Epilogue: A New Day

[letsplayamod]

In the end, hope triumphed over hate. A new pantheon of gods, gathered from all corners of the universe, came together to unlock the ultimate power and it it flow over the land once more. They proved one goddess that her wisdom was correct, and another that her wisdom was keeping her trapped in a vision of the world that would never be.

You exit the temple of Olympus, battered and bruised, but more together than ever before. Athena raises her hand and drags it before her. In the distance, the keen-eyed will see the barrier that's long protected you finally fading away.

The sun shines down. Two months and you're finally, finally free.

Athena takes care to thank each of you personally. This was exactly what her and Fenyx had theorized was possible - not exactly, but the outcome is greatly acceptable. And now, Athena is bound by her oath to return you home... or wherever it is you'd like to go. You're gods now, you have the privilege.

Speaking of! Once everyone's rested and healed, Fenyx prepared a little get-together for everyone on the cliffs, with a special bonus: they can bring in any person you desire. Family and friends are preferable, but who are they to question if you want to smack your rival across the face for the first time in weeks?

They may react in confusion, however, if you tell them about the bits of Hope buzzing in the air like glowing fireflies. They're not gods, after all. They can't see them.

Dipping lower around half-day, you may peer over the side of the area and see far, far down into the valleys of ocean and cities. And beyond all of that, sailing in from the horizon, ships. Old ships of man-made nature. Sails billowing in a wind that no longer tears them asunder. Now that the storm has passed, life can resume picking up the pieces.

It will be messy, probably a disaster at times, but there's always hope. And if that carried you here, then maybe it will bring those people to the top of the mountain.

[This is the final post of Let's Play A Murder! Players are welcome to invite cast members to this log for the purpose of tagging out reunions (Fenyx and Athena will have personally greeted and asked to bring them here). You may tag this at your leisure, whatever last-minute endeavors you'd like your characters to get into will go here.

Thank you for playing.]

Comments

[taintedfayth]

[There's no one for Seymour to ask to have brought here, of course. The one person he could even consider definitely doesn't want to see him again, and... well, it's better this way. Now there's nothing left to tie him to Spira. It's as freeing as it is terrifying, the first time he's ever lived for himself and what he wants. But through it all, whatever lies ahead... he knows that he isn't going to be alone, and it's that thought that gives him strength.

He's going to keep his distance from the others - they're furious with him, and rightfully so - so as not to ruin their joyous reunions or bring back any unpleasant memories they would rather forget. He only shows up at the gathering (hanging back around the edges) so that people can have Words with him if they wish to do so-- he's not going to run away from that much. He made his mistakes, and he's going to own them in whatever form that takes.

Later on, he can be found at the bonfire with a familiar-looking pile of blue and red fabric in his arms. He's dressed in something different now, a much more practical off-the-shoulder green robe that's shorter and far more suited to moving around than his summoner's robes ever were, and so it doesn't take much to figure out just what it is that he's carrying. And then? He's tossing it all into the fire. He watches it burn with a mixture of satisfaction and trepidation... the closing of one chapter, and the beginning of another. He may never be able to summon again; he doesn't know. But if he can't... he doesn't think he'll miss it.]

... those always did get in the way.

bonfire

[pariunt]

[It takes some time for Astarion to approach, mostly because he's been spending his time catching up with someone else, but approach Seymour he does. Tav is nearby, of course, but it looks like whatever Astarion is going to say has her blessing, because she doesn't look the least bit uncomfortable.]

Seymour. I have a proposal.

[It's probably obvious what his proposal is going to be, but he keeps talking.]

And lest you worry, Ivilezlei is getting the same one.

[It's obvious he's serious, because this is the first time he's ever uttered that name.]

[taintedfayth]

To accompany you to your world?

[Yes, he can guess at what it's going to be, because Astarion had made the same offer previously. His answer had been a 'no' back then, but... things have changed a great deal since he'd turned that offer down. Now he has a reason to want to keep on living. Now he's no longer tied down to the 'salvation' he'd been convinced was his responsibility to mete out.]

[pariunt]

Yes.

[He gestures vaguely.]

I will not lie to you. Where I am headed, it will not be an easy life. The Underdark is incredibly dangerous, and the fortress is not civilization. But you would be welcome there. My siblings are certain to treat you as family.

[If for no other reason than the fact that Astarion does not make friends easily, so to bring someone with him means something.]

[taintedfayth]

Family...

[He turns that word over, first in his mouth and then in his mind. A family? People who would be happy to see him, who would wish to spend time with him, who would care about him? It almost sounds too good to be true.]

It could not be worse than Spira and Sin's ravages. Spira has given me nothing; I owe it nothing in return.

[And he can say that now, now that he realizes that he'd been forcing himself down a path because he couldn't bring himself to step off it.]

[pariunt]

All I know about Spira is what you've told me, so I can't compare it.

[It might be a different sort of dangerous life than Seymour is used to, but it's probably not entirely alien.]

But you're right. Fuck those people, who asked so much of you, at the expense of yourself.

[He hesitates.]

I know you're undead, but it's a different kind than my own. Do you require food? Tav is a ranger; she could find most anything. And she's not a vampire.

[taintedfayth]

[Fuck those people indeed. He can't bring himself to say that much out loud but he sure is feeling the same way. They can solve their problems by themselves-- he's no longer a part of them.

(A small, selfish part of him hopes that some other summoner beats Yuna to the punch on defeating Sin, but. Again, he's left all of that behind.)]

Actually, I am just as alive as any of the others here-- whatever Athena did when she brought me here seems to have revived me in a living body. A part of me resented it at first, but now I find myself rather grateful.

[pariunt]

[He nods, at that.

It makes about as much sense as anything else.]

In that case, what Tav can teach you will be extremely valuable. I do have to caution you, however. Don't let Dalyria take your blood.

[...]

She won't hurt you, of course. But given she'll not have seen anyone like you before...

She used to be a doctor, before she was turned. She developed this foolish idea that drinking the right sort of blood will cure her. It won't, of course, but... well. Don't feel too bad about lobbing thunder near her if she gets any ideas.

[But seriously don't hurt his sister, he'll be mad.]

[taintedfayth]

I am not sure she would even find my blood to be palatable should she try. I am half-Guado, after all.

[And there's no small note of bitterness to his voice as he says this. In the end, that fact was the root of all of his misery.]

I do not know what that would taste like to those of your kind, or if it would even agree with you. In many ways, Guado are more like trees than like humans. Although I suppose that might serve as even more of a lure to her if she is searching for a cure...

[pariunt]

Really?

[He pauses.]

I think this world may have dampened my senses. I don’t smell anything unusual about your blood.

[But he detects that bitterness and does not press.]

…Regardless, I hope you come to see the fortress as home.

bonfire

[necromants]

[Zvei is here as well, of course. How could he not be. He's smiling at Seymour's change in attire, immediately holding out a hand now that Seymour's are free.]

It looks good on you. Then again, you could make anything look good.

[...And then, after a moment of thought:]

Ten.

[taintedfayth]

[That earns a laugh, perhaps the first genuine one he's made here. Perhaps the first genuine one he's made in years, period.

And he reaches out for that hand to take it and give it a squeeze, tugging to pull Zvei closer to him.]

I see I have earned that point back. What restored it this time, may I ask?

[necromants]

[And in he goes! We are now officially cuddling and everyone else is just going to have to Deal.]

You never really lost it in the first place, it was more that I was blind.

[An omen of what was to come in some way, perhaps.]

I was... afraid, back then. Afraid that being honest - giving you a ten - would backfire on me, somehow. I'm dreadfully terrible at all things regarding feelings, you know.

[To say the least!!]

[taintedfayth]

You were not the only one.

[His smile is wry as he moves to wrap his arms around Zvei. He could get used to this, he thinks.]

I did not even recognize what it was that I felt. As I told you our first night, I have no experience in these matters, and at the time I had no desire to examine my feelings beyond what led me to invite you to my room in the first place.

[And even that was... well, he's still trying to work through his feelings on all of that because he likes women???]

Choosing to ignore them was, perhaps, my greatest mistake of all.

[necromants]

[Zvei wraps his arms around Seymour in turn, two tentacles sliding out the back of his labcoat to rest around his arms as well, as if to keep Seymour there. No worries, he's not actually latching on so tight as to risk hurting him! For now.]

You were brave to do so. Far more willing to take that risk that I was, anyway!

[Because the feelings went beyond surface-level. Ah, he truly has felt this way about Seymour for quite awhile, hasn't he...?]

I know it was my greatest mistake. I can never apologize enough for what I did to you. Or the apology attempt. I understand now why that only made it worse.

[A soft squeeze and an apologetic smile. The promises he made in Tartarus still hold true - he isn't leaving Seymour's side for any reason, never again.

...Also yeah betraying Seymour's trust and leaving him alone was a bigger mistake than killing three people for his memories, it's fiiiiine—]

But I understand both of us a bit better now, and I'll do whatever I can to make it up to you. For as long as you'll put up with me.

cw: slight suicidal ideation

[taintedfayth]

[At that... the smile wavers, fading somewhat. It did hurt him more than anything else he'd ever experienced save for that one horrible day in Zanarkand; that much is true. It had started the spiral that had led to him attempting to kill all of the others in a last act of desperation, hoping that either their deaths or his would make the pain stop.

But...]

... you saved me, you know. Not just by being there when I awoke, but by setting me on the path to realizing just how very misguided I was to try to bring a salvation to others that they did not seek.

[If it hadn't been for that - for all of that - then he would be marching right back off to Spira, to his own death and the destruction of everything there.]

[necromants]

[He knows it hurts to have to relive that, but the apology is so damn important. He can't wait on it any longer. Some part of him - that terrified, uncertain part of him he tried so hard to ignore for so long - wonders if Seymour will pull back. If he'll get angry and leave, and destroy Zvei. And sure, he'd deserve it, but he doesn't know if he could ever recover from it. He's not nearly as strong as Seymour is.

But what Seymour says instead gets him to pause, blinking owlishly.]

I— Really?

[Zvei figured that his betrayal had only cemented Seymour's desire to see this path through to its completion, but everything that came after... Well, to be honest, he hasn't given it much thought. He'd wanted to protect and help Seymour regain himself. Everything else was secondary.

To think that somehow, he managed to save the God of Salvation. Hah.]

I'm glad, then. Truly, Seymour, that's... I'm happy I could help. That's all I've wanted to do for you since I realized... well, everything.

[How badly he screwed up. How much worse he made it when he tried to explain himself. And everything in between.]

[taintedfayth]

[For all that it had hurt, for all that he'd felt betrayed (and it was a betrayal, he won't deny that much)... it was coming face-to-face with the dying Typhon in Tartarus that had allowed him to see himself from the outside and recognize just how futile his actions were. If he had kept on with his blind attempts at salvation, he would have become just like that, a broken shell beyond fixing--

-- no, he already had been that. Dying and everything that came along with it had, in numerous senses, been the best thing that could have happened to him. He still bears the psychological scars, yes, and he isn't sure whether he'll be able to fully regain control of his magic. But being freed from that spiral...

It means so, so much to him, and he doesn't have anywhere near the words he needs to be able to express that, if it even can be expressed in words. The words he knows how to use are pretty ones that can disguise lies, gloss over the ugly truths of the world. He isn't versed in words that express any sort of sentiment or feeling, because he's never had any occasion to make use of those.

... so rather than attempt to cobble together words that he's sure won't come out sounding the way he wants (that can't possibly hold all of the emotions he wants to get across), he decides he simply won't. Instead, he reaches up to cup Zvei's cheek before leaning in to press his lips to Zvei's.]

[necromants]

[Zvei exhales at the touch, and when Seymour leans in to kiss him, he meets the summoner eagerly. Maybe it's selfish to still cling so desperately to the man he hurt so badly when he hasn't yet made amends. But even if it is, Seymour's the one who gets the final say. Zvei is his until he decides he doesn't want or need Zvei any longer.

The tentacles and his arms wind tighter around Seymour - still not enough to hurt, but getting closer, as if to express the desperate, selfish thought of don't leave me.]

[taintedfayth]

[Their first kiss had been desperate, needy, a culmination of pent-up physical desire coming to the fore. This, however, is the complete opposite-- gentle, and tentative because Seymour doesn't know how to be gentle when he's never experienced such things in his life. He only knows that he wants Zvei to understand just what this kiss means; that he wants Zvei, and more importantly that he loves him, even if that's a word (and a feeling) he can't acknowledge for himself just yet.

He may not know what the feeling is, but he does know all of the things it isn't, and so as he holds Zvei close and kisses him, the pieces slowly start to slot themselves together in his mind.]

gathering

[sweetsynergy]

Seymour, hey.

[Well, that expression is friendly if you have the worst grasp of body and facial language ever.]

Word is you're going to Astarion's world, huh?

[taintedfayth]

[... yeah he can sure tell that it's not, but. Deserved, etc. etc.]

That is correct. He was most insistent that Zvei and I go to join him there.

[sweetsynergy]

Cool, cool, good for you.

[Deep breath, and delivered cheerfully-]

If you so much as look wrong at Aoi or Quark ever again there will not be enough left of you to reach Tartar Sauce, okay? Just fair warning.

[taintedfayth]

[Okay, that's honestly less bad than he was expecting! He anticipated more violence!]

You need not worry-- I do not intend to harm them ever again.

[...]

It was a mistake to do so in the first place, I will admit that much. In fact, I must thank all of you... it was only through death that I was able to free myself from the chains of my own making.

[sweetsynergy]

A mistake is like "whoops, grabbed the half-caff instead of the real coffee", dude. You didn't exactly trip and fall into them with the knife.