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Xibalba

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Kotomine_Rin:
Zeke

"Oh, the same old curiosity? How precious... I used to be like that too. No, I guess I haven't changed all that much from my Father. You know, there's just one path for people like you and me. So sure, let's go back! I'll show you as many times as you need." He smiled kindly, putting a comforting arm on Joseph's shoulder-

Only to push his whole face down the seawater. Forcefully, cruelly, kindly, gently, he pushed his head down the sea of forbidden knowledge. It burned, it crawled, inside his eyelids, inside his ears. Whispering, expanding, always expanding, like the starts, burning away only to rebirth. Pounding inside Joseph again and again and again as he drowned inside forbidden time.

While he was trying to figure that out, bubbles were bubbling from around Joseph. Forbidden knowledge, but something about it was wrong. It was the future, yes, but bits and pieces of it were missing. Like a film that had been recovered from a fire, it was still working alright, but aside key scenes, the process was too burnt out to be intelligibly made out.

Zeke's eyes narrowed.

Umbra of Chaos:
Joseph

We cannot be saved, only forgiven.

Joseph only struggled under the waters for a moment before stilling completely. He listened. He saw. He made himself open the tide. As he focused as hard as he could, the alchemist began to fall apart.

First, strands of hair floated up to the water's surface. Then the skin that Zeke was touching began to soften and darken. The air smelled of rot as the rest of his flesh began to fall apart and polluted the waters, and soon the draconic man's fingers were clutching putrefying flesh and exposed bone. Red poured from skin that tore like paper, and staining the sands of the beach. Still alive, Joseph worked through the pain to focus. He always did, in the end.

Kotomine_Rin:
Zeke

The dragonkin's body was almost responding to the corruption, for the dark pits in his eyes almost seemed to deepen as he stared down at the decomposing husk. For a moment, he just stared in perplexion. What... was going on?

"The struggles of the living..." He muttered to himself, feeling the rotting pus crawl across his fingertips. "...No, the struggle of all things. They are, they are..."

"Are truly admirable." Tears were streaming from his eyes, an expression of true sorrow.

"Are truly unsightly." A mocking grin formed across his chest, an expression of disdain.

And yet, which one was his? Before one could think of such things, a demonic screeching sound ran through his body, as if a dozen beasts were crying inside his body. Bubbles and bulgind muscles were writhing and wriggling across his body like slugs before popping and growing like tumours to shape his aged body into that of a muscular beast. His crying eye rolled around his face like it was trying to rip itself out, its line of sight bouncing back and forth at lightning speed before the colour changed into a golden hue.

"Oh, father... are you watching me? Ufufu..." He staggered and crouched on his knee, smiling sadly while barley holding onto Joseph. His black eye bulged as tentacles were starting to open out of his pores. "Yes, my cute Zeke. My adorable Zeke. You are doing well. Just a little more. " He clutched at his face. But whose face was it? And whose hand was gripping his body so coldly?

"I'm so glad... even if they will not forgive me... no, that's right." He paused, only for his golden eye to  tremble its way further out of his skull, looking more like a misshapen marble than an actual organ. "Yes, my precious Zeke. My lovely vessel. We must endure this. We will never be forgiven. But... but..."

"Our dream can be saved."
"This world can be saved."

Such was the will of the world.

That was what he believed. That was why his expression kept calm. But suddenly, it changed, his eyes suddenly sparked into shock for some reason.


Outside the portal to the unknown, dark world organisms danced. It was as if they were worshipping something, deep within the wormhole. Deep within the sea of memories.

Until one of them flickered like static, stopping for a second. Then another, like a glitch. And soon, the dance was thrown out of order. Because of that, the portal destabiized. Because of that, Joseph lost himself amidst visions of countless possibilities.

He could see them. He could see them all. All of his failures, all of the times his ambition turned to despair.

All but one. That light, that hope, that he would come out victorious. It was just within reach, as he sank further. He just needed to swim his way in just a little bit more...


"Huuuuh?" He stared down at the water. It was blackening, and the result puzzled his expression completely. At first, he thought this was normal. But... it wasn't. Was this Joseph's doing? No, that rot shouldn't affect a fake world like that. So why? Wh-

"ARGH!" His arm flickered like static, and the sea of possibilities cracked. He quickly pulled his arm out, which was now nothing more than a gnawed off forearm. His expression turned to shock and disbelief. And soon, horror.

"JOSEPH!" He rushed to the edge of the island, and tried to find him amidst the sea. But... he couldn't. It wasn't just because it was darkened by this mud-like corruption. It wasn't because his body was starting to flicker out of this place.

He simply couldn't. Not before, and not now. This sea of the world's memories was not something he could perceive. It was why he needed someone to test it. To figure out if it worked. He was sweating, just smiling down the sea. But the smile showed nothing but fear.

"Jeez... this is bad... but why? The formula should be-"

"Just like back then?" A voice called out behind him. A bird flapped its wings mockingly, while the thud of a familiar cane smacked against the sand. Behind the rejected son, an ashen man smiled. "It won't work. Not with a half-formed idea." He tossed a book down Zeke's feet.

"Why don't you go back to formula? It's what I'd have done, if I were still in there." He pointed at Zeke's chest... his body with his cane. The boy just stared with disbelief, gripping his torn arm, or the bleeding stump that was left of it anyways. He was... incredulous. He thought that man died.

"Oh, Zeke, that is quite precious an expression you have. Is your eye still hurting?" As he asked that, the bird perched on its shoulder. "Don't worry. I just want to talk."

And so they did. While Joseph kept swirling towards his wish.

Umbra of Chaos:
Joseph

He stayed still a while longer, letting the knowledge soak into him. It wasn't as if he was afraid. There wasn't much left that Joseph could fear, and even now his shadow swelled to swallow him whole. He just needed one last piece...

Quietly, persistently, Joseph slips his way towards a truth.

Kotomine_Rin:
Within the Crucible

It was getting closer, so much closer. But just as he was about to reach that light, just as he was about to grasp that truth-

It slipped back. Slowly, but surely, it was moving away from him. Away from the current. He was so close, but he'd never reach the truth. Because it wasn't being merely snatched away.... he was. A whirlwind was sucking him back, and before long that hope was gone. All that was left was darkness.

And then the light of candles, and a tap on his head.


Zeke

7:59

"eph...oseph..."

A sluggish shake suddenly dragged him away from the sleep of elysium. If he'd open his eyes, he'd see the same Zeke who had shared dinner with him, in the same room that they had been eating, at the same time they had been eating.

"Joseph! Hey hey hey, come on man! Don't just nap on me!" He love-tapped him on the forehead with a stressed out expression.

In the end, Joseph never reached that hope. Nothing changed.

Nothing will ever change.

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