act25side

I'm not here to take you to task.;Your Arts are going to turn Trimounts into the capital of bubbles.

Sorry for betraying you.

But right now, there's probably no point in apologizing...

'Arc-01', Galleria Stellaria, Kristen... everything has already come to an end.

The skies of Trimounts have been torn apart, the government, the military, the Maylander Foundation... every party with power here will soon close in to 'settle things,' so you guys should get out of Trimounts, fast.

Didn't expect you to see that. It was such a sorry sight, huh?

...Yes, I failed.

Doctor, you didn't get into the Galleria Stellaria, but I also got shut out.

I even almost killed Saria, and the only thing I managed to do was try to save a handful of people...

I already know what happened up there, so you don't have to say any more.

*gurgle*

You're weak, Muelsyse.;Don't speak any more, Muelsyse.

I pumped out all the water from my body, and expected myself to evaporate...

But I only had a short and shallow sleep, and didn't even get to finish my dream.

I can't even kill myself.

Before you came in, I think... I think I was leaving the orphanage in Trenton with a kid version of myself.

I think I saw a Muelsyse crouching next to a pale fir tree, tidying up the graves of my parents and my kin that I've never met... I wanted to reach out and pat her on the shoulder.

I think I met a Muelsyse who had just left Sami.

Her hair was wet from the morning mist, and she wasn't even holding her usual parasol, and it was so cold. Her neck was tucked in and her head drooping. I've never seen myself so dispirited.

Were your people living in the forests of Sami?;You saw other Elves?

Yup.

When Rhine Lab began their Scientific Investigation Section and started the Sami Exploration Project, their footprints made it all the way to the icefields in the remote north. I made a private request to Maggy...

When Maggy contacted me, this place had just been built. This tiny vivarium that shouldn't even exist on Terra, is an Elvish garden.

I found them following the coordinates Maggy sent me.

Deep in the forests in the middle of Sami, remote and cold... that bed of soil was locked up by the marsh and ice fields, far from civilization, a place you could hardly consider a paradise for Elves.

I saw a tree towering over the woodland, no different from what the other people of Sami live in and revere. But after just a few steps forward, I saw the true home of nearly a hundred Elves—

An endless Hollow beneath the tree, its thick branches entangling with one another, an ecosphere woven into the roots as if it was encased in amber.

To think there was such a settlement for Elves on Terra.

You want to persuade them to leave?;Were they unwilling to leave their homes?

No, Doctor. I couldn't even bring myself to ask them.

They were not hostile to me, but I had no way of integrating into their society, not because of my metropolitan fit, but there was something natural separating us.

We look similar, and face the same struggle, we're clearly alike, and yet we're also complete strangers to one another.

We had no way of understanding or communicating with each other, like two waves on completely different frequencies.

Doctor, I walked so far, and finally found a tiny patch of forest in the endless ice fields of Sami...

But I'm not a leaf from a tree, I'm just a drop of water.

The Elf leans against the pale fir, her hair moving with the topmost branches of the tree to the current.

You can't make out her expression.

I don't know, Doctor. I couldn't even ask them a question like that.

They were not hostile to me, but I had no way of integrating into their society, not because of my metropolitan fit, but there was something natural separating us.

We look similar, and face the same struggle, we're clearly alike, and yet we're also complete strangers to one another.

We had no way of understanding or communicating with each other, like two waves on completely different frequencies.

Doctor, I walked so far, and finally found a tiny patch of forest in the endless ice fields of Sami...

But I'm not a leaf from a tree, I'm just a drop of water.

The Elf leans against the pale fir, her hair moving with the topmost branches of the tree to the current.

You can't make out her expression.

But you still wanted to move the vivarium into the Galleria Stellaria.;But you still wanted to follow Kristen beyond the starpod.

I needed... to hold onto something.

But Kristen abandoned me, abandoned everyone, and the so-called 'future' that she's left for us.

Kristen disbanded the Components Control Section, and Saria was thrown out of the Galleria into deep space and almost turned herself into dust, the possibility I was pursuing has also been proven impossible.

Dorothy got herself into trouble because of the stuff at Site 359, Ferdinand has thrown himself to the army... and Parvis, that old goat seems to have died too.

I can only reminisce about things that have already turned into bubbles.

To me, they were once as precious as fresh air with hardly any Originium dust. They kept me from being so...

Lonely.

Doctor, if I was destined to always be alone, and if discovering and resisting this thing called fate still only leaves me all alone...

Does that mean I'll never be able to rid myself of it?

You attempt to get closer to Muelsyse. But through the glass and the dense lake, she still seems to be far away.

I bid farewell to someone before coming here.

Uh... who?

A friend.;A stranger.

So besides Saria and the gang, you knew someone else in Trimounts.

From the sound of it, you can't have seen them recently.

But they left Trimounts so soon just after your reunion?

I should say that my timing was just right.

A stranger?

But you said 'farewell' earlier.

There aren't many people that hold your interest, Doctor. Just what kind of person were they?

He was my 'kin.'

Kin...

Then did they leave Trimounts to go back to your homeland?

You know, I was actually really curious about where you came from. I did some investigating, and the other time I snuck into Rhodes Island, I even tried looking for your files, but I found nothing.

Is that because it's a secret... or, have you also been trying to find the answer?

Just like me.

Perhaps.;......;What do you think?

I want to know, when you met your kin... do you still remember what you were feeling then?

Did you recognize each other easily? Could you understand each other? Could you provide comfort for each other's suffering?

I never thought he would exist.;He never thought I would exist.

I was unprepared, I understood some of his answers, but my bewilderment only grew.

In the end, I only had enough time to see him off.

Time could not measure how long he had been watching and waiting in the dark.

All I could do was to say goodbye.

No wonder you look so exhausted, Doctor.

You stop moving, and Muelsyse looks into your eyes through the glass, across the still water.

So you also get lonely, Dr. {@nickname}...

Frequently.;......;Occasionally.

Then, have you ever wavered in your resolve? Will you doubt the significance of certain things because of it?

Rhodes Island, the Operators and friends by your side, that person who you forgot but still have been searching for?

...And yourself?

*gurgle*

Doctor, this vivarium will shut down soon, so you should get out of here.

You finally find the switch, and the glass layer opens in response, but the lake without its banks does not pour out, every drop of water held still by an invisible force.

Like a bubble about to pop, the Elf is about to escape into the leaves of the pale fir tree.

You step into it.

You'll drown...

Don't worry about me, I just want to sleep a bit more, a bit longer.

Before I came here, I was asked a similar question.

My answer was, and is, 'just as I always have been.'

Being 'alone' is a type of strength, Muelsyse.

Even a machine-like person can be submerged in such an emotion.

You will be sad, you will reminisce, you will worry.

And in the long term, it might not even improve.