[IC - update post]

[actualizedname]

 [Earlier this morning a tiny teenaged boy went out to explore ruins in camp.

Some time later, said tiny teenager reappears at the outskirts of camp, eleven inches taller, thirteen years older and very confused.]

Somehow, I think I'm lost.

Comments

[allmiracles]

I'll tell them all the stories I know. Everything about Hallowed Pulse, and the fairy tales that I was told as a girl! We can sing all the songs together, I'll teach you, too.

[actualizedname]

I'm not really much of a singer.

[allmiracles]

It's not just about your voice, silly. It's about the song.

[actualizedname]

...all right. You can teach me your song.

[allmiracles]

Maybe we can make one up about you, too, and how you helped save the world.

[actualizedname]

Oh, no, you really don't have to do that.

[allmiracles]

No? What else are we supposed to do when you make your miracle?

[actualizedname]

Write songs about the Daughters of the Goddess that held up Cocoon.

[allmiracles]

[lips quirk into something of a very sad smile]

Someone has to write one about the people left behind.

[actualizedname]

Even though they got to live long beyond what they would have, otherwise?

[allmiracles]

... Even if that's true, after what happened, I had to make up for what I did. If I didn't make a miracle, I would've destroyed everyone's lives.

But then, I left you all alone.

I don't know if that's anything to sing about.

[actualizedname]

But I'm still alive, Vanille. I think it's something to sing about.

[allmiracles]

...

[nods, quietly]

That I can sing about.

[actualizedname]

It's vain, I suppose, but this life ... it's important to me.

[allmiracles]

Your life is important to me, too.

It's what I wanted.

[actualizedname]

And ... I may have been alone, but every day was a gift. A gift that you and Fang gave me.

[allmiracles]

[steps up curiously, putting her hands on either side of his face]

In some ways, you have changed.

[actualizedname]

I would hope I had changed a little.

[allmiracles]

For the good, I think.

Mm, I'm glad I got to see you like this.

[actualizedname]

I'm ... glad I got to see you again.

[allmiracles]

But you're going to see me again when you save us, right?

[actualizedname]

Of course! I'm not busy.

[allmiracles]

I mean you don't have to worry, because I'd bother you even if you were.

[actualizedname]

I'll tell security to let you in, in that case.

[allmiracles]

[nodnod, and then pauses, getting a little more somber]

Does this mean we're closer to saving Camp, too?