The Weight of The World

Misae wipes her face off, continuing to bleed out of her facial orifices afterwards and chewing on the green-stained hankerchief thoughtfully, even cheerfully. 

“Not an army. A search party. We know where Brook is - the Brook from here. We’re here to find people to help kill him. Me, Tempest.” She presses a kiss to phir forehead for emphasis. “We’re the only ones there who know what he’s like, firsthand, since the Brook there is incompetent.” No offense. “He’s there - the world I got exiled to, Ash.”

“Where Brook goes, I go. Count me in.”

“That’s one person, then. We just need to find more.”

“That was easy.”

“Everyone coming, gather around!” She bounces into the center of the room, tossing her hair in a way that had been completely learned from Iris.

“Are you ready, Tempest?” Quill’s voice is gentle.

Heefen stands beside Misae.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

...Ash stands near Misae.

As do Pro and Allegro.

Wraps her arms around Tempest.

“I can control what world we end up in. Not quite where. I never was any good at where. We could end up in the middle of the wastelands, or in the ocean, or in a dragon’s lair…” Still better than anyone else could do.

...Leans into Quill.

“So…me?” Heefen mumbles.

“I think you’re all gettin’ this a little bit off. People there are different, yeah, but they’re not complete reversals. The only thing different between the Allegros is the level of confidence. And Shade and Alyse are only much different because of this world’s Aasa’s actions - and what Shade says about his dad, that world’s Aloden? Only real difference is that Aloden is demony, and I’m starting to doubt this Aloden isn’t.”

“Y-you stop that!”

“Oooh, ooh! Pick me!” She wanted to fight an alternate Misae, even if that wasn’t the sort of person they were looking for.

“Misae, your alternate self may be someone you don’t want to see.”

“...Alternate universes don’t abide by any specific rules. Anything could happen, though it seems like the milder people aren’t as violently different.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“It means you scream too much, and you’re a big whiny dorkface!”

Pro is standing in the center of the living room with a whiteboard behind ir.

“You all may be wondering why I’ve brought you here today.”

“I’m just wondering where you got that whiteboard.”

“It was in my room. Anyway, I’ve brought you all here today to discuss something very important: Quill’s universe and the version of Brook that came from there.” Ie crosses ir arms.

“After comparing people from this universe to what we know about people from Quill’s universe, I think we can safely say that Quill’s universe, to some extent, is a reversal of ours.”

“...A reversal?”

Ie nods. “Take Brook, for example.” Ie turns to the whiteboard and writes Brook’s name, drawing a line underneath it and listing qualities. “From opinions gathered by Daniel, Brook’s good qualities are selflessness, kindness, and responsibility. His negative qualities are gullibility, bad combat skills, and...selflessness, according to Saria.”

“I said what I meant, and I meant what I said.”

“...Anyway.” Ie turns back to the whiteboard and writes A.Brook on the other side of the board, repeating the process. “From what I’ve been told about the alternate Brook, we can say that he’s selfish, malicious, and pretty much a huge bully. However, he’s also shown to be very good at combat.”

“...He used curses and dirty tricks. Our Brook just uses a sword.”

“And the other Brook is a war criminal, too. All of these traits put together make the alternate Brook pretty much the opposite of ours.”

“...How do we know this isn’t just a coincidence?”

“Tempest is a murderer who’s completely taken on the role of a cursed child, while Ash has sworn off murder and is trying to accept the fact that the curse isn’t real. Tempest has repeatedly said that Ichorite is a corrupt goddess and is still alive in phir universe, implying that she’s taken on the role of either Seroh-Edici or Malice. Tempest apparently attacked the alternate version of Saria and lopped off one of her arms, as opposed to Saria attacking Ash.”

“...I-I see your point. What do we do about it, then?”

“We find a villain that’s absolutely horrible at just about everything, and then we find the alternate version of them so they can help us. Preferably, someone outside of the oracle clans.”

“I know I can. Daaaaaaaad….?” She takes Willow’s hand.

A portal opens up in the wall. Dysmas has arrived.