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Rex grinned at Amrita, a sort of creepy yet somehow...cute? grin. His tail flicked back and forth as he scarfed one of those cookies he had saved. Yes, happy raptor was happy, so happy he might have even purred (that is if dinosaurs purred) and offered to share said cookies. Well...maybe not on the sharing, he only had so many and he'd already shared a sandwich.

Where -did- that food come from anyway? What are you asking -me- for? How should I know, ask the damn -pillar-. It's the one that said it liked happy endings!

He had gone away, never to be seen again. Westus hadn't been smiling when he had ceased to exist, but when he returned it kind of looked like he might have been... wait... no, that was a grimace.

The fragment's memories, his life as a dreamer, hit him like a cold wind, like ice cream brain freeze. He didn't make a sound, mostly because some part of him still thought he lacked the ability to, but trailing that thought he realized there were other voices around him and he could hear them and...

"Gglaghh," he said, his arm rising slowly from where he had been holding it tight against his side. It felt like lead. His whole body felt like it was packed with liquid metal, in fact. He rubbed his eyes, his blurry vision sharpening slowly. He noticed his hand had regained some of its color and when he tugged a lock of his hair in front of his face, he saw it had as well. The strands were pale, like a blush, and Westus' smirk upon seeing them was full of muted sarcasm. He only had a short time left, and it seemed he would spend that time with bright pink hair. He laughed once. It could have been worse. It had been.

Westus squinted as he peered into the crowd, his gaze finally sharpening when it found her. He pushed himself to his feet again, savoring the burn that spread through his limbs not because he enjoyed it, but because it would all soon be gone. He made his way over to her cautiously, fully intending to reply only after she had addressed him.

"You're not really the Phoenix, right? I mean... I don't know. You changed somehow."

So much for only speaking when spoken to.

....It wasn't going away. D:

What did it want from her? Did it want her to eat this sandwich? ...But he already took a bite out of it! Besides, she didn't really eat, what with the whole being undead thing. Sure she could, but she didn't necessarily enjoy it. She stood there for a little while, looking as awkward as she felt, one hand holding up the sandwich while the other tapped nervously against her thigh.

...

...

"...H-hey, um, wanna do me a favour, uh...boy?"

He was awake again, but he was no less blind then when his memories had been torn apart and his mental body thrown into a cold and dark place. This kind of blindness was different, though, and was born of a hot, white light, so that when he opened his eyes he found them quickly shutting again with a gasp and a wince. But there were sounds! The rustling of fabric, the murmuring of confused voices. He slowly sat up, the brightness dimming enough that he could test opening his eyes once more, only to see that he was still there, still in this alternate world that was not his own, and his chest gripped with a sudden panic. Were they stuck here, then? Would they ever be allowed to leave?

That's when he felt it, a mental nudge that had his eyes turning, trained upon a white pillar even as a gentle yet authoritative voice spoke to him, providing him with an ease of comfort. No, they would not be staying. Just a chance to say goodbye then. He could sense the truth in the words, and relief coursed through him. Because this Alexander was done with this world. He wasn't even sure he wanted to say goodbye, he just wanted to leave.

But as he let his gaze drift around the room, he could see the others. Belladonna and Sophie and Julian. They were still here, they were saying their goodbyes to this world. Alex pushed himself to his feet slowly, reached up to run fingers through his hair, and set to the task of making himself walk forward, stopping when Sophie gave him a look, and allowing a slow and tired smile to tug up on the corners of his lips. "You know that wasn't me, Soph." He reached out to muss up her hair, a hint of amusement in his eyes that quickly faded when he cast his glance to Belladonna next, and then finally, to Mort.

That cheerful face that was so achingly familiar. More human in appearance, to be sure, but still undeniably Mort. What parting words could he give to this man before he fled this world for what he hoped would be forever? Well, to start with, he bowed. A fake King this might be but he had still been Alex's King, before he had been awoken, and he deserved at least that.

And then he spoke, the words awkward, feeling clumsy on his tongue. "I just uh...I wanted to say goodbye, I guess." He finally managed, scuffling his foot against the floor. Was there really anything left for him to say? He didn't feel like he needed to apologize for any action he had taken. He didn't feel like explaining himself or chatting about a fragment version of himself, a sad and lonely dhampire that hid his pain behind wit and charm, quips and jokes and insinuations. But he didn't know what would happen in this world when he left. Would it finally crumble and die? Would all of it's inhabitants, it's fragments, fall into slumber once more? Or would they be allowed to live on, and play out their fake lives? It was enough to make his head spin to think about. To even consider a place where another version of himself continued to live on, a version of himself that he wanted very much to not exist, because knowing that an Alex full of that much pain existed was almost enough to make him collapse into tears on that very spot.

Yeah. I know the real you. That was an understatement. Her expression lifted with amusement. And, if I'm going to be honest with you, which I think you deserve, I was doing more than checking up on you. The amusement in her eyes faded. I wanted to keep you by my side. Maybe just a little bit of my reasoning might have to do with my selfish needs, but in the end, if I kept you near, then I would be the only one who would kill you. She felt a stab of guilt for admitting it. I thought, well, I was told, everyone had to die, to save our friends..

Her eyes clouded over as she realized that perhaps, they had been lied to. Medea may not have been completely truthful about the necessity of a massacre.. or maybe she'd just been wrong.

I guess, I'm kind of glad it never came to that. Her fingers tightened around his hand. Knowing you, you probably wouldn't have forgiven me. And then you'd be mad, right now.. Her other hand reached up and patted his cheek. I like this ending, better.

It was good that Belladonna had the mind to support him, otherwise the king would have staggered back. As it was, Mort tensed just a moment before Ofelia head utter him, bracing himself for the clash of keratin and crown as their particular horns bashed against one another, biting back a cry.

Perhaps it was imagined, but there might have been a 9999 floating above their heads for just a second.

"Ah...Fair enough," he mumbled with a wince, though he was quick to smile at the tiefling's question as he shook his head. Ow - bad move. Too soon. "I wouldn't call this an end so much as a new beginning," he told her cheerily. "We know what we are, and that means we can move forward. Fragments or the genuine thing, we exist and therefore we have the choice to make of it as we want. It doesn't have to be a bitter closing to a convoluted tale."

He passed a glance at the faerie behind him as if to say "Right?" Forgiveness was taken gratefully, but...She'd been listening and thinking for herself and now he was curious to hear her take.

Tilting her head Mitsu wasn't sure what to say. How did she feel about the voice? "I...don't know that I can be angry. Without the voice I would likely not be here at all though maybe it would have been better that way I don't know. But I was given a place, friends, family, and someone to care about for a little while. It felt real to me."

She paused for a moment, her eyes seeking out the red king. "You're friend is okay now right? The one your Red King was made after?"

Why were they being so mean to one another? "This is supposed to be our happy ending!" Olivia blurted out, louder and rougher than usual. She wanted it to stop, because they were both apart of her family and she didn't want them to fight; especially over her, she didn't want anyone to have to fight over someone like her when she still didn't know if she deserved such attention.

Collecting herself from her outburst, Olivia gave Andrew a small look to let him know she'd deal with him in a moment. She turned to Molan and hesitantly placed her hand on his chest. "Please stop," her usual tone returned, "he's my family too and I care about both of you." She gave him a small smile, "I don't want you to go, but I do want you to find ... him..." Wow, Olivia still didn't have a name for him.

There were so many more things to wanted to say, until yet another man came up to her apparently brand new older brother that was only going to last for so long. Olivia's brows pushed together as she looked between the two. Just how many people looked like Molan exactly?

Raja

Don't make Olivia bring out tiny fists of fury

phantompanther13