Rapture

[Grim Wolf]

(Naoko Raidon concluding from Dead-End Scenario)



Here's a question, Julian Avery; how did you end up at this house?

Raidon looked down at the body slumped feet from the door.  Raidon wasn't precisely sure how he recognized the house anymore; it was etched into his mind, a landmark of his subconscious.  As he'd wandered down from the Parish (first running as daggers bit into his guts, the slowing as the strength slowly drained from his legs, until at last he limped, tiredly, doggedly), he'd gone towards the houses without thinking, looking for that place--his sanctum, his memory.

Should've taken the damn bra off, Ray.  God, you're such a dumbass sometimes.

Thou shalt not say the Lord's name in vain, Simon.

Yeah, 'cause you've got a right to be speaking about the commandments to me.

Do as I say, not as I do.

I will hit you.

So how had Julian ended up here?  Coincidence?

I don't believe in coincidences.  God does not play with dice.

He looked down at the boy--his enemy, his accuser, his victim, his friend.  He went to one knee, used his hand--the one that wasn't clenched over his wound, struggling to hold back the blood leaking from him--to run a hand over his face, staring emptily into the sky.  "Thanks," he said softly.

Don't you go thanking me.

"It was you, wasn't it?" he said.

What?

"The one who injured him," Raidon said.  "Before I got there."

What if it was?

"Thanks," he said again.  "I couldn't have won without you."

You didn't win.

Raidon shrugged.  "Guess that's true."  He looked up into the night sky--heavy with darkness, bereft of comforting starlight.  "Hell, Julian," he grunted.  "Why couldn't we just shut the fuck up and help each other?"

Julian made no answer.  But then, the answer was pretty damn obvious

"You weren't a coward," Raidon said.  "Confused, maybe.  But no coward."  He started to get to his feet, and promptly discovered his legs were no longer strong enough to support him.

The impact didn't hurt, really; it was dim, distant pain, removed from what he was feeling now.  The all-consuming agony that had reached up from his stomach was gone, as was the fire that had been set in his shoulder with that triumphant swing of his now-lost axe.  The concerns of his body felt dull, uninteresting; a layer of warmth had settled in over his whole body, smothering his discomfort.  He felt at peace--as he had when he'd held Soryu in his arms, and slept the sleep of the dead.

Sleep of the dead.

By chance, there was a camera stationed across from him.  Its lens gleamed malevolently, focused on him.

Not by chance.  That camera is here and Julian is here--not for my benefit but I am benefiting from the forces that placed them here.  There is a plan and that plan has brought me here.

He cleared his throat.

"We lost," he said.  "I mean, I lost, obviously."  He jerked his chin down to the wound in his stomach--the wound he refused to look at, but he could feel it, in his hands and in his body.  His refusal to look was simple cowardice; so be it.  He had tried as hard as he could; he could accept a little cowardice, now that things were finally over.

"But you lost, too," he said.  "You lost because we got them out.  You lost because they refused to take the fools like me.  You lost because from now on, in the back of their heads, your next crop of players will know it can be done.  They can refuse to play and get out of here alive.  You've lost the power to tempt people to be their worst."

His head felt heavier than it had a few moment before, warmer.  His eyelids were starting to droop.  With a start he shook his head free of clouds, feeling a dim resurgence of pain in his stomach as a result.

"I killed out of weakness and fear," Raidon said.  "I tried to justify it--to kill only those who were threats, to eliminate the dangerous, but...but it was just a softer sort of evil.  Cowardly.  I didn't want to commit to being..."  He looked at Julian.  "I didn't want to be such a monster."  

I was the coward, Julian.

"But they stopped the monsters like me," Raidon continued.  "Locked us here, in our little hell, and left us to torment ourselves until we died.  And what happened to him, huh?  The big man, so long silent?"  He smiled at the camera.  "They left you bleeding.  They left you wounded.  And you'll die of it."

He leaned back more comfortably, let his head slump against the wall, and watched the camera from the corners of his eye.  "Your days are numbered.  The monsters have lost.  Those who refused your fucking deal got out."

Heavy, now, so heavy.  He couldn't keep his eyelids open.

"Listen close," he said, and he marveled that his voice could sound so loud, even from this remote distance.  "That's your death knell sounding.  Judgment Day is coming, and you'll die in a hell of your own design."

Eyes closed.  Thoughts not gone yet, though.  Thoughts of her.  No distance separating him from his head; he could see her, vision of striking perfection that she was, living, breathing ideal.  

She must have woken up by now.  Had she found it?  The note he'd hastily written as she'd argued with the guard of the boat.




Sorry for this.  For knocking you out.  For not letting you be the selfless woman you are.  Maybe you'll hate me for it.  Maybe you'll insist that saving some and leaving others is as evil as what those others did.  What I did.

But this isn't a question of selling your soul to survive.  You compromise nothing by going with them; you just get to live.  I accepted part of your premise--I accepted that to kill as I did was mad and stupid, and I'd just create hurt.  I changed my ways.  For you.

Do this for me.  Accept that it's better to be alive to make your ideals a reality than to die pointlessly for my sake.

I think I love you, Mizore Soryu.  I hope to God I see you again some day.

Sorry for arguing with you in a way that made it impossible to argue back.  But I guess it was the only way I was going to win one, yeah?



And on the backside...



This is done under extreme duress, in a situation where death is an all-too-real possibility.  I am sorry it is not official enough to meet the standards of the law, but I must plead to the conscience of whatever authorities read this.  I had no opportunity to do this properly.  I was hounded by death and by crisis.

I, Naoko Raidon, hereby bequeath the entirety of my estate to Mizore Soryu, to dispense of as she so chooses.  In anticipation of any challenges this will may suffer, I also pledge all my assets in support of legal fees to support her case.  

Respectfully,
Naoko Raidon



Scott McGregor you deserved less fear Alison Walworth you did not deserve my carelessness Maddy Stone I'm sorry my words drove you to this Victoria Logan I am sorry I harmed the woman you loved Maxwell I'm sorry you did not have the friends I did to save you from yourself.

Charlie, Zach, Julian, Simon how did I get so lucky as to have friends like you?

Soryu.

He'd fought so hard, he'd killed so many, he'd come so far, so he could escape this island and live.  So that he wouldn't die.  But now that it had come, well...

Dying like

this isn't...

so...

bad...

NAOKO RAIDON: ELIMINATED