You have completely abandoned your humanity. You have pushed away the people trying to help you. And worst of all you have given up."
The Fool faced the other "him" given life.
"You're right. But what are you going to do about it?"
Mr Fool stepped back sensing danger from the original body. The Fool collapsed space-time completely erasing any trace of Mr Fool. The branch withered as The Fool pulled it from "his" chest.
'I was a fool to even listen.'
The Fool appeared in the cosmos staring down at the outer deities.
'A distraction. That is what I need now.' The Fool's thoughts turned chaotic as "he" slowly approached a planet.
On it there was a large tree which had been heavily damaged from the earlier battle. The Fool looked at the Mother Tree of Desire. "He" attacked quickly, suppressing "her".
With "her" weakened state it didn't take much effort to seal "her".
***
The Fool silently returned to Sefirah castle. "He" switched on the audio player as a song began playing.
'Hmm, I guess the seal is too good as none of "her" power is leaking out. Well it was a stupid idea to use "her" power to attempt to induce emotions anyway.'
The Fool received a prayer from Amanises.
"Hey, I'm plotting something so the other Amanises will have to go on the date with you."
The Fool simply left Sefirah castle as "he" appeared on a beach far from civilization.
***
"Hey, that message has so many holes I can poke in it you got to be more convincing than that." Eternal Darkness complained.
"Why do you even want to go out with him? I thought you were on bad terms." Evernight asked.
"He needs help desperately. No sane person would use termination when we could have won without it. Actually no sane person would use it at all." Eternal Darkness replied.
"Alright, just don't complain to me once it goes wrong."
***
The Fool pulled out the historical void projection of Amanises once more.
"Nice place you picked." Amanises looked at the sunset.
The Fool simply smiled in response. Amanises noticed how The Fool was on the verge of breaking. She sat down next to him silently.
"Do you need any help?" She asked.
The Fool didn't answer as "he" simply rested "his" head on her shoulder. Amanises analysed more closely. "His" appearance didn't look bad, in fact it looked better than before and he was also no longer randomly shapeshifting. However "his" eyes which usually shone like starlight due to the door uniqueness looked dull and "his" gaze was unfocused, staring at nothing. Every movement also felt forced as if "he" was moving just because "he" had to.
"Klein." Amanises whispered softly.
"Please, don't call me that." The Fool slightly tearing up.
"Zhou." Amanises tried correcting herself.
"Don't call me that either."
"Mr Fool?" Amanises was confused now.
"No." The Fool replied.
"His" expressions revealed how "he" felt very clearly.
"Then what should I call you?" Amanises asked.
"..." The Fool didn't know how to respond. "You know what, Klein or Zhou are fine. Actually anything is fine. It's not like I'm a person who actually has emotions, all that sadness or whatever you saw was fake, it was all an act."
Amanises knew "he" was lying; however she simply nodded, not knowing how to respond. She noticed The Fool had pulled out a small audio player and put on some wired earbuds.
"What are you listening to?" Amanises asked.
"I don't know." The Fool responded
"Can I listen?"
"Sure."
The Fool handed her one of the earbuds. Amanises leaned closer since the wire wasn't long enough. She then put it in her ear.
'This is the Mother Tree of Desire. Honestly "she" is quite the good singer.'
She recognised the song however she never knew the name of it. The two of them sat there for a while listening to the playlist.
"The projection is going to end soon." Amanises said.
The Fool took out the earbuds and sat up. "He" looked at Amanises for a moment before leaning in. Amanises's brain began going haywire due to the sudden action.The moment was incredibly short however it felt like an eternity. Amanises's projection faded leaving The Fool alone on the beach.
'Hmm, I think I felt something.' The Fool thought.
Notes:Amanises stared at nothing. Her gaze was unfocused and her thoughts were running wild.
'Why did he do that? Amanises thought.
She felt her head begin to hurt as she thought.
'Ugh, in all my years of life why is this what confuses me the most? Ha, I'm not sure what's worse, him denying our friendship or this. Emotions are so hard. Keeping my humanity has been such a challenge it has been better as of late due to interactions with everyone as well as sharing anchors with the other me. But what about when we return? Will I end up like Klein? Maybe it's for the best, having a god who won't break from anything would be better for everyone. No I shouldn't think like that. But if I'm so confused by something as small as what just happened is it wrong to think like that? I'm a full grown woman. Why am I so shaken by something like this?' Amanises was lost in her thoughts.
Gently she traced her lips with her fingers.
'Damn, that fool really threw me off.' Amanises lampooned.
***
The Fool gently tapped the meeting table in Sefirah castle.
'Hmm, that was interesting. I do believe I felt something from that however it didn't seem to have the same effect as when others do it. Is it just my dulled emotions or something else?' The Fool pondered.
***
"Klein, you should come home now. This is insane! You don't have to put your life on the line. What are you even doing this for?" Melissa finally dropped her calm demeanor now that they were no longer in danger.
"I would love to return. More than anything. However I have learnt that I need to keep going along this path in order to protect everyone. Though a part of it is due to selfishness as I want to get revenge on the one who caused the tragedy in Tingen." Klein replied.
Melissa wore a bitter smile as she listened to Klein's words.
"Alright, I guess I can't stop you after all you're an adult." Melissa muttered.
"And you're not so instead of worrying about me, just focus on your future." Klein added.
Benson sighed as he watched the two of them argue. He turned to Hela.
"Why do you do this?" Benson asked.
"I… don't really know. Maybe it's just to get a sense of direction in my life. But I guess another reason is because I have people I care about and I want to accompany them." Hela answered.
"And Klein is one of them?"
"Yeah, well not at first but now that is 100% the case."
"You don't see you two breaking up at some point?"
"No, we have been through too much together and will go through much more. Even if several epochs pass I don't see us splitting up."
"Well that's nice. By the way did you say several epochs?"
"Yeah, once you become an angel you can live several epochs and that's without using the millions of ways to extend your lifespan. So we can essentially live forever." Hela explained.
Benson fell silent for a moment.
"Do you think Klein will remember us after epochs pass?" Benson asked.
"I don't know. Once you reach that level your humanity begins to fade and according to others you begin to feel detached from who you were before. Of course that's why people have anchors so they aren't consumed by divinity, but even then we will likely end up losing ourselves." Hela answered.
Benson nodded.
"Do you think-"
"Don't. This path is one of constant suffering. At the absolute max only advance to sequence 5 and only if there are actual dangers that you may face. Never touch divinity because you can never win against it." Hela interrupted.
"I don't think Melissa will listen." Benson said.
"Well, it's her decision. Whether she touches divinity or breaks in the process is up to her." Hela shrugged.
***
"No." The Fool spoke firmly.
"B-but-" Klein stuttered.
"A no is a no. I don't even understand why you would agree to this." The Fool interrupted.
"I know she's inexperienced but so was everyone else. In fact she's about the same age as Audrey was when she joined the Tarot club." Klein tried to argue.
"I sometimes forget you're not even a demigod yet." The Fool muttered.
"You let Lumina join and she's not even a teenager yet." Klein continued to argue.
"All you would be bringing her is suffering."
"She will do it either way so why not make it easier for her? Didn't she become a beyonder in your universe?"
"Fine." The Fool begrudgingly agreed. "Now leave. My current state is quite unstable."
***
Melissa's vision was filled with grey fog as she found herself seated at a grand table. A young noble woman who looked to be slightly older than herself stood up and bowed to the head of the table.
"Good afternoon Mr Fool~." She greeted in a cheery tone.
"Good afternoon Miss Justice." The Fool replied in a calm manner.
Miss Justice greeted everyone as she went down the table. She made it to the new member and noticed a card floating above her seat.
"Nice to meet you Miss Tower~." Miss Justice said.
Melissa was surprised and looked above her seeing the floating card.
"Haha, Mr Fool looks like you finally updated the new member system. I was beginning to get tired of asking." Justice said.
"Well, I was getting tired of answering so it's a win for both of us." The Fool added.
Melissa looked around the table to find Klein and saw him at the other end of the table. She also noticed his girlfriend Hela as well as the child who saved them known as the empress, the Star who sat across from her also looked oddly familiar.
"Mr Fool, since it seems we are taking family recommendations, may I request adding my dear son and godfather of Miss Empress to the table." The Hierophant said in a polite tone.
"Not happening, now let's move on." The Fool bluntly answered.
"Is Mr Fool playing favourites?" Adam joked.
"Yes, now let's move on."
Melissa was taken aback at how rude the Hierophant was being given the fact The Fool was a god, but she was also surprised at The Fool's oddly casual responses. But taking in the reactions of the others it didn't seem to be out of the ordinary.
'Actually, the short conversation with Miss Justice also seemed quite casual.' Melissa thought.
"Her majesty has a few diary pages she wants translated." The Hermit said.
'Diary pages?' Melissa thought, confused.
"Has she finally stopped crying from when we sent all those pages?" The Fool asked.
"No, it's just she's hoping there will be something to redeem him." The Hermit replied.
"So if these are bad should we send them?" The Fool asked.
"Umm, I guess we should because it's better to have her know then worry about what she doesn't. Though she did say that she had trust in the pages she picked."
The Fool read through the pages one by one.
"She has some good intuition. It's for once not one of those entries. Instead it's him complaining and also one where he's extremely depressed." The Fool said.
The pages floated around the table as everyone read through them. Melissa read the pages and quickly realised this was the diary of emperor Roselle.
'I can't believe they translated this. There must be so many secrets hidden in these pages. I wonder if I can ask for copies of the ones translated before. But what do they mean by those entries?' Melissa thought.
"Mr Fool, I was wondering if we could get snacks during the exchange segments as since we have a lot more people now they are taking quite a while." The Empress said.
The others nodded agreeing with the idea.
'What is this? I thought this was a secret organisation meeting but it feels like a sleepover.' Melissa lampooned.
The Fool waved "his" hand as bowls of snacks appeared along the table. Melissa didn't recognise any of them however the others began chatting about the selection and moving some of the bowls around the table based on what everyone liked.
Melissa's area ended up with a bowl of sweet chili chips and chocolate chip cookies. There was also sweet iced tea.
'These are interesting, I haven't heard of most of these snacks though I did end up with some more familiar options.' Melissa thought.
She took a cookie and bit in to it.
'These are very high quality. Probably very expensive as Miss Justice looks to be enjoying these snacks as well.' Melissa glanced across the table.
They began to do some exchanges as Melissa watched to see how everything was done. Eventually she gained the confidence to speak up.
"Does anyone have an umm? Potion formula I can buy?"
"What sequence? The Hanged man asked.
"Umm, the first one."
'Does she have any idea what she is doing? She's more clueless than Miss Justice when she joined. I wonder if she even knows what a beyonder is. So probably easy to swindl- I mean… yeah I mean scam.' Alger thought.
"I have 7 sequence 9 formulas. I have sailor, spectator, seer, apprentice, marauder, hunter and assassin." The Hanged man said.
Melissa turned to Klein.
"Don't pick any of them. None really suit you." The World said.
"Umm, I'll have a look at some more options first." The Tower said.
The Hanged man nodded.
'Hmm, it seems she knows Mr World. Looks like I won't be able to scam her.' Alger thought.
"If you agree to become my angel I can give you formulas and ingredients for free." The Hierophant said.
Suddenly a piano fell from the sky crashing on the Hierophant. The other chairs moved to avoid it.
"Which god do you believe in?" The High priestess asked.
"Umm, I believed in the Evernight goddess." Melissa answered.
"Believed?" The High priestess said curiously.
"Yeah, I assumed everyone here believes in Mr Fool."
"That clown doesn't care who you believe in. Anyway as a fellow believer in the goddess I'll give you a formula for free." The High priestess said cheerfully.
"Hey I didn't get that?" The Star said.
"Oh, shut up I was doing you a favour by preventing you from spreading your poetry. You know I was getting close to smiting you. Also it was a sequence 6 formula those don't grow on trees and didn't I get you that promotion." The High priestess responded.
'I?' Melissa wondered who this lady was. 'Hmm, given she is also a believer and also can smite people. Is she an angel of the goddess? Maybe I should go to church more.'
Melissa looked at the list which appeared before her. Reading through the descriptions she immediately found one that suited her.
"I would like the savant please." Melissa said.
"Alright," the High priestess turned to The Fool. "Give it to her."
"Weren't you supposed to do that?" The Fool asked.
"I don't have the formula."
"Alright but you got to pay for it."
"Why? Wasn't it meant to be free?" The High priestess complained.
"Yeah, for her. You got to pay for it." The Fool replied.
"It's only sequence 9." She argued.
"Yeah and that's 200 pounds I'm missing out on if I give it for free." The Fool stated.
'200 pounds.' Melissa's head began to hurt hearing the price.
"Oh, can you also throw in the ingredients?" The High priestess asked shamelessly.
"500 pounds." The Fool bluntly stated.
'500 pounds.' Melissa felt her head about to explode.
She had heard the prices from the other exchanges but she assumed they were for some high level stuff. Why was enhanced memory 500 pounds? Melissa quickly did the math.
'I could buy a lifetime's supply of bread with that money!' Melissa screamed inwardly.
"I'll get Amani to give you a kiss." The High priestess said with a dead pan expression.
Everyone flicked their heads between the two of them. Melissa noticed this seemed to be a surprise to the others as well. The Magician summoned some paper as well as a pen and frantically started writing.
"... 500 pounds." The Fool managed to utter some words.
"Broke ass god." The High priestess clicked her tongue.
"You're the one trying to bargain 500 pounds down to a kiss." The Fool retorted.
"Yeah, from a goddess. Do you know how many human sacrifices people would make for that?" The High priestess fired back.
"Did someone try to do that?" The Fool asked.
"..." The High priestess was lost in thought for a moment. "I didn't accept it."
"How many?" The Fool asked curiously.
"34. That number was meant to be symbolic of my birthday though as there were 22 regular people and 12 beyonders. So it could be more." She answered.
"Yeah that makes sense." The Fool nodded.
"So are you accepting the offer?"
"I want to start by saying you're not talking about yourself. Also the price is now 600 pounds." The Fool responded.
"Broke ass god."
***
Melissa sat on the very comfortable seats in the karaoke room holding a glass of something. She stared at her drink and thought about the meeting that just happened.
'Why was that conversation between gods… so childish?' Melissa was thoroughly confused.
"Umm, nice to see you again." Leonard said to Melissa.
"Oh, umm hi." Melissa said back.
"Surprised by the meeting I guess."
"Yes, is it always like that?" Melissa asked.
"It takes some getting used to. By the way, they sent me to tell you they picked a song for you to sing."
"I can't sing though."
"Can't be worse than Alger. I never heard it myself but the others talk about it like it's a horror story."
"I guess it can't hurt." Melissa shrugged and walked to the microphone.
"Apparently when Alger sings it does." Leonard joked.
***
"Why did you say that?" Eternal Darkness Amanises looked as if she was going to cry at any moment.
"You two need to get more comfortable with each other. By the way I know it was embarrassing but you two acted especially weird. It wasn't like I was actually going to go through with it." Evernight replied.
"Umm, right, yeah."
"You're acting weird. What happened?"
"..."
"You kissed on that date didn't you?"
"He started it."
"Stop acting like a child."
"Alright… but what should I do?"
"Start by having an actual conversation with him." Evernight stated.
"Yeah you're right. But…" Eternal Darkness sighed.
"What's the problem?"
"He's even more unstable than before."
"How did that happen?"
"I don't know. It was definitely something during that fight though." Eternal Darkness answered.
***
"Big brother Lumian wants to ask if you noticed it." Lumina said to Adam.
"Yes. However at my current level it's not something I can fix. Actually even as a pillar I probably wouldn't be able to fix it. I could most definitely suppress it for a little while but it's not something I can fix." Adam replied.
"He wants to ask what we can do."
"All we can do is help him to the best of our ability." Adam answered.
Lumina went back to playing with Amon. Adam sat down and thought to himself. He looked down at his shadow in it reflected another him however something was different.
"They haven't noticed. Maybe because you're weak from me taking over." Adam muttered to the shadow.
"Have you discovered the humanity you were searching for?" The shadow asked.
"Not yet but I think I'm getting closer. Perhaps in the next world."
"I don't see it happening, at least not for a while." The shadow then returned to its slumber.
***
Skits because I felt like it. (These ones are Canon.)
***
(The adventures of Lumian and Amon part 1 not sure if there will be a part 2)
Lumina held hands with Amon as they walked around the city. A newspaper boy runs around advertising.
"Bayam destroyed by mysterious fires! Also Fors Wall announces a new book!"
"I wonder who caused that." Lumina said sarcastically.
Amon held a newspaper in his hand. He let out a chuckle.
"It's a shame Mr Fool doesn't let me in to those meetings. I would have loved to see the inspiration for this. But he seems to have a grudge against me from his previous world. But I'm a completely different person, I'm even looking after my dear god-daughter. Well at least he was nice enough to give my sequence 1 characteristics back." Amon said.
"Can you buy me Fors's new book when it comes out?" Lumina asked.
"No, I will be responsible and not buy you the book."
"But you will steal it for me."
"You know me too well. I still don't think you should be reading those books. However, since when did I care about what you should and shouldn't do? Also I'm still doing a better job than Aurore as I won't let you drink at 13."
"Big sis Aurore says she's going to kick your ass." Lumina reported.
"Oh, I'm just a poor king of angels. What can I do against a great old one? Poor me." Amon acted dramatically.
***
(The book)
"Miss Wall. I don't think the church is going to be happy with your new novel." The publisher said.
"I already got it approved." Fors said.
"By who?"
"The pope. Said it was a revelation from the goddess."
"By the way aren't you a believer in the goddess of steam and machinery?" Her publisher asked.
"Well after the pope of the Church of Evernight approved my novel I think I might convert."
"I don't see how they approved this."
"That's blasphemy, this book was an order from the goddess. Also I changed the names… slightly." Fors replied.
Meanwhile in the Evernight divine kingdom.
"Hahahahaha." Evernight was rolling on the ground.
"This feels wrong." Eternal Darkness said.
"Have you read what she wrote for the Church of the Fool in your world? Plus we get a split of the profits." Evernight said.
"You do realise that the only people who will know it's about me are the people closely related to the Tarot club right? Everyone else will think it's about you."
Evernight sat up and looked to be in deep thought.
"Worth it." Evernight said.
"Really?"
"100%."
Branches and plant life emerged in the divine kingdom and a woman with voluptuous features entered.
"I was told about the book." Lilith said.
"I'll get you early access. By the way, who told you?" Evernight said.
"Klein. He was tired of you all so he went to complain to me. It's a shame I wish you two would visit more often. It's so boring being left in my realm all alone. I don't get to be a part of the little club meetings." Lilith said.
"Hmm, we're running out of cards. I wouldn't mind you replacing that vampire but Klein's pretty adamant about not replacing members. You could be strength I guess, it would sell the disguise of Omebella because of her relation to the giant king." Evernight pondered.
"Great, I'll see you at the next meeting. I already got approval by the way. I just wanted to tell you beforehand."
***
Fors finally relaxed after a full night of writing. Xio looked over the manuscript and was visibly disgusted.
"What's wrong?" Fors asked.
"You do know I'm a believer in the goddess right?" Xio said.
"I got it approved by the pope."
"You got approved for a romance novel. Not… whatever this is."
"It's my style, they should understand that."
"Do you really think any high ranking member of the Church actually reads your novels?"
"The goddess does. "She" gave the revelation so she must know what "she's" talking about. If you think otherwise then I will report you to the church for heresy or whatever." Fors said smugly.
Xio grabbed a book and hit Fors over the head.
"Ow, what-"
Bang. Xio hit her again.
"This is abuse!" Fors yelled before being smacked on the head again. "Ow."
Xio turned and left the room. Fors went back to writing her manuscript when she realised. Xio took it.
"Xio! Give it back my publishers will kill me if I don't finish that!" Fors ran to chase after Xio.
Notes: