- "You want to talk?" Nyx curiously tilts her head to the side. "Sure, I'm stuck here anyways."
- "I really appreciate that you could make time for me." Vivianne's smile gets wider, without getting any warmer.
- "No problem!"
- "...And Solomon used to say I can't get sarcasm." She sighs.
- "Used to? Doesn't he always do that?"
- "As you probably noticed…" Vivianne stops, noticing that Nyx was just blankly staring at her with her usual smile. "...My bad. You didn't pay attention to it did you?"
- "To what?"
- "Ugh." She rolls her eyes, and a few red broken hearts materialize around her, slowly drifting in all directions. "Well, Solomon doesn't really talk to me anymore, ever since what happened a while ago."
- "Oh yeah, he said it was six hundred million years ago. I'm pretty sure that humans aren't supposed to stay mad at each other for that long!"
- "Oh trust me, I've been trying to tell him to move on. But he-" She pauses, and slowly looks down at Nyx. "What did you just say?..."
- "That humans aren't supposed to-"
- "No, that thing about six hundred million years!! He didn't tell me it was THAT long!"
- "Huh? What was?"
- "The time it took me to regenerate!..."
- "Oh yeah, after blowing me up."
- "Oh you're not guilt tripping me right now." She scoffs. "I'd do it again if I had to. As a matter of fact, I'm about to." Her hands are suddenly veiled in a bright, sparkling blood red light.
- "Hey, don't kill me!"
- "..." The light on Vivianne's hands slowly disperses as she squints at Nyx. "See that's weird."
- "What?"
- "You just begged for your life. The Nyx I know wouldn't do that. So, you could just be some kind of imposter..."
- "I'm… not? Kind of? I'm just a fragment of me though."
- "What's my favorite color?"
- "Pink?"
- "Hm. That was an easy one, anyone could've gotten it."
- "Yes, you're wearing it all over yourself. I remember your first followers just assumed it was."
- "...You're good. Then, what's my age?"
- "Six hundred million years old?"
- "No! I mean at the time of my rebirth!"
- "Oh when I made you a god. You were nineteen years, three months, two weeks, five days, ten hours, twenty two minutes and forty six seconds old."
- "...Alright, that's reaaaally creepy."
- "You asked me!"
- "Yes, and I regret it. I didn't even know all of that. But you're undeniably… you. Let me see…"
Vivianne touches Nyx's forehead with her index, and a soft pink light diffuses from it. A few seconds later, a tear rolls down Vivianne's left eye.
- "You looked through my memories?" Nyx asks, gently pushing Vivianne's hand away. "For some reason I'm not super happy about that."
- "...You're actually doing it."
- "Doing what?"
- "Nothing. Vivianne smiles from ear to ear, and sits on the nearby bed. It was the smile Nyx was used to back when they were on the moon sharing stories. "I'm just happy that you actually managed to make it work out."
- "Sorry to interrupt but…" Vanessa says inside Nyx's mind. "Isn't she supposed to be your mortal enemy?! How are you having a casual conversation with her?!"
- "My mortal enemy?" Nyx frowns. "I think I only have one, and it's Lady Night."
- "I'll say, mortal enemy is a bit of a stretch. But it's fair too." Vivianne adds.
- "Wait… she can hear me?..." Vanessa whispers.
- "Duh! I'm a goddess."
Vivianne waves her hand in Nyx's direction, and a fuschia pink aura surrounds her. It then separates from her, and forms into an exact copy, save for the fact that the original's eyes had lost their stars and that the second one had no handcuffs.
- "Oh, it's this again." Nyx comments, looking at her hands. "I got a body made of light."
- "Uh… nice to meet you, Lady Vivianne…" Vanessa mumbles, taking a few steps back.
- "Oh please." Vivianne gets back up and strikes a theatrical pose with her hand extended towards her. "Just call me Vivianne."
- "Okay, uh… Vivianne."
- "Why did you do that?" Nyx asks.
- "Cause I felt like it!" Vivianne nonchalantly replies. "I like what Vanessa's doing for you, but it's probably tough to always be talking from inside your head. With my blessing, she should be able to separate you from her for about twenty four hours, give or take." She hesitates a bit after looking at Nyx. "I wouldn't go past ten though, or she'll probably start acting like her universe-god self again."
- "Oh. Okay."
- "Okay?..." Vanessa echoes. "Thank you, I guess…"
- "No worries!" Vivianne sits back down. "Also Nyx, just in case you ask, I'm not helping you kill Lady Night."
- "Because you're weakened?" Nyx replies.
- "Huh?!" Vivianne flinches. "Where did you get that silly idea from?!"
- "I can just… see it? You're constantly bleeding out light."
- "...Yeah things have been happening back in my kingdom." Vivianne shakes her head, regaining her composure. "But that's not why! I think Lady Night is someone that you need to defeat. Not you alone, you'd probably just die. But I have the feeling it'd be best if you two could have a good heart to heart!"
- "A heart to heart? With her?" Starlight begins emanating from Nyx's entire body, and her eyes emit a dangerous glow. "No."
- "That's a great reaction! I'll come back to check in on you after that happens."
- "What's happening in there?" Michael, the guard, says as he opens the sliding peephole.
His eyes sweep over the scene, with Vivianne sitting on the bed, Nyx cloaked in white light while glaring at her, and Vanessa standing there, looking confused.
- "I think I gotta report this." He nods to himself. "I don't know what to report, but it has to happen."
- "No, you want to go to the cafeteria." Vivianne replies. "Because you're really hungry. And hunger is making you see things that don't exist, like incredibly charming goddesses and clones."
- "Right, I am very hungry." Michael mechanically replies. "I am going to the cafeteria now."
He walks away, not even bothering to shut the peephole. Vivianne walks over to close it herself.
- "You know, I already told you I don't like you mind controlling humans." Nyx grumbles, the starlight around her dying down. "Free will is important."
- "I'm not mind controlling people anymore, for my defense!" Vivianne spins around to face her. "I'm just making them succumb to their inner desires."
- "Mhm." Nyx frowns, unconvinced.
- "Plus, the love of his life is at the cafeteria. I'm just giving his love story a little push here, since he's so hopelessly unaware."
- "Hmmm? How do you know that?"
- "Some people are just tied by destiny. And I could ramble on and on about how my powers work, but wouldn't you rather know about the story in question? Plus, I have a few other things you might want to know…"
- "Mhmmm…" Nyx ends up giving up on her initial anger, flashing a bright smile instead. "You always know how to get my interest!"
- "Right?" Vivianne manifests an entire banquet table in the cell, complete with candles for lighting and many different kinds of exotic food. "I hope you like Utopian cuisine, that's the only stuff I can manifest properly!"
They spend the next hour or so chatting while snacking on Vivianne's carefully crafted dishes. During that time, Vanessa is just awkwardly standing at the end of the banquet table, watching them talk.
- "Woah I didn't know demons could be that bad!" Nyx exclaims. "Granted it kinda sounds like it was your fault."
- "Less victim blaming and more approval please!" Vivianne angrily points a chicken leg at her. "But you of all people should understand why I did the things I did."
- "That's true, I would've done the same…"
- "Ha! One point for Vivianne, zero for the rest of the universe."
- "Shouldn't we both be at zero?"
- "Details!"
- "By the way, what happened to the other gods? I know about you and Solomon, but you didn't mention Serafim and Calypso."
- "...Serafim's doing okay. After I blew you to bits, I went to sleep for…" Vivianne buries her face in her hands. "...Like, six hundred million years, apparently? And Serafim also went dormant because he didn't want to have to live without me. He told me that he woke up to check on me every century or so, and would go right back to snoozing. I ended up fully regenerating about thirty thousand years ago. After that, he went on to found his own kingdom, Polemys. And I went to create Utopia. We decided to be neighbors at first, but a few… problems with spirits and other things gave the continent's map a bit of a relooking."
- "I heard Lord Serafim was attached to you, but I didn't think it was like that…" Vanessa comments.
- "Oh yes, he loves me. He's like the son I never had, you know? He's so endearing. I wish he was there right now, so I could embarrass him in front of you."
- "What about Calypso then?" Nyx asks.
- "...She hates us. Just like Solomon, she didn't go dormant during the past few hundred million years. At first, she tried to kill Serafim and me, but Serafim fought tooth and nail to protect me. Their scuffle threatened to destroy the Earth. At some point, Serafim threw the First Moon at her, and she just kind of... vaporized it."
- "Oh, that's why we only have one moon now…"
- "Yup. Then I got her to calm down by telling her that if she kept going, all that Nyx cared about would be destroyed. You know, classic emotional manipulation."
- "She's… a bit worse than I thought." Vanessa tells Nyx.
- "Hey I heard that! For my defense, it was that or no planet for you, so you better be grateful for my smooth talking!"
- "That's fair but still…"
- "So what's Calypso doing now?" Nyx continues.
- "She's the goddess of Galanos, her kingdom in the middle of the sea. I know Solomon had been working on some project after I went to sleep, but I don't know what Calypso did." She looks down, the light in her eyes dying down a bit. "Probably spent millions of years cursing our names. I tried to make up with her like I did with Solomon, but she almost killed me when I stepped foot in her kingdom. I wouldn't be here if Serafim didn't bail me out."
- "Oh. She's still mad after all this time? I guess I really made you guys into non-humans. I feel a bit sorry now."
- "Our Nyx, feeling sorry?" Vivianne has a crystalline laugh. "I think you might be an impostor after all."
- "I'm not!"
- "I know I know, I'm just joking." She has a melancholic stare, looking at an invisible point beyond the wall she was facing. "You know, since you're back and not… a COMPLETE sociopath…"
- "Complete?"
- "No comment." Vivianne sighs, with a weak smile. "You think things could go back to the way they were? I'm missing these days. After thirty thousand years, even spirits can die. You guys are some of the only constants. And I loved being around you all, before the… incident."
- "Hm? No."
- "That's harsh!! Why?"
- "Because I'm going to die too."
- "...You're surprisingly calm about this, you know that Nyx?"
- "Oh I'm not, but I don't wanna worry Vanessa."
- "Aww."
- "Didn't I tell you something about being with you every step of the way?!" Vanessa exclaims. "You should tell me about these kinds of things!"
- "Sorry, but if I did we'd be talking about it all the time." Nyx calmly replies. "I know humans don't like doing that."
- "...I understand, but-"
- "It's fine, Vanessa. Really." Nyx gives her a confident smile. "It's a lot better if we can all smile! I know you do, even with your own problems." She turns to Vivianne. "Same for Vivianne! I think it's all about trying our best to not feel sad."
- "...You know I thought you were saying something great, but now I'm just concerned."
- "Urk."
- "Haha, she's right!" Vivianne grins. "Well anyways girls, I gotta go before Solomon notices me. I'm not supposed to talk to you. He probably forbade me because he was scared I would figure out who you were."
- "You did try to kill me when you did!"
- "Besides the point!" She dramatically points her finger at Nyx. "I walked in ready to talk at first! Well a little bit. A teeny, tiny bit."
- "Before annihilating her." Vanessa comments.
- "Stop speaking the truth, it's making me feel bad about myself!"
Vivianne gets up from the banquet table, and it slowly starts to dissolve into particles of pink light along with the food on it. Vivianne herself also begins to disappear.
- "Hey Vivianne!" Nyx calls.
- "What?" Vivianne turns to her.
- "I know things can't be like before, but you can always come visit me whenever you want! I want to hear all your stories, and I'm sure Solomon won't mind!"
- "Awww you're so sensible now, even trying to cheer me up. Well, I'll take you up on your offer, goddess of the Night!"
She disappears, leaving a myriad of pink hearts floating around the cell, illuminating it with their light.
- "So uh…" Vanessa turns to Nyx.
- "?"
- "Did she ever tell us how to merge back together?..."
- "Nope, we're gonna have to figure it out!"
- "Oh my god…"
- "That's classic Vivianne!" Nyx laughs. "Also which one of us are you referring to?"
- "...I really don't want to think about my views on religion right now…"