Silva, Emely, and the anomaly arrived back in the world where they last saw Neige. The moonlight illuminated their path as they headed toward the town where the anomaly last saw him. It looked like a peaceful place, everyone was smiling and happy, carrying on their duty. The nun suddenly stopped in front of a fountain and took a deep breath, her heart heavy.
"We were asking everyone about the overseer, trying to understand who he was. They were scared and refused to talk to us. When we decided to take a break here, guards attacked us."
"They attacked you for no reason?" Emely asked with a distrust that the anomaly could feel.
"Yes... I don't understand why, it was so sudden."
The group stayed there to think until they were bothered by a voice behind them.
"Woman of faith, I didn't expect to see you here again."
The nun turned toward the origin of the voice with aggressivity, ready to fight at any moment.
"You! Give back Neige!"
The man in front of her smiled with dark intentions. He wore purple, rich-looking clothes and was surrounded by four guards next to him. He pointed to the woman with the golden staff in his hand, a defiant look on his face.
"I see you brought pawns for me! How kind of you."
Silva put her crutches on the floor, just in case something would happen. She took a step forward with some difficulty and faced the man.
"Excuse me, but are you the overseer?"
"The GREAT overseer, please. A bit of respect."
"We just want our friend back 'great overseer'. We promise we won't cause trouble and quickly leave."
"You already did too much, you-" The man suddenly stopped and squinted at Silva, not believing his eyes "Silva? Is that you?"
The group took a step back in shock at the words of the man.
"You know my name?"
"Of course, we never met but I owe you a lot. You and your two friends helped me get rid of someone problematic."
Silva thought deeply until she realized what the man meant.
"A year ago? When we helped the police arrest a crazy man?"
"Yes, he was about to ruin everything."
"So... He was right? There truly was a dictator in here, we thought he was crazy!"
"It looks like you're not agreeing with me. Despite the respect I hold for you, it's time for you to go."
The overseer took a kind of remote out of his pocket but Silva was too dumbfounded to stop him. She remembered it was a mission like any other, the leader asked them to do it, and they did.
"We... Could have stopped a dictator but... We just obeyed..."
"I'm not a dictator, just someone that forces happiness on people. If happiness is a choice, is it wrong to force it? Yes, I don't let anyone be free, but they're all happy! No inflation, no riches, no discrimination, no bullying. You couldn't reach this peace with freedom."
The anomaly looked at the man with rage but felt deep in her heart that he might be right. She looked at Silva, who disagreed.
"I don't care about what the leader says, I'm not going to let you repress people's freedom!"
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"But sunglass-girl... It's not our world." The anomaly said, interrupting Silva "Not only does it seem wrong to interfere with another world, but also... He's not wrong."
"I'm sorry, but I prefer to die on my feet than live on my knees!"
The overseer smiled as he raised his remote to the air. Ada suddenly remembered this happening last time and tried stopping him, but it was too late.
"We'll see if you still think like that."
The man pressed the button, making a horrible screech. The three friends covered their ears but could still hear the sound in their heads. Ada kept thinking about her friend, Neige, to forget the horrible sound. After a few minutes, it stopped. Ada looked at Emely and Silva to make sure they were alright. The young engineer smiled at her but the blind painter slowly walked toward the man like a zombie. Emely looked at her friend with concern, and asked her,
"Silva... Are you alright?"
"A happy world... With no worries."
Emely ran toward her but the anomaly stopped her, yelling at her.
"That's what happened to Neige! I remember now, he acted like that and attacked me!"
Silva walked next to the overseer with empty eyes. The man looked disappointed but still went with it.
"Only one? You two are tough. If everyone was like you, maybe the world would be a better place."
"What did you do to Silva? Answer me!"
The man was unimpressed at Emely's words and gently slapped Silva's cheek with the back of his hand with a grin on his face.
"Such an interesting one, she could be a great soldier. Or maybe something else."
Seeing that the man was ignoring her, Emely instead turned toward Silva and yelled at her with all her strength.
"You're really going to let this pig command you!?"
"I don't think she can hear you..." The anomaly said in a vain attempt to calm the young engineer.
"Shut up! I know she hears me! She's just too scared to face it! Maybe I'm a crybaby! Maybe I'm a shitty engineer! Maybe I don't have any faith in me and my creations! But at least I'm not a coward! Was it all a lie? Did you tell me you loved me just to lose at the first ordeal you faced?!"
"Can you lower your voice?" Asked the man "You can't change her mind."
"You don't know her like I do! Are you going to listen to this stupid-looking man? If there's anyone you need to listen it should be me! So please... Wake up and come back to me you stupid bat!"
Despite Emely's outburst, Silva barely reacted. The man pinched on Silva's cheek and arrogantly waved it.
"I don't think you understand, she's my property now. If you want, your 'Silva' is no longer and so is your other friend. They're both puppets that I use at my own convenience, I could step on them if I wanted to and they wouldn't budge."
Silva grabbed the man's wrist, gripping it tightly.
"The only person that can put its feet on me is Emely."
One of the guards of the man tried to attack Silva but she managed to push the overseer and put the guard down effortlessly. She then turned toward Emely and gave her an apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry Emely, I don't know what I was thinking."
Emely smiled cheerfully at Silva before acting falsely offended.
"You better not leave me next time!"
Before Silva could answer, another guard attacked her. She dodged and knocked him out in one well-placed strike. When she searched for the other guards to take care of them, she noticed that the anomaly already dealt with them. The overseer vanished, not letting a trace behind him.
"I didn't notice that he was gone..."
Silva cursed at herself while Emely jumped on her, taking her tightly in her arms.
"I was so worried! I thought he really controlled you!"
"It's weird, I didn't feel controlled. It was like a voice that showed me a perfect life, a life I could get if I obeyed. But when I heard you, it was like I remembered that you were way better."
Emely blushed softly and kissed Silva on her lips, stopping when they heard the anomaly.
"I don't want to interrupt you, but I think there's more important."
Silva nodded her head at the anomaly and suddenly fell to the ground. Emely grabbed her with all her strength but could only manage to keep Silva standing with one of the anomaly's tentacle's help.
"It hurts... Next time I see Silv I'm stabbing her..."
"What you describe, was it what happened to Neige?"
"I suppose. But why weren't you affected?"
"From what you said, it's using your doubts to control you. I guess we both had a strong reason to live and that he couldn't sway us. Just thinking about Neige was enough for me."
"I was thinking about Silva!" Proudly announced Emely "Maybe you still have some trouble trusting us with your life, but it's okay. I'll be here to remind you to listen to me instead of bad guys."
Silva smiled heartily at Emely, still feeling a bit of shame.
"I'm sorry I didn't trust you more. If I did, maybe it wouldn't have happened."
"Don't say that! And you don't need to only trust just me, but all your friends on the ship. We'll give you the great future that you deserve so that you stop doubting."
"I hope I'll be able to stop doubting... It's a horrible feeling."
"You will, but..." Emely put her hand on her mouth and looked away from Silva's eyes, a bit ashamed "You said you wanted my feet on you. I... Didn't expect that."
"What!? I never said that! I just said that only you could! Like... He doesn't have the right to!"
"It's okay Silva, I'm okay with any kink you have."
"That's not my kink!"
The two girls argued happily under the concerned eyes of the anomaly, looking visibly disappointed.
"This is the kind of person that protects this universe? I really need to find the perfect world for you soon, Neige."