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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[allrounder]

[ He wants to ask the whys of it, but the lack of detail on Andrew's part feels purposeful, as if he won't like what he hears were he to dig more deeply. ]

Can you?

[ So she must miss Herta that much, then. Felt the longing strengthen in her heart over the course of a month.

...

He knows what that's like too. ]

Then I shall do my utmost to bring her to me. Her family will be safe if I have anything to say of it.

[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?

[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.

[distain]

[And then he'll get a call from her before they're barely even parted, just to make sure the connection is secure for organizing their plans, of course.]

Thank you. [It's an honest gratitude she rarely allows herself to show.] You're doing a lot, even though I haven't offered you anything at all in return.

[That, she supposes... is care. Andrew looks directly at him, trying to circumvent the avoidance she knows comes as quickly to him as breathing.]

...Do you feel different at all?

[allrounder]

You needn't offer me anything at all, Andrew.

[ Just her healthiness and relative happiness. In all honesty... that's all he cares about when it comes to her.

He just wants to see her safe, especially after everything.

But her question gives him pause, and he... doesn't want to answer, at least not immediately. He has to think about it. After everything, he owes her honesty. ]

Yes and no. I was once immortal by means of binding myself to a tower. So... 'tis the same feeling.

[distain]

[Oh.] That's how you escaped the world ending and came to build your city.

[She wouldn't have guessed it, and yet it also surprises her less than it perhaps should. Though Andrew can't chalk his frankly frustrating disregard for his own well-being up to merely having lived several lifetimes already, she has to wonder if some of the dismissiveness stems from that place.

...She's truly the most out of her element in this situation than anyone else. It will take more getting used to. Andrew shifts her weight, but her expression remains calm. There are many thought in her head, but she's maintaining a look of empty-headedness. It probably won't fool him.]

...So, even though you've left that behind...you're bound to the same fate. [Her brow furrows. She doesn't love that.]

[allrounder]

[ It doesn't, because the way she shifts her weight in tandem with her silence is telling. He tilts his head, waiting for her to say more. ]

...I am, yes. I am loathe to admit it, but the mortal body I toiled and gambled for has become moot.

[ Unless he were to time travel again, there's no undoing it. ]

[distain]

[It tickles in the back of her throat: the same anger that spiked in her when she realized he was dead, when she realized that he was condemned to this alongside the rest of them.]

What a sick insult to your sacrifice.

[Not his sacrifice here, she means, but the one that came before this. He abandoned his city and the girl who was a better grandchild to him, presumably when he regained that mortality.

She breathes out through her nose, still affecting a calm that is mostly for show. Others might get more satisfaction if they see her anger.] I think to live alone in such a state would be the worst of it. At least you won't be this time.

[allrounder]

[ It is, though he would have died for good then, and... he doesn't know if Andrew can handle that information. Not right now. That his body lays encased in crystal on the First, overlooking the Crystarium... without transferring his soul, he would be rooted there for eternity.

... ]

No, I will not be. I have Siffrin, and I have you.

[ Sabo as well, but Sabo has his own things to go out and do, his own business to take care of. And knowing him, G'raha expects Sabo to find a way out of this immortality. ]

[distain]

[She knows that Siffrin will be gone for quite some time, but "quite some time" no longer holds the same ring that it once had. Separation, however, feels just as daunting as it's always been, whether there are weeks or eons keeping them apart.

It is a little overwhelming, and piling more revelations about the past and future on Andrew might weigh more on her than she's braced to receive. Even her tendency to reveal more of herself to him than she wants to is a little muted. She...for once, cannot be so selfish, knowing what circumstances surround him.]

It will take a lot of adjustment, but these are things that can be learned. After all, we have plenty of time.

[Except for her, except all the things for which she has no time at all. But that, too, there will be time to learn.]

...I am grateful...to have what we do, at least. [She's still grappling with not being sick, with having time... but she's thankful not to have lost this thing that she didn't even realize had been missing from her life.]

[allrounder]

[ They certainly have plenty of time. More than either of them know what to do with, he’s certain.

And, likely, more than either of them even want. What a strange feeling indeed, to have something that’s usually a blessing feel more like a curse than anything else. He smiles, tightly, only because he knows that Andrew will be able to read beyond it. She’s smart, after all. ]

Likewise. ‘Tis a relief, in a sense.

[ And Andrew is no longer sick, her illness a specter hanging over her every thought and action. But even that must be a disorienting adjustment. ]

I apologize for what I am about to do.

[ He knows that she’s cagey and not used to expressing herself, so he feels this is a necessary apology before he steps forward and pulls her into a hug. She’s… much taller than he is, but it’s fine. ]