Fictions Mentioned:


Episode 28 - A Reunion Between Understander(s)


OP Song:

Tomorrow Never Dies · Sheryl Crow


Location:

Multiverse: KK 2004 Multiverse

Universe: ACMI Universe-Prime


Insert Song: Start

Dies irae - Animation OST: AHIH ASHR AHIH


"Hm. Hm. Hm. Hm. Hm. 🎵🎵🎵."

Today was the month of February.

Othinus, wearing a simple uniform of a florist which was a high quality, stylish grey apron, with an eyepatch located to her right missing eye, was simply humming a certain tune in soft, low tone of melancholy as she waters the flowers of her beautiful garden with her pitcher.

How long had it been? Years? Centuries? Millennia?

One could hardly tell at this point. Time travel and other realities not withstanding.

It had been so many years since she had been rescued from the place of eternal torture. So many years had passed by from her perspective since the official ending of the Last Great Time War, as much as there is such a thing as 'ending' or even a 'beginning' for a conflict of that particular nature. And with that came the epitome of nightmares that would wake her up from time to time.

Perhaps it was such karma that needed to be dealt with her specifically. After all, she was responsible for the torture of one Touma Kamijou in the erased future that she had come forth from. She recalls all of the Infinite Hells that she had bestowed upon the spiky-haired boy who has never given up. Almost. There was that time in the Omega World where he was nearly about to commit suicide for the sake of everyone's happiness. Right before he was convinced otherwise. She subjected the boy to more than hundreds of thousands of torture and death in the worse possible ways that one could ever imagine from the mind of a god such as she.

When one were to think about it, the irony was not lost regarding her ultimate fate when she was delivered at the hands of the one of the vile species in all of existence.

The billions of infinite hells that she had subjected the spiky-haired boy too, the Daleks in turn did far worse things to her.

She recalls being extremely violated, both in a physical and metaphysical manner. For since her endless torture and torment, she slowly but surely understood the evil of the Daleks as each year, each century, and each millennia seeming passes by from her own perspective.

The fact that the Daleks represent something of the extreme to what humanity would be capable of if one were to abandon the ideals of compassion, forgiveness, kindnesss, and so much more, and it was a trait that she recalled and admired on the spiky-haired boy who simply gave her the chance to live her life in a world that wanted nothing more than to be rid of her because of the threat that she poses.

Yes, the parallels to her time with her understander when she was being chased by all of the world powers, and the nature of the Daleks would bring about a certain dilemma that would unfold and is still a lesson that needed to be pondered precisely because of the importance of the issue.

Do we have the right?

What happens when fair trial is cut off and public executions without any formal hearing takes it's place? What happens when one is force into a dilemma of killing the one who is deemed to be for all intents and purposes a war criminal for the sake of peace and sanity? What happens when the lines blur down and all that is left is a metaphorical trigger that would inevitably make the choice of whether or not someone needed to be spared or killed for the sake of an ends justify the means route?

The answer lies in the Daleks themselves. The silly appearances of their design seem to be deliberately misleading. Looking and appearing like saltshakers and pepperpots that seem to have over-the-top ridicolous voices.

But therein lies the deception.

The Daleks from the get-go, born from an irradiated planet that was marked by a thousand years of war, were designed to be ruthless, brilliant, and utterly fanatical in their desire to exterminate all other life by any means necessary all for the sake of survivability, for the sake of becoming the supreme and only beings in existence, with the twisted sense of peace being fully achievable and possible if only for everything else to be annihilated in the exchange. The only surviving race in a dead cosmos. All alone. With no one but themselves.

Othinus could only twitch in grimace while recalling such horrific ideals that were applied in practice. She would recall the many worlds that fell to the Daleks, including the universe that she once lived.

By the end of the Time War, her universe — ACMI Universe-Prime — still stood and remained thankfully enough. But everything had decided changed. It was no longer burning, but it's timeline was something that made the changes of her universe resembling something far different than the last universe that she knew.

For she came forth from a timeline before the Time War. She cannot go back to her 'time' as that no longer existed as it is. Instead, the timeline has been changed. Outside players from out of her universe have taken residence in the shadows and became influencers of history when before it was not so.

And the Magic Gods of the Hidden Phase? What of them?

Well, they seem to be unable to recall the Time War when they were brought back from mere non-existence, strangely enough, still stuck in their hidden phase just as she recalls the timeline before.

In fact, no one seems to recall what had truly happened. As if it never truly happened. The timeline of her universe was damaged and changed so many times to the point of unrecognizability. Debris and fallout were scattered everywhere. Most of the universe seem to have become ignorant as to what had truly happened at this time. The past, present, and future seemingly restored.

But there came the price of Othinus having to be the only one who recalls, the only one who truly remembers, and as of now was making due of her literal and metaphysical second chance in life. In a time before she had begun to establish GREMLIN.

For she was forced to live or relive the rest of her days in the past, specifically in the early twentieth century, in a time between World War I and World War II, in a time before Aleister Crowley, the Master and Founder of Thelema, would eventually established Academy City. She had to relive for an entire century's worth of life before the early-mid 1990s begin to set in, when the time comes for her beloved understander to be born.

She recalls watching from afar, seeing the young Kamijou couple, Touya Kamijou and Shiina Kamijou, sitting on a bench, speaking casually. And from Shiina's arms was her beloved understander as a little baby boy. She recalls crying that time, she recalls trembling and was forcing herself rather vehemently to never for one moment try to interact with her future understander or the parents.

She cannot interfere at this time. Indeed, she could not. Instead, she was only content to watch from afar, content only to be relieved that her understander is alive and well once more, but she knows deep down that she may not be able to regain the same relationship that she once had. For she is by far the only one from the non-existent future timeline where she recalls and experiences the events. And that in turn was to be her punishment.

Never to regain what was lost. Always burdened by nightmares.

But then...The Imagine Point happened. And she was one of the few who felt it.

The timeline of events were seemingly not adding up anymore. Instead of kindergarten, Touma Kamijou would be sent to Academy City at the time of elementary. And this time, the Time Lord known as the Doctor, the man who had saved her from the Daleks long ago, was now acting as his caretaker and guardian. Seemingly inconsequential events that seem to hold no meaning in the grand scheme of things had occurred.

And thus came to the present time. Othinus, having adopted a new identity in Academy City, known by the name of Frida Fensalir, had opened a simple flower shop and garden in District 7, having obtained permission to so many years prior, having handled the necessary paperwork along the way.

Fensalir's Nordic Wonders.

The flower shop and garden in particular was a simple three storey building quite close to School Garden, with an intersection just nearby, and an alleyway that acts as a short-cut to various destinations. To many people who would pass by, this was just a simple flower shop full of the most exquisite flowers that one could see that were delivered from various parts of the world through legal means and procedures, with a little help from the Doctor and a few others of course. And indeed, this was merely a simple flower shop. Innocent and simple, just the way she prefers.

Her Magic God days have long since passed. And it was time for her to retire in solace just like before and live the rest of her days as normally as she can, all while conducting silent observations of her understander from afar. She still maintained contact with the members of GREMLIN such as Marian Slingeneyer and Thor, providing her with the necessary reports in regards to the status of the organization and what goes on from the outside world beyond the walls of Academy City. Othinus had left Marian as the de-facto leader of the organization for the time being, trusting her with what needed to be done.

"Now that's the last one for today," Othinus smiled, having finished watering the last flower left with her pitcher. "Now I would need to see to the entrance of my shop."

And so, Othinus would begin to place the pitcher back to the storeroom where it and a few other gardening items were stored. Then she would wear a new set of clothing, replacing the dirty ones after taking a bath, and would begin to head downstairs and head towards the backdoor where her shop proper was located. Then she opens the door, sporting a professional smile that she had worked for so many years, having grown accustomed to such when being a florist who interacts with others.

She noticed that no one was there yet. And so, she could only head back to the cashier and would have the intention of counting the savings and amount that she had accumulated so far.


Insert Song: End


Insert Song: Start

Dies irae The Animation 『Disce libens』


Then...

A ring was heard from the bell that was attached to the front door. And Othinus, having grown accustomed to this procedure so many times, was about to make her official greeting of welcoming the person to her shop.

But...

"...!"

Instead, she was seeing someone who wasn't suppose to be here. It was someone very familiar to her. Someone that she had known in another life. Someone that she had understood once upon a time.

It was a spiky-haired young man, 12 years old, first year of middle school, wearing casual clothing consisting of a black jacket with an attached white hood and purple interior, black pants, and black Nike shoes.

Touma Kamijou.

He was slowly entering the store, sporting a hesitant and solemn expression on his face, looking towards Othinus who could not help but slightly flinch and tremble, trying to not make it too obvious, but needed to keep herself calm. But it seem to be failing due to the close proximity of the spiky-haired boy to whom Othinus knows, but that the former wouldn't know. She knows him, but he doesn't know her. Essentially, this boy was different from the young man that she knew because of the fact that history has been altered and changed. And yet, the boy's unique traits of compassion and wisdom still remain, and grown from so much more experiences than his alternative future self from Othinus' timeline had ever experienced.

For like him, the Touma Kamijou of this current reality of ACMI Universe-Prime had essentially experienced a far more sinister amount of hellish nightmare that would make even hers pale in comparison. And she was one of the few who knew of such, and it in turn made her heart bled so much because of it. The lingering guilt and doubt, the desire to be better than she used to be.

Why? Why was here? Why now?

Questions that Othinus would bring up within her own line thought as silence reigned throughout the store. Only two of them remained. And they were staring at each other which would last for a few moments. And then, Othinus, covering her pain with a smile, said.

"Welcome to Nordic Wonders, my good sir. How may I help you today?"

There was the same line, one of few, that she would use a multitude of times whenever she would introduce her shop to her new and old customers alike.

But then...

Kamijou would begin to breathe in and out, sporting a solemn expression, saying.

"Yeah...Um...Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, ask anything you like," Othinus would say with a professional smile that hid a lot of sadness.

"...Are you by any chance...Othinus?"

"...!," Othinus, hiding behind her professional smile, would feel as if she was slowly cracking from the inside. She simply responded. "Ot-Othinus? Um...Who is that, if I may ask? If you're referring to my name, my good sir, it's Frida Fensalir. Just your simple foreign florist that you could seemingly find anywhere."

"I know," Kamijou said, direct-to-the-point, which made Othinus flinch as she tried to maintain her smile which was in danger of cracking. "I know...I know who you are...Or at least...I know you from somewhere...in another life...Or was it somewhen for you...? Wow...I guess the whole wibbly-wobbly timey wimey thing can apply in this case, right?"

Othinus was silent. While she was still maintaing her smile which was on the verge of cracking, she was thinking about how to handle this conversation. For this was the first time in years when she and Touma Kamijou would meet face-to-face. From the latter's perspective, this was the first time they would officially meet.

"...Um...that...," Othinus sported a hesitant expression, still smiling.

"If I were to completely honest, I've been having these...um...I suppose that you could call it memories. But they tend to blur between the lines...and well, I saw...something. Or rather, I experienced literal hell from the memories that I could glean from. And these worlds were specifically designed for one thing. To break me."

Othinus almost felt herself to stop breathing for a moment, with her smile in danger of cracking at the sound of keywords that produce a harmony set of hints that would let Othinus get the full picture.

Kamijou knew. At least in part of what had happened between her and the Touma Kamijou from her timeline. Everything that she had done to him in that timeline, this Kamijou knew, and he experienced the pain and suffering that came with it.

"It wasn't just all though. The more I experienced these dreams, the more I realized that in each moment, despite the hellish nightmare that you had put me, or rather a version of me from where you came from, I somehow managed to save you. It took a while for me to sift through the haze of the memories since it was mixed alongside my other experiences that I'd rather not talk about too much...But I recall the final showdown that we both had, and the last moments before the end."

And then, Kamijou begins to describe the following scene that was something that Othinus could remember quite clearly from the back of her mind because she was there when it happened.

"I said...I have a challenge for you, Othinus. Be selfish if you wish. Forget about good and evil. It doesn't matter what your reasons are. Maybe something irritates you or maybe something is an eyesore. Just act the way you want. You've already shown me that doing that will lead to everyone smiling. So do as you wish. …What is it you wanted to do in the very beginning? Unless you make that come true, you will become what I was:"

And then, Othinus would finish the words with a saddened tone, with her smile cracking, and tears suddenly leaking from her eyes, and her entire body was trembling.

"A pathetic lost child crushed by the happy world. And yes...you were quite cruel when you said that to me...human..."

She could not take it anymore. Her tears were presently leaking from her cheeks. The years of pain, suffering, and loss was apparent in her eyes. The way that she looked at Kamijou confirmed the latter regarding one thing. That she knew him. In another life. In a life that he may have made different choices, but still retain the desire to save others and form bonds and smiles all around.

And then...Othinus would leave the counter in haste, walking at a fast pace towards Kamijou's position and eventually embraces the latter tightly. And then, Othinus would softly cry, with Kamijou patting the latter on the back.

"...Ahh...Ahhh...Ahhh...Ahhh..."

She let everything out. She didn't want to let her understander go. Not this time. Even if their relationship may not be the same as the timeline she had come from, Othinus couldn't care any less. If she were to start at zero, then she will. This was her understander, finally meeting him face-to-face after so very long. It may not be exactly the same meeting that she would prefer as the Kamijou of her timeline and this Kamijou seem to be two different and yet the same person, but she couldn't care any less. She and him have a lot of catching up to do. For this is the point when the future and the present would meet.


The Doctor, wearing a white coat, with a blue suit with red pinstripes underneath, looking through Fensalir's Nordic Wonders with a pair of 3-D binoculars, was sporting a satisfied smile, muttering to himself.

"Well, I suppose my role in this particular point is done for now. I'll let Touma handle the rest from here."

And so, the Doctor would turn to the opposite direction and take a simple stroll throughout the sidewalk, with both hands in his pockets. Blending in among the crowd of adult workers and young students who were walking from one direction to the next.


Insert Song: End


ED Song:

Betcha Never from Cherie (2004)


Incarnation(s)/Regeneration(s) of the Doctor:

The Tenth Doctor - A: David Tennant

Main Comapnion Protagonists:

Touma Kamijou - VA: Atsushi Abe

New Characters:

Othinus - VA: Asami Seto