Days later, I finally caught sight of a dark figure loping across a crater, wearing a familiar woven hat and cape. I called out to him from above, but he didn’t respond. So, after taking a moment to think, I dropped out of the sky and tackled him to the ground.

“WH—What is the meaning of this?!”

“Hizen! It’s me, Meissen! Don’t you remember me??”

“...Of course I remember you. Now stand aside. I cannot afford to waste a single second.”

“I’m not standing aside!”

“Then I will have to drag you along. Only 38 hours, 54 minutes, and 15 seconds remain...”

“Hizen…!!”

“When we reach the Worm, you will have to be responsible for your own safety. I know now that only I am meant to die.”

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“What??”

“I would relate to you what I have learned from the Repository file, and from my own recollections...but I feel that you are better off not knowing. I have released you; go in peace.”

“I’m not going anywhere! I came all this way to stop you from throwing yourself into the Worm, and I’m gonna do it! Even if I have to die trying...!”

“You will die in vain.”

“I don’t care! You’re my best friend!!”

“I am not your friend...!”

“You ARE my friend!”

“Would a friend discard you?!”

“Wh...wha—”

“Would a friend take your life with his own hands?! Would he rip your brain from your skull, and offer it up to the one who condemned you to death?! Out of some misguided sense of loyalty...not that it meant anything, in the end…”

“…Hi...zen...”

“...At the very least, you are free now. You may never recover your memories, but you have your powers, and a new life. Leave me to atone for the one that I destroyed.”

“Wait, but Hizen—!”

“I SAID LEAVE!!”