Poppin' Arms Guild ~ Main Lobby

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's face contorted in dismay at his bluntness. But whatever, Diyem had handled her soul plenty enough already, right?

"Sure, Chief."

She closed her eyes, and tried to go mentally limp.

 

[Namohysip]

It was the same; Brisa would feel like Diyem was standing in front of her, sorting through a bookshelf, except she was the bookshelf. Thankfully, it did not look like he could write in any of them, only look at it. Brisa would also feel a sense of frantic panic from Diyem that he only slightly showed in his eyes... But that was all. And the feeling eased within seconds.

Yes, there it was. Brisa was not of Cibus. There was a different signature to it. And he should have known better than to doubt himself. Though, as a Dark Matter, perhaps that was natural.

"That's all," Diyem said, taking his hand off of her forehead, and Diyem's presence disappeared from her.

He took a long, steadied breath, relaxing. Brisa was normal. That was fine. But that could only mean...

"...I'm going to check everyone, just in case," Diyem said, "but, Brisa, you are who you think you are."

Another long pause.

Then, he faced the Necrozma.

"You are not... and never have been."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa's proprioception lurched as she came back to herself only to hear Nero's bizarre conjecture confirmed as truth. Bahamut was, what, then? A soul conjured to inhabit the memories of a doomed and grieving tyrant? A construct, with no past and nowhere to return to?

...a mote in creation whose entire existence may have no future at all, if she understood his fate correctly.

She looked at the necrozma and tried to discern from his cryptic features what he might be feeling.

"Bahamut... Are you okay?"

 

[Ambyssin]

"Ex... cuse me?" The colors in Bahamut's eyes... fragmented. They looked like jigsaw pieces if a hatchling were allowed to stomp on them, then chew the edges haphazardly. "What does that mean then... for me? When the rest of the team leaves... will I just disappear?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa winced, and looked to Diyem in hopes of being wrong.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem frowned, unsure how to answer. He looked at Eien next, then at Bahamut. "You... will not," he said. "But... you do not have a universe to return to. You were... That can't be, I... No. It must be. After what I have seen, it must be. And it explains a great deal..." His scaly brow furrowed again. "Your compatibility with Maple should not have been possible. I wrote it off as a fluke... Her affinity for your species bypassed my restrictions. And yet... That must be truly why.

"You are not of Etherium, or the universe it resides in. When I searched for 'Bahamut' of that world, I found you... but only his body. His spirit must be elsewhere... And I instead found a body driven by fragmented memories. And instead of pulling a spirit from Etherium... you were instead born from those memories.

"When Team Spectrum leaves... you will have nowhere to go. Your home... is, technically, Cibus. Or perhaps... my Voidlands. You aren't even a year old."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Holy shit."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut slumped to a seated position. His eyes still appeared broken, but he managed to glare at Nero. "You." His head tendrils fizzled like soda pop. "I told you to drop the matter. Why couldn't you leave well enough alone?"

Nero flinched. "I, uh—" He lowered his head. "I just wanted to help you not feel so sad."

"And telling me my entire life is a lie was the best way to do that?" Bahamut hissed. He covered his face with a wing. "I— what am I supposed to do with this information? People already assume I'm some sort of monster. Now they'll have a real reason to think it!"

Nero winced again. "But they don't—"

He stopped himself. This would've been the part where having the newspaper clippings would've helped, but he carelessly lost them. And now Nero was certain Bahamut needed some genuine positivity. Or would that destroy him as he currently is? Crud...

 

[Namohysip]

"Now, that's not true at all," Eien said, frowning. "I can't speak much for myself... but people really do appreciate you, Bahamut. Ohh, it really is like talking to Diyem when he was younger, isn't it...?"

"You may not have lived that life, but you still hold those memories," Diyem said. "You have the liberty of making of them what you wish. But your issues... Now I see why typical treatments have not worked. I have been approaching it in the wrong way entirely. You... are like me. Born from me. And therefore, perhaps you have an echo of my properties.

"Which also means..." He winced, Shadows trickling from his jaws. He held it together with some help from Eien. "There is hope." He snapped his claws, forming a flame--of Radiance--above his palm.

"Ahh, that's true," Eien suddenly said. "You are... a related species to Maple as well, then! And--oh, does that make you and Toast brothers?"

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut's beak somehow scrunched up.

"Hey, could be worse." Nero's tail wagged slowly. "I'm sure there's a version of Cibus where Diyem gave life to... like, a cucumber or something."

"Stop talking."

"Y-Yessir."

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem paced, making a low, rumbling sound from the back of his throat. Thinking. That was probably his thinking noise.

"You've... never been to my Voidlands before, have you?" Diyem said slowly. "Perhaps if you'd gone there, I would have noticed this sooner..." Pacing continued.

"This must... be a shock to all of us, but most of all you, Bahamut," Eien said. "But it's knowledge. It's better to learn now than suddenly, when everyone else is gone, yet you remain, not knowing why. We can work with this..."

"Hmph, and while everyone else is lamenting their inevitable lost memories, you can only make more," Diyem muttered, arms crossed. "Your problems in Etherium are officially gone. They may as well be like a dream... And should you have fears of the Eternatus of that world, all the more reason to find ways to prepare later. But it's whole planes away, now. And you can give the Overseers your knowledge should things go awry in the world your memories came from."

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut looked down. "I went into to pacify that mewtwo..." he grumbled, sounding like someone had taken his favorite toy.

"Well, uh, at least you have a bright side to all of this?" Nero laughed nervously.

"Ah, yes, because now's the time to try and go up to people and make friends." Bahamut pinched his brow.

 

[Namohysip]

"So you have," Diyem hummed, nodding.

"Sounds to me like you were so convinced that everything was in order that you didn't check," Eien remarked. "Though... these are rare circumstances, even for us."

Diyem glanced at Nero, frowning. "It doesn't matter what you do," Diyem said to Bahamut, "but with this new perspective, perhaps also you can have a new step. And... new treatment."

 

[Ambyssin]

“Treatment? You speak like I have a condition,” Bahamut growled.

Nero thought it best not to respond to that.

 

[Namohysip]

"You do," Diyem said flatly. "I only assumed it was because you were of my domain, but it goes beyond that. But it is still something that can be treated. First, a diagnosis, then." Diyem grumbled, looking through his badge. He seemed to be searching for something, grumbling. "Here. Read this."

It seemed to be a news article.

The Indestructible Crystal!

It seemed to be some kind of op ed on Bahamut during his few battles in the Colosseum. It detailed the combatants that fought him, how impressed they were at how he fought, his restraint when counterattacking, or what he considered counterattacking, as well as audience reactions. They were, all in all, positive; Bahamut was being portrayed as a mysterious, stoic, with offhand mentions of his quiet, charitable work when approached by random civilians. Someone who appreciated a quiet life and not to be bothered.

Near the bottom, there was a quote from Turf, saying that Bahamut inspired her to get stronger so she can be just as indestructible.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut stared blankly at the article.

"I, uh, had tried to gather other pieces," Nero said. "But I left the window open in my room and the wind must've blown them out of the room. Sorry."

Bahamut appeared to ignore Nero.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Brisa hesitated, unsure what would work to reach Bahamut. Since Diyem's revalatory summary, she'd listened, processed, considered. It was hard to know what to do for someone when you'd never seen them respond positively to anything.

"This is a good world, y'know," she ventured, carefully. "If you remained here, you'd get to live a life of yer choosin'. The folks here are compassionate. Their culture is . . . bright. Could you bring yerself around to makin' a life here?"

She tried not to let envy cut up the words as they left her mouth.

 

[Namohysip]

Diyem, meanwhile, was watching closely, as Bahamut's reaction would grant him insight on how the treatment should go. If Bahamut actually felt something from this... it would be a welcome development. It was possible, but Diyem simply didn't know. If Bahamut felt nothing, then it would not be all bad, but not necessarily good, either. Still, it meant he was stable. That was progress. More progress than Diyem had made without Eien.

If Bahamut destabilized, though--pain, weakening, dizziness--then he was not yet able to truly achieve 'positive emotions.' He would need Radiant treatments, perhaps the same that he'd gone through with the Overseers. It would be the least desirable outcome... but also the one Diyem knew the path forward the most thoroughly.

And for a brief moment, one could see the desperate hope of a father in Diyem's eyes.

 

[Ambyssin]

Bahamut was still staring at the clipping. With his mismatched eyes, it was always tough to read his expression. Fortunately, Nero had more experience in that department than anyone would expect. And he saw… longing in Bahamut’s eyes. Some guilt bubbled in his stomach over losing the articles, but he shoved that down.

“If it’s any consolation, one of my friends is in a similar boat as you.” Nero spoke gently. “It hasn’t been easy, but he’s adjusted to his new life. He has friends. A job. A special someone. If he could make it work, you can.”

“Mmm.” Bahamut folded the article and put it in his satchel. “Maybe.”

It was subtle, but Nero saw it: twinges of proper necrozma gold on the edges of Bahamut’s wings.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"You . . . already have friends, as I understand it," added Brisa. "Those in the posse as like you best will leave, sure, but some of the void eternas are fond of ya. An' perhaps... Perhaps it'd do you some good t'see more examples of local folks' appreciation fer ya. Nero went after clippin's, but I can text you some articles over yer badge, if y'like."

She spotted the golden sheen too, sensitive as her eyes were. Was his colouration an artefact of his 'condition'?