Cutscene: Artificial Delusion
Artificial Delusion
Characters: Eikichi Mishina
Date: ???
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How long has it been?
"Wake up, sire!"
Today is the first day he wakes up and finds himself amongst strangers. He doesn't remember why or how he came to be here. His most immediate reaction is to run; shoving the bulbous, trollish creature who greets him to the ground, Eikichi Mishina manages to make it through the door of his ostentatious chambers, swinging them open to a blinding downpour of light and
really for all his showmanship, Eikichi Mishina has never been a great dancer. He still maintains a certain air of the awkward boy he used to be. Which must be why he's standing stiff, awkward and disarmed, as the fairies celebrate and dance around him in a circle. They call him their king because of course he is now. He's just surprised at how well they dance.
What the hell is going on? he asks, because he's just so taken aback. It can't be because he doesn't know how he got here amidst the lush sweeping landscape of the fairyland or the gap of time between then and now he can no longer account for. He was too busy celebrating.
He sees a teal-haired figure in the distance. Eyes widening he remembers where he is and how he got here and the gap of time between then and now he can now account for. He stops celebrating by knocking aside the fairies that surround him.
They cheer for their liege's good graces as he runs off. He races through winding paths, through thorn bushes. His clothes torn, his skin breaking and bleeding, he hardly even thinks about it. He hardly even thinks of the fairies that hoorah for his presence. He sees a searing teal light in the distance. He follows it, through large, sweeping forest.
The light wisps this way and that, and despite how his legs feel like giving out from under him, he forces them to follow until they reach the very edge of the Fairyland. Where the teal light is gone, where space and time bends like vapor.
He takes a single step before he remembers this is the fourth time he has done this and that when he crosses that boundary he will
"Wake up, sire!"
Today is the first day he wakes up and finds himself amongst strangers. He doesn't remember why or how he came to be here. He blearily asks where he is, how he got here. The fairy servant attending him smilingly tells him he's been here the whole time and that he's simply been sleeping.
He's been here since as long as he can remember.
After all, he is their king.
Something about this feels false. He pushes past the servant groggily, rubbing his eyes as he stands. He walks towards the door, unlistening to the fairy attending to him as he announces that Eikichi can't leave yet, after all, he still has to
"Eat your meal, sire."
Well-roasted game bird hovers inches from Eikichi Mishina's mouth when he comes to the realization that he's a vegetarian and that he has no idea where he is or how he got here. He stares with wide, vacant hazel eyes down the long dining table that stretches so far he cannot see the end of it, seat after seat filled with fairyfolk, speaking and laughing and eating from the cornucopia of meats that fills the entire table.
His words find him in a hoarse voice trying to grapple with a cavalcade of new and horrifying information. What the hell is this?
"It's bluebird, sire."
The voice demands his attention. He turns to look -- sees teal hair, a gentle face-- no. Past it, he sees the truth. He sets down his fork, closes his eyes. How long has it been?
"Eat it, sire. For me."
He manages to keep control of himself for all of five seconds before lunging at the fairy pretending to be her, shaking her as they go crashing to the ground demanding she take her out of this place right now or else
"You won't make much of a king if you continue to dance like that, sire."
It's a lack of grace that sends Eikichi Mishina crashing to the ground. He always did only pretend at it. The young, blue-haired man looks flustered beyond belief as he plants palms into lush, vibrant green earth, staring at the empty space on the verdant dance floor as if he expected someone beneath him.
He looks up. He doesn't remember how long he's been here, or how he got here. But he was dancing. And then he fell. That's what happened. The fairies all dance around him in a circle of celebration, ignorant of his fall. He sees other fairies in the distance enjoying their constant festival, some dancing, some eating, some laughingly riding around farm animals until the beasts die of exhaustion.
He can't remember anything. How long has it been? He feels like he's been here before. Like there's something important. Is this a dream...?
He sees a hand presented to him. He looks up, to the teal-haired figure smiling down at him. He can't quite make out her face.
It isn't her. He knows that. He should slap the hand away.
"It is okay."
He push past the circle and find a way out.
"Take my hand."
He should just give up.
"I will take the lead this time, sire."
He should let her lead.
Eikichi's hand reaches out to take hers. And she teaches him how to dance. The way the fairies dance.
How long has it been?
He can't remember, anymore.
After all. Time isn't important to fairies.
And certainly not their king.
But is that true? ...
He can't remember, anymore.
