[The door opens as soon as Rose touches it, and Zero is standing behind it. She's dressed a little more casually in a frilly black top and high-waisted black leggings, though still too formal to really be anything but a theater student or a Shakespeare lesbian.]
You don't need to bring any gifts for me. I would not know what to do with them. [She steps aside to welcome Rose in.] ... This is Jusis's house. I have been living in the basement for some time now. It is how I was able to stay safe.
[Zero will sit down in one of the comfy chairs in the living room.]
You are like Takame and Scintilla, from the same world but different timelines.
[That’s the thing with gifts, Zero, no one ever knows what to do with them but people bring them anyway. Culture is strange like that. It makes Rose glad that gifts in her home country are almost always food.]
I’m glad you were able to stay safe. I trust the basement is well-furnished?
[Actually, she’s not sure that Zero would care if it wasn’t. Rose takes a seat next to Zero.]
That is correct. Have they filled you in on the details?
[She understands the first point. Just as Zero was born here, so was Zulius. They'd lived out their entirety of their past lives before being reborn in Kaisou. That much she gets, and it doesn't bother her.]
[But Rose doesn't remember Zero, and that hurts. As much as she tries to pretend otherwise, Rose cares deeply for the people around her. Were any of her friends back home--or any of her friends here for that matter--to forget their time together, she'd be deeply distraught. And yet, here she was. For all she knows, she could barely be Zero's acquaintance, but it doesn't matter.]
Unfortunately, I can't say the same. I know the others have memories that I lack.
[She shakes her head. Be positive! Zero has a positive future ahead of her!]
But I'd like to hear your story, if you'd tell it. Even if I don't carry memories of you from back home, that doesn't mean I can't make more now, after all. And you are my friend--regardless of what world we're in.
[Zero was about as weird in her last life as she is in this one, so she isn't offended. God knows she barely remembers anything either.]
I don't recall everything, even now. It is not something I worry about.
[So Rose shouldn't either.]
... That is true. We are friends. I have no reservations in telling you what I know.
My past life was... not all that different from this one. There are gaps in my memories. I do not remember where I was born, or where I grew up. I recall there was a war, and my mother fought to protect me until I could defend myself. Then we fought together for a time. She passed away but I kept fighting... Fighting for hope.
Eventually our world was swallowed by darkness, and it became the Void—what you and yours call the Thirteenth.
[Rose nods. She's going to let Zero lead here. If Zero isn't worried, she shouldn't be either.]
I am sorry to hear of your loss.
[With everything that's happened, sometimes Rose forgets she's a healer by trade.]
With what you've told me, it's no surprise that we would be friends in Eorzea. I am not sure what magic brought you out of the Void, but I am glad that it did.
... I was young. I barely remember her and her stories. When I was free, I asked about the stories, and a man said that it was from the early eighties. That means... I was held by them for thirty years, at least. Perhaps longer.
[She closes her eyes.]
There was a portal that your friends created. Fearing I would die after spending my aether, I was taken back to the Source, where I began to recover.
... But that was not how we met. Nor was it our first meeting.
[She's quiet for a moment.]
Due to the darkness that polluted the world, I was born a half-voidsent. I kept my consciousness even after the realm fell to the void perhaps because of this quality. However, it did not protect me from the man who would reach into the voidrealm and find my soul...
He seized my power for his own in an inequitable pact, and forced me to do his bidding. I could not escape no matter how I beat against my cage. No matter how I screamed, he would not release me. He said I reminded him of the Warrior of Light, but I could never replace them.
[Rose nods along as Zero goes. She's listening. And her expression is calm until she realizes just who she was in a pact with. Is she angry? Afraid? Frustrated? It's hard to tell, but it's clear that it's not directed at Zero, at least.]
[Did the others know? It wasn't her place to tell, and she would understand if she weren't let in on the secret. Or perhaps, did the others not want to know? She'd understand that, too.]
[Rose takes a deep breath before she responds.]
I believe I know the man of which you speak.
[Unfortunately.]
He was truly a monster, and I'm sorry that it was him to which you were bound. Would that I could fight with you, and not against you, when you were forced to do his bidding.
[She shakes her head.]
For what it's worth, I will always count you as a friend, but I could not say the same of him. I don't know where he got the notion in the first place, but rest assured, I would not willingly associate with people who treated others so terribly. Least of all you.
[Zero is relieved that Rose isn't mad about this. Things had been tense when they met in the void realm, but Zero also hadn't looked like herself.]
In defeating him, you saved me. Or rather, you will... [timelines are confusing] Zenos is dead. For that, I am grateful. It is because of my memories of captivity that I refuse to be caged again.
[She pauses. Adjusts her hat.]
... I will always consider you a friend as well, Rose. Your help has been invaluable, but I also find myself enjoying your company.
He was mistaken about what a 'friend' is. Perhaps if he had treated others with the kindness they were due, he would have learned.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
You don't need to bring any gifts for me. I would not know what to do with them. [She steps aside to welcome Rose in.] ... This is Jusis's house. I have been living in the basement for some time now. It is how I was able to stay safe.
[Zero will sit down in one of the comfy chairs in the living room.]
You are like Takame and Scintilla, from the same world but different timelines.
no subject
I’m glad you were able to stay safe. I trust the basement is well-furnished?
[Actually, she’s not sure that Zero would care if it wasn’t. Rose takes a seat next to Zero.]
That is correct. Have they filled you in on the details?
no subject
It has furniture. I built the shelves and bed that Jusis bought me while I was hiding.
[Zero folds her arms and looks thoughtful.]
I know that we are different. I was born here, and you were not. My past life is your current life for reasons I do not understand...
It was Scintilla who remembered me.
no subject
[She understands the first point. Just as Zero was born here, so was Zulius. They'd lived out their entirety of their past lives before being reborn in Kaisou. That much she gets, and it doesn't bother her.]
[But Rose doesn't remember Zero, and that hurts. As much as she tries to pretend otherwise, Rose cares deeply for the people around her. Were any of her friends back home--or any of her friends here for that matter--to forget their time together, she'd be deeply distraught. And yet, here she was. For all she knows, she could barely be Zero's acquaintance, but it doesn't matter.]
Unfortunately, I can't say the same. I know the others have memories that I lack.
[She shakes her head. Be positive! Zero has a positive future ahead of her!]
But I'd like to hear your story, if you'd tell it. Even if I don't carry memories of you from back home, that doesn't mean I can't make more now, after all. And you are my friend--regardless of what world we're in.
no subject
I don't recall everything, even now. It is not something I worry about.
[So Rose shouldn't either.]
... That is true. We are friends. I have no reservations in telling you what I know.
My past life was... not all that different from this one. There are gaps in my memories. I do not remember where I was born, or where I grew up. I recall there was a war, and my mother fought to protect me until I could defend myself. Then we fought together for a time. She passed away but I kept fighting... Fighting for hope.
Eventually our world was swallowed by darkness, and it became the Void—what you and yours call the Thirteenth.
no subject
I am sorry to hear of your loss.
[With everything that's happened, sometimes Rose forgets she's a healer by trade.]
With what you've told me, it's no surprise that we would be friends in Eorzea. I am not sure what magic brought you out of the Void, but I am glad that it did.
no subject
[She closes her eyes.]
There was a portal that your friends created. Fearing I would die after spending my aether, I was taken back to the Source, where I began to recover.
... But that was not how we met. Nor was it our first meeting.
[She's quiet for a moment.]
Due to the darkness that polluted the world, I was born a half-voidsent. I kept my consciousness even after the realm fell to the void perhaps because of this quality. However, it did not protect me from the man who would reach into the voidrealm and find my soul...
He seized my power for his own in an inequitable pact, and forced me to do his bidding. I could not escape no matter how I beat against my cage. No matter how I screamed, he would not release me. He said I reminded him of the Warrior of Light, but I could never replace them.
He said... he wanted to see his friend.
no subject
[Did the others know? It wasn't her place to tell, and she would understand if she weren't let in on the secret. Or perhaps, did the others not want to know? She'd understand that, too.]
[Rose takes a deep breath before she responds.]
I believe I know the man of which you speak.
[Unfortunately.]
He was truly a monster, and I'm sorry that it was him to which you were bound. Would that I could fight with you, and not against you, when you were forced to do his bidding.
[She shakes her head.]
For what it's worth, I will always count you as a friend, but I could not say the same of him. I don't know where he got the notion in the first place, but rest assured, I would not willingly associate with people who treated others so terribly. Least of all you.
no subject
In defeating him, you saved me. Or rather, you will... [timelines are confusing] Zenos is dead. For that, I am grateful. It is because of my memories of captivity that I refuse to be caged again.
[She pauses. Adjusts her hat.]
... I will always consider you a friend as well, Rose. Your help has been invaluable, but I also find myself enjoying your company.
He was mistaken about what a 'friend' is. Perhaps if he had treated others with the kindness they were due, he would have learned.