the final week

[airlockedmods]

[Eight weeks. Eight weeks of friendship and love, death and loss, hope and despair all muddled together in a cocktail that's too sweet on the tongue and leaves an acid-y pit in the stomach. With nine of them left (ten counting their dear but lone surviving host), things look darker than ever. Come Sunday morning the last of the Champions missing memories will be returned to them while they sleep. For some of them this will reveal answers, for others it might just be a fate worse than death. They could even be death.

But how does the song go? "It's always darkest before the dawn"?

There are no announcements from PAL this week. Not even morning and evening announcements.

Sunday Monday Tuesday



[ooc: Welcome to endgame, everyone! We're all very proud of you for making it all the way to the end. As you can see this is going to be a short IC week but we promise things will not be going down until this weekend (7/7-7/9). On Tuesday we'll be unveiling the OOC post for what to expect during the final investigation. There is no official AC this week, just a check-in and as mentioned above characters will be at their true canon points on Sunday morning.

Buckle up, kids, the ride's not over yet.]

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SUNDAY

[airlockedmods]

[Today is when the final Benefactor items will be distributed.]

[airlockedmods]

[Sunday morning bright and early comes with no morning announcement from PAL.

However what it does come with is the delicious and undeniable smell of breakfast. Coffee and...something, sweet and cinnamony, filling the air.]

MONDAY

[airlockedmods]

TUESDAY

[airlockedmods]

FINAL MEMORY REGAIN SLEEPOVER

[scourgingstars]

[Sometime during the day on on Saturday, a note would find its way under everyone's doors.]

We all know what comes next. Even after all that we have remembered, I'm sure we've still things left forgotten.

Gather in the third floor rest area tonight. Sheathe your resentment and frustrations, so that we all might better draw them as a blade against those who truly deserve it--those who orchestrated this, and the AI that put it into motion.

Whatever our memories may bring tonight, we need not face them alone. Not one of us is alone, and I refuse to allow anyone to believe otherwise. Nishitani and Queenie both loved us as family, and this family will not break any further.

When we awake and confront our realities, we will each of us be there for the others. When one should stumble, nine more will pull them back to their feet, and we'll meet this next week together.

(Yes, nine. You are one of us, Diver.)

I'll see you there.

-Ardyn

[scourgingstars]

['Ifrit, the Infernian. He doesn't share the Glacian's fondness for mankind.']

[He'd walked these steps so many times. Counted them, though any memory of the number was lost to time. This courtyard had been where he taught his brother to fight, and now Ardyn stood across it looking at a distant descendant with Izunia's blue eyes and a three-man Kingsglaive. He turned away with a taunting wave as crystallized magic rushed through corrupted blood...as the Lucian line's magic let him access a single covenant with a single god.]

[A darkened, dead Insomnia lit up with hellfire as the long-dead Infernian himself arose once more to confront the Chosen King who sought to halt the scourge he had wrought...and the vessel watched. Watched as a king and his glaives raised their weapons to stand against their final trial before Ardyn himself.]

[And then he appeared, black and gold armor streaking through the sky on colossal wings made of blades, trailing red banners as though he were the greatest hero known to the planet.

[The Draconian. Bahamut.]

[High above the Citadel, the scourged sky was illuminated by the crystalline light of dozens of swords, the Astral's very own Armiger. And oh, how wonderful it felt to see Ifrit dodge them as they were shot like missiles. How pleased he was to watch the Infernian and Draconian cross blades, and even if Noctis did break off Ifrit's horn it was so vindicating to watch that worthless dragon fight for every inch of ground gained.]

[Ifrit was never supposed to win this fight, and Ardyn knew he wouldn't. He knew long before he saw the wall of swirling ice and heard the language of the gods--of Gentiana, of Shiva.]

['O Chosen King of the Stone, restore the Light to this world.']

[I'm waiting, Noct.]

[Ardyn's eyes snapped open; he still felt the pulse of magic in his head, eyes holding an ethereal magenta glow that was faint, but still present. His breath came ragged and quick, hand pressed to his face--'Champion of the Infernian'. It wasn't only a metaphor for the Starscourge, it was literal. He'd held a covenant with Ifrit, and Noctis had called forth--]

[Bahamut. He dared, he dared stand against Ifrit and his Accursed when all of this was his fault? Ardyn deserved vengeance, he should have burst out of the Citadel right then with his Armiger blazing and...]

[...and...]

[The glow to his eyes began to fade, Ardyn sitting up and looking to the ring on his unsteady right hand. No--that hatred belonged to someone else. He could never forget, would never forgive, would always be spiteful and angry...but that blinding hate was not his to carry anymore.]

[Tenmyouji Ardyn took a slow breath and grounded himself with what mattered; it was Sunday, he was in a hellhole spaceport beyond the middle of nowhere-]

[And he was with his family.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Junpei remembers everything. Every timeline, every death, poison and machine guns and carbon monoxide and--maybe a couple he doesn't actually remember, because he was killed in his sleep and what the hell, Mira, Jesus.

He remembers Carlos and Akane and the rules of the game, of egging Carlos on to kill the others because humans are shit anyway and the shock of the timelines where Carlos did. The uncomprehending hurt when Carlos betrayed him the one time, the hard-shut feeling when he did the same. (For Akane, he tried to tell himself then; truth, he knows now, but not the whole truth.)

He remembers losing. He remembers winning. And in all of it, one fragment--one brief, misplaced, happy-unhappy moment--shines. Catches the dim light in a way that brings past and present together.

'That way of thinking is completely wrong,' she said, tears glittering in her eyes, jewel-like. 'Being the sole survivor does not make me happy.'

Shame. Adrenaline cooling to something shaky and nervous. Was he wrong?

'There's no point in living once you lose the one you care about the most.'

No, Akane, he thinks, arms tightening around Yuuri and eyes opening to the soft greenness of the rest area. That way of thinking is completely wrong. He realizes now that, in every timeline she engineered for him, he was always the one who lost her, always the one left behind. She never had to be the one to contemplate a history where he didn't exist. Never for long. Not until Delta's Decision Game.

If you lose the ones you care about the most--the life you thought you'd have--you look around you and you care harder.]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[Wwwhhhat the fuck. No. He's going to follow his nose right to the source because what even, actually.]

[everylittlesecret]

[ Let's investigate that smell!

Which means Nari will suspiciously look into the dining room. What will she find?]

[misanthropicprinciple]

[There's a new sign affixed with plaid duct tape outside the dining room door today, done almost like calligraphy in black ink from the tattoo parlor:]



[Junpei himself seems to be busy around the pool today, though he's left the door to Room 8 wide open.]

Locked to whoever, for whatever reason, might choose to investigate Finn's bed in Room 8:

[Anyone messing with Finn's duvet this morning might notice something... odd about it. A strange weight in the middle of it, or rustling that sounds more like sheets of paper than sheets of silk.

Taking the duvet cover off reveals that someone cut open the duvet within. Inside are weeks' worth of paper notes, all written in clear, collegiate handwriting that hasn't been seen in this mansion in quite some time. It's not Finn's tiny handwriting, that's for sure.]

[desperateprayer]

[ A reunion. A terrifying reunion. One with Yukina, and another with Germaine. She had to have known this was Riliane, with how she stormed off, but still, she left. Prim Marlon was dead and now they simply needed to find Mikina Freezis. Mikaela had been planted in the Millennium Tree Forest, she'd apologized to Rin...

Maybe, things would go smoothly now.

She opens her eyes, but the calm of the memories that she has now don't bring her any comfort. She just lies there, curled up, and she doesn't know what to do. Her memories are so peaceful and benign, she can't even imagine going back to that life. Not after this, after she'd broken...

Not even this seems to help. ]

[goteachother]

[Junpei might be forgiven for thinking he's seeing a ghost because there in the kitchen, sipping a mug of fresh coffee while french toast merrily flips itself on the griddle beside her is none other than Queenie. Still snuggled up in the pink fluffy robe of Kip's that she'd been wearing at the trial and possibly humming an all too familiar tune by now.]

[goteachother]

[Hmmm it looks like some french toast has already been laid out in the dining room, still as warm as ever despite how long it might have been.

Warming charms are great for that y'know?]

[misanthropicprinciple]

?!?! WHAT??!?!?

[THIS IS NOT A GAGTAG]

[scourgingstars]

[god fuck this satan shit the insomnian needs coffee]

[everylittlesecret]

..... What the fuck.

[She will carefully approach and pick a piece up, wiggling it in the air.]

Are you safe.

[goteachother]

[There's plenty more in the pot, she hasn't drank all of it yet.]

[scourgingstars]

...

. . .

[So you know who has illusion magic? You know who's used illusion magic specifically to fuck with people?]

...You're not real. What are you.

[desperateprayer]

[ Clarith is probably dragged to the dining room and kitchen area so she could eat. She doesn't look happy, and indeed looks as miserable as always since Queenie's execution. ]

[myocordial]

[Well everyone else is going here, so he's just gonna come along as well.]

[serrata]

[ ... well if everyone else is coming to get coffee and cinnamon-y food then sure, Yuuri's here for breakfast too. Maybe someone got up early and made them something to put in their faces? ]

[goteachother]

Mmm! [She stops humming, sets her coffee aside and practically throws herself at Junpei once she realizes he's there.

Hugging him tight and kissing his cheek... and from how shaky her breathing is maybe she's not quite as put together as she looks.]

[goteachother]

[The french toast doesn't answer but there is humming coming from the kitchen if she wants to investigate the source of the mystery breakfast.]

[everylittlesecret]

...... [Toast piece still in hand, she walks into the kitchen and stops to look around.

What is humming?]

[misanthropicprinciple]

Wh--what?! WHAT?

[Where's that Horned Serpent intelligence he's supposed to have, Queenie? For a second he almost tries to stop her, hands on her arms, but then he's holding her just as tight because she feels real and he can hear her breathe and what the fuck even, he's starting to cry.]

Queenie, is... wh... how can...?!