560 Pawns of Fate

Sunny left the cafe and caught a train to go visit Aiko. After that, he traveled to the Academy and said his goodbyes to Teacher Julius. The old man was a bit emotional to let him go, but did not try to dissuade his unruly pupil. Instead, he tried to offer encouragement.

"The Second Nightmare! Ptui! No student of mine can be killed by a mere Second Nightmare. Don't you dare put a stain on my reputation, Sunny my boy… you hear me?"

Finally, Sunny left the Sleeper compound and stood outside for a while, watching the setting sun. Then, he turned around and headed deeper into the Academy complex.

The room where Nephis slept did not change much. He replaced the flowers on one of the tables and sat down, looking at her pale and motionless face.

No matter how many times Sunny came here, seeing her… seeing her like this… brought a dull pain to his chest. The cauldron of emotions burning in his heart was too deep and seethed too furiously for him to understand it. Sunny was never good with emotions, after all.

There was resentment, longing, guilt, affection, fear… and hope.

Looking at the transparent lid of the sleeping pod, he sighed.

"Hey, Neph."

Just like before, this was the only thing he said out loud. He lingered for a bit, and then thought:

'You are still alive, out there somewhere. That is good. That… makes me happy. It really does. You know, right after everything happened, I wasn't sure if I wanted you to live. I thought that maybe it would be better for you to die. Sometimes, I did.'

Sunny lowered his head and closed his eyes tiredly.

'But after a while, as time passed, I... I started to miss you more than I wanted to be free of you. Maybe what Master Jet said is true… maybe no one is really ever free in this world. Maybe the only freedom there is is the freedom to choose your own chains.'

A dark smile appeared on his lips.

'But that is the thing, isn't it? Even that choice was taken away from me. By you, by Cassie. By fate. I never had anything, and then, I had even less than that. Wouldn't you be angry to be dealt a hand like that? Because I am. I am so, so angry. And that is why... I am never going to stop trying to break free. Screw truth, and screw fate. Who said that its chains can't be broken?'

Sunny shifted slightly, and stared at the sleeping young woman with burning intensity.

'I just have to get strong enough to rip them apart. You want to destroy the Spell? Well, I want to destroy fate itself. Which one of us do you think is more crazy?'

He suddenly laughed, his voice full of both mirth and bitterness.

'If Weaver did it, why can't I? And if Weaver created it, why can't you break it? If that is our will… who dares to stop us?'

Sunny smiled widely, and then grew quiet again, his eyes full of darkness.

After a while, he rubbed his face.

'Anyway… Cassie and I are going to challenge the Second Nightmare soon. We might not be able to visit you again for a long time. So you… you take care of yourself, Neph. Don't disappoint me. I am counting on you to stay alive... to keep me striving to surpass you."

With that, he sighed heavily, stood up, and left without looking back.

It was finally time for him to sleep, too.

***

...Before climbing into his luxurious sleeping pod, Sunny had a conversation with Effie. He moved her pod into the underground dojo and installed it near his own. The two of them were most likely going to spend a long time in the Nightmare, so the house had to be put on lockdown for the duration.

Hopefully, Sunny would be able to do it himself after coming back through the Gateway in Night Temple, but if things went wrong with the representatives of Valor, Effie was in charge of making the final preparations. He gave her the passwords from the security system and explained the procedure.

Then, Sunny ran the diagnostic on the pod, made sure that it was functioning perfectly and could sustain his body for months, if not years, and sighed.

…It didn't matter, really. After entering the Seed, he would either die or become a Master. If the former happened, the well-being of his physical body was a moot point. If the latter happened… paradoxically, the same statement applied.

Ascension merged the physical body with the spirit body… however, even if the physical body was completely destroyed, the process would create a new one. So, maybe, it was more appropriate to say that Ascension allowed the spirit body to become corporeal. In any case, the result was the same.

That was why Effie wanted to become a Master so badly, knowing that it would make her as strong and healthy as she was in the Dream Realm. Why many of the Lost dreamed of challenging the Second Nightmare, as well.

…And that was why it didn't matter even if the sleeping pod malfunctioned and thoroughly roasted Sunny's physical body instead of preserving it. If the Nightmare didn't kill him, he would be as good as new.

Still, Sunny was very attached to his mortal shell. He didn't want any harm to come to it, if only out for sentiment reasons.

With a sigh, he undressed, took one last glance at his spacious dojo, and climbed into the pod.

Effie, who was watching him silently from her wheelchair, strained to raise a hand and waved him goodbye.

"Sweet dreams!"

Sunny wanted to snarl at her and remind the gluttonous huntress to not leave dirty dishes all over the house, but he was just too tired.

As soon as the lid of the metal sarcophagus started to move, his eyes closed, and he fell into the deep, dark embrace of sleep.

When Sunny opened his eyes again, he was already in the Sanctuary of Noctis.

***

Sunny was standing on the edge of the island, looking at the heavenly chain that stretched far into the distance. His body was clad in a slender armor forged out of bleak steel, and in his hand was a somber black spear with a polished silver blade.

Cassie was standing by his side, wearing her midnight blue coat beneath a polished cuirass. Her hand rested on the hilt of the Quiet Dancer, and an elegant half-mask rested on her face. A few strands of her long, golden hair were blowing in the wind.

They were ready to depart.

Sunny glanced at the two of them, then at the dull steel of the Undying Chain.

He wasn't foolish enough to fail to recognize that this was exactly how her vision of their death happened — with the two of them alone, and him wearing metal armor.

The only thing missing was the snow.

…But Sunny didn't care.

He had been deceived by the knowledge of the future once, and all his desperate attempts to avoid it had only helped the vision happen. This time, he was not going to allow himself to be a pawn of fate. He was going to do what needed to be done, in a way he wanted to do it, and face the consequences without regret.

Sunny sighed, glanced at Cassie, and said:

"Let's go."

With that, he took a step forward and plunged off the edge of the island.