the end

[productions]

murder manor end



servants' wing

20 players alive.

[The walls of the servants' wing shudder and groan, but do not give out. Inside, the servants' wing is pitch dark, lit only by the glow of Kanaya's skin. Very slowly, the energy field flickers and vanishes, the great machine stops humming, the keypad goes dark, until it is simply a cold piece of metal.

It's difficult to tell what is going on; outside, it sounds as though a powerful storm is raging. The sound of heavy winds and crashes that could be thunder can be heard, and sometimes the walls themselves tremble as though in danger of giving out. Occasionally, bright flashes of light seem to light up the building for a moment, seeping in between cracks in the wall. It certainly sounds like a storm powerful enough to destroy the shack everyone is huddled in, but the building remains standing.

Inside, it is incredibly crowded. Twenty people, two dogs, a horse, and a dove are all sharing the space, not to mention the rodents, miniature panda, and Rin's lifeless body, and the space is only one room half taken up by a large machine. It is also gradually growing bitterly cold.

Gradually, the lost abilities and memories (including reunion memories) will return to everyone inside. The storm continues on for about a day; you'll have to wait it out.]

Comments

[godwhisperer]

All right, here is the reason. I trust May Chang, and Sonia Nevermind as well. I lived and you died only because of that judgement, because they saw the truth of my own nature. If both saw something in you worth preserving, then that exists, whether or not you are ready to acknowledge it.

[He references, of course, the trial at which Kaoru was killed. He thought to die a villain, but those two refused to see him that way. If they don't see Kaoru that way, either, then he doesn't believe his own perspective is somehow truer.]

You owe me nothing, and whether you owe them a debt of gratitude...I could not say. But there is a burden you must now bear; a curse upon your name and your blood for all eternity. Do you understand this?

For now and for forever you live on the borrowed blood of Clyde Barrow. Most men and women have a choice in how they live their lives; they may choose to be a villain, to be a coward, or even to throw away their own future. But so long as Clyde Barrow has no such choice, neither shall you.

[souredsweet]

[that isn't something he had considered before, but hearing it now... he thinks back on the moment he had stepped out of the theater, turning one last time to search for both Clyde and Touko among those remaining. he had been brought back over two, but Clyde was the person he was most directly replacing; a human whose company he hadn't even minded by the end. there really is a debt - not only to people like Sonia and May, but to the one (ones?) left behind.

he still can't fully understand it, these notions of mercy and debt and being grateful for anything at all, but Gundam's words seem to have had some sort of impact.]

A reason like that... [he had never felt any sort of pressure to be a good person at any point in his life, but more than one saw something that he believes isn't there, and even his incredibly broken sense of guilt stirs a little.]

A burden like that is something I never thought I would have to carry. Not once in my life did I think such a thing... [not graceful acceptance, but not denial, either.]

[godwhisperer]

You did not ask for that favor but that is how it is. And I...am sorry for that. But it is not such a terrible thing.

[souredsweet]

[he's quiet for a second.]

...Not many people would say "sorry" for something like that, you know. I think understanding you is beyond me. [his lips purse briefly.] But no, I don't think it is... bad.

[godwhisperer]

Ah, is that so? It's fine.

[He isn't so worried about being misunderstood, at least.]

Then I do wish you a good fate.

[souredsweet]

[he looks at a loss for a second since it's pretty much the first time anyone has ever wished him well (in regard to something that isn't murder), but eventually he nods and very hesitantly returns the sentiment.]

...And you. To you and Sonia both.

[godwhisperer]

[He nods as well.]

Thank you. Let our paths never cross again until the day all the universe is swallowed into the pits of hell.

[souredsweet]

[that he seems much more comfortable with.]

Mm. This time alone was more than enough. [and then he was invited to Gundam's future wedding whoops.]