When The Time Is Right (Laura La Mer)
| When The Time Is Right (Laura La Mer) | |
|---|---|
| Date of Cutscene: | 08 February 2025 |
| Location: | Grand Ocean |
| Synopsis: | After 2306/A mermaid AND a phoenix AND a princess, Laura goes to have a talk with the Mermaid Queen. |
| Cast of Characters: | Laura La Mer, NPC-Kururun, Melusine Muses Mnemosyne |
After that meeting with Hotaru, when that uncomfortable truth was brought up, Laura hadn't come out of Aqua Pot for several hours, and the object stayed inert on the top of her table.
Kururun oftentimes spared a glance at the pinkette hugging her tail to her bust, lost in the depths of her thoughts, going over everything she knows and learnt, unresponsive to the calls of the pink seal. Was this all she was good for? Fighting off the Witch of Delays, becoming a Pretty Cure despite the impossibility of it, and finding people to fight alongside?
"Kururun..."
Hotaru had a point with her own fears, Laura knew that. She wouldn't be keen to tell people either if... they stopped having fun with her. And yet, she just can't bear to know desperately void of hope she is. Rebirth? Even if she is right, what good is rebirth in a different form that they can't really interact with?
"Kururun..."
She has to get up and move forward, this is not like her at all. She is not helping Hotaru like this, and wouldn't this look like she has given up as much as her. This is only the start, now she knows what truly ails Hotaru, and so it's step forward. She will do both, make her happy, and make her better! Even against her hope that is no hope.
"Kururun!" A tail slaps against her cheek, forcing Laura to bring her mind back to the world around her. For a moment, the silence returns, and then...
"What did you do that for, Kururun?" Laura gazes at the seal and brings a hand to her cheek, receiving a stare in response. "Kururun Kururun..."
What is the problem with her? She was pretty much fine. Nothing should have made Kururun worry so darn much. "I was about to get up, really! And don't look at me like that", the pinkette sits down, bringing a hand over Kururun's head.
"Sorry about it. I just couldn't really believe it then. I am sure I believe it now. I just want Hotaru to be fine, you know? And she is really special to me, so...", she talks to the fairy while her hand moves and pats Kururun.
"Kururun Run Run Run Kururun", the seal smiles in response, nuzzling against Laura's hand. "Yes, you are right, I haven't talked to her yet. Let's go do it, it, right now", Laura smiles to her fairy companion.
"Kururun!" the fairy cheers, then scrouching her fairy in concentration, yellow magic bringing the Aqua Pot to Grand Ocean's throne room. "Laura?", a voice fills with surprise out of the bottle. "Did you have something you want to talk to me about?"
The pinkette leaps out of her house and looks up at the Mermaid Queen, looming over her with a smile. "Yes, Queen, it's something really important. You remember Yokina, right? Her name is Hotaru, but she had her reasons to hide it."
The Queen makes a "come here" gesture to Kururun, who has been peeking at them from inside the Aqua Pot, and nods to Laura while holding the fairy in her embrace. "Yes, I remember her. One of your lovely new friends. What about her?"
A deep breath separates Laura from the moment she will have to spill it all out. "She is dying, Queen. There is a dark power that has afflicted her since she was born, and nothing those who have known her have been tried to do has worked."
The Queen sighs, and stops smiling. "We don't have anything like an antidote for that in Grand Ocean. Laura, humans live shorter lives than us. While the circumstances may be unusual and unexpected, this was always going to happen one day. My suggestion to you is to enjoy the time you have left with her, and then come back to me."
A scowl settles on the younger mermaid's face at the Queen's words. "What are you saying, Queen? Are you asking me to give up on my one of my precious teammates, just after you sent me to the surface for that purpose? Are you really asking that?"
The older mermaid nods, and she speaks a single, grave word. "Yes."
Flabbergasted silence follows for a second. "No. What are you saying? This is all ridiculous. You can't ask me that."
The Queen releases Kururun, nudging her towards Laura. She can see where this is going. "It's for your own good, Laura. Clinging to this path will only cause you great suffering. There is nothing we can do to save Hotaru Tomoe."
"Wha...?" Laura swims a few steps back. "No. You can't be like this. We all look up to you. You can't give up without even trying." The Queen doesn't reply, and an implacable silence fills the throne room, broken like shards of glass by Laura swimming in a rush into the Aqua Pot, followed worriedly by Kururun.
"Come back to me, Laura. When the time is right."
