Shana stood at the edge of the bridge that led to the Nightmare Citadel.
We’re back.
And hopefully…
We can save you this time, Nocta.
A hollow wind blew across her and her group. She held her hair out of her face, and then looked down at her feet. At the sight of the glowing blue dog beside her, she smiled.
I’m so happy I have you this time, Altair.
She’d managed it, just like Heart said she could. She and all of her companions could use their magic fully, even in the world of Nightmares.
This is our best chance.
“Ready?” Shana asked, looking back at everyone. Mister Midnight, the Dawn Riders, Fae, the Star sisters, Gerick, and Chelsea.
The more the merrier, right?
Nods and words of assent went around the entire group.
Shana turned forward and started across the bridge. The Nightmare Citadel loomed ahead, as ominous as ever. And though its doorways were wide open, the interior was entirely shrouded in darkness.
How can anyone live like this?
Even if a Nightmare Queen has to exist…
She shouldn’t have to live in such darkness. What is this place supposed to look like? What was it like before Collapse took hold?
What will it be when we succeed?
“Everyone know their roles?” Midnight asked.
Once again, words of assent rippled through the group.
Mister Midnight, Chelsea, Fae, and me are focusing on the Nightmare Queen.
The Star sisters and Gerick are backup for us, and working on deciphering the other mysteries we haven’t solved.
Shias, Kathryn, Rae, and Ben are going downstairs to find Collapse and be ready to destroy it.
There’s a harsh fight ahead for them, most likely. Fae told us about the people who transported Collapse from place to place, eventually ending at the Nightmare Citadel. They aren’t likely to let us destroy Collapse without a fight.
Shias…
Everyone…
Be safe.
Over all of that hung a sense of incredible responsibility for Shana.
I can’t just rest on being able to let everyone use their magic.
My Dreamer powers…
I keep learning more. I keep understanding and being able to make use of more.
Here in this place, a world of Nightmares…
Where else would they be more useful?
I need to find my place in all of this. I need to rise above anything I’ve ever done before.
Before she knew it, she was standing at the doorway of the Citadel.
“This is it,” she said softly. Altair bumped his head against her leg.
Into the darkness she went.
Wings flapped, and a shining white form dashed ahead of the entire group. Chelsea’s owl, his name a secret to all but his Summoner, was leading the way. His light pierced the darkness, and he let out a cry that sounded of loneliness, of longing, of hope.
His cry was answered. As Shana and her group split up, as Shana and Shias brushed hands in a wordless sign of encouragement to each other, a cry filled the air, and it was accompanied by a looming, foreboding darkness.
Nocta spread her wings, filling so much of the Citadel’s vast interior. Her lavender eyes locked onto the small white owl that fearlessly flew towards her.
Her voice rang out, hollow and broken.
“Collapse.”
Chelsea’s owl cried out in reply, stopping before Nocta’s face, hovering in the air and meeting her vicious gaze with unblinking determination.
“Nocta!” Midnight said, stepping forward.
“Lance…lot…” Nocta said haltingly. Her eyes flicked towards Midnight, and then back to Chelsea’s owl.
Chelsea’s owl flew closer, until his beak was almost touching Nocta’s.
For a moment, it looked like there was going to be a gentle touch between the two Summons. But then, Nocta reared back, and the whole Citadel filled with her voice.
“Collapse.”
Her wings beat once, and a wild, vicious wind lashed at everyone in the vast chamber. Shana dropped to her knees, barely managing to keep from tumbling out of the Citadel entirely. Next to her, Midnight stood tall, not even lifting a hand to shield his face.
He wouldn’t take his eyes off of Nocta.
And behind Shana, a voice spoke, barely heard above the wind.
“You don’t have to be alone.”
It was Chelsea. Perhaps she was saying it to herself, or perhaps she was projecting it through her owl. Despite her quietude, her voice was filled with conviction and hope.
Her owl cried out, matching that hope. Against the vicious winds he flew high and strong, staying near Nocta.
Looking at them both like that, as the white owl’s light illuminated the dark owl’s face, Shana found it striking how similar the two Summons were. Their round faces, their wide eyes… Nocta was dozens of times larger than the white owl, and Collapse had not been kind to her, leaving her once magnificent wings looking more like a tattered cape, but Shana could see what had once been.
“We’re the same.”
Those words that Isabelle had said Chelsea had spoken of her Summon. The impact those words had had on Midnight when he heard them.
So much loneliness. These Summons reached out to their would-be Summoners and latched onto similar feelings.
But…
It can’t be just coincidence that the two Summons are so similar, too.
Loneliness.
Is this the hope that Nocta needs?
And if not, what can we do to truly save her?
“Shana,” came Fae’s voice. The winds had died down, and Fae came to kneel next to her sister, fishing in her bag. Out came the candlestick bell. “Do you think there’s any way you can make this work? If we can get it to ring out properly, that might be the final help that Nocta needs.”
“We have to try,” Shana said with a nod. She placed her hand on Fae’s, holding the bell with her, and smiled. The sisters raised the bell together and rang it out.
Its sound was dull, empty, hollow.
“It’s okay,” Shana said, smiling against Fae’s anxious expression.
It’s okay. This can work.
Chelsea’s owl is doing his part. Mister Midnight’s doing his part.
I’m sure…
I’m sure this is the last piece of the puzzle. And it’s up to me to make it work.
Shana focused all her will onto the candlestick bell, onto hope, onto beautiful sounds that could rend this darkness and save a tortured soul.
She nodded to Fae, and together they lifted the bell once more, ringing it out.
Shana’s heart soared.
A beautiful, crystal-clear note filled the dull emptiness of the Citadel, resonating outward and back in again. As if in time with that music, Chelsea’s owl cried out louder and more determined than ever before.
Light exploded into the darkness. Chelsea’s owl blazed like a pure white sun, radiating wild tongues of white flame.
Shana smiled, standing tall. She waited with bated breath for Nocta, for her true voice, for her first words of hope.
But the sound she heard…
“Collapse.”
Nocta’s anguished, hollow voice filled the air. Darkness came in, crushing and complete.
All was darkness. Shana could see nothing. She squeezed her hand to ensure she held onto her sister.
But she felt nothing.
“No!”
She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
She could see nothing, feel nothing, hear nothing.
Total, complete, crushing isolation surrounded her.
Dark, empty…
Lonely.
This…
This is what you’ve been facing for so long, isn’t it?
And then…
Then Collapse came into your world.
And even then, you fought. You kept fighting against so much, even fighting hard enough against Collapse to reach out to me, to tell me you needed help, to give me the clues to save you.
You’ve been fighting for so long, against so much.
I’m here, now. I heard you, and I came running.
We’re all here. You don’t have to be alone anymore.
Shana reached out her hand, but she couldn’t feel anything, even her own movements.
Please, Nocta…
I know it’s terrifying. I know you’ve been through so much, more than I can imagine.
But it’s okay, now.
Whatever happens next, you won’t ever have to be alone again. We won’t let that happen.
So please…
You don’t have to fight anymore.
Shana reached out again, and this time she felt it.
And she felt…
Light.
She couldn’t see it, but she felt light and warmth surround her, swirling, spiraling. It coalesced at her hand, reaching out with her, beckoning to one lost, tortured soul.
In the darkness, in the isolation, came a soft, gentle touch in return.
Shana grasped hold of that soft touch, opened her mouth. Though she couldn’t hear the words, she spoke them as clearly and proudly as she could.
“You don’t have to fight anymore. And you’ll never be alone again.”
Darkness rolled back like a curtain. Sight, sound, touch, all returned to Shana. And as she looked, she smiled with tear-filled eyes.
The darkness that had followed Nocta, that had clung to her like a shroud, had been wiped away.
And she was magnificent.
Her lavender eyes were kind, joyful, and radiant. Her black feathers were glistening as if with morning dew.
She leaned her head forward, nuzzling against the much smaller white owl that had cried out to her.
And then she lowered a wing, stretching it out like a hand towards Mister Midnight.
Midnight reached back, his fingers touching Nocta’s feathers gently.
Summon and Summoner were at last reunited.