[Endgame: rise or DROWN]

[warpweft]

[How long have you been exploring Nessa's palace now? You've met her family, viewed her memories, learned how to fight as a witch and tried to find the source of her power and the Treasure of her palace: the Voidheart. And along the way, you've tired your best, with mixed success, to avoid the incarnation of her eldest cousin and the representation of her trauma and fear, the Nightmare of Esmau.]

[Wherever you are in the Palace right now, you feel the ground briefly shake under your feet. Little shakes here and there haven't been out of the ordinary - Esmau is trying to blow the place down to the studs, after all. But that felt different. That felt....worse.]

[Your phone beeps as you receive a message.]

Comments

[warpweft]

You're going to throw your life away...!

[She reaches out and grabs his collar.]

You idiot...! Do you have any idea how many people she's had to watch die for her?! Because of nothing?! Because of those two?! Because of this STUPID Voidheart?!

Nessa doesn't want you to die for nothing with her!

[messianic]

[ He lets this happen without arguing, letting her have her say. and then he reaches over to gently rest a hand on her shoulder. ]

I won't.

No matter what... I won't die for nothing. No matter what... I won't leave Nessa-san behind--and not you, either.

... Believe in us, Nessa-san. Can you believe in your friends?

[warpweft]

[She squeezes his collar.]

I can't face them.

Nessa has never been able to face them, once, in her entire life.

She's not strong enough.

[messianic]

You are.

[ he smiles a little at that, tilting his head quietly. ]

You are strong enough--and I'll prove it to you when we've finished taking care of all of this.

[velluminous]

[ good boy. ]