The two sides paused in bewilderment as a soothing and cold feeling once again enveloped him, only this time it was also directed towards his overblotted self.
"Peony?" Ortho called out in confusion.
With the support of the foreign fire, Ortho's flame soon began to take on a shape. It was his old self before he became a victim of the incident. He touched his face and his arms. Fleshly and warm. His eyes stings when he accidentally touched them with his bare hands and he could finally feel his hair again. It was warm to the touch.
"Ortho..." Peony coaxed him calmly as he looked up to find a matching image of himself across from him only paler and having lost all trace of peace.
In a way, it felt very familiar.
"Is this really your enemy?" Peony's voice whispered in his ears as he stared at the other person across from him, "Was it really a joke when you told Idia that you wanted to free everyone from the Underworld? Was that really not your wish?"
"But... my wish is for everyone to be happy..." Ortho responded hesitantly as he shook his head in denial, "That is why I want to free everyone from the underworld so many years ago."
"Then, what is his wish?" Peony questioned him curiously.
"He also wants to free everyone from the underworld..." Ortho answered after some thought.
"But why?"
"Why?" Ortho hesitated in confusion as he shook his head again, "I don't know-"
He stopped in bewilderment as he saw his other self also shaking his head and giving the same look of confusion, "Eh..."
Suddenly, it dawned on him. The reason why he did not succeed in merging with him no matter how hard he tried. It finally fell upon him!
He took a step forward without fear and noted aloud, "You are me and I am you. We are what makes up Ortho. Therefore, the reason why you want to open the underworld is the same reason why I want to free everyone. 'I' want everyone to be happy!"
This was the reason why he had not succeeded in merging with his other half no matter how hard he tried. Because they were one of the same person. They are "Ortho".
"I wanted everyone to be happy, so I asked Big Brother to help me on the mission as the hero." Ortho confessed with a look of disappointment, "However, an accident occurred as they were moving an overblot phantom and we could not find a safe place to hide. As a result, I, not only failed to free everyone with big brother, but also died in the process. But, I didn't want to give up, even after that incident. This is why I was able to continue existing in the Underworld."
It was then that the other Ortho reached out his hand and said to him, "Then, let us make everyone happy. Let's free everyone from the Underworld. From Tartarus. Let's return them home."
Ortho nodded, "That's right. That's what I wanted for so long. However, we are unable to do this."
The other Ortho tilted his head in confusion, "Why? Big Brother is here to help everyone leave Tartarus and go back home. Why can't we to do this?"
"Because even with big brother, we've already failed." Ortho responded.
"How so?"
Ortho stared at his other half with great hesitation before responding, "Because... We could not make our mom and dad happy on that day."
With this, the other half shuddered and froze with a look of surprise across his face as Ortho continued, "Didn't we want everyone to be happy when we planned this with Big Brother? However, when I was outside with big brother, I found how devastated our parents were when we were gone. With us gone, Big brother did everything he could to fill the void we left behind. When I found father again and our benefactor prodded him to make him believe we were still around, he acted out for the first time and was crying. We've never seen dad break down before either till I saw it a few days ago. Say... Can we really make everyone happy when we already failed so terribly and made others so sad? We want to make everyone happy, but we failed to make others close to us happy. If we don't accept the fact that we've failed as we've always done, wouldn't that make the situation worse and worse? Will we be happy when this happen? Aren't we also a part of 'everyone'? In the end, just as many people we make happy, we will have just as many we made sad. This... This is not what makes us happy too."
"But, we can't stop now. Otherwise our entire efforts will be in vain! Say that we do accept that this is an error. Then, what do we do? Dad and Mom are already sad and Big Brother is also still sad even though he knew we are gone and just wanted to remain till we finish the mission." The other half responded in dismay, "We can't go back."
"We can!" Ortho spouted with a firm look on his face, "We just made ourselves think we can't go back to the very beginning. In truth, our actions have already started the first steps in a very long mission and we don't need to start from the very beginning. Big Brother never stopped studying for a way to save our friends, even though he keeps saying that there was no way. He knew there must be, otherwise he wouldn't be here with us. We are right. We can't go back to the day the incident happened, but we can continue from where we left off. Only this time, let's not do this with just the two of us. Mom and Dad and everyone else. We shouldn't have just relied everything on big brother alone."
"But you saw that the others didn't join us."
"You're right and I can see why they didn't." Ortho responded without hesitation, "Because Phantom are too powerful and can create huge mess, even by accident. It's our job to get to know them better, but knowing their perspective is not enough. We also need to learn more from the other people's perspective too. Even if others fear the phantoms and wants to stay away from them, does that really mean that everyone who works here is the same? If it was Mom and Dad, they wouldn't brush us aside randomly as long as we can come up with an answer or a clue like Big brother. Even if we aren't able to do it the first time, isn't hypothesis and testing for ways to help others one of the things a scientist do?"
"But, as machines, we've already found all of the answers-"
"That's not true and we know that!" Ortho shook his head with a bright smile, "If the world was known to everyone already, then why are we still researching the Phantom? Isn't it because we are still trying to understand blot and overblot phantom?"
Seeing his half still uncertain and unconvinced, Ortho continued, "Did you know, when Peony was trying to convince dad, she revealed that she came from a world where overblot was called demonic energy? This form of ideology existed in the ancient east for so many years, but there was never any development because they were scared what would happen if they dabbled with the arts. But, Peony came from a world where there are certain people who are born able to control blot and need blot to survive. They can also create items that helps stop blot from affecting others around them and items to make them stronger! Peony also used that energy to get us through the underworld to find you and big brother. She was also born with the capability to control blot according to her will without overblotting. Isn't this what we've been looking for for so long? A way for all of us to co-exist happily? Peony and Big Brother and everyone... Our chances were never a zero to begin with, so why are we still here trying to create a new percentage when we haven't finished trying out so many possibilities?"
Hearing this, his other half looked up with bright eyes once more as the madness quickly dissipated, "How... How do we start? How long will it take? We want to be free now!"
"Ask for everyone to wait a little longer." Ortho explained and reached out his hand, "We've been already for so long already. Can we really not hold on for much longer? Even just for a little more? So, before we help others... Let's first prove that we are strong enough to make our family and friends happy? Once we go back, we have all the time in the world to come up with a solution. Right?"
The other Ortho looked to his hand hesitantly before he finally nodded and reached out to grab a hold of that outstretched hand in the end, "Never forget."
"Mh. 'I' will never forget." Ortho responded with a bright smile, "Together, we'll work hard and figure out a way so everyone can be free and work together."
Finally, the two bodies turned into a bright flash of fire and came together into one large burst of flame. Seeing the two flames merged together, Peony watched as they began to assimilate into one entity. Once the fire slowly came to a calm and slow blaze, she finally calmed her mind, retreated into her own consciousness, and went into a deep meditation. As she did this, the vessel soon awoken in its half waken state and looked around in a daze, "Big Brother... He's calling for me... It's finally time... For everyone to leave!"
With that, "Ortho" floated out of the Underworld in a hurry. Maisey who saw this wanted to call out to him, but soon realized that it was futile as he was stuck in her ring and Peony was still in a deep secluded meditation. They were stuck in the Underworld with the scary King of the underworld!