Take Responsibility.

[wordsmithery]

The time allotted for investigation this week is a bit longer than normal - not due to anything done wrong on the part of the Apprentices, but perhaps due to a basic understanding that two corpses are going to be decidedly more difficult to handle than one. However, at the end of the time period you've been given, the elevator is waiting for you, as cold and sterile as always in its journey up to the courtroom; you're down to almost half of your original number, and if anything is going to indicate that this shows no signs of stopping, it's probably this week. The deceased have had three more join their numbers since you were here last - Gold, Varric, and Viktor's portraits have been greyed-out and set atop their spots in the podium circle, the podiums themselves draped in black fabric. As always, the lectern above stands empty. Whether he's with you or not, however, once everyone has found their place in the circle, the Wordsmith's voice can be heard throughout the room. "Welcome back. Two more Apprentices are missing from your number today, and I have little doubt that weighs heavily on your minds. Balanced and Capricious have been lost to you, so that the guilty may have a chance to leave the academy and possibly even gain something otherwise impossible to attain. If you wish for your fallen Apprentices to receive justice in death, then you know what to do: yet again, hold the guilty accountable." Sixteen Apprentices remain. However many leave here at the end of the day has yet to be seen.

Comments

[introspects]

[ first of all, to killia: ]

Killia-kun, I'm sorry this happened to you. You are kind and courageous for fending that other person off for so long. I wish--I wish I didn't have to do this, but I can't let everyone else here die.

[ and then... ]

Your other half can hear this, can't he? Then...I will say this to him: strength is not always physical, but it also manifests in how we treat others and how we show compassion. Sometimes we do need physical strength to overcome obstacles, but this--being locked up here, picking on someone who was never trained to fight at all...this is where you're sorely mistaken about your ways. Those who are strong, those who prevail are the ones who band together to fight against the bad things in this world.

Viktor-san and Varric-san have done just that. Even if they're not here with us, they stuck together, and now we're here.

That is your biggest mistake, and that is why we're here, defeating you right now--and I hope that Killia-kun can get rid of you, one day.

> INDIVIDUALISTIC

Farewell.

[ravagers]

[ what a moving speech... serah and lightning would be proud, she's sure. she's gonna go over and give hime a hug. ]

[introspects]

[ she's still shaking, face still red with anger, but it all sort of breaks when vanille hugs her.

she misses viktor and varric. her heart aches for them and killia. none of them deserve a fate like this. after repeating her own words in her head, she starts to tear up.

she's just....tired. ]

[ravagers]

[ she just holds orihime that much tighter. they were going to get out of here. vanille was going to... she doesn't know. she would have found a way to visit viktor. make him his own ice rink that never melted even when the sun scorched their skin on the hottest days. she was going to tell varric how much she loved him, how happy she was that he accepted her. she was going to tell him everything.

... it's more important than ever, then, to... ]

We'll get out of here. All of us. Even those who are gone. [ she takes orihime's hands. ]

We will make a miracle happen.

[acherontiastyx]

[holy shit this is like the opposite of cool and tough and the team skull way.

but it's also kind of cool, like the magical girl anime you don't admit you watch

how does he even feel about this]

[introspects]

[ come here guzma

embrace your inner mahou shoujo and transform with her ]