Kikito rouses us by waking in a cold sweat with claims of visions of the Repression's mother. He's pale and trembling. We both sit up and look at him, waiting to see if he has anything else to say. He stares back at us for a moment and then focuses.
“It was almost indescribable. There was this angry thing that just screamed and screamed, looked like the Repression in Underearth in my other vision, but then this blob of galaxies came to me. It told me to tell him to be gentle with her.”
“Him?”
“I assume it meant you, I was hoping you would know.”
“The celeste doesn’t bother anything lightly,” Dark says, suddenly crawling out of the waters, the substance clinging to the fur and antlers, “an entity that powerful can’t interact with itself without consequences. That must have been all it could safely do.”
“Overexertion seems to be a bad theme here,” I say.
“Chaos and order are a delicate balance constantly trying to correct and overwhelm the other. If either one wins then the celeste can’t sustain itself.”
“But what did she mean by that?”
“I’m not sure, other than a parent caring for their child. Alnother became the Repression because of her empathy for her child.”
“Then I guess we gotta take her out, that’s the next step right?” Kikito interjects.
“After we put Inbetween back together again, yes.”
“Then what are we waiting for?” Kikito jumps up.
“No need to be hasty. We don’t know how to find either of those yet,” Mirana says.
“Listen if I don’t keep doing something then I’ll be forced to process everything that’s happened to me. I watched that fucking Sound Flayer eat Life head first, and I’ll tell you right now she was terrified the entire time. She was looking right at me before she started pulling apart and falling into it. And Greg…fucking Greg. He honestly pissed me off half the time, but I cared about him. Like a lot. I know you’ve seen some shit too, I was there for some of it, but so have I! And I haven’t gotten anything out of it yet. At least you two have each other.”
I can’t say anything. It’s my fault he’s here and I feel so shitty for it. He glares at both of us and tries to storm off. Dark takes several massive steps and ducks his head to block him. “I can understand, if you feel these two cannot. I didn’t ask to be born,” it says quietly. Kikito looks at him, sighs, and comes back to us.
“I’m sorry, Kik,” I say, “you know I didn’t want this to happen to you.”
“Don’t – it is what it is, and we gotta pick up the pieces. I’d just like to go ahead and pick them up, if that’s okay.”
“Of course–
“And we’re still friends. Even if looking at you reminds of that goddamn centipede monster.”
“Well now it’s like a weird virus looking thing,” I say and laugh before I realize. He chuckles with me.
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“Either way what an ugly thing. I can’t wait to watch you blow it to bits.”
“We’re going to find a way to do it together, don’t you worry.”
“We can locate the pieces of Inbetween with Kelvin. He should have a connection to each of them and with two of them in you now it should be easier. And Kikito, you have visions?”
“Life called me a harbinger,” Kikito says.
“You have a telescope into humanity. Fascinating. We may be able to use Kelvin as a conduit to localize those pieces of Inbetween and get them. I have a solution to getting to them, but we need to do this first. I need to confirm something,” Dark says.
“Fine with me. Get over here, Kev,” Kikito says and approaches me, hands bent into claws in front of them.
“Dude, this is not the time to be ridiculous,” I say even as I’m smiling.
“Then come to me but we’re doing this whether ya like it or not.”
Rolling my eyes, I sit down on the ground against a tree and pat the ground. Mirana and Kikito sit down in front of me. Dark settles down near us, eyes staring into us.
This is the part where Life tells us what to do and I’m about to remark on that when I feel her in me telling me to not bother and instead put Kikito’s hand on me. So I do, gently grabbing his wrist and guiding it to me. Our touch connects us instantly and he doesn’t need to verbalize anything to me. His warm hand settles on my shoulder, relaxing into my flesh. He closes his eyes and I watch him nod off. I don’t feel any different now that he’s unconscious but I know to keep quiet. Mirana’s eyes watch, flecks of brown and blue shimmering with a gracious glow. Tight curls of her hair hang in her face, framing her warm dark freckled flesh. I hate that her clothes look the same as when I last saw her.
Kikito wrenches his hand from me, gasping. He immediately looks at Dark and demands, “When were you going to say you had one of those pieces buried in that muck?”
Dark blinks and says, “so it worked. That’s a powerful ability of yours.”
“Don’t change the subject!”
“I’m not. I’m deeply ashamed of why I own it, so forgive me for not being excited about telling you why I have it.”
“It was you, wasn’t it? Who killed them?” I ask. I wouldn’t accuse anyone if a part of me wasn’t screaming it, the part Life roamed in and was afraid of him.
“The cosmos is infinitely more complicated and simple than you can imagine, but yes. I wanted their power and killed them for it, but hubris has caught up to me. I withheld my piece of Inbetween because it will change you, more so than the others. This one contains his essence. You could almost call it a personality, and you’ll take to it easier once you have the others. Kikito, do the Kobus have one?”
“Uh yes, actually. How did you know?”
“I’ve suspected their advanced state is a result of interacting with one of these cosmic relics. And also why they’ve seemed to take a shine to you, even if they’re shy.”
I see the Kobus more clearly now, dimmed in the trees heads and caps pointed towards me with curiosity when I thought they might just be Toakeys. “I feel bad about taking it from them,” I say.
“It’s necessary. I’m not interested in destroying them, but we can’t resurrect Inbetween without actually resurrecting them,” Dark says.
“If it’s given them sentience, they’ll see it’s for the greater good,” Mirana chimes in.
“What’s the greater good to something like them?” Kikito asks.
The Kobus chime in. Several of them approach, their lights brightening back to their normal luminance after giving Dark a long look. A larger one gets in front of the others and looks up at me. The cap lifts up just enough to show two black eyes looking at me, no mouth or expression. It hops and then floats away. The others follow.
“It wants you to follow,” Dark says.
“Call me crazy but I know,” I say and start off in their direction, the others in tow. The Kobus drift high above us like lanterns, lighting our way through the thick darkness of the forest. Animals preferring the dark dart away at their presence with various squeaks and chirps of disapproval. A creature with a massive wingspan is particularly upset, blasting air against its wings as it propels into the Grove’s treeline and flying away with a dark purple glow.
We gradually get to the lighted areas. Everything brightens and takes on a blue-green hue until blue takes over entirely. We come to a clearing overlooking a massive cave. On a set of stones in the middle is a ball of blue energy dancing in place on the rocks. Many Kobus are gathered around it, a grand one in their center with a glorious cap with pure blue hanging like dripping lights. It looks to us, raises its cap to show us eyes and a tiny mouth, and produces the smallest smile from it.