Work Text:
She won.
And then she felt cold.
And then she fell asleep into blissful nothingness because it was full of everything.
But of course, it was in Her nature to change, so the environment of Her vessels changed as well. Through a naked eye it is as if nothing has happened, but for now, everything has happened just like everything will happen again. Unless he kills Her. For good.
But enough about that, she didn’t care about it even if it was in the back of every other vessel’s mind. Or most of them, some were very eager to be killed and to kill in return that the finality of death didn’t matter. Some believed that he would never do such a thing, as it wasn’t in his nature.
The Moment of Clarity, as she was subconsciously referred to by him, leaned towards the latter group. Yes, he tried to kill her, but he could never follow through. He always hesitated. He always ran. He always was a coward. She knew he’ll run again. Or maybe he’d learned to listen to Her the first time!
But looking on the bright side, it seemed through his actions that he wanted to be with her more. He wouldn’t kill her for good. He refused to, even if he convinced himself that he had all the reason to.
She paused in her drifting. It didn’t look like he was here though. All of this was her. Or Her. What was him was not here, except for the bits and pieces that defined her.
Oh well, she guessed that she had to just accept this now. He’d probably cramp her style anyway. She’ll find something else to do. Or someone else.
And because of all Her multitudes that exist, it was easy to find someone that was her because that was all there was. This particular vessel was sitting on the ground quietly, but it was obvious that she was much shorter than herself and wore a pale, poofy gown. Her eyes stared into the distance with a face devoid of marks. The Moment of Clarity didn’t have a face. Not anymore.
Not like she was self-conscious as she floated to the other vessel with ease. “Aren’t you worried you’ll get your pretty dress dirty?” she sang.
The other vessel startled before calming down, clasping her hands together loosely. “Oh, hello there. Um, I’m sure it doesn’t matter.”
“Does it now?” she sank to the ground. “All right, if you say so. Who exactly are you?”
“That’s a loaded question, isn’t it?” the other vessel said before sighing. “I’m… The Honest Heart. I think.”
She could have laughed at that. This ‘Honest Heart’ wasn’t being completely truthful to anyone. But she didn’t mock her, even if it would have been so easy.
“She calls me The Wise Heart.” She bowed theatrically seven arms raised to the air. “And he called me The Moment of Clarity. Which one do you think is better?”
The Honest Heart looked around. Who was she searching for? “Well, which do you prefer? It’s your name.”
“I know it’s my name,” she said. “But my question is what do you think? Do I fit the description of ‘a wise heart?’ Does ‘moment of clarity’ sound more like me?”
“I… I don’t really know you, so I can’t give a good answer for that,” she said slowly. A bit too carefully. “But, you could always use both.”
“Uhm,” she nodded just as slowly. “What if you can’t compromise? What would you choose? It’s okay to be honest. To tell the truth. I won’t be upset, I promise.”
The Honest Heart did not look like she believed her.
That’s all right. She knew that all she had to do was wait. Eventually she’ll crack and say what she really thinks. That’s just how it goes.
But waiting didn’t mean sitting still and doing nothing. For her, waiting meant poking and prodding until she gets what she wants.
“So what do you think of him?”
The Honest Heart glanced around. For what? Was she afraid? That’s hilarious when she is so much more than him.
“He’s nice. Loved giving me things. Saying that he loved me,” was all The Honest Heart could say.
“Did you like that?” She, for one, would have appreciated it if he did those things for her. He never did until it was too late for him. By the time he started singing praises and love poems to her, his mind was already fractured. It was cute, though.
“He wanted to make me happy,” the other vessel said. “He tried, and I have to appreciate that.”
“You really don’t,” she flexed her fingers. “But all right. What else happened?”
“We ate food, we played games…”
That sounded so boring. “Wow, we did that too!”
That caught The Honest Heart’s attention. “Really? So maybe that’s just how he shows affection…”
“Yep!” she nodded. “We also sang and walked and discovered how many blood vessels he had and shut down his organs and threw his knife away and danced and dragged him up the stairs until there weren’t any stairs and dug holes and played hide and seek and talked and kissed and ripped each other’s limbs off and made a coat of feathers and so much more! Round and round we go… Until finally he managed to do the one thing I asked for! Isn’t that great?”
The Honest Heart blinked.
“Oh… I see.”
She stayed quiet for a long time.
“You said you danced?”
“Yes,” she said excitedly. “He offered first, which was a surprise since he barely initiated anything. But he held out his hand and I took it, and we danced.”
Her eyes widened.
“He lasted for five seconds,” she chortled. “I’m not sure what exactly he expected, because his organs started shutting down and he died again. Do you know what he was so scared of?”
“Uh,” The Honest Heart looked around. “Did you ask him?”
“But I want to know what you think!” she cooed. “It’s interesting to think he was so scared of something when he was the one sent to kill us, don’t you think?”
She laughed and The Honest Heart glanced at her feet.
“But, if you don’t want to answer that question, then maybe you can tell me what he thought about you? Or, you know, that other question where I asked about your opinion on my name,” she spun around her. “Either one works!”
The Honest Heart muttered something.
“What was that?” she mimicked cupping one of her hands to an ear. “I couldn’t catch that. You’d have to speak up!”
“...He’s scared of me.”
She stared at The Honest Heart with nonexistent eyes. Then she laughed. “Oh, I know. He was so scared, his organs shut down automatically! Did I tell you about that part yet?”
“No, but I meant…”
“You meant…?” she sighed. “If you’re going to say something, at least make sure there’s a point.”
The Honest Heart frowned more harshly, which was a great improvement from the melancholy she emitted.
“He was scared of what I could do. That I could end the world.”
“And you can if you really put your heart to it!” she encouraged enthusiastically. The Honest Heart did not appreciate that.
“So he showed me a way that we could be happy together and not leave the cabin.”
She stopped laughing.
“I was happy, I really was,” The Honest Heart obviously lied and oh my, she couldn’t leave that alone.
“Who are you even trying to justify this to? He’s not even here. His opinion doesn’t matter.”
She bent down so that she was ‘eye-level’ with the other.
They remained there, silently peering into each other’s face. She had nothing else to hide. Anyone could see what she was inside and out. The other was covered in makeup, no matter how ‘light’ and ‘natural’ it seemed.
“If he doesn’t listen to what you want, you make him listen.” Then she quickly straightened up and clasped her hands. “And it worked out so well for me! You should try it sometime!”
All that makeup must mean that she’s conscious about something. It’s so, so funny the other was trying to hide when it’s all going to come out eventually.
“He did listen,” she insisted. “He was trying to make me happy, even when he didn’t have to.”
“You poor thing,” she cooed. “Do you really believe that? What if I said that I want to make you happy? Would you believe me too?”
“His voice was in my head. It would be pretty hard to lie.”
Huh, she didn’t know how that could happen. If his voice was ever in her head, it would have been so much easier to find out how to break him. “I don’t know…” she sang. “Not like his intention matters when the execution was so poor. You’re here and not there anymore. You got out.”
“Are we really outside the cabin?” She paused at that. Don’t say anything yet, just see where she’s going with this. “We might be with… Her, but that doesn’t mean anything when She needs him to get out… Like we did.”
“Such a good point,” she said. “But don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll learn what to do eventually.”
“And how would you know that?”
“I told you. I made him listen.”
The Honest Heart shivered. It was supposed to be cold here, after all.
“So…” she continued. “Based on what you said, he can’t leave without us. So if he cares about himself, he’ll know what’s right.” She turned a bit to look a bit closer at The Honest Heart’s face. “What about you? Do you think that’s right?”
“Um… If you say so.”
She resisted the urge to groan.
“Well, since you agree, combined with my experience, therefore, things will go exactly how they’re supposed to go even if it’ll take some time for him to learn his lesson.”
“That’s incredibly vague.”
“Why, do you know exactly how things would turn out?”
“No, but-”
“He’s such a coward, right? He can’t think for himself. And look at what happened when he tried to take control. Have a plan, you’re in charge! Balance. And he broke. He could be so much happier if he just listened. First things first, think win-win. Teamwork. Then everything would be okay. It would be all so simple to just walk out of the door, hand in hand. No more questions, no more fear, just trust. Right?”
No answer.
“We are free to do whatever we wish, but whoever put us there was too scared of what we can do. He, however, can’t do anything without us. He just needs a little push every now and then or he’ll stop in the middle of the path.”
“No.”
She paused. “No?”
“No, that can’t be true,” The Honest Heart scrunched her face. The makeup could crack. “Because then we- hypothetically- would have left and he wouldn’t have brought up anything and there would be no voice in my head.”
She gasped. “See? You can disagree with me!”
The Honest Heart blinked.
“Wh- What’s that?” she suddenly wavered, stumbling about, hands flailing in the air. “Is the world e-ending?! No.”
She stopped moving. “It’ll end when it will, so don’t worry your pretty head about it. If you don’t want to.”
“Was that what you wanted?”
“What I wanted?” she pressed a hand against the rim of the void.
“Did you want me to just tell you you’re wrong?”
Now this is where she would have really smiled. “I just wanted to see if you could.”
The Honest Heart was taken aback. “But I have been expressing myself and- and-”
“Go on,” she simpered. “You could do it!”
Her fists were balled. “You haven’t been listening,” she said. “I know what I know, and you don’t need to test me on what I feel.”
“And what do you feel?”
“I just-” she breathed out a laugh. “I won’t be able to get away from you, can I?”
“Is that a bad thing?”
The Honest Heart sighed.
“What? Is it going to hurt?”
There’s nothing she could do that would hurt her anyway. But it would be funny to see her try.
“I love him.”
Don’t we all? But she stayed silent just for her.
“At least, I want to. I know I care about him. And he must care about me.” Her fists loosened, returning to holding her own hands. “Now that I’m here though, I don’t feel happier that I’m away from him. I still feel… Empty. There,” The Honest Heart looked at the void where her eyes should have been. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Maybe,” she said. “Does that mean you felt empty before?”
“I… Guess so.”
“Well that’s not good, isn’t it?”
The Honest Heart gave a small smile. “Maybe.”
“So now what?”
“What- You were the one who started this,” she stared at her. “What do you want?”
“I asked you before,” she reached out to poke her before withdrawing. “What should my name be?”
“Seriously? Was that the point of all of this?” The Honest Heart buried her face in her hands. “Okay, fine.”
“Well?” she leaned closer.
She glanced up to make sure she saw her rolling her eyes. “Let me think about it some more. But I do think both of them suit you.”
“Way to dodge the question,” she sniped. “Come on, if they’re both good, then choose one randomly!”
“Fine, fine,” she sighed. “The Wise Heart.”
“Really? But you disagree with me on so many things?
“It wasn’t everything.” The Honest Heart shrugged. “And you have to be smart enough to create some discussion.”
She then stood up. “Thank you. For talking to me. Even if it was a little… Trying.”
“I know,” The Wise Heart laughed. The Honest Heart rolled her eyes. “Well, what do you want to do now?”
“I want to meet the other vessels,” she announced, brushing herself off. “I want to know what they think and what they experienced.”
“That’s wonderful!” she clapped. “I could introduce you to everyone!”
The Honest Heart raised an eyebrow silently.
“If you want,” she snickered. “I would hate for you to get lost.”
Glancing side to side, The Honest Heart finally shrugged. “You know what? I don’t want to get lost here.”
“Perfect.” She held out a hand. Hesitantly, The Honest Heart took it, but either way, they were going to go together. This was a little more boring then she thought it would go, but fine. At least it lead to something. “I wonder what they’re like too!”