For SCIENCE!

Nozomi was still, arms crossed over her chest just to rest upon each other. She was calm and patient, listening to everything the Doctor had to say about this particular dilemma without really reacting to it. Half of his words were not even meant for her, just outspoken thoughts about his frustrations. He was venting at her, getting it off of his chest because he was finally knocked off of his comfortable pedestal. Sure, he may not have been the most powerful individual in the world, and he could accept that; but the Doctor struck his pride down in being the most intelligent, the most creative, the most mentally rich... and to find such a powerful rival who shared the platform and perhaps was great enough to push him out of the picture was just a terrible revelation. Shaken, he blurted out dissatisfaction with the turn of events in her company, which was not normal behavior whatsoever; but then again neither of them really had exemplified 'normal behavior' over the past hour or so. Nozomi just played the part of an audience, giving heed to his exasperated lamentation without providing any feedback that would disturb his rant. She did not display impatience, nor did she display boredom, or pity, or anything but the half-way upturned smile she had worn from the beginning. What this was... was a sign of respect. Nozomi was giving her respect to the Doctor, whether he was aware of the subtle fact or not.

In the second half of his tirade, his words stopped being rhetorical in nature, actually requiring some acknowledgment from the blue-haired lady herself. She finally gave indication that she was more than a vivid statue, finally taking a breathe and shifting her stance on to her right leg so that her entire form took on a slight slant. In response to his declaration that he could summon his familiars to open all three doors at once, she gave a light chuckle and bowed her head, causing a multitude of her azure locks to drift over the front of her face like a veil. It hid her expression only until she brought her head back up, revealing a pleasant smile and bright eyes, full of understanding. She didn't say anything just yet, a paragon of utter patience as she allowed him to close his declamation. She just shook her head lightly when he finally did finish, responding in an airy tone as if the lady were crafted from sugar, spice, and everything nice: ''Silly snake, you have no power here. I would be ashamed that you can't tell where you are if I didn't know just how exhausted you are of energy to be capable of it.'' And she wasn't teasing with this statement; she spoke the truth. Doctor Hebi needed to make a deeper examination of just exactly what he could feel, because it certainly wasn't his normal energy. True, he felt well-rested and full of vigor, but he had no chaos energy, no madness energy, not a single particle of power. He had no connection to Mun in this place, or any of the other voices that normally had their place within his mind. He felt... like a mere mortal human... normal.

''Welcome to my mind, Doctor,'' Nozomi announced, probably breaking him out of his reverie. ''You're the victim of an illusion I made just for you, and you'll see what I want you to see, no shenanigans. Oh, from your standpoint you can go, 'Oh, if that's so then how am I supposed to see a door you're purposefully hiding from me?' to which I will respond; But I'm not. Some people just are incapable of seeing the fourth path, and that's fine, but I'm not keeping it from you intentionally.'' Then she winked at him, adding an encouraging quip about how he was a smart cookie to the end of her defense. It left him with really limited options, giving him that feeling of intentionally being kept in the dark even though Nozomi was actually offering free information. It was psychology, one of a million fields she was well educated in. If she had to guess, she'd predict that he couldn't see this fourth door, and he would in fact not be able to walk down that path... the chance that Nozomi ever failed to predict an outcome was one to a million. Again, that was fine, he had three other doors at his disposal that were sure to make this dreadful experience up to him, as each of them had an incredibly significant detail about the ancient woman and just who she was. She hadn't said it out loud, but she would not go back on her word here—she was completely content sharing an aspect of her identity. It fell on the Doctor to place his hand on a knob, turn it, and open it up.

Her eyes suddenly brightened, her smile becoming richer in an instant as an idea popped in her head. The light bulb floating above her was almost palpable. She uncrossed her arms and bopped her forehead with the palm of her hand, creating an audible thud. ''Oh, I know what would make you feel better about this choice! Gosh I'm so dumb for not thinking about it before... here we go.'' Suddenly her hands were in the air, waving whimsically across the bland atmosphere as is weaving some sort of strange magic. You could tell by the way she moved that these gestures were absolutely unnecessary, but she performed them majestically. Then, after some time, the warm brown color of the three doors shifted, splashing some color onto them. The door in front of him had become a rich dark violet with twilight sparkles sprinkled across the face. The door in the very middle of the pack had become a plain black with hot rod flames painted along the bottom half that seemed to give off a warm glow, while the door to the far left wasn't even wood anymore, being replaced by a chrome silver steel with meaningless bolts weaved into the pattern. When the transformation of the doors completed, Nozomi finished her dance and clapped her hands together, obviously pleased with herself. ''Well? How's that? Is the choice more interesting this way? I think so~'' She laughed aloud in a delightful nature, having far too much fun with such a parlor trick. Even after all this, the Doctor found himself still caught in Nozomi's never-ending cycle of games.

Nozomi wondered if the man knew what the concept of a secret was.

She did not even have to assume what the thoughts were that flitted through his mind at a million miles per hour; he explained it word-for-word aloud in this empty space for her, or perhaps for himself. It was almost as if by speaking of it he could convince her how intelligent and witted he was, synonymous with seeking the woman's approval. In a way, it was actually him granting her a gift, one she rather liked. If his words were of any similarity to the way he thought, then he was allowing her a peek inside the workings of his mind. He was, in a way, showing her how he thought and broke down such complications as the one laid out before him. It was not too different from her own, albeit a thousand times slower in arriving at a final conclusion, in addition to being slightly less thorough. Her smile twitched slightly, her method of expressing gratefulness to nobody in particular, the subtle gesture not very good at communicating that fact. Still, it was delightful to watch him scrabble about within the confines of her game, figuring his way closer and closer to what he thought he desired. Despite Nozomi never indicating that the fourth path would ever be more appealing than the others, he so desperately wanted to find it. To be able to say that he beat her game, to discover the contents of a path merely because it seemed harder to grasp than the three that had been laid out for him.

Even the insane were not immune to the sway of psychology; she had known all along that the simple mentioning of a secret door would alter his choice, despite her request to not let it affect his decision. The first three doors, Nozomi had stated to have a piece of information about her contained within. The fourth door she had promised no such thing, nor indicated that something would even come from opening it. Dangle a candy in front of a child, and they will come; dangle a secret passageway before a mad doctor, and they will come, hook, line, and sinker. He began to walk toward Nozomi, thinking he had the entire ordeal figured out, looking toward her for an answer as though she would give it. Even when he felt so sure that this would be the secret path, he hesitated, dare not even touch her lest he let teh chance slip through her finger. It should have dawned on him how helpless he was at this point. He had been outclassed in the stage of combat, and now this scenario threatened to prove that he was inferior mentally as well. Nozomi was silent and still for a moment, persistent in her sickeningly sweet smile, perfectly lax in her stance. Not even a gust of wind would interrupt the deafening silence as Hebi waited for the answer that would bring him the satisfaction he desired. So close to the ledge, on the verge of a decision he may regret.

Or would he?

Was this scenario really playing out exactly to Nozomi's schematics? Had Nozomi truly broken the Doctor down to his basest factors and learned all there was to know about him? Perhaps it was the reverse. Nozomi had said she would give details to him about one significant aspect if he opened either of the three doors presented to him in plain sight. Her statement did not include many parameters; he may witness something about her that he already deduced from their fight, or perhaps the information would be shared to him in an unintelligible language that he just did not have the tools to decipher it with. Maybe this secret path really would be the true reward, and Hebi might have just figured it all out. In addition to the good feeling of crushing the little puzzle Nozomi had crafted and receiving a vast reward of invaluable information about her, the Doctor would be able to leave her with the knowledge that he was much on the same level as her in mind, if not superior. If that was a case, it was not that Hebi was so hesitant about his choice but more so that he did not want to be rude to the lady and touch her somewhere inappropriate. That was understandable, and it all made sense. He may have lost the brutish fight, but the true victory would lie in the clash of wits. Grand-standing applause.

Nozomi didn't falter. Ever-pleasantly smiling, she held out her hand for him to grasp, not too fast nor too slow, but just right. ''You're a very clever man, Doctor, I must admit.'' He couldn't tell what was going on behind that smile, it was impossible. No matter how hard he tried to peer into her eyes, he could go no deeper than the surface, making the thoughts behind the mask unreachable. Her smile turned sad and she tilted her face. ''But are you completely sure about your decision? Grasp my hand, and I'll take you down a path. But after that there's no backing out; the rest of the doors will be gone to you.'' She said 'a path', not signifying anything about it. This might worry Hebi, yet there were only four paths in total, and he had left the other three behind. This had to mean that Hebi had stumbled upon that secret fourth one... maybe.

''What's your choice?''

Nozomi would chuckle at the man as he took her hand, more specifically at his accusatory statement about her lying. Even though it came off with such conviction, he was dead wrong. Yeah, she won the game, proved herself the superior, but to deny the opinion that she found the Doctor clever would be outrageous. She was not one to maintain a 'holier-than-thou' attitude about things, as only in her perpetual facade may it have seemed that way, an act that hadn't left the woman during this entire interaction. ''Don't get too down on yourself, Hebi, no need to be humble about yourself. I complimented you with the utmost sincerity.'' Then she squeezed his hand softly to reassure him of her opinion of him, feeling the scaly yet smooth texture that was closer to a snake's than a human beings. He in turn would feel her skin was as human-like as it appeared, just before he began to be pulled in her direction. ''But you've made your choice now, and as a woman who doesn't go against her word, you will not be able to take the other doors any longer. I will be leading you down the fourth path...'' she trailed off, her voice seeming to slowly drown out as if water was filling the Doctor's ears up and deafening him gradually.

If he dared look around he would see this mental plane also begin to decompose, the doors losing their color and becoming complete monochrome before they dissipated into nothingness; the snow white sky and ground giving way to an endless dark void with no depth whatsoever. Nozomi's form warped and distorted, seeming to fade away, but Hebi would not be able to see her completely disappear before bright white light consumed his vision and blinded him. The sense of time was lost to him, and he would not be able to tell whether he was in the light for a mere few seconds or an entire hour—he was too weak to perceive it at this point. But eventually, the solid white would falter, and fade out. His sight... and moreso his consciousness would return to normal, revealing his self to have come back to his own body. No, not the dissolving corpse that had been left behind on the battlefield to wreak havoc, but the one that had gotten away in the confines of his pet snake, to live another day.

He didn't... feel any different, not at first. He had been led somewhere by Nozomi one second, then he lost track of his senses and his time, and now he was back home. 'What had happened?' would be a logical question to ask at this time, and it was not one Hebi would be quite able to answer. However, something within his mind would suddenly feel out of place if he was observant enough, a thought that was not there before. Should he scrounge his mind to locate this foreign thought, he find that it had not originated from his brain, but from another's: Nozomi. The moment he found it, the concept inscribed itself into his mind in a searing flash, causing him minor discomfort and a lapse of concentration, but solidifying itself within. That's the exact instant that Doctor Hebi would know what had been left for him. 'Catch me if you can,' the thought seemed to say, and it made it clear that Nozomi's parting gift was the preservation of his interests. She would not grant him any free information about her, rather leaving it to him to discover her for himself. She left him a challenge to keep his excitement about her on a high, so that he would not grow bored of this ongoing game. And of course, she left him a promise that he would see her again, and again, and many times more to give him the chances he needed if he desired. Maybe he would be frustrated still at not being able to decipher this elusive woman, but the path he had taken would have been more preferable than the rest, Nozomi knew. Nothing free.

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Nozomi finally discarded the mask, losing her smile and allowing her eyelids to fall over her eyes as her entire expression hardened into an emotionless mask. The remains of Hebi's Madness Form crumbled through her fingers and floated off into the weightless void of space, incapable of sustaining themselves without Nozomi's energy to hold them together. With the Doctor no longer here to interact to, there was no one for her to smile at; not one here for which she needed to pretend that she needed to open her eyes to see. Rather, she did not waste any more time in this place, ripping open a personal Garganta and disappearing through it alone before it rapidly closed. When the seams of space shut on each other, a twinkle of light flashed over it, before it too disappeared. She had no qualms about leaving the Doctor's underlings behind in an empty place millions of light years away—she didn't care about them in the least and wondered if the feeling was mutual. Irregardless, she was moving on from this rendezvous... she had a certain project she was working on.

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