บท 97: She Dreams...
"My first question." Chelsea's demeanor had changed from her usual cheerfullness to a somewhat pressuring solemnity.
"If you had a choice between the power to destroy all your enemies before they ever first appeared, and the power to wipe their memories of you, forever: which would you choose, Robin?"
Robin sat still. Her uncle...her cousin...that old man...all her classmates...She sat there in silence as she honestly considered. Finally she let out a long sigh.
"Why must you ask me this?" Robin grumbled. "I am neither God nor an official."
"That question, I am not obliged to answer~!" Chelsea replied cheerfully, her smile similar to Oracle's.
Robin closed her eyes. She began speaking slowly. "...All life is precious. To treat a life as a mere nothing....sure isn't my style. Unless they should attack first, I cannot justify extinguishing the blood and lives of so many people. Even though they are wicked, I cannot bear such a burden."
Robin opened her eyes.
"There is no good path down the way of slaughter. That's why, I would rather not choose the first power, unless I had no other choice."
"So you would rather choose the other one?" Chelsea asked.
"That path does seem to be the lesser of two evils." Robin began. "But I cannot say that I am such a saint that I can let them get away with murder, even more to allow them to forget their crimes."
Robin nodded. "Therefore, if given the choice, I would rather choose neither!" She replied as her tired eyes sadly looked down at the table with a soul-felt weariness.
A rhyme her mother once read to her sprang unbidden to Robin's lips. As if in a dream, Robin spoke the words that now seemed quite fitting softly:
"'Excess of mercy over-indulges
to the rotting of the soul.
Excess of justice leaves no room
for the penitent sinner.
Within such extremes of doom,
There can be no winner.
So temper mercy within justice, true.
Yet temper justice within mercy, too.
Else, justice be not just;
Nor mercy be completely merciful.'"
Her words were quiet, yet they seemed to linger in the air between the three.
Chelsea nodded. "I see. Thank you. I have recieved your answer."
Jasmine looked at Robin, surprised. That saying was so good! When had Robin become a poet? "Did you write that?" She asked.
"My mother read it to me once, a long time ago." Robin sighed. "Not a single word of hers will I ever forget."
"Nor should you. Your mother must be very dear to you." Chelsea nodded. "We must all keep such good things close to our hearts."
Robin nodded.
"Then, my second question:" Chelsea continued. "If your return to your world was at the expense of a life, would you do so?"
Robin frowned. "I know not how I arrived here, but, surely, there must be a way to return without such a price?"
"Hypothetically." Chelsea added.
"I am extremely reluctant." Robin replied, knowing the answer almost immediately. "Though my heart may yearn for home, If I am to trample upon the lives of others to get there, how am I any better than that Trader man? It would be better for me to look for another way."
"I see..." Chelsea hummed a bit. "Okay then, for my last question, I want to ask you...In the event that you find yourself surrounded with no friends, and there is no way out. What will you do?"
Robin simply smiled. "It's not like a situation like that hasn't happened before." She looked out at the rising moon.
"If the sun disappears, look for the moon. If the moon disappears, look for the stars. If the stars dissappear, look for the flame. And if the flame disappears..." Robin turned to look at Chelsea.
"Become the flame that illumines the darkness, sparks the stars, and lights the sun that illuminated the moon. Burn at your brightest, and you will never lose."
Chelsea's smile widened. "Oh? And that means?"
Robin smiled in return. "That question, I am not obliged to answer~!" She cheekily replied.
"Tch! Foiled~" Chelsea chuckled.
Robin paused, then added. "But, I will tell you, anyways. A gift between friends."
"Oh! Lucky me!" Chelsea clapped her hands in delight as she leaned forward to listen.
"Ahem! In the words of a random quote I read online," Robin began.
"'Wrong is wrong, even when everyone is doing it;
And right is right, even when nobody is doing it.'
In other words, sometimes, it only takes one person doing the right thing that makes all the difference. If there is no flame, become one! Perhaps all it takes is a single spark to set the sun afire again." Robin explained.
Chelsea nodded, and stood up from the table they had been sitting around.
"See that you keep those answers in mind." She said, and the air of pressure suddenly disappeared as if it has never happened.
"My, it has gotten quite late, it seems." Chelsea added, as she swept a deep curtsy.
"Thank you for keeping me company. I won't keep you from your sleep anymore."
"After asking questions that are almost sure to give me nightmares, you kick me out of the room..." Robin shook her head in mock sadness, and sighed.
"Hmmph! I am still waiting for that full-course sushi buffet that you told me about." Chelsea huffed in mock annoyance. "Don't you forget it, now!"
"Got it, I got it." Robin replied with a chuckle. "But, I'm warning you. Sushi is best eaten in the afternoon or early evening. Any later, and the metabolism won't be able to keep up."
"Eh? What does that mean?" Jasmine asked.
Robin told her.
"Eating late night snacks can make you fat. Especially when eating starchy foods or grains. Unless you have a constitution where you don't get fat no matter how much you eat, all women bear this danger. That's why I didn't go and make a buffet right away, despite having all the ingredients."
"Is that true!?" Jasmine exclaimed, dismayed.
Chelsea nodded, also somewhat horrified. "I-it's true, unfortunately..." She said, as her expression drooped.
"How dangerous. And I almost fell into the fatal trap..." She muttered to herself.
Robin smiled cheerfully. "Well, as I am excused, I shall retire for the night, then~!" She left the two girls sitting there, still in shock over the information.
Back in her room, Robin chuckled. Even if one had a late night snack, it would be fine. As long as one took an appropriate amount of excercise before retiring for the night, there would not be an explosive weight gain.
But Robin was not so generous as to offer such information. Otherwise, she might be awoken at odd hours with food requests. Thus, it was best to nip things in the bud before they went out of control.
Despite Robin's spoken worries about nightmares, she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
--------
Robin looked about her. "It is as I suspected." She sighed.
She was dreaming. She had to be dreaming, because she was standing in the hallway of her high school. There was no way that she was not dreaming.
This time, the hallways were empty, though.
However, despite the similarity to her prior nightmare, Robin possessed her full faculties of thought.
"...Not a nightmare? Then, there's a chance to rewrite the ending!" Knowing this, Robin was no longer afraid. She stood with her back straight, and reached her hand out, grasping into thin air.
Her hand closed upon the hilt of the hero's sword. She quickly attached it to her belt. Robin noticed that this time, she was wearing her hero's garb, as opposed to the school uniform. Looking in the reflection of a nearby mirror, she also wore her robin mask.
Her face was always obscured in a memory dream like this. Either a motercycle helmet, or a facemask, or even a large scarf that wrapped around the bottom half of the face...somehow it was always obscured.
"This is just a memory. It can do me no true harm. Well, even so, let's end this ahead of time." Robin stepped forward, heading towards the rooftop. A memory was a piece of cake for the current Robin.
In order to piece her fragile mind back together, she had done this many times in her dreams with different weapons each time.
No one could be seen anywhere. the hallway was empty of any sign of people. The door to the rooftop was locked, but that didn't stop Robin. Using the Hero's blade, Robin cut the door open.
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BriarRose
BriarRose Surprise! While I thought I would like the times to regularize I will say this: I also want to finish this novel. And I am only about half-way finished at this point.
So, while it would be nice to just stockpile away, I will now be posting chapters as soon as they are finished.
I will guarantee at least one chapter per week, and any extras are bonus chapters.
I would also like to inform you that I am considering the topic of my next novel, as well. So, look forward to it~!
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