Scene #9645: BINDING BLADE Ch55: Bramimond, Group 1

Owner	Pose
Marigold	First Roy, then Guinivere, then Sophia vanished soundlessly into the impenetrable black 'pool' your digging uncovered. Sophia, with her prophetic gift, assured you it was safe (or at least, not immediately lethal). So did a ghost with your own face and voice. Although you can't see the ground or hear the footfall, if you step into the 'pool', you can feel stone steps underfoot. They lead down. And down. And down . . . Even if you hold onto someone else, there comes a point where their hand in yours stops being real. . . . . . As you descend, light and sound return to you only slowly, as if you were emerging from a thick muffling fog. A faint purple glow in the distance resolves into the eerie light of dark-magic torches, burning forever in their wall-sconces with no fuel. And muffled cries resolve into a voice. "Lady Guinivere...? ... Guinivere...?!" Sophia is calling out, plaintively. She's sprawled out on the stone floor at the bottom of the stairs, like she's just taken a tumble. The room she's in-- well, one can't really call it a 'room'; it's nearly more of a cave made out of the remains of shattered walls-- is somewhere between a large living room and a small chapel; unfurnished, with densely-engraved white walls lit violet by the magical sconces. At the far end of the room is a dark corridor. After a little while, the darkness speaks. It says "Oh... I'm sorry...", And it says "You didn't come here just to stand around, did you?", And it says "Come on, now. This isn't like you, General.", And it says "Hi! I'm Flamel Parsons, agent of a vague yet reassuring destiny."
Riku Asakura	Riku looks at the pool, and after Roy, Guinivere, and then Sophia disappear, he takes a breath. "Standing around doing nothing won't get us anywhere..." he says, and takes a step onto the pool. He can't see anything even though it feels like he is walking on stone. It's completely surreal. It feels like everything and everyone is disappearing around him. Eventually, things become real again. This is comforting to Riku because being in between spaces feels so odd. Riku first notices Sophia as he walks down the stairs. He hurries down them to check up on Sophia, and if she can, give her a hand up to her feet. "Sophia, are you alright?" he asks. He looks around, seeing very few of their group here... the darkness is what speaks up first. Speaking in multiple voices, including his own. He's not sure what's happening, but he's now scratching the back of his neck. "No, I suppose not. Who are you?" He asks the darkness.
Nobunaga	"Stay here and keep the troops in line," was the last thing the warlord Oda Nobunaga ordered before jumping into the inky black after Sophia and Roy. Nagayoshi Mori nods curtly, shifting his stance and raising his free hand. Immediately, the assorted Nobbu back off from the swirling 'water' and gather around him for new orders. Given her history as a reincarnated magical ghost of a particularly insufferable set of mystic disciplines, this isn't the first time Nobunaga has encountered someone distinctly separate from herself who has her face, her voice, and a slightly different manner of speaking. She assumes that means they've gotten close to something major and threw herself into it without thinking any further. . . . . . . . . . With a shout, the warlord erupts into some state of reality still holding the momentum of her jump; landing in a tumble, a tangle of limbs and cape. One she's come to a stop, her cap drifts down on top. She grips the bill and lifts it, then unfurls/unties herself until she can sit up and put it back on properly. > "Lady Guinevere...?" "All I can account for is a Demon King," she responds to the searching calls of the half-dragon. Picking herself up, her eyes follow Riku rushing over to help Sophia before she could. Ahh, he's a good kid who would make a fine samurai if he didn't already have the whole Ultraman thing going for him. > "Come on, now. This isn't like you, General." "Hooo~h?" Nobunaga hardly moves; only her eyes swing towards the source of the voice, "Do my ears deceive me, or has this land finally introduced me to someone with sense?"
Flamel Parsons	Flamel's own pyrokinetic light pops on. "Heya! Who's not dead or crazy now? Sound off calmly." But he's jostling his head. "Oh, wuh-oh, that was what I thought it was. Could have sworn I heard myself, and that was definitely not one of my own thoughts. I'm really hoping I haven't gotten a Cruller Fracture. One of you will tell me if I'm oversimplifying myself and identifying purely with a background role, right?" He extinguishes the light as he sees the torches... And he winds up moving to Sophia. "Hey, I know you can usually detect disaster," He says. "But are you getting the same darkness I am?" He'll help her to her feet -- undoubtedly with the others -- as quick as he can, before listening close to the darkness... "Hey there! What a coincidence, I consider myself a pretty impersonal agent myself. Big fan of reassurances, and honestly? All things considered, big fan of vagueness too, at this point. That said," He starts to approach cautiously. "I'm also a big fan of getting to the Binding Blade and using it to put this mess right. You're here to help, I hope?" He does a quick gesture with his head at Sophia. "Ever seen this place?" He gestures to the small, unfurnished space. "I need to know how dense the mimic element here is." He also tilts his head at Riku, saying, "You heard him. That's Flamel Parsons. But, then again, so am I, so maybe that doesn't say much." He heads towards the darkness. No sense standing around indeed. He'll have a better fix on this place if he walks through that door and into, I don't know, a space station's medbay, or Azuchi Castle's courtyard, or, uh, wherever it is light-giants spend some time. He has the feeling that he's somewhere closer to astral than material.
Marigold	Sophia gratefully accepts Riku's hand up, with a little shaky nod- the poor girl still seems scared, clutching her dark magic tome close to her chest with her other arm. "Thank you... Just... a few bruises..." she murmurs, in that soft voice of hers. But her slit-pupiled eyes are looking to the darkness at the far end of the room. A hooded figure steps out into the light of the eerie violet flames, wearing a faded cloak that might once have been red-and-green (or was it tan-and-purple?). They reach up to pull down their hood, revealing your face; then, stepping out from behind them, three more do the same, each reflecting someone in the room. "has this land finally introduced me to someone with sense?" "As much sense as you have. I am Oda Nobunaga, who brought peace to this land," says the red-eyed woman with long dark hair. "I'm Riku Asakura. Nice to meet you," says the man next to her with a self-conscious smile. "I'm... my name is..." Somehow, the one that looks like Sophia is the only one to struggle. She looks uncertain, confused, like she suddenly doesn't know where she is. "Bramimond," Sophia (the real one) says, with a soft, sad reverence. "One of the eight heroes... to create the spell called 'Apocalypse', you... sold yourself to the dark. You kept your reason, but... your face... your voice... your memories..." Bramimond-as-Sophia touches their own face, looking softly bewildered. The real one finishes: "No-one remembers what you looked like... I'm sorry..." Bramimond-as-Flamel is much too confidently cheerful to be bogged down by questions of his own identity, though. "Well, whatever the case may be, I am here to help! Help you not make a terrible mistake, that is. Project Scabbard has ensured the peace and safety of Elibe for a thousand years. Unsealing the Binding Blade would have consequences you haven't foreseen." "What do you want with a dusty old thing like that, anyway? Aren't you an innovator, always looking to the future? Why stoop to graverobbing now, General?" says the red-eyed woman. "We can't say how much of the Multiverse another Ending Winter would endanger. Don't you have friends back home you care about?" says the earnest young man, with a concerned tilt of his head. The four of them part to let you walk past to the dark corridor beyond, but Bramimond-as-Flamel holds out a manila folder for him as he passes, marked DECLASSIFIED. "Our records. Read this," he says.
Flamel Parsons	Flamel rambles a bit, softly, as he walks. "Although black magic could probably affect patterns and connections in the prefrontal, the hippocampus, the amygdala, it wouldn't make sense for it to mess with the motor cortex, the somatosensory cortex, the pareital cortex..." Thoughtfully tapping his chin. "I think I get you. Or I get something that's almost like you. You moved your executive function, even your imagination and decisionmaking, into your mirror neurons." His smile is wide, fascinated. "You me because you aren't anyone, but you can think of actions being taken by someone else..." He takes the folder, eyebrows raising. Professional. It pops open before his fingers are even on it, and the pages seem to turn in a way that drags the fingers along them. "Project Scabbard." He mutters. "Or-- what I would have called this, what you know I would have called what you're doing. Wow, that's impressive." He turns pages, cheery and engaged, fascinated, and his eyes... Slowly beginning to dim. His smile slowly beginning to fade. His heart slowly beginning to falter. He flips through pages more urgently, back and forth. His posture becomes intense, face serious. More, in fact, than anyone here has ever seen, almost anyone else around has ever seen really. What he's reading here... it's not good.
Nobunaga	> "I am Oda Nobunaga, who brought peace to this land." "Hoooh~..." The true Nobunaga lets out that appreciative noise, red eyes fixated on her twin. One hand cradles her chin, appraising the doppelganger carefully. Only after she is seemingly satisfied does her attention wander briefly over the duplicate Flamel, Riku, and Sophia also present. > "No-one remembers what you looked like... I'm sorry..." Sophia sheds some light on the matter and Nobunaga's memory wanders back to what Petra had told her about the nature of what this world calls Dark Magic; though that was in reference to Idunn, there's no reason it wouldn't act the same for anyone else who had a much less boundless 'self' to sacrifice. Her attention shifts back to the replicant quartet, with her own double dominating the bulk of her attention. > "What do you want with a dusty old thing like that, anyway?" The warlord laughs, her eyes closed. It's a boisterous, delighted guffaw she hasn't let out terribly often. "Ahaha, just what this world needs! Another Demon King of the Sixth Heaven!" Eyes still closed, she rubs a finger against the underside of her nose, "Delightful. Ahh, but I would be the one who brings peace to this land /again/. And for that, why, I will have ever advantage I set my eyes on, old or new. If you are me, then you know man must seize his own destiny for the gods will give no such thing." She's about to step past the parted figures when Flamel is handed something; this prompts her to pause, eyes shifting his way. After a moment, her attention shifts back to Notbunaga, "Tell me; what consequence would there be if the blade is taken? Would this be averted if it were returned after our work is finished?"
Riku Asakura	Riku nods to Sophia, giving her a soft smile. "That's good, the last thing we need is anyone getting hurt down here," he says with concern. He takes a moment to take a better look at the room. Violet flames act as the lighting in this room, which makes it a little spooky. Still, he's not about to run away; instead, he looks towards the spot in the darkness as a hooded figure steps out and into the violet light. Then three more step out. Each one wearing their face and speaking with their voice. It's DEFINITELY spooky now, seeing himself speak to him. "Uh, yeah, nice to meet you.." he says to himself, which causes some confusion. Still, it's rude not to say hello back, even if it's yourself! 'Bramimond,' "Wait, one of THE eight heroes? How are they still here..?" and of course, how are they speaking with another's voice? It's all confusing, but Riku doesn't need answers to know what to do now. They came here for the Binding Blade, right? As Flamel said, they are obviously here to guide them there, right? 'We can't say how much of the Multiverse another Ending Winter would endanger. Don't you have friends back home you care about?' The other him is talking, and it seems like the other voices are trying to disuade them from taking the Binding Blade? It's confusing for a bit, because he doesn't know what an Ending Winter is...other than sounding bad. "What do you mean, another Ending Winter? And of course, I have friends back home I care about. I have friends /here/ I care about too. We need the Binding Blade to slay Idunn and stop Bern from destroying this world. Who knows if he'll even stop here..." he says, thinking towards the king of these lands, and how much he means to destroy things. His eyes look towards Flamel, concerned because of what he's reading from the document. "What? What's going on?" he asks Flamel.
Marigold	The four 'Bramimonds' seem to mostly have their attention on their respective doubles, too. They barely acknowledge each other, as if dimly aware that they're all part of one whole. Is this really one of the 'eight heroes', from a thousand years ago? Sophia nods, looking at her own dazed double as she walks further into the dark corridor ahead. "Yes... Bramimond sacrificed 'too much'... becoming something not alive or dead. This is... something like a ghost? I don't know if they can leave this place..." Flamel reads. The dossier's contents come with grainy photographs, charts and graphs. The table of contents already bodes ill. PROJECT SCABBARD 1.1. ENDING WINTER SEQUELAE 1.2. CURRENT FALSE EQUILIBRIUM? 1.3. WEAPON BREAKAGE ANALYSIS 2.1 DRAGON-DESCENT EXPOSURE 2.2 HALF-DRAGON GENOCIDE FORECAST 2.3 RAINWATER PARTICULATE SATURATION 3.1 'VICTORY MANIFESTATION' EFFECT 3.2 BINDING BLADE MISUSE 3.3 MULTIVERSAL CRUSADE LIKELIHOOD 4.1 CONCLUSIONS Essentially, it elaborates as its main thrust that an unknown percentage of Elibeans have distant traces of draconic ancestry and even a tiny fragment of the Binding Blade could 'test' for this lineage via glowing cuts, creating the potential for new ethnic tensions and even potential genocide after Iðunn's defeat; that the Binding Blade is fueled by its wielder's idea of 'victory' and is thus uniquely suited to cause massive harm if it falls into the hands of a hyper-idealist or megalomaniac like Zephiel; and that its power 'pollutes' the world by placing the fabric of magic under massive strain, which caused ecological disaster in Elibe and could now damage other worlds. As he goes, his double ignites a small pyrokinetic flame in their palm to illuminate the way. By that light, the engravings on the walls can be read. They seem to be a pictorial message, or part of a system of messages. The engraved illustrations show the wheel of seasons, broken. Crops wilting as if in famine. Dragons, unwounded, laying down to die. The sun dimming, and half the stars vanishing from the sky. "The Ending Winter... where dragons had to take on human shape... for the first time..." Sophia explains, her eyes caught anxiously on the drawings. "Something like that!" 'Flamel' says perkily. "I don't really know how to describe it! You weren't around to see how rich and beautiful Elibe was, before. It's a shell of its former self!" More gently, 'Riku' goes on, shaking his head: "It was bad. Magic almost left the world. Snow fell in the middle of the summer... even the sky was damaged. Humanity had just been saved, and now they almost starved. The Binding Blade damages the world when it's used. Maybe this is the worst the damage can get, and it won't cause further harm a second time, but I'm not so sure." "Hmh. True. Whether or not the heavens really opened up, a thousand years ago... how pitiful it would be to wait and hope they will again!" 'Nobunaga' says to her true self as they walk. There's another, larger chamber visible up ahead. "But that's just it. If you say that humanity cannot defeat the Demon Dragon again without the Blade- if you say that you and your allies, General, are not up to the task!- you accept the risk of a hollow victory. You set your sights so low as to accept a future of only ash. Aren't you tired of that?"
Flamel Parsons	"I think I've got what I need to know." Flamel says, still frowning uncharacteristically, in an answer of sorts to Nobunaga and to Riku. It's also, in some sense, a response to Bramimond: "I'm not sure the Binding Blade is worth the collateral damage. Honestly, I'm rethinking the entire endeavor." What does that mean? 'Rethinking the entire endeavor'? In the Parsons Institute, alarms go off. Men who have torn their suit jackets off are running through the halls to convey important messages to other men who are answering furiously ringing phones. The Interim Director is storming out of his office. "Get me a report NOW!" He's shouting, jabbing a finger at one of the sweaty, panicked scientists. "It's the-- it's-- We're not sure, we can't be absolutely sure. We can never be absolutely sure." The staffmember stammers, trying to adjust his glasses. "We think it might be--" "Say it!" "Sir. A potential vector for another MAD outbreak." "All departments, all departments! This is the Interim Director speaking! I am authorizing a total shutdown on all thought-vectors showing potential MAD contamination. I repeat, total and absolute shutdown, by my authority as Director." He snaps the folder shut. "If the Binding Blade is used, there's a very, very strong chance that Roy will be killed." He says, in a soft tone. "If not by the blade itself, then by someone else who gets ahold of it after it's been unsealed. It can be used, either to create an objective draconic heritage threshold test, or to spread a nuclear-fallout-like ecological effect in Elibe and neighboring areas. Or, plausibly, both. I'm verifying the data internally as many times as I can, but I can't find any faults with it." "It's a plausible MAD outbreak vector. We have to keep it contained."
Nobunaga	> "The Binding Blade damags the world when it's used." Red eyes shift towards the two Rikus. Nobunaga lowers her hand, folding them both together behind her back underneath her cape and permitting the bulky crimson cloak to close in around her shoulders. Like this, it obscures most of her body. > "You set your sights so low as to accept a future of ash. Aren't you tired of that?" "Of course I am," Nobunaga admits to Bramimonobunaga without a second's hesitation, "But that is a destiny I accepted; from Mount Hiei to Honnou-ji, I leave only cinder and ash in my wake and all who oppose me learn fear or surrender their lives. This is what it means to be the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven." She pauses though, lifting her eyes up to the relief carvings Bramiflamel has so kindly lit up. > "I'm not sure the Binding Blade is worth the collateral damage." Briefly, Nobunaga's eyes shift towards Flamel, though her words are aimed at her own double, "You wear my face, and you know some things about me. You know what I am, yes? Or at least you have some idea." She glances aside towards Notbunaga again, "The Demon Dragon is in name only, isn't she? She is more akin to a god than any devil, is that right? Tell me, and perhaps I will find a way that does not disturb you further."
Riku Asakura	'Yes... Bramimond sacrificed 'too much'...' "How terrible..." Riku says, feeling sad for Bramimond. Having sacrificed so much for the world he loved. Bramimond, being like a ghost, is something Riku is unqualified to comment on. It's like being in a state of purgatory, neither alive nor dead...it's such an unenviable fate. "Is there anything that can be done for them?" 'I don't really know how to describe it! You weren't around to see how rich and beautiful Elibe was before. It's a shell of its former self!' 'It was bad. Magic almost left the world. Snow fell in the middle of the summer... even the sky was damaged.' Riku listens to the horrible things that the Binding Blade did to Elibe. It explains why Bramimond is here now, trying to prevent them... or rather, convince them not to unseal the blade and use it again. It makes Riku think, could they stop Idunn and Zephiel without the blade? It really makes Riku consider his actions carefully. It would be devastating to stop Zephiel, only to plunge the world into chaos and another Ending Winter. 'It's a plausible MAD outbreak vector. We have to keep it contained.' "And if we can't beat Idunn and Zephiel? They'll destroy this world, and who's to say they'll stop there? What if we reseal the blade once we use it to save Elibe? Certainly, it can be done, and more to the point, the other legendary weapons seem not to affect Idunn. We're also running up against Idunn creating legions of those dragons of hers..." "More to the point, there is no way to convince Zephiel not to pursue this to its logical conclusion..." he says, even if some of his words seem hollow to him. Honestly, if they COULD beat Idunn without the blade, then good. If they could convince Zephiel not to genocide humanity, then good. But these don't seem to be on the table. "I don't want the world to be destroyed. I don't want to see humanity or dragonkind destroyed either. I'm not seeing a solution that doesn't involve the Binding Blade one way or the other..." he says, strained. He's caught between two bad solutions. One where humanity is destroyed, and one where the world is potentially destroyed. He takes a breath, "I trust our allies to use the blade wisely. They won't use it to destroy the world, and instead will seal the power once this war is over. If they weren't worth our trust, then we wouldn't be here in the first place, right?"
Marigold	"Is there anything that can be done for them?" "I don't... know..." Sophia says to Riku, while looking back mournfully into the confused eyes of her double. (She's still sticking by Riku's arm for comfort.) "My teacher told me... it's their duty, to guard the weapons... maybe, if we take it... they can rest?" "Maybe," says Bramimond-as-Sophia, and for a second they don't sound quite like her anymore. But the more active doubles fill the quiet. "I know a little about you, General. You seem familiar somehow," the double says to Nobunaga; it's hard to tell if she's joking. "She's... a void. Your presence seeps into her," Bramimond-Sophia explains from their lagging place at the rear of the party, again in a voice that doesn't quite fit. "She doesn't know everything about you. Just the 'surface'. But..." But that's enough. "Hohhh? So you do believe you can win without it! Good, good." The red-eyed woman shuts her eyes and smiles, walking as if she's resting her hand on the hilt of a sword under her own cloak. "Hmmh... in truth, I've never met a god. But before mankind rebelled, the Demon and her tribe were worshipped like them," she continues thoughtfully, and then raises her finger in a satisfied conclusion: "Yes; you could say man first looked to heaven for gods because the ones we found on earth were too cruel." "That yellow one you travel with is a child of her tribe, too. If you want to be sure...?" "Fae?! N-no! Don't test anything on her...!" "As you wish~" By now you've arrived where the Bramimonds were leading you; a half-collapsed room with a gleaming golden hilt sticking out of the rubble, in what was once the room's center. Three dark chains seal the sword away, and the slot where the Fire Emblem would go is empty besides. The engravings in the floor encircle it with warnings and solemnities in pictograms; the floor shows eight figures in dire struggle, fire and destruction, and the menacingly malformed head of a dragon, snaggle-fanged and horned unlike any you've seen. "It's such a relief you understand," 'Flamel' says, patting the real Flamel on the shoulder almost brightly. "Under Project Scabbard, Elibe has lasted this long. Maybe the Demon is an unknown variable, but what good comes of adding a second? There's got to be another way! Somehow... somehow. You'll figure it out, won't you?" 'Riku', on the other hand, is being swayed by the real one. He grimaces, sympathetically, and looks down at the ground while shaking his head. "You trust them, huh. I guess I can't argue with that. If things really are that bad out there... but it seems like your friend isn't convinced?" He looks at Flamel, and a little at Nobunaga; it's hard to nail down Bramimond when the party's divided against itself. Sophia musters her earnest courage, folding her hands pleadingly towards Flamel: "Flamel. Do you think... Roy would want to live... if it meant Elibe is destroyed? I wouldn't. So, please..." "What good is 'Project Scabbard'... if it couldn't make an Elibe, that we can trust...?"
Nobunaga	> "Hohhh? So you do believe you can win without it! Good, good." "Of course I do," Nobunaga seems almost insulted by the idea, "It is less an aspect of whether victory is assured, or whether victory is possible, but more in how difficult it will be." She is certainly quite self-assured, even considering the foe at hand. Is this the confidence of the Great Unifier who ended a century-long civil war? "If Idunn is a 'void' into whom my presence will seep, then I shall have to see how she likes that void to be filled with my flame. Ahh, but I'm getting the impression that French dragon witch would be better-suited. But-- well, it can't be helped." > "That yellow one you travel with is a child of her tribe, too. If you want to be sure...?" Nobunaga pauses, her eyes shifting towards the ceiling in thought. > "Fae?! N-no! Don't test anything on her...!" > "As you wish~" "As you wish~" the real Nobunaga says it at the same time, in the same exact tone. Perfect stereo warlords. She accentuates the words, though, with a brief shrug and closed eyes. When they open again, she's got them on the ceiling again. "I had actually taken steps to avoid catching her in my flames, out an abundance of caution. Ahaha, harming even a single hair would be beyond unforgivable." The little drakeling has become something of a beloved mascot for the Lycian League after all. She comes to a stop, red eyes resting on that enchained blade. It almost feels like a waste of time to be here, suddenly. > "Do you think... Roy would want to live... if it meant Elibe is destroyed?" "It certainly has been 'food for thought', as the saying goes. I can't speak for the boy, myself. But my fellow Demon King makes some excellent points."
Flamel Parsons	"perhaps I will find a way that does not disturb you further..." "There's got to be another way! Somehow... somehow. You'll figure it out, won't you?" Flamel nods several times at those thoughts. "There's got to be a better way. I haven't thought of one, and I don't really have a lead on one, but it has to exist." He clenches the folder, creasing its surfaces in a white-knuckled grip that is the only sign of his deeper pain. "Flamel. Do you think... Roy would want to live... if it meant Elibe is destroyed?" "I trust our allies to use the blade wisely." "I do too, really! And I know Roy would die for the sake of a living Elibe. Honestly, I'd trust Roy quite a bit, but I wouldn't say he's infalible. I..." Flamel winces, once, his smile finally returning but only to express the moment of weakness. "I should really know that best. I almost killed him. If I could do that, I could take the blade. If I could take the blade, so could someone else like me." He casts his mind and memories back to a conversation along a waterfall in a summer camp, where Flamel was set against a halo of monitors and surveillance. "In his hands, it's just... waiting to fall into the hands of someone like me. And isn't that, in a way, almost worse than if we handed it to someone unstable?" It would seem that conversation Riku had with Flamel, ages ago, still sits in his gut slightly. His cheery voice surges back up, but his heart falters. "You of all people should remember, those people I was willing to kill."
Riku Asakura	'My teacher told me... it's their duty, to guard the weapons... maybe, if we take it... they can rest?' "Another reason why we should recover the Binding Blade, if only this hero can finally rest..." Riku says, solemnly. It seems like another good reason to free the blade of their bindings, if not for the world. Of course, helping people along the way is what he's here for, even if they're less a person and more a whisper of a person. 'That yellow one you travel with is a child of her tribe, too. If you want to be sure...?' "Don't test anything on Fae. She's an innocent," Riku says firmly. To /both/ Nobunaga's. Though he's sure the real one wouldn't do that. They finally arrive at the room where the Binding Blade is stored. He stares at the engravings. Including the head of the dragon that looks different than any other dragon they've seen before now. "Is this... Idunn? Or just a normal dragon?" he asks, unsure. 'You trust them, huh. I guess I can't argue with that. If things really are that bad out there... but it seems like your friend isn't convinced?' "Yeah, I do. I know when they get the Binding Blade, they won't use it for dragon purity things or to destroy the world or reduce it again. They'll make a better world, one where Zephiel's march against humanity won't be needed. Maybe one that can convince him to have never gone down this path he is on." 'Flamel. Do you think... Roy would want to live... if it meant Elibe is destroyed? I wouldn't. So, please...' Riku turns to Flamel finally, trying to take measure of the man. He has different views than Riku does; he is a little odd, but deep down, Riku believes that Flamel wants what's best for everyone. Even if 'what's best' is sometimes different in each of their eyes. Nobunaga also seems similarly unsure. 'You of all people should remember, those people I was willing to kill.' Riku is silent, trying to think. Though right now, his mind is full of what happened during L-Corp. "That was that, and this is this. You're willing to do a lot, but right now our hearts are aligned to protect the lives of the people of this world from Zephiel. /I/ trust Roy, and I trust his ability to wield the blade. I also trust you not to want to take the blade from him to make the world a worse place." "Not taking the blade is dooming this world to death. It's also passing the buck to another generation. Eventually, someone is going to unseal the blade; it should be for a good reason, and so the next time it's sealed, it's done in such a way nobody will need it again." "And besides, if you go for the blade, I'll be there to stop you. We can't afford to let this chance slip through our fingers. There isn't a better time than now to stop Zephiel and Idunn. We need the blade to do it, to save as many lives as we can. Roy won't let the blade fall into the wrong hands and will only use it to stop Idunn." "And besides, if we fail here, what's to say that Zephiel will stop with this world. It's up to us to make a better world now, up to us to make sure as many people survive as they can, and up to us to build that world. If we can't start now by trusting in each other, then we weren't going to win in the first place. Even if we beat them, it'll just make another Zephiel down the road." "That's what I think and believe."
Marigold	"Is this... Idunn?" "The Demon," Riku-Bramimond agrees, nodding with a reverent unease at the floor-etching of the frightful crooked-toothed dragon head. He does recognize the name. Later generations would come to call Iðunn 'the Demon Dragon', at least. But in Bramimond's time, there was no need to be so specific. 'Demon' could mean no-one but her. The design on the floor is obscured by rubble and damage, but one can see the suggestion of four thin wings, perhaps of terrible claws... Nobunaga-Bramimond 'hmhmhm' laughs at the moment of synchronicity, then nods. She steps forward once, then twice, then pivots on her heel to flourish out her cape dramatically while looking smilingly down at her nemesis's face. "The Demon's own magic had twisted her, I suppose. Nearly as much as mine twisted me! She was of the 'Divine tribe', so she would have been called a 'Divine Dragon' once. By the end, she'd become something else... another name was needed, you understand." After her flourish, she sits on a piece of rubble not far from the half-buried and thrice-sealed Binding Blade, legs apart, hunched forward with a cavalier smile. "Without the Binding Blade, I give you... hmm, one-in-ten odds. With it, four-in-ten. How does that weigh on your scales?" "Dooming this world to death," Riku's double repeats uneasily, next to his conversation with Flamel. "I... guess it would be that serious, huh. I'd hoped we hadn't made that bad of a mistake. That the peace we'd made would be able to last forever. But I don't think I like 'one in ten' at all." "Flamel," Sophia says softly. She takes another step forward, takes his hands if he'll let her, and tries to coax his white-knuckled grip on the folder into letting go; her eyes slide over to Riku, silently questioning, and then return. "I don't... know what happened, between you, but... you've always been kind here. With Lugh. With Raigh. With the Kutolah villagers, and... Fae, so..." Her lips move as she looks for words. ". . . I'd trust you. Even with that. Someone... always has the power... to make the world. I want it to be anyone here... and not them." Zephiel and Iðunn. Behind her, Bramimond- the double still wears Sophia's face, but it's hardly talking like her at all anymore- hugs their arm uncomfortably under their robe and looks off to the side. "I'm sorry," they say. "I wanted to leave the 'humanity' of the future... a better world than this. Keeping the Binding Blade sealed away is the only way I can protect it, anymore. I wanted to hope that that was enough. And that the prices we paid would suffice forever." They lift their eyes- unlike the real Sophia, their pupils are round and human- to search Nobunaga's face and Flamel's; Riku and Sophia are already united. "What should I do?" the empty hero pleads. "You can't be serious. You know the consequences. For a thousand years, we've..." 'Flamel' starts. "I am serious. The world belongs to the living."
Nobunaga	> "Without the Binding Blade, I give you... hmm, one-in-ten odds. With it, four-in-ten. How does that weigh on your scales?" "Either way it's not going to be easy, but that was obvious from the outset," Nobunaga admits with a light shrug. > "...but right now our hearts are aligned to protect the lives of the people of this world from Zephiel." "That much is true, but is something like this truly necessary to achieve that?" the warlord admits to Riku. Her cape parts so she can rub at her chin, lost in thought with her eyes resting on the bound sword. > "What should I do?" Nobunaga remains silent for another precious few moments. The second her mind is made up is clear; the slight widening of her eyes, the dropping her hand to smack a fist into her other palm, "--Ah." "It's settled, then. We will take the sword; but it shall only be a weapon of last resort," Her eyes shift sidelong towards Flamel, then the other way towards Riku and Sophia, "Simply undoing the seal shouldn't do anything, after all. And once we are done, a new shrine can be erected and it can be sealed away once again." She pauses, her eyes going ceiling-wards again, "Or if it is to never be seen again, simply throw it in the ocean."
Flamel Parsons	Flamel considers what Riku says, turning it over. --- "Interim Director," The Review Board speaks to the man in the boardroom. "We appointed you for your understanding of restraint. Not doing what Director Parsons chose to do, taking the world's path forward into his own hands. Not seeing individuals as weighed too greatly." The Interim Director slams his fist against the table. "So how is my lockdown unjustified?! How is Idunn's value so much greater than the entire world, and the multiverse past that?" The placid voices speak firmly. "We've been given authoritative intelligence indicating that a miscalculation of balance has been made despite all that." "By WHO? Stopping her can't be prioritized higher than basic safety, or we're asking for another Truth Phenomenon outbreak!" The Interim Director practically screams. --- His grip on the folder tightens. --- "Director," One voice says patiently. "That's exactly it." "..." "You said 'Truth Phenomenon' outbreak. Not MAD outbreak. That is what this lockdown is about." ". . ." "Isn't it, Director? Maybe it's time to allow Director Parsons his seat at the table again." "You think I haven't done enough? That I've done this wrong?" "I think you've done all you can. But a stronger force to keep Director Parsons in check already exists. I think the Parsons Institute would be destroyed before the Director gets out of hand again." --- His face trembles a bit, but that positive, supportive smile seeps through. "What a wonderful show of faith! After everything that's happened, it's so nice to know you have the kind of strength you need to believe in me like that." He says, always the upbeat optimist. "Maybe Nobunaga's right. Maybe the right approach is..." He turns to Bramimond. "What you've already done. What you've already left us." He looks to the folder, now creased and marked by his hands, but still full of valuable data. "Maybe this," He holds it up. "Is just all the more good left behind from the past, and something we can carry forward. Maybe there's not more left to do, you've already done it, and it's good as it is." He smiles soooo big. "A thousand years of peace is nothing to sneeze at! I'll have a lot to live up to, one less-than-person to another. But it's sounding like that blade needs unsealing -- just as long as Geed is still around to make sure a guy like me never touches it before it's time to settle it back into Project Scabbard."
Riku Asakura	'The Demon,' It makes sense that they regard her as a demon. He's seen her magic first hand, seen the monsters she calls dragons created from her. Of course, victors write history, but seeing Idunn firsthand, he can't help but agree with the term Demon. 'The Demon's own magic had twisted her, I suppose.' "So once she was divine..." he says, shaking his head. Twisted by her magic, or maybe by the wishes of dragons that wanted their rule over humanity to last forever. He's not sure; it was so long ago, and much was lost. 'Dooming this world to death,' Riku reaches back to scratch the back of his head, shaking his head at Riku. "I think you did a pretty good job, getting a thousand years of peace. It's not your fault it didn't last, and nobody blames you for it. The best you can do is lay the groundwork for those who come after you and inspire those to rise and become heroes when needed. That's the sort of legacy that is needed." Sophia gives him a questioning glance, and he returns one. "It's a long story, and has much to do with Angela's world. We'll have to tell you someday..." he admits. He's not entirely proud of what he did then, but he did it, and he's doing his best to make things better in The City through Trideag. 'I wanted to leave the 'humanity' of the future... a better world than this.' "I think you should hand the blade over, to entrust the future of humanity to those of today. You've been here a long time, and I think you've done an amazing job preserving the future. I think you've earned a rest, though. A thousand years is such a long time..." 'That much is true, but is something like this truly necessary to achieve that?' "It has to be. We're not facing a normal dragon, but a demonic dragon. It has to be enough to stop the eradication of every person in this world." 'It's settled, then. We will take the sword; but it shall only be a weapon of last resort,' Riku nods. He can accept this. He doesn't want this world to go through what it did after the last time the Binding Blade was used, but unsealing it and keeping it for such an emergency doesn't seem like a bad idea, especially with so much on the line. 'What a wonderful show of faith! After everything that's happened, it's so nice to know you have the kind of strength you need to believe in me like that.' Riku's face breaks out into a smile at Flamel. He nods, the smile bright and honest as Flamel considers Nobunaga's proposal as the right step forward. "And I will be. You can believe in that. Let's make a step together into the future. One where we can make another land have a thousand more years of peace."
Marigold	Bramimond smiles, tightly, and uneasily, and like they're going to throw up. Sophia touches their upper arm, at the same time she squeezes Flamel's hand. "Ah... Then my blessings are with you, General. May you win another thousand years of peace. And may you live to bring the Blade back to me~." "I wish I still had more to give. I wish this fight didn't have to fall to you. But that's senseless. Sometimes... I guess sometimes, you just reach the end of your rope, huh? Thanks." "Tell me that you're certain. Please. Tell me you know there isn't a better way. I-- I really, truly think, from the bottom of my heart, that you are making a mistake." "They aren't certain," says the 'true' Bramimond, smiling sadly with Sophia's face. "But we weren't, either. Winter was better than annihilation. If Winter comes again... humanity will survive, somehow." They step past-and-between you, and bend down to touch one of the chains on the Blade. "We took a chance, a thousand years ago," they say. "We made a mistake. The bones of the world have broken, again. Would that they had not broken at all; but now they have, may you set them right." Before you can ask what they mean, there is a crack as the chain snaps. Darkness falls, and when you see the light next, you are back in that Bernish forest with the army, at the bottom of the rock pit.