afterward

chapter sixteen

chapter sixteen

We were doing it. I was excited, I was scared, I was... a little uncomfortable, I was sharing one of those little train cars with easily 30 other people. As the train slowly made its way down the tracks, the sun dipped below the horizon, almost as if it realized that trying to do a dramatic climax scene in broad daylight would be a bit of a drag. I was sitting between Memmi and Shim on the ride back down, and surrounded by a ton of other people, some of which I recognized and some of which I didn't, some of them were people I had spoken to once like Late-Stage Capitalism Boat Guy (remember him?). I turned to Memmi. "So do you think it'll go well?" I asked.

"You're asking me?" she replied, "this was your plan!"

"I know, it's just... you've seemed so smart."

"Tammy, child, I only seem that way because I've stayed confident in my decisions. That's how I've stayed such a powerful metamancer, I've been confident in the choices I've made, the words I've said. You might have noticed it was hard for you to keep an illusion up, it's because you've doubted or second-guessed yourself in doing so. Don't, it's as simple as that."

"Um, gee, thanks?" I replied.

I understood Memmi's intent, but I felt that how she had worded it came off a bit... odd? And besides, she's doubted herself, like, nine times in the past couple weeks! Shim was leaning on my shoulder, not-quite half asleep, but getting there. "Shim, aren't you worried about... you, know, the Lizi--"

"Ah, whatever, if people think differently about me hanging out with the girl who's crushing the Nexus, that's their loss anyways!"

That's... one way to put it! I was still super nervous, I didn't think I could do it, but I was glad to have some company for this. I spent maybe six pages worrying before realizing that I had done so, and cut them to get us right to the train pulling back into the station. As I stepped off into the darkness, of the now-unlit station, I heard the sound of shuffling footsteps.

A large towering figure with bright lights in its eyes like before. I faced it down. "Hey, you!"

It turned towards me. "▓▓▓▓▓!" it exclaimed.

"I'm... I'm not afraid of you!" I replied, afraid of it.

It lumbered towards me. "▓▓▓▓ ▓▓, ▓▓▓▓▓▓!"

"Oh no you don't! You're getting real dialogue, and you're following my script!"

"Oh, word? Good heavens!" it exclaimed before disintegrating.

As the black grime crumbled, a figure stood in the middle before slumping over onto the floor, out cold.

It was Kroff.

I rushed towards him, but Memmi pushed me away. "Bit and I will figure out how to help this chap, just keep going on!"

Knowing Kroff was in all that really scared me. These were my friends, some of them, and it hurt just that much more because of the backstory he had told me. I had to keep going, but I was worried. I hope I wasn't hurting them, and I hope they weren't being hurt by the Nexus. Another figure in the main lobby approached me. "░̢̧͖̻̺░̛̗͎'͏̩͖͜͟░̛̙̞͙̬̤̫͈̱́͞ ̞͝░̱̣͚̥͉░͏̢̼̪͍̖̬░̞̞̫̳̳̩ ̶̞̜̪͕̩͎͕̜̯́░̨̤͓͟ͅ░̛͚̙̦͓̘̞̱̗ͅ ̘̺̠̺̩̫͞ͅ░̨̝́͠░͔̝̬̭̱͈̣̖░͏͘͏̥͚░͕͔̝͇̯̫̝!͉̬̣̼̳̳͢͝

"Try this, instead!" I replied.

The Nexus cluster thing made a noise not unlike a beep and a click, and crumbled, revealing the͘҉͚͉ ̸̢̛͚͍̣̪p̶̞̦̝̝̭̮̜͇ę̤̩̼̦͉̳̥͚r̛̻͇̠̱̥̤͝s̵̻̜͉̣͔̰͕̭̤͡o̡͖̻͖̰͟ͅn̢̖̭̖̲̘ ̷̡̮̫͉̫͉̳̹̜͢i̴̹̬̦͔̹͍͘͞ͅn̴̤͈̣̭s҉̨̘͙̯̯̼̰̗͠i̵҉̤̮̥d̴̖̲͇͙̫͈̼̗̺e̷̢̹̭̙̝̲