees, down, down off of the Storm Border, until-
I open my eyes, and I'm sitting at a small campfire in a misty landscape.
"Yo, Master of Chaldea."
***
The Prop Room
"Yo, Master of Chaldea."
The light, nonchalant greeting of Tezcatlipoca does little to distract me from the horror that just took place. My intestines falling out of my stomach… It's been a while since I last experienced it, so I had forgotten just how terrifying it was. But within a few moments, I re-settle myself, and shake my head.
"What the hell was that…?"Just how much was the downstairs overwhelmed by those creatures? Where did they come from? Wallachia should be off the table so… "The basement trial?" Xiang Yu seemed to imply it would be a problem if activated prematurely, so maybe… Speaking of which, the 'solution' to that trial ought to have arrived at the tower, according to him, meaning… probably Nanaya, right? Nothing else stands out.
"Hey, hey, want to share that little internal debate you're having aloud?" Tezcatlipoca asks, a frown on her face - right, come to think of it-!
"I don't want to talk about that, but hey! You were acting like you were in the loop on the whole Ritsuka thing, but it went as far as showing up in the trial!?" I say, pointing at her. Even if the Tezcatlipoca Ritsuka summons is an adult male, that guy and the spirit possessing this girl are pretty clearly the same.
"Did I, now? That's pretty wild," She says, giving a thoughtful grin as she taps her chin. "Zepia said that he was going to be using the seven Lostbelt kings-" The what? "-so why - no, actually, it's pretty obvious. That woman would have caused things to go completely sideways no matter what. Crazy as he was, I doubt Zepia wanted to wake up the spider of all things. For that matter, Morgan and Arjuna have probably been subbed out too, huh?"
"We haven't seen the first one of those, but Arjuna's been a pretty consistent problem…" I mumble.
"Woah, he actually went for that one?" Her eyes widen a little. "Maybe Morgan's not off the table, then - or failing that, the Abyssal Vermin. Good luck with that, seriously."
"If you're just going to mock me, I'd rather talk to- hang on, where'd Pepe go?" I ask. He's not here this time? There was some kind of limit, but-
"He's saving his 'ability to act within Mictlan' for a more special occasion, it seems. I probably should have been more narrow with the terms, but… well, this is fun too," Tezcatlipoca answers with a shrug.
"Can't you just be normal in your motivations? Seriously…" I mumble.
"That's just how it goes when you're on nobody's side," she says. "Well, putting aside my pre-existing commitments, anyway. If Fujimaru Ritsuka's been produced by the Tatari, that takes care of the biggest roadblock - now the only contracts that I'm trapped in are with Daybit and the Planet."
"Daybit? Just what kind of connection do you have with him?" Putting aside that talk about the Planet, which could mean three or four different things. And the fact that he's got some kind of stake in producing a Ritsuka rumor.
"That's not the type of thing I feel like sharing for free, unfortunately," she answers. Annoying.
Still, considering her phrasing… "Alright, if there's things you are willing to tell me for free, how about those creatures on the stairway? Any idea what those are?" I ask, crossing my arms.
"Huh? What creatures? Do you think I can just see whatever you see?" She asks with a coy smile.
"Of course you can. There's already a rumor that 'Louis Arneb is inside my body', right?" I answer. I don't think that's the type of thing Wallachia would have shut down, and I've been thinking about it ever since I saw the tower.
At that time, when Louis Arneb erased my memories, she also split her body somehow, and mashed part of herself into me - I guess the Great Rabbit could split itself, so 'Arneb', a star from the Lepus constellation, being able to do the same makes the tiniest bit of sense.
She wanted to see my way of existence, to devour [Return by Death] - and she got enough to choke on. But as for Tezcatlipoca…
"You already figured it out, huh…?" She asks.
"Yeah, if only because you seem like the type that has to watch everything that's happening." Tezcatlipoca is probably the kind that could withstand [Return by Death]. She's already 'got a similar trick' in the first place.
"Yeah, with this body, I can do that self-replication trick too - since hunger is always growing, Gluttony's capacity for self-propogation is… well, not the best I've ever seen, that [Spider] exists, after all - but it's in the top five or so," Tezcatlipoca says with a dark chuckle. "My own ability to achieve miracles relies on self-sacrifice, so an endless supply of bodies is damn convenient."
Does that mean all of the nonsense he's been pulling has been powered by the suffering of Louis Arneb? That's…
"That's quite the grin you've got there, Master of Chaldea. You're a pretty nasty guy, aren't you?" She asks, and I cover my mouth as self-awareness returns.
"Still, there's other limits, right…?" I ask.
"The self-sacrifice is [Black Sun]'s limit. Louis Arneb's limit is her inability to perform that trick outside of the Corridor of Memories - but as long as we're in this space I can do whatever I want. I'm the Omnipotent Tezcatlipoca, just like the good old days," She answers, adjusting her stupid sunglasses. "Well, like I said, there are still some fetters tying me down. And of course, there's the other part - this body is just what you guys have been calling a [Figment]. My [Gluttony ] isn't the real deal; it'll disappear with the TATARI when morning arrives."
…Is this space part of the TATARI too? We were able to access it even back in Chaldea, though, so maybe not?
"Don't get fooled, Master of Chaldea. You haven't exited the TATARI once yet. You've just been moving between the 'stage' and the 'backstage' - aside from your time in Hieda-no-Are's reality marble and in the 'audience seating area', anyway - speaking of which, I really do have no idea what you've been seeing. [Puppet Playground] totally wiped out my clone, and I didn't give you a new one last time you were here. If you want, I can fix that, but-" Tezcatlipoca says, seemingly reading my mind.
I read hers in kind. "I'm not paying for something like that!"
…
A brief silence follows. I can't think of anything else to ask, so we're left staring at each other-
"-Ah, as far as that incident with Red Tezcatlipoca goes, I can access dreams still, even if they're technically outside the TATARI." She explains for literally no reason.
"I wasn't even slightly curious about that," I deadpan, and again we both go silent, staring at each other as my brain whirls, trying to get a handle on what I should do to fix my current fiasco.
…
"-Wanna make a deal?" Tezcatlipoca asks.
"No," I shoot her down instantly. "Not yet, anyway. Send me back, I need to check my reset point." Ideally, it'll be this morning or sooner, but I've got a bad feeling…
"Sure, sure," She waves dismissively. "See you next time."
***
Another Stage
"My accomplice, there is no need to take a bargain with Tezcatlipoca, now that you know his nature," The Count says. "At that time, you were already dead - and Daybit Sem Void's servant, Tezcatlipoca, took advantage of the situation to acquire your Command Spells and Master Authority. But you won back your Command Spells through your journey in Mictlan, and your Master Authority has been returned to you by a certain playwright. And, most importantly, at this moment - you are not dead."
Is that right? That's right, isn't it? Even though I can't remember how I got here, this can't be death. This is not the end of all things. This is not [███ ████████ Thing].
"Yeah. Tear him to pieces, Count." I answer.
"Just so, my accomplice!" He roars, and I stare entranced at his swirling cloak, falling deeper into the nauseating yellow.
Deeper. Deeper. We go deeper, falling down and down.
***
Act 4, Scene 12
"A cat is -" Nanaya's voice meets my awareness, interrupted by his cat clawing his cheek. Seriously, can't I just get lucky once, ever!? "-She can shapeshift, at least in dreams. If you ever meet Tohno, you should tell him you know what he did the night he first met her. It'll be funny."
"Yeah, not doing that," I reply. "There's a big army of monsters coming up the stairs, any way that you can-"
"Don't worry, Master, I can- ah." Shaula starts to say. "A-ah. Master, you need to-!"
I'm not commanding her to kill herself, obviously. This is a bust.
My reset point is still terrible, which means, probably… "I can use [Return by Death] to return to the past when I die," I say, and no penalty follows
"Huh?" Nanaya glances at me. "Seriously? That's pretty broken, but why- oh, damn, so that's why my instincts were going wild." His knife flashes, and Len disappears in a cloud of black smoke before he can cut through her. "-tch." Then, Nanaya steps towards Shaula, whose form has already morphed into that of an enormous scorpion. "Hey, if you were expecting me to kill you, I won't. Her turning into a scorpion is a bit of a turn-off, but there's no way I'm backing down from this-"
"-Satella." I call her name, and nothing follows. "Satella, I'm here, so find me!"
But nobody comes, which can only mean-
Shaula's stinger glows bright, and-
***
The Prop Room
"-Yo, Master of Chaldea. Back so soon?" Tezcatlipoca asks.
"Yeah. I'm pretty trapped, after all," I answer with a sigh.
I screwed up - no, it's more like I hadn't even considered this potentiality, because it's completely impossible. Wasn't there some talk of her being a Beast? There's absolutely no way that this could have happened.
And yet.
And yet-!
"-Tezcatlipoca. You already pulled it in here, didn't you?" I ask. "Satella's book, I mean."
She grins back at me.
"Well? Wanna make a deal?" A small black book, reminiscent of that volume Petelgeuse had been so attached to, is held in her hand.
…
My throat is suddenly unbearably dry. My arm reaches towards it before I can stop myself.
I want it. I want it, more than anything.
This could be our reunion, as twisted as it is. This is what my soul has been yearning for, since before 'Natsuki Subaru' came into existence.
With Wallachia's Mystic Code, I could call her forth. At last, we could be together, and with me holding her reins, this time, perhaps-! Maybe, just maybe-!
"-The cost?" I croak, some tiny fragment of my sanity holding out.
"A command spell. Just one," She answers.
That's all? That's easy.
Then… then…!
"I-" I start to say.
"Now, now, that's enough of that," Says a voice wholly unfamiliar to me, as the scent of flowers fills the air.