[ Maruki laughs in return, soft and self-effacing. ]

It's rhetorical! I know you'll say yes, I just like asking...

[ And he likes hearing the affirmation, too. It's not that he needs the reassurance, really. He never hesitates to share a single thought on his mind with Venat, a byproduct of the comfort that sprang up so easily between them, so early on. It simply feels good to know, and to hear, again and again, that she is listening, that they both are. ]

For as different as this reality is to my own, and to those that everyone else comes from, the collective unconscious underpins them all. It may go by different names and have slightly different functions depending on the reality in question... the Paths, the aetherial sea... but I feel confident saying that in the grand scheme, they all draw from the same source.

[ He has never found more comfort in a concept than the collective unconscious; has never desired more power over something, either. In time, he'll learn what it would mean for him, and while it may significantly abate that desire, it will only strengthen his belief in these statements. ]

So long as the collective unconscious exists, memory persists within it. Beyond death and beyond realities. So, in that way...

[ A beat, a breath. A promise so serious to him that it's very nearly an oath. ]

I won't ever forget you.

[ It's an impossibly heavy statement, for reasons he's yet to reveal to Venat. The weight is there, present in the fierce conviction behind each word. ]

There's an end to all things, but not that.