Waking up is a strange sensation.

His eyes are gummy and his mouth is dry, his mind ringing with the strangest headache he’s ever had, and—

(‘A noble sacrifice indeed, but I’m not inclined to let you simply vanish after all we’ve fought for.’)

Nier groans and presses the heel of one hand to his forehead, trying to remember what the hell he was doing. There’s something odd going on, something that shouldn’t be happening—

(‘I cannot undo the choice you’ve made, but I can give you a new one.’)

Choice… a choice he’d made…

He… he never expected to wake again…

Nier takes a breath. Another. Gags on the strange dirtiness in the air and rolls onto his side, bracing himself against the deep, racking cough that shakes his frame.

The air is disgusting!

(‘Do try not to get into too much trouble without me, hmm?’)

He slumps as the fit passes. Scrubs a bare hand over his mouth. Decides that everything hurts far too much to be a dream or heaven or… or anything of the sort.

He’d traded his life for Kainé’s, traded his entire existence for hers, expected to never wake up again, and yet… and yet…

And yet here he is.

Alive and well.

(‘Oh, and Nier? At least try to meddle in fewer people’s affairs wherever you end up. Not everyone appreciates a goody-goody butting in.’)

A sob claws its way up his aching throat and tears burn his eyes. Weiss. Kainé. Emil. Yonah…! They’re gone, they’re all gone, and he’s alone in an unknown place, a final ‘gift’ from Weiss that he was given no chance to refuse.

He doesn’t know how long he cries into the strange pillow, doesn’t know how long the gutting sorrow rips through him, just knows that he cries until his eyes ache and his face feels disgusting. Just knows that he cries until he has no more tears, until he feels empty and wrung out and exhausted.

It’s another long moment before Nier manages to gather himself enough to wipe the tears and snot from his face and sit up. He takes in the nearly empty room in confusion, then glances down at the sleeping mat he’s laying on, and tries to place anything he’s seeing.

“Wherever I’ll end up, eh Weiss?” Nier murmurs softly as he scrubs a hand across his face and then curls forward to press the heels of his hands into his eyes. “You bastard,” he hisses through his teeth. “Why couldn’t you just let me go?”

“Probably because whoever they were cared about you,” an unknown voice interrupts him, the accent strange but the words understandable.

Nier scrambles to his feet, eyes narrowed and body tense, and scans the stranger in front of him: blond hair and pale skin, no armor or even proper clothing, but still clearly someone accustomed to combat. And just as clearly assessing him in return, his sharp gaze sweeping over Nier from head to toe.

“I didn’t expect you to wake so soon,” the blond stranger says after the silence begins to stretch uncomfortably. “Dinner won’t be done for a while yet, but I’m sure I can cajole something out of Tsukabishi-san if you’re hungry now.”

“Thank you,” Nier replies automatically, then takes a shallow, shuddering breath and clenches his fist. “Sorry, but do you have somewhere I can wash my face?” he asks with a grimace.

“Ah, right, of course, sorry I should have mentioned that. Uhm, so if you want to wash up or take a shower, I can lend you some clothing until we get yours cleaned?” the blond stranger rambles as he steps back from the doorway and beckons for Nier to follow. “Er, and we didn’t… really know what to do with your sword, so it’s in another room. I’ll show you where later.”

Nier casts a sidelong glance at the blond in response, spots the man’s awkward, sheepish expression, and huffs in reaction. “It’s fine,” he says after a moment. “I understand.”

And he does, he really does: if an unknown stranger had appeared in his home, wearing armor and armed with a blade like Fool’s Lament, he’d separate the person from their weapon too. Kindness is important, especially with how desperate the world has become, but he can’t forget the wrecked slaver’s ship that washed ashore, or Devola and Popola’s betrayal after years of friendship.

There’s still cruelty in the world, still danger in the world, and no amount of kindness will sway certain types of people from their goals.

(And sometimes all that’s necessary is some kindness.)

(It really depends upon the person.)

Nier takes in the hallway as they move through the building, inwardly marveling at the craftsmanship and how pristine the place looks. Wherever he’s ended up, they clearly aren’t under siege and struggling to upkeep technology they barely understand anymore.

(They might not even be at war at all.)

(How… odd to think.)

“Here you go,” the blond announces as he slides another door open with a flourish. “Feel free to take your time getting clean! There’s towels in the wall cabinet just inside the door and several kinds of soap in the shower. I’ll leave a clean set of clothing outside the door for you.”

Nier nods his thanks and steps through the open door before freezing at the sight of the room beyond: it’s dark, lit only by the light from the hall, but what little he can see is… odd. He sees something that looks a bit like a washbasin, but he sees no water nearby to fill it with, nor does he see a place to properly bathe. He squints into the gloom, trying to make out the far wall, and takes another step in—

The blond makes a soft noise and leans in, his hand hitting something on the wall next to the door, and the room is suddenly awash with light.

“Sorry about that,” the blond says sheepishly. “Forgot you might not be familiar with modern life.” When Nier turns slightly to cast him a confused look, the blond hums and steps into the room after him, rapping his knuckle against the wall near where he touched before. “Here’s the light switch, though there’s nothing fancy about this one,” he says, as if he gives tours like this every day. “And over here is the sink—” he steps past Nier and towards the empty washbasin, giving one of the handles a small turn and making clear water pour from the spout and into the basin where it drains away just as quickly— “hot water on the left, cold on the right.”

Nier eyes the sink thoughtfully, then turns back to the rest of the room. Not that there is much else: it’s a relatively small room now that he can see it properly. There’s the sink with a mirror hanging behind it, a strangely shaped seat tucked into the corner next to it, and across from it is a tiled area blocked off with clear glass. There’s a large drain set into the floor and handles on the wall similar in design to what the blond had fiddled with to produce water, and set even higher on the wall is a strange spout pointing down at the drain below.

Probably the ‘shower’ the blond had mentioned, based on the design.

“That’s the shower,” the blond confirms as he follows Nier’s gaze, and then he nods towards the very back of the room and adds, “And that’s the bath under the cover. It’s traditionally for soaking, so wash off in the shower first.”

“I understand,” Nier says as he takes another step into the room. “Thank you.”

“Maa, don’t mention it.” The blond grins brightly as he turns and carefully steps around Nier, leaving a distinct gap between them despite the relative confines of the room itself. “Enjoy!” he says cheerfully as he steps out of the room and closes the door behind him.

“Weird,” Nier murmurs, mind caught on the careful gap the blond kept between them, and waits for Weiss to comment—

The breath hitches in his throat as he catches himself. Tears his mind away from sharp-jagged-aching memories. Focuses on the present, on the strange room around him, and sets to work pulling his clothing off.

A bath sounds wonderful, and since that means he needs to take a shower first…

Well, time to take a shower, he supposes.