While your conversation with Shadow may have shed light on a few things... it's obvious he doesn't think you all are up to the task of saving the universe from Eggman. Which also means that now you're dealing with his test, starting immediately. Some of you may be whisked away with no time to even blink, while others may find themselves wandering the Void aimlessly. Regardless, it seems this week won't be a particularly easy one.
THE VOID
Nothing has changed in the Void. Nothing ever changes in the Void. It's impossible to track the passage of time in here, and your only escape are the rings... though you should be careful with them, as there's far fewer this week. You're free to travel between worlds as you see fit - Shadow won't stop you - but you can be snatched up from wherever you are at any given moment and pulled back into the Void. Maybe don't plan on spending to long anywhere else, because it won't end well for you if you do.
The hexagonal shards will still show you visions of other worlds... but this time they all show the same thing. You'll see worlds - maybe even your own - taken over by robots and Eggman's chroma, reduced to smoldering ashes or being rebuilt in Eggman's image. Your friends, allies, and enemies may even be going about their lives just as listlessly and dutifully, heedless of their surroundings. You may even see alternate versions of yourself among them. Regardless, it seems all these shards have to show you this week are all the possibilities of failure - that other versions of shardbearers in other timelines have already lost.
MINDSCAPES
Shadow's usage of the Phantom Ruby and his own fake Chaos Emerald shard have caused quite the problem for you all - namely, you'll find yourselves traversing each other's innermost thoughts and dreams. Exactly how this mindscape manifests depends on the individual, but one thing will always remain true: you won't be able to find the owner of the mindscape easily.
As a reflection of these inner thoughts, mindscapes can be any sort of place. Perhaps they are a reflection of the owner's inner demons and fear, or perhaps they showcase a bright future they want to work towards. Regardless, this is a dream and one the owner must be awoken from... which means finding them and bringing them back to reality. That's easier said than done when traversing through this dream-like state, where the rules are made up by the owner and you're a foreign being that the dream recognizes as a threat (even if you aren't).
You may encounter familiar places or people within these mindscapes. You may not. You may end up fighting for your life in here... or you may not. Each one is individual, and the experience can vary wildly from person to person. No matter what you face, you must find the owner of the mindscape and bring them back. You must ensure you're strong enough to support them... and protect yourself.
Curiously, you can activate your shared shard power with the owner of the mindscape at any time - or bolster your own power if you share shard colors - even without them being present. Will this make it easier or harder to help bring them back? It depends on the person, your bond, and the mindscape itself...
Waking them up is as simple as convincing them that they're dreaming - that this isn't real and that they still have things to return to - but that may be easier said than done depending on the person... or the mindscape itself. There's no telling what you'll encounter, after all.
SHARDS
You'll find you're capable of more now than you were before. You're really adapting to using your shard powers and fighting with others. Those of you who share shard colors will feel the strength of your shards increasing even more when working together.
As you fight with your allies - particularly those you have a close bond with, positive or negative - you may feel the tug of something in the back of your head; it tells you that you can do more. Together, you can become more powerful. You can use your shards together. Doing so will grant you a new power, or strengthen the one you already have. The more you trust one another, the easier this power will be to use.
It might be good to experiment with these new powers; after all, you never know when you may need them.
TAILS' TASKS
Given that your allies are being pulled into mindscapes and are unable to break free of their own, your task this week is to help your friends. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are off dealing with their own mindscapes, but whenever they are around, they're adamant about the importance of making sure everyone is freed and prepared for whatever comes next.
ENEMIES
Like last week, you will not encounter any of Eggman's robots. The Void is still free of enemies, though other worlds may possess their own threats. Mindscapes are a bit of a different beast; each one varies, and you may or may not encounter threats of any sort in them. Best be on your guard.
[It's a raw retelling, one that he once again stays very intentionally quiet for. Letting Viktor turn the details over with his words, forming the emotions of it. Someone with good intention, caught in between a horrible mistake and an unstoppable force, and--
How immediately his chest aches, at the similarity to Lhikan. It has his body run cold.
It is why, when Viktor's explanation starts to stammer into defense, Vakama immediately stops their forward progress, taking his other hand to Viktor's opposite shoulder to face him fully. It's the briefest glance, an expression torn with an overwhelming, almost boldened empathy.]
...Do not justify it to me, Viktor. Of all people, please... you know it cannot be me.
[A beat - softened, pained, before he makes the choice he wishes someone would have made with him. His arms wrap around the much frailer man - a warmth like that of a machine that never seemed to stop running, a grip that seems angered, protective.
Do not let this repeat, in his hands. Let there be space, somewhere, to grieve.]
[He jolted very slightly at the touch--not quite flinching, but jarred abruptly out of a spiral he hadn't dared let himself trip into for too long. She'd haunted him in the months that followed, and he'd been grateful for it. Because that meant he could let himself be lied to by the force that had overtaken his body and mind, see, she's right here, infinite and perfect within the arcane just like you-]
I-I...
[A choked sound cut that off, a very human hitching of breath and forcibly repressed noise.]
...I couldn't...destroy it, even then. I tried--I was too weak-minded, and its compulsion was...too much.
[He could believe that, if the siren call he had heard at this mindscape's start was anything close to the pull Viktor himself had felt. In a broken body, running on borrowed time, exhausted and willing to put himself through that much pain for an answer... the whisperings of something promising more, promising perfection and life, would be like the taunting of water to a desperate soul dying of thirst.]
You are here. You know now. We both know you have found a way to challenge yourself - you did get there. But... I know, I know that does not bring back what was lost, nor take away the regret...
[His hands press just a little tighter. He cannot tell Viktor to stop blaming himself, even if he wants to. He knows he would not want to hear such words about Lhikan. To dismiss the responsibility involved, even if it was an accident, felt like dismissing the life that had so rapidly vanished.]
[In the wider picture, it wasn't the worst thing he had ever done. It barely even registered in comparison to all the lives lost and wanton destruction that followed. But it was something Viktor had done, not the Herald. Not yet lost to corrupted madnesss, only his own reckless stupidity in dealing with a force he barely understood. Though the guilt of all of it rested with him, Sky was different. Sharper, clearer, so much heavier.]
[The cane clattered to the ground, arms uneasily brought around Vakama--like the gesture was not one he had much experience with.]
I was going to-...Jayce stopped me before I could drop myself off a damned ledge after it happened. [His voice hitched uncomfortably in his throat no matter how Viktor tried to steady it.] In the past weeks I've caught myself thinking--I wish he hadn't.
[The cane falls, and Vakama lets his arms hold the other steady. His heart is less of a thumping behind the warm plate of his armor and more a steady thrum, a power source in constant steady flux just like the beating of blood - increasing, in turn, at the words that leave Viktor's mouth, breath firm against his shoulder.
An unspoken protest.
No. No, do not let yourself be taken by that doubt. Do not let that maw of despair eat you alive as the only option left in your sights.
...]
Please... don't speak so of yourself.
[It's surprisingly weak.]
I know it feels as though... it is the only way to make things right. I have stared that beast in its jaws, too.
But I do not want to think of where we would be - where I would be - if you were not here.
I...am trying. Janna's mercy, I am trying. I want to live, and in that body I actually can. No pain, no illness, just...whatever I have turned into nd the growing realization that I am fine with that.
[Machine or not, what did it matter? This outcome was everything he had wanted when he started experimenting with augmentation, but-]
But I killed Sky. I hurt Jayce over and over, and I've killed so many people. Even if I must live to atone for all of it, why does it have to be like this--with people that are so much kinder to me than I deserve?
[His exhale shakes hard as he breaks the embrace to hold Viktor at arm's length, hands firm against his shoulders.]
Do you not punish yourself enough? Must a world who is a stranger to you be expected to show you bitterness and hatred when you have done nothing to us, to any of them, to earn it? Holding all your regret over your own head like some sort of chopping block and just waiting for it to catch up, rather than moving on?
...
Would Sky or Jayce wish for you to stand here and say there is absolutely no kindness in this world that could reach to you? Or would they want you to see what kindness can show you for where you want to head? To give you a path to that atonement you desire?
[He wasn't able to meet Vakama's eyes for long, ducking his head slightly in a mixture of shame and exhaustion. His wn arms dropped, back of his hand swiping quckly across his eyes. Still too weak, even now--too weak to do anything but shatter like a defective machine.]
I-I've truly enjoyed the time all of us have spent together. And that frightens me; it feels undeserved, unfamiliar, and painfully selfish. I want to feel as though it is deserved--to understand whatever it is the rest of you seem to that makes you care about me this way. It is...a struggle, one I have to contend with.
You are a kindred spirit that I didn't think possible to exist in the first place, Viktor. Intent and regret in like measure, with our mistakes and creations always hanging over our heads...
In that way... I know I don't have the answers to help you, no more than I have any answers to help myself. I am no more than a hypocrite, to say otherwise. And yet...
[He hesitates, almost as though he intends not to keep speaking. But his touch drops, from shoulders to wrists, to try and take Viktor's hands in his own.]
How... how desperately I wish to see you have more kindness towards yourself than I was ever able to find, my friend.
You have been given this beautiful, frightening chance at more time... and I ache for you to be able to accept it in whatever way you can. No matter how selfish, I want to see you fulfilled.
[He let Vakama take his hands with no resistance--more frail than the touch of the machine, though not yet as thin and cold as they became in the years that followed this day.]
I am sure I would be lost here without your support, Vakama. You need not have every answer, you simply...understand, in ways I would never have believed possible. Undertanding I sincerely hope I have been able to extend in turn.
I have never truly...fit anywhere. Outsider to Piltover, defector to Zaun--I had nowhere, save only for our laboratory. That was the only 'home' I have ever known for most of my life. In all of this I feel...lost, drifting from one small purpose to the next and hoping it can all be enough. [Enough to help the allies he had made, enough to make up for everything he was and everything he had done, enough to save this and every other world.]
I think I-...I would like to belong somewhere else. Until this ends and I return to that anchoring point...no, perhaps even beyond such a time as that. With you, Dorothy, Basilio, Ashley--everyone.
You have done so enough, my friend. How I wish I had time to tell you all the stories I could, before our time was up... to hear as many as I could from you, so that I could remember them into eternity...
You are... easy, to talk to. To listen to.
[The grip feels so weak against the armor of his hands. So fragile and unfamiliar to the touch of the metal he is used to. But he still lets himself grip them gently.]
To want to belong... I would say it transcends beyond humanity alone, Viktor.
You will always have a place with us. And you will continue to have one with us all, myself included, no matter where your heart chooses to roam.
[A beat.
He glances off towards the docks, just briefly - down to the cane, still discarded - before letting his eyes settle back to Viktor.]
...I...do not mind. Telling you these things, I mean to say. Perhaps if we find time we can simply exchange stories a bit less dismal than our usual fare.
[The smallest laugh left him, easily mistaken for a quicker than usual exhale in how slight and faint it was. Viktor found it difficult--perhaps impossible--to simply not understand something, such was just his nature as a scientist. But the heart was unquantifiable; even if logic dictated the architect of Runeterra's near-destruction deserved death at the bare minimum, there would be those who foolishly diagreed and would not be dissuaded. People like Jayce, like Vakama, like so many of their allies-]
[Friends, he corrected himself with a similarly indefinable warmth mixed with confusion. He never had very many of those, and now here he was with a shocking abundance even in spite of everything he had done. Undeserved kindness, unwarranted sympathy, illogical care for a steel monster and mass murderer.]
[He might never understand it. Maybe he didn't have to.]
That...would be nice, if you would accompany me. [The corner of his mouth twitched into a crooked smile--none of the precision of the machine's movements, as uncertain and exhausted as the rest of him. But the effort was there--Viktor had never really known how to give up, for better and for worse.]
[Carefully, he kneels down to pull Viktor's cane off the stone walkways, a quick eye over it to look for damages before handing it up to Viktor.]
Always.
[It is long since time to wake up.
As he straightens himself back up, he will hesitantly hold his hand back out for Viktor's unoccupied one.]
When my time as a Toa is at its end, there are many stories I wish to find ways to share with my people. In... what ways we can, that is. [Much would have to stay secret for the rest of their lives, as far as Vakama is concerned. Better that than to bring undue unrest and anguish at everything that had been lost. But surely... surely... they could tell what needed to be told, for the better of the Matoran.]
I would find the greatest joy, my friend, to know you had a touch on those.
[So long as Viktor accepts that outstretched hand, it will not leave Viktor's.]
[As he settled the cane back into his grip...there was a sudden warm realization settling itself in Viktor's chest at those words, something he had completely failed to realize until now.]
['You should be proud of what you've accomplished, Viktor.' '...Figments. My contributions will be short-lived. Even in your memory.']
[Leaving Runeterra behind would be easy, in itself. There was nowhere he belonged and none save for one person who would acknowledge his legacy as anything but that of a monster. No one else would remember who he really was, what he wished to accomplish, how much he had desperately tried to achieve...but the people with him now would. They would know him as Viktor, not the Machine Herald--even if they drifted apart once all was said and done, they would remember.]
...I once asked Jayce to see what I had accomplished--the people I believed I had saved. There was pride in the progress that had been made, before I came to understand the cruelty of what I had done.
[What had seemed an insane overreaction at the time was, in hindsight, the only response Viktor would have wanted in his right mind.]
This time, I am going to have accomplishments worth the pride I will take in them, and make sure he knows of every single person that has been so integral to it. I doubt myself to be so eternal, but for as long as this machine functions it will do so as the collaborative result of all we have done here, and I will be glad to know carrying that witin myself will make a hollow shell much less empty.
[That crooked smile widened with just a little more confidence, Viktor's free hand settling into Vakama's.]
But first, we must see this through to the end. For now, let's go home. They'll be waiting for us.
[That grip squeezes just so as Vakama straightens up, eyes a little brighter for the relief he feels.]
Together, Viktor. We will see this through.
[Now it was just a matter of getting this dream state to dissolve. But Viktor had wanted to head to the docks for a reason. Whether their surroundings start to turn to shift on the way or not, he will let Viktor take the definitive steps towards that choice - leaving a bittersweet memory of impossibilities and heartache, and falling towards an unknown yet unspoken for by one's regrets.
If Viktor falters, Vakama will be there to wait, to gently encourage him forward with that joint touch. However long it takes, he will get them back out of there.
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no subject
How immediately his chest aches, at the similarity to Lhikan. It has his body run cold.
It is why, when Viktor's explanation starts to stammer into defense, Vakama immediately stops their forward progress, taking his other hand to Viktor's opposite shoulder to face him fully. It's the briefest glance, an expression torn with an overwhelming, almost boldened empathy.]
...Do not justify it to me, Viktor. Of all people, please... you know it cannot be me.
[A beat - softened, pained, before he makes the choice he wishes someone would have made with him. His arms wrap around the much frailer man - a warmth like that of a machine that never seemed to stop running, a grip that seems angered, protective.
Do not let this repeat, in his hands. Let there be space, somewhere, to grieve.]
no subject
I-I...
[A choked sound cut that off, a very human hitching of breath and forcibly repressed noise.]
...I couldn't...destroy it, even then. I tried--I was too weak-minded, and its compulsion was...too much.
no subject
You are here. You know now. We both know you have found a way to challenge yourself - you did get there. But... I know, I know that does not bring back what was lost, nor take away the regret...
[His hands press just a little tighter. He cannot tell Viktor to stop blaming himself, even if he wants to. He knows he would not want to hear such words about Lhikan. To dismiss the responsibility involved, even if it was an accident, felt like dismissing the life that had so rapidly vanished.]
I'm so sorry.
cw: suicidal ideation
[The cane clattered to the ground, arms uneasily brought around Vakama--like the gesture was not one he had much experience with.]
I was going to-...Jayce stopped me before I could drop myself off a damned ledge after it happened. [His voice hitched uncomfortably in his throat no matter how Viktor tried to steady it.] In the past weeks I've caught myself thinking--I wish he hadn't.
cw: suicidal ideation
An unspoken protest.
No. No, do not let yourself be taken by that doubt. Do not let that maw of despair eat you alive as the only option left in your sights.
...]
Please... don't speak so of yourself.
[It's surprisingly weak.]
I know it feels as though... it is the only way to make things right. I have stared that beast in its jaws, too.
But I do not want to think of where we would be - where I would be - if you were not here.
no subject
[Machine or not, what did it matter? This outcome was everything he had wanted when he started experimenting with augmentation, but-]
But I killed Sky. I hurt Jayce over and over, and I've killed so many people. Even if I must live to atone for all of it, why does it have to be like this--with people that are so much kinder to me than I deserve?
no subject
[His exhale shakes hard as he breaks the embrace to hold Viktor at arm's length, hands firm against his shoulders.]
Do you not punish yourself enough? Must a world who is a stranger to you be expected to show you bitterness and hatred when you have done nothing to us, to any of them, to earn it? Holding all your regret over your own head like some sort of chopping block and just waiting for it to catch up, rather than moving on?
...
Would Sky or Jayce wish for you to stand here and say there is absolutely no kindness in this world that could reach to you? Or would they want you to see what kindness can show you for where you want to head? To give you a path to that atonement you desire?
no subject
[He wasn't able to meet Vakama's eyes for long, ducking his head slightly in a mixture of shame and exhaustion. His wn arms dropped, back of his hand swiping quckly across his eyes. Still too weak, even now--too weak to do anything but shatter like a defective machine.]
I-I've truly enjoyed the time all of us have spent together. And that frightens me; it feels undeserved, unfamiliar, and painfully selfish. I want to feel as though it is deserved--to understand whatever it is the rest of you seem to that makes you care about me this way. It is...a struggle, one I have to contend with.
no subject
I cannot speak for the others. But...
You are a kindred spirit that I didn't think possible to exist in the first place, Viktor. Intent and regret in like measure, with our mistakes and creations always hanging over our heads...
In that way... I know I don't have the answers to help you, no more than I have any answers to help myself. I am no more than a hypocrite, to say otherwise. And yet...
[He hesitates, almost as though he intends not to keep speaking. But his touch drops, from shoulders to wrists, to try and take Viktor's hands in his own.]
How... how desperately I wish to see you have more kindness towards yourself than I was ever able to find, my friend.
You have been given this beautiful, frightening chance at more time... and I ache for you to be able to accept it in whatever way you can. No matter how selfish, I want to see you fulfilled.
I want to see you come back to us. Please.
no subject
I am sure I would be lost here without your support, Vakama. You need not have every answer, you simply...understand, in ways I would never have believed possible. Undertanding I sincerely hope I have been able to extend in turn.
I have never truly...fit anywhere. Outsider to Piltover, defector to Zaun--I had nowhere, save only for our laboratory. That was the only 'home' I have ever known for most of my life. In all of this I feel...lost, drifting from one small purpose to the next and hoping it can all be enough. [Enough to help the allies he had made, enough to make up for everything he was and everything he had done, enough to save this and every other world.]
I think I-...I would like to belong somewhere else. Until this ends and I return to that anchoring point...no, perhaps even beyond such a time as that. With you, Dorothy, Basilio, Ashley--everyone.
That kind of selfishness...is only human, right?
no subject
You are... easy, to talk to. To listen to.
[The grip feels so weak against the armor of his hands. So fragile and unfamiliar to the touch of the metal he is used to. But he still lets himself grip them gently.]
To want to belong... I would say it transcends beyond humanity alone, Viktor.
You will always have a place with us. And you will continue to have one with us all, myself included, no matter where your heart chooses to roam.
[A beat.
He glances off towards the docks, just briefly - down to the cane, still discarded - before letting his eyes settle back to Viktor.]
...So I ask you.
May I walk you home?
no subject
[The smallest laugh left him, easily mistaken for a quicker than usual exhale in how slight and faint it was. Viktor found it difficult--perhaps impossible--to simply not understand something, such was just his nature as a scientist. But the heart was unquantifiable; even if logic dictated the architect of Runeterra's near-destruction deserved death at the bare minimum, there would be those who foolishly diagreed and would not be dissuaded. People like Jayce, like Vakama, like so many of their allies-]
[Friends, he corrected himself with a similarly indefinable warmth mixed with confusion. He never had very many of those, and now here he was with a shocking abundance even in spite of everything he had done. Undeserved kindness, unwarranted sympathy, illogical care for a steel monster and mass murderer.]
[He might never understand it. Maybe he didn't have to.]
That...would be nice, if you would accompany me. [The corner of his mouth twitched into a crooked smile--none of the precision of the machine's movements, as uncertain and exhausted as the rest of him. But the effort was there--Viktor had never really known how to give up, for better and for worse.]
no subject
Always.
[It is long since time to wake up.
As he straightens himself back up, he will hesitantly hold his hand back out for Viktor's unoccupied one.]
When my time as a Toa is at its end, there are many stories I wish to find ways to share with my people. In... what ways we can, that is. [Much would have to stay secret for the rest of their lives, as far as Vakama is concerned. Better that than to bring undue unrest and anguish at everything that had been lost. But surely... surely... they could tell what needed to be told, for the better of the Matoran.]
I would find the greatest joy, my friend, to know you had a touch on those.
[So long as Viktor accepts that outstretched hand, it will not leave Viktor's.]
no subject
['You should be proud of what you've accomplished, Viktor.'
'...Figments. My contributions will be short-lived. Even in your memory.']
[Leaving Runeterra behind would be easy, in itself. There was nowhere he belonged and none save for one person who would acknowledge his legacy as anything but that of a monster. No one else would remember who he really was, what he wished to accomplish, how much he had desperately tried to achieve...but the people with him now would. They would know him as Viktor, not the Machine Herald--even if they drifted apart once all was said and done, they would remember.]
...I once asked Jayce to see what I had accomplished--the people I believed I had saved. There was pride in the progress that had been made, before I came to understand the cruelty of what I had done.
[What had seemed an insane overreaction at the time was, in hindsight, the only response Viktor would have wanted in his right mind.]
This time, I am going to have accomplishments worth the pride I will take in them, and make sure he knows of every single person that has been so integral to it. I doubt myself to be so eternal, but for as long as this machine functions it will do so as the collaborative result of all we have done here, and I will be glad to know carrying that witin myself will make a hollow shell much less empty.
[That crooked smile widened with just a little more confidence, Viktor's free hand settling into Vakama's.]
But first, we must see this through to the end. For now, let's go home. They'll be waiting for us.
no subject
Together, Viktor. We will see this through.
[Now it was just a matter of getting this dream state to dissolve. But Viktor had wanted to head to the docks for a reason. Whether their surroundings start to turn to shift on the way or not, he will let Viktor take the definitive steps towards that choice - leaving a bittersweet memory of impossibilities and heartache, and falling towards an unknown yet unspoken for by one's regrets.
If Viktor falters, Vakama will be there to wait, to gently encourage him forward with that joint touch. However long it takes, he will get them back out of there.
He promised, after all.]