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I saw enough people my age or younger get dragged into it in the Tower, too. I did what I could for them.

[Sometimes it wasn't enough. Sometimes he couldn't save them. All he could do was try to help them through it afterwards.]

... Yeah. Definitely not the most out of people who were in the Tower, but enough.

[ Did what he could.

Sans thinks he might need to feel a little more strongly about that, but he looks at him past the gray field of his generalized dissatisfaction

(sees the kid's pale hand disappearing into black)

and shrugs. ]

Hey, maybe you can help these kids, too. Lots of 'em got brought up thinking the world's fate rests on them.

Might be nice if, you know. You guys could be kids sometimes.

Maybe. I don't think I really can be anymore.

[He shrugs, indicating the rather thick book he's managed to grab. It's a book about legal cases, pulled from some world or another.]

I have too much to do, not enough time to help people who need it. Though I was at least part of a group that saved the world, not counting the whole business with the Tower. ... It's not exactly something you can put down so easily.

[ Law? Yeesh, that's some heavy reading (not to mention dry as a bone). Not Sans's sort of thing, ironically. Law's less about what's right and more about what some rules written down say you can and can't do. No room for those gray-area decisions or ambiguity.

Hilariously hypocritical, but that's Sans for you. ]

Yeah, we've gotta bunch of guys like you. From all walks of life. You'll fit right in.

[ His shoulders rise and fall in a shrug, eye sockets seeming to close for a moment as he grins.

Not his circus, the gesture suggests. ]

Unless you're one of those brooding loner antihero types, we're runnin' outta corners for guys like that to lurk in. Teamwork's pretty much how we manage to beat back the Queen and her forces of darkness.

[It's not that he's not hypocritical about it himself... but it's something he wants to work with in the future, he's pretty sure.]

I can handle teamwork. It's not my greatest skill, but I can do it. I'm... used to taking care of things myself, but I can handle groups well enough. That's how we beat the Nyx Avatar at home.

[ Newcomer, a kid...

Now Sans is starting to put it together. This is probably the same scamp that took off on his own to go fight shadows, gave him and probably a few others something of a heart attack.

Because Sans has everything good to associate with three missing children deep into enemy territory, right?

Yeah, just a great time all around. ]

...Now I've got the weirdest feeling I've heard that before. Tell me more about this Nyx.

Nyx? She's... the mother of Shadows at home, sort of. She was called by people doing stupid experiments and trying to draw her to our world... to destroy all life on it. She's associated with the thirteenth card of the tarot deck. Death. The Shadows and all of our Persona are assigned to the Major Arcana. There were big Shadows too, that SEES defeated... they shouldn't have done that, because it woke up the Death Shadow.

[He scrunches up his nose a little. It's dumb. He still doesn't believe in tarot stuff, but... whatever.]

Anyway... this guy, Ryoji... he showed up and it turned out he was part of the big Shadow that represents Death. And part of that Shadow was in the leader of my group, and part of it was in the leader of the group we'd been fighting against. That big Shadow, all put together, was part of what signaled Nyx to start heading for our planet to wipe all life out. And the more people who wanted that to happen, the faster it would.

[ Man, the connection's there, somewhere, Sans can, heh heh, feel it in his bones. But the bell that got rung with 'Nyx' isn't ringing again with any of the stuff Ken's said to elaborate, and... Eh, he almost gives up on it.

Should just be nothing, right? Mistaken association, or something. ]

Could be nothin'. But uh, what happened with this shadow?

... Well, Nyx got close. Ryoji turned into her Avatar, and we had to fight him. My group and theirs, together. It was close, but we beat him back. ... And then Minato and Minami went to fight Nyx on their own before we could stop them. They sealed her, and there were a few months where no one could really remember what happened, but... then they died. I guess Minami wanted to see some of her friends graduate, so Minato held on, too.

But they're... gone. We remembered at the end...

[His voice softens slightly. Minato... he'd never gotten that close to Minami, but Minato was basically his big brother. Losing him... watching him just... die...]

[ At once, Sans snaps his phalanges.

Don't ask how a skeleton with no flesh and skin over his bones manages that. It's magic, ok? ]

Minako. You mean Minako, don'tcha? Sealed herself in with the Apocalypse on two legs, or somethin'. Yeah, I've heard this story.

[ The short version, anyway. ]

Y'know she's here, right? You should go say hi. I'm sure seeing an old friend will make her day.

[ Sans, it's not like that... ]

Minami in my world. Minako in some others. Multiple worlds with similar stuff gets confusing. But yeah, I've seen her.

... Minami and I weren't exactly friends in my world. Minako and I aren't from the same group, either. We'd be considered enemies - or we were, for a long while.

[ Kid says this like it's nothing, like it's as routine as his brother picking up his mail from the box outside their house (which is always empty). No big deal, just a parallel universe, multiple world's with similarities are just the most confusing things for plebs like you.

Sans has to wonder how much of this Minako knew. ]

Uh...huh. Well, Minako is my friend, so you two play nice.

She deserves a break, 'specially seeing as how some version of your world still exists thanks to her sacrifice.

[Whatever. He knows this one is Minako. The name doesn't matter. It's still the same cheerful redhead who's the leader o SEES. Except there's probably a world where she isn't, but he's gotten enough headaches thinking about multiple worlds to last a lifetime. Easier to just try to accept it and go with it rather than sit there and try to figure out the details.]

[That's way above his head, and he knows it. He's not a scientist or a philosopher.]

I'm not exactly going to give her a hard time. It's not like I'm going to go off and attack her. If she's from that point in time, then she knows the truth. So it's not like I have any reason to hurt her.

[Unless she gives him one, or something in this place goes screwy and messes with his mind. He wouldn't be surprised if it did.]

... And about earlier... I've seen trusting the people who run places like this backfire. Sure, Ozuma's been nice so far... but I'm withholding judgement for a while. I don't really want to rush to trusting him until I'm sure that's a smart move.

[ Just give up trying to stay on top of all the time shenanigans and learn to roll with it, huh? Well, look at that. Sans and Ken actually see eye to eyesocket on something. ]

Great. Nice to hear it, kiddo.

[ Because it'd be a real problem if somebody tried to hurt that girl. ]

Ozzy? Heh, he's just following orders, doesn't seem to like some of 'em about as much as we do. That he cares about us I don't doubt for a second, either.

But, hey, don't take my word for it.

'Just following orders'.

[He's not sure if he likes that. Orders can change. And people can go against orders, obviously. He wants to believe him, but... well. Experience has taught him to never believe that kind of thing at first glance. Not anymore.]

I'll keep an eye on him, but if he hasn't been malicious so far... any idea how long people have been here?

[Is 'keeping an eye' like... speciesist or something? He has no idea.]

... I'm not... trying to be difficult. The Tower was just... bad. I don't want something like that happening again.

[ Yeah, probably not the best choice of words, but Sans doesn't feel like going through the effort of persuading him when time and experience can do it with a whole lot less effort on his part. He's watching him, though, assessing how he responds. Interesting to see him try to puzzle through it.

What's more interesting is how a kid that young came to be so guarded. ]

Kid, I really don't mean any insult, but I don't care.

[ At least this time he bothers to explain himself, shrugging. ]

We're in the middle of a war between the forces of light and darkness, however bad a time you had? Come to terms with that quick, because the Queen ain't gonna pull her punches because you're still smarting from the place you came from.

[... Honesty. Blunt and simple honesty. That... gets a sigh from him, and a small chuckle. He tugs his legs into his chest, looking... well. More like a kid.]

You're right. And I know you are. So...

['Sorry' isn't the right word here.]

I'll do what I can to... try to separate it.

[Not 'come to terms'. That's impossible. Separate it, focus on the now rather than the then. People come back from the dead here. This Ozuma guy hasn't shown an ugly face yet. He'll separate it. There's no Jason, no Ruana. None of them.]

[Small fingers curl around a book that's too large for them, and dig into its spine. Small movements. Ones that mean too much. Move away from the sorest part of the topic before it gets too bad. Don't prod it.]

At least I can be helpful with that fight. Onee of my skill is light-based, and the Shadows here seem to be pretty weak to it. So you can at least count on me to help with clearing things out.

[ Sans sees those little motions, sees the kid and all the LOVE a life like his has to offer, or something, and decides that this isn't his circus, and Ken isn't his monkey. Which, uh, in hindsight, is probably a little rude. ]

Try getting in Zuko's good graces, she tends to organize most of the exploration missions.

Might not let ya come along because you're a kid, and frankly? Heh. I don't blame her.

[ There's a story there, and an unpleasant one at that, something Sans is quick to move on from before he can act on any kind of curiosity. ] But... She might reconsider, if you've really got some light-based magic up your sleeve.

As for these guys? Maybe seven months? I've been here for, uh. Beats me. Five of those? Just about, anyway.

[ As if Sans doesn't have a battered notepad full of marks, ticking off the days it's been since the barrier fell and there's been no sudden unraveling of all that's happened. No Reset. ]

Zuko can give you more about that. [ Or point him in another direction. ]

[He stiffens at the words 'because you're a kid'. He's heard those words too much, but he lets Sans finish. Seven months. Five months. Enough to know. Enough to be reasonably sure.]

... You don't seem like the kind of person who would lie about that. So... I'll believe you on that.

[Or he'll try to. Another person, along time ago, who deflected things with puns... but he'd never seemed genuine. This guy... he is. Probably.]

It's... even if the situation is bad here, at least there's that. And I've got more than just light-based magic. My spear can make injuries that can't be healed. I don't know if it'll work on the Shadows, but it might.

Nnnnnnno, probably not, but uh...

[ A slippered foot just shuffled backwards, away from Ken, on reflex. Who in the hell gave a kid this young such a dangerous weapon?

It's a good thing that grin is so permanent, else he'd have probably worn an entirely less pleasant expression. ]

Don't nick anybody with that, capiche? Last thing we need is to use up our supplies and magic trying to heal something that never patches up.

...

Figure out somewhere to put that where nobody, not even you, can get your hands on it in case the Queen gets in your head. She's done that, y'know.

It's only active when I want it to be active. But... you have a point.

[Even if people could just die and come back better... probably not a great idea to risk it.]

What happened, the last time she did that?

[He sits up a bit straighter, curious. Curious and... wary. Get in their heads... like Ruana liked to do.]

Now that's a better question for everybody than a death count, ain't it?

[ Morale is a major resource. How do you think the 'light's heroes' are going to do against an overwhelmingly powerful opponent if they've got to worry about threats from within as well as without?

It's why there's contingencies in place for dealing with those... liabilities, in a semi-permanent manner. Except it takes a lotta work and a lot of convincing, and Sans prefers the path of least resistance. ]

But let's just say there's some people nobody wants to be caught alone with anymore.

[Aka 'I'm not going to tell you details'. Fine. He can deal with that.]

Mm. When did she pull that, the last time? It's not... a regular occurrence, is it?

[ Yyyyyyyup. Do your own homework, kid. It was before his time, anyway, there's no point in trying if he'll miss some important detail, right? ]

I wouldn't call five months a sufficient sample for any real pattern to emerge, 'cept--

[ There is one... ]

It's been a while since her last big push. Could mean she's preparing something big.

Or we've been seizing enough territory to upset her influence. Either way, she's probably real mad.

... Probably. It could be both. I guess I'll step up my training, just in case.

[It couldn't hurt. And... uh. One other thing he has to ask.]

The food here doesn't... disappear or stop showing up, does it?

[It gets there via magic, it can stop being there via magic.]

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