EPILOGUE

[faentasy]

Epilogue

After all is said and done, in the wake of the void and sprinting through one final door.

You come out into light. Sunlight actually, a backyard in what appears to be a typical suburban town, if you're familiar with those. The sun shines cheerfully overheard, blissfully unaware of what everyone has went through. And this is everyone, as faces you haven't seen in weeks tumble out in one pile from a basement door.

Happy Saturday, everyone.

There's plenty of reunions and catching up to do, but you've utterly left Aira Niluc behind you after seven long weeks. And through the window of the house which looks like it has seen a better seen better days is one wall mural that reads "And they all lived Happily Ever After".

[[ Happy Golden End everyone, you've earned it! There's still the matter of sorting out where to next, but everyone is whole and alive and without button eyes. Using the knowledge from the object Phil had and the beldam's magic, they can also now world hop only one side effect...the portal that opens to everyone else's worlds here? Is made entirely of pixie dust. Everyone's powers will also restore fully over the course of the next few hours. ]]

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Comments

[crimson_flamel]

I see nobody has killed you yet.

[Edelgard will step up to the tree, her arms crossed, seemingly unbothered about his new appearance.]

[begrimed]

[ A blink and a small smile. ]

Surprised?

[crimson_flamel]

[She returns with a small smile of her own, deeply exhausted.]

Of course not. It's early yet, I'm sure everyone wants a chance to put their feet up. I am surprised that you didn't run for the hills at the earliest opportunity though.

[She'll let out a sigh.]

I don't actually care what happens to you, one way or another.

[begrimed]

Fraulein, I'm almost hurt. [ A little teasing, just a hint of that sing song that he used so often over the seven weeks in Aira Niluc. ]

I'm not going anywhere without Yuri, no matter what. And out of all the things I've ever been, a coward isn't one of 'em.

[crimson_flamel]

Good. [She glares at him, for the first time since she got to this bizarre afterlife party, there's actual danger in her eye.]

Break her heart and you'll wish I killed you.

[begrimed]

Oh, she'd kill me first. And if she does, I'll happy accept that from her too~.

[ He is not at all put off and he actually has somewhat of a bashful smile. This is the face of a man who is entirely whipped and happy with it. ]

[crimson_flamel]

A point in your favour, I suppose.

[The daggers she was staring at him are blunted and eventually she stands next to him at the tree and stares at the grass, vaguely wistful.]

It really would have been so much simpler if you were as awful as we all thought you were, but alas... Where do you think you'll go now?

[begrimed]

Ahaha, sorry, sorry. I'm still not a good man but maybe I'm not an entirely terrible one?

[ Weird to actually be able to say that... ]

I'll go wherever my famiglia and Yuri want to go. I'd like to see the founding members of my famiglia again too, but I don't think it's safe for me to go back there now.

[crimson_flamel]

Well. I wouldn't go that far. Yuri seems to think so, at least.

[Yuri also thinks the same thing about Edelgard and Edelgard's truama brain says 'no.']

I told Yuri she could come to my world in the event that you died, since I imagined she'd be going home with you. [The prospect of including Hamelin and Jack in that is a headache.] The offer does still stand. McGillis would be useful, at least.

[begrimed]

[ Hamelin just smiles. ]

Ahh, I can pass it on? But Monty's situation and Jack's are...unique. [ Especially Jack. ] We'll figure something out, though. As long as wherever we're going has horses.

[crimson_flamel]

I'm sure they are.

[McGillis and his stupid-ass wish...]

I'd like to speak to Yuri independently once more before the lot of you go, anyway. The rest of you can run off and die for all I care, well – maybe not McGillis – but Yuri is still a friend.

[Then softer, but still harsher.] You really have gotten lucky. The fact that anyone sees any good in you... I don't understand it.

[begrimed]

[ A nod, whatever Yuri wants to do and whoever she wants to talk to he has no zero objections to as long as she's not in any danger. At the rest though, he blinks. ]

Ha, cause of everything I've done? [ A glance off elsewhere at a certain blonde. ] I'm not sure the word "good" and me go together still. Before we started really courting, I told Yuri that I really am terrible. I think that only encouraged her?

[ A short laugh, a touch bemused. ]

I'll do whatever it takes to help my famiglia, even if it comes at the cost of everyone else. And if someone has to get their hands dirty I'll do it, I'll really never get mine clean anyway.

Everything else...I've always believed that everyone can make their own decisions. I'm not going to tell anyone here they should forgive me or not want my head or anything like that. The only problem there is that my head is spoken for right now.

1/2

[crimson_flamel]

[She's silent for a hot minute.]

...And yet, you were freed from your role. Freed to have friends. Free to be loved... [A longing glance over at Yuri.] You're free to be anyone else other than the villain they all detest.

[Her voice actually wavers a little, like she might be a few moments away from tearing up. Oh, actually there might be tears starting to well up. That's bad. She's showing weakness in front of the person she maybe hates the most here.]

You can go back to it, eventually anyway, once you've worked it all out. Everything you lost, right? They're all alive, aren't they?

[And now she'll actually snarl. The urge to take her dagger, slash his throat, and erase his happy ending is... strong.]

Some of us don't have the fucking luxury.

2/2

[crimson_flamel]

[She'll slump. The fight, the anger, all gone, and wipe her eyes.]

...Sorry.

It's deeply irrational to blame you for it. You didn't even get the safety of your own mind, I still have that.

...I was trying to kill the part of myself that can feel this way. I thought... hoped... it was gone.

[Then an exhausted sigh, and a bitter laugh escape her lips.]

Guess I was wrong. I did mean it when I said I wished you the best of luck. But I'll admit I'm a little jealous. I can't imagine getting a chance to care about the people you love and not the role you have to play. Even my wish had nothing to do with my own happiness.

Selfishly, I resent the fact that you can now afford to be selfish, after being starved of it for so long, I suppose.

[begrimed]

[ Hamelin doesn't really do jealousy, but some part of him does get it. He knows he is very lucky to have someone like Yuri, someone who actually loves him back even if he would be more than happy with someone who just used him and gave him attention. It's something he's known for a few weeks now and what ultimately pushed him to be more bold when it came to this story he was being forced to write. Giving Edelgard the adder stones was something he never would have done without it, even if he had wanted to. Above everything else, fear has always affected a large part of his actions. But sometimes you put that to the side and make a leap of faith even if every thought in your head is telling you that you know better.

Right now he looks like he kind of wants to offer her more than words, a pat, a hug, something to show that she's not alone. There's kind of an aborted motion to do so and he settles for a small smile. ]

They're alive, yeah. [ He leaves off the "should be" because he's never voiced that concern to anyone. He himself is supposed to be unkillable in his own world but he was so...it's not something to discuss now either way. ]

You don't have to apologize to me, fraulein. I've been there in a way and killing part of yourself never really works even if you and everything else wants it. I don't think my optimistic traits were really supposed to stick around when I was rewritten, but they did.

And if it helps, be whatever way you need to be, to me. I can take it, you know? [ A laugh. ] Just as long as it's not my actual head, 'cause I won't let Yuri be sad.

[crimson_flamel]

[If he'd reached out for her she'd... bristle, probably. But maybe she wouldn't have immediately punched him. She could really use a hug right now, even if Hamelin is absolutely not the best person for the job considering her clusterfuck of emotions pointed at him like a heated missile. She wipes the last remnants of tears from her eyes, and is determined to pretend that didn't happen.

She's silent for a while. Before looking up to glare at him. It's less hateful and more slightly annoyed and chastising.]

You know it doesn't help. And if you're deadset on taking punches to make others feel better, then I'd have to hate you for being spineless and weak instead. ...Yuri deserves better than someone content to be whipped for someone else's relief. [Because she's really on a one track mind in terms of that. Make Yuri happy, you bastard.]

Blaming you for getting something I didn't is... stupid. You helped me more than you hindered me, and I doubt you would have if it hadn't been for that kindness shown to you. I could sit here and mourn Raven and SQ as if I wouldn't have killed them without a second thought, but I'm not that naive.

I'm not an optimist. I lost all faith in relying on anyone except myself when I was eleven years old and in that dungeon. But I know I can force a happy ending for my world in the time that I have, like we forced a happy ending here. It's not like I have long enough for anything else in my life.

[begrimed]

[ He hums. ]

I've always been a don, yeah? So I've always looked out for my people first, before me. But that doesn't mean I let just anyone walk all over me. Yuri cares about you, so however I can help, I'll help. I don't hate anyone here, you know?

[ Despite how that's decidedly not the truth in reverse, it's still how he feels. He listens to the rest though, foot tapping to an silent rhythm. ]

I can be an optimist for you, then. But either way, yeah I think you're right. Compared to what you did here? Another happy ending ain't so difficult.

[crimson_flamel]

[She resists the urge to snort at the first statement.]

...There's some irony in that – your people being your first priority, I mean – making you a more responsible lord than almost every other noble in Fodlan. [She struggles to imagine Lord Ludwig hugging his lieutenants before sending them to their deaths.]

I suppose I'll let you know if there's anything you can do, though taking a verbal beating isn't one of them. Like I've said, you're welcome in my world if you would like to help. We do have horses and pegasi, if that helps some. [She says that like the offer wasn't begrudgingly made when she offered it, like it's just stating the obvious.

She turns a look toward him, and raises an eyebrow at him.]

I am admittedly a bit surprised you'd still call yourself an optimist after everything.

[begrimed]

I'm pretty easy, I'll go wherever, though bein' able to ride is a big plus. My real skills are my flute, though I'm gonna say I'm really not eager to use it on kids unless I gotta.

[ She probably isn't interested in controlling an army of kids anyway? An easy smile nonetheless. ​]

Ahh well, that's what I am for better or worse! It'd have been easier if I wasn't, I would have been dead a while ago. But I'm not complaining.