{-Casrane-}

She walked back to the first room to see someone opening the door to the undeniable versions of her father, Mrs. Rogers, and a handful of other workers.

“The brats are in that room,” the leader of the Rune Reactivation Project remarked, jerking his head in the direction of the twins. “Do you need them for something, or do we get free reign to do whatever we want? Because I’m about done waiting for all of you, and I’d like you to fulfill your end of the deal here…”

“We’ll be the judge of that,” her father remarked bluntly. “You better not forget that we’re the ones in charge here—you’ll do what we tell you to, or whether or not we fulfill our side of the bargain will be far from your biggest concern.” He practically glared at Mrs. Rogers. “Take care of them, will you?”

“Of course, Mr. Mair,” she returned softly. She didn’t want to do this.

Maybe Casrane could use that to her advantage.

“Do you really have to get them involved?” she asked. “The twins aren’t a part of this, just leave them alone. They’re not really doing anything, are they?”

“I wish that was all of it,” Mrs. Rogers sighed. “But there’s a lot more going on. This is what we have to do.”

Casrane’s father stood between the two of them now, a firm motion meant to make sure Casrane didn’t try to leave. “She’s right, this is all for the best. You’ll understand eventually.”

She beat back her own uncertainty about the situation—what she’d seen for herself, the parts she knew he was right about—simply for the sake of the argument. “I don’t think I will, though. All you’re going to do is hurt things, and assuming that more things are going to get messed up if you don’t do this. But there’s nothing wrong with this—with letting them make their own decisions.”

“I’d think that, by now, you would’ve seen for yourself why we made this decision.” He sighed. “I suppose that’s just an oversight on my part, letting you know what things were supposed to be. But you know, there’s a reason for most changes—sometimes, it’s done out of not being possible, others it’s because the possibility causes too many risks. The longer this goes on, the more of a risk it is… and frankly, I should’ve ended this the moment I realized what you were doing.”

“You’re only making a mistake,” she insisted. “All you’re doing is punishing someone else for your oversights.”

“Cassidy, I think even you realize that there’s a lot more going on than that.”

“Even me? What, do you expect me not to know anything? That I’m just going to go ‘yes, Dad’ whenever you want me to? That I’m not going to try to help my friends?”

“You’re overreacting.”

“So are you! I’m sure there’s a better way to solve all of this than what you’re doing. You’re just going to make everything worse.”

“You barely know enough to be able to say that—and with what you do know, you should understand I’m right.”

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He took a step forward—probably as a part of some comforting gesture, as she was clearly getting upset now—but she took a step back. She did it before she even thought about it, but it still felt so right.

After a moment, he continued, “You’ve seen enough that you should be able to understand our fears. We can’t let this go on any longer.”

“And you want me to just sit back and watch?”

“This isn’t your problem.”

“You’re about to do who knows what to my friends! How is that not my problem?”

“You’ve got other things to worry about… like staying calm. You shouldn’t be getting upset like this. Just take a deep breath and—”

“Pretend like none of this is happening? Like you’re not doing something terrible, and I’m not allowed to do anything but sit here and let it happen?”

“Cassidy, just stay calm and let us handle this. You don’t understand the full situation.”

She wanted to fight, to argue, she really did—but he got close enough to gently hold her shoulders. Even if she struggled, his grip was firm even if he was careful not to hurt her.

“Let’s just put this behind us and go home, Cassidy. You shouldn’t be panicking like this, it won’t be good for you…”

…

Honestly, her health had been declining for the past couple of months—being just barely manageable on the best of days.

And, well, being afraid of losing her friends, desperately trying to get her father to reconsider, attempting and failing to do something herself… it must’ve been the last straw. Within what must’ve felt like seconds, things took a turn for the worst, and after the days that must’ve felt like years, Cassidy—as the real world knew her—was dead.

But Casrane still existed. Or, rather, was created. She was remade the same way all of the other NPCs had been born, completely aware of her past even if she knew she wasn’t really “Cassidy” anymore.

Even the name felt wrong now.

At least it had an upside, where she could see for herself that Nankohm’s plan hadn’t exactly worked. Though that meant she spent a lot of her time trying to make sure they couldn’t do something like that again… wandering only the back streets, wearing a cloak and doing whatever necessary to draw as little attention to herself as possible.

Not like she didn’t take the time to visit Duuzlo, or check on the twins from afar, which was what led her to be in Nafrius that day.

She’d simply been walking along until she saw him—Llewel, seemingly looking for something. She took a risk then, one she wasn’t completely sure of at the time; with the practically-selfish desire that he’d recognize her, she pulled her hood down, and smiled at him. When their eyes met, he lost his footing, falling onto a worn couch and the trash atop of it.

She walked up to him, pushing a bit of her hair back with one hand and offering him the other. From there, she made an educated guess from what she’d heard and seen and asked, “You’re looking for one of Duuzlo’s doves, aren’t you?”

He nodded, completely ignoring her hand as he got up. “Do you… know where it is?”

“Mhm. I can show you, if you want.” Nearly against her better judgment, she reached for his hand, but he jerked away from it. That confirmed it, then—he only saw her as a stranger. She started to simply walk there instead, mumbling before she thought to stop herself, “Maybe it’s for the best…”

“What did you say?”

She hesitated—there was so much she wanted to tell him. But he wouldn’t understand. It was probably better if he didn’t. So she just shook her head, kept walking, then changed the subject. “You’ve lucked out with this one. It’s the sweetest of the bunch.”

It had, honestly, been by chance that she’d seen the dove before. But whenever she saw a dove, she kept note of its location; usually it meant that a player would ultimately wander in that direction, and she wanted to avoid them if at all possible. So she led him just around the corner, where one of Duuzlo’s doves was playing with a bug. It seemed to realize they were there immediately, looking up to them and giving a merry chirp.

Casrane bent down and it readily hopped onto her hand; when she turned and offered it to Llewel, it hopped into his.

There was just one last thing she wanted to say before she left.

“Be careful.”

A dangerous world was waiting for them out there—she just had to hope that he and Myr would be able to handle it.