trans_9 | You Truly Can Never Go Home Again [OPEN]

Irma was probably more stubborn than she could admit. Probably why, after spending a few days asleep, she opted to start walking again. Yeah, Reinforce would probably snap at her, but she wasn't going to let that thing bother her much.

She had every intention on trying to see how Sheffield Academy was, to see if it was still standing after the Nightmare King's madness and Aang's outburst. But, something else caught her eye as she wandered. Something she didn't want to see.

"No... no, not that..." Irma muttered, her jaw dropped. In front of her was the Citadel of Kandrakar. The massive fortress in the center of the universe was on board the ship. She hesitatingly climbed its steps and began scouring its halls. Its quiet, looming presence easily unnerved Irma. Most of the time, she was usually with the rest of the Guardians and a handful of others. The place was usually filled with the members of the Council of Kandrakar.

As she wandered, she easily saw that she was the only one in here. It looked like this place had barely picked itself up after Nerissa and Phobos' assaults on the castle before it was picked up here.

"HELLO?! Anyone here?!" Irma called out, her voice echoing through the building. A moment. Two moments. Nothing. No response. It was more than likely that the council, especially the Oracle and Halinor were in the pods, asleep, but it didn't matter much.

This was more than enough proof that things had definitely changed. In the empty Council room, Irma sat on the floor and curled herself up into a ball.

"We really blew it..." Irma muttered.

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Someone else who recognizes the Citadel is shocked - and more than a little horrified - to see it.

Will finds Irma eventually, having run through the castle checking for familiarity. It's . . . so close, just barely off enough that she can believe it came from the same universe as this Irma, or perhaps even another -

"I can't believe I never saw this before."

"I can't believe I haven't either..." Irma said, hearing Will approach. Pushing herself up, she let out a sigh. "It's... kinda heartbreaking, too. I didn't want to think that they were telling the truth, but... here it is..."

"I always sort of . . . assumed that Kandrakar was still out there. Apart. Watching over us, waiting for us to fix this problem." Will lowers her eyes to the floor. "Like they always do. It . . . sort of made things feel more normal."

And normality is a rare commodity on this ship. So much for it.

"...y'know, mine might be gone, but who knows? Perhaps yours is still out there." Irma said, trying to keep Will's spirits up. Heck, she might as well admit she was trying to keep hers as well.

"Maybe." She looks up at the swirling ceiling - "but I don't know. The city's very big."

. . . she's a little pessimistic sometimes. Sorry Irma.

"So we really ARE on our own." She looks down at her hands. "It really is up to us."

She sits down next to Irma. "I don't know. The Council -" she pauses. "Well. Our Council had a habit of leaving us in the dark about a lot until the last minute - at least in the beginning. What was yours like?"

So she's noticing on that end. This Will isn't like her Will - her Will was more... hot-blooded? Tempered, maybe? Not this one.

"It's a lot to think about isn't it?" Irma said. She let out a sigh as she continued. "Our Council... well, they were actually pretty good at their job. Mysterious, yet still worthwhile. That is, until Nerissa trapped them away, then we were left alone until we took care of her."

"I hafta wonder how the Ohm took them off-guard like this..." There was probably so much she didn't know, but for now, she could only wonder.

The City was a vast place, even on broom it was nearly impossible to see it all. Amazing, awe inspiring, but if these were all portions of worlds lost... wholly depressing. Yue had spotted a rather impressive structure and landed toward the top, wandering through the halls. Hoping for a book, or a registry, something that might shed some light on what happened to these worlds.

Also she was seeking more juiceboxes. As she might as well search for those.

She unsummoned her artifact, and returned to the baggy ill fitting robes she found on the ship. There was no need to have out her artifact while she was walking. Yue heard a voice calling out from elsewhere in the large castle, and worked her way toward it. The structure was vast, empty, and dead. She almost feared to find anything from home here. A gravestone for her world.

"Hello," Yue got to what she determined was a meeting room. She had seen photos of the Ostian senate chambers. This was very similar in functional design. "Are you okay?"

Irma looked up, a bit surprised to hear another voice within here. Letting out a sigh, she straightened herself up to meet Yue. "Define 'okay'. Physically, emotionally? No."

Brushing back her bangs in disbelief, Irma continued, a bit of deadpan in her voice. "Welcome to the Citadel of Kandrakar, home to the Center of the Universe. Seeing something this massive here... it... really scares ya."

"I see." The center of a universe? Not even a location attached to a planet, but a whole universe. It was easy to tell that it was from her universe. The scale of this destruction was horrible, it was understandable to not be okay from this.

The small mage sat down near the other girl, giving her space, but not leaving her alone, "I'm sorry... I came here just because it looked interesting. It reminded me of..." Yue paused, trying to decide which word was correct. She wanted to say home, but was Ariadne home? She had been there for a month, it certainly felt right to her. And yet... "It reminded me of my own world. Do you think it might help to tell me about Kandrakar? This Citadel is remarkable to look at."

"It might... then again, I never really got a good look at this place myself." Irma said. "When I first learned of this place, trouble was already starting to brew. Heck, that's what my friends and I were like: get called in here, learn of some trouble, then WHOOSH...!"

"But, there's no need to apologize. I'm just surprised I haven't seen this place until now."

"Was your home... still in crisis when you arrived here?" Yue asked, her own understanding of her life was from second-hand accounts, which she trusted because of Negi-sensei, but it was still very surreal. "So you never got a chance to learn more about this place?"

"It is a rather large structure. Then again it is but a spec compared to the city." Yue did wonder how someone could miss something this big, then again, she has yet to find any remnants of home.

You Truly Can Never Go Home Again [OPEN]

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