Board 8 > The Notes of Cain, Postgame and Epilogues

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yeah there's no way I can fit all of the epilogues into less than 50 posts, so I just went ahead and made a new topic for everything. I'll also try to post archive links to the previous topics here since a few people expressed wanting to read old topics again.
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!!
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Current Outline:

Crooked Epilogue
Nest Epilogue
Brother's Epilogue
Red Moon Epilogue

feel free to speculate and also to demand anything else that you think might be missing. there may also be a hidden fifth epilogue imperceptible to the human eye...

I'll also address more specific information regarding Mona's backstory (Entry 26: Pain From Gloria) if people express interest in it. So far it was just requested by chaos259, but I'd like to see what other people think before I start talking in discreet detail about story details that were originally presented in a more subtle way.

Honestly I thought it was possible to understand but I do have a tendency to accidentally make things a little bit too subtle... mostly because I already know the answer so from my point of view the solutions seem 'obvious.'

Archive Links

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zgKey-FjLeZFld8z23RsT_pWOLj0udSJ?usp=sharing

Someone let me know if those archive links work so I can fix them if not.
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tag and stuff
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I think I got the jist of what happened to Mona...

Partly the reason why I went C.
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Curious to know what choices led us to the Mona final boss as opposed to the Gray final boss.
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as soon as he got put on the Ditch Party I knew I was going to make Mona into the final boss.

keep in mind that I already knew, when you guys were still forming parties, that I was going to kill everyone in the Ditch Party.
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Archived files work! do have that odd formatting problem (in Firefox at least) where things are a bit smushed together, but not sure how fix that. @_@'
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That happened when archived a previous dungeon project of Maria's. I did not find a super quick and simple solution.
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yeah I know what you're talking about. as far as I know, that's just what happens when you archive gamefaqs pages. not much I can do about it.

I'm thinking about how best to manage/advertise and archive my next writing project so I might come up with a better solution by then.

Crooked Epilogue

There was an immeasurable pain in Kidd's head as he made his way back down the crooked steps. He found Jamison, unconscious, laying on the ground. The Angel seemed to have partially exploded from the inside. Her outer layer was intact and looked oddly pristine, but there were chunks of her flesh that had exploded from out of her mouth and were laying all over the ground around them.

Due to the lack of oxygen in the room, Kidd was struggling. He was already very sore all over his body and in a lot of pain. Not being able to breathe made him feel like he was having difficulty exerting himself. Yet... still... if Jamison had been willing to risk it all in order to save them, Kidd had to be willing to risk it all in order to save Jamison.

Jamison's eyes flickered as he was grabbed and shaken, but he wouldn't stir.

Kidd noticed that there were still shards of the Alchemy Stone stuck in the other man's palm. The first thing he did was put Jamison's knuckles flat against the ground. Then, with the hilt of his utility knife, he bashed Jamison's hand and pried the chunks of stone free.

Broken bits of red jewelry scattered to the ground along with droplets of blood. Even the pain and shock hadn't been enough to wake Jamison back up. He was that far gone. Kidd could barely keep his own eyes open.

With the stone destroyed, low amounts of oxygen should have started to filter back into the room... but... for those who had been deprived of vital air for so long, it was hard to say if it was too little and too late.

He remembered a winding trail back up the crooked stairs, dragging a heavy weight with him along that deadly climb.

"Make a tourniquet," Kidd remembered wanting to say. "Bind his arm. Cut the blood free... you need to drain the mana out of him..." He remembered wanting to say it, but he also couldn't remember actually saying it. All he could recall was passing down face first in the upper chamber and dropping what felt like a corpse behind him.

He was laying on his back and trembling underneath a covered sheet. He wasn't dead. He wasn't dead... was he? No. Every jolt and bump caused his body to stir ever so slightly. He couldn't muster the energy to get back up to his feet. His head hurt so badly, too. Even worse than before.

Was it the lack of oxygen that had put him in this bad of a state? Or was it because he had pushed himself too hard for several days in a row? All of that adrenaline was probably catching up to him now. Some of his wounds were so bad that he couldn't even feel them. That was worse than the pain.

He was left with the imagination that it might be gone for good.

Did he lose his fingers or just the feeling in them?

Would the sensation ever come back...?

Kidd didn't even remember hitting his head on the way back up the stairs until he woke up several days later. He was laying in the back of the wagon. Apparently he had appeared in the narrow corridor with blood streaming down his skull in a crooked trail. Now wouldn't that have been a pathetic way to die? To get through everything else and then bump his head on the rock wall...?

Jamison seemed to be in slightly better condition than him overall, which seemed ironic, but the man was very ill and had some localized damage to specific parts of his body. They had never drained the mana out of his bloodstream. That could have killed him, but he got away with mere permanent consequences instead.

For as bad as that was, it seemed better than death.

They were all probably thinking that one some level.
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Maybe Kidd was projecting his feelings onto the others but he was at least glad to still be alive. Zephyr was in relatively healthy condition and vowed to patrol the area and protect the wagon as they made their way back to Hendrake.

Leone, who had never been given proper medical treatment, was growing more feverish by the day. It was a miracle he had forced himself to keep going in the condition that he was in. To suddenly lose a hand like that... and be forced to continue the mission... that young man definitely had a much hardier set of nerves than you might guess by looking at him.

The way up through the hills was calm and quiet.

The way back down was crooked and wet. It rained the entire way on the twisted roads and they felt their progress slow. Apparently they had done their best to transfer as many materials as possible over to the remaining wagon in good repair. Some items had been left behind but there was potential to go back and recover those later. The only concern for the time being was leading the extra horses along with the wagon.

They had lost one of them already, apparently, while Kidd was asleep. Another got away during one of the particularly bad storms. Kidd supposed there was no harm in letting the horses go free, though, if they wanted to escape.

Some creatures just yearned to be free.

It wasn't liked they had a need for those horses anymore. Maybe they'd be happier out on the plains...?

Kidd remembered entering the outer gates of Hendrake. Although there wasn't a true high wall protecting the city, and the gates didn't exactly close, they were still often referred to as the outer gates. Even if it was just an archway over the main road leading into the south-east quarter of the city.

There were some things that were a blur. He was sure he had talked with the others over the course of their journey back. But his mind was so distant and foggy that he could barely remember the contents of that conversation. He thought that Jamison was going to go back and report their findings and, for him, it was enough to say a warm goodbye to his companions as they parted ways.

They could meet again and discuss further matters in the future, even in the near future.

All he could think about at that time was... how much he wanted to go home.

And how much his damn head was still hurting.

In his haste to explore the city and find his way home he accidentally forgot just how tired and how wounded he was. Kidd ended up needing to stop and put his back against a warm stone building. The sun was shining down on him and it honestly made him a little bit sick.

His coat felt unusually heavy. He stripped it off and thought about hanging it over his shoulder. But he couldn't think of a way to carry such a bulky item that wasn't unwieldy and awkward. What about it? Should he just toss the damn thing? He could always buy another coat later.

At that time he felt like the coat wasn't really all that important anymore.

Some kids seemed to be giving him strange looks. They were maybe teenagers but it was possible they were a bit younger, still. Kidd could tell they wanted the coat. He tilted his head and looked at the item, then to the kids. "Do you want it?" He asked in a gentle voice.

It seemed like all of the ferocity had been battered out of him by that last ordeal.

Kidd felt like some kind of philanthropist.

Then again, it was just a damn coat. Giving away a coat for free didn't exactly make him the god of charity.
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One of the kids grabbed the coat without saying anything. They were probably suspicious of taking something from a stranger. And, around here, kids often didn't get things... for free or otherwise. There were a lot who grew up with much worse conditions than he had as a child. A nice coat like this, even if it was a little too big for a kid or a teen, probably seemed like a very strange thing to be offered up as a free token.

"Er, hold on," Kidd held onto it. He reached into the inner pocket and made sure to retrieve his backup gun. Giving that to a child was probably not the best idea. "I might need this later," He said in a joking voice.

The youngster didn't laugh. They backed away with cautious looks on their faces. Then he slipped the coat on and the three of them disappeared into the nearest crowd. They weren't even laughing. The exchange had been too bizarre for those kids to really understand.

Kidd fanned himself while tugging on the collar of his shirt. He still felt warm. Was he getting a fever now too...? He couldn't exactly take his shirt off now, and he regretted wearing a longshirt when he had left for their final day of adventure. Now it seemed like a liability in this heat.

He slipped his backup gun into his belt and glanced around before gathering the strength to keep walking.

The eastern quarter felt very quiet in a way that was very familiar to him. Not quiet in the sense that the streets were empty, or that people weren't talking. Rather, it felt like, everything that happened in the eastern quarter happened behind closed doors, in the shadows, or in a whisper.

There were people all about and yet everything near him felt like a secret.

He couldn't just glance one way and make sense of what was happening by merely looking there.

That was the kind of atmosphere that Kidd had known fairly will even since he was pretty young. It was different than the threat that a monster might jump out and attack him, and he felt strangely calm despite the presence of crime in this city. Hell, here, Kidd knew that almost no one would dare to attack him. He was a local, pretty well liked, and had a reputation as someone they likely wouldn't survive if they went up against.

Covered in blood and bandages, half undressed, with two guns hanging from his belt... he probably looked like a freshly resurrected ghoul. And most of the thugs in this part of town still felt like it'd be too dangerous to try and ambush him even in this state.

Kidd pulled off his hat, examining it, and found the burn marks to be quite unsightly. This thing had taken more than a bit of damage on his journey. He wondered how ugly the markings on his face must look from those same burns...? Wearing the hat probably wasn't helping with the heat and he tried to think of a way to discard it.

Looking around, he found an old man sitting out on the steps outside of his house. Kidd gave him a quiet nod and then kept walking. He held onto the hat in his hands and realized it wouldn't be so easy to get rid of that. Maybe he'd keep it as a trophy to remember this last adventure by. Last...? Well, was he really already having those sorts of thoughts?

Actually, he'd been thinking about it for a while.

And, when he got home, he felt those thoughts crystallize even more completely. It was becoming a very solid idea in Kidd's mind. He felt numb again but this time it was different from before. It was like his heart had stopped in his chest.

Actually, he wasn't sure that Susal would be home when he got back, so it was a bit of a surprise to see her through the window. If you asked him later he would say that he couldn't even remember what she had been doing. But he more clearly remembered her warm embrace and the joy with which she seized him as he came through the door.
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It was almost hard to believe, but she had skipped work that day and stayed home because she had a good feeling. Could it be true that she somehow sensed he was returning? Honestly, it was hard to know for sure. Those kinds of things happened sometimes... nobody really knew if it was coincidence or if there was truly some special connection between them.

It took Kidd quite a bit of effort to pry her off of him and hold her at arm's length for a moment. She seemed quite a bit more affectionate and assertive than usual. He had found himself pinned against a wall before he could even make sense of her advances.

Okay, so, perhaps there was one person in all of Hendrake who wasn't afraid to ambush him...

Her hair was mostly purple with some splotches of black, as if someone had spilled ink onto her head. Come to think of it, her dad must have been an Abnormal. Kidd had never met the guy and he didn't think Susal had either. But her mom seemed like a pretty regular human. There was actually a reason why he was thinking about those kinds of things but it was sort of distant from the moment at that time.

Even though her hair had been lazily pulled up to keep it out of her face, it had just as easily come partially undone. It looked disheveled and sloppy, not at all fit for 'proper' society... but perfectly fitting in a place like the eastern quarter of Hendrake City.

"Kidd...?"

He had been staring at her for quite some time. Actually, it didn't just take effort to hold her back because of the fact that his body was weak and that she was surprisingly strong. It was because, at that time, he didn't really want to let go. He had needed to muster the emotional strength to actually give up that embrace, even if it was only temporary, even if it was just so that he could look at her.

Honestly, his face began to flush. Maybe he was feeling more clingy than usual as well. He couldn't believe he was having such sentimental and romantic thoughts. Well, he had always been that kind of guy, but it felt like nobody knew the real him. Except... he supposed... there was probably one person.

"I was thinking..." Kidd started. She blinked a slow and lazy blink. Her pointed nose almost seemed to twitch in hesitation. It was said that some people could forge a special connection. That, even without words, she might already know what he was thinking. But... Maybe... at that time... he wanted to say it anyway. Because he was pretty sure it would make her smile. "I was thinking, maybe we should move back to my parents house. It'd be nice out there, outside of the city, don't you think?"

Susal smiled, but it was a closed-mouth smile. She fluttered her lashes at him, leaning into him.

"Since we have a bit of land out there, and I inherited the house, we could do whatever we want with it, you know?" Kidd told her.

Her chest was pressed against his chest now and she was looking directly up at him. She wasn't short, but Kidd was tall. So there was always going to be that gap in height between them. Her smirk began to slowly evolve into a beaming smile, and yet she kept her mouth closed. Resistant.

Kidd wanted more than that.

He had fought quite a bit to get back to her and see that smile!

"I know you always wanted to have some kind of garden. We could grow stuff out there. I'm sure." Kidd is thinking to himself now as he finds himself getting lost in her eyes. Actually, maybe he wasn't thinking at all. Maybe he was just saying whatever nonsense popped into his head. Because he couldn't think clearly in this kind of environment. "We could even get some animals."
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"You wouldn't have to go on any adventures anymore," she concludes for him, even though that was already heavily implied. Maybe that made her so happy that she just felt like she needed to say it out loud. "I bet you'd be good at building things too."

"Yeah." Kidd was definitely being sincere when he said this. "I'm done with adventuring."

There was no reason to go back out there. The most valuable treasure in the world was already right here with him. Then, he felt himself growing quite nervous. There was something he had been wanting to say but even Kidd didn't know how to say it. This was the one person in the world that he felt like understood him, that he felt comfortable around, and yet it was still making his heart race and he was having difficulty forming the words.

He'd faced far more dangerous things before, hadn't he? So why did it seem so hard? "I was also thinking we could... maybe..."

Susal took his hand, covered in bandages. It wasn't numb anymore. The feeling had returned. The feeling had definitely returned. Because when she moved his hand and put it on herself, he felt that she was unusually warm. Even moreso than he could remember.

"Kidd, we've..."

Her mouth kept moving but he found himself in a soundless world. He couldn't hear the rest of what she said, at least, not with his ears. But somehow it felt like his heart heard what she was trying to tell him. He felt his eyes flickering and blinking, stinging with a weird sensation. It wasn't really pain or sadness but he felt his eyes growing a little bit misty.

She must have known what he was going to say, because her reply addressed it perfectly.

If he had died back there... he really would have never forgiven himself.

When Susal saw his reaction she laughed softly to herself. She felt like she had won, because she had made this stoic and cool seeming guy crack so easily. Her mouth finally widened into a true, full, and genuine smile. Her eyes closed with a silent joy and she tilted her head while forcing her way back into his arms.

Kidd saw the same smile he had always seen a hundred times before, the one he had been missing for what felt like far too long. Her teeth were somewhat crooked... yet he didn't think there was any smile that was more perfect for him.

[...]

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Best Notes of Cain Waifu?

Jen
Maria
Fakeru
Mona
Gloria
Stella
Susal
Someone Else I'm Forgetting?

let the waifu wars commence...
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Jen, died for her husbando.
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Waifu Analytics

Jen: Very powerful and will protect you. A bit obsessive.
Maria: Intelligent and pragmatic. From a humble background, so probably easier to impress.
Fakeru: Seemingly flawless from others point of view, she apparently lived a pretty hard life. Still very kind and cheerful toward others in spite of that.
Mona: Obsessive and a bit of a psychopath. Very strong bond of love.
Gloria: Probably not a good choice unless you like being brainwashed.
Stella: Doesn't understanding the world and normal society very well, which I think some people are attracted to.
Susal: Has her imperfections but inspires happiness in others. Playful, but serious.
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is oracle the only one still reading or are the rest of you just embarrassed to admit who your waifu is
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Im reading but have no waifus sorry
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Susal seems great
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these epilogues are a lot faster and easier for me to write. my only concern is that if I fly through them too fast we won't have much time for discussion... plus some people who fall behind might not catch up by the time I finish lol
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All of them are pretty neat, frankly. Barring maybe Gloria.
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Jen

Biased I know but c'mon, she's the truest waifu of that list. She stuck by her husbando no matter what hell came her way, going through this nightmare entirely for his sake in the first place.

She fought monstrous creatures to protect him, saved his life like 2-3 times, and died for him. She also didn't try to maliciously eat him or turn him into a robot so...there's also that.
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I don't really have a waifu but I'm still keeping pace
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Nest Epilogue

Somehow it fell upon Jamison to deal with the remnants of the wagon and the things they had brought back from their journey. He had heard that Leone was still in a hospital somewhere and recovering from a bad fever. Some were saying that he might die due to the extreme stress he suffered after a severe maiming but... Jamison was pretty sure that Leone would eventually wake up from that. He seemed like he was too strong to just give up without fighting.

Otherwise, what had kept him fighting for so long?

Because they had only been able to hastily pack a certain amount of looted goods onto a single wagon the amount of treasure was actually fairly low. After splitting it into shares, the left over amounts weren't as impressive as one might have hoped for such a life risking adventure. In fact, if more people had come back, the amount would have split even more and more until it became pitiful.

The only question remaining was whether to keep it spread at three shares, or to create a fourth share for Zephyr. The issue was that, on the way back, Zephyr had left the rest of the group. It was hard to say if he would come back at all, or if he was interested in receiving a share of the funds they had received.

After Jamison went through all the trouble of finding places to sell all of these items, which had taken several days, it was an even more difficult question to think about.

Zeph had certainly contributed a great deal to the mission and they likely wouldn't all still be alive if he wasn't there. Of course, each person had played their role, but removing one essential pin could have caused that grenade to explode. Even on the way back Zephyr had moved out to patrol the area and keep the wagon safe from any potential ambush. With the group being in a mostly devastated condition they wouldn't have fared well even against brigands or wandering fiends.

It was strange when Zephyr one day gave them a very deliberate 'Goodbye' as he left to go on his patrol. They were already close enough to the city limits that they felt safe. Nothing was going to attack the group this close to the gates of Hendrake. Maybe that's why Zephyr finally felt comfortable leaving them, since he knew they'd be safe.

But why did he want to leave? Was he averse to entering the city for some reason?

The only person who would know that would be Torrin, but Torrin was...

Jamison tried to go and visit Leone first, but Leone was still unconscious. Apparently the city surgeons were doing operations on him. Jamison didn't know why, but the doctor there told him not to worry as Leone's medical expenses had already been taken care of. That left Jamison with Leone's share of the money which he'd have to wait and deliver, later, after Leone woke up.

Since Leone wasn't able to offer him any advice, and since the advice related to Zephyr, who was gone, that only left Kidd as a potential point of contact. Everyone else was...

Finding Kidd was more difficult than he might have anticipated. When Jamison went to his listed address he found the place had been cleared out. There were signs that the denizens had moved recently, and it didn't seem like they'd be coming back again anytime soon.

That left an alarming number of questions in Jamison's mind.

Where the hell would Kidd go? And if he could afford to drop everything and move, before even receiving his share of the treasure, why had he even bothered to go on this adventure to begin with? Regardless, Jamison felt obligated to track him down for more than one reason.

Kidd deserved his fair share of the profits, and Jamison was starting to feel like he didn't have very many friends that he could confide in. Although they had only spent around nine days together on that fateful journey, someone like Kidd or Leone could understand him better than anyone else in this city.
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With his role as a city Inspector, it was fairly easy for Jamison to gain access to family and property records. He thought that he might have to try and figure out more about Kidd so he could see if he had purchased any property recently. However, it didn't look like anyone had many any property transfers within the last few days. That meant that, wherever Kidd went, it was to some place that he likely already owned.

Unfortunately, while that should narrow things down, it only made things more complicated. There was a lot of viable land in and around the city of Hendrake. Going through property deeds and zoning documents for that much land would take a considerable amount of time.

Jamison's only hope was that the home had belonged to Kidd's parents or grandparents. It was easy enough to look up Kidd's family records, although that involved walking back across town to the library of records. Once he had that information, however, he was able to check the same property deeds for anyone who might match the names of Kidd's parents.

As it turned out, there was a house and some land outside of the natural city limits. Not only that, but the deed had been signed over to Kidd four years ago. That meant one or both of his parents had likely passed away and he inherited the house.

If Jamison had to guess, Kidd felt like he would make an easier living if he got an apartment in the city, and so he had left the house while moving to the city for a time. Maybe he thought that he could make some money by selling it but, if so, he never got around to that. And as it turned out... by the time four years had passed... Kidd must have decided that he'd rather move back into the old house. The only explanation was that he had gone back there now.

That must be it!

Since it was late, Jamison retired back to his quarters. He had a hard time sleeping. The inner city felt unnaturally quiet in a way his body was no longer conditioned to. His eyes felt puffy and severe when he got up in the morning, and he was sure that he had woken up several times during the night. Hopefully he'd adjust back to a normal cycle before long.

Jamison arrived at the old house sometime before noon, and he was in high spirits. But before long he was trembling, paralyzed with awkward anxiety. 'Kidd, you bastard,' he was thinking to himself. 'I thought you were one of the few people who understood me. How could you betray me like this?!'

Susal had offered to bring tea for them, as Kidd and Jamison went to the sitting room for their chat. However, by the time she brought it, Jamison was sweating bullets. He could barely hold the cup in his hand and he felt like he'd actually spill the tea if he tried to lift the cup. He knew that if that happened it would only lead to more awkwardness!

He could imagine Susal making a fuss about the spilled tea... no... she wasn't even like that. She was definitely the type who would just laugh about it and try to wipe up the mess! Shit, but if Jamison spilled the tea on himself or near himself he would probably pass out from embarrassment if that happened. No matter what, under any circumstances, he couldn't afford to spill the tea.

Therefore... He mumbled an awkward 'thank you' that was probably not comprehensible to human ears... he ignored her strange look as she took a step back from the table... therefore.... no matter what.... he couldn't touch that cup! He couldn't even try to drink any of the tea that had been offered to him!

'Damn you, Kidd! Why do you have such a cute girlfriend?! It's not fair!'
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Jamison probably looked like he was glaring at Kidd now, although he wasn't trying to.

"Um... so..." Kidd sipped on his tea casually, not seeming to read the mood. "Aren't you going to drink any of that?"

"Oh, uh... I -... Um...." Jamison tilted his head, looking back and forth between Susal and Kidd. "No, I'm not too thirsty right now. Perhaps just a sip in a moment... If, you know... if my throat starts to feel dry. Which, I suppose it does... sometimes... but.... Not really, right now... you know..."

"Okay." Kidd sat there for a moment, not really sure what was going on. He seemed much happier for some reason, almost like a different man than the one from the dungeon they had been in just a few days ago. Well, obviously, there was a very good reason for that. "So what did you want to speak to me about? I'm surprised you went through the trouble of tracking me down."

Jamison sat there for a moment as Susal turned and walked out of the room. They seemed to have been working on something outside and, thankfully, it drew her attention more to go back out there for the time being. Jamison finally let out a painful breath and looked back to Kidd, lowering his voice. "Yes, it's about the money I got from selling all of the treasures we brought back. I was also wondering about Zephyr, and what we should do about the unfinished business at the estate. And..."

Jamison found that, like always, his words came clearly and freely once there were no women around. It was an unfortunate condition but there really seemed to be nothing he could do about it. However, once they began talking, Jamison found himself shocked at how little Kidd cared about most of this.

Kidd was willing to accept his share of the profits but it hadn't seemed like he'd go and bother Jamison about it if Jamison hadn't tracked him down. He seemed pretty content with what he already had here and, according to Kidd, with the house he was already more fortunate than most. He had plans for how to sustain his living wages at the house and so there wasn't really any worry about money here.

As for Zephyr, Kidd said it would probably be fine if they set aside a fourth share of the money and had Jamison watch over it in case Zeph ever came back for the money. Given the fact that Jamison spent an entire day tracking down Kidd, it seemed like he was honest enough to trust with the money.

The argument was pretty simple but it did make perfect sense.

As for going back... "It's something that's been on my mind a lot," Jamison admitted. "There was a lot we had to leave back there. And there's unfinished business as well. I know the majority of the danger is gone, but I'll feel bad if we leave the estate how it is right now. Maybe we should, I don't know, organize an expedition to..."

"Sorry, but I'm done with that kind of stuff," Kidd told him. "As far as I'm concerned we already accomplished quite a lot by clearing out all of those monsters, solving the mystery of what happened there, and putting down that insane Angel."

"Surely you can just write a report for the Inspectors and they can tell the Local Lord what happened?"

"Well..." Jamison hesitated. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to be an Inspector anymore. And he didn't know if he trusted the Lord would really handle things effectively. He had been thinking about whether another expedition would need to be planned and kept coming to the same conclusion... there wasn't really anyone else who could lead it except for him.

"Listen, Kidd, you seem really happy here," Jamison replied at last, after thinking about it. "I think I'm going to use my share of the funds to start a new expedition. I'd feel much better if I went back there and wrapped things up completely."
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"But I won't ask you to come if you don't want to."

Kidd seemed intent with that outcome. He was a bit worried about letting Jamison go, but he figured that the place wasn't nearly as dangerous as it had been on their first foray. If Jamison had survived once, he might be able to do it again. Maybe he'd do things more carefully, and more cautiously this time. But.. for himself... he had at least two reasons why he needed to remain here.

Going off and putting his life in danger seemed absolutely ludicrous. It was something Kidd could no longer force himself to do. It was like he had been thinking before. Everything that he wanted, the greatest treasure in the world, was already here right now. "Why don't you take my share of the profit and put it toward the next expedition, then?" Kidd told him. "If you feel you must go, I'd want you to have the best odds of success."

Jamison wasn't too comfortable with begging for charity but he did feel satisfied making a deal with Kidd. He would use that share of the money to help fund the new expedition. And, once he returned, he'd make sure to give Kidd back his full share from the second expedition. After they managed to clean out the manor and catalog all of the treasure there it would be a much larger haul.

He didn't feel right about taking Leone's money or Zephyr's share and spending on his own expeditions, so he left those behind with a notary while taking the other half to fund the new journey. After learning from the previous mistakes of the leaders of the first expedition... Jamison felt like the most important thing was to organize a cautious, skilled, and well prepared group in order to handle things as quickly and efficiently as possible.

After going through the materials on the wagon, Jamison unfortunately found that no one had remembered to grab the land deeds secured by Punch. However, as long as Jamison didn't mention that, he could secretly go and grab the deeds once they got to the estate. In that sense... the following promise should be enough; "I'm looking to organize a group of skilled monster slayers to travel with me to a dungeon that has already been mostly cleared out. I own the rights to the estate there as per the conditions of Cain's will, and we have land deeds for the surrounding area. Our goal will be to wipe out the remaining monster nests, excavate the treasure from the abandoned halls of the estate, and... eventually... don't you think it would be nice if we rebuilt a new village on the nearby land?"

Yes, there was plenty of land there that could be settled and farmed. The destroyed village itself could be reconstructed and either added to or rebuilt somewhere else. And if Jamison's suspicions were correct he should find enough hidden money and treasures to afford even such a large scale reconstruction.

The keep would need to be abandoned but the nearby wetlands were a surprising boon rather than a negative sign. Things which had been previously built upon the wetlands were unfortunately lost now. That wasn't a place where you'd want to build. But the land around the wetlands would be nice and fertile by now, and would add to the amount and quality of farming they could do. Jamison had been reading up on this!

Jamison felt like... it would be nice to build a little nest here.

He felt like he could really do it.

[...]

.

Best Notes of Cain "Leader"?

Torrin
Maria
Punch
Dismas
Aaron
Jamison
---

Oh huh. I thought for sure that Zephyr would be the Nest Epilogue
---

Torrin
pretty much kept what was left of the team together...and why his death meant everything went to high hell.
---

Zigzagoon posted...

Oh huh. I thought for sure that Zephyr would be the Nest Epilogue

the classic maria bait and switch
---

crazygamer999 posted...

Torrin
pretty much kept what was left of the team together...and why his death meant everything went to high hell.

Torrin is interesting because he definitely wouldn't have been useful against Mona, but he was useful at keeping Aaron and Enoch and Owen all together for as long as possible. and those three definitely would have been useful to have against Mona.

it's just a matter of whether you think he did a good job for keeping things together for so long, or a bad job for letting it all fall apart at the most crucial finish line.
---

Torrin

Sure there were other better strategists but Torrin was better at keeping people up and together while also giving em enough reign to do shit. Also thinking back I think his groups tended to have better outcomes compared to others (of course this is probably just due to choices in general but I'll give the credit to him)

Zigzagoon posted...

Oh huh. I thought for sure that Zephyr would be the Nest Epilogue

Also this
---

Torrin for sure
---

Yeah Torrin stands out for sure among that list.
---

Torrin. Followed by Punch.
---

Torrin

Without him this party falls apart so fast.

Good for Jamison. Glad to see he is doing well. Hopefully his (probably all male) expedition goes well.
---

haha nice to see some torrin appreciation here
---

oh yeah?
---

Yeah!
---

Brother's Epilogue

Leone awoke, somewhere, laying in the dark. For a moment he thought he might have fallen into a hole or some bottomless pit. Maybe it was hell. Maybe he had died. He couldn't remember it so clearly. He couldn't remember. And then... maybe he did.

Or maybe he didn't.

His eyes were good but he couldn't quite see anything right now. Ah, it was so dark. He raised his arm in front of him and it was almost like he could feel his hand and his fingers. They weren't there and yet somehow he could sense them.

Or maybe he couldn't.

tink

The metal railing made a soft sound as his stump knocked against it. Of course, laying in the dark, imagining that his hand would come back... that wouldn't actually bring it back. Nor would Jen come back no matter how much he wished for it.

thump

His foot pounded against a wooden board at the bottom edge of the bed he was laying in. The blankets were thin and fell away easily, but also remained wrapped around him in an awkward fashion. He was using his elbow against that railing to push himself up to a sitting position.

The blanket was all twisted up beneath him now. It was so silent. It was so quiet he thought that maybe he could hear the deep god whispering to him. What was it telling him? Ah, who knows. It would probably say something like, 'They gave you far too much moss' extract, and washed it down with mineral tea.'

Yet it seemed like they'd been neglecting to give him food or drink beyond the bare minimum.

"Urgh..."

Just as he let out a groan there was a sound that cut the silence in half. Abruptly and absolutely, so startling that Leone flinched and froze in place. A beam of light cut through the open crack in the door that had just been pushed on. He heard a voice, someone talking in the hallway outside.

It sounded like a nurse. The person she was talking to needed her, and so she turned around and let the door softly close as she departed. Maybe she had been coming to check on him. If so, it was lucky that she had turned back around.

Leone didn't have the fortitude to feign death right now.

Somehow he managed to pull himself over the railing, ignoring the wooden slab at his feet, and push himself over to a crouching position beside the bed. With his arm awkwardly wrapped around the railing he could sort of hold himself up. His stomach hurt and he felt very hungry.

The room seemed to be on the first floor, and even with his weak arms he was able to push it open. The trip through the window was a bit disorienting but the cool night air outside made him feel like he had regained his balance. Oh, no, that was wrong. He stumbled and nearly fell over, catching himself on a bike rack.

There were two Fisher Knights there and they regarded him strangely, but neither seemed interested in speaking to him. They seemed to be breaking the lock on a bike that was illegally parked. It was all in the interested of confiscating said bike. It was a well known fact that apprehending the bikes of known ruffians and brigands cut down on their ability to travel back and forth across town quickly and easily.

Now, could it be said that stealing a person's bike was justified just because you were wearing a uniform and you knew that it would reduce crime? Leone wasn't so sure he agreed. But he was certainly in no position to do anything about it.

In his hospital smock he quietly watched them lift the bike between the two officers and carry it away.

He thought he might really feel sick.

He wasn't wrong about that one. Something exited his mouth and formed a mess on the street that someone else would have to clean up. If he could apologize to that person, he would. But he couldn't. Instead he made due with improving his immediate situation.
---

A stray clothesline which had been left unattended overnight proved to be a good source of clothes that he could change into. Maybe he should have stayed at the hospital. They probably had his clothes there. These ones were a size different from what he normally wore, and his body felt so numb from the drugs that he wasn't even sure if it was too large or too small.

"Are you alright? Leone?" A man named Barkler was speaking to him now.

Leone couldn't remember when or how he had got here. His pupils must have been much larger than usual because he knew he was staring at this person with the force of two dining plates. His fingers on his good hand separated and then clenched. Well, he couldn't remember how or when, but he somehow knew why. "Just give it to me," he said, with his hoarse throat.

"And a glass of water," Leone adds after receiving the item he came to get.

Barkler brings him water without hesitation. That's the kind of guy who would serve Leone well, because he served his brother well. And, of course, it was all because he served the Thieves' Guild. Had that Guild served him well, as well? Well... who could say for sure? Paying attention to the particulars had never been the strong suit of the guys in charge.

Loyalty was expected, and so that was considered more like a bare minimum requirement.

Whether or not that loyalty was rewarded wasn't even a question. You simply had to obey the rules and follow the orders you were given. What kind of way to live was that? It didn't even sound like an alternate organization that undermined the rule of law and order in the city. It sounded like it's own separate set of rules! It was just as bad, or the same, as the existing order.

Some damn Thieves' Guild they had turned out to be.

"What do you think of that?" Leone asked the man tending to the fruit stand that he passed on his way back across town. Of course that guy had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Leone thought maybe that his mind was being read, but then he realized this guy couldn't read his mind.

He grabbed a banana without saying anything else and began to peel it as he walked away.

The guy, maybe he thought Leone was crazy, or maybe he knew who Leone was, didn't say anything. He simply watched with wide eyes and stunned expression as Leone departed the scene while stuffing his face with a banana.

He tossed the empty glass of water aside in a disgusting manner, clearly not caring what kind of mess he made. No, that had been back at Barkler's place. Why was his sense of time so...? A banana peel was left behind in the streets. Shit, Leone had never been one for littering.

Then, wandering in circles it seemed, he got lost as he tried to find was way back to the place where he was going.

"Ah, this is it." Leone says, looking up. "Isn't it?"

He didn't know who he was asking but he wasn't sure of the answer to that question.

The second floor of the building had a single light shining in one of the upper windows. Yes, this must be the place. Only that guy would be working so hard, so late at night, just like this. And what do you think of that? Well, I think that's just fine. Someone who gets rewarded aught to work hard.

Though, like with much in this city, the conclusion often found itself irrelevant to the situation. Lawrence was going to get rewarded whether he worked hard or not. One could say the only reason he worked so hard was to keep up the illusion that he was doing a good job at his actual job, at which he was intentionally not doing such a good job. But that was his other job.
---

It's all very confusing stuff, but as long as you haven't been fed moss' extract and had mineral tea poured down your throat while you were unconscious, as long as you haven't been in a coma for several days, I'm sure you can probably follow along with what I'm telling you.

Click click click click click. The lock on the door was fastened, although loosely, but it did click many times as Leone attempted to open the door. Normally he would have been more quiet, checked the lock first, and, hell, he might have been able to silently pick the lock and sneak inside. Now he was so out of it that it took him about sixteen turns of the handle before he even realized that it was locked. He never realized how much noise he had been making until the door swung open.

"... Leone?" Lawrence answers, his face looking a bit shocked and relieved. "I'm so glad to see you're well!"

"I escaped... from that hospital..." Leone mutters, drooling on himself a bit as he stumbles through the door.

"Perhaps you're not as well as I'd thought," Lawrence says, frowning. "Come on then, over here. Take a seat. You must still be in terrible shape you..." Lawrence inspects his younger brother. "There's something wrong with your eyes. And you seem a bit more dull than usual."

Leone allowed himself to be led over to the large desk that his brother works behind from time to time. There's a rounded chair with high arms on the visitor's side. He slumps into the chair and his head feels very heavy, and so it tilts quite far over to the side. Then, sitting up all at once, he finishes listening to his brother's monologue... understanding about half of it.

"But I've brought something very sharp," Leone says. He takes out the gun that he got from Barkler and slams it down on top of the desk. "Or, not sharp. Shiny? How would you say it?"

"Where did you get that?" Lawrence asks. He seems more concerned than scared. Of course, since the person before him isn't an enemy, his natural response is more curiosity mixed with a bit of concern. Leone clearly isn't in good shape and he heard rumors that he his brother had tried to commit suicide. Although, others working at the hospital said Leone hadn't even woken up at all. There had been no signs of any activity in the room so it was most likely just a rumor.

But, now, seeing the gun... He felt he needed to maybe change the subject. "Come to think of it, where did you get clothes? Those aren't your usual..."

"My hair is getting messy," Leone blurts out suddenly.

Lawrence has to laugh at that remark. "Well you're always wearing that hood. I suppose people don't see it too often. Have you thought about getting it cut?"

"No." Leone's response is simple. His head sways but then returns to the upright position again. Thinking about sharpness, he tries to sharpen his senses and return his thinking to the most normal state possible. Right now he's in a condition where he can't think clearly and he hates that.

Lawrence goes back around the desk and returns with more water for Leone. He lets his brother wash it down. He puts up with Leone's mutterings and inane ramblings for a good twenty or thirty minutes. At a certain point he gets back into his work chair and starts penning over some documents for council work.
---

That's not to say he allowed his attention to be divided, but it was more because Leone needed very little supervision or input in this state. He seemed content to talk to himself in mostly incomplete sentences as long as Lawrence was in front of him. Bizarrely it reminded Lawrence of when Leone was a baby, or perhaps a small child. He could sit there playing games, telling stories, and working through his active imagination... and Lawrence only needed to be there to look over him, whether Lawrence was really giving him direct attention or not.

It was a nostalgic time, but it was brief. Eventually, Leone sobered up.

"Are you feeling better now," Lawrence asked him.

Leone nods. He seems more clear, more cognizant. Well, he says that he's doing better but he looks very sad. It's true that he's more sober but it's hard to say that he's really feeling BETTER. Just different. More sad. More serious.

Lawrence lets out a sigh. "Um, listen. Jen... she...?"

He couldn't form a complete sentence now. This time, it was Lawrence who was having difficulty speaking. And yet he phrased those few words as a question and his intent was very clear. Since Leone didn't say anything, he thought maybe his intent wasn't as clear as he had imagined.

"I didn't see her come back with you," Lawrence goes on.

There was still no response. "And I thought that if she... was here... she probably would have stayed by your side, and visited you in the hospital."

Leone's look suddenly became a more dark and meaningful glare. "Just as you visited me in the hospital?" It was more accusatory. A rhetorical question meant to imply anger, and the assertion that Lawrence probably hadn't bothered to come and see him.

"I did," Lawrence says, defensively.

And, looking at him, Leone knows that is probably actually true. In fact, he knew that anyway before he said it. Lawrence was definitely the type of guy who would go and visit his sick brother in the hospital, and watch over him. He didn't know why he said that.

Well, yes he did. Leone was mad about other things, and so he was lashing out in ways that felt easier. Lawrence probably had come to see him very often. The nurses probably knew him on sight. It was likely just a coincidence that Lawrence had needed to step out right around this time when Leone finally woke up. "But, still, he's also the type of guy who would join the city council... work for the city council... seeking out corruption and trying to put a stop to the thieves' guild... while also being a member of that same guild..."

Leone almost didn't realize that he had said that last part out loud, until he looked up and saw Lawrence was staring back at him. "What do you think about that?"

"I know you know that the world is more complicated than that," Lawrence replies, somberly.

That was probably true as well.

That's because, Leone wasn't mad about that either.

"She is dead," Leone says suddenly and firmly. Yeah, he was pretty mad about that.

Lawrence must have sensed it. "I'm sorry."

"You should be," Leone tells him. Although he doesn't know where that's coming from, yet, he doesn't think it's a lie either. It feels more like his thoughts are still forming in his head. He knows that he blames Lawrence, for sure, and so he feels fine saying it.

"I really am," Lawrence reiterates. "She would have-"

"What?" Leone places his finger on the gun, still sitting on the desk. He slowly spins it, causing it to rotate around his finger. It makes a soft whirring noise as it scrapes against the wood while spinning. "What, you're okay with that?"
---

Lawrence is looking at the gun now, and he seems a bit more wary than before. He's starting to wonder if the person in front of him has become his enemy. Even though that's your brother, he very well might be your enemy. "Leone, you're not making much sense. Are you sure you've sobered up?"

"I don't know about that," Leone admits. He presses down on the gun, stopping it from spinning. The barrel is now pointing toward Lawrence. He's not holding the gun, his finger is nowhere near the trigger, and yet still it seems to have a powerful presence in that moment.

The mere fact that it was pointing at Lawrence held its own litany of implications. Oh, they were very heavy implications. They held such a great weight. "But I think I'm thinking pretty clearly right now. Don't you think that's enough? In the moment...?"

Lawrence doesn't say anything for a moment. "I sense you're upset with me, but I don't know why," he replies, coldly. "Perhaps we should just move past it. I'm not going to respond to such provocation."

"No, no, no." Leone shuffles in his seat. He leans forward. "You don't get to decide what we're going to talk about." Leone frowns. "You've always decided, before, haven't you? Now I'm thinking that I'm pretty sick of that."

"You've always been very reliable," Lawrence tells him. "Maybe I took advantage of that because I felt like I could count on you. Because... I know... I can always count on you." That was the politician in him talking. He was saying what he thought Leone wanted to hear.

Firstly, gods, it was so silly, but he actually thought Leone was sitting here wanting appreciation. He didn't at all understand what was happening. Secondly, he seemed to forget that Leone could easily see through such lies and empty words. Leone would just see that Lawrence was being false, and that would only agitate him even more.

The last piece of shit he had a bad feeling about, he had trusted that guy, and it had gotten Torrin killed. It had gotten Jen killed. Now it was about to-... Leone looks ahead, but he finds that his brother is looking away, unable to meet his eyes. "I'll ask again, are you fine with that?"

"I don't follow," Lawrence replies stiffly.

"I said that you SHOULD be sorry," Leone says, angrily, firmly, intensely. "Are you FINE with that, my brother?"

"I told you I am sorry," Lawrence is finally starting to crack and become a bit angry. "What else do you want me to say?"

"Let's talk about why you sent me to that gods-forsaken place," Leone says, now in a cool tone. He feels like he made Lawrence crack and that makes him feel in control of the situation. It feels nice to start acting calm and cool now. Although in reality he's probably sweating buckets.

Leone realizes he still hasn't taken his hand off of the gun, and it's trembling. Rattling against the wooden desk. Clickclickclickclickclick. Heh heh... heh...

"I trust that you understood your mission once you got there," Lawrence replies. "And took care of it discreetly. For such a reason..." Lawrence looks away fully now. "You should understand, as usual, we have no need to talk about it."

"Right, of course. Yes. That's it." Leone nods along playfully. "So you're saying Leone should only be relied upon to do things which we're not allowed to talk about. But... wait a moment..."

Leone leans back in the chair. "Doesn't that sound like you're foisting all of the responsibility onto Leone? Doesn't that sound like poor Leone is the one who is always left with dirty hands, no, sorry, a dirty hand, the one with evil deeds smeared all over him, that can't be washed away... but you never have to say it out loud, so I guess you can keep pretending you're clean."
---

"Isn't that it?"

"Right, and, I guess, because I'm the reliable brother... doesn't that make you the unreliable one?"

"Because I can't say I've ever thought of a time where I could rely on you."

The room grows awfully silent at that time.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Lawrence says. "Because if you understand what really happened there, you should also understand that we really shouldn't talk about it. Not here or anywhere else. Nevermind the footpads or spies, these are words even the gods themselves shouldn't hear."

"No one should know a thing about what transpired until both you and I go to our graves."

Leone takes his hand off of the gun for a moment and chews on his nails thoughtfully. He revels in the fact that Lawrence is eyeing the gun the entire time. Yes. Go ahead. Grab it. Try to take the gun. What do you think might happen? I'm slower than usual. You just might.

You just might do it.

But, hey, if you try to steal my gun and I get there first... I'll probably not really be sure what to do about that situation. Someone trying to grab your gun is a pretty serious offense. The fact that you'd do that will-... No, he's not trying to grab it. He's just sitting there. "Well let's pretend we're in a secret world where no one else can see or hear," Leone says at last. He brings his hand back down.

CRASH

The weight of his hand on that gun is very heavy now.

What do you imagine might happen in such a place...?

"I'll tell you what happened," Leone says. Those are the words Lawrence should say, because he's the one who knows everything. Leone can only speak based on what he was able to infer. Yet at that moment he felt like the all-seeing god. Because he was about to reveal everything that happened in the shadows.

From behind a door, never emerging to behold the truth, and yet somehow seeing the record of it all. Yes, he was going to disclose everything that happened. As only an omniscient being could do.

"Because as far as I can tell everything comes back to this fucking book. This evil, awful book. So then, don't bother to correct me if I'm wrong, just keep silent for a moment. You're very good at talking, I know, but I've gotten into the rhythm now. It feels like I've got a lot of shit to say, doesn't it? Okay, let's stay on point."

"It sounds like Cain's little son, Cainas, had some high ambitions for that book and what to do with it. Avel must have brought some of the knowledge with him and yet neither could get their hands on the book very easily. I wonder if you loaned them someone, maybe an agent who could extract the book? Eh, actually, I doubt that very much."

"Trust me, my brother, that book is a powerful and evil thing. If you sent someone to help steal it, that person likely would have kept the book for themselves. But I do know for sure you were sending aid... Knowledge, likely resources... to Cainas for his bizarre ambitions, and funding whatever was going on in that place."

"So then... doesn't that make it sound like... everything that happened there was your fault?"

"Yes, Leone should be the one to go into that place, where we can't speak of what happened, and erase all evidence of the fact that Lawrence is the one who actually helped cause all of this misery. Leone is a reliable brother, and he's very discreet. Leone would just, I don't know, what, Leone would destroy all of the fucking evidence and just forget everything that he saw?"
---

"You know I... I... You know I..." Leone was looking down at his lap now. For some reason his legs were shaking. Trembling, perhaps with excitement. "I really might have done it. I really might have forgotten everything. But my eyes were opened, I guess, and I can't close them again." His eyes became misty and began to sting with awful tears.

"... Understanding is pain..." Leone concludes from all of that.

Lawrence shuffles in his chair. "Did you... destroy all of the evidence?"

Leone, honestly, actually, probably had. Well, at the least, he would have secretly pocketed anything that he found which implicated Lawrence or the thieves guild. Although, funny enough, those items were in his jacket now. And he'd left that jacket back at the hospital where really anyone could get at it.

Now that kind of irony really made him smile.

Then he thought about the fact that everything which had happened was Lawrence's fault. And he still had the audacity to ask if Leone had destroyed the evidence. Did I? Did I run your little erands for you...?

"Am I my brother's keeper?" Leone asked in response to that.

Lawrence looks up at him, his eyes widening. "... What?"

tink

The hammer retreats, making a metallic sound as Leone picks up the gun and presses it with his thumb.

thump

The weapon feels heavy in his tired arms, but the butt of the gun hits the wooden desk with a soft sound and comes to a rest. It's probably pointed right at Lawrence's heart. It's fun to imagine that it would be pointed right at the most vital spot, even if that's not likely the truth.

Lawrence opens his mouth but then, at the last moment, decides not to say anything. He realizes that trying to plead for his life here won't change anything. Instead, he stares at Leone. He looks to his brother and tries to see what is going on behind those eyes.

Whether he lives or dies here, Lawrence is just thinking that he wants to understand his brother.

He didn't... he really didn't... mean for all of this to happen.

There was an unbelievable silence captured in that moment. Something the gods themselves couldn't have recorded. Leone really wasn't joking. It was like a time and space in which sound and sight no longer existed. There was no witness to what happened in that special and secret realm they had created together.

Then, all at once, the silence was pulled apart by a deafening sound that was louder than any thunder.

The gods might come and ask where you went, Lawrence.

But I won't tell them.

[END]

.

Best Notes of Cain Bro:

Tristan
Ignael
Seth
Matsuda
Goetic
Cata
Enoch
Owen
Valter
Kidd
Leone
Zephyr
---

... Well then
---

I'm kind of surprised you didn't save this one for the last
---

my intention was to save the best for last but yeah, now that I've written this one I think it might end up being the best. hell, this is just one of my favorite "chapters" in the entire story.

the good thing is that I feel like this gives a satisfying ending and wraps up almost all loose plot threads and that means I have the freedom to do whatever I need with the next chapter for it to turn out how I want.
---

Zephyr by process of elimination.
---