I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please... [A kiss to the cheek, his eyes wet with tears. He's so relieved, but Kotetsu is like this, and there's no skill of a great detective that can just. Fix anything here.] If there's anything I can do for you...
If I can't even protect her, what can I hope to protect ever?
[ And his voice cracks. That emptiness fills with sheer sorrow. It's like he's lost all his purpose in life. What is he even fighting for if he can't help her? ]
[And through the sorrow burns something, a flare of determination - he uses a hand to clutch at the other's cheek to turn him gently to look at him, face to face.]
I know who you are, Kotetsu Kaburagi. You are...a hero, a protector, and someone who has been doing nothing but that since the very moment you arrived here. I will not let some damned illusion persuade you that you're anything but.
[Tears are streaming down his cheeks, but he's just focused, fiery, unable to let this go.]
Just because you were put in a situation where the odds were against you as a way to intentionally cause you harm does not prove anything. They wished to break your spirit. And I won't have them doing that, not under my watch, not while I'm here to tell you the truth, forever and always.
[ His words feel sharp on him. Even if they're meant to comfort, it's like tearing at the wounds. But perhaps that might be a good thing. It's better than that hollow feeling he'd been mulling in.
His face tightens up as he looks at Sholmes and he can't. He can't keep that firm gaze met and tries to pull away. To look away. Though, he doesn't have the strength he normally does. It's a weak attempt.
Finley isn't shaking as much, weakly pulling her face from where it's hiding, looking to Irene. ]
How do you know it's not real? How can you be so sure? The pain... the injuries. They didn't go away. Those were real, Sholmes. So how do you know she wasn't?
Because I went through the same thing. And...I know it, because people we knew were there. People from here.
[He shudders, trying, trying so hard, because Kotetsu said he wouldn't leave him, and he wants to fulfill that promise right back. Irene preens Finley with her beak, gentle, soothing.]
How could you be there, and die in front of me, and...be here, alive? How could Mr. Dokja cut off my hand, and then stand here, unknowing? Kotetsu....Kotetsu....
[He shakes his head.]
Our pain and injuries are real. But the things you saw and heard are not. Believe me. If there's one thing you can do, it's...believe in me. Because I believe in your goodness and kindness so deeply, that I shan't let this blasted place make you think otherwise.
[ At that, he leans forward and shoves his face against Sholmes' neck while he wraps his arms around him tight. Just like he clung to the chalice before, he now clings to Sholmes as if it's the only thing keeping him grounded anymore.
His shoulders shake as he silently cries against his neck.
With the voice he recalls, he knows Sholmes has to be speaking the truth. After all... After all... ]
I could here Tomoe again. The disappointment. Calling me a failure...
[ Maybe he'd also expected that from Sholmes? How cruel of him to think that, this man that has every bit of faith in him and gives him unyielding support. ]
Maybe you're right, but I still failed... and A-Qing died for it, too. I...
[ He hangs on those words. If he can't believe in himself... maybe he could try to trust in Sholmes' words to carry him forward. For now, at least. He needs something to ground him.
He shakes his head softly. ]
I still have it. I think it was because we died and the grail resurrected us. She no longer has her lion form.
[ Hence rabbit instead. And why she's even uncomfortable like this in that form. But he... worries if this means he lost part of is soul. ]
Apparently the Lieutenant asked a Watcher of the phenomenon. He was informed that a traumatic experience of an epiphany about one's self identity could make it occur.
[He frowns.]
Initially, I just thought it was simply "the event occurs, and the daemon stops changing". But perhaps it's more "the more trauma one undergoes, the less forms a daemon has available until it sticks to one". It is simply a theory, but...perhaps that is what is happening.
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[Is this what he looked like, when he came back from his own adventure? It's so rattling to see Kotetsu like this. Brilliant, smiling Kotetsu.]
[He dislodges a hand to brush through the man's hair.]
I'm just...happy you're here. [It's a true and honest relief.] Please. Please, Kotetsu...talk to me. I'm here to listen if you need to speak on it.
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I... I let her die. I couldn't save her.
[ The words catch in his throat. He's haunted by what happened. The pain was real. The struggle was real. Their voices rang true. Her screams...
Finley shivers hard against Sholmes' back. ]
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[A shuddering sigh. Irene hopes from Sholmes's arm to burble, rubbing up against the rabbit.]
A-Qing?
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Her, too.
[ He looks down at his hands, numbly. Why couldn't they work the way he wanted? ]
Kaede.
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[He shakes his head. God. No. The horror of...your own daughter...]
Kotetsu...how was she there? It can't have been real...
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[ His hands tremble a bit. He feels so, so weak. ]
But those were her screams. She was yelling for me. They killed her. I didn't care what happened to me after... They killed her.
[ "After?" Hm. ]
Even with my powers, I was useless.
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[He pulls Kotetsu up slightly just so he can encircle his shoulders in an embrace, leaning his head against the other.]
You aren't useless. Is it possible it could have been an illusion? On my adventure, I saw...I saw Mikotoba. But it wasn't real. None of it was.
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I don't know, Sholmes... I couldn't even... get to her body.
I...
[ He swallows hard. ]
I also died.
[ As he says that, he subconscious looks over at the holy grail sitting beside him. ]
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...What happened? How did you die?
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[ His soul died, so thus he died. ]
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[A low sigh, more stroking of the hair.]
I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. Please... [A kiss to the cheek, his eyes wet with tears. He's so relieved, but Kotetsu is like this, and there's no skill of a great detective that can just. Fix anything here.] If there's anything I can do for you...
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If I can't even protect her, what can I hope to protect ever?
[ And his voice cracks. That emptiness fills with sheer sorrow. It's like he's lost all his purpose in life. What is he even fighting for if he can't help her? ]
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[And through the sorrow burns something, a flare of determination - he uses a hand to clutch at the other's cheek to turn him gently to look at him, face to face.]
I know who you are, Kotetsu Kaburagi. You are...a hero, a protector, and someone who has been doing nothing but that since the very moment you arrived here. I will not let some damned illusion persuade you that you're anything but.
[Tears are streaming down his cheeks, but he's just focused, fiery, unable to let this go.]
Just because you were put in a situation where the odds were against you as a way to intentionally cause you harm does not prove anything. They wished to break your spirit. And I won't have them doing that, not under my watch, not while I'm here to tell you the truth, forever and always.
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His face tightens up as he looks at Sholmes and he can't. He can't keep that firm gaze met and tries to pull away. To look away. Though, he doesn't have the strength he normally does. It's a weak attempt.
Finley isn't shaking as much, weakly pulling her face from where it's hiding, looking to Irene. ]
How do you know it's not real? How can you be so sure? The pain... the injuries. They didn't go away. Those were real, Sholmes. So how do you know she wasn't?
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[He shudders, trying, trying so hard, because Kotetsu said he wouldn't leave him, and he wants to fulfill that promise right back. Irene preens Finley with her beak, gentle, soothing.]
How could you be there, and die in front of me, and...be here, alive? How could Mr. Dokja cut off my hand, and then stand here, unknowing? Kotetsu....Kotetsu....
[He shakes his head.]
Our pain and injuries are real. But the things you saw and heard are not. Believe me. If there's one thing you can do, it's...believe in me. Because I believe in your goodness and kindness so deeply, that I shan't let this blasted place make you think otherwise.
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His shoulders shake as he silently cries against his neck.
With the voice he recalls, he knows Sholmes has to be speaking the truth. After all... After all... ]
I could here Tomoe again. The disappointment. Calling me a failure...
[ Maybe he'd also expected that from Sholmes? How cruel of him to think that, this man that has every bit of faith in him and gives him unyielding support. ]
Maybe you're right, but I still failed... and A-Qing died for it, too. I...
[ He hesitates a moment. ]
Finley only has three forms now.
[ What does that mean?? ]
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[He has a sharp intake of breath at the mention of his wife's name.]
You're not. You're not. Never to me.
[He's about to say that A-Qing is alright, but...]
[The last statement stops him cold.]
What? Because...because she died? [...] The knife...do you...d-do you still have the knife?
[He assumes that's the connection, but...what could it mean?]
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He shakes his head softly. ]
I still have it. I think it was because we died and the grail resurrected us. She no longer has her lion form.
[ Hence rabbit instead. And why she's even uncomfortable like this in that form. But he... worries if this means he lost part of is soul. ]
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[holy shit we're fate/ now (is shot)]
[But he is sparing a glance at the grail before turning back to Kotetsu.]
You know...have you ever heard of a daemon settling?
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[ yeah, about that...
He shakes his head a bit at that. ]
I think Allen was asking about something like that. I know Finley tends to stay in her tiger form, but... What have you heard about it?
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[He frowns.]
Initially, I just thought it was simply "the event occurs, and the daemon stops changing". But perhaps it's more "the more trauma one undergoes, the less forms a daemon has available until it sticks to one". It is simply a theory, but...perhaps that is what is happening.
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Maybe, but then... I don't understand why it'd be that form of all of them.
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...What do you think that form meant to you? I always noticed Finley as a lion when you were feeling agitated...
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My confidence... whenever I started to doubt myself. You were really good at getting her out of that form.
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[He strokes through his hair, gently.]
Perhaps it is a good omen of the doubts you are leaving behind.
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