voice ]

[blondejokes]

There had better be a good reason why I'm fighting- [ A grunt is followed by the sound of flesh being punctured. ]- against these blood-thirsty... things and why I'm not in Konoha.

[ Ino is not very happy. Or informed, actually, because she left as soon as she came to. ]

Comments

[blondejokes]

Konoha's...gone? Are you sure?

And you- I just saw you. You haven't been gone for four years. [ It'd be nice to wake up from this nightmare now. ]

[underachiever]

I'm not sure of anything. My memory's been rewritten at least twice and there's a good probability I'm from an alternate dimension or that I'm a clone.

To put it simply: I'm not the Shikamaru you know.

[blondejokes]

That's not simple at all! What do you mean you aren't the Shikamaru I know? And different memories? What is the deal with this place?

Wait- a clone? Like a Kage Bunshin? [ Her mind is going to implode soon.

She blinked and leaned against the wall, putting her palms up to her eyes. Even breathing would slow her thoughts down, right? ]

First Sasuke, now this...

[underachiever]

[He wants to ask what about Sasuke but he very firmly reminds himself he doesn't care. About Sasuke. Or any of them. Or their stupid war.

He stops on the landing and looks back at her.]

You're not gonna pass out, are you?

[blondejokes]

[ She shakes her head - huge mistake - and looks at him. Confusion and exhaustion are all she feels right now. And maybe a little heartbreak that she just missed out on four years of her teammate's life, which may or may not have been spent in this hell. Her mind was still trying to process this information given to her and rationalize it. Shikamaru wouldn't go through the hassle of playing a huge joke on her like this.

Clones, travel between universes, possible time travel on one of their parts, and suddenly being relocated to a hostile environment. If she'd known this was going to happen to her, she would've packed more weapons. ]

Not after I catch my breath.

Is anybody else here? Chouji, Sakura, Naruto? You haven't been alone for four years, right?

[underachiever]

[He doesn't quite know how to answer that question. Not definitively, anyway. He looks at the wall like it's a cheat sheet. What's the best way to phrase, "They're probably all dead"?]



I haven't been alone the whole time. But they're gone now.

[blondejokes]

Dead or back in Konoha? Or in some other weird universe?

[underachiever]

Dunno.

[blondejokes]

You're the genius, Shikamaru. You should know these things. [ well she's feeling marginally better now that her attitude is back. She moves slowly over to him. ]

But since you're here still, there isn't a way to get back to Konoha, is there?

[underachiever]

[He gives an uncomfortable shrug of his shoulders at being called a genius.]

You might get pulled back by accident, but there's no way to leave here intentionally.

[blondejokes]

Why not? Is it some kind of jutsu?

[underachiever]

More like a malfunctioning piece of machinery. It's supposedly accidental to begin with, getting pulled here. Of course, that's just one of several stories people'll tell you about the Core.

[blondejokes]

The Core? [ Scowl central over here. ]

If its malfunctioning, why doesn't somebody fix it? Even just getting rid of it would be safer than allowing it to keep doing what it's doing.

[underachiever]

There's the problem. Half the people here think it should be fixed and the other half think it should be destroyed. They're practically at war over it, and in the meantime, no one can go near it.

[blondejokes]

Four years and they still haven't decided on something? Isn't there somebody in charge here that can just make the decision for everybody? Fighting over it won't do anything.

[underachiever]

The government here is a joke. Both factions have to go down. But people here aren't used to fighting and they're scared to take action.

[blondejokes]

So they're fine staying with whatever's going on outside to avoid conflict. Cowards.

[ She paused. ] What are those things out there?

[underachiever]

[This is Shikamaru. He can't blame anyone for being cowardly.]

Monsters. The damned souls of everyone who's died here. They'll disappear when the sun rises.

[blondejokes]

They're... People? [ She didn't want to deal with zombies again. ]

[underachiever]

Not anymore. They've lost their sense of self.

[blondejokes]

This place is awful. [ A pause. ]

Are we going to wait them out until morning?

[underachiever]

We have to. You're not in any state to go back out there.

[blondejokes]

[ She nods. Her stupid watch keeps beepig, but somehow it doesnt sound as loud in the building as it had outside. ]

What happened here? It looks like a warzone outside.

[underachiever]

The Darkness does that. Everything outside decays in the night, then returns to normal in the morning.

[blondejokes]

And that's normal for this universe? I can't wait I get out of here.