Strings of crystals. Everywhere. Lethally sharp crystals on thick, metal wire. Strung up everywhere, criss-crossing the room to saw you up like barbed wire. Aoi reaches out for one near her bed. It slices through her hand. No pain, only blood. 

Her Soul Gem rests in her other hand, fully black. She can see she’s almost done. The Grief Seed dispensary was only a few feet away, but why bother? Aoi couldn’t get up anymore anyway. She blinks and the crystals flicker in and out of view. The beginnings of her barrier, or maybe they were only in her head. 

The whaleworm had watched her for a while from her tank, the aquarium lights the only illumination in the darkened cell. She moves up to the top of her tank and her throat swells slightly. Then she climbs out of her tank, slithering out onto the stairs. 

Aoi remembers she had left the force field off. Is this in her head as well? Slowly, the creature slips and twists down the stairs, its blue eyes fixed on Aoi. Aoi’s pulse and breathing quicken. She blinks and blinks, and the serpent doesn’t go away. It slithers across the floor, right through the crystal strings like a ghost. It is silent on the smooth floor, Aoi’s breathing the only sound. She could only see it as death approaching.

It arrives at her bedside. It lays its head down on the edge of the bed, looking at her. It was much the same way Aoi had sat down in front of the aquarium when she was bored at the beginning of her confinement. It pokes her stomach with its beak. Aoi can’t move. It swings its head over to the Grief Seed dispensary, taking one that Aoi had left there days ago. It gently wraps one of its feelers around the black Seed, bringing it over and touching it to Aoi’s Soul Gem. Copying what it had seen her do some days prior.

Aoi gasps as the darkness recedes. The crystal strings vanish in an instant. She curls up as feeling and movement return to her body. The Grief Seed falls away from her Soul Gem. After a moment of the creature staring quietly at her, Aoi reluctantly picks it up and finishes using it. The wound on her hand had disappeared, another figment of her imagination.

Aoi: {Returning the favor, huh?}

Serpent: {▙▓ ░ ▓▒▒▋▌▃ ▓ ▐▒ ▓░ ░░▗▒░▐▗ S P I D E R ░▓▖░▘░▀▎  ▅ ▓▒░ ▓}

Aoi: {Huh? Spider?} 

Serpent: {S P I D E R ▎▄  ▘} (The whaleworm bumps Aoi with her beak)

Aoi: {… You mean me? No, I’m not a spider.} (After a moment without a response) {You understand? I’m not a spider! NOT SPIDER!} 

Aoi sighs. Yelling at it like a caveman wasn’t going to help. She could only assume that her experience healing the creature had enabled her to understand a tiny portion of what it said. 

Aoi: {So what do you call yourself? Not “rainbowy whaleworm” I bet.} (The creature just sways its head from side to side) {You. Like…} (Aoi pinches her fingers together, making a similar shape to the creature’s beak, albeit much smaller. She pokes at herself. {Spider. I guess.} (She bumps the creature with her hand) {You?}

Serpent: {░▙▓N▋▓G H T░▒ G ░▞▔▓▕▎▖ ▓ ▓░▓R I T T E R ▔ ▌ ▓ ▓ ▕ ░▁ ▖▘ ▒▟}

Aoi: {Ritter?}

Serpent: {R I T T E R ░▘▀}

Aoi sensed that she was making a similar misunderstanding to the creature calling her a spider, but that amused her. Had to accept whatever fun she could have.

Aoi: {Okay, then. Hello, Ritter.}

Ritter: {▁░▒▒▗}