[ The Gatekeeper turns around and steps away from the gigantic group hug taking place (but only after exchanging reassurances, INCLUDING to the psychically endowed puffball) to get a better look at the fallen enemy. Looking back and forth between Yato and Silver and the rest of the Scooby Doo gang her friends present, her expression transforms from one of confusion, to understanding, to relief. ]
I knew it. I knew you could beat them. I—
You know nothing.
[ Father cuts her off. He may be down, but judging by the hateful look on his face as he grasps onto a shard of the mask that landed close to his prone body, he's not anywhere close to out. ]
You believe in them? You think… they believe in you? When they don't know the truth? What you've been running from?
[ Impossibly, powered by that nasty piece of mask, he rises to his feet—or are they feet at all? His body begins to blur and move at the edges. Changing, amorphously, arms swelling, torso pinching. He draws into his body the remains of his staff, and slowly becomes the most gigantic moth bearing the same eye symbol under its wings ]
YoU tHInK YoU CaN RuN FRom mE? gEt RiD oF Me? I aM yOu!
[ It flaps its wings and in a swoop too fast for her to run from, descends upon the gate keeper.
The world begins to quake, and your consciousness begins to bend and bleed with the heart's. ]
[ Sound. A moth's wing? Or a heartbeat? Perhaps both. It sears into you. Between that, a plinking noise, soft at first, growing in volume as the world around you seems to… crack, little dark rivers growing through the sky, the pavement.
You can feel it sucking you in. So you fight it. No. No! You suddenly know where this wants to take you. And you won't go there again. Not without a fight. You are more than this. Stronger than this. You swore— ]I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY! [ You fight. You claw at it, desperately, pull at it where it's latched to and has begun to fuse to you. Pull. Bleed. Thrash. Punch.
Tiny shards of the world are falling away, into darkness. Are you sure of who you are anymore?
Lose? You can't lose. You refuse to lose! Snarl. Are those fingers anymore you're using against this creature? Or are they claws? You can't see to tell anymore. Blinded by tears. By pain. By the light in the world bleeding away into the growing, jagged darkness eating the world as more glass shards shatter.
You've forgotten your name. Do you remember any of the good things about yourself anymore? ]
There's more breaking than just glass and skin now. You stagger, still weakly fighting, but only just so. It's hard to find the strength to fight when the things that keep you going on being taken away from you. Huge spans of the world have fallen into blackness.
The way forward and the way back are being eaten up.
All the faces of before turned against you, filled with nothing but reproach—and now so many new ones, too, in Takshaka purple and Alectryon green, Epona purple, Cat's cream—all twelve of them.
Re: Player Reaction
talking to her directly via shinki magic bullshit. )
Hiyori! Are you okay?!
Just when you thought it was over....
the Scooby Doo gangher friends present, her expression transforms from one of confusion, to understanding, to relief. ]I knew it. I knew you could beat them. I—
You know nothing.
[ Father cuts her off. He may be down, but judging by the hateful look on his face as he grasps onto a shard of the mask that landed close to his prone body, he's not anywhere close to out. ]
You believe in them? You think… they believe in you? When they don't know the truth? What you've been running from?
[ Impossibly, powered by that nasty piece of mask, he rises to his feet—or are they feet at all? His body begins to blur and move at the edges. Changing, amorphously, arms swelling, torso pinching. He draws into his body the remains of his staff, and slowly becomes the most gigantic moth bearing the same eye symbol under its wings ]
YoU tHInK YoU CaN RuN FRom mE? gEt RiD oF Me? I aM yOu!
[ It flaps its wings and in a swoop too fast for her to run from, descends upon the gate keeper.
The world begins to quake, and your consciousness begins to bend and bleed with the heart's. ]
Re: Just when you thought it was over....
Beat, goes the moth wings, spinning you around.
You can feel it sucking you in. So you fight it. No. No! You suddenly know where this wants to take you. And you won't go there again. Not without a fight. You are more than this. Stronger than this. You swore— ]I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY! [ You fight. You claw at it, desperately, pull at it where it's latched to and has begun to fuse to you. Pull. Bleed. Thrash. Punch.
Tiny shards of the world are falling away, into darkness. Are you sure of who you are anymore?
Beat, goes the moth wings, dragging you down.
Lose? You can't lose. You refuse to lose! Snarl. Are those fingers anymore you're using against this creature? Or are they claws? You can't see to tell anymore. Blinded by tears. By pain. By the light in the world bleeding away into the growing, jagged darkness eating the world as more glass shards shatter.
You've forgotten your name. Do you remember any of the good things about yourself anymore? ]
YoU aRe LOsiNG AlReaDy
LoSt AlReaDy
No—
[ But there's so much more blood on your hands than before.
Weren't you helpless to stop everything?
Didn't you hurt them?
How can you ever hope to say that it's not—
Beat, goes your heart as you shiver and shake. Still clawing--your head, the moth's body--are they even different anymore? ]
YoUr FaUlT
No! A bad person did something bad, I—
BeCaMe A bAd PeRsoN! sOlD oUt YouR iDeALs
hUrT YoUr FrIeNdS
BrOkE yOuR PrOmIsE
… It's true, isn't it? Can it be true?
There's more breaking than just glass and skin now. You stagger, still weakly fighting, but only just so. It's hard to find the strength to fight when the things that keep you going on being taken away from you. Huge spans of the world have fallen into blackness.
The way forward and the way back are being eaten up.
It'S wHy ThEy LeFt YoU IsNt It?
(did we make him so unhappy?)
YOuR BrOtHeR
(why do they keep going?)
YoUr FrIeNdS
YOu KnOw DeEp DoWn ThEy mUsT HaVe DiScOveReD tHe TrUtH
OnCe ThEy KnOw EvErYoNe wIlL LeAvE yOu
HaTe YoU
NeVEr AcCePt YoU
All the faces of before turned against you, filled with nothing but reproach—and now so many new ones, too, in Takshaka purple and Alectryon green, Epona purple, Cat's cream—all twelve of them.
CHiLd wHo SpEaKs oF LoVE aNd HuRts WhO HeR oWn
No FuTuRe — No HoPe — AlL WaSteD
Beat, goes your heart, as it cracks, and breaks.
The world falls into darkness and is no more.