Mystery Continent ~ Northern Pines

[Ambyssin]

"Things were a blur when Eternatus broke me and I lost my family," Bahamut muttered. "If something happened, I wouldn't have the foggiest idea what."

 

[Namohysip]

"Hmm..." Altowen and Owen both hummed, thoughtful. "And that whole realm is huge. You'd have to search for a while..."

"Then again, you also have a while," Altowen added.

Owen nodded. "Reminds me of someone I know back home. He also has trouble with the... happy thing. He usually moved things forward logically, and that was sort of his way of having hope, even if it wasn't the exact same way."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Move things forward logically?" Bahamut blew golden embers. "The 'logical' step forward is destroying Eternatus, even if Etherium ends up a casualty as a result. And if it does, then like with all the other times I've tried to 'help,' there'll just be emptiness, not happiness."

 

[Namohysip]

Owen and Altowen seemed unconvinced. There was a missing piece.

"You were happy before," Altowen said. "Why can't you be happy again?"

"Mmm, say you destroyed Eternatus and freed everyone trapped," Owen said. "You'd move on to another place. But, your wife... What led you to meeting her, made you happy? What was different?" He tapped his chin. "If it happened once, it can happen again. It's not impossible. And you have a lot of time for it to happen again."

 

[Ambyssin]

Always pressing. Always prodding. Stars, Owen could be so infuriating like that. "My wife... was the Archbishop of Eternatus. She oversaw all the daemons that harassed those souls sealed within the Qliphoth. But she had a change of heart and fled Eternatus. She was attacked and crash-landed on Etherium. My friends and I helped her. We grew close because of the awful things we'd done in our pasts and how I was trying to make a new life for myself and how she wanted to do that.

"The odds of something like that happening again are very limited." He lifted an upper wing, expecting a rebuttal. "You both been on a version of this planet... with its 'tangible hope.' Well, maybe hope's just a finite resource where I'm from."

 

[Namohysip]

"Hope is just a concept where we're from, too," Owen said. "We need to take action if we want anything to be done. Which, I guess, you know, it's what you're doing back home, too, in a way."

"Oh, he's trying to save the world?" Altowen asked.

"...Yeah," Owen said, mercifully letting Bahamut evade that subject. "I don't think we need hope for that. Just time. Hope lets you carry on, but you have motivation already."

"Mm. Yeah." Altowen nodded. "But hey, if you're still alive, that means you can still do things. You've still got a motivation! That's got to mean something!"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut propped his head against an upper wing. "I'm not sure you want my brand of motivation, Altowen. It would turn you slightly more bitter, like him." He pointed to the other Owen.

 

[Namohysip]

"B-bitter?" Owen chirped.

"You do seem gloomier," Altowen commented.

"I mean, I guess I was possessed by an Eternatus parasite thing... and also there's the whole Wishkeeper thing..."

"Wishkeeper!" Altowen leaned forward. "Wow! I haven't heard that name in... a long time!"

"Yeah, er, well, my Shadows... reawakened that." Owen rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, hey, you got bigger for it, so that's worth it, right?"

For some reason, this seemed to earn a genuinely positive grin from the Owen Bahamut knew. "Er--anyway," Owen said, "I guess there's... balance to find between us, huh? It's good to be hopeful but you need to keep it... er... realistic. And prepare for the worst."

"The worst is pretty far down," Altowen said.

"...Hey, Bahamut," Owen said. "I know you don't... hold your opinion too highly, but can I ask for some advice? Maybe he can use it too, since, you know."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut flicked a lower wing. "Fire away." He paused. "No pun intended."

 

[Namohysip]

"So... Say you have a friend, or, like, someone you used to work really closely with," Owen began. "Someone you wanted to help out of trouble, but it involved, you know, some questionable things. And say, maybe while you were once helping out, things changed and... um..." He trailed off. "What would you do if it turned out you were on opposing sides afterward? Like, in leadership roles, too. D'you think it'd be possible to work things out, even if now you're...?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Enemies?" Bahamut rubbed his beak. "I think that depends on what it is you're in opposition over. The fact that you're tiptoeing around it with such vague statements suggests it's not some mere dispute but something with significant weight behind it. If you're both leaders, then that suggests you're quite steadfast in your resolves."

His eyes swirled and bubbled with different colors. "The thing about this Blacklight business is that, technically speaking, all of our opponents have never been in their right state of mind. So, I suppose in some regard, it made convincing them to give up the fight easy. But someone who actually believes in their convictions... can pose an insurmountable uphill battle."

Bahamut smirked. "You're stubborn, though. And I doubt you'd turn to psychic rewiring. Or could even do it. So, it might just come down to if you can grind the other person down mentally to the point where they'll at least consider some sort of compromise, if possible."

He looked up at the sky. "Assuming, of course, you're not the one who's actually in the wrong here."

 

[Namohysip]

"I--I hope I'm not," Owen said quickly.

"We're definitely not," Altowen said right after. "We aren't the ones going around and, er... You know, causing death and destruction and all that chaos stuff."

"Imagine... someone kind of like you," Owen said, "who is full of despair and doesn't really see a way out, and also has a lot of power. And then imagine if we had two different ways to solve it... and he took the way that involves, er." Owen glanced at the moon, then back at Bahamut. "Drastic measures. I don't really know if we can beat each other. It's sort of a stalemate... L-like you know, I have a habit of dying but not staying down. So does he."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut sat up. "Have you considered locking yourselves away somewhere until you can break the stalemate? That way you aren't getting innocents caught in the crossfire?"

 

[Namohysip]

Owen fiddled with his fingers. "Yeah. That, um. For a good five hundred years or so I lived a normal life and kept forgetting my age. And the other one was sealed inside someone else's spirit." He sighed. "...Both of those seals broke recently. I don't... know if it's worth going back into that stalemate again. I don't know if we can in time. Our world is already destabilizing. Our spirit world and living world might overlap soon."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut frowned. "Then if such things truly can't work you need to forcibly show them why you're right. Or find a way to make it so that they do not have power that can rival yours any longer."

His expression darkened. "You know if it was me I would kill them and take their power for myself."

 

[Namohysip]

"I thought so," Owen replied, sighing. He wasn't sure why he asked. He knew that would be the answer, especially from Bahamut. Altowen seemed pensive, too, by this answer. "Everything is this... tenuous balance right now. If any one pillar goes down, the rest will try to make a move and I just don't know if anyone will be left when it's over! A-and... And if I'm the one who's left, I don't... I mean. Y-you said it yourself. I'm just a kid, aren't I? How can I know how to work with power like that? I can't... take it for myself. I just know it'll bring us into more trouble all over again."

 

[Ambyssin]

"Then get rid of it," Bahamut said, a bit sharper. He rose up higher. "Where there is power, there is always a means of dispelling it. Look at the Blacklight. When people are swarming with too much of that energy, they fire it off with that burst move. Why can't you do something similar? Or find whatever your world's alternative is?"

His expression sharpened. "You keep pressing me on my tenuous situation, so I sincerely hope you expected the same. If there are multiple pillars, then surely there are some agreeable third-parties you can get help from. Plus, I strongly doubt you're in this alone. Someone as... upbeat and charismatic as you likely has a number of friends."

 

[Namohysip]

"That's true..." Owen's flame grew just slightly. Despite Bahamut's pressing, he seemed to be taking it all in like it was plain advice rather than any pointed words. "Get rid of it..." He trailed off, weighing that. "...Get rid of it... How?" He sighed. "The power being fought over is something... innate. You know how, here, Pop can use his divine power, and can use portions of it to empower others? Well, it's a similar power, but you can't... get rid of it. You can only transfer it. Or take it. It's never been destroyed. It's... inherent to the fabric of the world itself."

 

[Ambyssin]

"And you can't transfer it to something inert? Or, again, release it into, say, the planet itself allow it to disperse into nature?" Bahamut shook his head. "This is why I hate this 'divine power' business."

 

[Namohysip]

"Well, um, transferring it into something inert is what led me into, uh." Owen made a gesture and conjured a small bouquet of flowers from his hand. He paused, staring at it, not knowing what to do with it next, so he offered it to Bahamut. They smelled fragrant. "But you might be onto something..."