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"What can I say?" She said, twisting out of Kendo's grip, and opening her arms out to the world. She almost laughed, a humorless smile on her face. "I learned from the best."

She turned back and continued to drift through the maze.

Life had been one great quest for Elle. And now she wondered if the treasure she had been working for, the thing at the end that was supposed to make it all worth it, wasn't...

Stop.

She did, freezing in place. One last time, one last chance. Elucian waited for her friends, resting her fingers on the bulge in her jacket where the gun was tucked in her pocket.

---

Violet sprinted towards Elucian with a remarkable burst of speed and winded her arm back. As soon as Elucian had turned around Violet’s fist connected with her jaw, easily having enough power to knock El down. “Snap out of this! First you kill our friend and disappear, and now you want to run again? Stop being a coward!” Violet yelled as she stood over El. “We finally have found each other again and now you’re just going to throw it away? Even if you aren’t who you used to be, we’re gonna find a way to bring you back.” She huffed as she stared down at Elucian. Even though Violet wasn’t as close to El as the other two were, she couldn’t stand by and do nothing.

---

She blinked. Violet's fist didn't even hurt. She simply dusted herself off and stood up. Her blank stare twisted into a smile. Bitterness crossed her face. A long-dormant spark of anger kindled to life within her.

"First you kill our friend and disappear, and now you want to run again? Stop being a coward!" She repeated, mockingly. She locked eyes with the woman. Violet had made a mistake. She was going to follow them like a good girl, adventuring across the barren wasteland of death, trying it their way to put the irreplaceable pieces of her soul back together. But that punch. They said that with pain came clarity. In this moment, Elle found that statement true.

"Oh, Vi. I didn't ask you and Athena to follow me that night. That was your choice. I didn't ask you to stand and watch as I splattered the brains of my friend across the pavement. Blood and glass and thunder and rain. But you followed me. You condemned me. You have no [redacted] idea."

"And you." She faced Kendo, angrily. "Emotions are what makes us human. Well, I never wanted to be human. When I was human, I couldn't save you. It's only... logical that I would want to become more."

"Athena, Athena, Athena. You aren't the only one who can tell what people are thinking. A skeleton running on nothing but logic. Not quite. But I'll allow it. Violet's lying to you, ya know. She didn't die the way she said she did!" She laughed. The crazed cackle of a madwoman.

She was mad. So crazy, so terrible. But that was... okay. Somewhere deep inside, she hated this person she had become. And it was that same part of her that knew that the three people standing before her were her only chance of... salvation.

She began to whisper, words so twisted, she didn't even know if they made sense.

"Come find me in heaven, come find me in hell,
Come find me, the demon you all know so well.
Through chaos, through cruelty, through embers and flames,
I've struggled and lost, 'til my sweet death came.

Come find me in heaven, come find me in hell,
Come find me, the demon you all know so well.
Through chaos, through cruelty, through embers and flames,
I've struggled and lost, 'til my sweet death came!"

She laughed, one final terrible sound, and disappeared. Her magnetic powers had taken her... somewhere. She had reached the edge of A F T E R. An impossibility. But it was the only way to describe where she was.

Her laughter turned to coughing, and she lifted the gun from her pocket. The final bullet was a leaden weight, pressing against her palm. A countdown.

"Two weeks. We'll see if they really forgot me."

Cue the quest music.

---

Elucian just disappeared. Like poof, she was gone. Athena stood there, slightly stunned, trying to process what she'd just heard. And as soon as she took it all in, she immediately regretted it. Elucian had... Changed. A lot. So much so, that she could barely recognize her old friend under all that anger, bitterness. And it reminded her of... Kendo. No more denying that last day, those last words he'd spoken to her. Elucian was going crazy, just like he had. Maybe she had him back now, at the cost of her other friend.

Why did ogd hate her so much!? Why did he have to take away her friends right when she thought she had them back? It was a selfish thought, she knew that. But it was the truth. There was no way around it.

She suddenly realized that Elucian had said something about Violet. How she hadn't died the way she'd told her. If she was going to lose a friend, she wasn't going to lose two. "Exactly how did you die!?" The question came out a lot more angry than she'd meant it to be.

---

Kendo's eyes narrowed, gritting his teeth. The bottoms of his sandals melted away into shadow as he pulled out a cigarette, and lit it.

"Goddamn... How did that girl become even more stubborn..."

He glanced back at Violet and Athena.

"You guys coming, or are you gonna bicker like children?"

---

Violet clenched her fist as Elucian disappeared, ‘Not again! I messed up and ruined the second chance!’ she thought. Violet bit her lip as Athena question her. Athena should know, but Violet couldn’t stand to tell her. Kendo’s question snapped her out of the feeling of shame and guilt, and she simply nodded her head and caught up to him. Staring at the ground as she walked, Violet didn’t want to meet Athena’s eyes.

---

Athena's eyes narrowed. She didn't want to read Violet's mind, but what was it about her death that she would want to hide it? She followed Violet out of the tunnels. Seems like she wasn't going to get any answers for a while. Focus on the task at hand. You've got to find Elucian.

---

It had been three days in the A F T E R W O R L D time. Elucian Anaheim was... exhausted. She continued to stare at the gun, swinging her legs over the edge of the world. But she would not shoot. Elle would let them have their two weeks.

She wondered if without her interactions, they would ever accomplish anything.

---

The shadows rippled as a figure stepped out of it. He looked around frantically.

"C'mon, El! Where are you?"

He ashed forward, through the trees, through everything, until he reached... the edge. The end. there was nothing left. nowehre left to search. this was the place she was at.

"El? You... there?"

---

"Turn right. And keep walking. She has to be here." Athena hoped against hope that her telepathy tracking would finally start working like it was supposed to. It had already failed them multiple times during their search, leading them off in random directions following what she had thought was Elucian's consciousness. Please, please be here!

---

Elle swallowed, holding the gun. It had been twenty days. They had come at the eleventh hour. And as she gazed at the faces of her friends, she wondered.

Is this a life worth living? Is it worth it to look for the love I lost along the way? Painful memories cloud my mind. I don't know what to do. It's so hard. Living is a chore even though this is the afterworld. How can I go on?

My friends have all faced their struggles. But the difference between my friends and I is the fact that they came out on the other side. And I didn't. Kendo, Athena, Violet. What should I do?

I want to feel again. I want to be a friend that you can be proud of. But I don't think I can be anymore.

There's a kind of poetic justice to lifting up the gun. To blasting my brains out the way I blasted my friend's brains out. To finally forget all the pain, the regrets, the guilt. I am less sure than ever if I want to go on. I don't know if I can keep living in this dreaded, warped afterworld.

Elucian Anaheim was crying, tears streaming down her cheeks for the first time in decades. In her hand was the gun, the weapon that it had all centered around. With trembling hands, she raised to her temple.

"I can't do this anymore. I tried and I failed. I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry. It was never your fault. It was the f****** world. I'm so sorry but I need to forget."

And with that it was all over. Elle's body faded, disintegrating into light. She wanted to start over and she finally got her wish.

There is a bit of a void where she stood. It is preserved for eternity as a reminder that a person has stood here chose to leave. A memorial to her weakness, a memorial to her strength.

—

Somewhere down on the beautiful mortal plane, a baby was born. A baby girl with bright green eyes. A baby girl who had no idea of the person that she had once been.

It had all come full circle. She inhabited a new world, a world that her previous life had fought for. The world that she had died for. Twice.

Some poetic Justice. You all can keep having fun, but this is how Elucian's story always ended. From the moment that she pulled the trigger killing Kendo, this ending was set in stone.

---

"No no nonononono!" They were too late. She was too late. Once again, she had stood by, useless, stuck, too weak to do anything. Athena stared at the void and sparkles of light where Elucian had last stood, frozen.

Suddenly, she tore her gaze away and ran. Ran, ran, ran like the wind, tears spilling from her eyes. Away from all this. If Elucian and Kendo thought they had done the right thing killing themselves, they hadn't. Once had pushed her to the edge. Twice had pushed her over.

Why did Elucian have to do it!? Just when she thought they could be together again, when they'd gotten their happily ever after. She didn't care what their reasons were. They wouldn't be around to explain it anyways.

She was leaving. She'd had enough of this twisted world. She'd tried her best, her hardest, to stay strong. Move on. Keep going. But she couldn't. Not anymore. There was nothing left to be here for.

But unlike certain people, she wasn't a coward. Death wasn't the answer to everything. She didn't seek refuge in it. Over time she would forget, forge her own path, as far away as possible. She wasn't coming back.

---