N°19 [ EPILOGUE ]
Distant voices... terribly distant voices...
Rustle... feeling...
But it's all... it was all hushed up. Smothered by his unconsciousness.
He had no knowledge of anything. Not his environment, not even his identity.
A deep sleep, devoid of dreams and thoughts.
At times he felt a terrible pain, a pain coming from his chest. A pain due to a lack, but a lack of what? He knew the answer, he was sure of it, but like his own name, the answer did not come.
The darkness... nothing but darkness.
There was a time when he was afraid of the dark, of loneliness, of confinement.
And yet... trapped in that space of darkness... He was not afraid. He felt... ...good. At peace. Free of a weight, as it were.
Yet his situation was not to be envied. He was bathed in total incomprehension.
But he wasn't afraid. He had confidence.
Confidence in those distant voices, voices he didn't understand but knew were familiar. He felt touched, caressed, pampered, pampered. He felt that he was being taken care of, despite his chest, which always hurt.
He had confidence.
Completely confident.
In this total absence of landmarks, both physical and temporal, he eventually realized something. After what seemed like an eternity... he realized that it didn't hurt anymore. The pain in his chest had stopped.
It had ceased to give way... to a strange comfort. Comfort he had never seemed to experience.
[And finally, he woke up.]
The first thing he perceived was a flash of light. The outside light, the soft rays of the sun, filtering through the curtains to come and caress his face. He blinked, somewhat confused, and didn't move at once. He let his eyes get used to this sudden brightness, which contrasted so much with the preceding darkness.
He regained contact with his senses. Slowly, very slowly ... the touch of the fine sheets, the smell of freshly washed linen, the familiar sounds of the castle ...
The castle.
He widened his eyes, straightened up completely to observe his surroundings. He was... in his room at Dreamtale. This room that Nightmare had given him. And that realization warmed his soul with a warmth he'd never known so strongly.
[His name was Nyx]
Yeah, his name was Nyx. He was Nyx. Time traveler, son of Nightmare and Ink, but from another timeline. And as all the events came back to his mind, the misunderstanding grew: what had happened? He remembered talking to his father... but then? The dark, just the dark... He'd crossed the line.
He'd... fallen asleep?
Normally, he'd be worried. But, um... (sighs) But he wasn't. Why wasn't he? As if he was released from something, something too big, too heavy to carry.
He got off the sheets, slowly put his feet on the ground, and shivered. He was only wearing a jogging suit, nothing else, and the contact of his bare bones on the floor caught him off guard. He shivered, was unable to get up, and fell back on the mattress. As if he had forgotten how to walk.
But if falling down like that surprised him, he was more shocked by what was revealed to him. His soul had just slipped out of his rib cage, mischievous and playful, throbbing with strange joy, to come and show itself to him.
His purple soul.
...Purple?
[ But...? ]
He doesn't grasp it immediately. Simply because it involved too many things, too many things.
Black apples. How long had it been since he'd eaten them? They had made his soul blacker than the night itself, and if that blackness had now disappeared ... did it mean that he was no longer in the grip of those cursed fruits? That he... was now free from corruption?
To find out, he turned his gaze to the shadow of his bed and concentrated on making his tentacles appear. But... (sighs) But no matter how hard he concentrated, no matter how hard he tried. It didn't matter how many minutes passed. Nothing was happening. His appendages were not showing.
Wouldn't show up.
He hiccupped, not knowing if he should be happy or panicked, not knowing what to do with this revelation. He was just too confused.
He had been addicted to black apples for years, too many years. Lacking these apples caused him to have terrible seizures, as he had experienced hundreds of times before.
Now he was not having any seizures at all.
Suddenly he had a flash. He remembered the pain he had felt when he was unconscious. This pain that was actually a seizure. A long seizure that he had experienced through his sleep.
A seizure ... that had ended.
He was... detoxed? ... He was just... Just like that?
No, it couldn't be that simple. All his problems couldn't be solved in just one night's sleep.
... How long had he been asleep?
His thoughts did not have time to dither as the bedroom door opened, immediately attracting the attention of Nyx, who observed the newcomer... ... and remained silent in amazement.
A heavy silence fell. In the doorway stood a young skeleton, a teenager about 14 years old. A teenager ... ...far too familiar. With black ink-black bones, pink eye sockets, and yellow and blue pupils.
A teenager who became livid when he saw Nyx sitting in bed, wide awake.
"G-big brother... ? " stuttered the newcomer.
Even the voice, though slightly muted, was familiar. And the name ...
Nyx widened his eyes:
"... Jammy?"
The nickname pushed the poor Paperjam to the edge of tears, and without warning he threw himself into the arms of the elder, pressing him against the mattress with all his weight, coming to curl up against him, the first salty drops sliding down his cheeks.
"You are awake... ! You're awake... ! "sobbed the smallest one, holding himself tighter and tighter against Nyx, as if afraid that he would disappear.
And this only confirmed what the older one feared: he had slept a long time.
[Much too long]
His throat became tied and he came feverishly to respond to his younger brother's embrace, tenderly caressing his back in the hope of calming his tears, but also to reassure himself. A multitude of questions came overwhelming him and he dreaded having the answer. What had been going on all this time? What had he been missing? Were his loved ones well? Or was he thinking of going back in time to change some new event?
"... J-Jammy... what is... ?"
The cadet sniffed softly before standing up, feverishly wiping his eyes without really succeeding. Nyx also straightened up to bring his face closer to his own and put his hands on his cheeks to dry his tears with the back of his thumb.
"It's going to be all right... calm... I'm awake now... I'm awake now, and I'm okay. Okay?"
He gave him a sweet smile and Paperjam sniffed a second time, before slowly nodding his head. Nyx took the time to calm down before daring to question him:
" ... Jam, do you think you can quickly explain to me everything I missed?"
The youngest nodded his head once more, before coming back to curl up against Nyx and hide his face in his neck:
"Y-You... Oh, that was a while ago... You jumped into the portal to help Oshoku... But when Papink and Nightmare left to help you, they brought you back unconscious...
- A-And my father?
- Oshoku was with them... he was worried about you. He tried to cast his spell to keep you awake, but Lux and Yumerai wouldn't let him. They said you needed to sleep, even if it took a long time... but we missed you so much... Nightmare kept you in the castle. Me and my dads came to live here to look after you. We all took turns looking after you!"
Nyx felt his soul squeeze, moved by the words of his younger brother, whom he questioned a second time:
"And... how long have I slept... ?
- S-Six years..."
Although he expected worse, Nyx petrified, the length hitting him in the face. Damn it. six years wasn't nothing! And Paperjam thought no less ...
"... a-and... did anything important happen... ? stuttered Nyx with uncertainty.
- Well... Yes !"
Paperjam found a fabulous smile, although his eyes were still watery. He looked at his elder brother with some excitement, happy to be the one to tell him everything:
"Under Shiroken's advice, Cross finally confessed to Epic that he loved him ! They are a couple now! Oh, oh! And we have a new little sister! Her name is Shera! DaddInk and Perror fought over a name, but you'd see her! She's so cute! I have to introduce you to her! And Horror and Dust are a couple too! Ah, Insomnia's all grown up! He'll be so happy to see you! And, uh..."
Nyx had a sweet laugh:
"Take it easy, Jammy, catch your breath...
- Ahah, sorry! But I'm so happy... I'm so happy... I missed you so much, big brother..."
And Paperjam seemed to be about to cry again, but he quickly rubbed his eyes to contain himself, before resuming his story more slowly:
"Also... Shiroken, Yumerai and Lux lived for a while in the castle. But I think they felt out of place ... They said they wanted to watch over this multiverse, but on their own side."
Nyx fanatic smile almost immediately:
"...you... you mean they're gone ... gone?
- Yes, they're gone... I'm sorry, maybe I'm coming at you too abruptly ... We're... We haven't heard from them in a while. But Nightmare and Dream don't seem worried, I think they're still feeling their emotions. So that's all good for them, isn't it?"
The older one did not answer, but bit his tongue to contain the bitterness that was taking hold of him. His uncle... His cousin... His master-of-arms... They were gone. Again, they were separated. And Nyx somehow blamed himself for not waking up sooner, if only to thank them for stepping in. If only to thank them... for taking care of him.
He swallowed his saliva, heavy soul, before feverishly asking another question:
"...and... about my... ?
- ... parents? Oshoku and Etsuko ?"
Paperjam took some time to think. He could see that it was a lot for his elder to assimilate...
"Well... They disappeared too. Etsuko... Etsuko didn't talk anymore about seeing his memories. I think he's... bugged... ? I don't really remember, it was a few years ago... You'll have to ask Papink. But for all I know... he and Oshoku and the Horror and Dust of the Future have closed the portal to your original timeline. I don't know if they stayed in our timeline or not though... Nightmare and Yumerai didn't seem to want them to stay."
Nyx's soul missed a beat:
" ... They ...
- I can't say anything for sure, big brother, I'm sorry..."
The eldest son fell silent, feeling a wave of emotion drowning him. He looked away, but his pupils turned blue, showing his inner struggle. Paperjam looked at him sadly before coming to embrace him delicately:
" ... You can let go Big brother ... I'm right here, I'm right here. You can ... You may no longer have your timeline, nor those who were connected to it ... but now you have a new timeline. You have a new family. And... it's... it's not so bad, no... ?"
A first tear escaped Nyx as he responded to the embrace with trembling, his voice rising in a hesitant murmur:
"Jammy..."
A second tear slid down his cheek as he squeezed his little brother tighter:
"...not so bad... Are you kidding? ... I couldn't have wished for better."
Both of them suddenly jumped when the door slammed again. Surprised, they straightened up and, through his blurred vision, Nyx saw a small skeleton about 7 years old, with black tears and a terribly familiar azure look in his eyes.
" ... S-Somnia... ?" he stammered.
Little Insomnia had grown up, just like Paperjam. And if his memories of an awake Nyx went back a long way, he had immediately recognized his emotions, just as he had felt the emotions of Paperjam.
Confused, the child did not have time to speak that Nightmare suddenly arrived, having also felt the emotions that emanated from the room.
He petrified at the sight of Nyx. His mouth remained half-open, in a silent hiccup, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing... and finally he turned around, only to return a few moments later in the company of Ink.
Ink rushed over his two sons and hung them in his arms:
"Oh Nyx! Nyx!" he exclaimed with emotion, caressing the elder's head, kissing his cheekbone, cuddling him as a father would have done if he had been too attentive.
Nyx was unsettled, not having expected such a reaction from the painter. Especially since his last memory of Ink was when he had disowned Etsuko?
But Ink showed him such tenderness that he felt himself melting under his caresses, and when he felt Nightmare hugging them in his appendages as well as Insomnia joining them, he cracked.
He sobbed, and then broke into tears against his youngest son, clinging to him as if it were the most precious thing in the world. And despite his hiccups, his groans of pain, his tear-ridden face...
Nyx smiled.
He smiled sincerely.
[Today was a new beginning.]