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[Endgame: rise or DROWN]
[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.]
[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.]
Re: [You have risen]
[And Shadow Nessa plunges her hand into her own chest.]
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Re: [You have risen]
—NO!!
[ the rulebook says. you can use Thunderstep in response to an attack during someone else's turn, and teleport yourself and up to one ally a short distance away. well. this is very clearly an attack, wouldn't you agree? and Nessa is definitely an ally.
for the vibes, Jeff. can she teleport Shadow Nessa and herself that short distance away? ]
Re: [You have risen]
Get off of me.
[She still has her hand on her own chest.
...on the Voidheart.]
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Why... why do we need to have these impossible choice between you both when I have two arms?!
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There's only one Voidheart.
There can only be...
[Huff.]
One Nessa Houghton.
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Create a second one?
Go out and find the seven dragon balls??
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...
...
Fine.
Say there was a way to do it. To have two Nessas.
But you had to find it yourself, because it simply doesn't exist in Nessa's world. And even if you searched every universe out there, it may still be impossible.
Then what would you say?
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[give her a minute]
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[...]
--Is this really... really... what you want? You've kinda been acting like you plain want to be alive, up until this point.
Don't get me wrong, it's a great plot twist. A noble sacrifice from a character who until now has acted callous and selfish. People love that. It turns a distasteful character into a legend.
But... I don't know how many people are going to be around to appreciate it, Nessa. Maybe just us four. The rest in the prison will only see teenage Nessa having another day. They're plain not going to see any of this. Not Lilith. Not Esmau. Not Agnis, or anyone else. Not even... you.
[...]
So...
Is this what you want?
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Re: [You have risen]
you're going to ruin everything, Vaux. you're going to ruin everything. you're going to ruin everything, Vaux. you're going to ruin it all! ]
Don't you dare.
Re: [You have risen]
...
You want her back.
Don't try to tell me you don't.
Re: [You have risen]
Can I not grieve girl you were? [ her pain, her sacrifices—the monster inside her head. her voice is getting rawer, rougher: ] That is part of you, lying there! Piece of you has died to overcome those women—they who wished you erased for not being who they chose! You do not conquer Esmau just to put me in her place! You do not defer to anyone. Do you hear me?!
Re: [You have risen]
'You do not conquer Esmau just to put me in her place!'
If she rips out the Voidheart and places it into that girl, what she said at the start will come true. There can only be one Voidheart and one Nessa Houghton. If the younger Nessa has the Voidheart, then she is Nessa Houghton. This Shadow will fade away...and the woman that she's a shadow of will fade away as well. If she does this because of Sprezzatura's grief, then Sprezzatura will have brought back the young Nessa...by doing away with the adult Nessa.
Another Esmau, ripping out Nessa's heart.
Another Lilith, taking away Nessa's choice for who she wants to be.
And leaving an ugly question in that Nessa's head forever: 'Am I only here because she couldn't let me go?'
One of Shadow Nessa's arms falls to her sides. She sucks in a breath through her nose. Realizing the cruel, cruel fate she almost consigned both Sprezzatura and Nessa too.
She reaches out and grabs Sprezzatura's collar. Her jaw sets with determination.]
Then don't be those women.
Lyra screwed up immensely by getting herself and Nessa trapped in that coven. She hated herself every day for a decade for the choices she made that led to having to raise her daughter under Lilith's thumb. But when her daughter needed her, she gave up something incredibly important to her to save what was most important to her - her daughter's life. To implant this Voidheart in her, to give her a second chance.
If you don't want to be Esmau -- by Nessa's mother, Lyra, instead.
Swallow your grief.
Swallow your pride.
Swallow your selfishness.
Withstand all of it.
Take your student.
Teach her to become a witch.
And both of you stand against Typhon and break it. And break its prison until you're both free.
Then the two of you scour the whole damn multiverse if you have to to find a way to bring Nessa back. Because guess what?
That's what Nessa wants.
No matter how many times I called that girl a fake, Nessa thought from the beginning that through her own choices, she had created a life, a life that made its own bonds and made its own choices and grew into something different from her. And the idea of stepping over that life and just sliding back into it as if nothing's changed is something she can't stand. Something that would make her into Esmau instead.
If you want to help Nessa?
Make a liar out of me. Make it so there can be two Nessa Houghtons. And until then, swallow your own pain for her sake, Sprezzatura Vaux.
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Wasn't that the point of this Palace all along?
He won't interrupt--this is Sprezzatura's moment, because Sprezzatura is every inch the guide he always knew she could be--but he is watching very closely, eyes wide. ]
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Hmph.
Sorry, Minato.
Looks like I told you that you were going to have to make a choice. But I'm giving you a job, instead.
I'd say I was sorry, but frankly, I think a disgustingly optimistic person like you would prefer completing an impossible task to making a cruel choice, anyway.
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It was never my choice to make, you know?
[ This is Nessa's choice, Nessa's life, and Nessa's ultimate decision--just as it should be. ]
But... you can count on me. No matter what... I'll make sure that this happens. I'll make sure that both of you can live.
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Re: [You have risen]
what she's suggesting... doesn't seem possible.
does that matter? ]
I--I will! Absolutely!
Re: [You have risen]
Nessa would have liked to have met you, Sprezzatura Vaux. To speak with you, from one witch to another, and share knowledge. She spent a lot of the last two months wondering what the would've looked like.
[She lets her go.]
Don't die until you get a chance to have that conversation. Which means you're not allowed to lose to that oni, under any circumstances. Understand?
Re: [You have risen]
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-- what are you doing?!
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Asking the obvious a bit there, aren't you?
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[wheezes]
Don't just rip your heart out like that because you're feeling guilty over what happened. . .!
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[... ... ...]
Okay, fine, maybe I do a little bit, but that's not what I'm doing this!
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Then why--?