END GAME: THE COUNTDOWN STARTS

[sailmods]

[the prisoners wake up on cold, hard floors.

the lights are bright, glaring, a sterile cell with sterile bars facing a sterile hall. the prisoners with you, across from you, and no one else. no rocking of a ship in waves, nothing. just the prisoner and their prison.

time passes, one assumes. the rhythmic click of Friday’s heels down the hall. it’s almost like the ticking of a clock.]

Comments

[sailmods]

… We hope you see it.

[the Erda’s human form bleeds away, replaced by a stream of violently pure light, from which a single, pale fish swims forward into Maximilien’s chest before exploding into blinding light.

it passes. they blink away the spots. and they are now… somewhere.

well. it’s a road. a forked road, to be precise. there’s some sparse grass, and mostly dirt. it extends out for a while, and then sort of fades back into the mind-hurty nothingness they had been exposed to before, though looking at it does hurt somewhat less, as if there’s some sort of protection between them and oblivion once again.

maybe creating a nice-looking reality is a bit harder than it looks. but, it’s better than nowhere.

a few things happen at once:

there’s a feeling like something being switched from “off” to “on,” and, suddenly, every power and ability that had been lost due to the actions of the Captain and Malin both come back at full force.

bahamanuel violently retches, and coughs up a very, very, very frizzy orange cat.

and the Erda is gone. though, the gem in Maximilien’s chest cavity gives off the same pale glow as that fish.]

[yourexoduslaughing]

[It's obvious the moment her powers are back because Flan's hair goes from a half missing mess to exploding in length, spilling out over the ground and writhing. Then Flan falls and she's gone, completely vanished-

-and then back with a jubilant scream of joy. She grabs Pratt and falls with him, and this time, she can still be heard screaming from directly above the group, plummeting gleefully with Pratt through the brand new sky (and a very unwilling and unhappy April stuck in Flan's mass of hair). ]

[tempingainteasy]

[April is also screaming.]

[sabigoe]

[ Fio's summoning powers are very likely functional. She doesn't bother to check. The lanterns will appear when needed and that won't be necessary for now. The nearby screaming causes her to briefly tense, but she eases up when realizing it's only Flan and April.

Her gaze sweeps about their new surroundings and quickly scans over her companions. Family and friends. There's so many people that she wants to check on. But first, especially after those seemingly last words earlier... ]

Max, you're okay! You're okay! [ With a spring in her steps, she launches into a flying hug at Maximilien's waist. ]

[makesomedeals]

Oh.

[A little ineloquent for the Omnic, but he hadn't expected to make it this far. And his processors have no idea how to catalogue what just happened to him. All of reality just channeled through his chest and he needs to ... yeah he needs to sit down for a second.

He falls to his knees in the dirt, sitting back on his legs and bringing up a hand to touch the gem in his chest. It doesn't feel different, and yet everything feels different.

Fio almost knocks him over with the force of her hug and his arms pinwheel wildly to brace himself against the ground.]

I think... I think I am? Are you alright? Is ... did it work?

[He needs a moment.]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[Pratt, who's been on an extended leave of absence in his own mind, wakes up in time to see an ... explosion maybe?]

Where the fuck are...

[Aaaaand he's falling. What the hell is happening? Pratt is also screaming along with April before he really comes back to himself.]

Flan? Oh god please be Flan.

[yourexoduslaughing]

IT'S MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! [Me, in this case, being mostly a huge trail of never-ending red hair but there is a woman in there somewhere, holding tightly to Pratt.

And though she could fall forever and ever (and ever and ever and ever) she does make herself actually land back with everyone, hitting the ground without a single impact - though the mass of hair above her seems to remember about gravity, because the moment her feet are on the ground, a waterfall of hair follows.]

WE MADE- oh fuck, it's everywhere. [She starts shoving it back over her shoulders but the clingy stuff seems to be holding fairly tight to Pratt now that it's back to semi-life. Flan gives it a few tugs, then shrugs and just gives in to giddy celebration now that she's got her void back and also they're totally not forever-dead.] Yeeeaahhhhh power of love and friendship and incredible violence!!!

[configuration_birdwatcher]

[ Meanwhile on the newly extant ground, the immobile heap of battered mechanical parts at the bottom of the pile emits a short, buzzing whir as Bastion's systems reboot. The lights of their optics flicker in red, then blue. Their motor functions come back online, and with it the ever-present slight vibration that says they're alive. ]

[theweakhavepurpose]

[Normally he is 100% all about never ending falling, his adrenaline junky nature would probably have him bungee jump out of an airplane with chainsaws that are on fire. But right now after being trapped in his own mind, and also having no idea what the fuck is going on - he's more than a little relieved when she drops back down to the ground.]

Oh fuck yeah, did we do it? Did she -- [Hair. Hair everywhere wrapping him all up. But he goes with it.] What's love and friendship without a little arson and explosions and uh.. where are we? Actually you know what, that's probably what friendship is all about too. Waking up after being blackout drunk and just chillin.

Or you know, after some hefty violence and near-death. That's probably... [A pause and the gears of his brain turning are almost visible as it actually catches up to him that they made it. They defeated Malin somehow. They're not on the ship. They're not dead.] Holy shit we did it. We really, really did it.

[He struggles out of the coccoon of hair so that he can throw his arms around Flan and kiss her. Enjoy the view April.]

[sabigoe]

[ Fio gives Max a tight squeeze before thinking—oh no, maybe she's hurting him! Somehow. She's not entirely sure how he feels after the Erda faded away. Quickly, she peels away, sitting on the ground. Another glance around, then back at him with a teary eyed smile. ]

...I'm alright. [ Even if she feels a little shameful that all she did was yell and cry during the confrontation with Malin. But well, at least she made it out alive. A head tilt, staring curiously at the gem. ] And I think it did. This already feels far better than that stupid prison!

[makesomedeals]

[It hadn't felt like all the power of an entire reality was in his chest before, not until the Erda shoved her hands in it. And it doesn't really feel different now, but he can tell he's running on empty. He looks down at the gem, now a diffused white glow rather than the red light of his original power source.]

She told me once that she enjoyed being a fish. [A soft chuckle.] I'm glad she got to be one again.

[Finding his arms again he reaches out to smooth down a piece of Fio's hair that's come undone from her pigtails.]

Good. I'm glad.

And that I didn't somehow make it worse. This feels... right. Somehow.

[sabigoe]

Thank you, Max. For all your hard work for our new home! And... [ A fish? Right, she did catch a glimpse of one. Then at the glowing gem, assuming that the Erda is still in there and can hear her: ] Thank you, Miss Erda. I hope you enjoyed being a fish again. You were a really pretty fish!

[ As Max smooths her hair, she smiles at the gesture and begins to wonder if she looks any older or at least, gained a few inches in height. Has she become a little more mature, like a grownup? Did her birthday already pass? She should be turning ten years old... ]

You know, you should've seen me! I rushed at the eyepatch lady and then, there was a big struggle! It was scary but we won! [ Not like Fio was able to land any hits or anything. And she was quickly engulfed by the fog shortly after. The crying and cowering wasn't very cool of her. Still, she did make a small effort to be proud of, right? ]

[light_mischief]

[Skulduggery hadn't been aware of how cold he'd been until the elemental rush abruptly washes over him. All at once, he can feel the open air, the ground beneath his feet, the tingle of fire just a snap away; the realization of what he was missing nearly takes his legs out from under him. Alas, the high-speed freighter that is their "ever after" is barrelling straight towards him, so there will be no collapsing to the dirt quite yet.

He grabs the Captain's hand, feeling for the cuff briefly with his thumb. They're on his list, but first...

Resisting a showy display of self-defense, Skulduggery closes his fist discreetly by his side, pulling the air into an invisible barrier between them and the rest of the survivors. Until he knows how everyone else is feeling, vis-à-vis him having his cake and eating it too, he's not going to risk another surprise attack.


While he's taking those precautions, he's also cataloging the remaining faces, ensuring the ones he cares about are still around. Fio and the Captain are confirmed, but Darcy? Ava?

Maximilien is there, which is a great start. A burst of bravado comes over him for the first time in what feels like months.]

For someone with no imagination, this is a pretty good start, Maximilien.

[makesomedeals]

[Assuming Fio lets him go at some point he's just going to slump over into the dirt. It's been a long... however time is tracked in a reality-less void.]

Your approval means the world to me Skulduggery.

[He sounds so far past exhausted, which is probably apparent from the whole - letting dirt touch him thing.]

[light_mischief]

Apparently so. [YOU CAN'T SET HIM UP LIKE THIS MAX] How do you feel?

[decohere]

[Max isn't going to get an opportunity to answer before he's completely tackled by a totallynotcryingyouare Ava

and by tackled I mean her body weight really isn't enough to knock his off balance but you know]

[makesomedeals]

Like I [whuuuumph He's now had more hugs in the past 5 minutes then he's had in his whole life.]

Oh. You're okay. That's good. This is... this is good.

[Give him a sec to figure out how his arms work again and he'll actually hug her back.]

I should have tried to make trees.

[sictransitgloriamundi]

[he pulls on his glamour the very second it is within his power to do so, silent as he raises a hand to his neck -- only for the collar to blacken and crumble into nothingness at the first touch.]

Well. That does solve one problem.

[light_mischief]

[Fio is glommed onto Max for the moment, so Skulduggery's full attention is on the collar's dissolution. Is it just a result of Malin's poor spell-casting, or is it something more?]

Maybe freedom is something hard-baked into the dirt.

[sictransitgloriamundi]

Magic that isn't your own is next to impossible to maintain after your death. There's nothing outside of your self that's making it, so it simply... isn't made. Anymore.

[pause] I do feel like that confirms that she's truly dead, but I'm not overly optimistic. How rare it is, that anything stays truly dead.

[except uncle ben. and ama.]

... Am I rambling? I feel like I am.

[sabigoe]

[ Sorry, Dad... she pretty much lunged at her Omnic uncle first. When she has a moment, she's already peering around at any nearby shadows, very clearly seeking out Sparkles again. She notices there's also a lot of people—friends and family that might be missing among them...

Her father is still here, fortunately. She'll throw herself onto him for a hug after he finishes his important conversations with the other grownups!!! ]

[light_mischief]

[Skulduggery isn't going to let anything get between him and a hug from Fio, especially not important grownup situations that will have to be remedied one way or another. Until just moments ago, he'd assumed he would never see her again, and so he should be forgiven if he grabs her up and hugs her harder than he's ever done before. (How a skeleton can be too choked up for words is a mystery we will never solve.)]

[sabigoe]

[ A skeleton's hug which is unlike the warmth from a human... and yet she always found comfort in his bony arms. She takes a quiet moment to enjoy the embrace. It feels like forever since they last hugged. Or even seen each other. After about a minute, Fio starts to squirm, wiggling her legs lightly. Though she can feel herself start to tear up again, she doesn't cry. ]

Daddy... you can put me down now. It was scary... but I'm okay. [ Fio smiles. ] Are you okay?

[light_mischief]

[Okay, yes. There are quite a few other things to get to before they can say things are truly settled. A list of casualties to be made, confrontations to defuse, and most importantly, the Captain's freedom to ensure. After that, it seems that they're at a literal crossroads -- it may be purely symbolic, or it may be a very real choice they have to make at some point.

He's finally convinced he needs to let go when she asks about his own well-being, setting her on the ground.]

I'm fine for now, Fio. You don't need to worry about me; it's supposed to be the other way around. [He tilts his skull.] Did you find Sparkles? What happened to you once we were separated?

[sabigoe]

We're family, so obviously I gotta worry.

[ An excited bounce of heels. ] So much happened when we all split up— [ She babbles on about the events that took place: the battle with Voyager obviously, the control room with many screens and buttons that seemingly did nothing no matter how many times they pushed it. (Fio makes little gestures in the air, as if Skulduggery would need an example of how much she wanted to slam the "pressy button.") And Ody the crab piloting mech... ]

We found Sparkles, in the same room as the eye patch lady. Everything was all weird in there... there was this half desk, half lamp, half everything. Sparkles was following orders from the eye patch lady and I thought it was gonna hurt Mister Pratt. [ The shadow was being mind controlled, so she thought at the time. And she'll later find out that wasn't the case. ] The smoke from her eye got all of us real good and made everything feel super scary... [ In case there's any worrying again, she quickly adds: ]

But, uh...! Like I said, I'm okay now.