“...Meiss...en…”
“Hizen!! Oh my gosh— you’re okay!! You’re really still alive and you’re okay...!!”
“Meissen...wh-what...have you done now…?”
“Well, I...I stopped the Worm! With my other powers! I mean, since it took me so long, we’re probably miles away by now, but I still did it! I saved us, just like in that story!!”
“...‘Story’…”
“Yeah! It’s...well, I’ll explain it later. Anyway, how do you feel?? It looks like you got hurt a lot worse than me...do you think maybe your legs might still be intact, somewhere…?”
“Meissen…”
“I-it’s okay, don’t worry about it! Legs can be replaced...all of this can be replaced. As long as your brain is undamaged, and you can still talk to me...everything else can wait.”
“...Meissen, please—”
“Oh, I just remembered— I can take you back to the Archduke! He told me he would try to fix you...and I mean all of you, even the Cordyceps stuff! You see?? You’re gonna be alright! Everything will be just fine…!”
“...When will you understand that ‘fine’ is no longer possible?!”
“…”
“Meissen...truth be told...I am deeply thankful for your existence. The fact that you are here, so unburdened and filled with life...it is the second-best outcome I could have hoped for. But the first-best would have been...for the frightened child who came to me that day...to have enjoyed the same. That’s all that I wanted…”
“...So...you really were thinking of me.”
“...You doubted my intentions.”
“N-no, no! I mean...I just got a little scared, that maybe—”
“I understand. And you have every right...I am not innocent. If I had thought only of you, I would have taken you out of that place before it was too late...or else, I would have fought for you with my last ounce of strength. I would have...made a sacrifice that meant something. Instead, I gave up on you entirely...I treated you as the very thing you were always afraid of becoming: a mistake.”
“...I...it’s...that doesn’t really...I mean, I don’t really mind if—”
“Whatever you are about to say, do not say it. You are merciful to a fault...this too, has not changed. But I am not shameless enough to accept mercy from you after what I have done. Please, Meissen...leave me. Free the Worm, and leave me to my fate.”
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“…”
“…”
“...Hizen...can I...can I tell you something?”
“…”
“Before I came to get you this time...I was thinking about what I wanted. What I really wanted...now, and for the rest of my life. And I...I know I don’t have any way of knowing this, but it really felt like something I’d never ever done before.”
“…”
“And y’know, I realized that...it’s scary to want something. Because it means that you can’t just let it go. If it starts to disappear, you have to fight for it. And the more you want it, the more you have to fight.”
“…”
“I know you’re really sad because...you feel like you didn’t try hard enough, to help me with whatever I was going through. Maybe you felt like, if you couldn’t help, at least you could make the...problem, not exist anymore. And now you regret that...but y’know, what you’re doing now is just the same thing all over again. You can’t change what you did, but at least if you’re dead, then the sad feelings won’t exist anymore.”
“…”
“But you have to realize it’s the same mistake, too! Only you’re giving up on yourself this time. And even if you’re not around to regret it, I will. If I let you die here, I’ll never forgive myself...I’ll feel exactly the same way you’re feeling right now.”
“...That’s...you can’t—”
“I can’t care if you die? I can’t want you to stay with me?? I can’t love you just as much as you loved me?!”
“…”
“Well, I do! Even if you don’t want me to; even if you yell at me again and push me away! And I’m going to fight for us, e-even if I have to fight you!”
“...Meissen—”
“Don’t try to stop me! I can even...pick you up, and...take you out of here, see! So if you want to be mad at me, then you’ll just have to be mad on our way to the surface!”
“I understand, Meissen. Please—”
“M-maybe this feels pointless to you, because I’m not really...‘your’ Meissen, anymore...but I think if that Meissen were here, they’d agree with everything I’m saying, and they wouldn’t want you to die either!”
“…”
“And I’d like...I mean, if I can...to be just as much of a friend to you as they used to be.”
“...I think…”
“??”
“...I think, I would like that as well.”
“...You would…?”
“I would.”
“S-so, you changed your mind??”
“I suppose...if I was wrong to abandon you once, then I would be doubly wrong to abandon you again. And perhaps...I might better atone for my sins by doing my utmost to aid you in your new life.”
“Y...yeah! Yay~! Th-thank you, Hizen!!”
“I am telling you this now, for once we leave the body of the Worm, I will no longer be able to say it…”
“I know, I know. It’s okay.”
“And there is one more thing I must ensure that you understand...something you were wrong about, before.”
“Something I was wrong about—?”
“You are indeed ‘my’ Meissen.”
“...”
“...And you always will be.”