"Cantata dal Silenzio No. 2"
Dear sister…
I'm sure you're wondering why I decided to betray you, my own flesh and blood. To be honest, I wonder that too.
Each day I'm surrounded by the darkness, my memory grows less and less clear
I try so hard to remember you, your face, but all I can see is the face of my master. And my memories with you are replaced by her.
I can feel myself dying now...so I at least want my last moments to be memories of you...
I'll try to remember...You were sitting on my bed talking to me while I listened.
"Listen to me carefully. If I'm not able to kill Zero, then you are the one who..."
I can't recall what you said anymore. Maybe you were sitting on my bed talking about something else.
"Ah, so this Flower is a demonic entity of sorts and it requires a host. Once the Flower is bound to the host, they can tap into its powers through song. Hm, interesting. This seems as though it's no different from a parasite."
"Oh! I remember my ŝ̵̨͓́̂͝i̶̡̨̘̇ș̷̥̏͝ẗ̸̹͈̮́e̶̻̝̦̖̔̾̓͐r̶̢̧̨̨͌ singing a lot in order to use her Intoner powers. I- I can do so as well!"
"Can you now? Then does that mean you and your ŝ̵̨͓́̂͝i̶̡̨̘̇ș̷̥̏͝ẗ̸̹͈̮́e̶̻̝̦̖̔̾̓͐r̶̢̧̨̨͌ are bound to the Flower?"
That doesn't make sense...that was what my master said. You and I were in a different part of the cathedral, outside of my room.
"I have a question ŝ̵̨͓́̂͝i̶̡̨̘̇ș̷̥̏͝ẗ̸̹͈̮́e̶̻̝̦̖̔̾̓͐r̶̢̧̨̨͌ master."
"What is it?"
"What made you w̸̬͐a̶͉͊̔̈ͅn̶̿ͅt̷͓̀́̄ ̷̦͎͑͛t̴̝̲͙̆͛̔o̶̼͊̂͠ ̵͖̣̏ͅč̵̰̿ř̵̡̪͝͠ẻ̶͚̅̚a̴̡̝̓t̷̬̫̐̾e̷̡̺̬͒͌ took interest in me?"
"I told you before, didn't I?"
"I want to hear it again."
"Very well. Ẃ̴̞̪̫h̶̼͈̎̒ë̷̢̝͙͖́̂̕n̷̩̣̫̞̋͐ ̷͍̘́́I̸̜͋̕ ̷̫͔̝̫͘w̵͚͍̍͌͛͝â̶͎̰͎͗̐͝s̶̯͛̿̀̈́ ̸̲̺͍̠̆̚͠͠a̶̦̠̺̻̒̀l̸̛̠̈́̀o̶̮̜͆ņ̴͒͒͋͠ȩ̸̦͆͒̕, I needed someone who would carry out my desires. The moment I c̴̲̲͈̬̊͠r̵̟͎̊̿e̶̺̤͠a̵͔̓̔t̶͚̜͉̑ë̴͕̱̱́̑d̴͖͊̿͘ saw you, I knew you had the potential within you. Besides, you are already my b̴̰͆ŕ̵̪o̴͉̮͌̍̍̉͜ͅt̸̮̦͐͆ḫ̵̼͇̔̈́͑ͅè̵̦̮̟r̶̥̜͐͠ student and that alone makes you worthy."
...
Brother One had come this far, he clawed his way through the darkness and managed to become a proficient user of it. So much so that he was able to beat his sister at her own game and even kill Zero while he was at it. He thought nothing else could stop him at that point and that he would return to his master with Riku in his hands.
How wrong he was in that regard because there he was, lying cold on the ground, blood gushing out from his chest after Riku delivered fully on his promise to 'rip his heart out'. It all happened so fast too, he came at Riku with everything he had only for him to catch the dragon bone blade in his bare hands and snap it in half like a toothpick.
The heart-ripping part was obviously deliberate on Riku's end, he simply wanted to see Brother One suffer in excruciating pain before he would meet his ultimate end to Fallen Rose.
Riku ripped his keyblade out from Brother One's flesh, then walked around aimlessly. "He's dead...what should I do next?"
Now we bring the world down to its knees.
Kill anyone who gets in your way.
"Fine." As he dragged his keyblade against the bloody ground, he had to quickly snap back into action in order to block an incoming attack from behind.
One caught her chakram as it flew back to her. "I'm disappointed in you Riku...if you can't handle the madness of this world then how in the hell did you expect to save it?!"
Riku turned his attention to One and gunned her down, ready to slice her body in half. However, before he could get too close to her, Gabriel flew down and landed in front of him. With the immediate threat the daemon dragon posed, the Flower responded by powering Riku up into Intoner mode.
Verse 0
The Black Flower
Is the voice
While Gabriel lifted up into the air, Riku scaled the nearest tree he could find, then airstepped to Gabriel where he clashed blades with One.
As One chakram interlocked with Riku's keyblade, she could feel how monstrous his strength was, so much so that it was putting a strain on her own weapon. She had to abruptly pull away before the metal snapped altogether, but Riku was relentless in his pursuit. He launched his keyblade at her with deadly precision and the force of impact not only caused her weapon to shatter but throw her off Gabriel entirely.
"Hurry, get this ship moving now! We must aid Lady One!" Barret yelled.
With quick thinking on Barret's end, his soldiers were able to propel the airship forward in time to catch One as she plummeted through the air. Riku attempted to follow One by airstepping to the ship, but the soldiers blasted him out of the sky with the remaining ammo they still had leftover.
"That should buy us some time. What should we do now, Lady One?" Barret asked.
Before One could answer, she could see a giant meteor falling from the sky, seconds away from colliding into the ship. All One could do was call for Gabriel to fly in and save her from being incinerated along with the rest of her soldiers.
By now, One was literally and figuratively down on her last legs, she'd pushed her body far past its limits and now she would somehow have to kill Riku when she could already hear the faint knocking of death at her doorstep. As she saw it, the only way she could win was by outsmarting Riku, or rather the Flower fragment controlling him, and while that was much easier said than done, she had to go for it.
"Gabriel, I have an idea that may cost me my life. Wish me luck, I'll summon you when preparations are complete." After releasing Gabriel, she fell all the way back down to the ground where she would have her final confrontation with Riku.
"It's so pathetic that this is what you've been reduced down to...some mindless monster simply because Zero of all people died! Were your feelings more important than saving the world Riku?! Not even she would've wanted you to end up like this!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
As Riku pursued her, One ran away. 'Good. I'll keep him distracted like this, then I'll summon Gabriel to kill him when he thinks he has me cornered. I'm not sure if this will work or not but it's better than having to directly confront him without a weap-'
In the rush to get away from Riku, One ended up tripping over a dead body and fell on the ground. As soon as she got herself back up, Riku threw his keyblade at her only for a flying chakram to come out of nowhere and knock it off its trajectory.
At the same time, Riku was suddenly slammed headfirst on the ground and pinned down under the weight of Decadus.
"Oh...the disciples, you're all still..."
"Apologies Lady One, we tried to find you as soon as we could but there was so much chaos we arrived later than expected," Decadus then turned his attention back to Riku who was struggling to break free from under him. It hurt him to even have to restrain Riku in such a manner, but he was determined to help his friend out as he did for him so many times before."Now...listen to me, I'm not sure what's gotten into you, but this isn't the way to go! I still believe in you and what you can do for Midgard, but I won't allow you to carve out a path paved in blood! I know you're a better man than that, Riku!"
Dito poked Riku's head with his spear. "Man, you've seen better days, huh?"
"Hey, haven't you heard of not poking the bear?" Cent said.
"I've heard of not 'sleeping' with the bear," Octa said.
"Yeah, that's...that's not really the same, gramps."
Did I not tell you to kill anyone who gets in your way?
"...Enough...please..."
"I don't...want...to..."
Why do you try to resist? You gave up that right long ago.
Verse 0
The Black Flower
Is the song
Once again placed back into Intoner Mode and subject to the whims of the Flower, Riku was easily able to wrestle out Decadus's hold then he lodged his keyblade straight through his skull.
["A c-compliment? I rarely receive those, I'm n-not even sure how to feel."]
Decadus's brutal demise by the hands of Riku shocked the rest of the disciples, especially Cent, who realized that Riku completely lost his mind. To him, it was no different than how Two lost hers, and to witness that all over again pushed him over the edge. "You fucking bastard!" Seething with rage, he swung out his sword. "Lady Two risked EVERYTHING for your ass! Don't you dare make everything she did for you not worth a damn!"
Octa could see Cent's death play out right in front of him and so he tried to hold him back from Riku. "Don't be foolish, boy! He's far beyond our powers, let's just focus on protecting Lady One!"
"Let go of me! If no one else wants to stop this insanity then I will!" Snatching his arm away, he foolishly rushed in on Riku and his body got severed in two.
["Ah, Riku! From one good-looking guy to the next, I have a feeling you and I are going to be getting along quite well!"]
Octa let out a deep sigh. "Dito, I'll hold him off for as long as I can, take Lady One somewhere sa-" He wasn't even able to finish his sentence before Riku snatched him up by his head and crushed his skull in as if it were an aluminum can.
["And if I may add, Riku gave me life-changing advice that made me want to become a better man both in and out of the bed!"]
"And then there was one," Riku said.
"H- Holy shit!" Dito yelled.
Usually, Dito would've been marveling at the mutilated bodies of his friends, but for the first time ever in his life, he was terrified because he knew that he was next. Instead of fulfilling his disciple duties and protecting One until the very end, he tried to run away and all Riku had to do was launch his keyblade at him like a dagger and the blade split his head open in one shot.
["Hey, don't group me in with those nutcases. I'm a pretty normal guy."]
Once the keyblade manifested in Riku's hand, One expected she'd be next and was already preparing for her next move when, all of a sudden, Riku dropped on the ground and started hyperventilating.
["Remember what I said last night about making everything better? You're the reason why I believe we can do it! You're so brave and cool and you help people even when it hurts you in the end! I wanna be just like you Riku, so let's make everyone happy together!"]
["The only reason she got this far was because of you. You've brought so much kindness into this world...don't ever stop doing this and I'll always follow you."]
["...I truly was wrong about you Riku. You're a kind man, that's rare in a world like this."]
"What...have I done..." Being forced to murder the disciples one by one had such a profound impact on Riku's heart that the Flower struggled to maintain its control over him. Overcome with the despair of what he'd done, the only thing he could think to do was reach for Fallen Rose. He held the blade in his hands, it still felt so warm and wet from the blood it shed, then he attempted to push it through his chest.
"STOP IT YOU FOOL!" One screamed. "...If it was that easy to destroy that damned Flower, then we wouldn't be in this situation!"
While that did stop Riku, One feared it wouldn't be long before the Flower regained control of him, so she had to think of her next move fast. 'He's in a vulnerable state right now, if I summon Gabriel, it might trigger another defensive mechanism from the Flower and we'll have to start this charade all over again.' She took a quick search of her surroundings and realized the dead body she tripped over was her own brother, who, by her own fortune, still held half of the dragon bone sword in his hand. 'Thank you brother, if only I had a chance to speak with you once more.'
Unbeknownst to either One or Riku, however, Mikhail was still alive, waking in and out of consciousness throughout the duration of the fight. When he finally started to fully wake up, he could see all the dead bodies strewn across the battlefield, including Zero's.
"Zero..."
As tight of a hold the darkness had on Mikhail's heart, he could not forget Zero and seeing her lying cold on the ground was enough to send him into a bloodthirsty rage. He clawed out of the debris he was under then got a full view of the chaos happening between One and Riku, but his anger was so all-consuming that he couldn't think clearly anymore.
The only thing that guided him was his instincts and something embedded deep within Mikhail had switched on in response to the Flower. At the same time Mikhail was flying over to Riku and One, One had already managed to stab Riku in the chest, freeing him from the Flower once and for all.
"...I'm sorry...I'm ..." Riku's body slumped over as blood spilled out from his chest. "...sorry...I..."
████████████I'm sorry████████████████████████I couldn't save████████████ you guys████████████not one██████████████████████Even when all of you counted on ██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Just when One thought it was finally over, Mikhail swooped down above Riku and devoured him, then he ate her for seconds.
Usually, the death of all major characters would've marked the end of such a story, but you should know by now that's not how we end a Drakengard story. Let's continue on with our scene here.
Alright everyone, take 2 scene 22, or was it 36? Eh, who cares, let's start it from the top:
Cue me, the lovely Accord, walking in beside Mikhail who's currently screaming in anguish after the realization of what he's done. Poor guy, he doesn't know that this Branch won't even be the worst one yet…
Accord set her suitcase on the ground then took out a folder of documents. "I suppose that ends our story, doesn't it? This Branch did end up getting rid of the Flower at least, but it will surely fall to the darkness before long so this wasn't exactly a success either. What went wrong? Perhaps I should've been more clear in my warnings to Riku or I should've intervened with- oh that's right." She flipped through the documents. "I should analyze the notes I took during my business trip. Care to join me?"
Anon: Yeah, beauty vs brains things is true for Cent lol I picture the disciples as annoying co-workers. Basically the assume they're alive if there's not a body principle. Next branch Imma have to start cutting of legs instead since I cut off so many arms this branch XD The fairy is who you think it is, more information on her will be revealed in the chapter though. One doesn't like Zero on principle even though she technically didn't kill any of her sister this branch. Not sure if I mentioned but Threes Dive to the Heart portrait is her asleep with her sisters and Octa. Brother One fulfilled his duty at the end of the day.
HelelBenShahar: Thank you:)
Raximus: She set it up and Brother One knocked it down
Keybladelight: Branch B will be …different from Branch A, can't say more than that.
Gundam-Knight-Chris: Happens to the best of us (-_-)
Centurious the Azure: Gotta get the Drakengard ending in somehow and now I gotta do all this again next Branch!
Flowers for the Dead
Part I.9
Supplementary notes on Branch A
Much of my findings have focused on the two singularities of Riku and Zero, but Riku was not the first outside party to end up in this strange world of Midgard, in fact, he wasn't even the second. That distinction belongs to Maleficent and her henchman, Pete, who, in search of the mysterious black box, ended up in Midgard, possibly attracted to the brimming darkness the world had to offer.
Late February, 1000 AD
After a long journey through the darkness, Maleficent and Pete walked out of a dark portal and onto the grounds of Cathedral City.
Pete took one good look at the desolate city and already had a bad feeling about the world. "Maleficent, I ain't liking the looks of this place. Maybe we made a wrong turn back in the-"
"Silence you imbecile. Neither you or I have visited this world in particular so perhaps it is fate that drew us here."
"Or just bad luck..." He muttered under his breath.
The two approached the cathedral, careful not to make themselves known to the troops of soldiers patrolling the area. However, the closer they got, the more Maleficent could feel an evil presence unlike anything she'd ever come across before. And she of all people knew evil, but whatever was hiding away in that cathedral was more maleficent than, well, Maleficent herself and that made it incredibly enticing to her.
"Pete, before I investigate this cathedral, gather as much reconnaissance as you can from these soldiers."
"And how do ya figure I do that? I stick out like a sore thumb."
She rolled her eyes. "Must I think of everything?" Snapping her fingers together, she transformed Pete into a disguise that would allow him to blend in with the soldiers. "Now go gather information about this world and try not to disappoint me as you always do."
"Yes ma'am..."
When he returned, he didn't do so empty-handed and was at least able to give Maleficent a rough idea about the world they were in. "Alright...it surprisingly wasn't that hard gettin' one of 'em to talk. They just kept tellin' me 'bout how the soldiers were s'pposed to be protecting this 'Lady One' girl and that she was the bestest most kindest ruler ever and all that junk. Sounds like a real pain to me though."
"That does sound bothersome... I'll make sure she doesn't become a problem. In any case, I'll be back shortly Pete, try not to get into any more trouble than you're worth."
"Trust me, I ain't lookin' for any in this world."
Without further hesitation, Maleficent infiltrated the cathedral, hiding away within the shadows. She thought she could move around freely without anyone noticing her, but the moment One and her general entered the same room she was in, One could immediately tell that something was off.
"What the matter my lady? You've stopped suddenly," Barret said.
"...There's something or...someone here."
"Could it be a stowaway?"
"I would hope not or that would reflect poorly on my army." One took out her chakram. "Whoever you are, reveal yourself at once!"
Maleficent was not interested in dealing with One, especially not when she felt she was so close to reaching that evil that drew her in the first place. So she summoned a couple of heartless to distract them, then fled the room. Although the cathedral wasn't the easiest place to navigate to those not already familiar with its layout, even though Maleficent dwelled in a castle herself, she still found herself lost in a corridor with no easy way out.
"How bothersome. Crawling around in a dungeon like this is for mere prisoners..." She did eventually find a staircase, but all it led to was an empty room, to the untrained eye that was. From one sorceress to another, Maleficent knew a concealment spell when she saw one and used her magic to reveal the hidden door. "At long last, I'm sure this is what I've been looking for."
When she opened the door, she was expecting well, something, a spell, a monster, anything worthwhile, but all she found was the same dreadful girl from earlier. "Ugh, it's you."
"Wh-Who are you?! You're not my sister!"
"Well, I suppose there's no point in keeping my identity a secret. I am Maleficent and you are the 'One' I've heard about?"
"I'm actually One's brother..." Brother One rubbed his arm. "I- I shouldn't talk to strangers. I should get my sister." He tried to leave but Maleficent slammed the door shut in front of his face.
"There's no reason to have fear, all I want is to ask a few questions, then I'll be on my way."
"...Okay."
"Good. Now, I could feel something powerful hidden away in this cathedral, might you know what that is?"
"N-No, sorry, that's something my sister would know. You could ask her, but I doubt she'd want to answer to you..."
'He's not wrong. The sister is distasteful, but the brother is of a much weaker mind. I could mold him into something more useful.' Maleficent saw in Brother One what she saw in Riku all those years ago and decided she would take a different approach with him. "Tell me, are you always here alone?"
"Not always, my sister comes to visit me."
"It doesn't seem like that happens often."
"No...it doesn't."
"I see. Then would you like a companion to talk to while your sister's absent? It must get awfully boring waiting on her all day in this small room."
"I- I don't know. It would be against my sister's wishes and she would be furious if-"
"Then she simply won't find out. You're hidden away here for a reason, are you not? Your sister must not want anyone to know about you so it would be a shame if I slipped that information out."
"Wait, not you definitely can't tell anyone about me or all of this would be for nothing!"
She smirked. "Then if you keep our conversations a secret, so will I keep you a secret. Is that fair?"
"I...I guess. So what'll we talk about?"
"Why don't you tell me more about this world?"
Little by little, Maleficent corrupted Brother One's heart with each conversation they had. Maleficent taught Brother One about the darkness and refine his abilities while his sister was away. Then, on the rare occasion One would visit her brother, he would always request she bring him books. Books of many kinds, but preferably those that centered on the history of Midgard. One thought nothing of it, she figured he was growing bored and lonely since she visited him less and less due to the heartless, not knowing that she was providing Maleficient with valuable information.
Eventually, Maleficent did learn about the Flower, but she realized that if she wanted to harness its powers, it would require a vessel. And while Brother One was proving to be promising in that regard, around this same time, she caught wind of Riku when rumors of the 'Demon Slayer' reached Cathedral City.
"Hm...if only there was a way I could infect that boy with the Flower, then I would have the power of the keyblade on my side and I would truly be unstoppable," Maleficient said.
"Yeah, one problem though, none of those books you read said anything 'bout givin' that Flower business to anybody," Pete said. "All we know is that the Flower is some ancient demon that's sealed away right under our noses, a teenie tiny part of it slipped out and ended up creatin' those Intoner girls ...and we don't even know how all that stuff works out either."
"It's true the information we've been given regarding the Flower has been scant at best and my dear student hardly knows more than we do. Perhaps in order to get more relevant information we should go to its source."
"And whaddya mean by that?"
"My student has mentioned someone named 'Zero' to me before in passing. She travels with both Riku and a dragon and her goal is to apparently kill all of the Intoners."
"So what?"
"Ugh, why must I explain every minute detail to you? She clearly knows the truth of the Intoners and the Flower so it's worth tracking her down and extracting that information out of her. We must also monitor Riku so that we have the upperhand in the case he ever arrives at Cathedral City."
"Uh-huh and by 'we' you mean-"
"You, of course. I don't have you as a henchman merely so you can slouch around all day. Track those two down and gather information from Zero. Do you understand?"
"Yeah yeah, that's easier said than done."
*Sometime later*
After returning from the Land of Forests with nothing to report, Pete hoped he'd finally get a break but Maleficent wasn't known to be anything short of a slave driver and he was sent back out again, this time to the Land of Sands.
Pete stomped out of the dark portal into a land of desolate sand dunes as far as the eye could see. "Oh, I don't see why I hafta weasel around and spy on that key-slingin' bozo and his girlie anyhow. Not like he'll be turnin' over to the darkness any sooner than I'm catchin' a break." He waded through the sand until he came across a well-traveled village where he hoped he could get information regarding Riku and Zero's whereabouts.
"Welp, let's get this over with already." He put on his soldier's helmet then marched into the village. He wasn't expecting to get too much from his venture, maybe a lead or two that would point him in the right direction and finally get Maleficient off his back. But he landed the jackpot with this village because he just so happened to find Zero of all people walking down the street.
"Wait a sec...that's the girlie who's always travelin' with that brat! Since he ain't with her already, then I should be able to get some information outta her no problem!" He followed her into a seedy-looking tavern then, as casually as he could, sat down next to her at the counter and tried to chat with her. "Hey, uhhhhh, come down here often?"
"Piss off, fatass."
'Yeesh. Gettin' information from her's gonna be a pain in the neck for sure.' "Listen, I'm not tryna give you the wrong idea or nothin', I recognized you, that's all. You're one of 'em Intoner girls, aren'tcha?"
She looked him up and down. "Depends. You one of Two's soldiers?"
"Nah I work fer...somebody else. I just happen to be wearin' the same uniform."
'If he's not here to kill me, then he's here for THAT. Great, this day keeps getting shittier.' She let out a sharp sigh. "Look, it'll cost extra for the added weight and if you go running your big mouth, I'll have to kill you, got it?"
"Whoa there girlie, I don't know what you're talkin' about, but I'm not here for anythin' crazy. Let's just say I have business with a certain someone and you look like you know your way around here. So how's about me and you have a chat for a bit, drink's on me of course, for the trouble."
Zero wasn't one to pass up on free booze, even if the guy offering it was definitely a creep. Figuring she'd just kill him if things went south, she went along with it. "In that case—hey, barkeep, I want a pint of the hardest shit you have."
"Er, so will I," Pete said. 'I haven't had a drink in a while, least this'll give me a chance to let off some steam.'
"Hey, you're a big guy. Wanna try beating me in a drinking contest? There's 30k gold in it for you if you do," Zero said.
"Heh, sure, why not? That's easy money right there!"
*6 and a half drinks later
Pete was already slumped down on the counter. 'Jeez, that girlie wasn't kiddin'. That's the strongest booze I ever had before.' When he turned to Zero to see how she was holding up, she was already on her tenth glass and still going strong. 'What the heck?! There ain't no way, what's this girl made out of?!'
As the contest went on, it quickly became obvious that A) he wasn't going to win and B) it was just an excuse for Zero to drink excessively without paying for it since she kept at it long after he called it quits. By the time Zero had finally gotten drunk, she'd probably downed her own weight in beer, which cost way more than gold the 30k she was offering.
However, it wasn't all a huge waste of time for Pete because Zero had become way more talkative now that she was intoxicated.
"Hey, don'tcha got some other pallies you travel with? I know you have a dragon or somethin' like that," Pete said.
"Pssshhht, noooOOooot anymore!"
"Uh-huh and why's that?"
"I com-PLETELY fucked their lives over. Get this, my own dragon haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaates me now 'cause I was an asshole to him! You know how hard it is to get a dragon to follow you around in the first place? Pain the the fucking ass and I screwed that up! And THAT'S not even the end of it!"
"Yeah, I'm listenin'..."
She put his hands on his shoulders. "There's this guy, right? Brought the whole package with him—super nice, attractive and I just found how FAT his dick was ha ha hah! You know how FUCKING hard it is to find a guy like that?! Almost as hard as finding a decent fucking dragon in this shitty ass fucking world amirtie?!"
"Uh- y- yeah..." 'Sheesh. I think this girl's even worse than Maleficent, how'd Riku put up with all of this?'
"...He was so nice to me...and I did the worst thing imaginable to him just short of killing- no, even worse than killing him," She pointed to the Flower in her eye. "Gave him one of these bitches and now...now he's gonna be fucked up for the rest of his life."
'Well wouldya look at that, that bozo DID end up getting the Flower, Maleficient's gonna wanna hear 'bout this for sure.' Pete pat Zero on the back as she sobbed on his shoulder. "There, there girlie. Why don'tcha do somethin' nice for the kid? Get him somethin' shiny and expensive, you know, show him that yer real sorry for making his life miserable."
"That...that doesn't sound like a ba- urp-" She couldn't hold in her alcohol as well as she thought and barfed all over Pete.
"Hey- hey!" He shoved Zero off of him. "Ohhh, just cleaned this dang thing too!"
Now that his work was done, Pete used the darkness to return back to Cathedral City and report his findings to Maleficient. He retold the series of events as best he could and she followed along with little interruption.
"...If I'm to understand this correctly. Riku is now infected with the Flower?"
"Yeah I mean she ain't say it outright or nuthin' but I figured it out."
"I see. Pete, that was the smartest thing that's ever come out of that foolish mouth of yours. Soon, unimaginable power will be within my grasp..."
Flowers for the Dead
Branch A end
To Be Continued in Branch B
