After leaving Moonheart, Elliot was still somewhat dazed.
When the [Worms] drew near, he, too, seemed to have vaguely sensed their presence.
It was a strange feeling, difficult to describe. In his previous life, Elliot had visited a desolate lake.
There had been many small fish in the lake. Having never seen humans before, they had gathered curiously around Elliot, gently touching his fingers.
Somehow, he thought of those fish now: the same pure feelings, the same simple yearning.
This gradually thawed his numb heart.
After the upheaval at the Imperial Palace, he had been despondent for a time. He had thought Sidney and Victoria were merely his friends, but only after losing them did he realize that he had actually been relying on them.
He actually had little idea how to save this world, while Sidney and Victoria were just the opposite. They had goals they wanted to achieve, but lacked precisely the power to do so.
Elliot was willing to help them fulfill their wishes.
And now, after the two had gone, it felt as though a piece of his heart had been hollowed out, and some part of him had died as well.
But his grief had been so heavy that he had not noticed his own decay and death.
Now, he finally recognized all of this and began to rally himself again.
The long-absent sense of being alive returned, like a bear waking from hibernation and sniffing the scent of spring.
The numbness faded, and searing emotions surged into his heart. He stopped and looked out, his gaze seeming to pierce through the Courtyard, through the Abode, through the boundary between the Dream and the Present World, and fall upon the amber above the ruins of the Imperial Palace.
"Victoria... Sidney, I will get you out!"