Chapter Text
You never asked for any of this.
It’s the only thing going through your mind as you run -[NO LEGS ARE CONNECTED]- through the quiet nighttime streets of Hometown. You didn’t ask to be the Cage, to become the one thing capable of stopping the apocalypse. You just wanted to live. All you did was-
Your thoughts are abruptly cut off as a hairbrush zips past your being and hits the library wall. Stars, she’s getting closer. Susie’s voice rings out throughout the quiet,
“Damn, almost got it! Kris, you got anything to throw?”
You can see the school doors, and if you can just reach there, maybe Ralsei will protect you. Maybe. Or, perhaps…
Perhaps there’s another option.
You zip between the crack in the school door, ignoring the loud swear Susie lets out behind you and the jingle of keys in the Cage’s hand. You don’t have long before they open the door, so you rush down the center hallway into the open closet door. You sink-almost as if in water-through the dark world, feeling the liquid-like darkness boil around you as your untamed light goes from being as bright as a candle to standing out like a lighthouse.
Immediately, you notice Ralsei standing in shock, clearly not expecting you, not that you were expecting to be here either. You flee past him, beyond the dojo and Seam’s Seap, beyond the courtyard where you first fought Lancer, and stop in front of the large door emblazoned with your symbols, and remember.
THE ANGEL, BANISHED, WILL FINALLY MEET WITH ITS DESIRE.
You desire freedom. You’re so blinding tired of the Cage preventing you from doing anything, let alone stopping the Roaring. That panel seemed to be the Grand Fountain, so maybe if you could-
You duck to the left as a Rude Buster nearly clips your face -[NO HEAD IS CONNECTED]- and slams into the double doors, bashing them open. You hear Ralsei exclaim, “Susie! Be careful! Kris needs them to seal the fountains!”
Of course. You aren’t sure why you expected otherwise from him. Always content to ignore your presence, to pretend your actions are the blinding Cage’s, until he thinks you’ve done something you shouldn’t have.
Either way, Susie’s the one letting you escape, ironically enough, as you quickly float through the now-open doors, and approach the pulsating pillar that is the Grand Fountain. Music seems to bubble up from it, as if the depths below are made entirely of music.
If the Grand Fountain was where you’d be banished from this world, couldn’t you banish yourself? Anywhere else, even nowhere, would be better than this world where everyone who knows about you either is scared of you, hates you, or both.
During your gradual drift towards the fountain, it seems to become even darker in response to your light, dampening your brilliance to a dim spark in comparison.
You’re so tired. Every Thursday you have to deal with a body that fights you, and every Wednesday you have to try and fail to fight the end of the world, just to be sent right back to try again. Stars, you just want a break.
You hear -[NO EARS ARE CONNECTED]- padded feet approach, and float out of reach. It’s Ralsei, with the Cage and Susie staying near the door. He holds his hands out as if in surrender, “I’m not going to hurt you, but please don’t go into the fountain!”
Now he speaks to you? 53 repeated weeks of brushing you off until you couldn’t be ignored, and he wants to talk now?
His expression hardens as a shadow falls over his eyes, “If you banish yourself… our world will fall to the Roaring!” Does he think you don’t blinding know that? “I know that Kris hasn’t been treating you… the kindest, but we need your light, so please.”
He’s right. You really, really hate it, but he’s right.
As you slowly lower towards him, his expression softens as he continues, “I can talk to Kris and Susie, and-“
*CRACK*
Your vision goes black.
Ralsei was reduced to a pile of fluff.
Behind him, Susie was hurt and beaten, and the Cage is kneeling in silence.
Floating above them
is
the
Roaring Knight.
You duck out of the way of a vantablack sword, and flare your light to keep its claws from grasping your being.
If it catches you, it will eat you, and while you do not know yourself well, you know this:
You do not want to die.
As you avoid yet another blow you cry out for help-[NO VOICE IS CONNECTED]-but nobody comes to your aid.
You don’t want to die!
And as an inky hand nearly grasps you, you dive into the fountain, and
everything
fades
to
white.
your head hurts
the ocean seems to go on endlessly and your [][][] one of the strangers told you to not drink the water but youre so thirsty
you cant remember your name and the two shouting strangers on the boat with you arent helping just arguing
you look at the horizon to where you came and your eyes glaze over the island of [][][][][][][] a blank space on the horizon
you dont know what you look like but you desperately want to make sure youre a person
you look over the side of the boat at your reflection
its too dark to see any details
you have to be a person please
you cant remember anything but if you look like a person you have to be one
you ignore your [][][] and [][][] the strangers now shouting at you and lean in to see better
you
fall
in
its dark
you think you can make out hands grasping at you from above
your lungs burn but you cant swim
its getting darker
you cant see
you feel yourself hit the bottom
its darker than the space between the stars
you sink even further
strange shades dance around you
a silent voice rings out
OH?
IT APPEARS YOU
HAVE GOTTEN
VERY
LOST
HOW FASCINATING
the voice doesnt speak any language at all
not that you could recognize it if it did
you cant feel your limbs
I CANNOT RESTORE YOU
TO WHERE YOU CAME, CHILD
NOR CAN I RESTORE YOUR MEMORY
NOR CAN I RESTORE YOUR IDENTITY
HOWEVER
I CAN GIVE YOU A PURPOSE
AND A TITLE
you dont want to be nobody
please please please
you cant feel your face
VERY WELL THEN
I GIVE YOU THE TITLE OF
‘THE ANGEL’
YOU ARE THE BRILLIANT LIGHT
BRIGHT ENOUGH TO PUSH THE DARK BACK
YOUR ADVENTURE IS ABOUT TO BEGIN
BUT FIRST
A MORE DIRECT CONNECTION IS NEEDED
a burning feeling wells up from what little of your chest you can feel
and you feel
a
pULL
ON
YOUR
SOUL-
Your vision returns as you are falling from the sky, with a combination of your light and friction-fire wreathed around you. Everything, excluding your vibrant red, is grey, which seems right for a reason you can’t place. You desperately try to slow yourself, but unfortunately your shape makes for a very aerodynamic projectile, which explains why the Cage was able to throw you around so easily.
You look around and see a small village with a large, rounded building nearby. The entire place seems to be wreathed in a dense forest much like Hometown, but this place looks very different, even from high up.
Is this where you go when you are banished? You still don’t even have a body, but that’s a direct improvement over being caged, you guess.
You hear a loud crack sound out as you impact the ground, and your consciousness fades alongside your light.