Be brave enough to burn

[notsogreedy]

Who: All the Alices (and Ankh, his name is Ankh)
What: Just a mysterious castle built on top of a restaurant. What could possibly go wrong?
Where: World Two – Wings to the Sky
Warnings: Who even knows? Will update as necessary.



Ankh wakes up at the edge of the water, his arm draped over a rock and his face cushioned by a bed of sand and seaweed as the edges of waves wash over his body. The first thing he notices upon waking is that it's uncomfortable. The second, upon lifting his head and starting to pull himself out of the water is that it's familiar. Awareness dawning, he scrambles to his feet and looks around wide-eyed half expecting Eiji to be there somewhere. Of course he isn't.

But this... this is his last memory. For a moment he wonders if somehow this whole thing came to an end and he wound up back home, but that's wishful thinking. No, this is just his world. His heart, as the guides like to call it. It's only more obvious that this isn't real as he scans the horizon and finds Cous Coussier where it shouldn't be. And then on top of it... that's-

His eyes widen, and then narrow. He's not sure what to expect out of this other than nothing good.

But, after wringing the water out of his clothes as best he can, he makes his way to the restaurant and curiously to the freezer, where he finds the ice pops he expects to be there. Pulling one out, he gives it a skeptical look for a moment—does he dare assume it's really the same or even safe to eat?--but ultimately pops it into his mouth and discovers it tastes exactly like he expects. That much is something he can appreciate. But as for the rest of this...

With popsicle in hand, he continues exploring.

Comments

[frozentear]

I wonder why that's a requirement...

[notsogreedy]

These "hearts" play on the fears of the people in them. That's probably why.

[Him, valuing his senses and losing them. Alice, hating violence and spawning a world full of it. Thinking that way, it might be because he doesn't care one way or the other that the deaths here seem relatively mild. If so, he's suddenly glad that this group as a whole doesn't seem especially kind.]

[frozentear]

[It's true, isn't it... Ankh was clearly not bothered by people shattering to get the medals. So what in here was it that he was afraid of? He doubted it was the underwear. The windows? The medals themselves?]

Is that why you're having me pick up the medals? Because you're afraid of them?

[notsogreedy]

Hmm. [There's nothing more than that. Just a sound, not confirmation one way or the other. And conveniently, it's about at this time that the get to the door leading to the next set of windows. He doesn't waste time there. Qilby shatters, leaving a Peacock medal in his wake. He glances over at Sebastian, and there's a flash of something--uncertainty? nervousness?--on his face for just a second before it turns calculatedly neutral.]

Now there's only one left.

[frozentear]

[He notices that look, and even though he can't quite place it there's definitely something going on. Is Ankh concerned about what'll happen with the last window? Sebastian's window. He wasn't looking forward to it himself, but Ankh wasn't the one shattering. So why is Ankh unsure?]

Yeah.

[notsogreedy]

[Maybe because of whatever it is you already know he's not telling you, Sebastian. Once he's found all the medals, the only thing that's left to do is gather them. There isn't anything left to say, so he walks on to the room with Sebastian's windows, and looks at them for a moment, before finding something heavy... and then going to lean against the wall by the marked window, rather than hitting it. When he looks at Sebastian, there's an air of resignation, though he still has no intention of explaining why.]

Go get the other medals. You can't after.

[frozentear]

[...He's right. If... when Sebastian shatters, he won't be able to get the other medals right away. And with how Ankh seems right now... He nods and goes to get them.]