MASKTOURN

After speaking with Kenji, Albanes finally approached Maddy. To say she had mustered courage to do so would not be an adequate description- she was still nervous, frightful- sickeningly worried. She was back in a state of weakness- back to the state where she had been so vulnerable, godhood had seemed like a good choice. She had left that all behind so long ago- she had changed, hadn't she?- but now, she was back. Back in her old ways. Back in her layered, borrowed, plague-ridden clothes. Back with her dead mother's earrings and her dead brother's jacket and the dirt of her homeland caked onto her boots (Never cleaned, because that would mean having to let it go). Her hair tied in a ribbon Juno had given her, her pockets full of crumpled notes from the lessons Juno had taught her (She carried him as much as she did herself, but he was here now, too. And he was a child now). She was back in her teenage body- with her matted curls and chipped nails and too-small prosthetic that made her limp. She had moved on, she had grown- but had she ever really left this moment? Albanes approached Madelyn cautiously- hoping she would speak first, so she wouldn't have to. She didn't know what to say, only that she had to say something. She hoped, desparately, that what she had done could be forgiven. Could be understood. But if it couldn't... maybe she could live with that. At least, she could die with it. She took in a heavy breath, and dared, "... Maddy?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

All the while Albanes has been talking to Kenji, Madelyn was standing off by the edge of the water, slowly removing her armor. Piece after piece clanked on to the ground, the last thing being her gauntlets. She was left in her typical sweater and cargo pants, with half her hair shaved. She looked older, which had been her choice. She didn't really have to age, but Persis and Albanes were, so she tried to follow along. She had just started to reach under the collar of her sweater when Albanes finally stepped up to her. ".. Albanes.." Madelyn responded after silence for a moment. "I didn't think you'd ever come and talk to me." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes shifted, and adjusted her oversized coat. "I'm sorry. I... I had to make things right with Kenji and Aarni." She stalled. "And... and I didn't know what to say to you. I was afraid." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Madelyn took in a deep breath and took her hand out of her sweater, choosing to instead cross her arms over her chest. She hadn't yet looked at Albanes. ".. You thought I'd hurt you, or something? You think I'm really that evil? I guess you do- since you did all of this." Madelyn mumbled. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"No-" Albanes immediately jumped to defend herself. "I was afraid of what you'd think of me." She crossed her arms and looked away. "But if this is what it is, I can leave you alone." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

.. Madelyn didn't have to say anything for her thoughts about Albanes being the Lifebringer to be quite clear. ".. I don't hate you." Madelyn said, right before Albanes probably would've taken the hint to leave. "But someone who loved me wouldn't become the thing that wanted nothing more than me to be wiped off of the planet. I thought you saw me for me, beyond all the.. Disgustingness. I thought I had someone who could actually love me for me." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes was silent for a while. "... I don't think you understand what it was like to be in that position." She said quietly. "To be so alone. You simply had the luxury of dying first." Her words were said without malice- but with a quiet, understated resignation. "I became the Lifebringer because I could not bear to live without you. It was- it was so much easier to cut out the part of me that loved and cared than to live with your absence." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

".. it's not like I chose to die, it would've happened at the same time regardless of if we went on that trip or not." Madelyn said quietly, not even entirely sure of that herself. "Even if we lived a long, normal life together, would you still have done it? If Persis hadn't died like that, that day? Was this inevitable?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Does it matter? We don't live in a world where that happened." Albanes protested. "I could spend the rest of my eternal existence here thinking about every 'what-if' possible. I don't know if it was inevitable or not, just like I don't know if I was always doomed to get the powers in the first place. All I know is what I have, and the choice I've made." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Hm. Well, I told Sadihak to go and get rid of your Lifebringer box when they get back. So whatever offshoot universe they're from can't end up with you like this again." Madelyn sighed. "Your eternal life? So you're going to keep living here..?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes looked to ETERNITY. She didn't even flinch, facing it. "If I stayed here, I'd live forever. But I'm not doing that. Some of... us, the Lifebringers, might. But I can't imagine staying here long without going mad from boredom." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

".. So.. Where are you going to go?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"The fold." She said simply. "... not much else I could go to." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

".. That's where I'm going, too. But Melinoe needs to go to wherever it wants to go first." Madelyn said, slowly uncrossing her arms. "So.. do you still want to go with me? Or did you just come to say bye..?" @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes still didn't look towards Maddy. "Once we go... there won't be much of anything. No more knowing, no more... us. It's goodbye anyways." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"To be nothing is what I want." Madelyn said, and finally looked over to Albanes. She was surprised to see that she was looking more like a teenager than the adult woman she had grown to recognize.. But she didn't really have a place to judge people changing up their look. "I don't know if it would be possible for you, but.. We could try to go to the departed realm instead.. I think you're more conscious of things there. I didn't want to have to feel anymore, but without Melinoe, and with you... I think I would be willing to try." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes shook her head. "No. I... if that's what you want, that's fine, but... I can't. I'm Loucari- in my blood, in my body, in my heart- and I don't know if I can let go of that part of me, even going into death." A pause. "Especially going into death. I want to find my rest in the Fold." "And besides, I don't think I'd mind the peace of nonexistence after almost five hundred years of consciousness." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Madelyn had never been especially attached to her assumed afterlife. Not like the FSM had ever really done much for her.. And with everything she had done, everything Albanes had done.. They might not even end up in the same afterlife realm. The departed realm is wishful thinking. "Nothing will be.. Nice. I think. I want to stop thinking." Madelyn said quietly. "I think that might be all I've ever known for sure." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Mhm." Albanes hummed. "For a very long time, I was very afraid to die. But... I think I'm ready for it now." She looked towards Maddy. "Do you... want to go together?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"Mhm." Albanes hummed. "For a very long time, I was very afraid to die. But... I think I'm ready for it now." She looked towards Maddy. "Do you... want to go together?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

@Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Together.." Madelyn repeated, looking at Albanes with a low gaze. "Yes, together. I'll just need you to help me with one last thing." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes offered her hands towards Maddy. "What is it? I'll do anything I can." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Madelyn had already taken her gauntlets off, but she reached out and took Albanes' hand. She didn't frequently do that, even in life. Her powers made her hands much too damaging to hold anyone. Slowly, her form shifted, twisting and morphing back to one that Albanes hadn't seen in quite a while. Her younger self, long unruly green hair and all. The few wrinkles she had were gone, all the things she had changed just to keep up with her wife's aging reverted back to how they used to be. "I need you to remove Melinoe again for me, I'm sorry. I can't do it myself." Maddy said. "I know you.. probably haven't recovered from the last time you had to do it. I'm sorry." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes blinked away tears as Maddy shifted forms, and trembled at her request- though not exactly out of fear. "Of course. I can do that." Albanes steeled herself, and took in a breath. She took one of her hands out of Maddy's, and held it near her chest. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Maddy grabbed at the neck of her hoodie, but paused. "I don't think I'll die so quickly after this time, but in case it does instantly kill me somehow..." Maddy took in a deep breath. "I love you, Albanes. I'm sorry I never said it enough before. You really are everything to me, I never deserved someone as.. as amazing as you. I-I don't know why you stuck by me, but I really appreciated it.. even if I never said it out loud." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes's lips parted, then closed, then formed into a quiet, melancholy smile. "I love you too., Maddy. You were the center of my being for almost as long as I've known you. Thank you, for sticking with me. And for giving... this a chance." "We won't ever have to say goodbye again, now." She said, her voice soft. "I guess that's the nice thing about it." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

"Hah, yeah I guess I was.. You never dated after I died, did you? Not that I care- because I was dead for hundreds of years already.." Maddy sighed. "Sticking with you is the least that I could do." "No more goodbyes.. I do think I like that." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

"I never even stopped thinking of you, even for a moment." Albanes reassured. She moved her hand slightly closer to Maddy's chest. "Are you... ready?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Maddy nodded, very slowly, and pulled down the neck of her sweater to reveal her skin. As she always chose, her chest was basically flat. That didn't stop her from feeling awkward about it and leaning further in to Albanes, angling in toward her. The flesh, muscle, and bone over her heart slowly pulled away, and revealed the overworked and perpetually failing organ. It was dark and half rotted away, beating at an unusual pace. Nothing that was a surprise to either of them, that's just how it was when you had a large parasitic worm living in your heart I suppose, messes stuff up. The organ itself didn't open up, but it seemed.. Gross and squishy. Probably easy to break through. Maddy's face paled even further than usual, and she squeezed her eyes shut. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes, by choice or by nature, did not show much of a reaction at the way Maddy's flesh and bone pulled away. Though, there was still somewhat of a reaction there- she paled, she bit her lip, and she hesitated- not out of disgust but out of memory of where she had been the last time she had done this. Albanes gave Maddy's hand a tight squeeze, and moved it to more steadily hold her, incase she needed to hold her steady. She took in a deep breath, and very carefully pressed her hand to the walls of Maddy's heart, tearing it open with all the gentleness she could muster. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Maddy grunted as Albanes opened up her heart. As promised, Melinoe was there, curled up inside of the left ventricle. It was pressed tight against the bottom. "C-careful, it.. C-could still bite you.. Y-you could use my gauntlets if you want.." Maddy said weakly, and leaned against her further. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes kept Maddy steady in her arms, never once moving away. "Mhm-" Albanes nodded, and pulled her hand away briefly to slip Maddy's gauntlet over her hand for added protection. She didn't know what Melinoe could do to her in this world- but it was better to be safe than sorry. She returned her hand to Maddy's heart, and as gently as she could, slipped in her armed fingers to pull out Melinoe. It was harder to be gentle with the limited dexterity the gauntlets provided, but she tried nonetheless. @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

The worm hissed and dug in to the cardiac tissue surrounding it in protest. That wasn't enough to stop Albanes though, since it really wasn't all that strong.. Once removed, it wiggled horribly in the open air, attempting to bite down on the fingers of Maddy's gauntlets with as much might as it could muster. It was no match for the metal. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes held Melinoe up and away from both herself and Maddy, and carefully placed it down in the grass. She turned her attention back to Maddy. "Are you alright?" @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Melinoe continued to hiss in protest, but wiggled around toward the water until it eventually touched it.. And then it was gone. Maybe it had wished to go to some disgusting bog full of rotting meat, so much that it would never be full. Oh, and plenty of ungloved hands to bite on to, it wanted those too. But seems like the couple would never know its true fate... As Melinoe left, Maddy's body was growing weaker at an incredibly fast rate. Her heart wasn't beating of course, and her flesh was getting... Mushy.. She let out one awful sounding cough before her legs gave out. "G-go.." She wheezed, half of her face sinking down further than the other. She took in one more raspy breath, with extreme effort. "Love... you." @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Albanes payed little mind to Melinoe's disappearance, only enough to know it was gone. "I love you. I love you." Albanes repeated, keeping Maddy in her arms for as long as she still could. They were running out of time- they were somehow always running out of time. With what little time they did have, Albanes carried Maddy over to the water, submerging them both. When it came up to her waist, she let Maddy slowly down into it- in baptismal, loving gentleness. Light began to envelop them both, like the warmth of a dream of a summer's day. There was no words she could say to accurately convey how she felt. She could have had all the time in the world, and not had enough time to say it. Hadn't her immortal life proved that? Words alone could not express her feeling. Life was too short, and love was too long. But maybe that love could outlive their mortality. "I'll see you on the other side, my dear" She murmured, even though Maddy was too far gone to hear it, "I love you." @Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Maddy's eyelids were cracked open, ever so slightly, up through when they were enveloped by the light. It was hard to tell if she was still listening- by all common sense, she should've died before they even entered the pool. She was looking at Albanes just because that's what she happened to be doing before.. Her eyes closed as the light became too bright. "We'll.. rest.. forever.." She whispered, hardly audible. "Love..." She had the time and strength to say nothing more. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Mads | Roman 🥁 Asha 🎆 ? 🪱

Maddy's eyelids were cracked open, ever so slightly, up through when they were enveloped by the light. It was hard to tell if she was still listening- by all common sense, she should've died before they even entered the pool. She was looking at Albanes just because that's what she happened to be doing before.. Her eyes closed as the light became too bright. "We'll.. rest.. forever.." She whispered, hardly audible. "Love..." She had the time and strength to say nothing more. @innsjo | kyrie🪶+ darcy🖋+npcs

Maddy faded before Albanes did- within Albanes's arms. Once she had been enveloped by the light and water, Albanes fell down to her knees and let the water surround her. She let herself go. She let herself be nothing more. And wasn't it so good, to rest?