There's always a lighthouse

[wheremst]

And just like that, you wake up in the basement of a lighthouse in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There's a circle of 25 pods in the middle of the room, and two more in a room off to the side, and you can imagine who is in which.

An elevator to the side of the room leads up to the ground floor (or to the first sub-basement, if you want to check out the machine that brought you here), where you can for the first time in weeks look out a window and see the sky. Its a beautiful sunny day, with a strong breeze on the grassy ground of the island where the lighthouse stands. Have you ever been this happy to hear seagulls?

You're free. Whatever comes next, you're free and you won. Take some time to relish your victory, won't you? Reunite with friends you thought you had lost, go forth and just... well, enjoy this.

Comments

[emberserker]

Absolutely.

...I imagine you're still not happy. In all honesty, I... well. It perhaps wasn't the best of judgment, the whole thing.

[that one apology she gave you was the only time she ever apologized for anything the entire game long, what do you expect.]

[bolderfell]

...Well, yeah. We know that now.

[He has to look away for a moment, tugging at his scarf, before he can put together something close to what he wants to say.]

I lived like that too, you know. I... was thrown away.

[emberserker]

[Anna thinks. Frowns a bit. No more "well, I'm not like that," that went away when she'd spoken to a few of the ones she'd sent to their own convictions. Her family's love had conditions. Suishou had simply thrown her in the trash. It sounded like this was the same.]

I see. ...You never did seem to like people until late. What changed your mind?

[bolderfell]

You were part of it. Maybe even the first part of it.

[emberserker]

[That seemed unexpected. Anna's eyes widen as she listens.]

What did I do? I knew I upset you, but that's...

[bolderfell]

No, no. Long before that. You probably don't even remember, didn't seem like you thought about it that hard. It's just that... you defended me once in a trial. Never heard anyone so thoroughly damn convinced I didn't do a crime.

[emberserker]

...Zelos, right? It didn't seem like you, that's all. I thought I knew everyone well enough to make the judgment.

[She wants to push it away -- her, do something to help? But, well. That lingering voice has been fading from her head for the past two months, and she's already admitted that the desperate attempt to pretend it wasn't anything but her own thoughts was a mistake. As much as she hates the idea, she needs something else. ...And these people aren't too bad. He never was.]

It seems it worked out for you well enough.

[bolderfell]

Liking people? ...Yeah. Guess it did, this time around.

[He's quiet for a long time as he studies her face intently. Finally, he closes his eyes. It's easier to talk that way.]

My old partner in crime was like a brother to me. We met as kids. Broke each other out of gaol, spent the next five or six years basically inseparable. We did everything together. We did everything for each other. I was all he had and vice versa. That was enough for me. I thought it was the same for him.

The second he was offered money and power, he tried to kill me. I thought he had for a while there, but I've always been bad at dying when I should. I figured, if he could do that to me, then everything everyone ever said about trust was a lie fed to the gullible. All that time, he hated me. Resented that I didn't always just go along with what he wanted. Envied talents of mine he thought he didn't have. [He drops his chin with a bitter smile.] I thought I was helping us. I didn't understand what he felt. I'm not sure I do now.

All that is to say... I meant what I said about not wanting it to be you that week. I wanted... I wanted to believe in you for who you were, the way you trusted me to be who you thought I was. Even though I knew you were like him in some ways... I guess I just wanted something better for you this time.

[emberserker]

[Anna listens. She frowns, arms crossed, but she doesn't move to insult him or anything. Two months ago, she'd have probably slapped him. Now, she just thinks.]

I don't think Ernesta ever understood me, either. And she kept insisting I had her all wrong.

...Honestly, sometimes I don't know myself. I thought I did, and then all this happens. But I suppose I'm glad. If I'm going to get attached to you people somehow, you'd better turn out all right, and you did.

[bolderfell]

...Hopefully not too all right. I have a professional reputation to maintain.

[emberserker]

Not dead. Is that better?

[bolderfell]

I take a lot of pride in being the "not dead" kind of all right, yeah.

So... got plans, once everything here's settled? Seems to be the topic of the moment.

[emberserker]

All I know is what I'm not doing. I'd go back, but I -- [She hesitates.] If all that was true, I wouldn't be able to stop myself. I try to destroy Ernesta, I get myself killed, that's what it wants. The last thing I want is to be a puppet after all this just happened.

[bolderfell]

...Well... if you'd want to see a place with magic to spare...

[He's fidgeting way more with his scarf now than he did during any part of that final trial.]

Look, I don't know if you'd like Orsterra, but I could at least show you around some of it. If you're interested.

[emberserker]

What, you mean --

[She stops and thinks it over.]

...It's strange, but you know, I don't think I'd mind seeing it. It sounds like it's never dull, at least.

[bolderfell]

It doesn't have toilets, if that's going to be a problem.

[emberserker]

It sounds like you're going to miss investigating them.

[is she joking?? what did you people do to her.]

[bolderfell]

Hah!

[Is he laughing?! What did you all do to him? He turns aside and covers his mouth, but when he looks at her again, he's grinning.]

Not particularly. Might miss breaking them, though.

[emberserker]

Oh, don't tell me you went and flooded the place.

[bolderfell]

No, that was Vincent and Kirei.

[emberserker]

Ha, ha. [eye roll] It did sound like they'd done a good deal of damage, just not to do with the plumbing.

[bolderfell]

You have no idea. We lost that whole area the first day after that, then another and another... We were down to just that first wing by the end. What I did to the toilets was just a drop in the bucket.

[emberserker]

That sounds insufferable. We still had the areas for a bit, but then the place started to break down. It was like holes were torn into it. And then the janitors showed up and we had to grab what we could, get the -- what was it, encrypted backups? -- and run. Of course I got the only one they gave a gun to, but that's how it all goes.

[bolderfell]

...That sounds much worse than anything we had to deal with. I'm glad none of you fell into any of those... holes.

[emberserker]

At least we're in reality now, or one of many, apparently. But no worries, we handled it. Some more surprisingly than others.

...I do have to wonder why guard three specific ones with an armed cleaner. They did seem to have some traits left of who they were before, even while encrypted. Well, it ought to be that much easier to put them all back the way they were once they're caught, in that case.