DEADLAND

[petoskeymods]

[Some time after your character dies, they will wake up in their bunk in camp. But something is wrong here, so very wrong.

Venture outside, and you will see that you're still in camp, but it's trapped in a foggy twilight. Time doesn't seem to pass, and it's quiet. Too quiet. No animals, no breeze, nothing.

The only sign of anything living is in the trees, where dozens and dozens of ghostly figures roam. Sometimes they might come into camp, but you'll probably have to go out to meet them if you want to talk to them. They all seem to be watching camp, but are shy and might flicker away if they're approached.

Finally, in the chapel in the lodge, there is a shadowy figure. It looks like a preteen, perhaps? Maybe 11 or 12 or so. But that's about all you can get from it at a glance.

But you're here now, and there are things to do. Where will you start?]

Comments

[diesifkilled]

[That total lack of resistance is even more annoying. It'd be easier to forgive him if he tried to actually explain himself, but this? Just makes Shirou clench his jaw harder.]

Do you even get how much you meant to us all? How much everyone's been relying on you? And you just threw it all away. Did you ever even care?

[He's being too harsh, he knows. Ichigo just died, and it was probably some stupid accident and not even his own fault, but. He's too hurt. He failed his own ideals, he failed his promise to Red, so he'd clung to Ichigo's words as his next lifeline. And this time he's not the one who failed.]

[bladeisme]

[His head seems to sink lower with every barb, his hair covering his expression, because -

Shirou's right. Every word is right, and he's right to be angry. He's right if he never wants to talk to Ichigo again at all, honestly - and there's nothing he can say to defend himself or even make excuses.

So he stays silent, looking for all the world like a statue.]

[diesifkilled]

[There's no response. Why isn't he saying anything back? Why isn't he defending himself? It's just pissing Shirou off more and more, and really, he knows why.

And that's why he's turning around to face Ichigo again, glaring straight at his stupid bowed face. He's a touch calmer now, speaking in an even tone.]

No, I get it. It's not that you don't care about the rest of us, right? You just don't care about yourself. That's why you thought it was fine to let yourself get killed.

[bladeisme]

[There's a part of him that wants to yell - that wants to say that shirou should know this better than he does, after everything. Shirou offered so many times to die before it turned out he murdered someone, and the words are there, burning on the tip of his tongue -

But he swallows them down, because it's not the time to say them. Because Shirou is right to be angry, to point out his failings, even if this decision was made during a time when he wasn't thinking correctly.]

....Yeah. You're - you're right.

[He finally speaks, but he's still listless, still bowed.]

....I...wanted everyone to be safe. So they wouldn't suffer anymore. But I failed, at the end. I let someone kill me without thinking of how they'd feel about it, because I couldn't kill them when it came down to it.

...There's nothing else I can say.

[diesifkilled]

[He stares at that bowed head and wishes he could see Ichigo's eyes. He's passed the irritation and reached the point where it's hard to stay angry at someone so completely unwilling to stand up for himself.]

...You're such an idiot. There's no way you can save anyone by just throwing your own life away.

[He's had to learn that the hard way himself, hasn't he? Sure, he kept doing it here, but only because it was the only thing he knew how to do. And after Lance's death, after Archer, he'd had to accept how hypocritical and futile it was.

Does that mean he has the right to judge Ichigo for that same behaviour now? Not really. Just like he hadn't had any right to judge Saber back then.

(I thought you'd understand, she'd said when he told her to live for herself)]

But... I'm not helping anyone by yelling at you, either. So how about we both stop being idiots and get over this already?