[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

[messianic]

[ there's so much that could be said, so much that could be done right now. But in this moment, between action and reaction, Minato is frozen, looking between Nessa and Sprezzatura.

He can hear Tsumugi, understands the panic that's causing her to react the way she is, but he can't seem to find the breath to say anything.

They're poised on the edge of a knifeblade right now. But after coming this far--he has to hope, has to believe that Nessa won't fall like this. ]