There has to be an After for Us ~ (shadam / klance)

Chapter 12 - Team Punk Go Poof?

"There is a really good prize," said Bored, "But I'm not supposed to tell you what it is."

"Is it getting out of here with our lives?" asked Pidge, annoyed.

"That I can't control that," said Bored. "That's up to you. You signed the liability waiver. You've entered at your own risk."

"We didn't sign anything," argued Pidge.

"You made an oral agreement with the Lion Goddess."

"Wait, can we back up to where we might die?" asked Hunk. It's worth mentioning at this point that this very serious conversation was happening inside the giant bouncy castle with Hunk and Bored jumping. Pidge was sitting, refusing to join the fun, but the bounces of the other two were jostling her, making it hard to look irate.

"We can't die," said Pidge.

"You can do anything if you believe in yourself," said Bored, bounding by Pidge.

"I'm not going to believe in dying," said Pidge. "None of this is happening anyway."

"Oh, you should believe in dying," said Bored. "You don't want it to catch you by surprise."

"That sounds murdery."

"You've been warned before though. That what happens on the other planes affects you in the physical realm. If you die here, you die there."

"How does that make sense?" asked Pidge

"Because if your quintessence dies, there's nothing running the body. Have you ever had one of those nightmares where you're falling or you're being chased by a killer or you find a timebomb with seconds left before it blows? Then just as you impact the ground, or feel the knife go in, or see that counter hit 0, you wake up. That's you narrowly avoiding death."

"That's ridiculous."

"People die in their sleep all the time, but usually they call it 'natural causes.' The real cause is they forgot to wake up in time."

"If you didn't wake up, your dream would just continue, you wouldn't die."

"How do you know? There really is only one way to find out..."

"So are we dreaming?" asked Pidge, wondering if this realm was the dream realm the Lion Goddess had mentioned.

"I don't know, are you?" asked Bored.

"I'm asking you."

"And I'm asking you."

Pidge groaned. "Can't you just give me a straight answer?"

"Not if the answer isn't mine to give. But I'll give you a hint and say you're on to something there."

Pidge scowled. Talking to Bored was like conversing with an evil nursery rhyme.

"I'm kinda freaking out about this whole we die here, we die in real life thing," confessed Hunk.

"Oh, you should be scared," agreed Bored. "Spirit death is much worse than meat death. If your quintessence dies, there's nothing left of you to move on to the After. You just go out. Poof. Like a candle."

"I don't wanna go poof!" cried Hunk.

"Hunk, calm down," said Pidge. "I'm never going to let you go poof."

"Grandaddy hottie nearly went poof."

"Who?" asked Hunk.

"Well, of course Shiro nearly died, that's what he does!" said Pidge. "But we're not poofing."