198 She Falls Asleep a Third Time

Robin fell silent for a long moment.

"....six years." She breathed. Her words began slowly, but gained in speed and volume as she continued.

"For six entire years, I have had this feeling that couldn't be shaken, no matter what I did. I tried medicine, psychiatrists, meditation, self-hypnosis, diets, acupuncture....I've been to doctors in the east and doctors in the west. They all said it was nothing. They couldn't find anything wrong. They said it was all inside my head."

She took a deep breath. "SO IT WAS YOUR BLASTED MINION THIS WHOLE TIME!?" She yelled out, both furious and relieved.

"THE NIGHTMARES, THE EVER HEIGHTENING SENSE OF DANGER, THE DAMNABLE FEELING OF URGENCY: THAT WAS ALL YOU!!??"

She laughed, breaking out into a fit of enraged ironic laughter, to the point where she had to lean on her sword for support.

Everyone stared at her in a stunned silence.

Finally, she drew in a ragged breath, and slowly let it out, as she stood back up straight. "I finally have a face to put to this feeling, and a name to call it by. Trader, your years of spirit predation will end today!"

"Oh? And how are you going to accomplish that?" He asked, bemused.

"Easily enough." Robin said, glancing at the broken sword in the Trader's hand. He looked down at it.

"It seems I'll need to commission another blade in the future." He shrugged tossing the handle away.

"But, then again...I never did need a blade." He said, as he looked at Robin, eyes glowing. Robin's body jerked for a moment, and slumped over, leaning on the sword.

Then Robin began to chuckle with a familiar laugh. But, was it Robin? She straightened up, looking down at the sword in her hand, and tugged at it.

The sword that had been her companion this entire time, refused to budge. She frowned ignoring the approaching Trader as she tugged again at the sword, which remained rooted in the ground.

At this moment, Jasmine took action. Muttering words in the ancient language of the elves, she tossed out a potion that fell in between Robin and the trader. It shattered, releasing a cloud of gas, that enveloped the two before they could react. Both fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Jasmine, what in the Firey Planes of Vul'kan do you think you are doing!?" Christian exclaimed.

"Distilled Klargun's Brew-fog form. It's obviously the backup plan." Jasmine snorted. "Don't worry, I didn't kill them. The Trader seems to be able to switch easily between the conscious and the subconscious mind. So if Robin is awake, then the two will never meet, and Robin will truly become his little puppet. Do you want the Trader to win? Because if I let Robin be, he would have won." This silenced Christian.

Christian gritted his teeth, then punched himself hard in the jaw.

"What are you doing!?" Jasmine asked.

"You're right. I shouldn't have doubted him." Christian said. "I...this is all my fault. If I hadn't summoned Robin here...then this..." His eyes swept painfully over Robin's fallen form, as guilt tore at his insides. "This would have never..."

"If you hadn't summoned Robin, then we would have never known about the Trader, or about how dangerous he is." Chelsea interrupted. "We would have been taken over one by one, being none-the-wiser. The lives that Robin saved, the foods Robin made, the friendships enkindled, the dangers destroyed: are you going to deny all the good that Robin has done? Would Robin's world be a better place, if the Trader had attacked while Robin was unaware of the dangers?"

Christian recalled all those whom Robin had helped along the way: Gerard's village, the Capital's orphans, The kingdom of Ekkinshire, the direwolves that were chased by the wyvern, the children from the village near where they slew the wyvern, Chelsea, Liam, Quinn, Dirk, Elise, Skye, Ayva, the dwarves of Ragnok. So many people were helped and saved along the way.

If Robin had not arrived, their lives would not have changed for the better. If he did not know about them, it wouldn't matter to him. But, after knowing them, to want them to return to how things were before...

Christian couldn't do it.

"You cannot undo what has been done in the past." Chelsea continued, as Christian was silent in contemplation.

"But you can take responsibility for what has happened, and do all that you can to ensure that it will come to a good end. This is the duty of all who would be considered just, righteous, and upright. So says my brother Oracle, who is inevitably always right."

"...He's always right, huh. That very well may be." Christian sighed, looking at Robin.

"I just don't like it. Robin's fighting in there for all of us, and we can't even tell if he's winning or not!" He complained bitterly.

Skye meowed.

"Actually, it is possible." Liam translated. "Skye can sense who is winning through his link, but unless Robin calls out to him, he can't tell much else at the moment."

Skye turned and looked unblinkingly at Robin, and his eyes widened ever so slightly. Then he tilted his head and mewed.

"Hmm? Your sure?" Liam asked Skye. Who nodded.

"What is it?" Christian asked.

Liam looked puzzled. "Skye says that he can sense not two, but three different spirit signatures, though the last one is being surrounded by one of them, and is much smaller compared to the two."

"Since one is Robin, and one is the Trader..."Jasmine mused.

"Then, who is the third one?" Christian asked.

--------

Robin sat up from the concrete pavement, and looked around. It was the city in her dreamscape. Except, instead of the bright sunshine, or twilight grey sky that usually greeted her, the cityscape was shrouded under the darkness of night. She stood up, and realized she was standing on the school roof.

"Hiiro!" A voice called out from nearby. Robin turned to look. It was her older brother.

"You suddenly vanished. I looked everywhere for you, where did you go-" He stopped as Robin pointed her blade at him, halting his approach.

"Come out. I know you're there." She stated.

"Keheheheh. How did you know?" A shadow separated from the figure, drawing itself together into a dark, ghostly form.

"I trust my brother completely. For me to wear a mask in his presence means that there is something about him in this dreamscape that is making me keep my guard up." She noted "No wonder I couldn't take my mask off the last time. With you piggybacking along, there's no way I'd willingly do so."

Robin looked down upon the collapsed figure of her older brother, and frowned. "But who are you?" She asked.

Her elder brother sat up from his spot on the ground. "Er um...hello? Nice to meet you, Robin. My name is Dawkins."

"It's YOU!?" Robin scowled.

"No, wait wait! I know what you are talking about, but I realize now that that Dawkins wasn't actually me!" Dawkins explained. His image shifted from that of Robin's older brother to that of a midground between the image of old Dawkins and Sebastian Lave.

"He was the one in control the whole time after your parent's death." Dawkins pointed at The ghostly figure, who wasn't paying attention. He was distracted by the feeling of somebody watching them.

"Why would he suddenly gain control after my parents died?" Robin asked, her eyes narrowed.

"B-because the same accident that killed your parents...also killed my daughter." Dawkins revealed, despite his grief.

----------

Skye meowed again, relying on Liam to translate.

"The small spirit has separated from the one that surrounded it." Liam conveyed.

"Should we consider it an enemy?" Jasmine wondered.

At that, something in Christian's head clicked.

"No, it's an ally." He said.

"Oh? You can't see it, so how do you know?" Jasmine asked, annoyed.

"'The Hero sleeps once to save the young, and sleeps again to save the mountain.

Where the dipper meets the spine, the Hero's foe you shall find, and the past emerging truth fountain.' This has already come to pass even right before our eyes." Christian pointed out.

"And the next line is 'From foe's mouth, a companion shall leap, to harbor from darkness the Hero's sleep.' The Trader is clearly indicated to be the foe, here. And Jasmine's modified sleeping potion has put both the Trader, and Robin to sleep. So, as the Hero sleeps, the spirit that emerges from within the Trader can only be the companion that 'from the foe's mouth' leaps!"

Everyone present was flabbergasted at the sound logic behind Christian's explanation.

Oracle chuckled to himself. 'Not bad young'un. Not bad.' He thought, before turning his attention back to Robin.