Okay, getting this out of the way now: I am SO sorry that that I haven't updated this thing in ages! This story is complete, but I just haven't been on this site in a long time. Again, so sorry I've been absent and not updating this thing.
The Soulscape
Fidget's vision was fuzzy when she first opened her eyes, but she was confused to see that everything around her seemed to stay out of focus even when she was certain she'd shaken her head clear of any additional fog obtained from Lady Tethys putting her into a magical sleep. Her surroundings looked blurred, as if she was looking through a very thick heat-haze. It reminded her a little of the haze from the Everdawn Volcanoes, and that alone was enough to make her shudder.
"Okay, Fidget…you're here now," she muttered to herself. "No backing out. Let's just find Dust and get out of here." Fabulous. Less than ten seconds into this and she was already talking to herself. Looking around and examining her surroundings further, Fidget began to see that it felt eerily familiar. She then recognised it as the Glade.
"No wonder…" she murmured. "It's where he first ever woke up…it was his first memory as Dust."
Something flickered in the peripherals of the nimbat's vision, something which made her pause mid-flight and turn slightly. Fidget squeaked in terror as she spotted ghostly figures shimmering through the haze, and set of a flurry of projectiles as an automatic reaction, but stopped when they seemed to ignore her.
"Maybe they can't see me?" she wondered aloud. She was an outsider in this realm, after all. Squinting, she noticed that the ghostly forms looked an awful lot like Dust — one even wore a satgat. But there was something about these two that didn't fit right. They faced each other for a moment before charging, vanishing into swirling mist before they clashed. Fidget knew from years ago who those two had to be.
"They faced off here…" she realised. "Jin and Cassius both died in the Glade." It made sense, then, that Dust had woken up there. It was the spot where his twin souls had fallen. Fidget wondered what else she might see in this dimension, if Dust's memories were merging and clashing in such a way.
As Fidget continued her journey through the Soulscape, she was increasingly unnerved by its very appearance. As well as the haze, sometimes her surroundings seemed to splinter as if she was looking into a shattered mirror. Now, Fidget was no expert on these things, but she was fairly sure than an internal dimension was not supposed to be this fractured.
"Come on, Dust…" she mumbled as she passed through the Glade and into what looked like the fields outside of Aurora. Even the transition between areas was jarred. "Where are you…?"
"GYAH!" Fidget groaned in exasperation as she narrowly avoided having her wings singed by a spectral version of Lady Tethys of all people. It hadn't helped that she'd also come across ghostly versions of Fuse and General Gaius as well earlier, but having faced Lady Tethys not hours ago meant that Fidget was hardly in the mood for more boss fights. "Dammit, Dust! Where are you?!" she cried. Fidget didn't know how much of her friend's Soulscape she'd even explored, and the constantly shifting surroundings didn't help in keeping track, but she was fairly certain that she was being driven insane with every moment she spent in here.
As Fidget flew, she came across a structure, still underground, that was unlike the rest of the caverns. This one was built upon, with lion statues guarding the entrance atop marble columns. Fidget's wings drooped — she recognised this place too.
"And of all places, you've got Cirelian Trials in here as well," she grumbled. "Fabulous…" Still, it looked like the first place with any sort of stability in the Soulscape: unlike the haze that covered most of Fidget's surroundings, this place was clear. If she was going to find anyone anywhere, she hoped it would be here. Praying beyond hope, Fidget cupped her paws around her mouth to use as a megaphone.
"Hey! HEY!" she yelled. "Anyone in there?!"
Her voice echoed through the caverns for a few moments. Fidget was about to turn away and give up when something echoed back. Something that was not her squeaky voice.
"Who…who's there?"
Now there was a voice she recognised!
"Dust?" Fidget gasped quietly. There was no one else it could be. "Hang in there, Dust! I'm coming!" she cried, flying forward at full speed without any hesitation whatsoever. As she remembered, the Cirelian Trial cavern was filled to the brim with death traps and enemies, although these ones (like Gaius, Fuse and Lady Tethys) were ghostly in appearance. Her vigour restored from hearing her friend's voice, however, Fidget was hardly fazed by them. Running on adrenaline alone, she charged headfirst through the hoards, not even stopping to tend to a stray ember from a flame thrower catching her on the wing.
The cavern went deeper than any Fidget had ever traversed before with Dust, so much so that the light given off by the cyan flames was getting dimmer and dimmer with each corridor she passed through. Eventually, though, she found the last room, almost pitch black if it weren't for the fires outside giving off the faintest of lights. Through the shadows, Fidget could just make out a figure, but it wasn't what she was expecting to see.
There were chains draping the room like ribbons, and Fidget had been expecting something along those lines after what Lady Tethys had told her. But in the centre of those chains wasn't the figure of a teenaged Warmblood fox. This figure was a fully grown adult Warmblood, garbed in a long cape that caught the light of the fires and seemed to glow soft cyan. Upon his head was a cone shaped hat, with fabric the same colour as the cape draped over it, hiding his face.
Fidget's didn't need to see it. She knew perfectly well who it was without him even raising his head.
"Dust?" she called gently. "Dust!" The figure shifted — his hat still covered his eyes, but as Fidget let off a few projectiles to light up the room, her heart soared with relief. That was him. It was the one she remembered asking for the Blade of Ahrah back when they'd first met in the Glade. It was the one she'd fought alongside to save so many people. It was the one she'd seen being consumed by the fires of Everdawn.
It was Dust as she'd first met him.
"What the…?" he murmured in confusion as the room was lit up. "Who's…?" Fidget didn't wait for him to finish and shot over in a flash.
"Dust! What happened?" she asked worriedly. The chains looked awful, and on further inspection she could see that Dust's ankles and wrists were all shackled. "What's going on here?!"
"F…Fidget?" Dust realised, his eyes finally adjusting to the light, it seemed. "Is that…? What are you doing here?"
Of all the stupid questions…
"I came to find a way to wake you up!" Fidget explained, her eyes searching the room frantically for anyway to release her friend from the chains. "We need you back out there ASAP!"
"Fidget…I…" Dust began, but Fidget was already off on a rambling tangent, barely letting him speak.
"Now, you just sit tight whilst I figure out how to get you out of these chains," the nimbat instructed. "Right…am I going to need a key, or can I blast these things open?" she mumbled to herself.
"Fidget…" Dust said again, this time with a slight growl in his voice that the nimbat, in her eagerness and relief, completely missed.
"And while we're at it, how come you look like you used to?" she asked. After travelling with Dust in the outside world when he was a young teenager for close to a week, it was incredibly jarring to once again see him in his adult form. "I'd just about gotten used to seeing you without the stupid hat…"
"FIDGET!" Dust suddenly yelled.
"EEK!" Fidget squeaked, tumbling backwards away from Dust. He'd never raised voice at her like that before…he sounded so angry. True, he'd been angry before…but never at her. "I'm sorry! I won't insult the hat anymore!" she apologised before adding in an undertone: "It's still a stupid hat…"
"I'm sorry, Fidget," Dust sighed, calming down after his sudden outburst. "It's… This isn't about the hat." Fidget heaved a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness," she smiled warily. "You scared me for a second there."
"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to," Dust said softly. Fidget began tugging at the chains again.
"So…back to the chains?" she quizzed. Dust winced and turned his gaze away from his nimbat companion.
"They…they're here because I created them," he explained. "They'll only release if I want them to." Fidget's face lit up with glee — for once, an easy solution!
"Oh! Well, that makes things a whole lot easier!" she exclaimed. Dust still looked sullen, but the nimbat was too happy at the prospect of getting out of the Soulscape quickly. "What are you waiting for, then?" Fidget asked when Dust didn't move. She tugged on his cape, but no response came. "You know, everyone's really worried about you," she said, her brow furrowing ever so slightly with concern. "Let's get going!"
"I…I can't, Fidget," Dust almost whispered, still avoiding eye contact with his companion. Fidget froze, almost falling out of the air as her wings momentarily stopped working. What?
"Huh?" she blinked in confusion. "But…you just said that you can make the chains go away!"
"It's not that I'm not able to, Fidget," Dust said. "I just…can't."
"What?" Fidget squeaked. "But that doesn't even make any…" Something suddenly clicked in her brain as she figured out exactly what her friend was saying. The meaning behind the words he'd tried using to mask his real thoughts infuriated her."Wait…you mean that you won't take them off?!" she snapped.
"Wha…No!" Dust exclaimed, jumping to his feet in protest. "It's not like… That's not what I…!"
"Oh, shut up, Dust!" Fidget growled. "To me, it looks like that's exactly what you mean!" Dust never had been a good liar. How dare he put himself in this kind of situation! "If this is about what happened in Everdawn, you're safe now!" she continued, trying to appeal to whatever reason her friend had. "We got away! You don't need to lock yourself away anymore. King Julius is not going to be able to do…whatever it was that he did to you. Lady…"
Now it looked like it was Dust's turn to get frustrated.
"Fidget, don't you get it?" he snapped, cutting Fidget off before she could continue. "He already knew that he could awaken Cassius' soul… He knows that he has the power to make me do what he wants. I could…he could…"
"From where I was standing, once Ginger woke Jin up you were fighting that magic with everything you've got!" Fidget argued. "It took you…took everyone by surprise! We're prepared for it this time. We're not going to let it happen again! It's not going to happen again, because…"
"He made me go after Ash and Kim!" Dust half-shouted, his voice shaking at the memory of nearly killing his own friends. "I'm made up of two dead souls, Fidget — the power of the Eye is not something I can fight against. This is the only thing I can do to stop it….to stop him from making me do that again!" Fidget let out a frustrated groan, bringing both paws up to her face.
"Urgh! Now you're just being close-minded," she huffed in exasperation. "You've not even stopped to think about any other way we can go about this without you turning Sleeping Beauty on us!"
"Fidget, if the King takes control of Cassius again, I don't know if there will be a way to stop it now that Jin's awake," Dust said, almost pleadingly as he tried to justify his actions. "I could kill Ash and Kim…all the Moonbloods, even…" He paused, his entire being shaking. Fidget didn't need to see the face under the satgat to known how much emotional pain her friend was in. "I could kill Ginger! Did you even stop to think about that?!"
"Right now, all I'm thinking about is how to snap you out of this stupid, selfish mindset you've gotten yourself stuck in!" Fidget snapped back, her tiny fangs bared. Her statement threw Dust completely off guard.
"S…selfish?!" he spluttered, taken aback. The angry snarl didn't leave Fidget's face.
"Yes, selfish!" she nodded. "Do you have any idea what you're putting everybody through out there?" she cried. "We're all sick to our minds with worry about you. Ash and Sanjin have been putting everything into making sure you stay safe while we try to wake you up… Taka, Kim, Jarin and I just had to fight Lady Tethys in order for us to find out what's going on with you in the first place…!" She took a breath to continue reeling off what had been happening since Dust went comatose. "GINGER is scared to death that she's not going to see her son wake up again… We are NOT losing you like this!" she screamed.
"I'm not doing this because I want to!" Dust protested. "I'm doing this to keep you safe from me!"
"Well, that's not doing anyone any favours, especially you!" Fidget retorted. "And don't you dare think that I'm going anywhere until you let me get you out of…"
Shlink
"EEK!" Fidget suddenly screeched as she found the pointy end of a blade millimetres from her nose. She jolted backwards, her green eyes wide with horror as she took in what stood before her:
Dust was holding a broadsword, one not unlike the Blade of Ahrah but at the same time so different. It was black, rather than deep blue and silver, and an eerie mist seemed to swirl around it.
"Fidget, if you do to leave this place quietly, then I swear I will make you," Dust warned softly. Fidget was horrified. How could he do this? How could he raise a weapon to her?
"Dust…?" she whimpered fearfully.
"I can't unchain the souls that make up who I am and not put everyone I care about in danger," Dust continued, keeping the spectral blade raised which in turn forced Fidget to keep her distance. "I thought you of all people would understand. Now go," he ordered, lowering the weapon and turning his back on the nimbat. "And tell them I'm sorry."
He turned away, heading back into the shadows on the room Fidget had found him in. He no doubt expected the nimbat to turn and leave, but Fidget instead found herself frozen in place, making no move at all save for her wings keeping her airborne and her entire being shaking. All manner of emotions were racing through her head.
She was desperate to help her friend; she was horrified that the one she trusted more than anything else had just threatened her with a weapon; she was upset that how much pain her friend seemed to be in…
But, above all, she was furious.
"Why must you be so self-sacrificiously righteous about EVERYTHING?!" she bellowed, her anger exploding outwards in the form of every projectile she had ever mastered. The energy orbs and fireballs ricocheted around the cavern before pelting Dust from every direction, and her lightning bolts electrified the entire room, singeing Dust's cape and hat.
"ARGH!" the blue-white fox cried in pain and frustration, all mixed into one. "Why won't you leave?!"
Fidget's snarl deepened to a deadly intensity, her paws glowing brighter than they had ever done before. She saw no other choice ahead of her — the only way that she was going to get through to Dust, it seemed, was to literally knock some sense into him. She'd never fought Dust herself, but she knew how formidable a warrior he was. While she was relatively skilled in magic, as a fighter she didn't have a lot of experience in fighting solo. Not to mention, he was close to five times her size, was much stronger physically and he most likely still had Dust Storm still going for him.
The odds were not stacked in her favour, but it was a gamble that she had no choice but to take.
"If you're not going to hear me out and listen to what I have to say…" Fidget growled. "…then I swear I'll make you!" she finished, spitting Dust's earlier words right back into his face. Dust, by reflex alone, had shifted into a defensive stance after Fidget's attack, blade poised to strike if he was provoked any further.
"I don't want to fight you, Fidget…" he begged, his voice raw with pain. Fidget wasn't hearing it — she was going to get some sense back into the guy who pulled a sword on her if it was the last thing she ever did.
"You're the one who just stuck a sword in my face!" she snapped. "I'm not going anywhere until I've knocked some sense back into you!"
Without further hesitation, Fidget let loose and a battle between an Elysian Warrior and his Guardian was instigated.
Dust was strong, that much was evident, and his adult form was far more powerful than his teenaged one but Fidget was small and fast, a combination of traits which made her difficult to land a hit on. She quickly discovered that Dust's spectral weapon seemed to leave a trail behind it as it moved which also did damage, however, so keeping her distance was paramount.
Fidget also found out exactly what it felt like to be on the receiving end of Dust Storm.
"ARGH!" she grunted after Dust unleashed it for the first time, rattling the chains in the cavern. The attack felt like a dozen tiny knives slicing through you all at the same time. Fidget could only imagine how much worse it could get when paired with her projectiles. "Low blow, Dust! Low blow!"
"I didn't want to do this, Fidget!" he shouted. "Just go! I don't want to hurt you!"
"Bit late for that, Stupid Hat Club Founder!"
Fidget was finding herself stuck — she couldn't get close enough to deal any physical damage to Dust because of the reach his weapon had, and he had the advantage of getting her from range with Dust Storm…
Now, would using her projectiles backfire on her if she used them at the same time?
"Here goes nothing…" Fidget mumbled, waiting for Dust to unleash Dust Storm again. She provoked him with a dive-bomb fire attack, and unleashed her energy orbs as soon as Dust Storm hit. They swirled around the cavern, splitting and ricocheting off the walls like hailstones, but none of them hit Fidget. Instead, they peppered Dust and caused him to stagger.
Seeing her opening, Fidget rushed forwards while Dust's guard was down and kicked him as hard as she dared. The move knocked him off balance and sent him tumbling to the floor (how he hadn't gotten tangled up in those chains, Fidget doubted she would ever know). Fidget backed off, hoping it would be enough, but Dust got straight back to his feet and charged forward again.
The fight lasted for what felt like forever. Fidget's projectiles lit up the cavern like lightning lit up a dark room during a thunderstorm, and Dust fought back as if the chains shackled around his wrists and ankles didn't deter him in the slightest. Finally, Fidget set off her most powerful ability: a release of pure energy that she called Nimburst. At the same time, Dust swung at her with the eerie blade he held in his hand — the two attacks connected, but Fidget's was far more powerful, fuelled with a determination to knock some sense into her friend and get him out of this twisted dimension.
The force of the impact knocked Dust off his feet again and sent his weapon flying from his hand, vanishing into the rest of the Soulscape in a swirling black fog. Fidget dropped to the ground, her wings out of strength to keep her flying, while Dust tumbled to the ground in front of her. Fidget stared at him as she caught her breath, tears stinging her eyes and her lungs screaming for air as the adrenaline finally left her system.
"Wh…why won't you listen to me?" she choked, a sob rising in her throat. That fight had been the last thing she'd ever wanted to do…it had almost destroyed her to fight her own best friend. Dust shakily tried getting to his feet, but all he could do was get himself onto his knees while still supporting his weight on his hands. He'd also lost the strength to stand.
"Fidget…" he panted, also distraught from the fight. "I…"
"No!" Fidget interrupted. She knew that if she let Dust speak, all she would hear would be a repeat of before the fight. She wouldn't…couldn't have that. "I don't want to hear anymore of that nonsense from you," she said firmly, with the upset still crystal clear in her tone. "I understand that it's not easy for someone to be destined to save the world over and over again, but that's no excuse to ever take the easy way out!"
"I'm not…" Dust began to protest, but Fidget would not let him speak.
"I'm not finished!" she snapped. "You once said so yourself that Cassius was always trying to persuade you to take the easy route…to leave people to fend for themselves…but Jin always managed to get you to do what you could to help!" She had to get to her point…maybe now Dust would realise… "You're making everyone out there fend for themselves and you're certainly not doing anything to help anyone, yourself included! You keep saying that you don't want Cassius to take control…or the King to take control of Cassius…but if you're set on doing this…" Fidget paused to cough up a sob. "…Cassius may as well already be in control."
"Fidget…" Dust whispered, falling backwards so that he was in a sitting position rather than on his knees. Fidget pushed herself into a standing position — her big feet made it awkward, but she had to make a point.
"So what if you've got the soul of an assassin making up who you are?" she continued. "We established years ago that you're not Jin or Cassius! You're Dust, no matter what anyone else calls you or what form you take," she reminded him, taking in his appearance once more. He was a battle worn warrior, but a warrior nonetheless. This Dust looked the part a lot more than the one in the outside world, but Fidget knew why.
Elder Grey-Eyes had spoken of a third soul within Dust in this life: one created when he was born anew from the Life Thread. Fidget knew that she was looking at that soul now. It hadn't changed from the person she'd known before.
"You may be a teenager on the outside, now," she pointed out. "But looking at what's in front of me…you've still got the same spirit…the same soul…as the Dust that I knew before."
"But I…"
"No buts!" Fidget cut across sharply, the tears starting to leak from her eyes. Now, nimbats had bigger tear ducts than most, so when the tears came, they came. "Everyone out there's counting on you to watch their backs as well, you know? And you're doing nothing but making yourself miserable in here, so for the love of Elysium, let me help you!" she pleaded.
"F…Fidget…" Dust choked. There was no hiding the sob within his own cracking voice.
"I've been through way too much with you to just let you wallow in this self-made prison because you think it's for the best. It's not!" Fidget continued, her fur becoming matted from her tears. "Lady Tethys is going to make sure the King won't be able to control Cassius again…and I was trying to tell you that earlier but you wouldn't listen! So don't you dare say that this is the only way!" The nimbat still didn't have the strength to fly, and she'd all but collapsed onto her knees as if she was begging Dust to hear her out and come home.
"Nothing will get better if you stay here, and I for one am not going to lose my best friend again!" she cried, ignoring the tears splashing the floor of the cavern. "And Ginger's also making your favourite curry out there so if you let everything she's ever done for you these last thirteen years go to waste, so help me, I will kick you into the next era myself!"
With that final plea, Fidget's tirade was over. For a moment or two, silence fell across the cavern, broken only by the sound of shifting chains before a choked sobbing began to echo through the room. The noise caused Fidget to look up — that sound wasn't being made by her. As she looked up, she noticed that Dust's position had changed so that his head was buried in his arms, curled up into his knees. His shoulders were shaking violently, and a muffled sobbing noise was coming from the folds of his cloak.
"D…Dust?" Fidget whispered through her own sobs as she summoned the strength to crawl over. Dust made no move as she reached him, so she climbed up onto his legs and lifted his hat off his head. The satgat fell away to reveal the head of silver hair that Fidget had seen on his adult form only twice, but had grown accustomed to seeing on his teenaged form over the past few days.
Upon feeling his hat leave his head, Dust looked up and finally came face to face with his nimbat companion. Fidget's heart broke at seeing her friend's face. Dust's pale blue eyes were rimmed with pink from crying, and his nose was twitching from his body-wracking sobs. Without any hesitation whatsoever, Fidget threw her paws as far around Dust's neck as she could as she buried her head into his shoulder. In response, Dust hugged her as tightly to his chest as he could without crushing her.
"I'm here, Dust…" Fidget murmured softly, not even caring if her tears were starting to soak through Dust's cloak. She doubt he cared either. "I…I'm sorry… It's okay…"
"F…F…Fidget…" Dust wept. Fidget never thought she'd ever hear such a sound coming from Sen-Mithrarin. She was almost relieved that she had…relieved that he was able to cry. He needed to. That much was clear. And she needed to be there for him like never before.
"C'mon…" she hiccoughed. "It's okay….I…" She sniffed. "I'm here…"
"I'm so…" Dust cried quietly. "I"m so sorry, Fidget. I…I…"
"Just…" Fidget gulped back another sob. "Please tell me you'll let me help you out of here… Please?" she begged. Dust was shaking so much she couldn't tell if he nodded his head, but the answer she heard whispered into her ear was all that was needed.
"I…I… Yes."
"Really?" Fidget blinked, breaking the hug ever so slightly so that she could study Dust's face. He furiously blinked away another wave of tears before nodding his head more resolutely this time.
"Y…yes," he sniffed. "I'll come back."
With those three words, there came a clicking sound as the shackles around Dust's wrists and ankles opened. There was a rattle as the chains themselves fell away before they, too, faded into the mist of the Soulscape. Fidget smiled proudly and hugged her friend once more.
"That's the Dust I know," she said gently as Dust hugged her back, the embrace as warm as one would be after reuniting with an old friend.