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Bryph sprinting across the desert, towards a dissolving field of glowing clouds.
Bryph sprinted out across the flat desert, their footfalls pockmarking the formerly featureless plain.
The air was still, and it was completely silent. The black hole, above, dissipated into nothing.

Bryph leaps into the air and catches Jutse.
Hold on, you little traitor.
... I got you.

Cae crosses the desert in a self-built rocket car.
Cae, feeling his time in the laser facility had come to an end, exited the building and began his drive back to his friends.
Even at Mach 2, it was a journey that would take a few minutes. Cae hoped everything would be okay when he finally made it over.

Bryph lands in the desert, throwing up a huge dust cloud.

Bryph landed in the sand, tossing up a huge cloud of dust.
In their arms, Jutse was cradled. Gradually, he opened his eyes and looked up.

Bryph holding Jutse with a suspicious expression.
What... Happened? Bryph?

Alright, Jutse, you got five seconds to convince me you've come to your senses.
Else, I'll have no choice but to beat your senses back into you.

Your futile resistance...
It is all... meaningless...
I will... I will reconstruct you!
You will finally exist!

That's five.
And, frankly, that wasn't very convincing at all.
Alright? Beating it is.

DO YOUR W-- AUGH!!

Bryph knees Jutse into the air and then kicks him.
With a sharp knee and a forceful kick, Bryph sent Jutse flying across the desert.
His body spun and jolted as it hit the ground and skidded to a stop.
From the ground, Jutse's small frame shook and heaved.
He spat blood, a dark stain on the blinding bright salt flat.
For the briefest of moments, Bryph was worried they had overdone it.
But Bryph realized quickly that it was not sobbing, nor pain that made Jutse shudder.
Jutse was laughing.

What... What the hell is wrong with you?
Do I need to hit you even harder??

This image shows Jutse kneeling at the end of an impact gash with a defiant expression.
Of course! Of course, violence will solve everything!
Right? Right??
I have broken bread with you... I forsake my homeland for your quest...
So fervently, did I believe in the righteousness of this undertaking!
But what I have realized, what I am trying to desperately to tell you...
None of it matters. All we are, all we've been, and all we are ever going to be...
Ink on a page. Or even less, mere pinpricks of light on a screen!
Do you understand how little this all matters?

So what if we are? I've known pain, joy, sorrow, warmth, love, beyond anyone's imagination!
Over the course of my life I've known darkness beyond what you could even fathom.
Do you know what it's like to take someone's life, Jutse?
Even if it's in the name of righteousness, even if it will make the world better, it is a burden all the same.
It is a burden that is so much heavier than a piece of paper with ink on it.
And, me? I've taken dozens of lives, Jutse. Some of em were people I cared about. A lot.


For a brief moment, the two stared at each other in silence.
Jutse dragged himself into a sitting position.
Bryph stepped forward, with a glare that could boil oceans. Jutse could not meet their gaze.

This image shows Bryph cracking their knuckles.
If none of this matters, why do you care so much?
Cae spared you, Jutse. He saw fit in that big dumb heart of his to let you live.
Now, I have no clue why he would do such a thing, do you?
I don't understand it, but it was his decision. He spared your stupid life.
But I won't. You got nine lives, right? I'm gonna start taking em until you shut your mouth or start talking sense.

Jutse, shakily, rose to his feet.

Jutse stands defiantly before Bryph, undaunted by their threat.
Jutse met Bryph's gaze with a furious glare of his own.

The instant I realized that I could unmake all of that suffering...
I swore that I would do it. I would give you the life you deserved.
Of course, the others too, but you most of all, Bryph. The suffering you have known...
The idea that everything you have gone through is merely a dream held by some unknown spectator into our lives...
It sickens me so much that I wish I could ignore it, I wish I could call it all a lie.
But you again, most of all, must understand how little good it does to ignore a sickening truth.
How, the longer you ignore these things, the worse everything becomes.
I don't trust the creator to give us a happy ending. How could I? After what it put you through??

I'm not saying I'm glad that shit happened to me, because if you think you hate it, imagine how I feel, having lived through it?
But the life I ended up living wouldn't have happened if that all didn't also happen.
I know I suffered. You do not have to fucking tell me that. You don't have the right.
And I know something else, too. I love my life. I love the person I became.
I love my partner. I love my friends. Sometimes, Jutse, I even love you.
Yeah, I had a rougher start than most. But you know something, Jutse? That's life.
And I had to fight for my life. I always did. I think I always will. But I'm used to fighting.
And if you think I'm going to stop fighting for my life just because you promise me something nicer awaits me...
And, I might add, I have no reason to believe your version of my life would even be a thing I like...
What if it's even worse?

You don't trust me to give you a life you could be proud of.
Of course you don't. Why would you? How foolish of me.

Jutse and Bryph stare at each other. Bryph looks angry. Jutse looks smug.
They stared at each other, in silence.
A silence which they held for half a minute.
A silence which Jutse, eventually, put down.

Where's this leave us?

At one hell of an impasse, that's where.

Bryph chuckled after thinking for a moment.
They put their hands in their pockets, took a deep breath, and tried to relax before continuing.

Here's what I think you're tellin me.
There's a creator outside of our universe pulling all the strings, and because of that, none of us including you has any free will.
You believe that, somehow, if this were the case, you've broken free of that, and that even more ridiculous, you've been given powers.

A little rough around the edges, but, yeah.

Willing to hear me out, now?

Sure. Figure we've got time, right?
Only source of urgency, way out here, was me.

I think it doesn't matter in the slightest if that's true.
I think that I've had free will this whole time.
I think that I can make up my own happy ending and take it.
And, most importantly, darling, you might be my friend, but I'm never giving up my life for anybody, ever.
I'm going to be happy, and I'll do whatever it takes to make that happen.

Anything... Except for dying.

Damn right. Anything except for that.

Well, if you're not willing to die, guess I'm out of options, then.

You telling me you're done?

Jutse crosses his forearms in front of his body, forming an X-shape.
Eeeehnt! Wrong!
The one here who's "done" is you, gingersnap.

Heh... Maybe I should've kicked you in the mouth so you'd shut up for once.
Anyway, you can't do shit at this point, so it doesn't matter to me if you're not done.
Cae asked me not to kill you. But it's clear he's smitten, so he's not seeing sense either.
Like Marce said... If you get in our way... we'll kill ya.
And I'd say you, right now, are in our way. So I don't think they'll be too mad if I take matters into my own hands just this once.

Sure... Just kill the thing that's causing you grief. That is so like you.
And what if Marcel "loses it" next? Will you kill him the way you're saying you're gonna kill me?
You got it in you to kill him after already killing his daddy? You gonna go after his mom next?

Bryph drew their knives.

Bryph stands crouched with a sharp knife in each hand.
Gonna carve you like dinner, shitcat.

And then, there was silence once again.
Eventually, Jutse's laughter punctuated the silence.

Knives?
You're up against a being with deity-like power, and you're gonna take me out with militarized tableware?

You don't look much like a deity to me, you damn stray.
You look like a mouthy traitor who's about to get fixed.

Oh, if that's what I look like to you, then perhaps you should get your eyes checked...
Look closer.

Jutse doubles over, experiencing intense pain, as he glows white.
Jutse's eyes rolled back as the color drained from his spots.

No... Wait... This is different from the last time!
Bryph... Help! Help me!

I'm not coming near you, you freak!

Bryph... I'm losing control.....
Please... Run! Run away from me now! I don't actually want to kill you!

Bryph backing away with a look of genuine concern
Wh... What? Jutse?


Jutse appears with glowing white fur, and blue, glowing eyes and mouth.
JUTSE IS DEAD.



Character Legend