#otoma

Speedpaint repost from TikTok:)

Happy pride!

Happy endings are often something people argue you should work hard for. You need to suffer, you need to fight, and eventually you need to win against overwhelming odds, and only at that point does the protagonist of your story deserve to have a happy ending.

Of course, whether or not you believe in this, it doesn’t matter. What matters is the sort of ending our ‘hero’, as he wished to be, eventually gains.

A child of an evil wish, a wish to ruin lives for the sake of profits, raised from the earth and molded into a man of a machine, for two years he has deceived and cheated, for two years his existence has been the perversion of someone who deserved to live and to act as he wished-

He’s really not sure if he deserves to be here. He’s not one of them. And, in a way, he still desired to become that false god he and Pepper could’ve been. In a way, he does still desire the chance to save the human race from themselves, and ensure that they’d live long, happy lives. Without conflict. Without what makes them what they are.

His dreams have always been factual recreations of his memories, as they are just that- memories flowing between his two brains, packaged and prepared to be sent off somewhere far away.

Like a message in a bottle cast out to sea. 

He’s really not certain at all as to what he should say. What he could say. And, perhaps, the world hears that. The emptiness and uncertainty, the sort of white void that is not all-enveloping nor hostile, but simply- there. And perhaps once again, in some ways, they can relate to that.

Just silence won’t do, though. Eventually, he’ll settle on a scenery of something pleasant- perhaps the floating islands will do. He remembers them crystal clear, and the scenery was always dear to him.

It’s simply a backdrop for his words, as he begins to walk. Walk, and walk- walk across the sky, even, and towards the horizon. Walking home. His home. Their home. The whole world’s home.

“I wasn’t able to save you like I wanted to.” The wind gently blows.

“I might never be able to with what I can do now.” The sun shines, warm and kind.

“But I’ll keep trying anyway, not as some powerful being.” There’s a nice scent of something or other in the air.

“But as just another person flawed with the human condition.” The ground underneath feels solid, welcoming.

“So keep dreaming of a better world. A better world you all deserve. And we’ll all work for it together.” The world feels right.

Silence reigns, and he feels like he’s almost done with his short pep talk. He doesn’t have the right to say more, he thinks- that’s for the survivors, for the dead, for everyone but him to say, but he wants to indulge one last time. With some final words. 

What if someone still needed to stay behind?

Would either him or Pepper be strong enough to carry that weight through? 

Did his ideals still hold strong?

Ichi looked around him, to the people present, and perhaps past them and to the void once more, thoughtful. He had steeled his resolve through this whole game, prepared for the inevitable by the time Eunsang taught him of what he would have to do- and, in turn, he had come up with what he would do once his required duties were handled.

Saving the world and its people by bringing paradise to them had been his very own idea, after all, an addition to Eunsang's duties of simply keeping things running. But, as he had come to realize, perhaps humanity didn't need- or rather, want, a savior just yet.

It might be past his time on this earth. They'll be ready later, or maybe they never will.

"I... Am willing to come with you all and go home, if Pepper wishes to take that spot." He tilts his head and watches his co-competitor, thinking. "Although, if we were to charge this friendship and hope spirit bomb of yours with all of the world's people and their dreams, I do think this potential ROM of yours would gain enough humanity to handle things by themselves." He trusted her to handle herself, but... He feels a little bit of pity, for some reason.

Shrug.

It’s hopeless, no matter what the result, if he’s to be forgotten. Left alone in the void, or…

Thoughts like this bounce around in his head as he keeps gazing to the void. It’s embrace neverending, gentle arms locked around him. Hmm. Is this how Teach felt when he was alone here, just- empty? Ahah. Maybe this was a final lesson to be imparted upon him. A good dash of despair from Eunsang, just to get him and Pepper ready for the job.

It’s tempting to give up. Accept what comes, be it being forgotten, or-

He glances to the side. Hoshi being the way he is. Minami being her mule-like self. Avery, and her stubbornness. Lucy and her, ah, Australian-ness. Cameron and their hope. Niko and his cool, if broken facade. Leslie, and her spunk. Elise and her belief. Tatsuya. Yao. Ken. Pepper. So many others, present and not so present-

And Eunsang, crying after so long.

Human life is so brief and brazen, he’s come to realize. Him and his short lifespan included. But they burn so bright, brighter than he’d really given them credit for. And as much as he wants to save them, as much as he wants to make sure they all live happy lives-

maybe it’s no-one’s place to be the author of the human condition. It writes itself, and so beautifully and with a tragic flair. 

Well. He has the pen in his hand, for now, and he will use it to write one last chapter before letting it go. The chapter where they will win. 

“Teach didn’t see it fitting to tell you all before springing it on you, but.” He speaks up suddenly, head lifted high once more, shackles cast. “This succession between Pepper and I was because he is incompetent.” He spits it out. A simple truth. “Eunsang was simply not fit to be the lynchpin of the Dreamscape. His sudden abduction into the role, as it were, was not vetted properly… And in turn, I and her were vetted. This game would’ve ended with the either of us claiming the mantle.”

He wouldn’t let go. He wouldn’t let go of Teach, the disrespectful brat that he was. Not his beloved friend.

“From my understanding, REM is a simple manifestation of the Dreamscape’s hunger and desire for more and more- a mouthpiece, so to speak. Promoting SOM into her position might just, ah. Corrupt him. I assume Teach went to us instead of directly passing the Dreamscape’s leadership to it’s manifestations because, perhaps, a full, rounded psyche was necessary to handle the load.”

Of course, Eunsang had told him about how he would go and disappear after all of this. He was their tired teacher, their Aristotle, ready to fade into history after the world had become too strange for his liking. That was... Understandable. Sad, but everyone's time came at some point. He had accepted it, and was ready to let teach go.

"... Eh?"

Everyone would simply... Wake up. Forget everything? Forget everything... Forget each other, forget the struggles they faced, forget the promises they made, forget the loved ones they met...

Everyone will forget him, and if he loses this competition, he will die quietly. If- if the whole world also forgets, as is his worst fear, they will... He will simply die. And it'd been all for nothing.

Ichi is very rarely truly angry. He's not really angry right now, either- just confused, and perhaps desperate. Perhaps it's a selfish idea, a request from someone who has only lived for two years, but... He doesn't want to be forgotten. And he doesn't want the others to forget each other either.

"What the hell, teach?! You didn't tell me about any of that! I'm pretty sure you didn't tell Pepper either?! What kind of a point does forgetting serve!" He slams a fist on the podium. "How- How do you think the world will accept either of our visions if no-one will remember hearing about them?! How do you think we can-" Bargaining. They can't be successors if they're handicapped like this.

But that doesn't matter. Eunsang just wants them to keep the dreamscape stable. Their plans were always secondary. 

"I- You can't just- I thought you were a good man! That this cruelty was all out of necessity! And now you're going ahead and being cruel just because?! And don't even give me any of that bullshit about how you NEED to wipe memories, I'm sure you don't! Why would you sully your legacy with this?!" Trying to talk to him emotionally. Coercing him.

What does it matter, Eunsang will be dead and gone soon.

"I... I'll refuse- I refuse to go by this! I've been with you all the way! You know I believe in your goals! I'd die for this life's work of yours! But I'm- I'm not going to let you... I'm not..." He stares down, down into the very abyss. The eclipse is over, and the moon is dipping, dipping and falling far from grace. The night would exist without the moon. All it is is symbolic- for the night sky exists even without it. 

What way out is there? He stares down into the abyss, frozen as its hands lock down on him, chaining him down. He has his role, as a successor. Either he gains power, or he doesn't.