chikaidestroyer | ∞ 106: Echoes in their absence

∞ 106: Echoes in their absence

September 16

[While he had heard of the people -- echoes of people -- appearing around the village, Albert did not happen to see one right away. It's as he's taking a break outside of Celsius Tear that he takes notice of a teenage girl standing in front of the mural by the Welcome Center. He descends the stairs to watch her.

That had been ... almost three years ago now, he recalled as he watched the girl cheerfully set down a bucket of yellow paint. Without paying him any attention or seeing the completed mural in front of her, the girl dipped a paintbrush into the bucket and began making sweeping motions across the mural. Pao-Lin, he finally recalls as she bends over to dip her paintbrush again.

He watches for a while, eventually looking over his shoulder at the other mural that surrounded the fountain. That had been another of her projects with volunteers, done a year later.

He can't help but think about that saying as he watches her paint -- that art only found its value after its artist was gone.]

-----

September 17

[The fountain plaza proves to be a good spot to see the 'echoes,' and Albert decides to take his breaks outside to observe despite the weather looking increasingly storm-like. Sometimes the person he sees is only a flicker of movement, walking around the fountain or sitting on its edge, eating lunch. Once or twice he even sees a person seated or running across a rooftop, leaving him pondering what could have been happening at that time to lead to that behavior.

It's foolish to hope that he'll see a familiar face, he knows. But he still watches.]

-----

September 18, early afternoon

[It seems oddly fitting that he sees echoes of Nami and Yuber on the day of the thunderstorm. Nami, back before she had begun to grow weary of having such awful luck with picking fights with the wrong people. Back before she had been a threat.

...This must have been when Nami declared she would arrest Yuber, going by her uncharacteristic uniform, untouched by the falling rain. He certainly remembered that.]

[Albert can be found in Celsius Tear in the mornings or around the fountain plaza and its stores in the afternoons.]

-----

September 19, evening
Content warning: limb loss

[It happens when he is returning to the hot springs teleporter from visiting his giant owl. The headache comes out of nowhere, like a wave crashing over him, and he drops his journal from where he had been loosely holding it against his side. Shaking his head to clear the disorientation, Albert concentrates enough on Tsinku enough to summon a sphere of contained electricity to light the ground. Upon spotting his journal, he crouches to pick it up.

That's when he notices that there is nothing at the end of his shirt sleeve -- at both of his shirt sleeves.

Dazed, he lifts his hands up to the light to get a better look. But there are no hands. Just dark red masses of muscle and arteries that seem to be in a bizarre state of suspension. The muscles visible twitch as his forearms tense up, and he stares at them blankly for what seems like ages.

The ball of electricity fizzles and disappears as he passes out.

It's over an hour later when he finally wakes up again, his headache worse and his senses slow to reorient themselves. His ragged breathing is answered by a deep hooting noise, and he looks up to see Bilruben's large, glassy eyes reflecting what little light was coming from the artificially displayed moon. The giant owl doesn't move as he sits there in the darkness, a silent sentry while he tries to stop hyperventilating.

He can barely think. The confused, despairing noises he makes are largely incoherent, earning him a tilted stare from the owl as it watches. He doesn't know how long he sits there before he fumbles in the dark, half turned over in the wet grass, to try opening his journal.]

I need help.

[It's breathless and strained. Short and vague.]

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Right.

[He doesn't even mention the headache; the loss of his hands demands his full attention, even as he tries to position himself next to the journal in a comfortable manner. What does he even do in this situation...?

Well. Besides panic. If he's quiet for a while, he can distance himself enough from the situation to note that he's panicking rather badly. Has been panicking.]

[It doesn't matter how fast she runs. It won't feel fast enough. She's out of breath by the time she reaches the teleporter to the mountains. There's nothing up there. First on the list is getting him back down to the village.

The minute she's through the teleporter she takes off running again, more directionless, calling his name. The journal's still open, just in case.]

[When he hears Sheena's voice so far away, he mutters her name questioningly, unsure if he's hearing her from the journal or not. He shouts back her name as her voice continues, though his shouts are largely aimed towards the ground. Biliruben hoots a few times at the amount of shouting for this time of night, unafraid of anything that may come across them in the trees.]

[It's coming through the journal by itself for a while, and he sounds so out of it. When she hears the owl, at last from a real direction, Sheena alters her running to take her that way. Toward the hot springs, of course. Why didn't she think of that?

The hooting gets louder, and she can hear Albert's shouts in the air as well as she stumbles and skids through a rough patch. This is not the time.]

Albert, I can hear you! [There is no pause to brush off dirt or re-center her footing. He's gotta be close by now.]

[It takes a while for him to finally focus on Sheena's voice, but any relief is short-lived as he struggles to sit up. He doesn't know what to do with his arms in his current state, so he instead props himself up against his owl's leg, too far away to use a tree trunk for support.]

I can't concentrate-- for lights.

[His voice grows softer as he hears the tromping through the grass grow louder.]

...Need to get out of here...

[Lights?

Sheena can't do as much light as she can fire; it feels stupid in all the trees but she does it anyway, asking for and receiving a floating fireball to follow her along. Keeps her hands free where a lit-up card wouldn't.

Then she's so close she nearly trips over him and his stupid giant owl. Sheena skids to a stop, using the rest of her momentum to land herself in a half-kneel next to him. The firelight reveals he was telling the whole truth: there aren't any hands at the ends of his arms.

It takes way more effort than she'll admit not to throw up.]

Hey. [Talking is a bad idea and that's too bad.] Hey, I made it.

[Albert himself is pale from the shock of it all, though there is oddly enough no blood accompanying the loss of his hands. It's as if the ends of his forearms are in stasis, keeping him from bleeding out while leaving his bones and arteries exposed. He manages a slight nod at Sheena, for all that it can be seen in the dim light.]

Thanks for coming. [It's an exhausted sound, wrought from the time spent in a daze before he finally gathered up enough concentration to call for help.]

I need help. Back to the village.

No kidding. The big guy didn't wanna carry you, or what?

[Sheena is too shocked and breathless to make the joking work. Now that she's here the next steps slip away from her pretty fast. He's not bleeding all over the place, and that's good. Right?]

I can't carry you, so you're gonna have to walk at least a little bit. [Back to the village. Sheena swallows another wave of nausea and shifts closer, to get an arm under Albert's nearest and around his back.]

[He raises his head to look at the owl before turning his attention back to Sheena, accepting her attempt to get her arm under his to support him while he tries to climb to his feet.]

I-- can't exactly hold on. To him.

[He puts the blame on himself in that matter, clenching his jaw as he pushes himself up and tries not to lean his entire weight against Sheena. Despite his lack of hands and headache, the rest of his body feels relatively okay; there are no other severe injuries hampering him, from what he can tell.]

Let's go.

Don't force yourself. You're not that heavy, I can hold you up. [Your hands disappeared. Not saying the wrong things to him takes almost all of her self-control.

The fire scoots around to light the way ahead of them; Sheena knows she won't be able to hold that forever, either.]

It's back this way.

My hands just-- disappeared.

[The words come as Albert orients himself enough to follow Sheena's careful guiding. There's another laugh, softer now, as his thoughts swim in a rising sea of confusion and nausea again. But he keeps talking, rambling, as if to remind himself that there are actually other things going on.]

I'm walking, thinking about the walk back, and then my head is hurting and-- Did you get my journal? I couldn't-- pick it up. Because of that.

Your other friend's got it. [Good old Owlface has one talon atop the journal as though he means to carry it back himself.] I need both my hands, so carrying mine's about as much as I can do.

[She doesn't expect Albert to use so many words. Keeping her footing sure and her arm around him takes up the space for talking of her own.]

Wait, your head hurt? Could somebody have hit you?

[He shakes his head, not sparing a glance back at the giant owl. Of course it would be following; there was no other reason there would be so much rustling around them otherwise.]

There was no hit. Just a headache.

[It's been a long time since he's experienced an abduction for the Organization's research, so he doesn't immediately think of it.

He falls silent, focusing on the walk; though it's not that far to the teleporter, the surreality of the situation makes time seem to stretch on.]

Are you sure? If it was a droid or something maybe they've got some new way of taking us out.

[What could they possibly want with Albert's hands that didn't require the rest of him?

She thinks she feels him starting to drag along.]

Hey. C'mon, pick up your feet when you shuffle. [This would be so much more reassuring if she could stop partitioning off her shock and dulling the humor as a result.]

I didn't see anything. But I did pass out, so ... something could have happened.

[He didn't think so, though. It seemed too short of a period. Neither she or Raine had commented on him being gone for a day or something, so it seemed to still be the same night...

He clenches his jaw again when Sheena tells him to pick up his feet, trying to walk more normally.]

This would be easier if you were taller.

[An attempt at humor.]

It'd be easier if you were shorter, too. [She stops short of suggesting he lose a few inches. What if that meant his feet disappeared? He'll feel her shudder at the image.]

But since you passed out...there's not, uh, that wing hunter guy isn't back looking for other pieces this time or anything, right? [Albert doesn't know; the mountain landscape suddenly feels much more sinister.] I can help you or I can fight but probably not both at the same time.

[He can feel that shudder, and he sighs faintly as he tries to concentrate on not making the situation worse inadvertently.]

The Wing Hunter took wings, Sheena, not hands.

[Though his voice is approaching a somewhat flat affect, he doesn't sound angry.]

The more-- likely reason for this is either a shift or magic.

Maybe he got sick of wings.

[She's talking for the sake of talking. Trying to forget that Albert's arms just end in sleeve. The bloodlessness of it is more unsettling than his missing hands.]

If it's a shift, this might start happening to other people and I really don't have the stomach to think about that.

[Sheena doesn't realize they've hit her spot of rough terrain from earlier; the ball of fire doesn't show as much as it could, because it takes some extra effort to keep Albert from dropping off her shoulder. There's no warning as some loose stones give way beneath her foot; she can't slide or pinwheel, and in her surprise flail for balance, the fire goes out.]

[Albert is about to respond to Sheena's worry when she suddenly stumbles, and it's all he can do not to immediately drop all of his weight onto her frame while she struggles to find her balance. The sudden lack of light is disorienting, and he grimaces as he tries to plant his feet firmly on the wet ground.

Still, he ends up with a knee on a muddy rock as his balance fails somewhat.]

Sh-- Sheena?

[The last thing they needed was for her to have twisted or broken something.]

[She cares a lot more about keeping Albert from twisting or breaking anything. Sheena takes most of their combined weight on a knee in the dirt, turning with the force of the fall just in case, until Albert recovers some balance. They don't go down all the way; he'll hear a whoosh of breath beside him as she works on standing back up.]

Sorry! I'm okay, are you okay?

Fine... I'm fine.

[It's an automatic response -- one of those replies meant to keep someone from prying too much. The words come far too easily when he can't concentrate. He falls silent as he carefully pushes himself back onto both feet, his thoughts next moving to the obvious.]

We lost the light.

[This was a double effort right now, so he could hardly blame Sheena for losing the floating flame.]

I'll get it back in a minute. [Eyes shut, she gets her arm and shoulder back to the business of supporting Albert by feel. No sense testing her leg with just her weight when that wasn't going to happen. She can tell it will protest and she can't be bothered to care.]

You sure you're not hurt?

My knee hit a rock, but I can stand on it.

[Might as well be honest, if she's going to ask like that; his mind is still trying to focus on them getting out of the mountains, even if he's reeling from the continued surreality of it all.

He shakes his head, hearing the owl hoot behind them.]

Don't push yourself. If this is too much--

[He stops there, scoffing faintly as he remembers himself. Saying such things to Sheena like that would only turn this into a worry cycle. Pointless and unnecessary between them.]

Like I've never tripped before. [The fire sparks back into life ahead of them, a bit smaller this time, but just as bright. Sheena is looking at Albert, wearing a terrible mask of a smile over some incredible worry.]

There's nothing that'd be too much to get you out of trouble, okay? [No joke attached. Sheena turns her attention back to the terrain before this gets too embarrassing.] C'mon, even almost falling got us a little closer.

...Heh.

[He manages something approaching a laugh at Sheena's comment, but he doesn't say anything else. One step. Two steps forward. Through the limited light from flame and stars, he can soon see the roiling steam from the hot springs.]

Almost there.

∞ 106: Echoes in their absence

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