FINAL INVESTIGATION

[strangerpeople]

FINAL INVESTIGATION

[Well, your time, your anger, your losses have led up to this.

It's time to go, and that blue card will give access to the floors above. In particular, there is the floor Barbara mentioned before the throne room, which seems to be a good idea to check out beforehand.

Indeed, it's much like the previous floors the Strangers had lived in, only smaller.]



[There is another elevator in the area, but that is inaccessible. Even using Marie's card doesn't seem to work on it. Hm. No matter. Marie's card works on all of these rooms, so it's fine, right?

In any case, if there's answers to be found about just whose in charge - and what in the world is going on - this is the last chance of finding them. You've all gotten this far, and as your teams descend on the rooms, you can feel the end is near. Hopefully, that end is not that of the universe - or of Ivy.

Good hunting, Titled.]

Comments

[losergod]

Why would I ever tell you no?

[ It's a good thing he's waited until C had some time to process everything... Charlotte... no, Scarlett--it's a lot to take in.

What he thought was happening had already occurred, and she'd said no...

He smiles. A dysfunctional smile from a crooked God, but a smile nonetheless. ]

Please, get in. You have the least amount of tapes, so it shouldn't take long.

[mementodagger]

[Yurick nods and does as he's told, staring at the machine that's still so foreign to him. So this is what Marie used on him while he slept, each time he broke the others' trust. Now that he's awake, it feels oddly like an accusing finger pointed at him.

The fewest tapes, because he sold his soul three times already.]

Thank you for this. Even though I only proved you right about how terrible humans really are.

[losergod]

... People make mistakes. That's only natural. I'd be wrong to point a finger, to act as though I've never made any. If anything, remembering has only reminded me of how many times I've made the wrong choice myself. What matters is that you came to the right conclusion in the end, Mister Yurick.

[ He will insert the first tape that's left, the lowest number. All right, let's do this. ]

[mementodagger]

[Is this it, or is it something else? The tape loads, and the distortion of his best friend's voice snaps into clarity, the concealing haze fading.

Zael.

He doesn't even realize he's whispered the name out loud, years of working together flooding back, unspooling like fishing line and spreading like a net. Years of kind words and smiles and working back to back, the blade to his flame, years he never appreciated until so recently.

And by the time something clicked in the wreckage of his father's ship, it was too late. Their friendship had grown, Yurick had smiled for Zael for the first time, but there was Calista.

She's everywhere. He'd never forgotten her, nor her constant presence at the side of that hazy figure after they arrived in Lazulis, but only now does he recall the source of his unease at her kind, gentle ways.

They're married. Whatever chance Yurick might have had, it's gone. He sold himself to the devil for nothing.

It takes both hands clamping over his mouth to hold back a wail, and even then the tiniest sound of distress leaks through. His living eye burns with tears. He can't break down here, he refuses. He almost tells C to forget the other tape, but how could it be worse than this? It takes him a full minute before he can finally croak out a curt, broken plea.]

Th-- the other one... hurry....

[losergod]

... Y-yes, of course...

[ Other tape. Happening now. ]

[mementodagger]

[At least this one is better, though no less emotional. His dad's final fate, not a coward who fled but a hero who died saving their village from a monster. The logbook told him all he ever wanted to know, that the last thought his father had was of the wife and son he loved so much.

Yurick sits up, eye squeezed shut as he struggles to hold on to emotions threatening to boil over. He's grateful to C for doing this, but it's almost physically painful to force himself not to weep. For the first time since they were all thrown together, Yurick smiles at C, but it's such a sad smile and there are already tears blooming.]

Thank you. Please, excuse me... I... I need time to think....

[And he's clambering off the table, bolting for the door. He needs to be alone, somewhere private and quiet, he doesn't even want his brothers to see this.]