Chapter Text
The journey to a better place would be hard and long and dangerous. Emil knew this from the beginning; Ada had never tried to pretend it would be easy. From the beginning she had warned him, told him that if he went with her, there would be a lot more hurt waiting for them. The only thing they had was hope for a future, for a paradise. But Emil was okay with that. He liked that Ada didn't try and pretend everything would be perfect. And hope... that was all he ever wanted. And Ada gave that to him in bulk.
It didn't make this place any less scary, though. There were all sorts of weird people-- they were also trying to reach paradise, according to Ada. Emil still didn't trust most of them as far as he could throw them. There were exceptions, like that guy with the bad eye who also got really bad headaches, or the blindfolded person with the cool bird, but mostly, Emil didn't think any of them were worth understanding. Even the people he could call 'friends' he couldn't completely trust... Not like he trusted his Ada. No one would ever know what it was like in that asylum.
Then all of a sudden he was back. Thank god Ada was in that match with him, able to show him it was only a replica, not the real White Sand Street Asylum. The more he let himself be comforted, the more he came back to himself. Ada was right. This place was way more ruined. Decrepit. Plus, there were trees everywhere!! He worried a bit about Ada tripping on the gnarly roots cracking through the floor, but she was fine. She went to assist a teammate, and Emil tried to keep himself calm and decode alone, despite being back in his own personal hell. But his heart started beating soon after. He couldn't see the 'hunter', too busy running and trying to lose them, and soon found himself ducked behind a cipher machine, hoping they just wouldn't see him.... "This might be worse than the real White Sand Street Asylum..."
"You know about White Sand Street Asylum?!" A sudden, high-pitched voice said. Emil yelped, turning just in time to see a small child with an axe and a yellowed sack over their head physically flinch at the noise. Emil shrunk into himself, feeling a little bad-- then--
"Wait, were you a patient there too?!" Emil asked the child, shocked. Then-- "Wait, you're a child!!"
"Of course I am! The Asylum is only for broken kids... That's all there were when I was there... And the nuns, too, but I hated them!"
"I don't remember any nuns... But my memory is bad... Wait! So we're both crazy?" Emil asked, puzzled.
The child tilted their head, and made a noise of thought. "Yeah, I think so!! That's what the mean kids called me! Cause I talk to myself an' the trees an' lots of times my head tells me I'm a horrible child..."
Emil felt empathy for them. "It's okay, most of the doctors said I was crazy too, because I have really bad memory, and because I'm, uh..." He tried to remember the word.
"Aggressive?" The kid supplied.
"Yeah!!" Emil beamed, happy to be understood by someone other than Ada.
"That's what they called me too!! I don't really understand what that means though..." The kid sighed.
"I get confused on that too... Ada knows, though!" Emil perked up at being able to talk about his most favorite subject in the world: the love of his life.
"Ada? The pretty lady with the real long skirt?"
"Yeah!! She's my doctor, and she's super smart! She knows everything, and she's always there to comfort me! She's so wonderful... Oh! Hey, if you're from White Sand Street Asylum, you need to come to Paradise too!! That's where Ada is taking me after we got out of that place!" Emil enthused. He finally stood up, then crouched to be on eye level with the kid, who had dropped their axe.
"Really?! You'll take me with you?! Even though I'm a bad kid?" The kid said, hands flapping in excitement.
"Of course! I'm just as bad as you, and I'm sure Ada won't mind!! The more the merrier!!" Besides, he and Ada were kinda-sorta married now, right? Had they talked about having kids yet? Oh well, Ada was smart, she would make it all okay. "Here, here, lemme pick you up." Because Ada always told him you should ask before doing that! It was only okay to do that without permission when it was her.
"Okay!" The kid held out their arms, and Emil hefted them onto his hip. They were super cold to the touch, but that was okay. Emil looked around, trying to find Ada. He hoped the hunter wasn't nearby. Oh!
"Ada!!" With one arm holding the kid, Emil raced towards the psychologist eagerly, who sprinted towards him to meet in the middle.
"Emil, why do you--?" She started to ask, eyebrows raising into her hairline.
"They're from White Street Sand Asylum too, Ada!! They were told they're broken and a bad kid and they're 'aggressive' like me! So we have to take them to Paradise!! Right?" Like an overexcited puppy, Emil was bouncing on the balls of his feet while the kid giggled at the movement, snuggling closer.
Ada sighed fondly, heavily amused, but not quite surprised. "Of course we can take him, Emil. But you probably should have introduced yourself before all of that." She chided lightly, not really serious about it. She would most definitely need to find the words to properly explain that the boy her darling had basically stolen was a Hunter, but that could come later. Besides, she could already see a lot of Emil in this poor little boy. It shouldn't be hard to tend to two patients, especially when they were already so attached to each other... Besides. Emil would make a pretty good father in some aspects.