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ACCOUNTABILITY.
[The sound of footsteps is slow, but deliberate and without hesitation. And as they echo through the room he walks into view lacking fear, lacking hesitance, lacking...much of anything at all.]
[He's tall--perhaps taller than his profile had implied--wide-shouldered and built like an unbreakable fortress wall, wearing the solid black of a priest; the light catches a gold cross around his neck to confirm the fact. And as he steps forward, his long coat (the deep purple of poisons and nightshade itself) trails behind him before coming to a stop as he does.]
[A smile cut across his gaunt and pale face, but it was far from a pleasant one. It was the enigmatic smile of someone witnessing a joke only they found humorous, and yet it did not reach the dark and emotionless eyes that scanned the room briefly as though the priest was carefully calculating what course of action to take.]
At last we meet face to face, my Apprentices.
[The voice that leaves him is recognizable as the same one that was heard only moments before, but clearer in person. Now it seems to ring like the largest, deepest bells of Notre Dame itself, no louder than an ordinary speaking tone--the result sounds more like distant thunder heralding an oncoming hurricane.]
[The real difference lies not in how he speaks, but what he says. The short, impersonal sentences of the weeks prior are at last discarded, and the man before them speaks as a true preacher--a true wordsmith--would address his congregation.]
Rejoice and be proud of your accomplishments. Each and every last one of your number, dead or alive, has truly exceeded all expectations I had for this group. And now you have clawed and scratched your way here, on the backs of your fallen friends' struggles and failures. You have proven that their own accomplishments would not be in vain simply by standing here before me--I do not doubt that your success is the wish most of them held in their hearts, at the very end of their lives.
[He places a hand over his own heart, taking on a tone that nearly sounds genuinely proud...until a patronizing current begins to run through each syllable like a deadly undertow.]
Do you perhaps feel satisfied? You would be right to, for making it so far. Your sorrow, desperation, joy, determination...all of it has been a magnificent thing to behold as you fought to reach this point in time. Each second of it has served its purpose, and served it very well. I am one who believes such struggling and effort deserves to be rewarded, and so this alongside my own endless gratitude is what I will grant you in return for all that you have done for me.
My name is Kirei Kotomine.
[He holds his arms out slightly to his sides, a gesture that would almost seem welcoming if 'Kageshirou' did not react and coil--completely harmlessly--around his arms like a black serpent. The smile he wore turned to a razor-edged smirk, the challenge set before the remaining Apprentices clear even without his next words:]
And now that we have properly met, tell me: shall we continue our discussion?
[He's tall--perhaps taller than his profile had implied--wide-shouldered and built like an unbreakable fortress wall, wearing the solid black of a priest; the light catches a gold cross around his neck to confirm the fact. And as he steps forward, his long coat (the deep purple of poisons and nightshade itself) trails behind him before coming to a stop as he does.]
[A smile cut across his gaunt and pale face, but it was far from a pleasant one. It was the enigmatic smile of someone witnessing a joke only they found humorous, and yet it did not reach the dark and emotionless eyes that scanned the room briefly as though the priest was carefully calculating what course of action to take.]
At last we meet face to face, my Apprentices.
[The voice that leaves him is recognizable as the same one that was heard only moments before, but clearer in person. Now it seems to ring like the largest, deepest bells of Notre Dame itself, no louder than an ordinary speaking tone--the result sounds more like distant thunder heralding an oncoming hurricane.]
[The real difference lies not in how he speaks, but what he says. The short, impersonal sentences of the weeks prior are at last discarded, and the man before them speaks as a true preacher--a true wordsmith--would address his congregation.]
Rejoice and be proud of your accomplishments. Each and every last one of your number, dead or alive, has truly exceeded all expectations I had for this group. And now you have clawed and scratched your way here, on the backs of your fallen friends' struggles and failures. You have proven that their own accomplishments would not be in vain simply by standing here before me--I do not doubt that your success is the wish most of them held in their hearts, at the very end of their lives.
[He places a hand over his own heart, taking on a tone that nearly sounds genuinely proud...until a patronizing current begins to run through each syllable like a deadly undertow.]
Do you perhaps feel satisfied? You would be right to, for making it so far. Your sorrow, desperation, joy, determination...all of it has been a magnificent thing to behold as you fought to reach this point in time. Each second of it has served its purpose, and served it very well. I am one who believes such struggling and effort deserves to be rewarded, and so this alongside my own endless gratitude is what I will grant you in return for all that you have done for me.
My name is Kirei Kotomine.
[He holds his arms out slightly to his sides, a gesture that would almost seem welcoming if 'Kageshirou' did not react and coil--completely harmlessly--around his arms like a black serpent. The smile he wore turned to a razor-edged smirk, the challenge set before the remaining Apprentices clear even without his next words:]
And now that we have properly met, tell me: shall we continue our discussion?
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If I am going to die regardless, I may as well do it here.
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[Avenger gradually trailed off of his arms, Kirei's hand raised to his 'heart' once more.]
Why should it matter, if the outcome is decided?
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Now--at the end of all this. After everything I have done--none of which I feel remorse for--you would show me a god's mercy?
The extent of your sympathies...it's so blindly optimistic as to be laughable.
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My title...no longer fits, then, does it?
[Hanyuu's eyes...they shine, red dot in her pupil.]
Kirei Kotomine... Child of man.
I've forgiven the woman who prevented my happiness for a hundred years...who killed those I hold most dear.
I don't think...I have it in me to refuse mercy to anyone. Not you, not Kira, who I've revised judgment on... Not a single soul. I see, here...a man who has thought long and hard, and walked down a road he now questions. A man who has strove to find his place, his world...a world to accept him. He's done things that others may find unforgivable. That...the world will not forgive.
But I am not the world. In doing this... In causing this pain... He has also brought me to...to ones I love. For myself, for Elda, Jasper, Lusamine, Estellise, Guzma, Silver, Sportacus...for those who we hope to save. You've given us despair...but you've given us each other. For that, I...I am thankful. I am thankful to have met Elda, Alani, Gold, Kimihiro, Orihime, Silver- to have met everyone.
So, in my own name...though it is foolish and in some ways blind, I forgive you. And I worry about what will happen next.
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She so should have seen that coming. ]
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She's allowed some laughs to release her tension. ]
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I truly can not understand you at all. To find hope in despair, to go so far as to forgive the unforgivable...it's not something I can comprehend.
But then perhaps if I can not comprehend it, I should assemble all the information available to me, should I not?
[He casually jumped down from the raised lectern, landing as silently as a cat before straightening up and coming to stand in front of Hanyuu.]
If you are truly set upon this foolish idea of not leaving me behind...then I will accompany you. [Once again, his hand moved over his heart.]
I suppose that...I am not leaving Avenger behind at all in doing so.
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Thank you...for listening to my words.
I can't promise a place in my world, but...I will do my best to find one, out there. There are infinite possibilities, after all.
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I think I can find just a little faith. Enough to see what might come next.