Longing Room
The third and final viewing of the Humble Beginnings was over. Needless to say, it was much shorter than the second one and a bit longer than the first one.
It wasn't as flabbergasting or revealing as the first two were but still was able to leave the audience at the edge of their seats, after all, next they were going to see Sunny's time in the academy.
Gossip aside, everyone knew that it was the time in the academy where young awakened spent most of the time wondering about their aspects, and everyone was pretty eager to understand Sunny's a little more.
For now, as they awaited the screen to reveal the information of the challenge they were going to compete in, they simply waited in silence, processing every bit of information.
Nephis stared intently at the timer, as if her very gaze could make it speed up, reveal the challenge, and allow her to complete it as soon as possible so she could continue seeing Sunny's journey.
==8:47==
She had vowed to experience every single bit of it so as not to miss anything that she had forgotten or ignored. She would know everything about her lover, whatever the cost.
She could not allow him to be alone. Not when he had her. Not when he was surrounded by people.
Cassie, meanwhile, was slowly leaving that spiral of guilt and despair. After watching the end of the second viewing and learning of his aspect, it was pretty clear that it was the centerpiece of her plan to destroy fate.
She was already vexed with the idea that she had sacrificed the memories of someone she knew ever since her first visit to the Dream Realm. If that feeling was like having a knife stabbed into you, then the feeling that she had most likely used his slavery or his freedom to do it was like twisting the knife.
The act of pushing those emotions down and not letting them show in her face was not healthy in the slightest. She knew it, but what could she do about it?
'This viewing will eventually reveal my plans, right? Wouldn't that be good?'
The feeling of freedom that washed over her at the mere thought of the world finally learning of how much of a monster she was. It was sweet, so sweet, but dangerous.
Cassie bit her lip as if the pain could bring her back from the temptation.
Thankfully, Cassie was the only one in the room that was going through such an emotional crisis.
Effie and her family were happily conversing about Sunny's exploits. Her thoughts about Sunny were simple, she knew that he was from the Forgotten Shore, and if he was the cohort member no one remembered, there was the possibility that they had met there, and so, the woman was a little bit excited to see herself on the big screen, without her image being edited by the propaganda.
Kai, on the other hand, was pondering about Sunny's social life. A part of him worried that his friend, or best friend, as Kai knew to be the truth even more than before, would suffer from his lack of social skills and that he wouldn't befriend anyone, not even the two of the people he cared about most.
Jet, on the other hand, was trying to blend in with her seat. Even if she was somewhat proud of being the first in the room to meet him, it was still pretty embarrassing how their first conversation had been.
She could only hope that whatever happened in the challenge and following viewing would make everyone forget about it.
Shadow Room
Things here were pretty peaceful. Although the first and second viewings had been pretty shocking and emotionally damaging, especially to Rain, Sunny's sister, and Aiko, the one who knew him the longest in that room, almost as long as Saint even.
The others were not ones to react a lot to what happened. For them, every funny interaction and impressive feat was simply something that they were expecting of their Boss.
Not to say they weren't a little bit surprised at times. The moment that was revealed that Sunny had poisoned the survivors in the first nightmare was shocking, but the surprise did not last long until the thought:
"What was I really expecting other than a cunning and dirty strategy from our Boss."
Even the sheer embarrassment that was his interactions with the people in the Academy was not that surprising, after all, each one of them had some kind of story where their Boss acted in a way that would make the cringe into a ball.
The most embarrassing to watch, however, was the "Your breasts" scene, without a shred of doubt, it was the most surprised and blown off their feet that they had been until the realization of where they were.
Some even felt a headache, and by some, it means Luster, whose eyes went exactly to where Sunny's had been gazing as well, prompting Kim to execute a short punishment.
Rain watched silently as the clock ticked down.
==7:36==
Mordret Room
"Well that was... interesting." Kindret couldn't help but say.
Mordret could only reluctantly agree with the fool. Sunless' way of speaking was intriguing and made the King of Nothing somewhat... amused.
It also left him thinking of his own speaking patterns.
He normally adapted it to the vessel, but when speaking with his own body, he tried to adapt the "gentleman" persona, he didn't know from whom he had reflected it or when, he just remembered that it had great potential to be weaponized in negotiations, and so he did.
It was that simple, he had picked it up, saw its use, and made it a tool.
Weirdly enough, Sunless had done the same. He had looked at his flaw and how it changed his speech patterns and weaponized in the span of a day, to not only cover his secrets but to form a trap of underestimation.
It was intriguing.
Truly intriguing.
He looked at the clock.
==6:25==
'I wonder if I will meet you there, in the challenge.'
Nightmare Room
"Wow, what a ride."
Noctis sighed in "relief" as the viewing ended, the others were subtly, or not so subtly in Solvane's case, annoyed with the Immortal Sorcerer.
After all, he had been howling in laughter for most of the viewing, treating it as an embarrassing dark history of the Fateless One, which, in a certain perspective, it was.
Daeron sighed, although Noctis was someone enjoyable to talk to, it began to become tiring in a sense. He looked at the clock on the screen in thought.
==5:14==
He was worried about what kind of challenge it would be. He didn't think it would be some sort of combat due to them all having their powers suppressed, and so he was worried that it was something that only the people of the War Realm would be able to comprehend or be familiar with.
Although he was not sure if the rewards were worth it, if it could guarantee their safety, it was justified to feel slightly apprehensive of losing the chance.
Alter Room
|Mundane Section
This whole experience was mind-blowing for the people in here. The adults were wondering what their role was and how they could help in that world.
Unaware that one had died, and ever since they had begun to crumble and slowly deliver humanity to its demise.
As for the Valor Siblings.
"Hey, what do you think my aspect is?"
"Some kind of mental attack that makes the opponent want to kill themselves."
"What about my Flaw?"
"Being annoying and insufferable."
Mordret's eyes twitched.
"Do you want to hear my guess what your Flaw is?"
"Sure."
"I think you bite everyone who is near you."
He then leaned close to her ear.
"And I think that certain Idol is pretty vanilla~, what a shame."
He quickly backed away as he evaded a strike from his sister.
Meanwhile, a few rows below, both Nephis and Cassie were staring at their Sunny, who was sitting in another section.
"Should we go to him?" Cassie asked.
"No, let him be. He doesn't need our pity, he needs to feel useful, and at least where he is, he is with a version of his sister that desperately needs him."
They stood silent for a moment.
"I'm worried for him. What other kinds of terrors will he face?"
Nephis hesitated for a moment as if pondering a hard decision and then placed a hand over Cassie's, making the blond girl blush.
"It will be alright, Sunny always pulls through, and we already saw we are there. I think we can be there for him, like we are here for him in our world too."
Cassie's tense shoulders relaxed somewhat.
"Thank you, Neph."
The girl flashed a bright smile that momentarily made the black-haired girl pause and stand with a slackened jaw before gaining composure once more.
"You're welcome, Cas."
|Mad Timeline - Jet's POV
She had seen a lot ever since she could formulate a thought. Her life in the outskirts was anything but easy, especially as a girl. Being an orphan at a young age, she had to protect herself alone, protect her money, her food, and her body.
It wasn't unusual to hear certain stories from time to time, and so she, like anyone else, grew wary and distrustful of everyone.
Then came her nightmare, as expected, she died, but she refused. She wasn't certain what had kept her alive, if it was her vague aspect and attributes or the sheer refusal of letting her life end in such a miserable way.
She had survived, met people, and learned to trust again, or at the very least trust in their characters and they wouldn't hurt her.
And then she met... him.
Seeing the last viewing had brought those memories all over her mind as if the viewing was echoing inside it.
She missed him, even if he wasn't dead.
But that Thing, was not him.
The Mad Prince would never be recognized by her as Sunny. That was an insult to his image.
To that boy who also had been distrustful and yet trusted her as much as she trusted him.
That man who, unaware of her flaw, had mourned, holding her body close in that dreadful night in Falcon Scott.
Mad Prince was not that man.
The Mad Prince was the one who had killed his subordinates after torturing them with the shades of their loved ones.
The Mad Prince was the one that had left her to starve with the Sin of Solace impaled in her stomach before she was rescued by the Saint Cor, who died right after.
She would bring that man down and make him taste every sin he had committed, wearing Sunny's face.
She had vowed it. She had promised it.
Outskirt rats hate making promises. They are a sign of trust and commitment, and those were a liability to survival.
To willingly make one was either foolish or... the most powerful of vows.
One could easily guess what this promise meant to Jet.
|Mirage City's Others
Detective Sunless was once mentored by Jet, who at the time was the captain of Mirage City PD.
Seeing one of the people he once trusted the most again was good in a sense. It didn't bring him relief of any sort, especially if she lived in a world where there were supernatural creatures wreaking havoc everywhere.
However, it did bring him a sense of nostalgia, considering that his on-screen self's first meeting with her was so similar to her, except the "Your Breasts" part, although he had flirted with her a couple of times, there was never anything that bold going on with the two of them.
He felt a hand grip his shoulder.
Sunny found that it was Saint who held a supportive gaze directed towards his onyx eyes.
They had talked about Jet before in a session, so she was plenty aware of his problems.
'Think of it, she is the one who knows me best, probably.'
He looked towards the screen where the clock was being shown.
==3:52==
Things would really complicate in the next few minutes.
|Regressor Sunny Timeline - Jet's POV
After shaking off the ultimate embarrassment that the whole viewing had brought, Jet once again started diving into the suspicions she had earlier.
Although her Sunny's reactions to the second viewing could be justified with the argument that his first nightmare was the same.
However, what about the first and third viewing?
Even if he claimed that he did go through the same things with his sister, how could he possibly not react to a grown-up Nephis? Not only that, he took preemptive measures to assure that the one in his lap did not hear his harsh words towards her on-screen self.
And in this third viewing, he was embarrassed by that scene even before it happened, and once again he did not bat an eye at seeing an older Nephis, one with white hair to boot.
Without a doubt, Sunny knew more than he let on.
"Nephis, could you please go to Big Sis Seishan's lap for a while? I need to speak with Sunny."
""Huh?""
Both the little girl and the other two adults let out confused sounds.
Still confused, little Nephis trusted Jet almost as much as she trusted Sunny, so, after receiving a small nod from him, she shifted to Seishan's lap.
"Jet? Are you mad abou-"
"Not now. We are going to have a serious talk, Sunny."
Grabbing his hand, she dragged him outside the reaction room, drawing the gazes of other members of the audience, however, those gazes did not bother her.
She was going to find out the truth that Sunny was hiding.
| MOW/TWNIS inspired Timeline
The cohort was standing still, looking at the clock that was on the screen.
==2:41==
Nephis was eyeing Sunny, who was a few seats back with Rain and Jet. The girl and woman were both teasing Mundane Sunny, who was as red as... she would rather not think of that comparison.
She felt a hand grabbing hers.
She looked at Cassie, who had a sly smile.
"Are you jealous that he didn't comment much on your looks."
"..." Nephis stood silent.
"He even gave me quite a few remarks about me... Are you really not jealous?"
"..." Neph's eyebrows began to twitch.
Her thoughts began to turn from Changing Star-worthy to Star Ruin-worthy thoughts.
A little further back from them, Kai approached Sunny.
"Are you sure about staying with us? Won't the people from your world want to have you with them."
Kai was so, so glad to have Sunny with them, even if it wasn't their Sunny, seeing his face alone gave him a sort of relief he couldn't describe, like he had been holding his breath for a long, long time.
Hearing his words, Sunny turned towards the side of the room where the rest of the Mundane versions were sitting.
And there, he saw Nephis and Cassie looking at each other, Cas with a soft blush and Neph with a tender smile.
His face went impassive for a single moment.
'I guess I was the third wheel, after all.'
"No, Kai, I will be fine right here. I can go whenever I want to, so you don't need to worry."
|Bygone Future
Cassie was looking at Nephis, once again looking for even a passing emotion upon their first meeting. However, there was only recognition and nothing else.
Sighing in defeat, she looked at the clock.
==1:30==
Sighing again, she let her thoughts drift towards the first time Sunny had seen her. She was pretty embarrassed that he had described her in such a ... flattering way, but she couldn't help but feel that it was a tender way to see the past.
Her eyes suddenly widened.
That was it, she shouldn't lose hope of Nephis reacting. All that was needed was for her to see something that she was never aware of, to see the point of divergence or the thoughts that Sunny never expressed.
If it is that, she might be able to...
She forced herself to lower her expectations, but she did not shut down the hopes that they had given her.
|Enemies Timeline
Nephis thought back at Sunny on-screen. In the past, the only thing she had heard about him before meeting him properly was that he was a pervert.
And that was how she had labeled him. To then see that "pervert" was hiding so much, she could only call it suspicious, to turn truths just as worthless as lies.
Perhaps that had been the first crack.
Perhaps not reciprocating the trust he had for her right from the start had created a gap that only widened with time, that only deepened with circumstance.
And there was that time when she truly wanted to save him.
Not just because she had learned to trust him after the events of the Soul Devouring Tree.
But because she didn't want to become like she most wanted to destroy.
And in turn, she had enslaved him and robbed him of the freedom he valued so much.
She had proven him right to deceive them, to hide his secrets.
She looked sadly at the clock on the screen.
==0:29==
In the end...
'You were right to distrust us, after all...'
She wasn't sure what hurt her more.
The guilt of what she had done or how much gall she had for still missing him.
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A/N: Next chapter The Mask will debrief our audience of the challenge, what do you think it is?
Check Out my other Fanfics:
Cursed Shadow(JJK/JJK Modulo x Shadow Slave Crossover Fic)
Trailblazing Shadow(HSR x Shadow Slave Crossover Fic)