leliel_12 | What Could Have Been Vol. 15

And now...Project Galatea is revealed. Along with just how crazy Balthasar has gotten.

I like the exploration of Kid's memories in concept (hell, there's a lot I like in concept), but the context changes; Harle knocked Kid out in the course of her escape, and it's revealed that there's a spell on her that's trapping Kid's mind in the past. To free Kid, one has to get her to finally move on from the pain that's defined her existence for most of her life.

Cue diving into her memories, where the party finds a couple messages from Harle admitting that she guessed Serge would save his friend, and that many of the monsters are manifestations of the spell defending itself. However, there's also a couple messages that seem...immensely plain-spoken, saying exactly what the Dragons plan to do and where they are. One even mentions Galatea, and how Kid is linked to it. We also encounter the adult Kid here and there, wandering around in a haze and crying. "My fault..my fault...I deserve this...."

It's at the end, instead of the normal scene we know of where Lynx walks away from the burning orphanage, Harle's past self starts conversing with us; as it turns out, that's the real Harle, and she was never a part of this (and in fact, would not be-that's where her working for Lynx became very reluctant).

Harle then takes us to pre-Time Crash Chronopolis, revealing that Project Galatea was an imperfect attempt to resurrect Schala; Kid is, as in canon, a clone. However, the intent wasn't charity or the Time Devourer or anything like that; Balthasar wanted to undo the destruction of Zeal, using Kid as an artificial Time Axis to yank an alternate version of Zeal where Lavos' awakening did not completely destroy the floating continent into the core past. Problem is, the destruction of Zeal is key to the end of Lavos, as Magus never embarked on his quest to destroy the alien at all costs, which meant there was no way for him to accidentally rip a time portal to the end of Zeal after his boss fight, and thus, no Queen Zeal ascendant-which also means no weak point in Lavos' refuge due to the Black Omen. So in effect, what happened was that Balthasar resurrected Lavos, and now with the ability to perceive deleted timestreams. The Dragons are his masterstroke-he summoned the Dragon God out of the Dragonian timeline to serve as an unknowing dynamo of conflict and evolutionary change, leading to even stronger genomes to harvest from both humans and the remnants of the Dragonians. The best part is that Lavos doesn't need to lift a spine-the Dragon God is blind with hatred for humans, even to the point of manipulating Porre into destroying Guardia out of spite for the heroes he blames for not saving the Reptites (never mind they couldn't, and that Azala was the aggressor).

Lucca knew this after meeting the time-displaced Balthasar, and enraged by his arrogance, betrayal of his old principles, and still trying, stole the one successful Galatea clone, Kid, and raised her far away from where the mad Oracle could use her to wreck the timeline any more. The orphanage isn't her house, but it is close by, and Lucca regularly played with and taught Kid. Unfortunately, Lachesis didn't know that; Lachesis thought that Kid was still an agent of Lavos' resurrection, and used the still-present vote from Clotho to override Atropos and force Lynx to ensure Kid was neutralized as a threat. Hence, the attack.

Cue heartwarming scene where the older Kid is encountered in a fetal position, watching the attack over and over again. Lynx told her what she is before attempting to interface with the Flame and invade Chronopolis, and manipulated her into believing she's the one responsible for the deaths of everyone in the world, and that Lucca would be safe if she was just never born. On some level, she was aware that Lynx was not Serge, but attacked the real Serge anyway because she wanted him to kill her-"Just another monster to slay." Cue the party diving in to convince her no, it really wasn't; Lachesis was mad, Lynx was evil, and Balthasar was the one who broke time, not Kid. She doesn't believe them at first, but then Harle joins in and reveals that the Dragons are afraid of Kid-not because she's linked to the creature that destroyed their ancestors, but because Kid isn't what they want a weapon to be; she's kind, she isn't bigoted, she's empathetic-in effect, the Dragons want Kid to fit into a box they understand, and because she doesn't, they hate her-"Because deep down, they wonder if it's because what they're doing is pointless." This does actually cheer up Kid a bit, and she finally lets go of Lucca-Lynx, after all, is dead.

In the real world, Kid comes to and has a breakdown about how cavalier she's treated everyone close to her, admitting to herself that what she really wanted was to avoid loss. She admits she's had something of a crush on Serge for a while, but recognizes he probably is closer to Leena or even Harle after having traveled together for longer than she has (I have an image of a couple potential scenes where you can flirt with Kid before the Lynx battle), and it's here that you finally chose who's been the object of Serge's romantic attentions.

-> "It's been Leena since childhood, and it's Leena now." (Leena: *sputters* "You...you don't mind my parts!?" *pause while she processes this information, then squeals in joy before tackling Serge to the wall, kissing him, provoking a snarky reaction from Sprigg about getting a room before doing couple things*).

-> <Kiss Kid> (*Kid completely shuts down for a second, then returns with one of her own, which quickly becomes a full body embrace. After a few dialogue boxes of Kid repeating "I love you" between kisses, she realizes everyone is staring at them before jumping back, hiding her completely red face* Kid: Sorry. I was...really tense.)

-> "I think I can save Harle back." (*everyone points out Harle may or may not be killed in the upcoming battle, and vow to at least understand why she works for the Dragons despite openly hating them)

-> "I...haven't thought about it, really." (*Leena and Kid make their love triangle official and draft a series of rules about what is permitted in winning Serge's heart.*)

In the aftermath, Tarnruff, Magus, and Razzly make a quip about how all of Serge's love interests are temporal anomalies, wondering if he leers at particularly large physics equations.

EDIT: Noticed some skeeve I obliterated once I remembered Kid is 16. Sorry about that.