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morningdewsvalley2024-03-17 12:17 pm
mayorityvote) wrote in morningdewsvalley2024-03-17 12:17 pm
Second Execution
EXECUTION
Another trial, another execution to follow, a terrible routine but routine nonetheless. Come mid morning, the ducks will be out passing out flyers for the sentencing of Beelzebub, to take place in front of the Wizard's Tower. Attendance isn't required, but strongly encouraged.
After how the picnic blankets went over last time they don't make a reappearance, replaced instead by long tables stacked with what appears to be a take on comfort food: various onigiri (tuna, umeboshi, tenmusu, omurice) coupled with an absolutely giant stack of pancakes. Regular pancakes, chocolate chip, blueberry, there's even a funfetti variety, with syrup and butter included, naturally. The beverages this time are coffee, tea, and fruit juices.
At exactly five minutes to noon, the doggy daycare wagon pulls up with several occupants inside: your town representatives of course, the convicted, and the executioner.
(( OOC: Welcome to your second execution! Attendance is not IC'ly mandatory, but there will be a surprise for all characters at its conclusion, regardless of whether they're present or not. ))
3/3
- this is no longer him.
Arms at his sides, poised to attack, he advances towards Mio.]
scuse me pardon me
Or can he?]
Mio! Mio—!
[Her name tears out of his throat, guttural and raw and so very, very desperate. A little less than two months left. That's all Mio had. Why, when she was so close to the end, would anyone allow that life to be stolen from her? Why?
It's not too late, it's not too late, it can't be too late. Numbness tingles in Noah's every limb, his body moving on autopilot, anger and rage and raw, agonized emotion ripping out past his lips as he makes a mad dash for the tower.]
I won't let you take her—!
nuh-uh
[Makima, who's been more or less respectfully stood upon her wagon to witness this execution, except for the moments when she caught Adela's eye and when they were both watching the goings-on (mostly Mio, really), speaks up for the first time.
Her golden eyes rest squarely on Noah, her movement entirely unhurried as she raises a hand without moving from her spot.
Softly, but clearly:]
Stop. Do not interfere. That's an order.
[Her hand stays in the air, her eyes boring into the boy rushing onto the scene, entirely ignoring the mess of the scene itself.]
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[Go ahead, Makima. Try to stop him. No matter what she might do, nothing is going to stop Noah so long as he has life in him. All that he has belongs to her, so if he can't reach Mio, what does he have? What's left for him but despair? If Mio dies, Noah dies too.
Then he hears it: Noah. He never made it a point to ask Mio why she'd never addressed him by name before. He'd wondered, of course, but asking that question would have meant crossing a line he could never step back from. Hearing her speak his name would have made things too real, wouldn't it?
In reality, they crossed that line a long time ago. Heedless of Makima's warning, he channels every inch of strength in his body into defying her order and rushing towards Mio.]
Just hold on, Mio! I'm almost—!
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Noah's mind goes blank. When his vision returns to him, he's right back where he started, but Noah doesn't know that. All Noah knows is that Mio is in grave danger, and if he doesn't get to her soon, she'll die.]
Just hold on, Mio! I'm almost—!
[Almost there. Almost there. Almost there. Over and over, Noah rushes forward only to lose steam, swivel on his heel, and walk right back to where he started. Over and over and over again, Noah runs, stops mid-stride, and returns to the start like an machine programmed to do just that. Every time, he blanks out and forgets what he was doing. Every time, his urgency to save Mio bears down all the more heavily on his shoulders until he can no longer move, attempting another mad dash only to crumble to his knees.]
Why?! Why can't I...
[Why is he so exhausted? Why can't he move?]
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[Well, fine might be an overstatement -- not quite the overstatement of the century but definitely an exaggeration -- but Makima doesn't seem discomfited or flustered unlike everyone else on the scene. Unfortunately, she's the one in control of this little scenario; her and Adela both. The calmest place is not at the eye of the storm, but just above it.
In the background, Mio gets a bit of a splinter, gets back up, and does some Beelzebabing....... but that's none of Noah's business anymore, is it? That's what Makima's placid smile says, as she watches him from above.
There's a brief nod.]
I suggest you wait for her to finish up. She'll likely need medical attention soon, and you'll want to be ready for that.
[Noah will find that he can no longer move from his spot until the execution ends.]
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Mio...! Please!
[It's not your time yet. You can't go yet. Not again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again, again,]
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Instead, once Beelzebub has departed into a darkness of his own making one final time, she gestures for the ducks to start loading his body onto the wagon; and unless there's interference, the same ducks will also try to help Mio towards the clinic. These are just ducks doing their best in the background.]
Thank you all once again for your time and patience. I'm aware that these are unpleasant necessities that no one likes, but they're a necessary part of our town.
[Lightly, easily -- ours, she says, bright eyes resting where mutinous mutterings run. But there's no sense dwelling on it; she has a job to do.]
The harvest should be coming up soon. Please make sure that you take good care of the Astera, and each other.
[That said, Makima nods to Adela, and the wagon trundles off. Everyone is now free to go.]
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The sensation is gone, and the sun shines high, as do the memories of more things you've forgotten returned to you.
((ooc note: all characters, present or not, will regain one of their lost memories.)) ]
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"Chronos! Can you hear me? I have a favor to ask you! Throw Baldr and this monster into the future! If they're allowed to exist in this world, it will be in danger!"
... that... wasn't really him in his memories, was it...? He wasn't seeing himself, what he was seeing was...
"This is something that shouldn't exist."
Of course. Because he's actually...
Everything goes black, and he falls to the ground like a puppet whose strings have been cut.]
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[ Did Baldr just faint. HELLO?? ]
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Mentally is a completely different story though, but. Details. We are all having a wonderful day here.]
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”You killed him.”
“No, no, no! I was trying to save him!”
…it’s even worse than he thought.]
gosh why are these two separate comment threads? dwbi
[She's never let herself say it, has she? Once or twice with others for clarity, but never to him, for him. Never let it be real, even when she should have. She should have called out to him every day.
Noah's voice screaming out for her is enough to stir her fully back from her blacked-out consciousness, though her nerves don't feel like they're working correctly. It's just enough push, just enough time, to take her sword back up and start moving again before Satan fully recovers from his staggered position and moves in for the attack.
Mio starts to rise as fast as she can. She can go just a little further, can't she? That's what her hope has been for such a long time now. She can go a little further.
The blade she hesitated to spill blood with is turned with its sharp, killing edge to strike. It's a sword that shouldn't be used carelessly or unless absolutely necessary, but it's sharp enough to cut the world apart. Hesitating early caused Mio to falter, to make mistakes she otherwise wouldn't have. She's fighting now with lethal force, struggling to her unsteady feet as Satan advances closer and faster. She'll meet him at the very first blow. Beelzebub deserved the friends who loved him; maybe that's what Satan hates the most.]
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He rushes in, thrusting a hand out to strike. No less precise than Beelzebub, he takes aim for the target in Mio's chest.
No, not her heart - he learnt the hard way that doesn't work here. It's that glowing crystal in her chest that draws his attention, and that's what he lunges for.]
this might be a little gory idk just a warning jic
The circumstances of their birth on Aionios are in most ways unfortunate, but the crystal on her chest has always just been a part of her. Under different circumstances, maybe it would be worse to have Satan go to try and tear it out.
It still hurts like hell, especially when the stone cracks under his hand, when the skin around it begins to tear and smear with Beelzebub's blood and her own. Continuing to lift herself up with all that she has left in her, Mio straightens the sword and drives it up at a horrible, askew angle, in through the lower right part of his abdomen and driving diagonally upwards, through all the innards in between, until it emerges from his upper left. Straight through, in the ugliest way possible.
It means she sacrifices being within his reach long enough to finish this, to make an end of it, but just like that, Mio is back to killing to live once more.
She starts to sag again, and if he goes down she'll end up on the ground with him.]
1/2
2/2
With the last vestiges of his strength, Beelzebub opens them again to find himself on the floor, covered in blood.
But this time, he knows, through the reassuring, searing pain coursing through him, that it's his own.]
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How terrifying to see something she didn't know in the face and body of someone she did. His heavy weight drops to the ground, and Mio's right there with them, front now soaked red fully through. She puts her spare hand on the flute but doesn't draw it. Maybe not her job, right now.]
... I was all right to have the love you did, for however long you had it. The rest of it... [Words are hard. She's tired. She doesn't know if she can understand or forgive the rest of it. So she doesn't say it.] Despite the rest of it, you deserved to be loved. Each one of you.
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Ahh, what sweet words Mio has for him - despite that, despite everything. He allows himself, for the first and last time, to believe that she might be right - that love was something he deserved.
It's just for a brief moment, as he exhales his last breaths, but he has to wonder...what if he could've felt like this, all that time?]
...Mio... [It's barely a whisper, it's about as much he can muster.] You...really are lucky, huh?
[His face falls into a smile that fades with the light of his eyes.
Beelzebub is dead.]
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