Akari stands on a small grass-covered hill, with a tree at its peak — a hill reminiscent of one in her childhood. The night sky overhead is filled with violet stars that glare down at her like the eyes of malevolent specters, and black bolts of lightning occasionally split the heavens in fractal streaks. Beside her, Liora stands like a streak of moonlight in the otherwise dark world, watching their surroundings with grim resolve.

Without needing to be told, Akari knows what happened. This isn't the first time she's immersed her mind into her soul gem; however, it is the first time she's been unable to leave. She can't sense her body outside of this place like she's usually able to, and that can only mean one thing.

"So," Akari says, her voice muted by the dark vastness surrounding her little hill. "This is what it feels like to die."

She lifts her pale arms, examining herself for wounds in the dim, violet starlight of her soul gem. "I'll be honest, I expected more pain."

[I believe you would have felt more if you hadn't been knocked unconscious by the blast,] Liora says, sounding oddly serene.

Oddly, Akari feels the same way. In here, the troubles of the world outside feel so distant. All she wants to do is curl up under the tree at the top of the hill and sleep, much like she did as a child on a hill much like this one. She looks up at it with its glowing violet leaves and sighs with reluctance. There is such a temptation to sleep, to conserve energy. Yet, there is work to do, and a big problem to solve.

"I can't be dead," Akari says, straightening her shoulders. "Serena is still out there. If I'm in here, she'll be helpless to the first Volcora or Reaver that finds her."

[If she's not already dead, the rest of our team will be arriving to help her soon,] Liora says, [It's possible that she'll survive, but… What your uncle did to her will lead to a slow, painful death if not reversed. I'm not sure any but the Nine themselves are capable of undoing that kind of damage.]

Akari imagines Serena in a hospital bed with her body failing and the world falling apart around her. She grits her teeth and clenches her hands into fists; Serena will be all alone out there. Something needs to be done, and Akari needs to be the one to do it.

"How do we get out of here, Liora?" Akari questions, looking around and flexing her power. She feels strong here, but that strength is trickling away in a slow stream. Right now, however, she feels somewhat normal and will do anything in her power to get back to her girlfriend.

[There's only one way out of here,] Liora says, looking toward a pathway at the bottom of the hill. It leads towards a distant light, one that Akari can't make out clearly, no matter how she squints. Yet… she can feel what will happen if she walks that path. It is a way out, certainly, but not a way back to Serena. That path… it leads somewhere else. Somewhere that Akari can never understand until she follows it to the end.

"Well, we're not doing that," she says with certainty. "Not unless we know Serena and Celeste aren't waiting for us outside our gem. Other options?"

Liora flicks her tail and looks longingly up at the tree. [We conserve our strength. I don't know for sure, but it's possible that my progenitor will be able to revive us when he arrives on this world. If Serena is even alive, it will be a long shot for her to survive until the convergence. We need to be as strong and ready as possible to save her if she manages it.]

"If she dies to her affliction, won't she just go into her soul gem like we are now?" Akari asks.

[No, not unless a fatal procedure is performed to extract her soul gem before the Stygian Mana reaches it. If that mana enters her soul gem… Akari, her gem will shatter. The maelstrom of different mana types within her soul gem could shred both Serena and Celeste's souls until there is nothing left of them. If we're too late… there's a chance she will die permanently, without even wisps of her soul to pass into the next life,] Liora explains.

Akari tenses, wanting to act but unsure of what to do. She's certain that Serena's soul gem will be extracted before that can happen, but things weren't exactly looking good when she died. It might be unlikely, but even the mere idea of Serena dying so permanently breaks something in her.

"So… all we can do is wait and hope?" Akari asks.

Liora bobs her fuzzy head, rubbing up against Akari's leg with her soft fur. [I'm so sorry.]

Akari swallows, grief building in her heart. Still, she will do everything in her power and hope that, in the off chance her patron manages to revive her, Serena will still be alive to save.

Akari is only semi-aware as she rests under the tree, aware of time slipping past but unaware of just how long she's been lying there, curled up with Liora. Grief still burns bright in her heart, and so her sleep is fitful. Not long after her death, she begins to sense a small connection to Serena on the outside and imagines that her girlfriend now holds her soul gem. That sense of Serena is both relieving and distressing, however. For now, Akari can feel just how weak the love of her life is.

Feeling Serena slowly dying while there's absolutely nothing she can do about it is the worst feeling imaginable for Akari, and more than that, she can feel Serena's own grief. The bubbly happiness, that desire to help everyone and everything… It's all falling away into the dark hole at the center of Serena. Her injury, her loneliness, and her grief seem to take up every waking moment of her thoughts — her nights filled with nightmares.

And yet… all Akari can do is rest under her tree and conserve her waning energy as the world around her grows colder. Even still, she tries to send out waves of love and reassurance to Serena through the impassable barrier of the gem. She can't know if Serena can feel her attempts, but she continues trying anyway.

One day, Akari actually feels Serena's condition improve, and that sparks hope that she'll actually be able to make it until Vyrannis can attempt to revive her. However, she quickly realizes that, while Serena's physical condition may have stopped deteriorating, her emotional condition continues to worsen. And, as Serena herself has proven, that can be just as dangerous.

Akari can't read Serena's mind so much as get a vague sense of what the other girl is feeling on the outside, and right now, she feels… empty. The emotions that do appear are either negative or muted. It's as if someone has taken the smaller girl's entire emotional spectrum and shifted it for the worse. Everything positive is less so, and everything negative is all the worse.

Sadly, it's something Akari knows well as she's felt such things in herself. When the world seems bleak and without hope… well, what point is there in trying? Yet, all Akari can do is hold strong and hope her girlfriend can do the same.

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Akari lifts her head from where she's been using her arm as a pillow when she feels something… shift. It's not anything major; her little hill still looks the same as it always has, but there certainly is something different. A… connection that wasn't there before.

In her mind, like a TV flickering with static, comes a voice that Akari doesn't recognize. [You will only have a limited time, and the connection may be unstable.]

Frowning, Akari stands, looking around. "Hello?" she asks, stretching her muscles and neck from having been lying in such an uncomfortable position for so long.

Akari is turning to Liora, about to ask if she's going insane, when that voice appears again. Although it doesn't seem to be answering her.

[Okay, I'm… few minutes… good luck,] the voice said, along with a mental impression of… rustling leaves? What in the stars above is going on?

An instant later, Akari no longer cares as she feels another presence enter her soul gem. Or… enter is the wrong word. It's more like a projection of another soul into her space. She could reject it if she wished — she could sense the fact clearly — but why would she ever want to do that?

Serena is here, standing at the bottom of the grassy hill and looking up at Akari with wide eyes. Except… her form isn't what Akari is used to. Serena looks like herself, but her entire body is made up of gentle sapphire light, twinkling with golden stars. Worryingly, there are several inky black stains slowly spreading through the light of Serena's spirit, which flickers and dims ominously. In fact, the only thing that's holding her together is the lattice of intricate green lines wrapping her body, which must be some kind of representation of whatever was done to stabilize Serena's condition.

Even still, Serena looks bad, and Akari can suddenly see why the other girl's ability to see the life forces made her so worried about Akari when they first met. Serena's life… her soul, is tattered and scared… a candle flickering in a storm, weak, and prone to go out at any moment. It does brighten just a little, however, when Serena looks up to see Akari watching her at the top of the hill.

Akari doesn't know where the tears in her eyes came from, but between one moment and the next, she's dashing down the hill. Her mind is alight with the need to bundle Serena up and protect her from everything until her frail life force is able to recover. Her girlfriend needs her, now more than ever, and she's finally within reach.

Within seconds, Akari is attempting to embrace Serena, only to cry out in pained frustration when her hands pass right through the other girl's ethereal form. Other than feeling faintly warm when her hand passes through Serena's body, she can't touch her.

Serena, for her part, has fallen to her knees, tears like sapphire beads rolling down from her cheeks as she looks up at Akari.

The larger sentinel instantly crouches down, looking into her girlfriend's eyes with amazement and horror. "Serena…" Akari whispers, "Are you alright?"

Serena let out a sound like a mixture of a sob and a laugh. "I-I'm supposed to ask you that… you're… y-your dead, Akari."

Firming her resolve, Akari shook her head, "Vyrannis will revive me when he arrives on the world. I'm certain of it. You just need to hold out that long, okay? Stay alive, and failing that, let them extract your soul gem before the Stygian Mana enters it. Our patrons won't let us die permanently if they can help it."

Akari wishes she could help Serena to her feet, but there isn't anything she can do but speak. Instead, Akari drops to one knee herself, meeting the smaller girl's shining blue eyes.

Serena let out a shuddering breath before firming her shoulders and shaking her head. "I won't bet your life on a chance," she says, her voice wavering. "And… I have no way to know if they even can; my bond with Althia has been severed by my injuries. No… I've been working on a way to revive you. A way that we could use on all sentinels, not just you."

Her connection to her patron was severed? That… might not be good. Surely Althia would still revive Serena, even without a direct connection with her… right? Or maybe not… Stars, Akari needs to get out there and see things for herself. There has to be a way to cure Serena without killing her and reviving her from her soul gem. If there is, Akari will find it. She just needs the other girl to hang on as long as she can.

Akari purses her lips, "You think you can revive me without Vyrannis?" she asks, considering that part of Serena's words as well.

Honestly, if Serena can revive Akari early, that would be a massive boon. Then she could get out there and start working on a cure for Serena herself. Knowing her girlfriend, Serena won't even consider her own weakened state beyond the absolute essentials to survive until she finds a way to "save" Akari. That's how she has always been. To Serena, other people and their problems are just more important, even than her own life. It's how she became a sentinel and why she keeps getting slapped down again and again in her attempts to help people.

Serena smiles, a small broken thing. "Maybe… We have this idea that we want to test. We can get power into a soul gem, we know how. But when that healing power enters your gem, it becomes your power. We try to craft the mana into a spell that will regenerate your body, but what ends up happening is the power builds up in the gem more and more until the gemstone itself just breaks."

"Sure," Akari says, shifting into a seated position. "I could have infinite power in here, infinite healing power even, and it wouldn't do me any good. Nothing I do can influence the outside world."

At this, Serena frowns deeply, and for a moment, she appears deep in thought. "We need to form a bridge between out there and in here…" she mutters, "but bypassing the soul gem barrier always just breaks the gem. We need a connection that does that already… maybe your connection to Vyrannis might work, but… No, it needs to be more like a familiar connection. Something providing you with input from the outside world. A path you can channel your magic along."

Akari shrugs; to her, the answer seems obvious. "Serena, the only connection to the outside world that I can feel is you."

Serena blinks. "What? Y-You can feel me?"

Akari nods, "Yeah, I could feel you the whole time." She closes her eyes, focusing for a moment, "I can feel you right now. You feel… unwell."

Serena winces, hugging herself and, for just a moment, allowing herself to look down at her own ethereal body. In this state, it's clear. The progression of the Stygian Mana within her has been slowed to a crawl… but it hasn't stopped. Serena is still dying, just slowly.

"I wonder," she says, looking at the creeping darkness in her spirit, "If that is a connection we can use. If I could sense it… maybe I could strengthen it. Then, I could send a surge of mana through our connection using me as the bridge. We could rebuild your body… your soul will want to remake its former vessel."

"You can't sense it?" Akari asks. Even for her, it's faint, but with nothing to do for… who knows how long, she's grown adept at grasping that thread.

Serena closes her eyes, "Faintly… It's stronger here, I think. Maybe if I entered my own soul gem, I could sense it clearly without needing to be here."

Akari smiles, "And that's what you need?"

Slowly, Serena nods. "Yes… this could work," her eyes light up, her entire spirit brightening. "Akari, this could work!"

Once again, Akari feels an almost overbearing urge to take the smaller girl into her arms. She needs to protect that new spark of determination, that fresh light in her soul. She wants nothing more than to just hold Serena close and just exist for a little while.

A moment later, Serena's expression darkens slightly. "I would need to enter my assault state to be able to channel anywhere near enough power… And that's with someone else channeling mana through me."

Serena's words leave an uncomfortable feeling in Akari's chest. She isn't quite sure why, but she is certain that Serena is planning something that she absolutely should not do.

Standing, Serena aims a beaming smile at Akari, even as her form seems to fade even further. "Just be ready for me to begin, Akari," she says, her smile turning sad. "I'll fix this. I'll fix everything. I promise."

Akari's eyes go wide, and she bolts to her feet, trying to grab at the vanishing young woman. "Serena, whatever you're planning to do, don't do it!" she exclaims.

But… Serena is gone. The only thing left behind are fading motes of sapphire light, filled with twinkling golden stars.

Akari growls in frustration. Serena has always been one to make the sacrifice play, and now Akari is certain that she's at it again. Yet… unless Serena manages to come back to her soul gem again before she tries whatever insane plan she's come up with, all Akari can do is hope. She's never really been the religious sort, but in that moment, she found her eyes drifting up to the angry violet stars of her soul gem.

"Please…" she whispers into the cooling night air. "Let her be okay. For once… let us both just be okay."

And, with that, Akari and Liora return to their spot under the tree to rest and conserve their strength. She holds that thread of connection to Serena close, feeling the other girl's excitement, her fear, and her resolve. As Akari's conscious mind fades into the background once more, she prepares herself for the future. Things may be calm now… but a storm is coming.

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