(A/N): This is nothing more than a random drabble into the thoughts and feelings and general strange universe that our favorite protagonist inhabits.
Beware... you may lose your...
SaNiTy
I'm searching for the last soul. I know where it is, but it's gone. I can't have it.
It's gone.
It's over.
Then I hear a familiar mewl, and I look up, and see him, the Cat, waiting there. He has it.
I've almost won.
It's almost over.
But before he tries to give it to me, I ask him a question.
"Can I ask you something?" I say.
The cat's ears perk at that.
"Ask away," he finally says.
And so I begin.
"Everything is so strange... the worlds are polar opposites of each other. It doesn't seem real.
"And the people - they're so similar, yet so different. How did I think that any of these things was good? How could I have?
"And the details don't make sense! How can you talk? How can they talk? How can mice spell, or perform shows? How can old ladies unzip their age from themselves? How can it be?
"Am I just insane?"
The cat pauses. There is silence for a while, and I feel that it is significant silence. Then he asks me one thing.
"I assume you want the last question answered, correct?"
I think carefully for a bit.
"Yes."
There is another pause.
"You have asked the question that can provide the answers to everything. And the answer is - yes, you are."
He pauses for a bit, to let it sink in. I want to hear more of what he has to say.
"None of this is real. I'm not. You're not. The only thing that's real is the dreamer, who is lying in a far-away hospital bed in another universe, in a long and deep coma, waiting for the end of this dream. That dreamer is looking through your eyes, seeing what you see, knowing what you know, while being more real than you will ever be.
"You have two choices now. Once you choose one, you can't go back.
"The first choice, the... best one, is to go through a portal that I can now summon. It will return the dreamer to themselves, and they can wake and live on. Since you've asked the question, the portal is the answer.
"The second choice is to claim this as your reality, your true reality, and the dreamer will die, but you will still be able to live on in its place. But then you can die. Because if you claim this as your reality, you can't enter the portal to go back to the then-false reality. And if the dreamer isn't with you, you can die, because the dreamer alone knows you can't die in a dream. They are your immunity... you would have died many times before if you hadn't had the dreamer with you.
"I cannot choose for you. It is your choice, and yours alone, and any consequences will be yours to bear as well.
"Choose wisely."
And so, I consulted myself, and knew what I must do.
"I declare this as my reality."
"Why?" the cat asks, his eyes glinting.
"Because it's better to live and know you're insane than die and not finish what you started."
"Then," the cat says, "I think you'll be needing this."
He passes me the last one. The last soul. I've almost won.
Seconds later, I'm running inside, with the cat in my bag.
And I'm real.
Far away, an old woman takes a last, shattering breath, and dies.
But right before she dies, she murmors two words.
"Thank... you..."
And then she continues on, to find a new dream to dream.
InSaNiTy: ThE sEcReTs Of A lIfE i NeVeR kNeW aRe LoSt In My OwN mInD...
(A/N): ThE cAt Is A gUaRdIaN...
fInD hIm AnD fInD fReEdOm...
FiNd ThE wAy OuT...
bEcAuSe LiFe Is No MoRe ThAn A lIe...
FiNd ThE pOrTaL tO rEaLiTy...
AnD dEsTrOy It.
