The VOID (the return of David Haller)
Author's note: We know that Illyana was instrumental in Dave Haller's return. Just how did that happen?
Nothing. Nothing has no color, it's neither white or black. There is no space or the absence of space. Nothing is... well nothing.
There was no thought. There was no memory. The very lack of something to describe. There was nothing until she appeared, not that she really had gender in a place of nothing.
How does something appear in nothing? Was the nothing all that was before or was the nothing a container of something that no longer was active? Such metaphysical discussions are unanswerable as we lack a proper frame of reference.
She disturbed the nothing by being something other then the nothing. Pick the analogy you want. A solitary star in a sky of midnight. A single blade of grass growing on an endless sandy beach. A voice suddenly raised in song disrupting eternal stillness. The point is the awakening of the perception that there was more then the nothing.
Voice is a good analogy, let's go with the voice. A voice suddenly sliced the eternal silence. Just two words, but the words awoke what was gone but not at peace.
"Hello David".
The nothing stirred. Realized that it could stir. Realized that it was. Realized that there was more than the nothing. Reached out and responded.
"Who"?
"We've never met. I'm..." Identity is absolute in a place of nothing. "I'm someone who wishes to... Well, once upon a time I would have been other then I am. I wish it to be so again".
The frame of reference switches. No longer a voice in the silence. Now just a vast and eternal black sea. But now not only does a vast creature now float in the endless sea, another smaller creature swims along besides it.
"Did you know my Father"?
"Yes, the one I wish to become again lived with and learned from your father".
"Why are... you here"?
"I have a plan to be again. For me to truly have a chance of being what I long for then some things must no longer be. I lack the means to accomplish that end. You however do have the means".
David (I am David, identity had fully returned) thought upon the answer. He remembered now, remembered all the things that were not part of being nothing, remembered what it was to be.
"I... I assume you're here to offer some kind of deal".
"Yes... You have the means to achieve my desire. I have the ability to guide you home. Together we can achieve what the other wants. If existence is something you want".
"Do I want existence"?
"Only you can decide... I but offer the choice. If the answer is no I shall depart".
"How did you find... this place"?
"Space and time, within certain rules, are mine to travel. I sought that which was not, so I traveled to the place of naught".
The analogy shifts again, now two stars, a binary pair circle each other in black sky. One is a blue super giant, the other a red dwarf.
"I know you, you're the scary one. Are you going to be my friend this time"?
"No David. I don't think so. I... don't know how anymore. I'm... sorry".
"What if I say no"?
"Then I will depart from here and let you return what you were before".
"I think I'd like to be again. I miss... I wish... I would like to see my Father again".
"Then take my hand David". A solar flare like extension from the red dwarf.
"I'm afraid".
"So am I. It will hurt. There will be regrets both old and new for the both of us. I make no promises other than the opportunity".
"I would like to be again". The blue giant extends its own flare. The two flares touch and there is LIGHT.
"What is it you wish to become?" David asks as the light begins to sweep the nothing away. The reply is but one word as the light becomes the all.
"Illyana"