Aura - Where Time Remains: Phantom And A Rose [2]
Jan 31 22:55:04 2005

"I knew it! What happened here? You obviously know something
about this place, and I think I deserve to, too! I don't
exactly think I can just shrug off the fact that a heavily-
detailed image of me is laid out on a wall in some old building
that hasn't been active for at least three years. Now tell me!"

Even despite Aura's outburst, the man stood where he was, unmoving.
For a moment, the silence merely hung there, dense between the eyes
of both Aura and the strange, light-outlined man in a lab coat.
Finally, he simply raised a hand, gesturing subtly at nothing off
to one side of him.

"I can't derive anything from a place that was doomed from the
the start. And what's more, I'm here because I have no choice.
Way back when this facility was active, I committed an atrocious
crime for which I could not make up for. I realized too late
what things were supposed to come first in life, and I'm paying
for it now. I'm sorry if that doesn't fully answer your
question, but you can't stay here. Please leave at once."

Aura could sense the pain in his voice, although the man's face
showed nothing of the former. She almost felt compelled to do as
he asked, just on the fact that he had asked with such a pleading
tone, but the feel of the little dryad's grip on the side of her
neck reminded her of priorities that needed to remain in place,
and she, instead, stepped forward.

"You don't understand. Do you know what I've gone through for
the last.. urgh.. not knowing who I am? Where I came from?
Relying on an unseen force that some don't even know exist just
to remain sane from day to day? I'm not leaving until I get
what I came for!"

The man gave her a blank look, before closing his eyes.

"I see. Now I think I understand what she meant, all those
years ago... maybe she really was right. And I was the one
who was wrong. I'm sorry, Aura..."

Aura gasped, taking a step back, as she almost tripped over the
knife she had dropped earlier that still lay on the floor. It
rattled across the floor to one side, but the man didn't seem to
notice or care, speaking up again instead.

"If I'd known then what I know now, none of this would have
ever had to happen. We'd still be... no. I understand all
too well. Here.. the easiest way to find out.. is to see for
yourself."

Before Aura could even begin to wonder what the man was referring
to, he flashed out of existence in a burst of pale blue light. The
light seemed to pierce through to Aura's very mind, leaving her
extremely lightheaded after the light faded. Dizzily, she tried to
look around the room for any sign of the former apparition, but
everything was quickly becoming too blurry to make out.

What.. what's going on? I can't even feel my..

Her thought remaining unfinished, Aura's legs buckled beneath her,
and she collapsed to the cold metal floor, free from the world of
the waking.