Ever since he was quite young, Tristan Moon had always been pretty good at convincing people to listen to him. He wasn’t as good as Uncle Satan, of course. Even without that man’s Olympian power, there seemed to be a supernatural charisma about him. Tristan wasn’t anywhere near that level. Still, he tended to get what he wanted if he worked hard enough at convincing people.
And yet, this might be too much even for him. He really wished Uncle Satan was actually here. Seriously, this felt like more than he could handle. Which only got worse when he found out he wouldn’t actually be able to do any talking. Yeah, he was supposed to convince these ‘Solemn Ones’ of anything without actually talking at all? How was that fair? He’d been mentally rehearsing everything he could say in their defense ever since the subject was brought up, and now that was just pointless?
But nope, it turned out that the whole speech thing wasn’t actually necessary. The Reaper leadership, these so-called Solemn Ones, weren’t interested in hearing anything the intruders had to say. Oh, they still had to be here to try to convince those leaders to allow them to search these Archives for the missing Carnival members, but apparently Tristan and the others didn’t really have to talk for that. The Solemn Ones wanted to look into their minds and see both what sort of people they were, and what they intended to do in this place. They wanted permission to do that. Permission to go digging into their minds as deeply as they needed to in order to convince themselves that this wasn’t some sort of secret trick to do something bad with the Archives. Or maybe that Tristan and the others wouldn’t use the opportunity to do so when it was in front of them. They could go rooting around in there without permission, but it was a more difficult process and there could’ve been some sort of side effect. Apparently here in these Archives, the sort of mental combat that could ensue if the Reapers went digging around in their minds unwanted could create constructs within the Archives themselves. The way Jones explained it, in a quick huddled whisper, was that their nightmares could manifest throughout this area and start damaging things in these Archives. The Reapers would be able to handle it, but it would still be a pain that they would rather avoid. Besides, they were trying to be polite. That politeness would go away very quickly if it turned out Tristan and the others did have some nefarious purpose to being here, but still. They didn’t want to start digging through all the deepest secrets in their minds without giving the group a choice in the matter.
“And that choice,” that younger girl from Eden’s Garden, Casey, put in once it was all laid out, “is either we let them comb through our brains as much as they want, or turn around and walk out of here without finding the umm…” She glanced toward Denny and the other Aspects. “The rest of the Carnival, you said?” It was pretty clear that she still wasn’t sure about all this and was mostly going along with Jones.
Heh, Jones the Reaper. Tristan was still reeling from that little development. A friendly and very human-like Reaper who absolutely loved Ninja Turtles of all things. And she had this Casey girl who was apparently like a sister to her. Casey and Jones, Casey Jones. He still wasn’t sure how that had happened, and really wanted to get the whole story there. But it would have to wait. Curious as he was, this probably wasn’t the right time to get into it. But he was definitely going to interrogate both of them just as soon as he could. As soon as they managed to find all of Denny’s missing Other Selves/Aspects and made it out of these… these Prime Archives, the home of the Reapers themselves with…
Okay, it was just slightly possible that Tristan’s life was sort of ridiculous, when you got right down to it. Any time he actually sat and thought about it at all, especially when he added in the years he’d spent out in the far reaches of space with Grandpa Nick after being frozen as a rock statue for so long, the whole situation just seemed absurd.
Jones was nodding by that point. “Yes, those are the choices they’re giving us. Either let them look through your minds and convince themselves that you are not a threat, or turn around and walk away. I mean, there’s technically the option where you try to ignore them and do what you want anyway, but I promise that won’t go well.”
Her words made Tristan reflexively glance toward Aureus, who had been staring with open-mouthed awe at the Solemn Ones essentially that whole time. “You’re… you’re not leaning toward that last option, are you?” He was accustomed to seeing the Seosten girl think she could take on anything and everything.
She, however, gave him a sharp and reproachful look. “I am not a fool, nor am I suicidal. These are the Reapers–more than that, they are the Reaper Leadership. They are as high above us as we are above peschels.”
“Oh hey, I know those,” Tristan immediately put in, “they’re like little slug creatures who live in trees on a few of the worlds I visited with Uncle–never mind, not the point.”
He thought Aureus would be annoyed by the interruption. Instead, she gave him a second look, squinting. “You have set foot on worlds where those creatures live? You have explored the–” In mid-sentence, she stopped and seemed to pointedly set that aside, clearing her throat with a visible blush. “I mean, yes, those things. These Solemn Ones are gods to us. I am not stupid enough to think we stand any chance in a confrontation. They may read my mind and my soul. I have nothing to hide.” After a brief pause, she amended, “Nothing they would find objectionable to this place or their people.”
“Neither do we,” Bang-bang, the militarily-dressed, male-presenting Carnival Aspect put in. He was standing at the front of their small group, with the equally male-presenting, gaudily-dressed and magic-focused Austin Tasious, the female-presenting fire-based Aspect Flak, and Crow, who was quite androgynous and looked almost identical to the original Denny aside from skin that appeared to have been dyed bright green, and eyes that were entirely gold. Those five, Denny included, had been having a quick, whispered discussion amongst themselves for the past few moments. Bang-bang gave the others a brief look, getting an assortment of nods from them before he continued. “We’re not leaving here without the others. Letters, Walker, Tucker, Loudpound, Flock, Tailor, Feisty, and Rocky. We’re taking all of them back with us. If that means we have to let these Reapers root around through our minds, so be it. Whatever it takes.”
The last member of the group who hadn’t spoken up yet, the plant-controlling Dakota, slowly nodded as everyone looked to her. Her chin rose a bit, the dark-haired girl giving a soft, “I–I’m staying too. I don’t know you guys very well, but I don’t wanna leave your friends behind either. They can look at my brain as much as they want.” There was a brief pause before she glanced down, mumbling, “But they might not like what they see. I mean–yeah, maybe I should go anyway so I don’t screw up this whole thing?”
“They’ve seen worse,” Jones assured her, voice soft as she focused on the girl. “You–those things Kwur made you do, they weren’t your fault. You know that.”
“How did you–” Dakota blinked up at that. “I don’t know you. I just met you.”
“The story got around,” Jones informed her simply. “Sorry, I just– they aren’t going to judge you by what Kwur did. I just wanted you to know that. That’s not how they do things.” She said all this within spitting distance of the Solemn Ones themselves, who had remained perfectly silent and still throughout the whole discussion. “They may be total sticks in the mud about a lot, but they aren’t going to judge you based on that. And nothing Kwur made you do would shock them. They’ve seen–and done so much worse back in the old days. It’s okay, Dakota. They just want to see the type of person you are, not what that creature forced you to do.”
Hearing all that, Dakota finally swallowed hard before giving a short nod. “Then I’ll stay. I wa–want to help find the others. I know… I know what it’s like to be alone. I won’t do that to anyone else.”
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It was settled then, so Tristan, Aureus, and the others all lined up in front of the Solemn Ones, side by side. None of them were exactly eager to have these unfathomably powerful and deeply mysterious beings essentially flip through their brains like they were reading a book and judge them. And yet, if that was what it took to get permission to find the missing members of the Carnival, so be it.
And after all that, after all the debating they had done both inwardly and with one another, the actual event itself was almost a nonissue. Tristan had been expecting some sort of deep, involved process where he would experience some rush of memories as the Reapers searched through his mind, even a feeling of needing to let them in and avoid fighting back. But there was nothing like that. He saw the Solemn Ones turn their gazes to him, staring into his eyes for what turned out to be only a few seconds before they looked toward Aureus beside him. He thought they were simply still preparing, looking at each of their group to ensure they were ready, and braced himself once more as those gazes turned back his way a few seconds later.
Instead, Jones spoke up even as he was reminding himself not to struggle as they inevitably started going through difficult memories. “Okay, they said that’s enough.”
“Err.” Dakota spoke up, giving voice to Tristan’s own confusion. “What do you mean, that’s enough? I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t even think anything. They did it already?”
“Yeah,” Flak agreed quickly, “that was nothing. They didn’t actually root through our brains yet, did they?” Her words were followed by a chorus of agreement from the others. It seemed everyone had been expecting some much greater and more involved process.
With a tiny smirk that she quickly wiped away, Jones shook her head. “You agreed to the process, they didn’t need more than that. And they work fast. They’ve seen that we’re telling the truth about why we’re here, and that we don’t have other–what?” She paused in mid-sentence, turning to look at the silent Reaper leadership for a moment. Tristan felt himself tense up once more, before the strange woman slowly turned her gaze back to them. Or rather, to Dakota. “They said you’ve been having dreams of being someone else?”
The remark made the younger girl give a quick double-take, eyes widening. “I–I didn’t mean to–I mean I wasn’t–I… yes, I keep seeing bits of… of someone else. It’s like I’m living someone else’s life, someone who lived a long time ago. I mean, maybe not living his life. Just part of it. I keep seeing the same bit over and over again. I’m trying to serve my king as a good thane and we’re fighting a dragon, but–” She stopped herself, seeing everyone staring that way. “I mean… umm, never mind. It’s just this weird dream. Err, isn’t it?”
Once again, Jones looked toward the Solemn Ones before turning back to the girl. Her voice was softer. “They said we need to find the missing Aspects now, before it’s too late. But when we’re done, on our way out of here, they’d like you to stop back and talk to them again. They need to discuss something with each other.” Her tone of voice made it clear how odd that was. Not that it was hard to figure that much out. The Reapers communicated very complex ideas very quickly. Practically instantly, as far as Tristan could tell. How much did they need to talk about with each other if it would take long enough for Dakota and the others to need to come back later?
As if reading Tristan’s mind, Austin took a quick step that way, his black and pink cape swishing behind him as he raised a hand. “Wait, come back later? They seriously want to drop a bomb like that on poor Dakota here and then say, ‘oh we’ll give you answers about w-t-f we’re talking about in a little while, run along now and try to focus on what you were doing before?’” His head shook. “How’s she supposed to think about anything else when she’s got these guys implying there’s something hinky about her dreams? Why can’t they just explain the situation now? I mean, how long could it take?”
Aureus sounded positively scandalized. “They have agreed to speak with us again, and have promised vital information. Further, they’ve agreed to allow us passage to locate your missing… family in their private worlds. I suggest you not give them reason to reassess that decision. The girl will get her answers when they are ready to give them. Unless you aren’t concerned about those missing people anymore?”
Looking torn then, Austin glanced back toward Denny, Flak, Bang-bang, and Crow. “Of course I’m concerned. We’ve gotta–I was just– you know, she deserves answers too.”
“It’s okay,” Dakota assured him, though her voice cracked a little bit in the process. “We’ll come back.” She held her hand out to the boy, allowing him to see the small seed resting in her palm. Then her hand closed before she gave a not-shabby dramatic flourish, transforming the seed into a fully-bloomed white flower. With only a very slight blush, she tucked the flower into the front pocket of his pink suit jacket. “But thanks, I umm… I really do want to know what they’re talking about.” Slowly, the girl turned her head to look at the Solemn Ones, none of whom had betrayed any visible reaction to any of this. “I can be patient.”
“Being patient’s good,” Tristan put in. “Or, well, Nessa tells me it is, anyway. Me, I try to avoid it whenever possible. But I think this is one of those rare occurrences where it really is the best choice. We’ll go find the others, then come back.” His hand found its way to Dakota’s shoulder, squeezing gently. “And we won’t leave again until we get some answers.”
“Don’t worry,” Jones assured them, “they’ve already agreed to talk to you after you get the others. And they don’t tend to change their minds very often.” Her hand rose to point to the one that was second-from-the-left. “Except that one. He said his favorite Ninja Turtle was Raphael, but I’m pretty sure he’s more of a Donatello guy.” To the Reaper leadership themselves, she added, “I don’t want to distract you right now, but when we come back, I’ll send you a few hundred plot synopses so you’ll have the context you need for that favorite turtle question. Because honestly, I feel like you all just said the next name in the list. Unless you expect me to believe the favorites for all nine of you just happened to go Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raphael in that order.”
Only she didn’t say all that, Tristan realized belatedly. Not exactly, anyway. All she had said out loud was the single word, “Suspicious.” Then that entire spiel had appeared inside his memory as though she said it. Weird.
Together, the group left the tower where the Solemn Ones were. On the way out, Tristan asked, “So do those guys just stand there in those crystals forever, or do they summon up some couches and a Playstation and veg until someone else comes to talk or ask them something?”
“They don’t get tired,” Jones informed them. She was holding Casey’s hand, their fingers interlocked. “And they can view anything in the universe just by focusing on it, so it’s hard to get bored. They have no need of any sustenance or anything.”
“You’re saying they’re the most powerful couch potatoes in the universe?” Flak demanded.
Taking obvious offense to that, Aureus snapped, “They are gods! With a thought they could wipe you and your entire bloodline out of reality. They remain stationary because their power stretches across all of space. There’s no more need for them to move to reach one planet or another than there is for you to walk a mile to reach into your own pocket.”
By that point, they had stepped through the portal that appeared and returned to the area just outside the main door of the tower. Denny held up both hands even as Flak started to retort. “Stop! It doesn’t matter what they are or what they do. We have to find the others since we have permission now. But umm… how do we do that, exactly?”
“Wait for it…” Jones started, looking expectantly across the area in front of the tower. Sure enough, eight separate portals appeared one after another, in a semi-circle in front of them. Eight portals, eight missing Aspects.
Bang-bang whistled. “They sent out a message, didn’t they? ‘Let us know if you have any surprise visitors in your homes.’ These are the portals to the ones who replied.”
Dakota, who was still looking back at the tower itself as though wondering if there might’ve been a way she could actually have gotten an answer about what they wanted to tell her, forcibly turned her head back to focus on the portals in front of them. “I don’t understand, if the Reapers in those places know the other Aspects are there, why can’t they just send them through these portals themselves? Why do we need to go through and get them? Err, sorry, no offense or anything,” she added toward Denny.
That girl, for her part, shook her head. “No, no, that’s a good question. Why don’t they just come through?”
“Ah, that’s…” Jones started before tilting her head to the side as she clearly received another message. “Oh. Well, one tiny fault in your assumptions. The portals were not created by the Reapers who responded. Those eight portals lead to eight Reaper Archives who have not responded. Every other Reaper confirmed they don’t have any unwanted visitors. Those eight did not respond at all. They’ve gone dark.”
“What?” Tristan gave a double-take. “Why… why would–how would… what could make eight Reaper Archives, the exact same number as the Aspects who disappeared… suddenly stop communicating with your leaders?”
“We’re not exactly sure,” Jones cheerfully informed him, before pointing to the portals.
“But now we get to go find out.”