Welcome to Gaia! ::

Faust stared. Somehow, her willingness to die was worse than her initial fear.

"If you want to know the truth, I don't wish to kill you. I'd rather die myself," he said, looking meaningfully at Netsubo. The ghastly apparition of Mephistophiles/ Eliza's skull was showing through the rotted skin, and Faust squeezed his eyes shut to block the image.

Faust couldn't seem to speak on the subject; laboriously, he nodded his head, not watching the decomposition of Mephistophiles/Eliza. He took Netsubo's hand, squeezing it briefly, trying to show her that she had his understanding and pity.

"This is wrong," Faust said suddenly. "A child like you shouldn't have nothing to live for. I'm not getting any younger, hey. I've lived a fuller life than many people have, and I'll probably be dead within the next year anyway. You... you could do so much, be so much, Netsubo. You could grow up, and get married, and have children! Things I could never do. What would it accomplish, for me to take them from you? I acknowledge and honor your selflessness, Netsubo, but I don't want to be a monster."

"We could both die," suggested Faust quietly. "I'd go on, with Eliza, and you... you would have missed out on a lot, but life is very full of pain."

"This wasn't supposed to happen!" Beelzebub buzzed angrily, in hornet form. "Faust can't die! We need him, remember?"

"Yes," Mephistophiles groaned, pulling his skin up and shifting back to his preferred form, looking like a red-eyed, fanged version of Faust once more. "Hao had better intercept this before they help each other commit harakiri."

"That is an ended chapter," Faust said softly, the sadness in his eyes conveying boundless regret. "I'm a broken man, Netsubo, and it seems like a waste for the world to lose you simply so I can languish for a short time longer. Either live, or let us die together. Even though everyone, in fact, takes that journey alone."

"Here's the plan, then," Faust sighed, the finality heavy in the weight of his voice. "We'll give each other lethal injections, because that way, it isn't quite suicide. That's the main thing that's been keeping me from dying, because I want to see Eliza, and in my religion suicides go to hell. But first, I need you to swear something to me," he said, making eye contact with Netsubo. "Swear that you will not curse me, in this life or the next, if we help each other this way."

"Good," Faust said, smiling softly as he prepared the injections. "These will be very mild... we should only feel the barest minimum of pain, and only for a short while. It takes a full two minutes for the serum to stop the heart, and there really isn't a way to reverse the process once it's started." He handed her one of the syringes. "Are we ready? You can give me mine first..."

"Hao!" hissed Mephistophiles. "Are you going to allow Faust to die? Don't you remember your side of the bargain?" he was getting angry, his red eyes burning orange.