The Ghosts of Me

7

The silence in the temple was thick with the smell of medicinal herbs and the heavy, rhythmic sound of a heart monitor that Makoto had jury-rigged for Alain. Philip sat in the corner of the lab, his knees pulled to his chest, staring at the unconscious Prince. Makoto was yelling at the other boy in the room downstairs. Philip had not wanted to get in the middle of all of that, so he had decided to stay here...to watch the boy.

Alain looked fragile. According to the others, when Alain was in his Eyecon form, he had always seemed like a soldier—rigid and indestructible. It was different now. Makoto said that in his "true body," he was just a boy covered in the physical evidence of Adel's cruelty. Philip felt a phantom ache in his own cheek, a memory of Shoutarou's punch that felt like a lifetime ago. Perhaps it had been...truly. Philip really did not want to go back. He was finding himself attached to the Prince.

"He won't heal the same way," Makoto had whispered earlier, his voice raw. "He's human now, Philip. Or close enough to it that it hurts." But that was the thing. Alain was always human...he was just...not the same kind of human...Philip would know what that felt like...He did...He did know. 

Philip couldn't sit still. The guilt was a physical weight, pressing into his lungs. Adel hadn't just wanted Alain; he wanted the "portal key"—the thing he saw in Philip's eyes. Alain was just a plus.

He stood up, his fingers twitching. He needed answers. He needed to know what Adel was planning and why the Gaia Library in this world felt so... wrong. It had shifted, from what he had known...changed...and in a way Philip just could not quite understand.

Closing his eyes, Philip reached out. He didn't go into a trance like he did with Shoutarou; instead, he felt himself slip into the familiar white void of the Library. But the shelves weren't filled with the neat, green-bound books of Fuuto. These were dark, pulsating with a red light that mirrored the Ganma sky.

He began to search. Keywords: Ganma world. Adel. The Great Eye.

Books flew off the shelves, but as he grabbed them, the text shifted. It wasn't just information; it was lore. He saw images of a "Perfect World" that looked more like a graveyard. He saw the "Gammaizers"—entities that felt like corrupted versions of Gaia Memories.

Suddenly, a shelf at the very back rattled. A book bound in silver and black—colors that matched Alain's own aesthetic—slid toward him.

Keyword: The Prince's Condition.

Philip hesitated, fingers brushing the cover. He really shouldn't...It was a breach of privacy...but Musts need, and the Prince was not able to give consent...

Reluctantly, slowly, and with unbearable curiosity...he opened it...

And gasped. It wasn't just a history of Alain's life. It was a tactical map of his mind. Adel hadn't just whipped him; he had been trying to "reformat" him. To fit him...to mold him into what he wanted...but cruelty was the only way he knew how to do it. He had succeeded, almost, when Makoto had come along...And even now, the only reason it hadn't worked this last time was because of a "glitch" in the system—a connection to a "foreign entity."

Philip.

He was pulled out of the Library by a sharp, choked gasp from the bed.  Purple faded to brown.

Alain's eyes were open, blown wide with terror. He was scrabbling at the sheets, his breathing coming in shallow, panicked bursts. He looked at Philip, but for a second, he didn't see a friend. He saw a threat.

"Don't... please..." Alain wheezed, yanked the blankets around his neck, shaking.

"Alain, it's me. It's Philip," Philip said, keeping his voice low and steady, the way Shoutarou used to do when Philip got too overwhelmed by a search. "You're at the temple. You're safe. Adel isn't here."

Alain's gaze slowly focused. The terror didn't vanish, but it shifted into a deep, exhausted hollow. He slumped back, his body trembling so hard the bedframe rattled.

"I do not understand," Alain whispered, his voice croaking, his body thrumming in immense pain. "I...I felt you... searching...searching me, but I do not understand..."

Philip froze. "You felt me?"

"The Earth," Alain closed his eyes, a single tear escaping. "We are both children of it, perhaps that is why...but I cannot know for sure what is going on with you. You should not be able to open the portal, and yet you can...you should not be able to walk unknown but you do...I knew from the first moment we met..." He swallowed. "You want to know what His Majesty wants...I can tell you...my Earth is dying. And His Majesty... he wants to use your Earth to feed mine."