bakerstreet | two ravens in an old oak tree

The Train to the Afterlife Meme

Congratulations: You are dead.

Maybe you know how, maybe you don't. Perhaps the memory is fuzzy, or perhaps it's crystal clear down to the look in your comrades' eyes. Maybe it was your time; you've done all you wanted to. Or maybe you weren't at all ready to go, maybe you went out kicking and screaming - but none of it matters. You know you're dead, and the train is taking you to an afterlife. Perhaps an afterlife of your choice; you might've earned that heaven. Or perhaps you've earned something else entirely.

It'll be a bit of a journey, though, so you might as well take your time and talk to the other people in your coach. Death knows no place: most of them are strangers, even from faraway worlds. But death knows no time either, so who knows, some of them may be people you know, even if last you knew, they were alive - or long gone.

Oh look, here comes the snack cart.

Post your character (bonus points for a brief description of their death and/or appearance from it), and let others reply to you. You are both dead! How is up to you, whether it's AU or canon. Characters don't know where they're headed, they just have a vague awareness of going to some sort of afterlife.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kratos.

[ it's a hard pill to swallow, to know that they'd come this far and failed. that even after Kratos gave up his life for them, that he wasn't able to see it through to the end. even without the Eternal Sword, Mithos was just so strong... ]

... I'm sorry.

[Seeing Lloyd here must have only meant one thing... he wasn't able to stop Mithos. To have burdened him with such a responsibility was too much in the end, a responsibility that Kratos should have seen through himself. He had run away with far too high of a cost, and now he regrets that decision he made.]

You did what you could. Thank you for seeing it through as far as you did.

[He doesn't look at Lloyd when he says those words, absolutely ashamed of his actions that lead up to this point.]

[ almost immediately, Lloyd is shaking his head. the calm acceptance only makes it worse. ]

I should've tried harder, somehow...! [ he clenches his hand into a fist, visibly agitated. ] You gave up everything so we could put an end to what Mithos was doing, and I couldn't. I had the Eternal Sword, and I still couldn't...

[ he trails off, feeling helpless and frustrated and sad at the same time. ]

I doubt there was anything further you could have done. Mithos had been growing stronger for the past 4000 years, though I had hoped that by releasing Origin that would have put a damper on his powers. I suppose I was wrong.

[He hates that Lloyd blames himself when it was Kratos who thrust all this responsibility on him in the end. True, his death was required to release Origin and how he had planned this, but... it was too much. He clenched his fists to keep himself from shaking...

He killed Anna... and how he had killed Lloyd. That's all he saw from it.

To try and be a father at this point and comfort Lloyd... it would be wrong. He was never one in the first place.]

[ everything he's done til now, to try to help people, to save everyone was for nothing. more people were going to keep dying, and knowing that he could've... should've been able to stop it, it's too much.

he'd vowed when Kratos released Origin that he was going to stop Mithos no matter what, and sitting here, with him after having not been able to fulfill that vow... ]

I'm sorry. [ his breath is shaky and his hands are fisted on his knees and damn it, he's not going to cry. ] I wanted to make sure your sacrifice wasn't for nothing, but I- [ and his attempts are unsuccessful. ] Dad... I'm sorry!

[Kratos couldn't bear seeing Lloyd beat himself up like that. The angel could tell how much the boy took what responsibility was given to him seriously. It's what he expected, and probably what made Kratos burden his son with such tasks, knowing he'd take them on without fail. It's that kind of thing that made him realize just how much he's taken advantage of Lloyd.

But even in death, Kratos realizes that maybe it's time to play his role. And it's when he hears that word... 'Dad'... it makes him realize that Lloyd had accepted him.

Placing a hand on Lloyd's shoulder, he squeezes it gently, trying to calm him down.]

Thank you for seeing this through for me until the end... my son. Free yourself from any burden that you had and rest in peace.

[Those last three words were hard for Kratos to say, as if it finally hit him what was going on. It was hard seeing his son here like this, but now even more so that the situation has fully hit him.]

[ feeling Kratos' hand on his shoulder is like letting loose the floodgates. he turns and buries his face in his father's shoulder and stops holding himself back. it's the kind of choked crying that has his shoulders shaking uncontrollably.

it's a while before he calms down enough to pull back, and swipes at his face. ]

Dad... I'm glad you're here. [ that he's not alone in going through this, as selfish as that is. ]

[It pains him to see Lloyd like this. Instincts taking over, he found himself wrapping his arms loosely around his son, holding him close. A flood of emotions hit him as he tried to conceal them, but he too was trembling.

Sadness, sorrow, hatred for this impure world, yet the sense of joy of having his son in his arms again after so long.]

We'll get through this together, wherever this train may lead us.

[Sure, it might be too late to be a father, but he may as well start now. Better late... than never.]

[ he nods slowly. it's hard still, to think of everything that he's left behind, but knowing that Kratos, that his father is here with him... some of the tension in his shoulders leaves.

he manages a faint smile, his throat feeling raw after those tears. ]

Maybe it'll take us to where Mom is.

Perhaps it will.

[Even among the pain and sorrow, Kratos can't help but smile at that possible thought. They could be a family again. If there was one possible consolation to all this, it was that.

If Anna were truly to be there, then this afterlife will be beautiful. Anna and Lloyd were all it took for Kratos to think that.]

Can you... tell me about her?

[ his entire life, all he's ever known about his mother was that she was killed in an accident, and then he found out it was actually Desians. when he thought of her, he could only see her grave in his mind.

the last time Kratos talked to him about Mom, he'd practically yelled at him to stop but this time... Lloyd welcomes it. ]

Of course.

[He deserved to know now just how wonderful she was. She changed him inside and out and gave him a happiness he never had before in all of his years of living. To finally be able to express that without fear of rebuke from anyone or giving away his allegiance... it was liberating.]

She was a positive woman who always believed the world was pure and beautiful. Even after all that had happened to her, she always believed that. ...and I had believed that as well as long as I was with her and you. [He smiles bitterly.] I'm sure when we see her she will be smiling for us, telling us 'welcome home'.

And we'll be there to tell her that 'we're home'.

[ just like he did, every time he came home to her grave, except this time it'll be his Mom there to hear it, and his dad with him. ]

Heh. She sounds kind of like Colette.

Yes.

[He's aware of his habit at Anna's grave, and honestly... he has to admit he's happy he finally gets to say it to her in person. Even if it was only in death they could do such a thing.]

I suppose you're right.

[He leaves it at that. He never got close to Colette for purely professional reasons, but she did love Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, even if it was not her home world.]

two ravens in an old oak tree

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wow this thread is going to really hurt, isn't it?

oh yes... /readies the sad music

my heart... ouch... why you do this?

it is... my duty...

you are performing your duty well then TnT

o7

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