It was an eerie change from the casino.
The room was dark, like a clear slab of obsidian with no ridges or imperfections, and it stretched far beyond what the room should have been from the outside, if you could even call it that. Aside from the wall the door was against, the area was devoid of any sort of walls or ceiling. It held more in common with the outside as opposed to anything else. And yet Akiko could very much hear her footsteps as she approached the glowing golden energy that served as the only other thing in this entire place. If she was looking for some sort of core to that forsaken tower, there was little else to acknowledge other than that exact thing.
She was right in front of it. In front of what felt like the ending to a story where she was, somehow, the main character. The apathetic delinquent, sent to a correctional ward for her youth, was nearing the end of her adventure. She was far different than she came in, white hair instead of the strawberry on her arrival, cat ears and tails, and with a stand to boot. Speakng of, the arrow that had given Akiko access to Castle so long ago started to gleam within her hand. She'd seen it gleam before, through all the loops and timelines, but never had she seen beyond it. For all she knew, this was the timeline and loop where everything had changed, and she hardly knew of what was going to be next for her. The endless possibilities made her heart flutter.
Yet, as she stood alone in the silence of the dark room, she felt a presence from behind her. Castle manifested itself at her back, yet Akiko remained staring forward.
"I assume that's the presence of someone here to stop me?" She asked aloud, facing forward.
"That depends entirely on what you're about to do."The voice was obvious in its discretion. Katie stepped out the shadows, hands in her pockets nonchalantly as another sifted beside her. She had the look of apathy incarnate over her expression, a sight that eventually settled on Akiko.
"This looks like the Tower's core, at least, one of them. Now how did you manage to find yourself in here. Then again, I guess that doesn't matter more so than the why of why you're even here. Maybe I'll like your answer. Maybe I won't care.""Does it really surprise you, Katie?" Akiko asked, clearly enthused by Katie's response.
"I'm looking for a way out. This is the most clear way that I can see." The golden glow of the core shone against her pale flesh, the cat finally turning around to face Katie, silhouetted by the golden lining.
"I can leave at any time, given recent events, but I think we both know I'd constantly be roped here through some way given how much time and energy we've spent here. I'm looking to leave it all behind."She raised an eyebrow to the dragon.
"What are you here to do? Are you going to try and keep me from leaving, or are you going to let me leave, Pendragon?" Akiko had nary a smile on her face, her expression reading a level of seriousness that cat didn't normally show with her body or appearance.
Katie stared wordlessly under Akiko's reasoning. Her expression was as stoic as ever, a contrast to the indulgement Akiko gave. She finally answered with,
"Go ahead then. Why would I stop you from leaving?" She shrugged and turned her heels around, back towards the other girl.
"If I were to take a guess, I'd say the owner of this Tower knew your future and wanted to trap a brand new Jester somewhere with constant watch. But that's only a hunch. In any case, if you leave, that means time can flow as it usually does and we can escape this loop you caused. So why would I stop you? Why would I care what you do."She was already walking away, seeing no real need to pursue. If Akiko did as she pleased, that only benefitted everyone else.
Akiko blinked in surprise.
"Interesting." She didn't expect Katie to just let her walk out of this situation so easily. It was almost uncharacteristic of the dragon, indeed.
"I suppose a thank you is in order, then." The room was silent for a moment as Akiko hesitantly debated what to do next. What to say. What to do. It was an interesting dilemma, one that Akiko wasn't expecting to have to confront.
"You could come with me." Akiko offered.
"Stop playing babysitter to this cast."Erika followed her cousin without much questions. In fact, she knew very well that trying to haggle too much with Katie wouldn''t get her anywhere, so she decided to deal with things as they came. The context of the exchange that took place before her was cristal clear for the Blonde. She always felt there was something funny about the characteristics of the timelines that flowed through this Tower. This was enough confirmation for her hypothesis.
"I'm pretty sure that's something she would do, indeed. In fact, even these back rooms we are standing now, feel just too convenient, don't you think? If she really wanted to keep a newborn Jester as a Guinea pig, I don't think letting her come to this place --if you can even call it that-- was part of the plan. Of course, I don't think that the temporary hop on Harley's domain was as well. If I had to guess, having the two of you together is completely throwing a wrench on whatever She has in mind," Erika said as she analyzed the situation calmly. In fact, if it wasn't for the disturbance caused by what she could only assume was Katie and Akiko's interactions at the Abyss, even Erika wouldn't have found her way into this place. So, she guessed that this wasn't part of the Tower's landlady's plan was a solid one in her humble opinion.
Katie listened to each girl talk, though it seemed Akiko had little more to add or say. She'd come simply under the pretense of reacting depending on what the new Jester said. Satisfaction with her answer determined her next move.
"That sounds like something She'd plan. Evidently, the forces against her work in just as many mysterious and enigmatic ways as her own lofty and delusional goals," Katie said to her cousin. She intentionally ignored Akiko, giving her answer some thought.
"Why would you want me to come with you?" was what she finally settled on, turning back slightly to glance at the cat girl.
"If you leave, that means everyone else would follow. There would be no more reason for the Tower to trap us along with you.""And leave someone who'd want to kill me behind?" Akiko asked jokingly.
"I can tell you want out of here as much as I do. The others don't exactly show that same level of desire." The only two who knew and wanted to leave were seemingly Akiko and Katie, who'd definitely had enough of the Tower for many lifetimes.
"You don't have to accept, but I also don't exactly know what's going to happen next. Despite what I may appear to be, Harley and my goals don't align as picture-perfect as one might assume. And regardless if I leave or stay, there's still one Jester among us that would cause you issue."The cat turned her gaze back onto the Tower.
"Of course, I don't exactly think Harley would be upset if one of the newest to her little plans was killed." Akiko admitted to the group.
"Or this whole experiment. I could kill every person here, for all I know, which... for the first time, isn't that much." She held the arrow up towards the Core, seeing the golden gleams of the Arrow shine in tandem with the golden energy.
"Call it a moment of humanity, call it a lapse of sanity, I don't much care.""Dead or gone, the result remains the same. One outcome just requires more effort," Katie said in deadpan.
"As for your schemes behind Harley's back, that's none of my concern either. But I do know she sees everything, even beyond you. And if something didn't fit, you'd find yourself more powerless than you ever were before." But that was neither here nor there for her to speak on. At mention of Kanbaru, she only shrugged with a knowing, albeit rare, smirk.
"Time works in funny ways; both of you know that," she said to Akiko and Erika.
"I wouldn't worry about that. If you're done trying to convince me, you best be going now before I do change my mind. This will probably be the last time we ever see each other, and of that I can't stress my enjoyment enough for.""Believe me, knowing spoilers about the future isn't that fun. It's all a bunch a unrealized possibilities until you decide to stick with a particular sequence of events or two. That's why even those of us who can do it don't bother that much all the time. With ultimate knowledge comes ultimate boredom, one could say." Erika commented about Akiko's comment that she couldn't know what would happen in the future. In fact, she knew the other girl had an unhealthy interest in knowledge she shouldn't have. She probably had to be thankful that extratemporal awareness wasn't one of them.
"Anyway, I guess I should stop dragging down your not-so-sad parting. I'm sure all of us have quite a lot of other things we'd rather do than stay here and sass each other out," Erika said before turning her attention to Katie.
"I couldn't tell," Akiko responded to Katie before then responding to Erika.
"And the experiences of knowing things being boring depends on the observer. I think it's endlessly interesting."Akiko looked at the girls once more.
"I think you should leave the room. While I can't see the timeline here, I'm sure that as soon as I try this, something's coming to stop me in my tracks, be it the Tower or something intent on keeping me in here." Akiko turned back once again, a red flash emitting from in front of her. Whether Erika or Katie stayed was no longer her concern, but she was determined to read the Core by this point.
The arrow gleamed once again, as Akiko jammed it into her chest, the red glow of her eyes quickly overtaken by the golden light once again.
The core of the Tower reacted in kind bathing Akiko in a mass golden light that burned and seethed. It roared with the intensity of its maker, intent on burning the foolish Jester who came so close to its heart into the shadows of nothingness. Katie passively watched, unfettered by the near-suicidal move Akiko indicted upon herself. The light shined in glorious triumph but faltered for a moment. Curious, Katie noted how the light slowly receded away, leaving Akiko gone and escaped from the Tower. Where she expected the aftermath of Akiko core strewn out and taken apart by the Tower's hatred of her kind and the divine, there was simply nothing in her spot.
"She's gone. The Tower let her go. How strange," Katie said, more to herself than her cousin.
But Erika was right, they did have better things to do. They could discuss a hypothesis later, even if she already had an idea why the Demiurge would ever allow its enemy to run free. Maybe, she reasoned, maybe it felt the same as her, that there was no need to do so, no point. Akiko could do as she wanted but she'd never be free from the powers that governed her. Or maybe there was something else in the Demiurge's intent. Who knew, and Katie certainly didn't care to think on it right now. It was as simple as that.
"Let's go Erika," she said at last, turning away and expecting her knight to follow, shadowing the True King.
The blistering light of the reality she was messing with was otherworldly. Ethereal, and terrifying in nature. The forces of the greater powers that be were screaming, trying to pry Akiko from the destiny that she was so determined to make happen, and yet the Jester soared through the blinding sea of possibility with nary a sense of regret. She felt like she was being ripped apart at the seams, yet as her world came into view and away from the Tower, she understood more. Far... far more than she had any right to. Something hardly anyone could have predicted from the start. And it all came to a crashing halt as she slammed into a golden plane of shining water. A sun dancing on the horizon, or at least something that served in it's place. She reached down to feel her body, check if it was there, and aside from the burns she felt she was entirely intact. Cat ears and tails still there, yet her cards were laid out on the water in front of her. Hellsword, Windela, a singular blank one she supposed served in the place of Lorelai... and a ripped one in a blackish void. These cards were hardly magical at this point, rather just small blocks of glorified slate. Memorabilia from her time in the Tower. And yet... she wasn't left alone in this world.
She looked up to see a figure in the distance. She scrambled to her feet to stare it down. Demitroop? Some fearful enemy of the Jesters? Katie, somehow? She wasn't sure, but she was on her own it looked like.
"Who goes...?"As the figure approached Akiko, it showed little hostility, if any. In fact, it showed excitement and eagerness as it neared the cat.
"Hello, Akiko. You made it out I see." Akiko coughed for a moment as she realized who it was. Lorelai, definitely not the same from the Tower, but one nonetheless.
"Oh good, it feels nice to not have to immediately fight when something happens. I guess it worked..."Lorelai nodded, taking Akiko into her arms and carrying her towards a small island crested on the horizon, a small beach house sitting there.
"Indeed, but what more is that you're in a place that's yours. I can't tell if it's new or just somewhere that you were spat at, though, but Castle seemed to be busy." The Stand remanifested, looking very different and arguably more ghostly than it already was. Something one of the power-that-were would have to draw sometime, it seemed, to get a proper description. Still, there seemed to be a sense of serenity here. She could relax, heal, and start whatever she had planned next.
And as the house drew closer, Akiko looked into the sky to see strange black lines etched into the infinity. Her Will made real, if she had to put it poignantly.
AKIKO WILL HAVE A WAY OUT
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PlatinumSkink
