References

[fae_of_the_rose]

INTRODUCTORY THING

The dungeon entrance is somewhere relevant, maybe outside Caleb's current house maybe outside where he grew up. The edges of the gate look shattered and torn and it looks like it leads into a black hole. They'll enter it and wind up on an abandoned train station platform with the Astral Express sitting there. Except the train looks dark and abandoned right up until someone approaches it. When they do it'll half-light up and a distorted recording of Pom-Pom starts to play. "The Astral Express will be leaving soon! All passengers, please board." This goes on, getting more and more degraded until everyone gets on the train. Once the last person steps on, the doors will creak shut and the train will take off at a jagged, uneven pace.

It is dead silent on board with a vague feeling of dread. All the doors are open to all the cars and people can inspect the rooms. March 7th's is full of photos with the faces cut out--photos of both Caleb's life and Caelus's--and her stuffed animals are all facing away from the door. The data bank/Dan Heng's room looks destroyed and abandoned with nothing but the unsettling humming of a cathode ray TV to be heard. (If someone can help describe that sound better that would be great.) Himeko and Welt's rooms are locked, though there's a strange smell of oil and old coffee coming from hers and the sound of something pulsing from his. Welt's also feels incredibly dangerous.

After what feels like hours they'll start to hear voices and see images on the windows. They see Caleb when he's about [double check age Noct moved to DC] with his parents. Neither parent seems too interested in their son, with his mother on her computer and his father flipping through some documents with his laptop open next to him. The voices sound like they're coming from a degraded recording and the image isn't the clearest; the conversation involves Caleb trying to show his parents something cool he did in a game but neither caring. When that conversation is over, current!Caleb's voice can be heard saying "I don't know why I tried to show them. They didn't care about anything I did. I guess I just missed Noct and Uncle Regis."

We pull into the first station: Belobog of Isolation.

BELOBOG OF ISOLATION

Focusing on Caleb's isolation from his parents and peers, how he feels all of his friends are really Noct's friends and now Caelus's friends, not really his. They'll see flashes of Shadow Caleb leading Caelus around the area. FIGHT HERE: ice, isolation, walls that look strong but aren't.

Back to the train

TRAIN PART TWO

Gravity feels weird now. More deterioration. Another memory: getting the phone call about Regis. Noct can remember the conversation but the memory is from Caleb's side and continues after the call ends. Caleb ends up curled up on the dinky twin mattress from his last place, crying. You can barely hear the tears, though. Occasionally Caleb turns into Caelus in the memory. Caleb's voice: "No, wait, that was me. Not him."

Second station: Grief of the Luofu

GRIEF OF THE LUOFU

Focusing on Caleb's grief. Big focus on the loss of his uncle, with some dips into how angry the fact his mother wouldn't even go to the funeral made him. As they go through they'll see places from Kaisou but they're broken down and being overgrown with ginko leaves (mara-struck vibes, link those images) or it looks like something new and scary is growing out of the shell of these familiar places. More flashes of Shadow Caleb and Caleb. Graveyard in the Ambrosial Arbor. FIGHT HERE: Something Unto Death. Just rip that one wholesale look it works.

Back to the train.

TRAIN PART THREE

Even less gravity. Caleb is feeling less grounded the longer they travel. More deterioration. A series of memories, disjointed but all showing various moments where Caleb felt like he didn't belong. Maybe move the friend issues here instead of isolation or just double down on it. Some memories show Caelus not Caleb.

At least one more station, possibly the final. Boss fight is in an arena that looks like it's going supernova (less blinding). Maybe a small quick puzzle to get in but Caleb wants to be found so maybe not. Boss fight involves the Shadow switching between various forms.

Shadow claims Caleb knows he doesn't really belong. He's losing everything because he never really deserved to have everything he did in the first place. Parents never wanted him, uncle died, world is a lie, he's losing everything. He should just leave so no one else leaves first. Caleb probably won't agree or disagree, which will piss the Shadow off. Shadow could be talked down but probably won't be.

Include ways to weaken the boss en route. Noctis is either the biggest target (Shadow thinks Noct is why Caleb won't accept what he says) or completely avoided. Biggest target sounds more fun and also different.