His Way of Seeing

"Whatever happened to you, Seraph?", Chopper inquired, as if he was one to ask. 

He'd appeared next morning and looked like he'd lost about 20 pounds. I could tell he'd just butted heads with Lady. He didn't yet know what had happened in the ruined city where I and Sight were sent off to. I didn't feel like telling him about the knights. As rational as he was, I wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his head cool about those people.

"Chopper-san...help", I was overjoyed, seeing as he could be my savior. 

I couldn't really take anymore of Lady nursing me and luckily, Chopper arrived in the nick of time. To be fair, his being here just meant that Lady wouldn't bother with me. Chopper didn't exactly nurse me, he just stood guard to prevent Lady from coming to our bunker. 

Since I was bedridden, Chopper had to sleep on the ground. He didn't think anything of it. He would just lie flat on the ground, unbothered by anything that might have been down there with him. And when he slept, he slept like he'd left the world and gone to another where he couldn't be reached. So when I wished he would bring some water from somewhere, or perhaps remember that I hadn't eaten, he was found asleep. And rather than attempting to wake him up, I knew I'd be better off making an effort myself.

I may have opened a wound once or twice, but I got some workout out of pulling myself out of bed to go scrounging for food. So when Chopper came around, my recovery really hastened. Having him around also gave me a peace of mind, and I had already talked to Lady about Yngvi so I felt better as the days went by. 

I rarely saw Lady anymore. One night as I lay wondering when I'd be rid of this bed, I decided to up and take a stroll. It was windy outside, making the indoors feel stuffy so I decided to visit Prophet. It was already past midnight and I thought dawn might break while I was up there at the mound. But I didn't feel sleepy at all so I decided to go there anyway.

I got out of bed, stumbled on Chopper, managed to save myself, left the maze of a corridor behind and exited Valhalla. I lifted my head to look at the mound with the grave and saw the usual silhouette standing there. I sighed but went up anyway.

Lady turned around, "Oh, you're better?"

"All thanks to you", I said, sarcastically.

"Must be hard bearing with Chopper though", she mused. 

I smiled weakly, and stood beside her. It was a wonderful windy night. And clouds were racing by, hiding the moon behind. 

I wonder what came over me as I looked at Lady and asked.

"What are you thinking Lady?"

She looked a bit surprised too. She looked my way briefly. 

"I wonder", she answered.

Somehow it felt like neither of us knew what was next. And considering Lady, this wasn't an acceptable state of affairs.

"I've lost many friends on the way, Seraph, but we're still here", she said in a low voice that almost got lost in the wind, "But even if I forget, they can't be erased."

I thought of my sister. I wonder why she felt like bringing it up now of all times. I would later learn that she'd foreseen something close at hand that I couldn't have imagined on that windy night.

The conversation died away soon. And we stood in silence for an eternity, before it suddenly occurred to me that I had intended to ask her something.

"Lady, I meant to ask, what exactly is Sight's ability? I couldn't really put my finger on it. He did something amazing in the ruined city and I didn't really get to ask him about it."

"It's good that you didn't ask him, Seraph. Actually, he couldn't give you an answer if he wanted to. He doesn't know what his power is."

"Eh? Is it that much of a mystery?"

"Not a mystery, no. Well...how should I put it?", she paused briefly, "You see Seraph, Sight sees things in blocks. And there really isn't anything more dangerous than a person who sees things differently."

"Huh? In blocks? No, I don't think I understand. How is that supposed to work? Just because he sees things differently?"

"Why wouldn't it work that way? You see, what makes Sight even more of a threat is that he isn't capable of seeing things any other way but his own. He cannot understand anything other than those blocks."

"But just because he sees things differently doesn't mean it should have an effect on reality", I opined, still a bit baffled.

"No, quite the contrary. After all, reality is defined by what we see it as. And if there's enough ignorance to not be able to see anything other than your own reality, then it might as well be true. That said, I won't claim to understand his abilities perfectly, but isn't that the entire point of magic, Seraph?"

I suppose she wasn't wrong. 

"I only attempted to make him blind. But the fact that he recovered only made my suspicions clearer. He himself is just blocks grouped together. And you can't really destroy those blocks just by deforming the structure a bit. I suppose that's what he sees it as. Still, he keeps those bandages wrapped around his eyes. I wonder if it is so he doesn't hurt my pride. I really didn't defeat him back then. He just caved in. He's a gentle soul, isn't he?"

From back then, she meant the time when she'd asked him to join Valhalla. She told me he'd been a murderer on the prowl. Although, he wasn't quite aware of it yet. After all, it was just blocks to him. Chopper had been against recruiting him. 

"One serial killer is enough for Valhalla", Lady laughed, thinking back on it.

"Does he know he killed people back then?"

"Not that I've brought it up to him but...he must have realized what he was doing. But that old man never recognized his curse, Seraph. If you ask me, that makes him quite the victim."

I suppose I could agree with that. Sight really wasn't at fault...right?