Loading
Reunited, Only to Separate
- Infected Fighter
You even defeated the reinforcements? I shouldn't have expected less from you, Talulah!
- Talulah
What about all the other Infected?
- Infected Fighter
They all made it in one piece. The backup safehouse we found really came in great use.
- Talulah
Have you done a headcount yet?
- Infected Fighter
I did. Some of the kids were crying about how one of the older girls hasn't come back yet...
- Infected Fighter
It's sad, but this happens fairly often these days. *Sigh*.
- Talulah
......
- Shieldguard
Talulah! We found the rest of the patrol unit. Looks like they've just been running away the whole time.
- Talulah
Which way did they go?
- Shieldguard
East. Makes me wonder if they'll come across the folks we exiled.
- Shieldguard
—Talulah?!
- Infected Fighter
H-Hold on! Talulah, where are you going?
Running
Running.
Boots soaked in freezing, chilling water.
Legs sunk in white, blinding snow.
Forgot to use the sleigh.
Forgot to use the snowmobile.
Melting all the snow.
Dashing in the mud.
A long trail on the earth.
A long trail in the snow.
Cold boring into the lungs.
Pain piercing into the brain.
Running.Running.
An endless snow.
An endless winter.
An endless world.
A drop.
Talulah stopps in her tracks.
Another drop.
Tears drip down the corners of her eyes.
She does not notice the drops she shed.
Alina lies there on the ground.
She grips firmly onto the empty basket in her hand. Her clothes are dyed red with her own blood.
The grass and the mud around her body, once pale white, have been dyed a dark shade no less intense or florid.
The snow keeps falling, relentlessly.
- Talulah
......
- Talulah
No... A... A...
- Alina
......
- Alina
Talu...lah?
- Talulah
Alina...!!!
- Alina
I didn't... want you to see me like this.
- Talulah
Don't talk. Alina, stop talking... Just don't talk!
- Talulah
We need to stop the bleeding...! Just hang on...!
- Alina
I'm... not bleeding anymore... It's just...
- Talulah
In that case... Let's go! We need to get you to the medics right away for a blood transfusion!
- Alina
It's okay... Don't worry... It's just... the things I traded for...
- Talulah
Don't worry about those... They aren't important... Let's head back... I'll take you there!
The Draco carries the Elafia on her back. Only now does she notice: this little deer looks so delicate and light, but her weight is so, so unbearably heavy on her back... As heavy as the weight of this whole world.
- Alina
Stop...
- Talulah
I won't!
- Talulah
Who did it... Who did it... Who did this to you?!
- Talulah
Was it the Patrol Unit...?! The villagers?! Those bastards... Those bastards... I'll burn them all... I...
- Talulah
Wait, don't tell me... Was it the Infected we exiled...?!
- Talulah
Those ungrateful shitheads... No, no... If the Shieldguards gave them any rations...
- Alina
Talulah...!
- Talulah
Alina... I'm listening... Just tell me!
- Alina
I won't tell you...!
- Talulah
Why?! Why?! Are you not going to at least give me the chance to avenge you?!
- Alina
You mustn't... Don't you remember what you said to me yourself?
- Alina
You mustn't fight for revenge. You've already chosen, Talulah. You've already chosen a path to follow...
- Alina
Giving up halfway... all because of me...? I won't have it...
- Alina
Don't hold this against anybody... You mustn't.
- Talulah
What are you talking about?! What are you saying?! How can I not...? How am I supposed to not hold this against anyone?!!!
- Alina
You told me yourself...! You said yourself that you can't harbor hatred against anyone... or you'd be... swallowed up... by that old man who placed that curse on you...
- Alina
...Even if those Arts never existed in the first place... Wouldn't you still... be taken over... by all those things that represented who he was?
- Alina
You told me that yourself.
- Talulah
Right... Right. But... But... Those people... Those...
- Alina
...You know where they came from... and why they did that.
- Alina
You said it yourself... Those people... aren't our enemies...
- Talulah
Stop... Alina... Don't speak...!
- Alina
No... Talulah... Everything you said... I remember... so you must remember yourself...
- Alina
These aren't the people... you need to crush... It's Ursus... That drove them into that corner...
- Alina
It's Ursus... and... the world as it is...
- Talulah
It's okay... That's enough, Alina... I get it now!
- Alina
Talulah... There is one thing you can detest... Everything they did, you can scorn.
- Alina
But... never hate... anyone.
- Alina
Do you agree with me...? Do you think what I said... is right? Are our lives... meaningful at all? Ugh... I don't know.
- Alina
I'm not sure what it was... that we did wrong... but I know very well just what that curse... is all about.
- Alina
Your rage... can burn down the entire plain... but you mustn't hate...
- Alina
......
- Talulah
Alina...
- Alina
I'm worried. Talulah, I'm so worried. If I'm not here anymore, you must have Yelena remind you... All this...
- Talulah
Alina, stop! Don't go on! I don't... I don't want you gone. All of you need to be here with me. You, Yelena, Sasha, Eno... All of you...
- Talulah
I don't want to lose any of you...!
- Alina
Talulah... but all of us...
- Alina
All of us met... so that we could part one day.
The white-haired Draco keeps trudging on in the cold, endless snowfield. On her back, the Elafia girl trembles away, pausing only to take in deep breaths now and then.
Snow drops down from the Elafia's horns. As Talulah slogs along, the snow-covered trees behind her begin to burn alight in silence. She has unknowingly begun to set her path ablaze.
The snowfields before her eyes are vast and endless. On her back, Alina is the only warmth she can feel.
Talulah feels each and every beat of Alina's heart through her back, and they grow weaker and weaker by the moment.
She wants to scream. She wants to cry. She wants to squeeze everything she feels out of her lungs, as though it could erase all this from her body.
But Talulah stays silent the entire time.
- Alina
Talulah...
- Talulah
We'll be there soon, Alina... We're almost there!
- Talulah
Don't close your eyes... Don't close your eyes!
- Alina
It's far...
- Alina
You don't... need to lie.
The snowstorm is growing.
- Alina
Talu...lah...?
- Talulah
I'm listening, Alina. Tell me. What's the matter?
- Alina
...Snow... is warmer... than I ever imagined.
- Alina
I'm sorry... I still don't... have all the things we talked about... written down.
- Talulah
It's okay. It's okay, Alina. It doesn't matter.
- Alina
The children... Eno in particular... You need to...
- Talulah
I'm listening! Go on, Alina... I'm listening!!
- Alina
You need to... do more... than just talk to him...
- Alina
It's getting hot... Talulah...
- Alina
...I don't want to die... I still haven't... your sister...
- Talulah
......
- Alina
You must... live on...
This will do it.
Talulah will not remember what happens next.
She has no memories of anything after that.
She melted away each and every last thing she should have remembered, along with the snow.
She leaves behind only a trail of flames, and, with the exception of Alina, everything behind her is burned away in the inferno of her wake.
And Talulah treks on in the snow toward her parting with her dear friend.
- Yeti Squad Member
Talulah! You're finally back! You didn't answer our calls, what—
- Yeti Squad Member
...What... Who's that on your back...?
- Yeti Squad Member
She's not breathing! Medic! Get over here, now! Talulah, just hang on...
- Yeti Squad Member
...Talulah?
- Yeti Squad Member
(What? She's walking right by... Where is she going?!)
- Shieldguard
Talulah, you may be the leader here, but that doesn't make it any less serious to leave—
- FrostNova
Wait.
- Shieldguard
Yelena...?
- FrostNova
......
- FrostNova
Let her go.
- Shieldguard
(Do you know the poor little girl...?)
- FrostNova
(Not really. I think... she's a teacher at the settlement.)
- Shieldguard
(Oh, she's a teacher. Poor kids. That's another person they could look up to, gone.)
- Shieldguard
(But why is Talulah...)
- FrostNova
(Everyone has secrets they want to keep to themselves..)
- FrostNova
(Whatever happened, it's hers alone to remember.)
With the Elafia still on her back, the Draco walks past the encampment. Their contours slowly begin to blur until they both disappear into the edge of the forest.
No one knows what happened after that.
They could only watch as the Draco walked into the darkness of the night.
