Real vs Fake

"~I can't be reached...I've only had one call, dragged underneath...separate from you all...~"

"Seraph!"

"Huh?", I broke out of my thoughts, "Yeah?"

"Where's your head?", Deli asked.

We were on our way back. It was rather windy today, we had left Wenus early in the morning. Valentine offered us a ride home but Chopper flatly rejected him. The four of us were now walking all the way back. We were crossing through a forest, it was high noon, but there was no sun. The sky was rather bland today. Or perhaps I felt that way after having become used to the crimson skies of that little hell.

Prophet was back to normal. He looked really pale and weakened but otherwise he was fine. He couldn't properly talk to Chopper and Deli but I'm glad he wasn't nervous with me.

"Are you sure you aren't angry with me, Seraph?", he had asked.

"I was. It certainly wasn't uneventful down there but I guess...since we're out here now, that's all that matters", I looked his way as we walked side by side, followed by Deli and Chopper, "Prophet, did you try to stop her?"

He looked glum, "I...I think I did. I can't really tell. She is as free as I am. Especially down there, its her domain after all."

I nodded, silently looking ahead.

"You know Seraph, I tried to resist her but it was useless. She was there for me when I had nothing and no one", he paused and looked my way, "I wish Ausirne cared, I wish I was right about her and not Lucy. But she never even gave me a name, she locked me up...I just felt so cramped back then. I was just groping for a hand to hold...and it turned out to be Lucy's."

He became silent after that.

I looked at him, "You know, I think, at least from what you've told me, that Ausirne did care about you...deeply. She wasn't trying to hide you, she was trying to protect you, like her precious little thing. I think she wanted to help but just didn't know how to. I don't blame you for what happened back there, Prophet, so don't blame Ausirne either."

"Uh...", he wanted to say something but didn't, he kept looking down as we walked on. I guess it wasn't as simple as that to tell him to just forget his grievances.

"Thank you, Seraph", he uttered, "I'd never had a friend before. Thanks for sticking out for me like this."

I looked at him, perplexed and taken aback.

"Sorry, did that sound weird? I just wanted to say it", he chuckled.

I smiled too, "You look really pale."

"Oi, Proph, you holdin' up, kid?", Deli called out to us. We had gained quite a distance from them before realizing. I wondered what those two were up to.

"Y-yes!", Prophet answered.

We didn't take many breaks before reaching home. Chopper went ahead as the three of us rested on some stones outside Valhalla. I noticed Lady standing on the mound in the distance. I thought I should go up to her but Chopper went ahead so I waited a bit before joining them.

The sun hadn't set just yet, but it was really windy. And the sky was about as grey as it could be.

Chopper and Lady were talking when I got there.

"I see. And did you observe something?"

"No, I found Ebony. There wasn't any anomaly this time, everything added up."

"So he used Ebony. I guess you aren't the only one...", Lady teased him.

"Stop."

"...The Ripper."

"Shut up, hag. Weren't you the one who said we're all dead?", Chopper was annoyed, to which Lady laughed.

When I approached them, she turned and greeted me with her trademark sinister grin. I tried to return a smirk too.

"Thanks for...well..."

"I have to admit, I didn't think you'd be able to figure it out. But I guess you are more of a gambler than what I took you for."

"Its true I was in doubt all the way through to the end, but I guess it was worth risking everything", I continued, "That you were real...I bet it on your words, that the hell was the fake one, and what you said was real. Still, even if it was just a deception, we were real. Surely, you weren't considering that we'd be on each other's throats, were you?"

She laughed again. She was definitely a witch.

*****************

I remembered a day the three of us, Lady and Chopper and I, stood on this mound just like this and Lady asked a question. She said there were no right or wrong answers and we should say exactly what we feel about the matter.

"If a fake is as good as the real and you can't tell the difference, which is superior? Or are they equal in value?"

We thought about it a little and then answered her.

"The real", I answered.

"The fake", Chopper opined.

Lady grinned.

"Well, which is it?", I asked.

"Like I said, there's no right answer. Why do you think its the real one, Seraph?"

"Well because, the real is real. Intercepted out of nothing, original, there's nothing else like it."

She then looked at Chopper.

"If the fake can keep up with something that is original, something that is intrinsically superior, although the fake was intrinsically inferior, then it has done something far exceeding its abilities. In that, the fake has reached perfection by being exactly as good as the real, while the real need not be perfect."

Lady smiled and sternly gazed at Chopper as he spoke.

"What?", he was annoyed, "What's your answer?"

"Its surprising to see that we think rather similarly, I daresay I'm ashamed. But oh well! But you know same value of both real and the fake isn't a bad option either. I want to see someone choose that option."

"Shut up, hag. You were just wasting time, weren't you?"

She giggled as the two continued to bicker back and forth. I stood there and watched them, smiling.

***************

"Seraph?"

I wonder why I was thinking back on days like that now.

"Hmm?"

She smirked, looking at me calmly as the wind blew between us.

"Prophet needs to die."