@unbindingpages 's karl asked : how are you still alive?
ethan was too preoccupied staring down at his hands ― his very much intact hands ― to hear what his daughter was saying to him.
he truly died that day... again in that village. he remembered shoving chris away just as a scion of the awakened megamycete came crashing down on the bridge before it crushed them both; severing the bridge in half and preventing chris to step forward even if he knew he couldn't.
' watch over her. teach her to be strong. goodbye, rosemary. '
he remembered the tears blurring his vision as his breath came out in harsh gasps in debilitating anxiety, facing the truth of what was to come in that next moment. all while staring up at that monstrosity with the detonator in his left hand.
all he had ever wanted was a peaceful life ( or as something close to it after the dulvey incident ) with his wife and his baby. man, maybe the universe had it out for him because it felt as though he had been bestowed the short, brittle end of a stick.
and maybe that was why he had gotten another chance? whatever other deity up above or fucking mother fate took pity on him and decided to help him, at long last. he was so goddamned confused when he woke up, he legitimately believed he was in a weird afterlife within the mold, especially after helping his daughter when she entered the realm of consciousness...
now here ethan was, in some bsaa facility, under some fuck shit surveillance after chris saved whatever remnants of himself in the rumbled village and his rosemary had given her father some of her blood & mold in hopes to restore him as he was... yeah..., some fuckin' life. but, even with that bullshit, he had his kid to keep him company whenever she had the chance to do so.
as for mia... he was scared... she had lost him twice. and he couldn't stomach seeing her again because he feared she could never recover if something were to happen again for the third time. maybe he ought to ask chris about mia. or even rosemary...
ethan didn't even feel human anymore. he simply cannot fool himself as one. sometimes food tasted like ash on his tongue unless the meals are bold and flavourful. even then, the bitterness lingered in the back of his throat...
barely catching the last bit of rosie's question, he peered up at her concerned expression and he immediately wanted to fix that. " uh, yeah i'm alright, sweetie. i'm just tired. it's been a bit overwhelming, you know? after everything" and she truly did. ethan was her father. a father who went to hell twice where one was for her. then she grew up without him... when she woke up from the realm of consciousness, rosie immediately went to chris about her idea.
" yeah, i hear ya dad. how about we ― " she was cut off by a familiar voice he thought dead.
he snapped his head to the side and settled his wide eyes on the last fucking person he had ever expected. " no way... how are you alive? i blew you up! " he exclaimed, pointing at that magneto imitation all while standing up and gently push rosemary behind him.
