Keine Quest (Part 6): Broken History (Complete)

[Hello Purvis]

>"You won't be able to tell until you get all your memories back and get yourself pulled together."

[DracoOmega]

>"You won't be able to tell until you get all your memories back and get yourself pulled together."

>"Why would my memories be gone?" she says. "I remember. I remember why I have to be here. There is nothing else."
>"That voice..." Gruegetsu says, as you drag Summoner Gengetsu the last of the way towards her. "...it's me. Isn't it?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Yes."
>Nudge Summoner Gengetsu a bit closer. "Do you recognize her?"

[DracoOmega]

>"Yes."
>Nudge Summoner Gengetsu a bit closer. "Do you recognize her?"

>"I see," Gruegetsu says, nodding slowly. "H- Hello. I hope you're feeling alright?"
>You try to nudge Summoner Gengetsu closer, although this turns into more of a shove to get her actually forward.
>"I don't understand," she says. "Why would I recognize her? She is not the one I came here to find."
>"The one you...?" Gruegetsu trails off. "Do we not look alike? I'm afraid I don't... know if I still look like what I remember. I... can't see anything."
>"Why are there three?" Summoner Gengetsu continues. "There should only be one. She was unique. She was important. I remember this."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Because everything's gotten terribly messed up, Gengetsu. You have to get better if you want to find her. Otherwise, you're trying to open a locked door without a key."

[DracoOmega]

>"Because everything's gotten terribly messed up, Gengetsu. You have to get better if you want to find her. Otherwise, you're trying to open a locked door without a key."

>"I don't understand," she replies, staring at the Maribels. "I don't know which of her I'm supposed to find. Why don't I know?"
>"Please," Gruegetsu says. "You're not how you're supposed to be. None of us are."
>"Why should I be any other way?" Summoner Gengetsu replies. "I know what I came here to do. I've found it. But why are there three?"
>"Our sister needs us to return to our old self. We have a responsibility to her. There's nothing more important than that."
>"Why should I have a sister? She is not what I came here to find."
>"Why should you...?" Gruegetsu trails off, looking deeply troubled.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Well, let's hope our little helper isn't too busy."
>Drag Summoner Gengetsu toward Shadow Gengetsu. How does it seem to be doing, and feeling?

[DracoOmega]

>"Well, let's hope our little helper isn't too busy."
>Drag Summoner Gengetsu toward Shadow Gengetsu. How does it seem to be doing, and feeling?

>Neither of them responds to this. One seems too troubled, and the other too preoccupied.
>Nonetheless, you try to drag Summoner Gengetsu away towards Shadow Gengetsu. However, this involves pulling her directly away from the Maribels, and she seems to dig in her heels more strongly. You could probably still force her if you wrestled with her a bit.
>You can't sense Shadow Gengetsu itself very clearly at the moment, but it seems to be rather amazed by all the fragments around it. It may have been reaching out to some of them.

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to call Shadow Gengetsu over.
>"You're going the wrong way. You don't get through a locked door by pushing through it, you go through it by finding the key. Let me show you the key."

[DracoOmega]

>Try to call Shadow Gengetsu over.
>"You're going the wrong way. You don't get through a locked door by pushing through it, you go through it by finding the key. Let me show you the key."

>You call out to Shadow Gengetsu, and it seems to acknowledge you. It starts moving in your direction.
>"I don't understand," she replies.
>Marisa rolls her eyes. "Yeah, what else is new."
>Shadow Gengetsu draws near you, quiet evidently as wary of Summoner Gengetsu as it is curious.

[Hello Purvis]

>Look down to Shadow Gengetsu. "She really needs your help right now. She's just a bit driven, and needs you to show her more of what things are like."

[DracoOmega]

>Look down to Shadow Gengetsu. "She really needs your help right now. She's just a bit driven, and needs you to show her more of what things are like."

>It thinks it understands, a little. It thinks it understands more, here. There are so many things around it thinks it should remember. It will show her some of these things.
>The shadow reaches out and touches Summoner Gengetsu. Her head jerks to the side and her eyes widen as it makes contact. She seems to be trying to mouth words but no sound comes out. Eventually it releases her and she staggers.
>"I don't understand," she says, but not in the same unnatural-sounding tone of voice as she'd repeated those words so many times before. There is emotion, now, and it's intensifying. "This isn't how it's supposed to be. This isn't how I'm supposed to be. Why can't I remember?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"If I told you, would you listen to me?"

[DracoOmega]

>"If I told you, would you listen to me?"

>"I..." She still looks disoriented and her eyes drift about unfocused. She raises a hand absently towards her face and then seems to suddenly notice that her arm is made of barely cohesive shadow rather than flesh. She stares at herself with open horror. "This isn't right," she cries. "It's not suppose to be like this! How could I have not noticed?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"Because you were ripped apart. Do you see her?"
>Gesture toward Gruegetsu.
>"And her?"
>Gesture toward Violent Gengetsu.
>"And her?"
>Gesture toward Shadow Gengetsu.
>"And all this?"
>Wave toward the shadowy wisps.
>"That's all bits and pieces of you. We don't know why, exactly, but you got torn apart. Now we're just working on getting you back together. You didn't notice because you just didn't have the presence of mind to notice begin with."

[DracoOmega]

>"Because you were ripped apart. Do you see her?"
>Gesture toward Gruegetsu.
>"And her?"
>Gesture toward Violent Gengetsu.
>"And her?"
>Gesture toward Shadow Gengetsu.
>"And all this?"
>Wave toward the shadowy wisps.
>"That's all bits and pieces of you. We don't know why, exactly, but you got torn apart. Now we're just working on getting you back together. You didn't notice because you just didn't have the presence of mind to notice begin with."

>Gengetsu tears her eyes away from herself and looks at the fragments you gesture towards. "They're parts of me...? But they're no more like me than I am. This is wrong. This is all wrong. I only wanted to understand her!"
>Her face is haunted and her breathing shallow. She almost makes you wonder if she might collapse at any moment.

[Hello Purvis]

>"And you bit off more than you could chew. But don't worry. Mugetsu's here, and I'm here. And so's Marisa. We'll get you fixed up. Just relax and have faith in us."

[DracoOmega]

>"And you bit off more than you could chew. But don't worry. Mugetsu's here, and I'm here. And so's Marisa. We'll get you fixed up. Just relax and have faith in us."

>"I only touched her!" she cries. "How could this happen? Why am I like this? I don't understand. It shouldn't be like this!"
>Marisa sighs. "I have to wonder if this is an improvement."
>"Please be kind to her," Gruegetsu says. "You don't understand what it's like to be less than yourself. Even if she remembers, there mightn't be enough of her to process what she remembers. She's scared of what she is, and she doesn't understand why."
>"Yeah, I got that last bit."

[Hello Purvis]

>"It's better than having to knock some sense into her, at least."
>How are Mugetsu and the Maribai doing?
>And then, Shadow Gengetsu.

[DracoOmega]

>"It's better than having to knock some sense into her, at least."
>How are Mugetsu and the Maribai doing?
>And then, Shadow Gengetsu.

>"You sure?" Marisa smirks. "I think you kinda enjoyed it last time."
>They still seem to be focusing on their work, although the trickle of new fragments appears to have mostly stopped.
>Shadow Gengetsu is lurking nearby, quietly digesting its new experiences as it usually does after communing with someone.

[Hello Purvis]

>"Maybe a little bit"
>Let the trio do their thing.

[DracoOmega]

>"Maybe a little bit"
>Let the trio do their thing.

>Marisa chuckles. "That's the spirit!"
>You wait for the trio to finish their work. After a little while, Mugetsu opens her eyes again. She looks a little weary, although you note that one of the Maribels in particular seems nearly exhausted.
>"I believe this is all that there is," Mugetsu says. "Or at least all that we can sense." She looks around the room with a frown, settling in particular upon the unconscious Gengetsu a short distance away from you and the still neigh-terrified Gengetsu beside you.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I had to give that one a fistful of good sense. Sorry..."
>Shrug.
>Watch Shadow Gengetsu for now.

[DracoOmega]

>"I had to give that one a fistful of good sense. Sorry..."
>Shrug.
>Watch Shadow Gengetsu for now.

>"I... I understand," Mugetsu says. "Given the circumstances. Hopefully we can make her herself again now."
>Shadow Gengetsu seems to be moving back towards some of the other clusters of wisps and doing its version of conversing with them.

[Hello Purvis]

>"I get the feeling that that one is going to be the key."
>Gesture toward Shadow Gengetsu.
>"She's the one that seems to be able to draw from others. I suppose we just wait and let her do what she does."

>_

[DracoOmega]

>"I get the feeling that that one is going to be the key."
>Gesture toward Shadow Gengetsu.
>"She's the one that seems to be able to draw from others. I suppose we just wait and let her do what she does."

>Mugetsu stares at the shadow. "She does seem to be able to act as a bridge between their consciousnesses, but I don't know if she has the means to actually pull them all together. Why wouldn't she have done so each of the times she touched the other major fragments?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"I assume she isn't far enough along to actually do that yet."

[DracoOmega]

>"I assume she isn't far enough along to actually do that yet."

>"Then you think she'll remember how, if she touches enough of her old memories?"

[Hello Purvis]

>"That's my hope."

[DracoOmega]

>"That's my hope."

>Mugetsu nods. "Then it's mine, too."
>You see Shadow Gengetsu continue to communune with the other fragments, shifting and moving slowly among the clusters of them. What you can sense from it remains muted while among them, but its thoughts seem both more subdued and more... complex. Rather than just the simple impulse 'Know!' it had when it met you, you think it's piecing together its own history and starting to understand what it means, just a little.
>One of the Maribels opens her eyes, and then the one next to her staggers, breathing heavily. The first Maribel catches her before she falls, giving a concerned frown.
>"Are you ok?" she asks.
>The other Maribel nods weakly.