#scenario analysis

"Ryuuto! Help me, Ryuuto...!"

Although supposedly ambiguous to begin with, this was never meant to hide the fact that this is Cordelia calling out for Ryuuto.

It may not be an immediate recognition, but reading through, it becomes obvious that it's her. It mirrors the exact words used in a flashback of Ryuuto's route, too, just to connect dots easier.

A warped, chilling voice echoed through the boy's brain, rendering him dazed, dizzy and seeing nothing but grey stars of static whenever he closed his eyes. No matter how forcefully he rubbed at them, or cupped his ears, he was defenceless against it.

The idea of static came when considering how fuzzy dreams can be, especially when reliving moments from your past (alternatively, they can become really clear too, as seen later on). It mirrors the panic (relayed here as confusion) that Ryuuto felt in the real moment too.

As he stumbled throughー Well, he wasn't quite sure where he wasー he tripped over something... soft? Cold? Opening his eyes and fighting for what sight he had left, he looked... down? He tried to anyway. Those same white and grey speckles of static now seemed to seep through his entire vision. Here, they began to clump in odd positions; Three small clumps, which were quick to merge into one elongated shape, had deformed limbs which seemed to spit like oil this way and that, until the static all but settled. They grew darker... edges defining themselves... forming something reminiscent of a body. Of a woman. Ofーー

Ryuuto has tripped over Cordelia's "body" in this moment. Again, with how quickly his mind is running and in his panicked, confused state, he doesn't immediately recognise what is wrong and blindly rushes in because of his emotions (something which is still a flaw of his, whenever he does get overloaded with intense emotion).

The idea of Cordelia forming out of the shape spitting "like oil" is just another visual means of portraying his confused, near delusional state as he begins to slowly bring everything into focus.

She laid there, sprawled out naked… bloodied, the only form in the vast darkness that seemed to surround Ryuuto. He had little time to be wary of collapsing through whatever unseeable floor supported them both from the void. However, as he scrambled his way, on his knees, over to her broken form, he wailed despairingly.

Cordelia is bloodied and naked in this moment that was the state in which Ryuuto and Richter left her after removing her heart (in the anime, we see her dress preserved by Richter). His reaction to her, however - the scrambling over to her - is just him reliving the past once again, as he did in this scenario with her.

Face obscured by whatever little static still danced around and fuzzed deep inside his head, Ryuuto had little to trust beside his own deteriorating sight to be sure it was Cordelia. The gaping, seeping hole, puddling with her thick blood, in her chest was enough to confirm the discovery. As if unable to tear himself away, despite the sick feeling that skewered through his stomach, Ryuuto peered deeper into that hole. Her blinding crimson blood darkened by the second, until it was so deeply black that it seemed to absorb his attention entirely.

He only recognises and acknowledges that the person before him forming is Cordelia when there is no room left for doubt.

One especially susceptible to denial, Ryuuto seems utterly absorbed by her injury as this moment in his waking life was a real turning point for him. This fixation is a reflection of how intensely he, and his Father as well, dwelled on Cordelia's heart and a vessel, absorbing them entirely in their own ways too.

It seemed more like grease than it did blood, its glossiness reflecting Ryuuto back to himself. Alone, face red from… tears? It warped, and distorted… No, that was her blood over his face… No, no. Not his face… Not anymore.

Ryuuto sees his reflection in this moment as a means of showcasing his feelings of guilt; Whilst her injuries may not be his fault (nor could he have stopped the triplets from attacking her), Ryuuto feels like he is as responsible for cutting her heart out as Richter is.

Notably, this is when Ryuuto's nightmare shows himself "warping" ad "distorting". The shift from tears to blood, his face to - what ends up being - Laito's was done to show the duality of him and his half-brother in the aftermath of Cordelia's death.

Whilst he was grief-stricken, Laito had Cordelia's "blood on his hands", even if he wasn't physically covered in it.

The liquid bubbled now, Cordelia’s body fading around it. Ryuuto’s hair seemed to loose its pigment, the blood on his face flowing up past his cheeks, past his eyes, to stain those near-white locks like a burnt horizon. Some hair failed to take the colour and disappeared into the void, others seemed to sprout new strands… His nose morphed, and his cheeks became far less hollow. The only feature that seemed untouched was his eyes. Only once the reflection settled, oil-like ripples smoothing, he wasーー Laito.

The ending is just fancy, visual words to help describe his physical transition in his nightmare into Laito. This can be interpreted as him reflecting on his constant need to compare himself to his brother physically, or how he feels connected to someone like Laito through Cordelia and her death. It's really up to you!

─────── ≪ °♛° ≫ ───────

Anyhow, this marks the end of that scenario and the analysis! Thaaaank you for reading through, if you did!

I started this way back when I published the scenario and only just finished it now (since I'm trying to clear out some drafts) so if there is weird jumps between ideas/the formality of my writing, that's why!