Chapter Text
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Everything was gone.
Ossex had put its Hollowers Guild to the torch, letting it burn until there was nothing left but ash. Bone Beach’s mining colony chipped away at the Dreadworm’s rotting corpse, little by little, until all that was left was a barren, lifeless waste. Earthquakes rocked the Queensbury Crypt, tearing the land asunder and shaking the mausoleum to pieces. Researchers and experiments alike hurried into the great mirror-portal, leaving the Astral Orrery silent and empty. Violence erupted across Septemburg, citizens on all sides furiously doling out their own brands of justice. Looters and pillagers stampeded through the once-lofty halls of Radiant Manor, grabbing whatever they could get their hands on.
Tenebrous Isle was finished. It was all over. There was almost nothing left.
Mina could only watch in horror as each surreal vision passed her by. It was too terrible for words. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe.
Mina? Up and at ‘em, lass… we’re almost there…
She couldn’t breathe.
She… couldn’t breathe?
…why couldn’t she breathe!?
Mina? Why’re you shaking…?
In a panic, the mouse opened her mouth, gasping as heavily as she could – but no matter how hard she tried, air never came. Reaching up, she scrabbled at her neck with both paws, tugging at the collar of her shirt, trying in vain to loosen the lump that seemed to be stuck in her throat.
All the while, the images of destruction continued to play out. They were everywhere, all around her, no matter where she looked. And the more she looked, the more angry and manic she felt. Her fur was growing shaggy; her tiny claws were getting sharp; her body spasmed and ached.
Mina!? Hey! Mina!
Out of nowhere, she felt invisible hands grab her wrists, dragging them away as if to stop her. Mina fought back with all her might, kicking her footpaws and writhing from side to side.
Wake up! C’mon, wake up…!
Tenebrous abruptly collapsed, melting into inky nothingness. The only thing left was a pinprick of light, like a guiding beacon in the dark.
The invisible hands let go of her, and Mina gazed up at the light in wonder, letting it wash everything else away.
MINA!
“MINA!”
With a ragged gasp, Mina the Hollower’s eyes shot open.
“Gah-!?”
She regretted it almost immediately.
Out of nowhere, her vision was flooded with colorful stars and splotches, dancing around even as she scrunched her face up. The sound of her own name rang in her ears, a voice that sounded far away yet agonizingly-loud. Numerous tactile sensations barged through her mind, one after another, overwhelming it to the point of going blank.
Granted, the mere fact that she could breathe again was good enough for her. For a few long, exhausting seconds, Mina lay still, gulping down lungfuls of air, quietly letting the sensory overload run its course.
“You’re awake! Oh, thank goodness…!”
The Hollower’s ears twitched as the voice from before spoke up again, this time much less loud – and tinged with audible relief.
“Hhh… h-huh…?” Shuddering, she blinked her eyes open again, feeling the tension drain from her muscles. “What?”
As she continued to breathe, the room started to come into focus again. Slowly, but surely, her vision adjusted to her blurry, dimly-lit surroundings, revealing the curved walls of a large ship. The wooden structure creaked quietly around her, while muffled chatter drifted in from above, lulling her into a cozy stupor.
“By the stars, lass… you gave me quite a scare there. Were you having a nightmare?”
Turning her head, Mina glanced over at her caretaker – a plump-faced, red-nosed man, with a black captain’s hat and a familiar, bushy beard. He gazed back at her with a fraught expression, concern written all over his face.
“C… Cappy…?” What… what was he doing here?
“Yes, it’s me, miss Mina.” Cappy nodded, his mustache twitching as he spoke. “We’re closin’ in on Tenebrous Isle, so I came down to get’cha, like you asked me to.”
The corners of Mina’s mouth drooped dejectedly. Oh… he wasn’t actually here. She was still dreaming. Just dreaming…
“Mmh…” She hummed, rolling onto her side and nuzzling deeper into her pillow. Well, if this was what her mind was going to do, then she may as well enjoy it. At least the Chiaroscuro’s dream hammock was just as comfy as the real one had been… “Just… a little longer-”
But before she could doze off again, a pair of hands rapped against her cheeks, sparking her nerves to life. They were rough, and calloused… and they felt very, very real.
“Oh no you don’t-” The older man barked. “No more nightmares on my watch!”
“Ah-!?” Mina yelped, a spasm going through her as she came fully awake.
In a rush of confusion, she pushed herself up onto her knees, moving so quickly that it made her hammock rattle. Cappy, in the meantime, took a small step away from her bunk, idly adjusting his jacket and scarf.
Wait… what?
“There we go… are you feelin’ alright?” Cappy asked, as if absolutely nothing was wrong. “You were really tossing and turning there.”
What!?
Mina stared at him in utter disbelief, mind and heart both racing. A mess of emotions stirred in the pit of her stomach; joy, confusion, relief, fear.
No… she… what? What was this? Where… h-how…?
“Miss Mina?” Cappy cocked his head, worry shining in his eyes.
Cappy was here. Alive.
Without even thinking, she tumbled out of her hammock – footpaws thumping hard against the floorboards – and flung her arms around him.
“Woah-!” He yelped, staring down at her in bewilderment.
She looked up at the older man with a watery gaze, then buried her face into the loose end of his scarf, hugging him tightly.
He felt real. He sounded real. Was this actually real?
But he was… she saw him… s-she saw him…!
But… how? What? How…!?
Then, she felt Cappy return her impromptu embrace. One hand came to rest on her shoulder; the other, petting her between her ears.
“Hey, hey… easy, lass,” He said, soothingly. “It’s okay… you’re okay…”
That simple, comforting gesture was all it took to break through the storm of confusion raging in Mina’s mind. The ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ didn’t stop, but they did slow down, just long enough for a single thought to replace them:
Right now, she didn’t actually care whether this was real or not.
And in that moment of clarity, the mouse allowed herself to weep.
“A-Ah… m-my apologies,” Mina stammered, slumping back against the small wooden chair. “I didn’t mean to trouble you.”
Unsurprisingly, it had taken her some time to regain her composure – it wasn’t every day that a friend came back from the dead. In the meantime, Cappy had steered them both away from her hammock and over to the nearby table, wisely giving her a moment to cool down.
“You’ve nothin’ to worry about, lass. Captain’s honor.” Cappy slowly eased down in the neighboring seat, retrieving a flask from his jacket and offering it up to her. “Here, have something to drink. That’ll set ya right.”
Mina gladly took the flask, her nose twitching at the scent of sailor’s punch. Undoing the cap, she brought it to her muzzle and took a quick swig – then an extra little sip, just in case the first wasn’t enough.
“Mm-!” Both gulps burned on their way down, putting a much-needed one-two shock to her system. She passed the drink back to her friend, then licked her lips, savoring its bittersweet, citrusy aftertaste. “Hmm…”
“Well?” Cappy asked. “What do you think?”
Mina paused, forcing her confusion aside so she could mull the question over. A second later, she glanced back at the older man. “Rum, and lemon, of course. Bitters. And… is that ginger?”
His eyes crinkled knowingly. “Heh, now there’s the Mina I know. Sharp as ever, eh?”
Mina half-smiled at that, bringing a paw up to stifle a giggle. “I suppose so.”
For a few, fleetingly-short minutes, the two of them sat in silence, basking in the atmosphere of the rocking, swaying ship. Cappy took a quick swig of drink for himself, then returned the little flask to its pocket. Mina, in the meantime, glanced around the lower deck, her gaze drifting from one end of the room to the other. She could still feel the burn of the cocktail at the back of her throat.
This… this wasn’t a dream.
She was here. She was actually here, sitting in the Chiaroscuro, sharing a quick drink with Cappy. The bits of cargo she could see were all prim and proper, at least by ship standards. And…
“You… said we’re almost to Tenebrous, correct?” She asked, arching her back and stretching herself out, cricking the stiffness from her joints.
“That’s right, lass. We should reach the island in half-an-hour, give or take,” Cappy nodded in confirmation.
Mina hummed, her tail flicking through the gap in her chair. So she’d heard correctly before – she hadn’t even arrived on the island yet.
Which meant all of her adventures… everything that happened… hadn’t?
But… how was that even possible? Dreams weren’t her area of expertise, but she understood enough to know that wasn’t how dreams worked. Even the most lucid of dreams weren’t supposed to feel so… well, real.
Cappy suddenly tapped her on the shoulder, pulling her back to reality again. “Mina? You still with me?”
“O-Oh!” Mina turned to look at him again, smiling apologetically. “Yes, sorry, I’m fine. I’m just, uh… processing, I suppose.”
“Mm. Well, I need to get back up on-deck. Guide us into port and all that,” Cappy replied, pushing his chair out and getting up.
Before leaving however, he gave her a serious look, a flicker of concern returning to his features. She gazed back at him, her ears perking up expectantly.
“Are you… sure you’ll be alright? I know you’re a capable lass and all, but I’ve never seen you rattled like that before,” He asked. “You must have had one heck of a nightmare.”
Mina smiled again – a full one this time, warm and genuine. Good old Cappy. If nothing else, her nightmare had helped put his friendship into perspective. Maybe she could get him a present once she reached Ossex. He deserved that much, at the very least.
“I should be okay, yes. It was a terrible dream, but still just a dream,” She reassured him, sliding out of her seat as well.
She still didn’t quite believe it, but maybe saying it out loud would make it feel truer.
“In fact… I might come with you, now that you mention it,” She added, craning her neck to look up at him. “Some fresh air sounds nice right about now.”
Cappy nodded in agreement, gesturing towards her hammock with a wave of his hand. “You’d better get your coat on, then. The Umbral’s pretty chilly tonight!”
With that, the older man started towards the stairwell, cresting the steps until he was out of sight.
As for Mina, she looked down at herself, blinking in surprise upon noticing her bare forearms. Where was her-?
Then, she twisted around, looking back at the hammocks. Wait… right. She’d been asleep. In an actual sort-of bed, no less. Of course she didn’t have her coat on.
Sighing to herself, she made her way across the room, kneeling down at the foot of her bunk. Sure enough, all her belongings were still safely tucked away in the corner.
“Alright…” Reaching out, she grabbed her longcoat and lifted it up-
Thunk! Thump! Cling-clink-!
-only to freeze when several items fell out onto the floor.
Slowly, almost glacially, Mina dipped her head, until she was staring down at her footpaws.
Because where there should have been only three items… there were, in fact, six.
There was Nightstar, her ever-trusty whip, hanging securely from her coat. There was her sidearm-slash-traveling satchel. And there was the letter she’d received from the Marshal of Ossex… from Thorne.
But then, there was also a pair of shortblades, their edges gleaming even in the dim lamplight of the lower deck. A quick peek at her belt revealed two scabbards strapped opposite her whip. The words ‘Whisper’ and ‘Vesper’ were embroidered into the leather.
Last and most startling of all, however…
“Wh…” Mina whispered, her breath quickening. “What…!?”
There was an all-too-familiar bandolier, lined with several little, yellowed-glass vials.
Plasma vials.
A lance of dread shot through her, leaving her rooted to the spot.
She… she was not supposed to have these.
She definitely hadn’t brought Whisper and Vesper with her on the ship. She’d found them near the Queensbury Crypt and had kept them around for the rest of her journey. She remembered that quite clearly; the little blades had saved her life on more than one occasion.
And she definitely remembered Cappy giving her the plasma vials. That had been right after the shipwreck. And there were far more in the bandolier than he’d given her back then…
These were not supposed to be here. These shouldn’t be here. These were from… from…!
…
I wish I’d done things differently.
Time seemed to grind to a halt, and as understanding dawned on her, Mina’s eyes went wide as saucers.
She hadn’t been dreaming.
That’s why she remembered it all so clearly. That’s why it seemed so real to her. Because her entire ordeal had happened. Thorne’s rebellion, Lionel’s betrayal, the Spark Generators, the monsters, the plasma… all of it.
She’d fled Tenebrous, narrowly escaping the furious mob, and had sailed her way to Thorne’s little hideout. She’d used one of her remaining vials to reverse the mutations he’d been put through, and then she’d tended to his wounds. Then, when neither of them was able to sleep that night, they ended up gazing out at the island and discussing their next steps.
And she’d wished she’d done things differently.
Did… was that why…
“No…” Mina shook her head in disbelief. “No, that can’t be…!”
Slowly, the mouse turned away from her hammock and began pacing back and forth, her brain once again racing. As she went over all the impossibilities, she prepared for the night: strapping the bandolier over her shoulder, pulling her coat and satchel on with practiced ease, and tucking Whisper and Vesper back into their sheaths.
It made no sense. It went against every scientific principle that had been drilled into her. There were lots of strange things in the world; magics and technologies that often defied common sense until they were explained. The Spark Generators were a perfect example of such a thing. But this? This went far, far beyond that.
She and Thorne had expressed their regrets, yes. Their ‘should haves’, ‘could haves’, ‘would haves’. But wishing upon a star for a do-over was the stuff of fairytales and storybooks. It was a romantic notion to hold in your heart, yes, but not a reliable or quantifiable metric. It simply could not be…
…but then, how else would she have gone back to the day she’d first arrived? With the gear she’d had when she’d escaped, no less? There was no scientific method, no empirical way to measure what was going on. It had just happened. Nothing more, nothing less.
She remembered all of it happening. She had physical proof of it happening.
And yet, here she was anyway.
Somehow, everything was… everything was…
“Starting over,” She finished the thought out loud. “Everything’s starting all over again.”
…
All of a sudden, alarm bells started going off in her head – and when she realized why, she froze.
If she was back on the Chiaroscuro, did that mean-!?
BOOM!
As if to answer, the entire ship abruptly lurched to the side, knocking Mina off her footpaws and onto the ground. Her chin hit the floorboards hard, the impact sending an unpleasant jolt through her nerves. The ship’s hull cracked and splintered around her.
BOOM!
Fortunately, Mina’s survival instincts kicked in right before the second slam. As the ship lurched in the other direction, she huddled up into a burrowing position, letting her body roll along with the change in momentum. Sure enough, she safely tumbled across the room, going until she bounced against the bunks again.
“Erk-!” Of course, bracing herself for the turbulence didn’t stop it from knocking the wind out of her. “Ugh…!”
Still, she forced herself to power through, quickly picking herself up off the floor. As the ship regained its balance, she peered up at the ceiling, catching a few of the screams coming from up above.
“HELP! HEEELP!”
“KEEP HER STEADY NOW!”
“IT’S THE KRAKEN!”
Oh no.
It was here.
…
No… he was here!
Without hesitation, Mina bolted for the stairwell.