sawthelockdown | [thingy???] grant me wings

[thingy???] grant me wings

”May the world and especially every human you love forget that you ever existed!”

Those were the last words of the final enemy Asako defeated on her campaign, and from the looks of it, they were true. The people she once knew acted like she was a stranger when she bumped into them, “accidentally”, on the streets just to see what happened. A quick, invisible check on her parents’ home— Well. She didn’t have parents anymore, it seemed. They didn’t have a daughter, though they had happily taken in their nephew when his parents had died. A nephew who had been raised without a little cousin following him around like a lost duckling.

She did not visit a certain person once, because it would hurt too much. The part of her that was perfectly suited to being a demon whispered but this is your chance, but it was easy to ignore. There were no guarantees in life, after all. Besides, she’d already confessed her feelings when on the verge of leaving for the demon world for real— and outright asked that person to forget what they’d heard.

Still, just being a passive observer bored her. The world would not acknowledge her existence again— but surely she could make something that it would acknowledge? A small thing, a simple thing. A foothold...

An urban legend. Yes, that could be easily done.

—

Akame: omg guys there’s a ghost on the yamanote line in tokyo
Akame: like where that lockdown was a year ago! maybe she died from the gas?
Akame: anyway i saw her last night at sunset, she’s a girl in this pretty kimono and a fox mask! she was twirling by herself in a corner so i went to see what was up, we were the only people there lol
Akame: but when i said hi, she bowed
Akame: and disappeared! like right in front of me!
Akame: have u seen this ghost?

—

Yes. That would surely do.

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It would do, but sometimes the 'soul' of Pluto goes wandering. Sometimes it travels further than it intended. And so when it catches sight of the girl that no one else seems to see - the girl that the world seems bent around in a strange way - it approaches.

... It just happens to be a large mass of shadows in a vaguely humanoid shape, at least to the eyes of someone who isn't a normal human.

"... Hello there."

Asako tilts her head and pulls her mask to the side, interested in this turn of events. A human shouldn’t have been able to acknowledge her for more than a few seconds, and that was when she played at being the “dancing ghost of the Yamanote Lockdown.” It was almost intriguing, except that this was clearly not the average human.

“Ah, hello,” she replies, her voice a bit scratchy from disuse.

"Hello." It pulls a bottle of water out from... some kind of pocket. It's unclear where. "Here. It's been a while since you've spoken, hasn't it?"

She nods and takes the water, bowing her head in a gesture of thanks. After taking a drink, she comments, “No, I haven’t. Haven’t actually needed to speak to anyone for a while.” A bitter smile crosses her face. “Dying curses are a pain... Thanks for the water, though.”

"I have heard that, yes. ... And it's no trouble. I simply reconfigured some of my atoms into liquid rather than solid." ... Is that weird? It has no real frame of reference for whether that's weird or not.

That is definitely weird, or would be if Asako weren’t literally a demon these days. She just raises her brows, looks at the water bottle, then back at the stranger. “Atoms, huh? Pretty sure those are important. You gonna be all right without them?”

At least she has all the free time in the world to obtain more education, now.

"... It's only a little. And while I am here I can absorb some from the air if needed. Or capture stray ones on my way back. Where I am from, there is no liquid water, only ice."

Ah, that explained a lot. With a brief smile, she asked, “So, not from Earth at all, I take it?”

That would be why the curse wasn’t screwing with this stranger at all— only humans were affected.

The figure chuckles. "No. I'm from quite far away. As a point of reference... it takes Sol's light about eight minutes to reach here, and around five hours to reach where I am."

“Yeah, I’m gonna have to do some studying for this one, aren’t I. Got the picture, though. So what’s someone from another planet entirely doing here on Earth? ... Ah, the demon outbreak was already solved, if that’s what it is.”

"I know. ... I was in the neighborhood, so to speak. Earth and I had a scheduled chat, and I could sense your power, so I decided to take a look."

...wait what. Asako felt like her mind was imploding and exploding at the same time as she contemplated this statement. Talking with Earth, that could mean...

“... Are you actually a planet?!”

She wasn’t sure whether to be awed or squeaking over how cool this was.

"Yes. I am... Pluto. The consciousness of it, at least."

Planets have consciousnesses. Planets are sapient and sentient and - Oh. Oh dear dead Lord. There was only one conclusion to reach with this awful knowledge. It was a terrible, awful conclusion — but it made sense to her often logic-barren mind.

“... Earth is still pissed about the outbreak, aren’t they.”

When you realize how screwed you truly are...

"Somewhat, yes. It doesn't blame you - you were pushed into that circumstance and dealt the best you could. But it's still not happy about the situation." The figure shrugs. Somehow.

She ducked her head, grateful and thoughtful both.

“Thank you... I mean, thanks, Earth, and thanks for delivering that news. I’ll do my best to be a good ruler and not let the demons cause too much trouble...”

A thought occurred to her and she looked back up at Pluto’s manifestation, uncertain.

“Earth...isn’t going after the mastermind, right? Because he probably doesn’t remember it anymore, so it’s kind of pointless...”

It pauses and chuckles. "That is between Earth and that person. But I'm told they don't remember anymore, correct? So it would be useless to punish someone who doesn't know why they're being punished."

“Thank goodness.”

...ah, Pluto probably needed an explanation.

“Because that person was — the person I care the most for. Though he’s probably very different now.” With a tired smile, she added, “I was effectively erased from human memory a while ago. To them, the demon outbreak is just a gas leak now.”

Does that mean it was in vain? No. But it would’ve been nice to have a happier ending than this.

"... I see. It's... strange to me, to care about someone like that. Is it similar to the way that Jupiter and Saturn care for each other?"

“....I don’t know because I’ve never met them.”

Blunt and simple.

"They're dating." The word is said with the air of someone who has found a really gross bug and does not want to touch it, but here they are now.

Ah, now she gets it, and she laughs bitterly.

“Ha, I wish! But no. Besides, like I said, he doesn’t remember that I even existed.”

Her expression shifts to something sadder.

“I think you ought to consider yourself lucky that you can’t feel this pain.”

/... I know what it's like to be ripped away from someone. Before I came to orbit this star, I was orbiting another. I was happy there - liquid water, a few small microbial life forms... and then I was knocked out of orbit, and traveled in the cold, dark places. My water froze, and all of the life on me died. I found another - this star - though it's not the same as it was before. Sol has been quite welcoming, but it's not like it was./

Her expression softens as she mulls this over.

“... I’m sorry. You do know what it’s like, it’s just — different. Perceptions and all.”

And she really does sound genuinely sad that Pluto knows what this is like. It friggin hurts.

"It's not as if you were trying to offend."

It folds itself down so that it's 'sitting' next to her and not just towering over her.

“Thanks for the understanding.”

Humans are pretty quick to take offense sometimes, after all. And on that note, boy is she grateful she no longer has to give herself a crick in the neck to address the living planet. Much obliged, stranger.

"Of course. I... do not get a chance to speak to humans often, truthfully."

It looks her over. "Or... former humans, at any rate."

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