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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]Could he wake up?[break][break]

Was he just dreaming?[break][break]

Wasn't he always?[break][break]

If you asked Isaac what he wanted for all his life, he would say just a simple, common truth. Acknowledgment. The acknowledgment he'd been denied growing up, shed in favor of a younger sibling that outshone him in every way. The acknowledgment he'd been denied from life, five years spent wandering the region as an aimless vagrant from the moment he turned 18. The acknowledgment he'd been both powerless to claim, yet always had the power to tap into deep inside of him.[break][break]

These days, it wasn't so simple. He had acknowledgment. Countless others, smarter and harder working and all around better people than him, didn't. They'd never discover the power inside themselves that Isaac had found within him. They'd never discover the worth inside themselves that he could plainly see. Not Rocket's faithful, fallen through the cracks until the organization could siphon all of the value out of them and take it for themselves. Not the League's citizens, press-ganged into a war they never asked for.[break][break]

Two titans pushed and pulled for the soul of the Hoenn region, all as calamity after calamity bombarded it. The people living there mattered not; their souls were fuel for the machine, their blood lubricated its gears, and their lives were simply statistics to stoke up outrage after the fact.[break][break]

And yet.[break][break]

They still found room to live. They still found room to love. They still found room to chase their dreams. Glorious phantom thieves and humble heroes that touched the lives of many. Powerful athletes and breathtaking actors that left thousands hanging on their every word. Movers and shakers whose actions shaped the flow of the region and simple souls who just wanted to make it to the next day. Every life was different. Every life had its own spark and significance. Every life was worth living.[break][break]

Isaac's life hadn't started until it was far too late for him. He would do anything in his power to prevent others from succumbing to such a fate. But he couldn't do that. Not while he was here, stuck among the ravages of infinity. Not while he was left chasing after the weight of his dreams and the ephemeral remains of a loved one's voice.[break][break]

No. Isaac wouldn't get anywhere with what he was doing. He traveled from one end of infinity to the other, and yet he didn't move a muscle. He lived, he died, and he incarnated anew, but not a second passed. Nothing he did here would bring him the answer he sought. There was no right answer that he was missing here. How could there be?[break][break]

None of this was real. The only future that mattered was the one he could shape with his own two hands.[break][break]

Isaac resisted the temptations of the dreamscape, even as the cosmos exploded around him in an ever-expanding blaze. He sat down, forcing himself to meditate even as his body shifted from the stubbiness of a newborn to the bent, rigid limbs of an elder. He took a deep breath, even as he lived and died a thousand times between his inhale and his exhale.[break][break]

And then, releasing the breath he'd been holding forever, Isaac's eyes snapped open.

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"Isaac!"[break][break]
As if struck by unseen lightning, he jolted awake, visible eye snapping open and hands squeezing Nomi's harder - as if realizing he'd been holding onto a lifeline. Valerian and Watson moved back slightly, giving him space. Nomi did the same, scooting a few inches away - reluctantly letting go of his hand - so that he could choose what to do next without feeling crowded.[break][break]
While he didn't appear physically injured...Nomi could tell that something was not quite right. His gaze still seemed far away, like he was looking through Nomi, through the wall of the lab, into the far off distance. Something about his entire demeanor reminded Nomi of the way people looked when they'd just woken from a particularly vivid dream.[break][break]
And there was something else. Was it the hint of a smile? Was it sadness? She could not tell.[break][break]
"Isaac, are you okay?" She asked warmly, relief apparent in her tone. "I'm so sorry. I thought..." She paused. What had she thought. She looked down at her now empty hands. The room was so quiet without the constant whirring of the machine. Her voice grew softer, and she looked away in shame.[break][break]
"I thought it would work."

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skullbody"]"Hey."[break][break]

Isaac's voice was soft, gentle, and oh so familiar. Even in the wake of Nomi's failure, and whatever he had been put through, there wasn't even a hint of judgment to it.[break][break]

"We don't always get it right the first time, yeah?" For every radiant star on the map of Isaac's personal cosmos, there were the lines that went dark. The ones that shot for the moon and fell short. The ones who simply drifted by without any fanfare. The ones who didn't make it. The ones for whom that'd be a mercy.[break][break]

He thought about how, despite setback after setback, tragedy after tragedy, he was still here. He was still trying.[break][break]

"But that doesn't mean it's over. Just means you gotta rethink things a little. Try something different." Maybe his destiny lay somewhere past that sea of stars. Maybe it was closer than he'd ever know. But if he were ever to live up to it, it would be when he carved it out with his own two hands.[break][break]

"Give it some rest and think on it, yeah? You're a genius. I know you'll come up with something." With a soft smile, he shifted some to face Nomi more properly. "And I promise. I'm okay."[break][break]

He wondered how many of the ones who made it were put through the same pains he was. He wondered how many were put through far worse. Yet in the end, with their heads held high and smiles on their faces, they thrived in the world they had carved out for themselves. It was refreshing in a sense, knowing he had so many examples to take after.[break][break]

Isaac contemplated the infinity inside of him, and he knew he would always end up okay.

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