Chương 7: Isolation 1

I sit beside the fire and think of all that I have seen, of meadow flowers and butterflies in summers that have been; Tsunade was tired. Her time on the Island had been excellent. The facilities were better than any resort. The food was exquisite. The Island was picturesque. The blonde especially enjoyed the company. She had made fast friends with a few and remained on good terms with all the other women. There was something nice about not being treated as the Fifth Hokage, the greatest kunoichi to ever live.

Most of the women here had kicked her ass when they spared, which spurned her onto training like never before.

It helped that the library had medical knowledge centuries ahead of her time. In the three months since she had been summoned, she had learned as much about the medicine as in her fifty years before. Another benefit was the youth. Not Youth, that for Gai and his mini-me. Though Tsunade's unique ability made her look like a woman in her late twenties, she had been considerably older. Combined with the after-effects of her seal and she had felt every second of her 55 years.

Now she was young again, in her prime and with more chakra than she knew what to do with. Altogether, she felt better physically and mentally than ever before. But she was so goddamn tired. Tired of men going off to die and leaving her behind. Tired of feeling hope only to have it ripped from her. Tired of helplessness. The Sannin liked Mikael. She really did. She didn't spend as much time with him as others, but it was always enjoyable when they did talk. He asked her about her world.

About Konoha and the Land of Fire. About her history and feelings. About politics and being a med-nin. His family had been nurses, he explained. He couldn't stand being in medicine because he did not care enough about others to want to help. Tsunade had laughed at that, responding that many joined the field for the same reason. The power over life and death attracted many of the more sociopathic ninjas.

She laughed again when he mentioned he considered it but decided not to because he couldn't be bothered to memorize all the body parts. She asked about his world as well. What did he do for a living? What were his hobbies? What were his dreams? They weren't profound conversations, but they had been enjoyable. Tsunade did not love him, not like Artoria, Priscila, and Medea clearly did. She did not have a crush on him like Glynda or Raven. She wasn't desperate to sleep with him like Yoruichi and Scathach.

(In her mind's privacy, Tsunade admitted she was interested in seeing what all the fuss 'Sticky Fingers' was about.) More than anything, Tsunade's relationship with Mikael was best defined as companions. Like two ninjas on a long-term mission, they couldn't help but grow more fond of each other as they interacted. That is why she wasn't surprised to be disappointed over this last week. Of course, another man in her life left her behind. It seemed like she was destined to outlive everyone she cared about.

Like Dan, Nawaki, and Sensei. Like Jiraiya. So Tsunade lashed out when she saw Emma withholding information. Tsunade knew she was bound by one of those Comand Seal things. But, like the seals in her world, there were ways around them if you knew what you were doing. You couldn't talk? Write down your message. Couldn't communicate? Communicate with silence. A non-answer could be as good as a yes or no depending on the question. That Emma, supposedly a more advanced Yamanaka, was keeping secrets pissed her off.

The kunoichi needed to do something. Anything. And bad intel got people killed.

"While a bit harsher than I would put it," Glynda pipped up after Tsunade's question.

"I, too, wish to know what you have kept from us, Emma."

"I'm trying!" The White Queen almost snarled in response. She made to say something else, but once more, no sound left her mouth.

"She is feeling frustration, anger, and despair," Raven mentioned calmly. The mutant looked at her in an almost comical look of betrayal.

"Now she is embarrassed."

"I can still use Rule Breaker on you," Medea said. Most of the group turned to look at the witch.

"My Noble Phantasm should still be effective at removing the effects of a Comand Seal. When she first asked about seals, I offered to use it. She turned me down, though she did not say why."

"And why didn't you let her use it?" Tsunade practically growled her words, angry that the solution had always been there, but the mutant refused to use it. Emma Frost stared back at the Hokage defiantly.

"Shame and fear," Raven answered for her. Again, the mutant shot the cambion a betrayed look.

"I think that is enough," Diana spoke up.

"We are not here to persecute anyone. We are here to try and work together."

"I do not see what the issue is," Priscila finally chimed in after putting away her game. She looked around the room like a child seeking answers from adults. Despite being the oldest in the room, she was also the most naive and inexperienced, Tsunade reminded herself to stop herself from cursing the crossbreed.

"Our Bard will succeed. We need only wait."

"He has improved," Scathach answered the dragon girl as if giving a lecture.

"But he can still lose. We are afraid he bit off more than he could chew and died to an opponent he couldn't win against."

"I still do not understand," the hybrid tilted her head in confusion.

"I hath mentioned he is undead, have I not?"

"The undead can still die," Yoruichi explained. Tsunade felt a pit form in her stomach. She was starting to guess where the crossbreed's confidence came from. She prayed she was wrong.

"We've all seen him kill plenty."

"Priscila," Robin asked softly.

"When you say undead, you do not mean someone who has returned to life, do you? Or somebody who is neither living nor dead?"

"Both? Neither? He is undead. He is branded by the Dark Sign." The way the dragon girl tilted her head in confusion would have been cute had Tsunade not been so frustrated.

"What does that mean?" She snapped.

"He can still die, can't he?"

"Of course, he can," the crossbreed replied defensively. Tsunade felt a tiny bit of hope that she had guessed wrong. But that hope was extinguished with her following words.

"He died sixteen times while I followed him. But every time, he returned rather quickly. His will was most impressive."

"What?" Tsunade did not know who whispered the words as all the gathered women looked at Priscila in horror. It could have been her. Emma looked resigned. She knew. She had always known.

"Indeed," the hybrid continued. Priscilla looked proud like she was reporting an achievement.

"Only sixteen times. Those who came before died thrice that amount and became hollow for it well before the halfway point. Our Bard is most skilled. Though the wheel skeletons in the well are often the breaking point, with their spikes and grinding, Sir Mikael only died to them once. The rotting dragon provided more of a challenge, its miasma melting his flesh, but after only two deaths, he felled it using his pyromancy."

The dragon girl continued, bragging about how formidable 'Sir Mikael' was even as the assembled women looked worse and worse. It was like Edo Tensei, only so much worse. Mikael still felt pain.

"Stop!" Diana shouted, halting Priscila's retelling about their summoner's battle with a group of 'Phalanx Demons.' The amazon had her eyes closed and was taking deep breaths.

"Thank you, Priscila. That answered one of our questions. I have another if you do not mind?"

"Certainly," the crossbreed looked so happy to help. Tsunade wondered if she did not notice the reactions of those in the room. Medea looked catatonic. Scathach and Raven were stone-faced and silent. Yoruichi had fallen from her chair and stared at the dragon girl from the floor. Robin looked pained, and Glynda silently wept. Artoria had summoned her spear and looked thunderous, like she wanted to fight. Stinging pain in her hand drew Tsunade's attention. Looking down, she saw blood.

Distantly she realized she must have crushed the sake jar in her hands.

"Thank you," the amazon opened her eyes and looked at the hybrid in determination.

"How long was Mikael in the Painted World of Ariamis?"

"I could not tell you the exact length," Priscilla bit her lip in thought.

"Nobody slept, and there was no sun, so days did not matter. Time tended to blend together. I can only approximate that I spent more time following him than I have on this Island." The pit fell from Tsunade's stomach. Priscila had been here for three weeks. Mikael had spent more than three weeks non-stop in the painted world. None of the women had been summoned at that time. The interval between summonings, six hours on this end, was more than a month on his end.

Assuming the time between summoning was consistent, with three a day, some quick math gave Tsunade a rough number. Twenty-two years. Mikael had been in that world for twenty-two years. Likely more. He had been practically alone, fighting and dying to all manner of monstrosities for over two decades in a world on its last gasp. Tsunade needed another drink. Judging by the faces of the other women, they had come to a similar realization. Artoria stood suddenly, her quick movement startling some of the others.

Without a word, she marched from the room, practically stomping her way out. Tsunade did not need to be a sensor to feel what came next. Her power, raging and turbulent, flowed from her as she left the building. It coalesced into a point. Tsunade could hear the shout of anger and pain even from within the building. She could see the golden light shoot towards the sky through the window. Her Noble Phantasm, Rhongomyniad, unleased to its fullest extent at the sky, shook the building in its proximity.

Again and again, Artoria unleased her spear at the jewelled bubble encasing them. Half a dozen times, she shouted to the sky, receiving no response. The assembled women did not continue without her, letting her vent. After fifteen minutes, Artoria returned. She marched in, looking no worse for wear. Her back was straight, and her eyes steady. Perhaps for the first time since they had met, Tsunade saw the most famous King of another world in all her glory.

"Speak," the Lion King ordered the White Queen.

"You knew of this." It was not a question. Emma did not respond. She continued to look resigned.

"Regret, sadness, frustration." Raven narrated, her eyes hard. For some reason, Tsunade would swear she could see a second set of eyes above her normal ones. Blazing red in intensity.

"I cannot," Emma finally responded, her voice frustrated.

"Let us take a different tactic," Diana proposed.

"In my most recent summoning, Mikael told me he used all six command seals to give you three orders.

'Never delve deeply into my mind.'

'Never tell anyone what you find there.' and one more order.' Those were his exact words. You should be able to tell us what that third order was since it was not found in his mind." Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! The mutant looked at the Amazon and blushed. Actually blushed. Tsunade did not need to hear Raven know it was not the flush of attraction and lust.

"Extreme shame and embarrassment." For a long moment, Emma sat there. She did not meet anyone's eyes, though they all watched her intently. Finally, she spoke, in a whispered voice, as if afraid of being heard.

"He used one seal on each of those orders. The other was a single command, reinforced four times." The other group's women leaned forward to hear her words as she paused.

"He ordered: 'Regain your sanity.'""Excuse me?" Glynda asked, wiping the tracks of tears from her face. She looked determined and resolute.

"What does that mean? Why would you lose your sanity?" Emma remained silent.

"Going forward, I will assume any time you do not answer will be because you can not," Diana spoke.

"The fact that you did not answer means you lost your sanity from something in his mind. I was made to understand you are an accomplished psychic?"

"In my world, I can count on one hand the number of beings who could rival me and have fingers left over." The White Queen took evident pride in her abilities, which furthered the question.

"You saw something in his mind that drove you to madness?" Scathach asked. The silence was her reply.

"You have worked with the insane before, correct?" Glynda felt the need to clarify.

"I have. The exact nature of 'madness' varies. It could simply be sociopathy, psychopathy, dissociative personalities, or schizophrenia," the mutant explained.

"The common understanding of the mind is woefully pathetic, which causes most to label any odd behaviour as 'madness.' I have worked with many cases, and very rarely have I seen insanity in its literal definition." Tsunade realized once more that Emma, for all her faults, was an intelligent woman who had been a teacher. She knew her subject well.

"The wording of the order is suspicious." Medea did not look like the happy housewife she had been these last few months. She looked like the witch who had been first summoned, her eye set in severe contemplation.

"'Never delve deeply.' This implies you can still read his mind, but the issue is deeper and more fundamental. It cannot be natural to his homeworld. That world lacked magic or any power that should be able to influence you."

"Another side effect of the 'Catalogue?'" Artoria asked the mutant. Silence.

"One of the defences, perhaps?" Glynda proposed.

"None of the defences are active," Emma explained.

"The talents and lures are."

"Then it has to be the dragon aspect." Artoria deduced. Silence.

"Very well, what do we know about the dragon options in the catalogue?"

"The more points he spent on his dragon abilities, the higher his Tier," Medea explained. Tsunade knew she had spent considerable time talking about the nature of his abilities with the man.

"Baring his purchase of us, the greatest investment was on that."

"Indeed," Artoria nodded as she continued where her friend had left.

"We spent much time talking about dragons and their nature. It seems in the catalogue, they were categorized by element. Fire, air, ice and the like. Mikael mentioned he was aware of other 'elements.' and more abstract concepts, such as power, multiplication, division, star, creation, and others. To meet the requirements of reaching the 10th Tier, he needed to purchase two such elements."

"Were his elements the issue?" Tsunade asked Emma directly. Once more, the silence spoke for itself.

"One of them? Or both?" Emma still did not speak, though this time, the Hokage didn't know whether that was affirmative or not.

"He did not have the madness element or some such, did he? Or perhaps, unknowable?"

"No." That answer looked like it was a struggle to say. They were teetering on the edge of the Comand. The others tried their own hand.

"Power?"

"No."

"Time?"

"No."

"Infinity?"

"No."

"Void?"

"No."

"Darkness?"

"No."

"Death?"

"No."

"We could attempt this for hours and still not find an answer," Diana finally interrupted the guessing game.

"Now we know the root of the issue, we can take steps to address it. Medea, your Noble Phantasm would remove the power of the seals, correct? Is there any way to only remove one or two and leave the other intact?"

"No," the witch shook her head. Tsunade could almost see her mind racing, and, for a moment, the image of Orochimaru was superimposed on her.

"Rule Breaker is absolute. If I try to sever one binding, it will sever them all. But we can prepare steps to ensure whatever caused the madness first doesn't affect you anymore."

"How so?" The kunoichi hoped it wasn't anything too... unnatural. As a ninja, she often didn't have the luxury of being moral, but Tsunade tried her best when given a chance.

"I've actually already started," Medea looked a bit sheepish.

"Every time I cook, I put various materials in the food that bolsters us. When we arrived on the Island, I'm sure you all noticed you were considerably stronger?" There were nods around the room, so the witch continued.

"It was a benefit of the summoning. We all went up one Tier."

"That made us stronger, but how?" Glynda asked.

"While Mikael was vague on the exact details, he explained it as a qualitative difference. Tier 1 through 3 are considered baseline humans. They might be skilled or intelligent but still limited to human abilities. 4-5 usually have one or two supernatural powers, the main difference being their strength, usefulness and possible downsides. Glynda and Robin, for example, are extremely dangerous but are mostly limited to their Devil Fruit or semblance." The group remained silent, letting the witch lecture.

"6 to 10 are where things get finicky. I qualified as a six, but given enough time, materials, and magic, I could theoretically do most of what any of you could. Because of those limits, I am lower on the Tier. The easiest method to differentiate tiers is based on their possible effects. 6 is a strong ability but limited to a personal level. Anti-Personnel. 7 would be anti-fortress, 8 anti-continent, 9 anti-world, 10 will continue upwards to infinity from there, so there would be a wide range of those."

"While the subject is interesting," Diana finally interrupted the impromptu lecture.

"I believe we were asking how it would help Emma."

"Right," the witch looked embarrassed about her sudden tangents, but Tsunade didn't fault her for it. If the subject had been medicine (or booze), she could get just as distracted.

"To make a complicated subject simple, every Tier is a qualitative change that not only makes us stronger but removes weakness. Robin can now swim, for example. As I said, I have been using materials in our food that will boost our Tiers the more we consume them. The lower the Tier, the less you need. I haven't been putting too much into the meals, only about 120ml per person, but I could up the dosage. If I compress about a litre per person, it shouldn't affect the taste too much. Maybe pills?"

Medea devolved into a mumbling fit, but Tsunade had an important question.

"Any side effect?"

"Yes, but that is what we want if I want to be able to use Rule Breaker," Medea responded, barely paying attention to the med-nin.

"Excuse me?!" Emma interrupted, looking aghast.

"Raising your Tier is not feasible," Medea explained to the mutant.

"Even if you took all three doses of 1 litre a day, we would need to continue for eight and a half years to get you to Tier 9. Since the material comes from a dragon, as we ingest it, we will eventually cross a threshold and start manifesting draconic traits ourselves. Reaching that point is much quicker. Only five months or so."

"You will become dragons?" Priscila chimed in, eyes shining.

"To a degree," Medea nodded.

"Though which form that takes will vary to my knowledge. It might be as simple as our bodies producing a Dragon Core like Arotria or turning us full draconic. Either way, the process will be fully reversible once it happens."

"I am not sure how comfortable I am with changing my body to that degree." The White Queen frowned at the greek witch.

"Then you will be bound by those commands for the rest of your life," Medea shrugged uncaringly.

"If the problem is Mikael's draconic element driving you mad, then the only solutions are either removing your memories entirely or assuming an element for yourself."

"Fine," the mutant spoke as she stood up.

"Then I assume we are done here. You all got your answers, and we are no closer to getting aid to Mikael. What a waste of time."

"One last thing," Tsunade stood as well but regarded everyone else in the room for a moment.

"If we are to be ingesting these substances, then I will be providing checkups on everyone weekly." Medea made to speak, but she was silenced by a look.

"I am sure you will do your best, but this is non-negotiable. I have seen too many people get 'power-ups' only for it to destroy them. At the first sign of anything going wrong, we stop it. Are we clear?" The rest of the room made various sounds of agreement, though Medea looked slightly mulish. Too bad for her. Tsunade would not have a 'Hero Water' situation if she could help it.

"What about Mikael?" Tsunade heard Artoria ask Diana as the pair left the room.

"We wait," the amazon sighed.

"Not much else we can do for the moment. At least we know he has not perished. We must trust him to come back to us eventually." Artoria did not look pleased by those words, but nobody else was either. Tsunade was tired of waiting. Thankfully, she only had to wait two more days. At 9am sharp, the Hokage vanished from the mansion while providing a checkup on Raven. To everyone's relief.

As soon as Tsunade felt the summons, weight was removed from her chest. Mikael had made it. Looking around, she found herself on a stone gazebo in a wide field of tall grass. Great cliff faces towered above her on each side, and moonlight streamed from between the crag above. The man she sought was in a pitiful state. Mikael lay curled up on the stone platform at her feet. He had returned to his 'jerky' form, as he called it. His skin was dried, pockmarked, and sunken in.

She could count his bones, and his eyes were desiccated to the point that she was shocked they could be used. His form trembled as he cried. He whispered to himself, over and over again. The words were slurred and almost unintelligible but repeated enough for the Sannin to piece them together.

"I didn't go hollow." Great sobs racked him as he rocked back and forth. He hadn't noticed her, weeping as he was. Gone was the playful, somewhat stoic man, and a wreck was all that was left behind. Silently, Tsunade crouched behind him. While he trembled, she cast a simple diagnostic Jutsu. Like the others, the blonde couldn't affect the physical world, but her senses and abilities were not hindered. She couldn't heal the man, but getting a scan was possible. She did so at every summoning as a security measure.

More than any of the others, she knew the strength he had accumulated over his journey. It had seemed like an absurd growth rate, going from a civilian level of musculature to rivalling her strength with physical power alone. Now that she knew it was over the process of decades rather than the three months previously believed, his growth had made better sense. All that growth was gone now. He had returned to the level he had been in that cell. Decades of effort, pain and suffering had been wiped away.

Tsunade had seen ninjas give up over less. Even she felt frustrated. His DNA was also different. He looked the same, but this was a different body than the one he had when he entered the Kiln. Tsunade wanted to ask, to demand answers, but she didn't. The former Hokage took a deep breath and sat beside the crying man. She wished there was something she could do. The med-nin found that even holding someone's hand could help. But, as usual, she passed through him.

So Tsunade sat by the man's side while he wept his heart out. She sat there as the minutes dragged on, his open sobbing slowing to quiet whimpers. It was at least half an hour before he spoke.

"I didn't go hollow." He said the words as both an achievement and a curse. His voice was rough and gravelly, like someone who hadn't had water in far too long.

"You didn't," now that Tsunade truly understood what that meant, she couldn't help the pride that crept into her voice.

"I wanted to," he admitted as if he had committed a great sin.

"I never wanted something so much in my life. I wanted all the thoughts, memories, and pain to disappear."

"But you didn't," Tsunade repeated.

"I couldn't," Mikael sounded so guilty it stole her breath away. Tsunade's fists curled hard enough to pierce her skin.

"I tried letting go. Tried to give in. But like everything else, I didn't get a fucking choice." He practically snarled the last words.

"I am sorry." That was all she could say. Sorry that they were in this situation. Sorry that he was forced to go through this alone. Sorry that the world wasn't fair. Sorry that all his effort had gone unrewarded.

"It's fine," he mumbled as he sat up, wiping the tear stains from his eyes.

"I don't blame any of you. You all are as much victims in this as I am." Tsunade didn't really agree with that but held her tongue.

"Besides, there is good news. Our freedom is guaranteed now."

"How so?" She asked, desperate for any silver lining.

"If I can't go hollow, it is just a matter of time until I beat the third game. It will take a while, maybe even a year on your end, but it will happen." While she was happy he could be optimistic about the situation, Tsunade was still not pleased with him.

"How long were you going to keep hiding the time difference?" Her eyes narrowed at him, daring him to lie once more. He blinked at her in surprise before shrugging his shoulders.

"As long as I could since it did not seem to matter."

"Did not matter!" Tsunade snarled, her fists still clenching in frustration. She wished she could hit him. Hit this gazebo. Hit anything.

"You've been doing this for decades! How does that not matter?" He appeared unconcerned with her anger.

"For the same reason, I can't go hollow. It ensures I will never settle down, constantly pushing me forward. My memories never fade, always the same as when I first appeared in that cell. It was initially why I chose that ending in the first place. Whether it takes me centuries or millennia, I will keep moving forward to be free." Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him.

"That is one of your elements, isn't it? Freedom? You are insane because you are a conceptual Dragon of Freedom which is trapped. Emma went into your mind, and it also drove her mad." Perhaps for the first time, Mikael looked disturbed.

"Did Medea use Rule Breaker? Is Emma okay?" He asked franticly. Tsunade was shocked by how scared he looked, the emotion plainly visible on his sallow features, but she managed to answer.

"We weaselled some information out of her without breaking the commands. She is fine." Tsunade could appreciate he was worried for the mutant, but she wouldn't allow him to change the subject.

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"You are, but only partially." He sagged, looking resigned.

"To reach tier 10, I had to take two elements. I chose Freedom and Life. Now I am trapped and undead. The irony is astounding. I chose Freedom since I figured it would help with dimensional travel and Life, so I would be harder to kill. I didn't think it would be too much of a problem when I first wrote that story since you all would be enough to curb stomp Dark Souls."

"If every plan worked out, the world would be a better place." Tsunade tried to hold on to the anger. To feel hurt at his secret-keeping. To feel betrayed. Looking at him, so hunched and tired, made it impossible. In the end, she just sighed. That they knew now really did change nothing.

"You said something back there while crying. You kept repeating, 'I didn't go hollow.' Why?" It was difficult to make out a proper expression with his sunken eyes and emaciated face, but for the first time since the summoning, Tsunade could swear Mikael was smiling.

"I suppose it is why I like Dark Souls in the first place." He sounded nostalgic, and Tsunade settled in to hear a story. If all she could do to ease the pain was listen, then she shall listen. It was why she became a medic.

"I enjoyed the combat, the immersive world, and the profound lore. If that had been all, I think Dark Souls would have been a good game, but it wouldn't have become the cultural icon it did later. You have to understand the central conceit of the game. Everything can be overcome. No matter how hard things get, how often you die, or what you face, you only lose the game by giving up."

"Sometimes giving up is the right choice," Tsunade felt the need to point out.

"I am not disagreeing that letting things go can be a better option than clinging to them." He shook his head as if frustrated that she didn't understand his words.

"This was a video game. There were no stakes. It was a hobby to enjoy. It was known for being difficult but always possible. To beat the game, you only needed the will to carry on. Combat was exhilarating, but the joy came when you hit a wall. When you face a foe so tough, tricky, or outlandish, you throw yourself against them repeatedly, only to fail. Then suddenly, after tens or hundreds of failures, you succeed. You find a trick, raise your abilities, or simply get good.

No matter how you do it, you finally break down that wall. That shot of endorphins was like nothing else back then. It suddenly felt like everything was possible. That there was nothing you couldn't do." He gestured wildly as he spoke passionately on the subject. Some others might have looked down on him for getting so energetic about a hobby, but Tsunade was entirely pleased by it. It wasn't childishness that killed ninja. It was apathy.

Like always, though, when discussing a passion, it was essential to keep them on track.

"That sounds nice, but what does that have to do with hollows? They are mindless undead, correct?"

"They are not mindless," he clarified.

"They are will-less. They retain all their abilities, technique, and intelligence. They know to ambush and plan, to kill and rob. They even still know how to practice religion. The difference is that they do these things because it is simply all they know to do. They have given up on progress, on achieving anything meaningful. Anyone, literally anyone in the entire world, could have achieved what I did back in Lordran. They could have defeated all the same foes, killed the gods, defeated Gwyn and linked the fire.

I was lucky enough to know it was possible and to have good teachers, but I was way more unprepared than anyone else. It took me a few decades when it could have taken a competently trained fighter much less time. I succeeded only because I never gave up. I only gave in at the end." Mikael trailed off, looking melancholy once more. Tsunade mind raced urgently to try and keep him talking.

"You were repeating it so often I thought it was a common phrase. I remember hearing something similar a few times when you summoned me."

"Though this world is dreary, drifting from one apocalypse to another, it isn't without its bright spots," he explained.

"A few people who are always pleased to see you can go a long way. I tried my best to give those as good an ending as possible. One of them, in the original game, had a line. It was a throw-away thing, never intended to become as famous as it did. Every time you stepped away from him, he would bid farewell, saying, 'don't you dare go hollow.' It is at once a plea for your continued existence and affirmation that you are not facing this world alone.

"Dark Souls wasn't super popular when it first came out. It was a cult hit for the longest time. Large enough that you didn't know everyone in the community but small enough that you would see some familiar faces occasionally. People talked to each other on message boards, piecing together the lore and telling stories. It got around that, while the game never cured it, it helped people with depression. The idea of overcoming anything can help people who feel just getting out of bed in the morning is challenging.

People would share their stories and end them with a message to the community. Don't you dare go hollow."

"That sounds nice." Tsunade wished something like that could have been possible in her world. By their very nature, ninja jealously guarded their secrets, and the idea of opening up anonymously to others would have turned their souls.

"I've been lucky enough to not have depression in my life," Mikael sighed.

"I've had my ups and downs, been in depressing situations, and even faced my mortality a time or two but never been clinically depressed. But I have had friends and family who have been. That something as innocuous as a video game, no matter how good, can be so life-affirming while being so dark... I have always found that beautiful. That saying, 'don't you dare go hollow,' stuck with me for over a decade before I was trapped in that cell. Before Gwyn and...

the fire," he looked almost nauseous as he said the words.

"It was something I repeated to myself over and over as a way to push forward. Now, since I cannot stay dead, go hollow, or give up, I suppose I do not need to anymore." Seeing his mood drop, Tsunade turned the subject once more. She asked about this new land, she asked about his family and friends, she asked about anything and everything. By the fourth time, Tsunade changed the subject abruptly, the med-nin was sure Mikael had wised up to her moves.

He simply smiled softly at her and went on to explain the history of his homeworld as she had asked. They stayed in that stone gazebo, in that grass field, for hours. Just talking, taking what comfort they could in each other's presence. When Tsunade's time was up, the pale white portal opened by itself behind her and started to subtly drag her, Mikael was looking better. Not happy, but more secure. Less like a sobbing wreck.

He stood as she did, ready to face whatever challenges this new world, not with a smile but a will. Tsunade would have hugged him if she could, but all she could give him were some parting words. She stared into his eyes as the portal swallowed her, willing him to understand that he was not alone.

"Don't you dare go hollow!"