They are together, naturally. And quite cozy.

Mmmmmm girlfriend cuddles.

"I think Mora wants to talk to me, darling," Hisame says. "It'd be dreadful to make her wait too long, you know."

"Alas." Kiss. "I suppose I shall go occupy myself elsewhere for a time." She rises and stretches languorously before leaving.

Alas indeed.

Hisame rolls out of bed and goes to meet Mora.

"Hey," Mora says. "So - couple things. One, we found another of you and me, with a new face. Her name's Glint, and she's now a God of Madness. Apparently her universe is being threatened by a world-eating dragon god, so she's asked for help with that, but can probably make her own case to everyone together."

"Delightful! And of course I'll listen to her. What else was there?"

"I - wanted to talk to you about the whole - death thing."

"I'm on the low end of recklessness for us, I think, but - you're on the high end, and... You and the Keres are good for each other. I want you guys to be happy, and... Figured we could talk. Maybe figure out ways to - handle differences, and all, and maybe solicit explanations on her from her alts."

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

"I - don't want to make her unhappy. I don't really understand why she was so upset that I died, but... I'll avoid being too reckless, from now on. I don't want to make her cry or anything, even if I'm just gone briefly."

"...You do understand the concept of people dying meaning you can't talk to them anymore, right."

"Of course. Plenty of people have died in my life, so it'd be silly for me to not understand that." She shrugs. "But - people die, whether you hold on or not. No one's going to be around forever, especially not me." A bit lightly: "I remember when I was a kid - my family was dead by then - and I heard that civilians come of age at twenty one. Twenty one! Such an old age, and - I was so sure I wouldn't reach that. It seemed an absolutely bizarre idea. Still haven't, of course, and technically I did die before then - but death's cheap, nowadays."

"If Nausicaa was permanently gone - not just asleep until I could find a Mad God to wake her - I'd... It'd break me, I think, and most people don't come from a context where death is anything but permanent. The Keres cares about you quite a lot."

She glances away. "Well, I'm from a context like that, too. Didn't stop me from killing my sister, and I'd dare say I cared about her nearly as much as you care about your Nausicaa."

"...Why. Why would you - "

"I was getting a bit bored, and she didn't like being alive too much, and I wanted to know what she looked like dead, and I wanted the Mangekyou, anyways - you can only get it from killing someone you love, and I wasn't sure I cared enough about anyone else." Shrug. "I'll put her back eventually, when I feel ready to retire from all this, though - she's happy in the Pure Land. I - met her, when I died, at the borders. So maybe I won't put her back, since it'd upset the Keres anyways, and she's at peace where she is."

"What's the Pure Land like?"

"Calm. We met by a river. She was sitting under a willow tree. I could hear bird song and music in the distance, past her, but - it was muffled. Somewhere else, of no real concern. It's - a nice place, I think, even if existing there would mean retiring. It's where souls go to heal. She told me that she'd been waiting for me, but that most people let themselves drift away down the river or on the wind. I guess the Pure Land proper is probably even nicer."

"...I'm starting to suspect you surviving so long is mostly because you failed to meet a challenge capable of getting away with killing you until Acererak, isn't it."

"Obviously? I don't have a death wish or anything - I'm hardly going to throw a fight - but why seek out fights if not for the challenge? Acererak was a good fight, and that would've been a good end to my story, all things considered - I just hadn't realized how much it'd upset my girlfriend. I do now, so there's no problem."

She presses a palm over her face.

" - Wait. You'd mentioned not putting back your sister because it'd upset the Keres - "

Shrug. "Yes? Apparently my girlfriend's not big on sharing."

" - Okay so I just have to check because I'm in the potential blast radius of - actually pretty much everything that could possibly go wrong here, but - what is going to happen if you get bored, or start wondering what your girlfriend looks like dead, or decide you feel like retiring and the Pure Land sounds like a nice place to do that, or you get into a fight with, oh, let's say a dragon god and retreat's the only survivable option..."

"...I'd retreat for that last one. Admittedly grudgingly, but I just said I don't want to upset my girlfriend."

She pauses.

"Boredom or wanting to die I'd probably talk to the Keres about? I'd make sure she was - set up with one of me before breaking up with her or anything like that, though - she's so delightful, that I can't imagine boredom that's entirely impossible to overcome around her."

She shrugs and looks away.

"And wondering what people look like dead's basically my default setting, anyways, and that hasn't become a problem yet, so it shouldn't."

"Do you not have the - mental thing where betraying allies is bad."

Shrug. "It's - suboptimal? But there's degrees of betrayal. Arguably my sister betrayed my family when she killed them, and my teacher was convinced she'd betrayed me too, but - she was good. She didn't do anything wrong, there, and the whole torture thing was for my own good, anyways, and she left me stronger than I would have been otherwise."

"Right. That's. Concerning."

"...The torture thing."