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JULES
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“Do you ever hate yourself?” Jules asked Rukia.
“I could never hate you, Jules.”
“That’s not what I asked—”
“Sure wasn''t. But it’s what you meant.” Stern, but fair.
“But do you hate yourself for what you’ve done? What you have to do?”
“You never have to do anything. No matter the choice, there is a consequence to someone that you will have to live with.” Jules chewed on that thought for a while. “It’s not an easy path, Jules. Not one you would choose, though it was chosen for you.”
Jules looked back toward the Shrine, out of sight.
“A path better walked alone, probably.”
“If you go alone, that road will swallow you. Plus, I''m too sneaky—I''d follow and you wouldn''t know."
I doubt that. Jules thought about his final hunting trip with his father and Cy, and how many times he''d caught a glimpse of her. Then again, the Warg was already out. Maybe she was tailing me for a while, without me knowing it…
But the intrusive thoughts returned.
“Everyone was right.” Jules shook his head. “I am a monster. I’m not as strong as I thought. I’ll lose control again. I already feel him pushing.” Jules peeled back his shirt. The heptagram around his Seal had filled in some more over the last few days.
“Don’t watch a cake bake, Jules.” She gnawed especially hard on a toe, with one eye open, one shut.
“I can see a huge difference since last night, though. What happens when this fills in, Ruke?”
“Let’s back up, Jules. You made a lot of statements that I don’t quite agree with, just a second ago. First of all—who’s right? What’s a monster? How strong are you? And will you lose control again?”
Jules tried to keep up, but noticed she skipped his main concern. Honestly, I''m impressed she kept that much straight. “What about the last one? The question I asked?”
Rukia gazed into his eyes before answering. “It’s a pointless question, Jules. That tattoo won’t fill in. And d''ya know why?” Jules couldn’t answer. He shifted his weight and focused on Evelyn''s grave again.
“Because if it fills in,” she resumed grooming herself, “then you will have lost control, proven yourself weak, become a monster, and proven everyone right about you.”
Salvos-damn fox. Jules studied the Sound, which leaned against the same tree as him. Rough edges, but also smooth ones, just like someone else I know.
“Thank you, Rukia."
“You need friends, Jules. So don’t walk the path alone. You have me and Kaizen for starters, but even I wasn’t enough for him.”
“I’m not sure Kaizen is a friend. He lied to me about something heavy.”
“That why you''ve kept him in prison? He didn’t lie. He just withheld information.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Oh, I don’t know…" A shadow grew over Rukia, and Jules leaned over to her.
“Wait—Did you know all that info, too?”
“We can’t delay your training any longer—The clock’s ticking! You should ask him yourself.”
Sly little fox…
<blockquote>
? Summon ? ? Giant ? ? Dickhead ?
</blockquote>
"No!" Rukia shouted. "Be careful what you Conjure!"
Jules cancelled the invocation just in time.
<blockquote>
? Summon ? [?9,990 // ?10,000]
</blockquote>
Jules manifested Kaizen from the chakra beads next to Rukia’s collar. Kaizen appeared stern, disappointed, angry even. Jules responded in kind. About to be a bloodbath.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“Did I?” Kaizen asked.
“You did.”
“What did I tell you that was false?” Jules wracked his memory for an example, any example, but came up short. “I said you weren’t ready, did I not?”
“So you’re just withholding information from me, letting me fail? Look where it got me.”
“I warned you, Jules. You forced me back into my shell—”
“Why not try harder, Kaizen!? For something so serious—Is it against the rules?” Got him there. Wrath told me he could have told me. Catch him in this lie, and go from there.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“No. It is not against the rules. I simply chose not to tell you.”
“Why the hell not!?” Orange flames erupted from Jules'' eyes.
“You ignored me and put me away. You didn’t probe for more information, didn’t try to hear my side—”
“And look what happened! You punished me for being childish—which, by the way, I pretty much still am!"
"You don''t get to be a fucking child!!"
Bolts of lightning struck out at sea when Kaizen shouted. Birds fled from the surrounding trees. Kaizen took a few deep breaths.
"You don’t have the luxury of childhood, Jules. Besides that, I am showing you—”
“You let me massacre my entire hometown.”
“So you could understand the stakes.”
Jules dropped to his knees. The flames around his eyes extinguished.
“Did you know this was going to happen? Is this one of those pieces of history that repeats itself?”
Did he know? Does he regret it now? Is it more the rules, or his own stubbornness? How can I trust him if he doesn’t speak to me?
“Jules, no living incarnation of Wrath has ever taken Wrath’s Deal." Kaizen shook his head and looked away. Rukia gave Kaizen an odd look. "For who knows how long—an eternity? Now you’ve come along. I never expected you to take it. But you made that choice, not me. You don''t even know the box you have opened."
“I had no choice but to take it. I was ill-prepared for that Shrine. I couldn’t escape it any other way, and Cy was going to be killed, Kat tortured forever, and…” Jules looked to Rukia, not for support, but because he worried about her future, too.
“Again, I warned you not to enter the Shrine. I said you weren’t ready for it. Because you weren’t, no matter how well-informed you were entering it. We each made our own decision. And looking at the whole picture of what happened… It’s not your fault, Jules. But it’s not mine, either. Not entirely. There are too many complexities at play to assign blame to any one individual." Kaizen picked up the Sound. "Even Wrath.”
Jules looked at Kaizen in disbelief. Even Wrath?
Even Wrath!?
"I’ll share the blame with you, asshole. But if I was better prepared, I could have come out as myself—not possessed by Wrath.”
“No. You are wrong. There is no alternate history where you retrieved this piece of the Sound that day, peacefully. Relative to Wrath''s incarnations who came before you, Jules, you are not that special.” Ouch.
“You are being an asshole—”
“And you are behaving like a child!” Kaizen shouted. “You are an adult now. Officially. It''s time to grow up.”
“Kaizen,” Rukia threatened, her voice thick with maternal instinct. Thunder cracked in distance.
“No, Rukia. He is weak-willed.” Kaizen shifted his attention back to Jules. Black flames erupted from Kaizen’s eyes. “I am here to forge and form you, to mold you into a weapon that can bring down Wrath, Death, Destiny, Fate—this entire fucking circus of clowns.”
Black flames tempered to green.
“But I am also here to help guide you, to help you take the path you want to take, as my mentor allowed me. I will be here for you, I will help you talk through things, I will help you fight through battles."
Sure doesn''t seem that way.
“But one thing I will not do, Jules, is reveal anything to you until I think you’re both ready and worthy of knowing it. And I am no babysitter.”
Jules took the lashing sitting down. It was a good dressing down, he knew, and he also knew he deserved it. Definitely won''t get lectured by my parents anymore.
He closed his eyes, meditated, and let his emotions roll through him. He couldn''t shake his anger at Kaizen, his fury for Wrath, for Death, for Fate—For whoever the fuck. But it helped to focus.
“I have two lessons for today,” Kaizen said. “The first will make me sound like a callous bastard, but it’s a lesson you need right now. Jules, stand up when I instruct you.”
Jules obeyed.
“In all tragedies,” Kaizen continued, “you must find and then focus on the silver lining."
Rukia shook her body, then her head, and stepped away. I''m not with him, she repeated in Jules'' mind.
"You can’t change the past. You can only try to improve the future. When your mission is complete, you may grieve. Until then, you forge ahead.”
I''m not with him, Rukia continued.
“You got the callous bastard part right.”
Kaizen allowed Jules the time to think the lesson over before pressing on.
What a terrible thing to say. No healthy way to live life. But… If I''m supposed to kill Death, then I must be the savior of the world, so maybe he’s right. He’s been in this position before, so do I take this wisdom, too? It makes sense, in a pragmatic, sociopathic way. But it doesn’t feel right.
Should I delay my grief? Jules looked at the grave. What harm would that cause me in the long run?
“Good,” Kaizen said. “Think about that more, but later. Your second lesson begins now. You’re going to learn how to use that silver lining you received from this tragedy. I’m going to teach you how to use the Sound.”
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CYRUS
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Cy spat at the judge. “Fuck you. How''s that?"
<blockquote>
? ? It could be all yours, inside my Vessel. Just say the word. You envy it, ironically enough. ? ?
</blockquote>
“You can’t be seriously thinking about this, right? Cy, you idiot!”
“Of course not, Kat. Let me think of a way out of this.”
The courtroom walls turned into mirrors, and Cy’s eyes filled with the Djinn’s visions of his Vessel. Ultimate power, Regeneration, Ryoku Amplification. Limitless, raw power. Perhaps even immortality…
Cy let the fantasy flow through him, entice him, tempt him. It’s true. I want that power more than anything. I think that’s what I’ve really been after this whole time.
<blockquote>
? ? Think of how you could help Wrath. The world, even. ? ?
</blockquote>
No, that’s just jealousy. That’s desire for power, avarice talking. I don’t deserve it… And I can’t, not Kat.
Right?
No one in our Party is worth that sacrifice… But what if someone from outside—
No. I can’t do that in cold blood. Battle is one thing. And I should learn from Isolda’s double. There must be another way. How do I get out of this?
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? ? You claimed yourself, many times over, that your Party needs the power of Vessels to face your destinies, individually and collectively. After all the sacrifices you’ve piled up to this point, you’d back down from them now? ? ?
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Stop. Talking.
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? ? So they are all worthless? Everything you shattered, everything you ruined, they mean nothing to you in the end? ? ?
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CLANG!
The bronze scales tipped to one side.
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? ? Alas. The time has come. The jury has reached their verdict. ? ?
</blockquote>
Only get one choice. Sacrifice her or let them find me guilty? What is best?
No—What is right?
Kat is innocent. All she’s done is nothing compared to me. She’s the one constantly taking the hit. And she showed up, after all, to support me.
We need Vessels, though… And if I sacrifice Envy—Kat, then we’re down a member. A strong member. But we’d have two Vessels and can skip the last one. We wouldn’t have to slip into Marina Veridia, with its military base—
Oh. It became a simple choice at that moment.
One less Vessel to get in the most dangerous place for us now.
This is it, the most pragmatic option.
“There’s no need for a verdict. I’ve chosen my sacrifice. Kat… I truly am sorry.”
“Cy, no!” Envy shouted.
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