Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023

"SETA!"

The sound of her voice strikes like thunder when she materialises beneath vermillion gates, calling the name of the gatekeeper of the Everworld with resounding fury. However, it's not towards Seta that this boundless rage of hers is directed, but towards forces unseen. Forces that should never reach this place of meant for those who no longer live.

Her march to the end of the hall is cut short, stopping on her tracks before a golden-robed statue bearing a mask of the snowflake that had been and will always be her loyal shield. The mask looks perhaps. Just like Ancile. Unharmed but also unliving.

"It took him from me... That fucking place took him from me." She says, knowing Seta will hear her. Gloved hands close to fists, welcoming the pain that her gauntlets' sharp steel fingertips bring when pressing against soft leather. The pain keeps her grounded, it reminds her what her purpose here is.

She had armed herself for battle.

She had readied herself for war.

After her defeat in the corruption zone she had taken a couple of days to make arrangements, knowing her time online was limited. She had used those precious hours carefully, preparing and finally crafting her armour and blade. And then, when this fated Tuesday had finally come, when she had logged in knowing that today is the day that belongs to the game, she had stepped into the Everworld as soon as she was able to, giving only instructions to Delphi the Espeon to look after the T.E.A. Shop while she's gone.

She doesn't know how long she'll be gone.

That's up to the cloaked figure that rules these halls. The one that steals away air and colour.

Tuesday looks at Seta then, her eyes as golden as the statue representing her fallen companion. She's armoured, she's armed, she's ready, but she has been through this ordeal before, and she knows too damn well that she's not the one who gets to decide if she will fight this battle.

"Let me do a trial, Seta. Let me fight to bring Ancile back. I need to bring him back. I—..." She had known exactly what she would say too the Gatekeeper, so why do words fail her now? Last time, she had said what she thought Seta wanted to hear because playing by the rules is how you win at games like these. Now, though... Now there are no tricks. "He saved me from the corruption, Seta. He has saved me time and again ever since we met. He has always been my shield. He has always kept me safe... I can't turn my back on him now. I won't. I refuse to."

But, what does Ancile want?

Truth be told, that much Tuesday can't speak of with certainty. She can only assume that the Cryogonal that had always been loyal to her and kept her safe will want to be reunited with her. She can only hope. So, resolute and unshakable, she looks at Seta with fire burning in her golden gaze, and perhaps this realization in itself is why the tall Alchemist speaks a word that in all her months in Asper has never left her mouth before:

"Please, Seta. I need Ancile by my side. He's... my friend."

That, above all else, is an undeniable fact, and those too are words Tuesday has never before used when speaking of a Pokémon.

Seta says that the Everworld changes you as much as it changes the ones who spirits within its halls, and perhaps that really is true after all.