Who Can Fathom the Soundless Depths

Once in a Lullaby

I'm under the Sakura Trees in the Sakura Empire. Laffey is in front of me, bandages over her eyes, and Mom is behind her, her tails staging on end. Mom's blade is at her neck, and she is crying. Laffey looks none the wiser.

I go to move towards her, but the blade begins to press into Laffey's neck when I do. "Mom, why?!"

She looks at me with a look of regret. "I'm sorry, but I need to put her out of her misery. She's not her anymore, and never would want to be like this."

My bad eye flares up, the fury of the sun visible within, despite the eyepatch. I swing my arm out in front of me, my blade appearing in my hand. "You know nothing! She's happier than ever, and loves me more than ever! Right, Laffey!?"

Laffey nods, letting out a hollow "yes" in response.

Mom shakes her head, digging the blade into her throat, "Sorry, but this is for her own good. For your own good."

I rush at her, my blade poised to kill. "DON'T DO IT!"

"DON'T DO IT!"

I shoot up in my bed, looking around frantically. 'What... what was that? A nightmare? Must've been, though it felt too realistic to be just that.'

I go to the bathroom, running cold water over my face. 'That was terrifying. I'm glad it was just a nightmare, but why did it feel so real? And it made no sense, either!... Wait, what didn't make sense? I thought there were some things that didn't add up, but I can't remember now. Well, that's for the best.'

I take a shower, clearing my head from the nightmare, before going to visit Purifier again.

'I've taken to doing this on some weekdays when I'm off and Laffey is working. She's surprisingly good company, although I've yet to shake this sense of deja-vu regarding her.'

__

I step through the portal, entering into a black and yellow room, with some posters for a band named Naoki placed around the room, a floating screen above a desk, and a bed in the corner.

Look at that, the bed has a little fox plushie, cute.

I walk to the exit of the room, only to hear footsteps rapidly approaching from behind. I try to dodge, only to be tackled and pinned to the floor.

"Why?" I choke out.

"Because you just appeared in my room, and I wanted to have some fun!"

'That voice...' "Is that you, Purifier?"

"Yep! Here, get up." She offers me her hand, which I gladly accept.

I dust myself off, "I just came to check out the library, why am I in your room?"

She shrugs, mumbling something about Tester. "Well, are you off today?"

I nod, "Yeah, I wanted to grab a book to read until lunch."

"Well, in that case, wanna hang out?"

"Sure, but after I-" "Great! Let's go!" "Wait I-" I protest, but she either doesn't hear me or doesn't care, as she drags me out of the room to her destination of choice.

__

We stop at a large blue room filled with water, something she calls the simulacrum.

"So, what's the Simulacrum for?"

Purifier walks up to a platform, messing with a few buttons on it before pressing a big red button in the middle. "Oh, it's for training in various scenarios against AI. It's like fighting robots in human skin!"