Epilogue

[lesmodsalouette]

EPILOGUE

Your stopped time has restarted. Whether you were in the grassy field or fighting for your life on the castle grounds, you'll suddenly find yourself in an untouched area of the gardens. Ish is back, and so are the items, and the dead.

You return to Chateau Ambregris with the certain knowledge that come Monday, you will greet a new week, in a home of your own choosing. No longer will the chime of the clocks hunt you down, no longer will the oppressive scent of roses haunt your senses, no longer will you be forced to watch the death of those you've come to love and hate.

Parting is such a bittersweet sorrow, isn't it?

Make merry one last time, in this castle of illusions. Ironically, your memories of this stolen time that never existed are the one thing that will truly remain to you.

END NOTES

🔮 All dead are revived as tsukumogami! Congrats on your immortality(?)
🔮 Any other contracts made with Ish will be honored
🔮 Characters may choose to leave for any world they desire.
🔮 Time has not passed while you were stuck in this loop!
🔮 There will be no cross-dimensional world travel, except for on Samhain (Witches New Year October 31st/November 1st). On these dates, Ish will enable everyone to visit each other's world freely.
🔮 Universal Communication will be possible, courtesy of Manba and Ish. Everyone who wants one will be given a small fox that can communicate with other foxes through voice and video; the foxes can talk and are fairly simple creatures, enjoy them and give them fried tofu once in a while.
🔮 Powers are on for the finale, but Ish will step in and yeet anyone who gets too out of hand back to their homeworld, so play nice! (or relatively nice. )

[OOC: Welcome to your epilogue! The timeloop is ended, the evil has been defeated, and you have some time to catch your breath in the castle before the rest of your life begins! ]

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[simulacres]

Oh...I'm sorry if that was the case.

[ she bows her head slightly, looking genuinely regretful. ]

But you can tell me whatever you want. I guess with these foxes we'll be able to keep on talking...though I'll be busy for a while.

[distain]

[In this case, at least, the truncation is not for secret-keeping - mostly. It just sounded like he cared to hear the details later instead of now, during what must for most people be an ostensibly happy moment.]

I can. [She's trying not to think about what it will like to be separated from him. Even when the time apart exceeds the time spent together, it seems it will persist without losing intensity. The thought of it frightens her. Andrew wishes she would not feel it about anyone here.]

She's very sick, being held in the custody of a workhouse. If we hadn't paid off those guards to watch over her... [It would surely have already gotten much worse than it has.] Will her illness be a problem?

[coldseep]

( Oh? His voice takes on a worried tone. )

Will you need help?

( Fortunately(?) for the denizens of Fate/Strange Fake, Hwylryn has obligations preventing him from busting into their little war (or, maybe it's more fortunate for Hwylryn, considering what happened to the last dragon that crossed paths with Ayaka), but !!!! Of course he will do what he can, if he can. )

... I don't think I could forgive myself if I didn't leave with my family now. ( Sariel And G'raha Were Brutalized For Him To Play House, ) But... I could talk to Ish. If you need it, I think I could find something that might help you.

[siffriend]

[ Navy blue... Pretty. Siffrin takes stock of the others, thinking about how floating would be pretty cool and The Witch is totally boring, and gently plucks the color from the air after freeing a hand.

A small grin. ]

One of my best kept secrets. It might sound kinda strange, but... Today's my first ever time seeing color. Before, I just saw the world in shades.

[ So they couldn't even see how pretty Yoru looked fully, the pink in his hair. ]

[simulacres]

....No, I think we'll be fine.

[ ayaka smiles up at hwylryn, gentle but genuine. ]

I trust Saber. We'll get through it together... and then maybe we can see each other again once it's all done.

[ though she's not sure if saber will be around once it's all said and done. but that's...fine, too, she supposes. ]

You'll be leaving with Ish, then?

[coldseep]

( Mmmm... He still seems worried, that "maybe" especially, if the way his head seems to rotate slightly - this way and that - is any indication, as if trying to see a better angle to spin it, but he considers... that if she's saying they can see each other, then it may not just be her placating him. )

... Stay safe, and good luck. I do want to see you both again, one day.

( Don't die - his singular, consistent plea.

As for her question: )

Mm, Ish and Junior. Where going to where he's from. I'm a little scared to go somewhere without the spirits of nature I know... But I'm a little excited, too. He said there's "schools" for children, there. I don't know what those are like, but they must be nice, right?

( he will quickly reverse this opinion once he learns they assign this terrible atrocity called "homework" but )

cw mentions of pregnancy, abortion, reproductive abuse

[thesharpestroy]

I don't know.

I wonder if he'd want to fix things if I tell him. He told me he wasn't sure he wanted to be with me last year and yet, here we are. And now that my dad's...

[She's already lost her father. Does divorcing Tom count as another loss? Can she handle that?]

Oh. Don't worry about me. I have at least three doctors I can call if I wake up and decide I don't want it anymore.

[Having someone genuinely concerned about her doesn't feel quite so suffocating right now, oddly enough.]

You're a good kid, Andy.

[calamitish]

I was a little preoccupied figuring out how all of this would work!

[ no hes love blind... ]

[siffriend]

Looks like I'm still one step ahead of you, Witch. I gave him a...

[ .............

What............ was it? What did he say... Oh. ]

A "light pink peony". Roses are for Angelo.

[ So why would he give G'raha Angelo's favorite flower!!!!!! ]

[thesharpestroy]

Hey, you kept people from tossing me into a fire when shit got real. Least I could do. Plus I didn't wanna stay dead.

[Shiv does genuinely appreciate the solid given any damage to the ring probably would have fucked with her. Speaking of which, she takes it when Lili offers, noting that it looks fairly put together and exactly the same as she remembered.]

Well, it's my wedding ring. Guess it was just the thing that my soul had the strongest grasp on.

[ocenon]

[ She really does have him figured out, doesn't he? It's not unlike when he was first deliberating over what he wanted to wish on the Grail – just like then, nothing had seemed worth stepping over Siobhan's barely cold body just so he could grab it with extreme ease. And while the thought of simply carrying that wish of his over here did cross his mind for the briefest of flashes, Richard knew that it wasn't the right thing – the little effort it took to simply earn it was not worthy of such a wish like that.

But, if he didn't have a choice but to wish for something... what else could he have possibly gone with? Ensuring her safety during their time here was another impossibility set by Ish, so it could only leave him with one thing. Everyone and their mother could've guessed what it would be, but that's fine with him.

He doesn't say any of this, though. Again, he avoids answering he question, looking down at the card in both of her hands. ]

Per his enchantment, it'll keep you safe from a mortal blow, but only if you have it on your person. [ ... ] Maybe I should ask for a slight adjustment, just so it can just take care of itself...

[antline]

....Falsch did the same. He was an actor I knew. He beat himself up a lot because he thought things wouldn't go his way. He got drunk a lot, too.

[He purses his lips, thoughtful. He misses Falsch - a man who thought he was made to be underground forever, like a mole.]

...I think I might understand it. You did something wrong. But that doesn't mean you can't...acknowledge that what we have is something to be happy about.

[thesharpestroy]

[Genuine discomfort inches up her spine at Richard's presence, eyeing the sword he has a hold on. Is that supposed to a be a threat? What a bastard.]

Well, you can probably guess whose ass I'd be fucking haunting if I stayed dead. Guess we've both got things to be thankful for, huh, Rich?

[A little scoff escapes Shiv's mouth as she folds her arms.]

[distain]

Yes. I have to.

[In case he gets the wrong idea about her attachment to said capybara. Andrew will artfully eliminate mentioning the part where these objects only form attachments when those attachments already exist.]

This is the cost for our return: to be bound to these objects. [She works carefully around directly mentioning the immortality right away.]

[thesharpestroy]

...it hits like a fucking truck when they finally show it, huh?

[She keeps coming back to the back-handed declaration her dad gave her and her brothers the last time they spoke: "I love you, but you're not serious people."]

You'd think cutting off her emotions would have made her a little smarter. Am I allowed to insult your mom full throttle or do you need a minute before you're ready to join the "there's a barren husk where my mom's heart should be" club?

[ocenon]

[ *gilbert gottfried voice* YOU FOOL!!!!! ]

For as long as I possibly can. This place has already provided me more time than I was ever expecting.

[ By now, they've been together here longer than they ever knew each other in Nevada by several weeks. It's been hard, especially on Ayaka, but there's a small part of him that can't entirely regret the whole thing. ]

But whether I am defeated or not, I'll eventually be going back to the place I was summoned from. That's the nature of being a Heroic Spirit.

[ ....... who knows if he knows anything about the process in which the Grail War actually works. it probably doesn't matter either way. ]

[thesharpestroy]

Lucky you. But it's gonna take a while to swim to civilization in freezing water even if it doesn't kill you, isn't it?

Well, Siff told me about these wish-granting trees on their world. I got fucked out of one chance to get a wish, so now it's personal. World can't tell me "no" forever.

[allrounder]

[ In spite of his thoughts... that encouragement makes him smile. Then again, encouragement from Blade has always made him smile. His blunt words have a way of emphasizing the underlying gentleness of his friendship, after all. ]

You are correct. They will do their utmost to support me.

[ Which is why it hurts, somewhat. They'll do anything they can to ensure his happiness and support him... but that comes at the cost of seeing them pass before him too.

But that other comment makes his smile soften. ]

There is that individual, yes. 'Tis good to know I will not be on my own.

[ He's being coy, but the relief he feels at knowing that he'll have someone to stay by his side during the long path that's now appeared before him is immense. ]

[calamitish]

That's pink, not red. And roses are romantic!

Too bad you weren't in primrose, you could have given him one of those.

[siffriend]

[ (They are????????? ) ]

... Are... primroses good to give people?

[allrounder]

[ He sees what you're doing, Siffrin!! ]

A poor attempt at saving yourself from trouble.

[ And for that, G'raha reaches out and pinches his cheek. ]

[allrounder]

[ There's something about her words, the way she says it maybe, that... makes him wonder. He'll miss her, naturally, and think of her often. But will it be the same for her?

He doesn't want to hazard a guess, lest the answer hurts his feelings. ]

It should not be. We have chirurgeons to take care of her, both on the First and in Eorzea. Rest assured she will be on the mend.

[siffriend]

[ Pinched...!!!!! Punishment accepted. Until Siffrin swats at the hand, okay, let go. ]

Well, I couldn't finish my wordplay when you looked at me like that... I had to adapt. And I think you should praise me for my quick wit, which you find impressive, charming, and something worth adoring.

[ G'raha had said one of those things about it. ]

[calamitish]

[ he laughs, only slightly manic. ]

Because he loves me and I love him—we belong to each other, inside and out.

More simply, we make each other happier than we ever thought we could be.

[antline]

Will he try to kill you, too?