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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Comments

[arbalestrier]

[He positions himself behind Ish and shoots him in the back of the head--

Okay no, he's not doing that. Maybe in another timeline, or if things had happened differently. Even so, there's a part of him that really would prefer if Ish was dead or gone--not because of any particular animosity on his part, but because Ish is a threat. Even with Norna gone, the man has found someone new to cling to, and what will happen if he deems it necessary to repeat this process again? And if there is another time, who would be drawn in? If it was Kaname, if it was his comrades, if it was his school friends, he'd wonder if it was the right decision to not do anything when he could've permanently ended it here.

Nevertheless, he saw how Ish revived after Siffrin stabbed him two weeks ago, so he knows a bullet to the brain might not even do anything except incense people.

Even so. He'd still feel safer if he just killed Ish right here and now. Call it risk management. But all he does now is walk over, with none of those inner thoughts showing on his face.]

Would you do this again?

[calamitish]

[ help.

ish smiles. ]

The correct answer is no, isn't it? But I think it's more complicated than that.

[arbalestrier]

[Maybe the idea that Ish is being honest by not giving any kind of guarantee should inspire some sort of good will from Sousuke, but let's be real: he would've thought it was a lie even if the answer was 'Yessir, I would never'.]

Then talk. Under what circumstances would you do this again?

[calamitish]

If I needed to in order to save Hwylryn.

[ though he thinks it's unlikely, but he's a cautious witch. ]

[arbalestrier]

[Sousuke briefly reminds himself that he can't shoot Ish if he wants to go back home.

But as dense as he is, even he couldn't miss all that PDA that was happening after the play. It's also why he isn't surprised by this answer.]

Why use this method? There must be other ways of getting what you need.

[calamitish]

[ sousuke is the most valid person here. ]

My magic's restrictive, I can't use most of it for myself or my happiness. But I also won't let it get to that point.

[ it is less of a plan and more of a "break glass in case of emergency". he was hung up on his mother for 1800 years and the most she did for him was give him a hug every once and a while, instead of even naming him.

the eddy that is his and hwylryn's love is many times that and he will neither lie to himself or sousuke that he wouldn't commit worse atrocities for it, if it came down to it. but ideally, hopefully, it'll never get that far. ]

[arbalestrier]

[It really would be one thing if someone he trusted said something like that, but well. It’s Ish. He’s reluctant to take it at face value.]

Then how did you manage this setup?

[Ish got to this point already, so it doesn’t seem like the condition behind his magic impacted him that much! Or so it seems to Sousuke’s uninformed opinion.]

[calamitish]

You mostly have Sabo to thank for it working out. Before that I was basically stacking loopholes, but it probably wouldn't have worked.

[ he still tried tho! ]

[arbalestrier]

[The loophole thing is interesting, but--]

That wasn't what I meant. I was referring to how you got us here to begin with.

[He can't imagine that being someone else's wish, unless it had to do with swapping places to escape the game.]

[calamitish]

Ah, that's just a power I have! For things like that, I can use them on my own as long as I have enough energy for it. Or mana if you're one of those.

[arbalestrier]

[He super isn’t one of those (and is still a little confused why Ayaka found a kiss to the forehead scandalous), but he gets the gist what with the energy explanation and all. In any case that power sounds troublesome since apparently it’s not subject to the same limitations.]

I see. If you can’t promise us that this won’t happen again, then I have a suggestion: don’t take anyone from our worlds.

[calamitish]

Sure, I can do that! I just picked randomly in the first place.

[arbalestrier]

[That was weirdly easy… Honestly, it makes him suspicious (everything makes him suspicious).]

Then let’s make a deal out of it.

[calamitish]

Oh? Sure. What do you have to offer me?

[arbalestrier]

[He doesn't know if this will be accepted, but he doesn't let his uncertainty show on his face.]

I already gave it to you. You get a second chance at life instead of disappearing.

[Never mind that the play was a group effort, but he still contributed, so he figures that can count for something.]

[calamitish]

Nuh-uh, then I'd owe a bunch of you all extra wishes.

[ sorry sousuke. ]

[arbalestrier]

[Wow it'd only be seven of them... probably... Actually, there's not even a reason to count Hwylryn in that number since he assumes Ish will already get him whatever he wants.]

Telling the rest of them wasn't part of the plan. [but anyway...] I thought you were obligated to honor an exchange when something was given to you.

[Or at least that's what Sabo said? Although it was secondhand information, so it's possible some nuances were missed or misinterpreted.]

[calamitish]

Only if we've worked it out beforehand or if it's in the context of an agreement we've already swore to.

[ not that people tend to give him stuff for free anyway. ]