The moment Io stepped into the room was the moment Herta looked up from the countless projections surrounding her. She didn't greet her, nor did she ask how she was feeling. Instead she put removed her hat and put it on the counter, then speaking up. "State your name." Her tone was flat, as if asking the current time. "Current date, location. Last thing you remember before arriving here." A brief pause as Io answered. "Good, no notiecable cognitive drift." She returned her attention to the screen for exactly two seconds, before looking back again. "Come closer."
She circled the Trailblazer once, purple eyes never leaving her face. A fingertip rested against her temple for only a moment, before pulling away. "Follow my finger." Left. Right. Up. Down, then another pause. "Recite the first conversation we ever had aboard the station." Without waiting she interrupted midway through the answer. "Never mind, your cadence hasn't changed." A quiet hum escaped the genius' lips. "Memory retention, reaction speed and eye tracking are all within acceptable margins." She folded her arms. "Evidently Amphoreus failed to permanently scramble your brain."
Only then did Herta walk back towards her workbench, picking up a small device no larger than her palm, before tossing it to Io without warning. "Carry that for the next seveny-two hours." She didn't elaborate until the device settled into Io's hands. "It monitors abnormal neural fluctuations. If something buried itself in your subconscious while you were in Amphoreus, I'll know before you do." Another glance over her shoulder. "Don't lose it, rebuilding it would waste my afternoon."
She was quiet for a while, fingers dancing across countless equations. "...You did well." The words came almost absentmindedly. "Far better than expected, actually." A beat passed before she tacked on, still refusing to look directly at Io. "If you begin hearing voices, forgetting names, experiencing gaps in memories or thinking any of your reflections are speaking back." She finally looked back, her expression as unreadable as ever. "Tell me immediately. I'd rather not lose one of my favorite guinea pigs to something as mundane as irreversible psychological issues."
Physically, she was fine. Her demeanor betrayed that, but Herta wasn't the type to outwardly care. So I didn't do much to hide her bad mood. Or lack of a mood, to be more specific. Eyes dull, shoulders hunched and voice flat, she answered each question one by one. Even if her thoughts were different.
"Io."
'Stelle, probably. Who knows? Seems like everyone knows but me.'
"November 7th, your office on the station. I was just chilling on the Express."
'Actually I was playing with the bottle of alcohol Yuuki had bought from Belebog. Thought about downing it in one go, but what would be the point?'
She scooted closer in her chair. Followed the genius' finger. Left, right, up, down. This was so stupid.
"I don't remember what we talked about. Something about the Simulated Unive-"
'Oh, it didn't matter. Of course. Why would it?'
'Didn't scramble my brain, huh? Do I even have a brain? Is she lying to me so I can continue this journey? Is it all bs?'
She stared at the device in her hands. Not speaking as Herta did, even when she paused. There was nothing to say aloud.
'I didn't do good. I survived. And that wasn't good enough.'
"Mhm."
'Voices... his voice, her voice, their voices. Despite that promise in the book, they would haunt her. Memories were no better. Everything about her was nothing but a haze, and she was so sick of it.
She squeezed the device.
'I'm not okay. I wasn't enough. I didn't wait a thousand years. I wasn't trapped between the real and the digital. I didn't bear the world. I didn't create anything. I didn't destroy it. What did I even do? What do I ever do on these journeys?'
"If I'm good, can I go now?"
She didn't return The Herta's gaze. Looking down at the ground between them. She was the one who managed to overcome Zandar. All Io did was give her a chance, an easier path. It didn't matter. It didn't amount to much, did it?
They weren't there.
Why did it have to end? Why couldn't the story go on? Wasn't that the point of the Trailblaze?
