unbested | crau2 pcs: estelle

[It takes a little while, but he'll hear some fumbling with the door handle, and then... it opens.]

Sebastian... Did you come to check on me?

[Her face is clean, at least, but her hair's a bit messy, and she's still wearing a red robe that covers her from head to toe.]

Y-yeah, I did.

[ no judgment, he changed and took a shower and everything and he still kind of looks like a mess... ]

How are you doing? The... healing worked okay and everything?

[A weak smile.]

Yes, I'm a lot better now, thanks to you.

[But she notices he kind of looks like a mess...]

Um... are you okay? You look kind of... like you've been through something, yourself.

...Oh. Yeah, we got back a little before you guys did. Me, Cloud, Bradley, and Jason.

Oh...

[Yeah she instantly looks concerned.]

We can sit and talk for a bit, if you like...

I-if you want to, sure.

[She'll gesture for him to come inside, and to sit wherever he pleases.

Estelle will slowly walk over to the cushioned bench and seat herself carefully -- she has no visible wounds, with the robes covering everything, but she's clearly trying not to agitate an injury.]

Do you want to go first?

[ he probably sits close to wherever he did last time, in the same way that everyone usually sticks to the same seats in a classroom every day even when there's no assigned seating... though if that's too close to where she is now, he'll keep a respectful distance. ]

Um... well, it... was a lot. Like, it went on for a really long time, and a lot of stuff happened... Cloud and I were going back through time to try to stop this bad thing that was destroying the world before it started.

What kind of bad thing...?

W-well, there were these monsters everywhere, and people and spirits would get corrupted and then they'd turn into monsters... and there was like, this one really powerful one at the center of everything that it had started with. So we were supposed to go back and stop it before it got out of control or whatever.

People turning into monsters? That sounds horrible...

Yeah. So... along the way, we learned that the one that started everything had been this spirit that lost control of itself when these two people it loved had died.

And when we finally arrived at the right moment in time... those two people were Bradley and Jason, who were turning into those monsters, and the spirit was this scared kid they'd been living with as a family for a long time.

Just a scared kid...? But...

[She looks a little fearful at that.] ... You were able to put a stop to it...?

Y-yeah, uh... One of the times we stopped in before, um... this other spirit told us that the only cure once someone started changing was... this stuff that would be left behind when a... material... um... a spirit with like, a solid form, was destroyed. A-and that you had to do it early or it wouldn't work.

[ his hands are balled into fists, pressed hard against his knees, and he looks down at the floor. ]

So, um... when the others attacked, Cloud fought them off while I hid with him, and I told him what that other spirit told us. That... if he wanted to save them, he'd have to die.

I didn't... I didn't tell him what was going to happen to the world if he didn't. S-so when he said okay, it was because he wanted to save them, and not... not because he felt guilty...

Oh...

[There's concern and sadness in her eyes.]

I'm sorry, Sebastian...

[ he shakes his head; it feels awful accepting pity when he's the only one who came out of that with nothing but minor cuts and bruises. ]

His cat saw it and hated me... and when those guys were back to normal, they asked where he was, and I had to tell them I...

[ he opens up his fists and looks at the palms of his hands, then just buries his face in them. ]

I-I don't understand how those things work, so— I mean, maybe he was never even really real... a-and I know that was the only option, but it just. It feels really terrible.

[Estelle lifts a hand, seemingly to reach out to him... but then appears to think better of it, and pulls it back to leave it buried under the long sleeve of her robe.]

I don't think anyone can blame you for that... You were trying to help.

I... I can imagine how it feels, though...

...That memory I saw, you mean?

[Her gaze falls, and she nods.]

That's... one instance, yes...

It feels horrible to try your best to help people, and find that no matter what, your actions end up hurting someone...

Yeah... it does.

[ he raises his head with a sniffle and wipes his eyes. ]

I really miss when everything was simple. People I didn't know did bad stuff to other people I didn't know, and I could just come in and be the good guy and set things straight.

[ ...probably by getting the bad guy executed, if he'd ever gotten that far with a case, but he's not thinking about that. he never had a problem with it before. ]

I wish things could be that simple...

I... I feel so powerless to help anyone...

Me too... so... thanks for letting me help you today, at least.

[ because he really needed to do something helpful that he wouldn't have to feel bad about today. ]

Did... you want to talk about happened too?

[Her expression lightens at that a little. She can certainly understand that.]

I... well... we were back at the space station.

The... the one from last week, you mean?

Yes, that one.

We were judged for our "sins" and then... we had to undergo some sort of trials to overcome them.

And there was a horrible creature that made us play a cruel game... Whether we won or lost, someone always got hurt.

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