Despite the fact they looked all over for it, the trio—in the end—couldn't find the unique sword's scabbard. This put quite a damp towel over their moods, because it effectively meant Elegy had to hold the heavy thing in his hands the entire time. Muscle training isn't a thing in Heaven 2.0, in the sense that your body's strength and stamina are both permanently static. This means that he couldn't even look forward to it getting easier over time.
"Can I put my faith in you guys taking turns lugging it around with me?" Elegy chuckled nervously.
"Sigh, sure." Sorbet fell straight down—as if weighed down by an anchor—the moment Elegy tossed him the sword, "Unf-! Ack, help! M-My hands...!"
"Wow, that looked painful..." Hatwell noted as he hoisted the sword up, "It made a dent in the flooring. Should we leave a note apologizing to the owner for when they come back?"
"Like we have a piece of paper to write on, not to mention a quill." Elegy sighed.
"I found a piece of paper under some garbage downstairs, though." Hatwell remarked, "It was already scribbled on, but we could probably erase it."
"Geez, or instead we could actually start the damned trek to the Shrine!?" Sorbet reminded them, "My God, you guys are so...!"
"Wait, we only got a sword so far." Elegy stopped him from leaving.
"Mnghhh!!!"
Sorbet had only one emotion left in his system— A N G E R Y. It's already been half a day according to his assumption, and yet they still have barely made any actual progress, if at all. It's a constant struggle with these two, and the only thing making him seethe more was the fact he KNEW this entire journey would've been hundreds of times easier had he just gone by himself. But that would defeat the entire purpose of bringing Gale along, renaming him Elegy, and gaslighting him about not being his buddy bud bud Sab. For a moment, a scary thought crossed his mind...
"He's fucking with me." Sorbet muttered to himself while in the other room, "He's gotta know I'm Sab, there's no way he's actually that dumb. No, he probably knows what I'm trying to do and is just going with it to make fun of me. He wasn't nearly as useless back at the Gods' Abode! Dammit...!"
"Sorbet!" A voice called out to him from behind, startling the soul out of him.
"Eep! O-Oh, it's just you..." He breathed a sigh of relief after recognizing the voice as Hatwell's, completely acting like no one heard him shriek like a little girl, "What's up?"
"I found some rope." Hatwell stared at him with furrowed brows before shaking the feeling off, "Anyways, we can go tell Elegy and leave now. Sorry for making you wait so long."
"Ah, finally!"
But wait, he stopped himself from celebrating too fast, what about what he said earlier? If Gale is just leading him on by pretending not to know he's being tricked, then surely it wouldn't do them good to have him accompany them. Hatwell is a neutral factor, meaning he's definitely going so long as he's willing. In the end, Sorbet understood that such a great undertaking as reaching the Shrine by foot could not be done without asking some questions first and foremost.
"Alright, emergency meeting!" Sorbet clapped his hands decisively, rounding the both of them up, "Headcount! One, two, and me three! That's everyone!"
"Emergency meeting... in the living room?" Elegy found it odd, "What's this about? Weren't you the one that said we should leave before the house's owner arrived?"
"You gonna take everything I say at face value? Things change, dude." Sorbet glared at him, "Listen, I believe it's imperative that we find out a bit more about what we all know before moving out. We're gonna be teammates for a good long while, so arguments are gonna have to be avoided at all costs."
The two boys didn't quite understand where this sudden worry came from, but they did agree with the sentiment. It was precisely because they didn't know enough about each other that Elegy and Hatwell started fighting the moment they locked Eyes with one another for the first time. They were on friendly terms in the current moment, sure, but what about the next cycle? Or the cycle after that? How much longer before one of them misunderstands something about the other and they tear apart. Given their journey isn't something that can really be stopped midway, they'd need a good deal of teamwork and understanding if they wanted to get to the Shrine.
Sitting down on the sofa across from Sorbet's armchair, the two listened intently to what he had to say. Before anything, he figured they needed to know something about him before they would ever be comfortable enough to share what they know. But what? If he revealed anything about himself, then his identity as Sab would immediately be found out. Thus, he had to work under that restriction—Feigning talking about himself, but only revealing objective stuff that don't tie back to him.
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"Unlike you two (supposedly), I only remember stuff from this morning onwards, so please do help me if I make any mistakes." He said in voice that just yearned for sympathy, "Really, I have no clue what kind of person I was before any of this, but right now I know who I am. Right now, I just can't bring myself to sit still in a world unfamiliar to me."
"Same here." The two nodded back.
"I wanna find out everything, not just the Shrine." Sorbet continued, "And though I'm not sure I'll be able to pull it off, I pray that with you guys by my side, we could at least get further than I otherwise would alone."
Both Hatwell and Elegy were very respectful and friendly towards his confession. From an outsider's perspective, this moment signifies the blossoming of a wonderful new friendship, though it is only between the readers and Sab himself to know the vile truth of the matter. This was all just a plot to vie at sympathy points from his two dear pawns. After "opening his heart to them", the natural next thing to do would be for them to follow suit. This way, he could snoop out Elegy's truest thoughts, or at the very least take the first step in doing so. All Elegy needed to do now is admit it...
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"I... I think we should stop by the Gods Abode on our way to the Shrine." Elegy instead replied.
"This again..." Sorbet tried to shut him off immediately, for this was the least safe suggestion to take in.
"Look, I know you don't believe me, but...!" Elegy struggled to get his argument out in time, "I remember the path to there vividly! I know it down to the number of each of the turns needed from here! It's nearby our regular path anyways, so if we just take a slight little detour-!"
"Detour? In case you haven't already realized it, we're under a strict timer here." Sorbet made up an excuse, "If the White Monsters come for us, we'll be sitting ducks out there. Before that happens, we'll need to find a safe place to hole up in during bedtime."
It was an excuse, but not one that was too far detached from the truth. Obviously, they wouldn't make it to the Shrine in just a couple of hours no matter how fast they ran. Simply put, they needed wings to hope for anything more than a dent in the entire voyage. Until then, however, Sorbet figured it would be more viable to travel during the day when it's safe, and make frequent "pit stops" in places where White Monsters couldn't reach them no matter what overnight.
"There's no such thing as a safe place, Sorbet." Hatwell refuted, "Those things can teleport. They just show up behind every corner, in front of you, and even in far off places your Eyes just happened to be looking at. It's impossible."
"Which is why I came up with a counter strat for that, but I'm gonna need your full trust for when the time comes." He explained, "They can teleport in front of you, behind corners of walls and worse, but if the space between you and something else is thinner than them, then you're safe, right?"
"Oh, I get it! You want us to quite literally "hole up", right?" Elegy smiled smugly, "Like, find a tight hole and hide like squirrels."
"Hell no, we don't know whether any of us are claustrophobic." Sorbet shot his theory down, "Instead, I was thinking something a lot more involved with teamwork. You've heard of team huddles, right?"
"Yep." Elegy nodded as if it was common knowledge.
"Nah. Never heard of it." Hatwell, however, was quite lost on the meaning, "What is it?"
"Dude... Sigh, it's this." Sorbet showed it off by huddling close to the two, "See? Like this, we can talk without other people hearing us or even seeing what's between us."
"We effectively make a private room where we're the walls." Elegy put it another way, "Of course, there're limits to this privacy. Whispering like this is best."
"Ohhh~" Hatwell nodded, "I still don't see how this is gonna help us deal with the White Monsters."
"You don't? Well then, if I scoot in closer, and have all of us duck... Ta-dah!" Sorbet smirked.
"Ta-dah, my butt." Hatwell got a bit fussy from not understanding the point of this, "I can't see a thing!"
"Which is exactly what we want as our defense when fighting against beasts you're not allowed to look at!" Elegy chuckled, "It's a bit tight, but that only makes us safer. I imagine any room would keep us safe like this, so long as we keep our Eyes closed and our faces in each others' bodies."
"Putting it like that makes me kind of not wanna do it..." Hatwell seemed timid about so much physical contact, "Wait, how long would we have to stay like that, then?"
"Twelve-"
"24 hours." Sorbet interrupted Elegy's thought, "What?"
"Dude, we only need to stay like this during bedtime." Elegy stared at him with a raised Eyebrow, "Only 12 hours."
"...No, a day in Heaven 2.0 is 12 hours." Sorbet let slip a detail that only made Elegy suspicious of him, "Bedtime takes 24 hours."
"Eh? And how could you possibly know that?" Even Hatwell had trouble putting two and two together, "If you only remember stuff from this morning onwards, then how...?"
"...G-Gosh, how many times am I gonna have to repeat this for you guys before you finally get it?!" Sorbet quickly recovered, "I like to ask questions! Alright, now it's Hatwell's turn to talk about what he knows, come on, come on!"
Suspicious as he was, Hatwell still did as he was told and said what all he failed to tell them before this. The info really isn't anything special, as expected of someone of his mental age. Rather, both he and Elegy could only recall one sentence Sorbet told them a while ago that all but completely rendered this recovery a total sham. Namely, back when they first met, Sorbet specifically told Elegy that NO ONE REMEMBERS PREVIOUS CYCLES.
"So, are we gonna go now?" Elegy raised his hand, "We don't have to stop by the Gods, I can always do that later by myself anyways."
"Heh, so you're already thinking of abandoning us?" Sorbet chuckled.
"Only after we find the Shrine." He shot back immediately, "But that's still a way's away, isn't it."
"...Aye. It sure is." He glared back, "Alright then, no more stalling! Without further ado, let us depart!"