wecanavenge | ✘ | 025

[This is not the Erik anyone of this Barge has come to know. Something has shattered in him. He's graduated. The camera floats in front of him, held in the air by his mutation: the angle makes the cause of this change obvious. To one side, Charles' body lays, broken, bleeding; on the other lies Ben's, impaled by a dozen make shift spears. The area around them has been torn up by Erik's ripping panels and light fixtures and anything not metaphorically nailed down from their proper places.]

Charles is dead.

[There is weight in his voice, a heaviness laying on his head, but it doesn't break. He stays steady, out of necessity. Erik is not a defeatist: he is not giving up. He is making a choice.]

So is Ben.

[The camera floats ahead, and behind him, Charles' body rises in his wake, following. Ben is left in a pool of his own blood, abandoned. Erik heads for the stairs, brow furrowed - silent, but not done with the broadcast, not yet.

Along the way, bits of metal come to him, hovering on the peripheries.]

You're all so intent on killing each other. That's what it takes to graduate. [He's heading up, taking the stairs two at a time.] To have a second chance at life. All you have to do is destroy everything you hold dear.

[His throat tightens, compromising his calmness: everyone on board will feel the ship ripple just slightly.]

So be it, then. But I've had enough of this cock fighting.

[More metal is coming to him, faster, melding together around him.]

No more murder. No more pointless infighting. You're done.

[Ahead of him, the door to the deck slams open as he steps through; the angle changes, and he stops walking, but his forward momentum hasn't halted. He's floating. The bits of metal close behind and above him, forming a dome as he floats above the nightmare Arthas has made of the deck. It's open enough for him to be seen, but it's closing fast.

Another tremor runs through the Barge.]

When that door opens, there will be a new Admiral. And it's not going to be someone who doles out death like handshakes. We've all endured enough.

[He remembers Cuba, and he remembers the choices he made there. He knows the choices he's made here, and the one he's making now.] This will never happen again.

[The sphere closes, perfectly enclosed, and hangs above the deck. It will stay there, guarding or waiting, until the door opens.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Smart man.

[Good man. B(]

... Have you tried reviving Dr. Xavier?

Primarily: to see Nathan Wournos through that door, and to ensure his safety.

He is the only one I trust to set things to rights; to be fair to both worlds.

I have not experienced a flood before, but something tells me this will not be a simple matter of ceasing to be or merely awakening to find ourselves back where we belong. Both Barges are intertwined, no matter what happens.

He has no idea of my plan and I intend to keep it that way.

Secondly: to ensure the safety of myself and Maladicta no matter what else happens.

It's too late.

[Or, well. He thinks it is.]

Why him? Why do you trust him?

Because despite months of emotional and physical torture, my alternate was unable to break his alternate's will and seriously doubted that she would ever achieve such.

Because he has spent his entire time on this Barge attempting to infuse hope and sense, in that order, to Inmates and Wardens alike.

He spoke with Charles before his death. I do not know how that conversation went.

Because he would never strive towards power himself, no matter what happened. Because if I told him these plans, he would attempt and likely manage to talk me out of them.

Because he is fair, and just, and thinks of everyone; not only himself, or his loved ones, or the ones he knows. Everyone.

Edited 2013-10-30 17:45 (UTC)

And you would condemn him to this.

Much in the same way you would condemn Alex and Charles to an existence without your direct presence.

We do what we believe we must.

Edited 2013-10-30 18:11 (UTC)

I'm sorry.

Better than seeing them dead.

[His voice is rough, and he has to shove it away; there's a beat of silence, because he will not lose control of himself here.]

I won't stop him, if he goes. But I won't put all my faith in him.

I'm going through.

[With or without Erik, he means, but he is a wolf; teamwork is in his nature.]

So am I.

You know what it might be risking. [A question, though it doesn't sound like one.]

I can guess. But experience shows that any risk leads to an even bigger reward, or you and I wouldn't be here.

Are you afraid? [Afraid of what he might lose, Lark means. It's an honest question; hidden in it is the truth that Lark is afraid.]

Just as I can't put all my faith in you.

You're a Warden here, after all. That means a loss of something important. Something this place harvests like blood on a sponge.

I hope you achieve what you're looking for.

I support whatever you're planning next.

It does. I did.

[Charles' body is with him, and, unseen, he puts his hand on the other mutant's chest. There is a moment, when you lose a brother, that the world ceases to make sense. Erik is trying to make sense of it again.]

If I can't, I hope he can.

Thank you.

[He falls silent, but a few minutes later he comes back, a thought occuring to him.]

I won't have time to - deal with his body.

[It's hard to say. His throat is tight, but he remains steady.]

I need you to take care of him, until - he comes back.

[He's surprised, and maybe a little flattered, but he just nods instead of commenting on it.]

Of course. He will be in very capable hands.

Some.

[Not for himself, not really. Afraid of the opportunities he has to leave behind - the people he may not be able to save, and the ones he may not be able to bring back.]

I know he will be.

[David is, after all, one of the most trust worthy people here, in Erik's mind.]

Oh God dammit. [Her voice is harsh and bitter and genuinely grieving - Charles was a good man. He deserved better.]

I - [She shakes her head, quick and sharp. She's not going to get all sentimental about this. Instead, she switches the filters.]

[Private]

I've got your back. [She might have liked Charles better, but she gets the feeling Erik will be just as ruthless, now. He's not a bad second choice.

If, of course, that's what awaits him.]

[She sees Charles body and her faith in the Barge snaps. It had grown taut already, stretched achingly thin with each wave of pointless suffering, and now - ]

You should just let it burn. [The words are harsh and rough, as she stares at the corpse.] Take the Inmates home and let us burn.

[At this rate, with the time he's starting to devote to thinking maybe Charles was right, maybe he'd be alive if Erik hadn't tried to convince him against violence, maybe they won't be that different at all.]

Assuming it's what we think it is.

[He's not sure, anymore, but that changes nothing. He won't risk someone like Arthas taking it without contest.]

I considered it.

[His voice is hard, almost quaking: another tremor shivers the Barge ever so slightly. It should be shaking violently, he knows, but despite its metal make, he's never been able to affect it. Now he can.]

It's going to burn alone and empty. No more.

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