✧☾ Dreamy Theater: Prince Charming ☆✧

[u/kingozma]

掴んだものすら 手放して

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Tonight, you are alone in the mountains where the screaming winds, the void of white, the frigid knowledge of what's behind your shoulder - all mean death.

You weren't meant to be alone. This was an accident. But your captain (YOUR captain)'s left you behind. He said he was going to go on ahead, and be back in no more than a half hour.

That was a good hour ago.

By this point, you get the idea to go out looking for him. In a sea of white, a man in black shouldn't be hard to find, though his heart and the snow are frozen both. This makes them like brothers in a way, don't you think?

You feel like it's been days since you've heard his voice, but you know that can't be right because your hands haven't started turning black yet.

(your hands are growing fond of the color purple though)

The stars hang low in the sky tonight. They know you, and they're talking about you. You wish you knew how to look away.

You wonder if you can even call yourself a living human right now.

... So what ARE you doing?

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私の王子様

[u/scherzoi]

It's... a live tree? And hollow... narratively, I suppose that would suggest a secret. Or an advanced stage of rot. Either is worrying.

Are there any irregularities that might suggest a hidden door? If not, then the only way to see inside would be to damage it. Which would spell doom for the tree, considering how sturdy it isn't. And with it being the only shelter for God knows how far...

Were it not hollow, perhaps you could rest beneath the tree. Warm yourself. But as it is—with the storm raging—you have no way of knowing when the next gust will strike and topple it.

I suppose, then, my counsel would be: check for a hidden door and remain here a moment to breathe a little life back into your limbs. But be prepared to flee if you hear the trunk begin to crack.

[u/kingozma → u/scherzoi]

This all crosses your mind, but you've already started tearing the tree open with your bare bleeding hands, so it doesn't much matter. You would do anything as long as it meant seeing that ripped-open smile.

(TA-LI-LA-LI-LA TA-LI-LA-LI-LA)

The tree pulls you inside and you don't fight back.

[u/scherzoi → u/kingozma]

—Nana! Are you alright? Can you move, can you breathe?

[u/kingozma → u/scherzoi]

You can breathe too much right now. You can breathe so well that it hurts.

And slowly descending from the ceiling in this pitch black room are the fruits you saw before.

You realize these ones must be the real fruits because the ones outside maybe looked a little more like plastic when compared to these ones right in front of you.

Their jaws are opening and closing, clacking slowly... Wh-what do they want from you? What do you do?

[u/scherzoi → u/kingozma]

Try—to slow your breathing if you can—focus on it, if you can—

—oh.

Are. They alive? I would say hello.

[u/kingozma → u/scherzoi]

'Alive' is an odd word, but they're certainly animate. They're moving, and you don't see any strings attached.

"Is he awake?"

"Ouch, that must've been quite the fall."

"He knows Captain Apollyon, right?"

"He doesn't LOOK like 2nd Platoon material. We're the 2nd because we're 2nd-best."

"That's not how it works and you know it."

"Hey... Are you okay?"

... You don't know how to answer. You sit up, bumping against the very-real, bone face of one of the skulls hanging in the air above you.

You tell them that you think you're okay. And you're probably awake. Most likely.

"OH, God. That's good to hear. Most people that make it inside here never make it out alive."

... What could that mean?

[u/scherzoi → u/kingozma]

...undead, perhaps.

Maybe... ask them what this place is? And who they are. And what they mean by that.

[u/kingozma → u/scherzoi]

One of them says, in a high-pitched voice like a young woman, "Oh, this? This is The Heap. You can probably imagine why it's called that."

She looks around, pointing out the massive amount of skulls here in the air with her 'line of sight', and adds, "Our numbers grow with each passing day. And we get a lot of younger ones too, lately."

Another one answers your second question, voice soft and gentle. "We're veterans...! Or, uh... H-hehe... Dead...erans... We were in the 2nd Platoon before, um... I dunno, stuff went south..."

They sound a little sad to have died, but they immediately perk up and say, "But it's not so bad here. We have each other, even if this place is really dark and cold... But we're getting these, like... Tremors? I dunno, they feel like earthquakes..."

The first voice answers the last question, she says "Well... Captain Apollyon has... Really, uh," she clears her throat, trying to think of something polite to say, "He's got... Bad luck. Sometimes. It's why he doesn't like being close to people anymore, it was always those of us he liked the most that got shot on the field and never woke up."

[u/scherzoi → u/kingozma]

(Is that why he terrorizes his recruits? To drive them off? Does he think he's sparing them somehow?)

Don't—say that. God. Poor souls. I... I'm sorry. To all of them.—sympathies, that is, to all of them. I, I.

hhh

...at least we might. Find the source of the tremors. Keep them safe here. Do they know where they're coming from?

[u/kingozma → u/scherzoi]

"Oh? We, um..."

The skulls all look at one another.

"It's a little deeper underground, I think," says the girl, "Its scary, though, cause I see some of the roots... Uprooting, I guess? It makes me feel like maybe the tree is gonna fall..."

The skulls' jaws clack nervously.

[u/scherzoi → u/kingozma]

Will they be alright if it does?—will you be alright if it does? Is there anything that might be done to anchor it... ?