NieR is Copyright Cavia and Square Enix, 2010. All original characters are property of the author. This is a work for entertainment and no profit will be made. A fiction by Sentionaut.

Dreams. Dreaming. Coming home. It was familiar landscape, one seen a thousand times in the window of her heart, as she'd slept. The reality of it thought, was different. Diffuse where it should have been solid. Ephemeral, escaping her attempt to pin down what was wrong. That was the sense she had, like one of her eyes was perpetually covered. Half-blind, her waking life.

Beneath the Sleeping Moon - Those that Reached

The shadows stretched longer, gentle fingers that caressed the book cases lining the wall. A subtle reminder that the hour grew late. It wouldn't do to be up for too much longer, the young woman seated behind the antique desk thought as the silence was broken by the turning of another page. Despite the late hour, she wasn't the least bit tired, engrossed in the pile of book she'd chosen earlier in the week. A pile that swiftly dwindled. She'd missed so much, years of her life shaven off in the blink of an eye.

So, she pushed herself, devoured tome after tome in her spare hours, and they were all spare hours. There was little else for her to do. Which wasn't quite true, she'd seen plenty that she could help with in her better moments. However, the villagers would have none of it. They'd told her to rest, to keep up her strength as best she could.

She listened, and knew it wasn't so simple. They were afraid, well meaning, but fearful of the words that slept beneath her skin. Words that held no meaning but sickness and pain for those on which they were inscribed. The Black Scrawl, a death sentence that flowed across her skin, when she was weakest. Thankfully, she hadn't had a relapse since she'd awoken in the room at the top of the Shadowlord's castle. When she'd been saved, rescued by Kainé.

Brushing aside an errant lock of hair from her eyes, Yonah turned another page, humming strains of an old song as she read. She could do that much, she'd decided, as singing aloud was out of the question. Not here, where her voice would doubtlessly echo into the rest of the library. The bittersweet memories were too much for some of the older villagers, though the ones her age didn't quite seem to mind as much. It was Devola's song after all.

As it was, Yonah had already all but taken over the other twin's office. It was a comforting place, and she'd visited so often in the past that it felt like a second home. These days, it was more than that, she'd only begun to realize lately. She actually spent more of her waking hours here than anywhere else in the village. Popola's office was becoming Yonah's, bit by bit.

Even now, the desk and the chair still smelled of the missing woman. The subtle fragrance was like an embrace, a comfort she couldn't find anywhere else in the village no matter how she searched. The young woman fancied she could still hear Popola's voice, words spoken gently in her ear, continuing to teach Yonah about the mysteries hidden in the books and records. It made it hard to keep her eyes open, whether she was tired or not.

Instead, she chose to dream.

Yonah

.

..

...Yonah

...

..."Yonah, wake your bony little ass up."

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, the young woman took a moment to drift back to reality. "Oh, good morning, Kainé," she fished the greeting out from the pond of sleep, as the face glaring down at her came into focus. A moment longer and she realized she must have fallen asleep reading, as her cheek was wet and there was an embarrassing spot of drool on the arm she'd been using as a pillow. Thankfully she hadn't slept directly on the open book her hand was resting on.

"Don't 'good morning me,' it's still the middle of the night. Unless I'm mistaken, we talked about this before. You can't just nod off wherever you goddamn feel like it. Especially not in here. Look, you're making a mess of yourself, and besides, it's not healthy. Or good for your back," the swordswoman frowned, not relenting in her admonishment, regardless of the hour.

"I'm sorry. It wasn't on purpose," Yonah wiped consciously at her cheek and started tidying up the desk where she'd been occupied for maybe a little too long it seemed.

"I don't care about that. Point is, if you're tired, go home. You've got a perfectly nice bed, use the damn thing once in a while," Kainé said, folding her arms under her breasts. She wasn't the girl's mother, so why did she have to deal with this? It was a simple question with a simple answer. There was no one else. She didn't care one lick about the fucking black scrawl, or the people in this shitty village. Yonah though, that was a little different. The wanderer felt some sense of responsibility she supposed, toward the pale teen. It was a mild thing, but if she really sat down and thought about it, she was left with almost nothing else to care about.

After Emil had lifted the petrification curse, running forward at full tilt toward an uncertain battle was all she'd done. She'd been driven, with a goal. Maybe it had been some form of revenge, for having five years stolen. Five years of protecting this shit hole, and not an ounce of gratitude to show for it. These people didn't care a lick for the sacrifice she'd made. Yonah though, that was different.

The girl, it was hard to think of her otherwise, though in fact there was only two years between them physically. Kainé hadn't aged past her seventeen years during the time she'd been frozen in stone, blocking off the horror locked in the library basement. Mentally, she felt the years slough away. Living a spartan life, and sleeping with a rock for a pillow and grass for a bed tended to wear you down like that.

Glaring at Yonah to chastise the girl, she knew the opposite was true. For while the pale girl's body had begun to blossom during her long sleep, she still saw the world through the eyes of a child. An outlook that was beginning to change, as Yonah struggled to swim against the tide of stolen years. Kainé could see it in the way the girl carried herself from one day to the next. Change was inevitable, even for one so cursed.

"The thing you're doing, is not getting your rear moving. Don't make me have to carry you. Neither of us wants that to happen, so move it."

Yonah colored at the threat, and stepped out from behind the big desk. Kainé had never followed through on that particular threat, but she had no doubt that the gruff woman would if push came to shove. She didn't relish the idea of being carted off like a sack of flour, in the middle of the night no less, though she supposed during the day would be even more mortifying. "I'm going," she smiled weakly, hoping to divert some of the taller woman's anger. Sometimes it worked, generally it backfired. It was a gamble she was willing to make, likely fueled by her sleep addled mind.

"You bet your ass you are."

The teen turned at the last moment as she cracked the door open, "Kainé?"

Arching a brow, the woman in question just continued fuming silently. After a second, she bothered acknowledging the lilt in Yonah's voice. "Yeah, what?"

"Why are you here at such a late hour?" The sudden thought had her curious enough to risk voicing it just then.

"I'll go wherever the fuck I feel like going. You're the one sleeping in a stupid place. You can bother me with details when you get your act together, how's that sound," Kainé countered, though her cheeks darkened and she shifted her gaze just for a moment before returning it full force. Despite how the girl looked, she was determined to treat her as she acted. On that count, Kainé was far from satisfied. Yonah needed to stand up for herself more. Who cares where she slept?

But if the girl was going to fold when Kainé pushed, she would keep doing it until the teen grew a spine, or snapped. Sick or not, Kainé wasn't the coddling sort. It wasn't the way her grandmother had raised her, and she was determined to keep that memory as fresh and alive as possible. It was hard, but less difficult now that her thoughts were hers alone. The snake that had constricted her heart was gone, and her body free of the taint it had brought.

"Thanks for caring, Kainé," Yonah said as her friend appeared caught up in her thoughts. It was becoming easier to see that behind the terrible words, Kainé wasn't unkind, though Kainé had clearly avoided answering her question directly. The swordswoman helped out, more than anyone else, and that meant a lot to Yonah. She'd find a way to pay her back, it would have to be something great. It was a thought she carried with her as she left the library, feelings in tow. Secure in the protection that followed in her footsteps as the tall warrior padded softly after with twin serrated swords glinting in the light of dusk.