piteous | MEMORY 🥀 CHOICE

— CHANGE —

Legato Bluesummers, a devout follower of your brother Millions Knives, stands before you atop of a flying ship crafted by your kin. Made of your kin. Plants have melded onto surface and pane with their feathery feelers reaching out, almost like outstretched hands. They abide by your brother's will. He is your last obstacle to finally end this hateful crusade against humans. You have to reach Knives—you have to send him to hell... And you will follow after him. That was always your intention and you know his. Countless of futile attempts at persuasion left him with one last resort: he must kill you.

With bated breath, the world waits upon you two.

Which is why you must pass through Legato. The battle is a cacophony of gunshots and metal shrieks, madness descending onto the platform. You hold your own, though you are pushing your limits. Legato had you imprisoned on the ark for six months. He knows your body quite well... And his wires are meticulous and precise. With your hair turning black, you can feel the extent of your power dwindling, but you don't care. You stretch yourself to subdue Legato at the cost of your own life... Because the truth is you and Legato are similar people. You have no desire to remain in this world. You are only alive to serve a purpose.

In the end, you win this duel (laughably, a show of how monstrous you are) with your gun pointed to Legato's head. However, your index finger stays off the trigger. It always has at every showdown you've won. The relief and ecstasy on Legato's face to possibly meet his end drains instantly as he shouts to the heavens, cursing you.

Rem, the woman who cared for you and Knives, treasured humanity. It was worth her life and, in her memory, you would protect mankind. This includes sparing Legato despite his mound of sins. You understand people do what they must to survive... It is the creed of No Man's Land.

You plan to walk past him and ambulate straight to your brother, but he grabs onto your gun and keeps it aimed to his temple. Legato won't leave you be. Possessed, he strings his pleas.

Those pleas descend into threats.

Legato's wires pull from the depths of the ark Livio, the man whom Wolfwood sacrificed his life to save, and Elendira, another follower of Knives. Together they are skewered by one of Elendira's nails. The sight is enough to tell you the story, but your heart races. Livio... He... He'll survive if you can make Legato submit.

You quickly shift your attention to the mastermind. You have to subdue him quickly. You don't want anyone to die.

... Your demands become pleas.

You don't want to kill. Rem, she loved mankind. You vowed to protect them in her memory, but her memory isn't the only one you shoulder now. His visage flashes before your eyes.

He once said to you, 'life is a series of complex problems...'

It turns your stomach to knots, flipping around into nausea. Your heart seizes up before crumbling into a flood of apologies no one except God can hear. You are forced to make a decision—the day has finally come. Finger on the trigger—

As your eyes scan Legato's corpse, you tell yourself you had to do it... Wolfwood gave his life to save Livio and you couldn't bear letting that go to waste. You had to protect him and everything Wolfwood cherished. It's how you can keep his memory alive.

This is the first time you've been conscious and taken a life. You've always heard stories about how one's blood runs cold and their body goes numb after killing, how it is the grandest act of feeling one's own mortality, but you... You feel hopeless. You feel broken. You feel shattered. You want to scream. You break. You shatter. You scream, but no one can hear you.

Wolfwood had to make this choice time and time again to protect those he loved. You're finally standing in his shoes and you wonder, did it feel like this for you, too?

Knees finally buckle under your weight and you sink onto the floor, tears running down your face. After a long arduous battle, you're losing steam, though you know you must press forward to face Knives. Rem's image swathes your senses, haunting you after you've committed another sin. Her smile is warm, loving, and you desperately want to reach out to her, but you can't... You... Don't deserve the solace of your daydreams, either.

While your eyelids grow heavy, you apologize to Rem... You will never be more than a murderer, a monster, and you apologize, but you had to. To protect someone, you finally had to.