...BUT TOMORROW IS JUST A DREAM AWAY

[worldofcolor]

[After such a long day, everyone must sleep. Whether it is because of the trial, or...something else, everyone will eventually find themselves with an overwhelming urge - no, need to sleep. There, someone is waiting for them.

Everyone will find themselves together in a room. It's...sleep-like, of course, but something about it feels real. There are eight rolling chairs set up, and another at the front of the room. But besides that, there are two important things to take note of. The first is that, everywhere, everyone seems to be depicted in...grayscale. It's a little weird, but nothing that odd.

The second is the pictures that line the wall, black-and-white sketches of so many familiar and unfamiliar characters. An Arabian thief, a curious girl in a blue dress, a ferocious dragon. All strikingly drawn and depicted in pencil. The walls seem practically lined with them.

Something interrupts your train of thought. A smoker's cough.

Man is in the Forest.]

My goal is to get you all out of here as soon as possible.

[A fatherly voice rings out, from seemingly everywhere at once.]

I'd like to discuss options with you all.

Comments

[toogoodforhim]

...

[Magic doesn't care about people. Even when it pretends to.]

Tell me one thing about everyone in this room. Show me you care about us, that we're more than just pawns to you.

[worldofcolor]

All of you? Well I suppose there’s no harm in that.

Julia, even if you claim you’re not strong, I sense a strength in you that’s powerful. Not in muscles, but in heart. You are a very good person, and a heart like yours is a powerful weapon against enemies you come up against, both external and internal.

Namine, you're a wonderful young lady, and you are much more than your life before this. You have kept kind throughout all of this and I can’t help but admire that. If we had more people like you in the world, it would be a much better place, and you deserve a good home.

Mike, it simply amazes me how you see the best in people, how you are kind to those who seem the most suspicious. I know it in my heart that it’s a strength that will get you far, and you deserve to share that strength without suffering like this

Anna, you’re a sweet child and didn’t deserve any of this. None of you do, of course, but the fact that anyone would want a child to suffer like that disgusts me. You deserve all the happiness in the world.

Elsa, you are a gentle, but powerful force, I wish I had known about this earlier so I could have tried to save your sister, but I promise I will do everything I can to bring her back to you. You deserve it.

Wendy, your strength against your opposition in this place is admirable. Even as it gets harder to keep holding onto hope, you still do your best to keep hanging in there. I want to give you something real to hope for.

Ford, even after everything, I’d wager to guess a lot of folks here see you as a father figure, and I want a great man like you to go home to their family… and with his partner

And, Didier, I know it’s hard to trust me after everything that’s happened to you, to all of you, but I assure you that all I want in the world is to see you all safe. And I don’t want last week to be the last time you ever see your partner ever again.

[toogoodforhim]

[He listens. It wasn't exactly what he meant, but watching the man address each of them in turn he can see the care in his eyes, he can see how earnest he is with each one, the way his face twists on the word disgust, but his eyes stay soft with care. With sympathy. It's so different to how Agathe had stood on the steps of the castle surveying the reunions from afar like she was patting herself on the back for a job well done when the curse was her fault in the first place.

The way that Walt looks at them reminds him how his mother always told him he had his father's eyes, soft and kind, how they were too poor for a portrait so all he ever had to remember his father by was his mother's word.

He doesn't say anything as Walt goes through each person, from Julia to Ford. But he gasps, almost too softly to hear, at his name. His real name, which Walt had already said he hadn't been watching them when he had told Elsa.]

...How...did you know my name?

[worldofcolor]

You look like a Didier.

[Theres that warm chuckle again.]

It suits you.

[toogoodforhim]

[He feels his face heat up. But the warm feeling that the chuckle leaves in his stomach is hard to ignore, like warm, mulled wine in the middle of winter. Like Mike, he wants to believe, for once, that someone is genuinely, truly good.]

...So there's really no catch.

[worldofcolor]

Happiness shouldn't have a catch.

[toogoodforhim]

[A happily ever after. It's like a fairy tale. It's too good to be true.]

What... are you?

[worldofcolor]

Not a fae, nor a sorcerer. Might as well get those straight out of the way.

[toogoodforhim]

Nor a demon.

[He glances at Ford uncertainly, knowing about the plate in his head.]

But...more than just a mere man. A...God?

[He was sleeping with a demigod it's not as much of a stretch as it might've been.]

[worldofcolor]

...Something along those lines.

[toogoodforhim]

[...He's past the point of praying, but he bites the inside of his cheek and nearly crosses himself.]

...Monsieur, tell me- are our homes just as we remember leaving them, or are we all pretty much given up for lost?

[worldofcolor]

I could...see to your going home once this whole ordeal is straightened out, perhaps make it as though you had never left.

[toogoodforhim]

...I'm asking not for me. The danger's long since passed for Villeneuve. But... I'm worried. About- a little girl.

[Are you omnipotent enough to figure out where he's going here?]

[worldofcolor]

We could save her, too.

If you have me on your side, you have all the time in the world.

[toogoodforhim]

I see.

[It doesn't entirely answer his question, but the way that Walt talks about reality like it's a malleable thing still scares him.

But if he can help save Maui's world from Te Ka, can help them get back everyone they've lost, then... they have no other choice.]

Then...Where do we start?

[chainbroke]

[ LeFou's question makes her think of something else. She waits for a moment, then looks at Walt, unsure. ]

I have a question, too. About... my world.

Walt, how much do you know about me? Specifically about what I am.

[chainbroke]

[ Her grip on LeFou--Didier, it seems, her Papa--tightens the tiniest bit. She's listening, and the fact that Walt's said such kind and warm and sincere things surprises her. ]

... Thank you, [ she says softly, giving Walt a grateful smile. ]

[kindaruledatit]

[Wendy listens closely, saying not a word until Walt is done speaking. She looks somewhat pensive as she thinks his words over, eyes staying sharp and on him while the rest of her relaxes just a bit. It's not a reaction to his kind words that even she would expect.

A heartfelt admittance like that is very hard to ignore.]

...Thanks, man. Really.