middleofsomewhere | The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The Will to Fight: Conclusion

The battles rage loud and ferocious at the gates of the city and off in the ruined wastelands of Erda, and on the walls a struggle of a different kind occurs. The team who stayed behind at the towers are small but determined as they move stoically across the walls to right the stones that have become misaligned, even as their friends battle not too far away.

The city begins to hum. It's a quiet hum, not loud enough to be heard out where the others are fighting but it vibrates even through stone. The recovering monks assure them that it is done, the wards are back up and no demon will be able to enter the city.

Eventually the battle is won, all three battles. The demons fought back and killed, a major blow to their gate system that will keep them back for hopefully a long time. Those waiting in the caverns return to the city and by the time they get there the illusions are gone. Everyone can see the world for what it really is.

But despite the ruins of their world the people are relieved, the adrenaline of the fight coursing through their veins and the mood is one of hope. They will build again, their people will survive.

All Voidtreckers please return to the Voidtrecker Express. Departure will be in a few hours

It has landed not too far from the city, cloaked to make it unnoticeable to the citizens, for all the good that does. No one has been particularly subtle this last week. People can begin regrouping, packing up the camp and getting any wounded not already healed to the train.

However roughly half an hour later another message appears on their SCA.

Passenger Persephone has requested we remain on system System #86525656412355 for an additional day to further assist the people of Erda. The Voidtrecker Express will depart on the morning of Day Fifteen of the month of Kazoo.

The train remains where it is, so the voidtreckers can use its facilities. There is definitely a lot that can be done to assist those of this world and the citizens will welcome any helping hands.

After an extra day they finally depart, returning to the void once more.

(OOC Note: Once the wards are up any characters who are demonic in nature will not be able to enter the city either!)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He finally realizes what he's doing and pulls away as he's patted, a somewhat embarrassed look crawling over his face.

"... I know. Just... I guess I was..." He clears his throat a little, looking down. "... I guess I was... scared. I... losing two friends in two months..." Sure, he'd been told Soldat would come back, but seeing is different than believing. "... As strong as I am, I don't think I could..." Deal with it. Understand it. Carry that weight. He's not sure.

"I'm sorry," they say again, this time quieter. "I really didn't think that hard about it. The risks." They're not sure even if they had, they'd have done anything differently, or managed to avoid the death that took them, but at least they're pretty sure they're the only fatality out of a whole fucking lot of people fighting a whole fucking lot of demons.

That seems pretty good, to them, actually. They're pretty sure nobody else is going to consider those results good, though.

They don't know how to comfort him, how to make him feel better, without lying. They can't promise it won't happen again. They can try, and they already said they would try, but they can't promise-- accidents still happen. Even the Asset can be overwhelmed. Maybe they can distract him...? "What's going on now? Raven said we won. But we're still here."

"I know you didn't. I wouldn't have, either. ... That doesn't mean they're not there, I guess." And now Otoha has people who actually give a shit about him. That... complicates things.

And to be fair, Otoha considers that pretty good, too. He's still not happy about who the fatality was, though.

"Yeah. We did. But apparently Persephone requested an extra day here so we can help people rebuild. I think she's doing some... plant magic thing." He waves a hand. He doesn't understand it. "... Mostly just been helping move stuff around. I don't know anything about fixing stuff or... really anything else helpful. There's a lot of kids running around, too. I think a few people are wrangling them so they're not in the way. I saw one guy floating some cows around?" Shrug.

"Floating some... cows." Soldat blinks once, then starts to smile. "Oh god. I need to see that. Where was that?"

Then they can go down into the town and see what they can do, maybe. It'll feel nice to help build something, maybe, after doing so much killing.

"Near the edge of town, I think. It was the big guy. Like the big big guy." He holds his hand up to about Siebren's height - there's not a ton of people that tall on the train.

Soldat had two people bigger than that, back in Beacon, but they recognize "tall-for-a-regular-person" and nod, map it to some of the faces they know on the train. "Come with me?" they offer. "Or were you going back to the train now."

"No, we can get going. I don't mind. ... I was mostly watching to see if you'd come out." Sure, he'd been told, but that's different than seeing it.

"Yeah, I know how it is." They give his arm another little pat, then start down the road from train to town. "Back in Beacon. We came back from dying, too, only... not all the time. And not always. Without any damage. So we'd wait in the church to see if the resurrection worked. If our friends were coming back, and if they were okay when they did."

He follows along, listening to Soldat. "... Well, you missed me turning into a car and going bowling with demons." He has to lighten the mood. he's not sure he can sustain this discussion in depression town.

"Oh hell, I missed the car thing?" Look they've wanted yo see that since the first time Otoha mentioned it. "I'm going to see that someday."

"Yeah, you did. But other than that... I mean as far as I could tell the team at the gate ended it not too long after you went down. I joined with one of the groups protecting the city after I brought you back to camp."

He wasn't going to leave Soldat there.

Soldat pauses, and suddenly a new expression flickers across their face: pained embarrassment. They don't get embarrassed often, but apparently having their dead body carted around... is one of the few triggers for it. "You brought me all the way back to camp?" Did anyone see him? Are they going to have people looking at them funny now, because somebody carted their dead body around a war zone?

"... Pretty much everyone was busy at the time and I'm fast. The only one who really saw was Ryo who knows better than to say shit." He's a healer, they're confidential like doctors or something? Seems like it.

"... Did you expect me to just leave your body there like it didn't mean shit?" There's a slight hint of annoyance in his voice. "Did I get some shit for it? Yes. Did I do it anyway? Also yes." 'Focus on the mission' only goes so far under certain circumstances.

He's a guardian. He's not a puppet. Not anymore.

"I don't. It's. I mean." Soldat has to stop walking, collect their thoughts, focus on some origami folds for a moment. Then they can say: "It's fine. I'm not. Mad at you. Or. It's just."

They pause again, stymied, but identifying the feeling, at least. "I don't know why it bothers me. But it bothers me. Anyone. Not just you. Not just the situation. But I don't. Like the idea of people hauling me around, I think. Even if I'm dead."

"... I was... I don't know. Afraid you were going to need your body somehow to come back. Or... something. I don't know how this works - I got real close to dying twice but never actually tipped all the way over. And it's... weird here, I guess."

He flushes very faintly pinker. "... And it felt disrespectful to not... bring you home. If that makes... any kind of sense."

They really have no idea how to respond to that. It's kind of him, sure. And they can absolutely see where he might be coming from. But they're still deeply uncomfortable with the whole situation.

So they shake their head a little, helplessly, and pick up walking again. "I appreciate the thought. I'll admit. I didn't know exactly how coming back works here, either. I guess now we all know a little more."

"I guess so. I'm... not sure how it would work for me, considering the circumstances... I guess if I did die somehow she could renew the contract." He knows Soldat isn't going to be happy about that, but...

"I'm... just glad you're back here. It's..." Ugh, talking's already hard, putting emotions to words is way harder. "... I don't want to lose you." 'You deserve better' is what he wants to say, but he absolutely knows that'll get into an almost-argument about how Otoha supposedly deserves better, too.

"The train will bring you back if anything happens," Soldat says, firm in that belief, at least. "You and me. Probably not that different, that way. The train wouldn't have brought you here if she couldn't take care of you at least that much. No. Contracts. Are going to be necessary, I'm sure."

They reach over to clap his shoulder, gently. "You won't lose me. The train will take care of me, that way, too. And I'm not planning on doing that again any time soon. It felt weird." They've died so many times, and not a single one had felt like that.

He's not so sure, but he doesn't want to get into an argument right now. "I could barely tell what was going on... I was focused on the demon I was fighting." They were a hell of a lot nastier inside than out. ... Though that makes sense, since people always fight harder defending their homes than not.

He pushes away the guilt gnawing at his stomach. He doesn't need that right now.

Soldat shakes their head a little. "There was nothing anybody could've done. One of the demons got their claws on my lantern before I could get out away. Didn't even. Wasn't a normal kind of death. I shoulda gotten out of the way faster." Taking claws to the chest is survivable, for someone like them; taking claws to the lantern, apparently not.

"... We need to find a way to protect that better." They can't make that mistake again - either of them. "Make it less of a visible target. I don't know if they could sense that kind of thing, though. Not sure."

"They couldn't, or they would have targeted it," Soldat says. "Their chains couldn't do anything to me, unless they touched the lantern, so if they'd known, they would have targeted it. It was just a damn accident that it happened this time." They sigh a little. "Wouldn't mind a way to protect it. But it's already pretty bulky, more protective casing won't be helpful. And I wouldn't be able to use the light, either. Not sure what else we could do."

"Using the light just as a light, or does it do something?" Maybe it's magic, he doesn't know.

"Oh, just as a light," they assure him. "There's nothing special about lantern light here." They look out over the landscape, rough and damaged but alive, with actual sunlight trickling down through the clouds. "Back in Beacon, it was the only light that actually worked, and the only fire that could actually catch a little. But here it's nothing special."

Otoha's quiet. "It's special to me, I guess. Because it's part of you." Wait, that sounded - he clears his throat.

"... At least we get a day out in the fresh air without having to fight..."

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