awashlogs | Endgame Pt. 2.

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Endgame Pt. 2.

I had a little nut tree,
Nothing would it bear,
But a silver nutmeg
And a golden pear;

t's nearing the end.

The atmosphere in the Town is different now. There's a hush, as if the entire world is expecting something, watching and waiting and prepared for some final outcome --

And then it happens.

The trees come surging forward suddenly, intensely, aggressively. It's a fierce attack a determined attack, branchy limbs trying to take down human and building alike in the Town. But the attack reeks, too, of desperation.

It's the last battle, the last chance to bring about a happy ending. What will you do?

Welcome to the second event in Awash's Endgame, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to make your own logs and posts for this event!

If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

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"There was one I knew was wrong right away because he called me Keigo, just like you reminded me you wouldn't do."

Another pat on the back to them both for sorting that out ahead of time.

"That left me with two other voices. One said we should keep going forward and the other one told me to come his way because he was worried. I started walking toward the worried one and I think I kept following him the whole time until I was here."

He smiles understandingly.

"You were not entirely wrong, but I would not say it so easily.

"For my part, one of the voices agreed that we should press forward. Another said excitedly that we were nearly out. I was uncertain if you would be so eager despite the danger. You are far more wary. My hesitation lead to this."

He shakes his head at himself in disappointment, but then he sets his shoulders and shakes the disappointment off.

"But now, we shall prevail."

Not entirely wrong was still wrong enough, and Keigo hates their fairy tale life a little more.

"I'm not eager. I'm only doing this because I have to! That other part wasn't fair, though. I might sound like that. I'll be excited when we pass this test."

If they pass this test. But Keigo leaves that unsaid and wishes for some of Tonbokiri's optimism as he follows him back into the woods. Now that he knows just how tricky this is, he's going to listen carefully and think extra hard before he makes a single move in the fog.

"I as well. But let us save our excitement for when we conquer all three parts." With an encouraging pat on the back, Tonbokiri leads the way back into the woods.

This second time is not any simpler. Asano's voice says things that make Tonbokiri have to second guess what he instinctively feels is correct, which he is not particularly used to.

It takes him a long time to make each choice of what voice to follow. He worries that even one wrong choice will lead him back out to Chroma. He worries that Asano will make it out before him. He worries that the monsters of the forest might still attack even in the midst of these trials.

But, eventually, after much mental sweating, he follows the direction of the last voice into clear air. After a gasp of relief he immediately calls out,

"Asano-dono!"

When the fog descends again, the voice calling him Keigo is gone this time, like whoever is doing this doesn't bother when he's proven he won't fall for it. It's still hard to decide between the two other voices.

Think, he tells himself. What was wrong the first time? Tonbokiri said he wouldn't say he was worried so easily. He always tries to encourage him and makes him feel like he's capable, even if he isn't a super strong sword. Could it be that they're trying to trick him with a Tonbokiri that doesn't trust in his abilities? That sounds right! Keigo judges each thing he hears against this standard, making his way out of the fog bit by bit.

He's the first one out this time, almost wanting to kiss a location for the first time in his life when he realizes it's not the edge of Chroma. Tonbokiri appears before he even has time to worry too much.

He worries. But just a normal amount.

"I'm here!" They're not back where they started!

"Well done."

He won't get excited quite yet, but he is deeply relieved. To his mind, the cliff will be nothing compared to that.

Speaking of, not far in front of them, stands a sheer cliffside. Again, where did this come from? But the magic of the forest is as powerful as always.

"Asano-dono, you will have to hold my spear, as well as hold on to me firmly. No matter what happens, for however long it takes. Are you ready, or do you wish to rest a moment?"

The cliff is even worse than he imagined from the description on the forum. Climbing it looks impossible. If he were with anyone else right now, he would think it is impossible.

Rest a moment? Keigo wants to give up and rest forever, but that's not an option.

"Walking didn't tire me out." His tiredness is all mental and emotional. "Let's get it over with."

There's that enthusiasm.

That's Asano for you.

With a nod, Tonbokiri turns his back to him and kneels, holding his spear upright in one hand.

"If you wrap your legs around my waist and arms around my neck, you shall not impede my movement. The spear though... Can you hold it between your chest and my back? It doesn't matter how it is done, though, so long as you feel you have a secure grip."

"I think I can do that."

Keigo gets nervous even touching the spear, knowing how important it is, but he places it against Tonbokiri's back before wrapping his arms around his neck. He reaches one arm around far enough to grab the shaft of the spear, hopefully not in a choking way. It feels like it will do the trick. His body does a lot of the work of holding it in place, so keeping a strong grip on it isn't nearly as hard.

"I'll pull my legs up when you stand."

It's hardly the most dignified way Keigo's ever traveled, but he feels secure. Of course, they're still at ground level.

Asano feels secure against his back and his spear is taken care of. There is nothing left to do.

"Very well. Let us start, Asano-dono."

Standing, he pauses long enough for Asano to set his legs, then he moves forward at a quick walk. When they get to the base of the cliff he looks left and right to evaluate the best way up, then he starts climbing.

The added weight is no problem at all, and he can still pull himself up easily. Once he's gone up a few meters he checks with Asano, "Are you all right?"

Keigo holds on tight, tighter than he's ever held on before. Then he realizes he can probably spare that effort until they're actually climbing up.

The start of the climb isn't bad at all, so he can honestly say when Tonbokiri asks, "I'm okay for now."

"For now" is important. He's not willing to commit yet to how he will feel when they get higher above ground.

Tonbokiri will work hard to make sure that Asano has no concerns about 'later'.

His climb is steady, only pausing to check where the next sound hold is. He pays little attention to how far they have come, or how much further it is to the top. His focus on the climb allows for little in the way of conversation, though.

He has been climbing for some time when the cliff starts to get even more challenging. The rocks become more loose under his fingers; the holds are further apart and more precarious to reach for.

His pace slows, and it now worries him every time he puts his full weight on a tiny ledge of rock. What if- What if--

As suddenly as that, his thought becomes real. The rock under his foot crumbles, and they are jostled as he slides down slightly, his handhold the only thing keeping them from the fatal fall. Tonbokiri's boots scrape on bare stone for a stretched out handful of seconds before his foot finds another hold.

Breathing heavily from anxiety more than exertion, he quickly asks, "Asano-dono?"

It wasn't planned, but Keigo's position and need to hold on to the spear don't make it easy for him to look down. Looking up the sheer cliff still presents its own anxieties, just not as bad as he's sure it would be to watch the ground get farther away bit by bit. He tries to think light and non-resistant thoughts as they keep going higher.

For all of the screaming he's done in his life, in the actual moments when Tonbokiri is in danger of falling, Keigo freezes in his terror, no movement or sound coming from him. This is it. This is the one that finally does him in. They're both going to die.

Then it all comes out as soon as he checks on him.

"I thought we were going to die!"

That exclamation shouted in his ear is a grand relief.

Asano-dono was not wrong. They very well could die like this.

"Listen. I will not let you die. Even if the very worst happens, you will live. I shall ensure it."

Tonbokiri still holds a sun charm from the town as well as a talisman from Mutsunokami-dono. He himself can resist death. Therefore, if they do fall from the cliff, he will absolutely break Asano's fall. No matter what it takes.

He shall not burden the young man with such thoughts, though. Let his word be enough.

"...But, pray it will not come to that. I shall continue on."

And Tonbokiri continues the climb.

Keigo doesn't know if he should believe Tonbokiri. Even with his special powers or status or whatever "being a sword, really" counts as, he's not sure he can do much to protect a breakable human from a long fall. But he has to believe him. There's no other way he can go on.

"I'll still be here."

He makes sure his grip is extra secure and hopes even harder they make it to the top.

Asano's hopes will be rewarded eventually. It will only take some time.

Tonbokiri is even more careful at the climb becomes more treacherous, but most of his misses go, hopefully, unnoticed by Asano. More ledges crumbling to dust under his hand, reaching further and further for the next handhold, another ledge crumbling under his foot, that he braces against better this time, only sliding back slightly.

Tonbokiri is a fount of power and endurance, but even he is feeling the mental exhaustion creeping in after all this.

Then, suddenly, he finds a wider ledge. Hardly daring to hope that they are at the end at last, Tonbokiri takes a firm hold and asks,

"Asano-dono, please look up and tell me if we are near the end?"

The misses don't go completely unnoticed, but then Keigo also gets worked up about things that aren't even close to misses, and it all evens out into a general sense of worry, free of dedicated "We're going to die!" moments.

He doesn't even realize he's coped with it by squeezing his eyes shut until Tonbokiri asks him to check on their progress.

"We are!" The tone of his voice communicates he can't quite believe what he's seeing.

"Just two or three more steps up, and we'll be at the top!"

Wondrous news!

Although hope fuels the last few meters of the climb, Tonbokiri does not let his guard down until they are soundly on the flat top of the cliff. Once there, he takes a deep breath and kneels down to let Asano descend from his back.

"Thank you, Asano-dono. You brought my spear safely to the top."

Keigo slides down, and after making sure Tonbokiri has his spear back in hand, collapses back on the ground where he sprawls out on his back.

"You brought me safely to the top!"

That's the more important thing to him.

"We each had each other's lives literally in our hands. And our trust was rewarded."

He will give Asano as long as he wishes to rest, but his eyes are pulled towards the ornate, small chest. The goal and prize of the trials.

But then, that means the third trial is upon them.

Being this close to it, Tonbokiri gains the understanding, in the magical way the town has, that this third trial is a sacrifice of memory. They can choose to forget a 'meaningful memory' or a 'relationship', but... it makes Tonbokiri nervous. They clearly will not get to choose what memory or relationship is lost.

He looks down at the chest with something approaching a glare.

"I do not understand why, at the end of all things, we must break a bond to move forward. Every memory, every person I have met here is precious to me."

Keigo stays on the ground a little longer, but then he decides he should stick close to Tonbokiri. Even if the description of this third challenge didn't say anything about danger, there's no point taking any unnecessary risks now, after they've been through so much.

As he gets closer to the chest, the magical knowledge comes to him, too, confirming what he read about the final test.

"I know! You told us that one time how the quests that made us form bonds were the most important!"

But is it really the worst thing to have to give up? It's not like the chest is asking them to chop off a hand or something.

"I guess I don't really care if I have to give up a memory. Maybe I'll get lucky and it'll be a really bad one!"

Heh. That is a reaction very like Asano-dono.

"That is not a bad way to look at it. The town has counted both negative and positive experiences as 'significant'. I shall also relinquish a memory."

And perhaps, if he forgets it ever happened, he will not notice the hole the town is putting in his mind.

With no further reason to wait, Tonbokiri puts a hand on the lid of the chest. He nods at Asano-dono. Together, they will be able to open it and take their prize.

With a return nod, Keigo slaps his hand on the chest and thinks his offer of a memory towards it. They're doing this.

They've done it?

"We just open it now?"

He tries pulling up on the lid, and it lifts without any effort. Inside he can see a number of sheets of paper and read bits of various profiles in the jumble of pages. They're just like the one he saw already placed in the book.

"There they are!"

"Ah, good..."

He'd still had a kernel of worry lingering within him that it would not be so simple, but here it was.

The pages seem to him to be in no particular order, so he starts leafing through them, conscientiously trying to not read anything beyond the name.

It happens that he finds Asano's before his own, and he tries to lift it out of the chest, but it is stuck fast.

"Here, Asano-dono. It seems that we truly cannot take another's page."

What a stickler for the rules! He's right here, and Tonbokiri was obviously going to hand it his page to him. Keigo pulls it out to let him get back to looking for his own.

"Got it!"

He reads over his data intently. Until he finds a less than flattering description.

"They didn't have to put it that way!"

Endgame Pt. 2.

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