Where is my Fate[less]?

Sunny opened his eyes.

An armored ceiling of sorts filled his gaze, its lusterless gray steel captivating Sunny for a moment. Seeing it sparked a eerie sense of Déjà vu, but where had he seen this ceiling before? Sunny didn't move for a moment, laying flat on the medical bed. This scenario seemed vaguely familiar to Sunny, but he couldn't quite place his finger on why. 

'Why... Why does this place feel familiar?'

Sunny turned his head to his side to see another familiar sight. Jet remained as stunning as Sunny remembered from their first encounter. Hell, she was even wearing the same clothes! Sleepily, Jet caught Sunny's stare and met it with her own.

"What are you looking at?" She said flatly, clearly not enamored by whatever prompted this predicament.

"You?"

Sunny paused for a moment, seeing that Jet was acting weird. This whole situation didn't make sense to Sunny, he had just been in Godgrave, though the details were oddly hard to piece together. 

"Ha, well that was rather honest of you." Jet shook her head and stood up.

"Anyways, I'm Ascended Jet, congratulations on surviving your First Nightmare. I've been watching over you for the past three days." 

Sunny paused again, his body frozen in place. Had he heard her right? Hell, she shouldn't even be around him since she was in Bastion still so how was she here? Sunny's mind was flooded with questions, and in the process missed the key context. Without realizing it he had forgotten to respond to Jet.

"You okay? Something wrong with your head?" Jet walked over to Sunny and felt his forehead as if checking to see if he was sick.

"N-no sorry, I'm just a little confused is all. Aren't you supposed to be in Bastion?"

Jet removed her hand from Sunny's head, and gave him a weird look.

"Bastion? Why would I be there?" A subtle look of suspicion crept onto her face, eyeing Sunny. 

Sunny realized something was truly wrong, Jet was not one for jokes like this. Was Sunny in a dream? Or really in the past? 

"Sorry, I'm a little out of it right now, don't mind me." Sunny put on a facade of being sheepish, trying to play off his mistake.

"Sure sure. Anyways, I'll help you get settled and fill you in on your next steps from here on out." Jet began to undo the restraints on the bed that held Sunny down.

"But for now, go get yourself washed up we can continue after that nasty Nightmare smell is gone." 

With that, Jet walked out of the room leaving Sunny alone. Barely processing what just happened Sunny felt a panic attack clawing its way through his throat. Sunny sat up, his breathing growing more strained each passing second. How was this possible? What about Godgrave? The war, Nephis, Rain, everyone else? This felt too real to be a simple dream. Sunny's ears began to ring and his vision spun, drowning his perception of the world out.

After a few minutes, Sunny managed to force himself to calm down. Judging by the situation, it really did seem like Sunny was fresh out of his First Nightmare. His body was as frail and weak as the day he came back from it too. Hesitating slightly, Sunny tackled the next concern. Was his Fate back? 

Name: Sunless.

True Name: Lost from Light.

Rank: Dreamer.

Shadow Core: Dormant.

Shadow Fragments: [12/1000].

"Ha-This can't be real, right? Surely not?" Sunny let out an weary sigh. 

It seemed that Sunny had his connection to the Spell restored, which meant that his Fate and accursed Shadow Bond were back. 

Memories: [Silver Bell], [Puppeteer's Shroud].

Echoes: —

Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Child of Shadows], [Bastard of Fate]

Aspect: [Shadow Slave].

Aspect Rank: Divine.

Aspect Abilities: [Shadow Control].

Innate Ability: [Shadow Bond].

Flaw: [Clear Conscience].

'[Bastard of Fate] is new. Is that why this is all happening? Damnation...' Sunny pondered for a moment before taking a closer look. 

[Bastard of Fate] Attribute Description: "Forging his own path to destroy his Fate, the treacherous Lost from Light severed his connection to the world. But Fate seized an opportunity, and thus corrected itself."

'What the hell kind of description is that? I've never seen an attribute mention a person. The spell even mentions me severing my Fate!'

Taking a breath, Sunny looked at his hands.

'I guess its safe to say for now that its the cause of this whole situation?' 

Sunny sighed wearily, and looked up to the ceiling for a moment, his face burdened by a complicated expression. This whole scenario had its pros and cons, yes Sunny could save many more lives as well as grow incomprehensibly stronger than his future self, but at the same time Sunny despaired.

All of his hard work was gone, all of his struggles for naught. He was truly removed from the world this time. After all the effort he made to reintegrate himself back into the world, he was back to square one. This time there was no way for anyone to truly remember the real him.

The feeling of warm water washing over him sobered Sunny a bit. The shower was still as euphoric as it felt back then. Studying his body closely Sunny reflected a bit. It seemed so... Weird for him to feel so feeble again. Having grown used to the power to kill even the most powerful of Nightmare creatures and even Saints, Sunny felt vulnerable in a way he never wished to feel again.

Steeling himself, Sunny made a decision. If Fate could send him back to the past, maybe it could send him back into the future. Maybe this was all a blessing from the Spell, and he really could alter the course of the future to a better degree. Regardless, Sunny decided there was only one way to find out, he had to do it for himself first hand.

After drying off, and putting his Police station issued clothing on, Sunny headed down to the cafeteria to meet with Jet again. Just like the past, Sunny did not intend on deviating from its events. At least not until he gets to that damned Forgotten Shore.

Absentmindedly on the way there, Sunny thought about Nephis. Would she still like the current him? He had changed quite a bit, or at least he thought so. Wait, could they even work? Technically he was millions of years older, or just about ten years depending on who you ask. Either way the thought made Sunny shiver slightly and he decided to cross that bridge when it came.

Jet was waiting for him at one of the tables, with two plates of lukewarm synthetic food. She waved at Sunny to come and as he sat down, Jet gave him a funny look.

"You must really like showers huh." 

"Ah, I took a while didn't I? Sorry, I do quite enjoy showers." Sunny responded scratching the back of his head, and gave a small grin.

He realized he must've taken longer than he originally did, most likely due to his little panic episode.

"No matter, help yourself. I don't think temperature would've made this more pleasant anyways." She gestured to the food.

Sunny dug in, his body starved from the lack of real nutrition. The food was far from good, especially compared to Sunny's own masterful cooking. But his body was still that of an outskirts rat, albeit slightly more lively due to him becoming a Sleeper. So, Sunny had no choice but to indulge himself in the slop of synthetic food.

They ate in silence for a few moments before Jet spoke.

"I'll begin with some basic protocol, I'm obligated to inform you of a few things. It is mostly a formality. First of all, concerning your Nightmare…"

She glanced at Sunny while he ate, and sighed.

"You are entitled to receive free psychological counseling. No matter what traumatic experience you have encountered, there is no shame in asking for help. Your mind is as important as your body — it's only right to keep it healthy. Are you interested?"

Sunny looked up from his food, and lightly shook his head. Jet nodded and continued.

"As you wish. You can also talk to me. Was it very hard?"

Sunny picked at his food a bit before answering carefully. Yes it had been hard, but compared to everything else he's been through it was more like a walk in the park. In the end, his Flaw let Sunny answer the same way he did originally. 

"It was simultaneously much worse than I expected and exactly as bad as I expected."

She nodded, satisfied with that explanation.

"That's a good attitude. I won't pry any further. Us outskirt rats are way more resilient than people think."

Sunny feigned surprise.

"J-Master Jet, you're from the outskirts?"

She grinned, not paying attention to his slipup.

"What? You can't tell because of my exquisite manners and polished exterior?"

Sunny chuckled, Jet really hadn't changed much in all these years.

"I couldn't tell at all."

Sunny really couldn't tell, despite knowing she was from the Outskirts. Her manners were... much better than his own to say the least.

Jet studied him, and let out a dramatic sigh.

"You could at least try to make it sound like you believe that."

"Ah. My bad." Sunny looked at her sheepishly before he added:

"Are there a lot of people like us among the Awakened?"

Jet's lofty smile disappeared, replaced by a slight frown.

"No. There's not. In fact, they can be counted on one hand."

This had not really change even after Antarctica fiasco, many of the civilians infected by the Spell still died, which had presented a lot of logistical issues as well as paranoia within the Siege Capitals.

Sunny nodded glumly, and glanced at Jet.

"So… what happens now? What else are you obligated to tell me?"

Despite knowing roughly what he had to do, as well as what Jet would say Sunny still kept the conversation close to what originally happened. He did not want to stick out yet, not while he was still getting his bearings.

Jet leaned back and answered:

"That's basically it. There are some additional hoops to jump through, mostly having to do with your family, but… well. I've read your file, so I know it doesn't apply. The only thing left is to decide how you will be preparing for your first journey into the Dream Realm."

She looked at her communicator and grimaced.

"I must stay, your luck is exceptionally bad. There's not a lot of time at all. First of all: you are free to do what you want. No one is forcing you to make a certain decision. That is to say, you can choose to prepare on your own, or not prepare at all. Party until the lights go out."

Sunny was tempted to party like Jet said, maybe live it up a bit while he still could before the world began unraveling, but Sunny knew better than to let himself be lax. He couldn't afford to waste this opportunity to set things right.

"However, I would advise against that. As a Sleeper, you are also entitled to enroll in the Awakened Academy. You'll be provided with food, lodging and a wide choice of preparatory classes. This late into the year, you won't be able to learn a lot. But it's better than nothing."

She was silent for a few seconds, then added:

"More importantly, you will get acquainted with most of the people who will enter the Dream Realm with you. Some of them might become your companions for life."

Jet was not far from the truth, pretty much everyone in the Forgotten Shore shared a unique bond, and Sunny shared an even deeper bond with his cohort from those days.

"So, what do you say? Do you want me to take you to the Academy?"

"Yeah I'll bite, free food sounds pretty good to me." Sunny grinned and let out a small laugh. 

"Great, I'm glad you agreed. We'll go in the Government PTV shortly. I'll let you finish your oh-so-delicious food first though." Jet gave a lofty grin, and stood up walking away.

Left alone again to his thoughts, a whirl of questions flew through his mind. How would he interact with Nephis and Cassie? Should he mess with Caster again with his silly game of truths? Was it still worth making himself out to be a weak fool? 

Sunny had some time to think it over in the PTV, while Jet lectured him briefly on the way about what to do and not do. Pretending to be interested and answering only when needed, Sunny planned what he would do until the Solstice. 

And soon, they had arrived at the walls of the Academy. The towering defenses still seemed as impregnable as ever, yet Sunny knew better. He had originally believed they could even stop Titans, oh how mis founded that belief was.

"This is as far as I go," she said, looking cheerlessly at the walls of the Academy. "I've already notified them. Someone will come fetch you in a while."

There was something dark, and familiar in the depths of her icy blue eyes. Sunny felt a wave of cold spreading through his body. Deciding to finish the charade, Sunny asked one final question. 

"What's the third advice?"

Jet glanced at him, then slowly sighed.

"Remember: no one can survive in the Dream Realm alone. That's not an opinion, that's a fact. Try to get along with your peers, even if they don't treat you well. It might save your life."

Then she suddenly smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"You've done well to survive until now. Make sure to keep yourself alive in the future, too."

Then she got back into her PTV and drove off. Just like that, she was gone. Sunny stood there watching her leave for a moment, and pushed down his emotions. He could not linger on the pain of being unable to talk comfortably with Jet, nor could he afford to think about his past relationships with those close to him. 

Sunny looked ahead, and mentally prepared himself to be in close quarters with noisy and curious teens. But as Sunny began to walk forward, his heart dropped and he nearly lost barely maintained composure. 

Nephis walked to where the bridge would connect without noticing Sunny, continuing on her way seemingly without a bother. A flood of emotions that Sunny had been suppressing since his shower began to spill out, and he nearly dropped to his knees.

'Seeing her is very different from just thinking about her.' Sunny thought wistfully.

Ah, he hadn't felt this way since the end of the Third Nightmare. Was it so wrong to wish things could go back to how they were? Perhaps he didn't deserve such a kindness when it was he who betrayed them all first.

After a few moments of silence, Sunny half-heartedly pulled himself together and walked forward to stand by Nephis. Noticing him, she turned her head to look at Sunny. However her usual seemingly indifferent expression was replaced by a slight frown. An inexplicable look of longing and recognition danced in her eyes.

'Huh. That's not very Nephis of well, Nephis.' Sunny turned to fully face Nephis.

But before Sunny could say anything Neph spoke first.

"Is... Is it you?" Nephis paused, looking unsure of what to say next.

'Now wait a damn minute...'

"What do you mean?" 

Neph looked almost like a lost puppy, whatever a puppy was. She seemed almost vulnerable for once, something Sunny had rarely witnessed from Neph. 

"Are you the Sunny I know?" Nephis averted her gaze away from Sunny in almost... Embarrassment?

"N-Neph!?" Sunny responded incredulously.