Interlude II: Morning Chat

“It’s, uh-”

The “Cart Titan” was just a large cage on wheels. It was made out of wood reinforced with metal, and a large harness was affixed to Fenrir. Inside the cage was the body and detached head of the skrullbear kaiju.

“Stunned speechless I take it, Oliver my man?”

“It’s just a normal cart,” I said. “How does this qualify as a titan?”

“It’s simple, my man,” Jessica started to explain. “A titan is whatever I want it to be.”

“But you don’t have a wood core or whatever, so how’d you manage that?”

“I just used the wood from some of those trees that fell over,” she said. “If I can touch it, I can make it into a titan.”

“Your power’s a lot more… versatile than I initially thought.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just think of it as a compliment.”

“It didn’t sound like a-”

“I think,” Fenrir interrupted. “It may be prudent to start moving now.”

“Yeah, let’s just start heading back,” I said. “I’m getting tired of being in this forest…”

…

After we all got on the Cart Titan, Tyler hopped on top of Fenrir and we started moving. I was sitting on the back end of the cart, lost in my thoughts of everything that had happened last night.

It was busy to say the least.

We fought a kaiju, I found out Tyler’s in this world too, Canvas appeared, and Tyler has a kaiju named Fenrir that I apparently used to know.

I’d like at least one day in this damn world where nothing crazy happens and I don’t have to fight with my life on the line. Is that too much to ask?

“Whatcha thinking about, my man?” Jessica asked as she came closer and sat next to me.

“I’m just thinking about how much I need a break…”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I responded. “What’d you wanna talk about?”

“What makes you think I wanted to talk about something?” Jessica asked.

“Um… you came over here and started talking to me,” I said. “So naturally I thought you had something you wanted to say.”

“Well, you have a point there…” Jessica admitted.

Interestingly enough, instead of continuing to say something she went quiet and looked down at her hands. She started twiddling her thumbs as a faint blush formed on her face.

“So… what’d you wanna talk about?” I asked.

“D-didn’t I already say I didn’t have anything I wanted to say?” she responded. “Why would that have suddenly changed in a few seconds?”

“Uh-huh…”

How unexpectedly shy… She definitely has something she wants to say but- Ah screw it, I hate doing this, but I guess people don’t really change all that much, even in a different world…

“So, I guess we’ll be going our separate ways after this,” I said.

“Y-yeah,” Jessica said. “I mean, we only agreed to team up for the one mission, right?”

“Yup.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I mean… if you wanted to, I bet-”

“Yeah!?”

“What?”

“Huh?”

“Nevermind, forget about it…”

“Oh yeah, sure…”

“…”

“…”

“T-”

“You say something?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, must’ve just imagined it then…”

“Yup.”

After some more of this, Jessica finally realized something.

“Oliver my man, are you messing with me?” she asked.

“Maybe,” I answered.

“Why?”

“Because unless you’re trying to annoy someone, taking a roundabout route through a conversation doesn’t accomplish anything save wasting time,” I said. “I can tell you want to talk about something but for some reason you’re refusing to just bring it up yourself. I can’t read your mind, so how am I supposed to know what you wanna talk about unless you tell me?”

“But you do know what I want to talk about?” she questioned.

“That’s not the important part,” I dismissed. “Just be direct if there’s something you wanna say.”

“Alright, I’ll bite.”

Bite what? Was she listening while I was talking?

“So, what’re you and the princess planning to do after this?” Jessica asked.

“Well, I believe we’re supposed to start heading towards Dragons Hollow soon. Either today or tomorrow if I’m not mistaken,” I said. “But now that I’ve found Tyler again I’m gonna have to drag him along and try to keep him out of trouble…” Wait, where’d he get those swords from?

“As luck would have it, I happen to be going that way, too,” Jessica said. “Maybe we could, I dunno, go together?”

“I’d hardly call that directly asking.”

“Ugh…” Jessica groaned, but I interrupted her before she could waste anymore time by clapping my hands together.

“Jessica, will you please come with us?” I asked.

“Huh?” she said as a surprised look came over her face.

“My job is to protect Marion, but I’m kinda terrible at it and sometimes she loses control and gives in to her demon powers. When this happens I can’t safely pacify her without help, and now I have to watch Tyler too, but he’s too much of a wild card for me to be able to fully depend on him for something like that. Actually, I’m sure they’ll both go nuts and fight each other, and in case something like that happens I really need some reliable help. And I would really appreciate it if you could do that for me.”

“Uh… well, sure. I don’t mind helping you out, my man,” Jessica answered as she extended her hand. “I mean, we are friends after all, right?”

“Yeah,” I said as I took her hand, forming a contract between us. “Thanks…”

“No problem,” she said. “Just don’t beg like that.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, you’re basically saving my life…” I admitted. I can’t imagine what I’d do if a worse case scenario did happen and I didn’t have any help.

…

\\\ Marion ///

I need to do this. I need to know.

I jumped from atop the Cart Titan onto the wolf kaiju, Fenrir’s, back. Nervously, I approached the head, where I could talk with both Tyler and Fenrir.

“Oh, hi Marion,” Tyler said as I approached. “Whatcha doing up here?”

“I wanted to speak with you and Fenrir,” I answered.

“Me too, hmm?” Fenrir murmured. “Very well, you have my attention.”

“Mine too!” Tyler chimed in.

I don’t know if Tyler will be useful at all, but I guess it won’t hurt. It’s not like I’m expecting to find an answer anyway…

“Last night, you sensed that there was a kaiju in me?” I asked. I already knew, but… I had to ask.

After a moment’s pause, Fenrir answered.

“Yes, that is correct,” he said. “There is indeed a kaiju resting within you. Even now I can sense its presence.”

Makes sense… it’s not like that would’ve changed overnight…

“And… it’s the same thing with you and Tyler, isn’t it?” I asked. “As in, you’re a kaiju that rests within him… uh, normally, that is?”

“Yes, although it’d be wrong to say that’s not the case even now,” Fenrir said. “This form of mine is simply a type of spell that lets me transfer my consciousness over to a body made from my mana. My soul itself still rests within Tyler, if this body were to go too far from him, it would fall limp as my consciousness was brought back to him.”

“Right,” I said. “So then… How do I become like you and Tyler?”

At this Fenrir fell silent. He pondered the question for a while before answering.

“There really is only one way,” he said. “You’d have to befriend the kaiju within you.”

“But I want to know how you two did it-”

“Me and Tyler were a special case,” Fenrir answered. “He had already befriended me before we were bound together. As for how you should go about doing it, that’s a question that can only be answered by both you and your kaiju.”

“…”

“Don’t look so down, Marion,” Tyler said. “Kaijus might be scary beasts, but secretly deep down they just wanna be friends with people. The reason they’re always so mad normally is because everyone hates them because they were used to destroy earth or whatever. We’re not even on earth anymore! So I don’t understand why it’s still like this!”

“Didn’t you kill a kaiju last night without hesitation?” I asked. Also it’s just kaiju, not ‘kaijus’, but I probably shouldn’t bring that up.

“The law of the forest is kill or be killed,” Tyler responded. “And kaijus just happen to have the most meat on them, so you could sustain yourself on one for… um… a long time!

“But we’re getting off track!” he said. “Hasn’t your kaiju ever tried to contact you before?”

“I… think it might’ve,” I answered. “At the time I was still uncertain whether I had one or not, or rather I guess I was just trying to deny reality… But sometimes in my dreams I would meet with, well… it looked like me, so I just thought it was my inner self or something philosophical like that. But now that I think about it…”

“It is possible that may have been the kaiju trying to contact you,” Fenrir said. “Although normally the kaiju would only be able to appear as itself…

“Thinking back to when I syphoned its energy, I didn’t sense a particular form from it. Almost as though your kaiju didn’t have one… What species is your kaiju?” Fenrir asked. “Although, I’m afraid I’m only familiar with the earthen ones.”

“It’s said to be a demon kaiju,” I answered. “Throughout Thloria’s history there was only said to have been one other occurrence. I’ve read that it appeared like a giant eye as purple as blood…”

“Hey, why is blood purple now?” Oliver asked as he approached from behind me. “I’ve been wondering why it’s not red anymore.”

“Blood became purple after mana was mixed into people’s bodies,” I explained. “Although I think the first occurrence of that happened on earth.”

“Dammit… it’s not like I asked because I thought it had something to do with back on earth,” Oliver said with a sudden chill before throwing a bar of soap over the side. “Just give me a break…”

When did he grab a bar of soap?

“Um, Oliver…?”

“Don’t pay too much attention to that,” he quickly responded. “Anyway, I came over here because I have a question for you, Marion. Two actually.”

A question for me? I wonder what he could be thinking about?

“So firstoff, no… I’ll save that one for later,” Oliver said. “Remember when you said you had a plan for handling the whole situation with Jessica yesterday? I was just wondering, what was your plan?”

Oh, well that’s simple enough.

“It really wasn’t much,” I explained. “My plan was to become friends with her.”

“Huh?” Oliver seemed confused, but I guess that makes sense.

“You see, I think the real reason that she approached us, whether she admits it or not, was because she was lonely. Her original plan was to get us to help her after all. She was probably hoping she’d get lucky and we’d bond during the experience.”

Oliver thought over my answer for a while before moving on to his next question.

“Do you remember that time at the royal library when you found me reading that book about earth?”

“Yes, I remember…”

“Do you happen to have that book?”

“Yeah, I do actually,” I answered. “You said you wanted to finish reading that book, so I decided to bring it in case you wanted to read it again.”

Oliver looked a little puzzled, then slightly disappointed.

“Well, could I have the book?” he asked.

“Sure, but I left it back at the inn, so you’ll have to wait until then,” I said. “Why were you thinking about that now?”

“Oh, just… reasons,” he said. “Seeing Tyler again made me curious about some things that happened during that time, and I figured if anywhere, that book would have answers…”

“Wait!” Tyler interjected. “Didn’t- you know who- said not to-?!”

“Say!” Oliver interrupted. “Didn’t she ‘say’ not to! And don’t worry about that Tyler, this is a loophole.”

“A what?”

“Be quiet, Tyler.”

“But-”

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

Whatever are they talking about? Come to think of it, yesterday when Tyler interrupted Fenrir and Oliver’s conversation, they all started speaking in a foreign sounding language for a moment before the conversation shifted back to include me.

I wonder what’s going on?

…

\\\ Oliver ///

“Well, that’s all I wanted to ask you about,” I said as I turned to rejoin Jessica.

I guess that takes care of everything for now.

Although I wonder what horrible happenstances await me today…

I don’t think I used that word correctly, but it doesn’t change the fact that something crazy and life threatening will occur. I haven’t been able to go a single day without almost dying yet, and I doubt I’ll start now.