END OF CHAPTER 1 ; EXECUTION

[themodsgrimm]

The Story Continues... END OF CHAPTER 1 - WEEK 134 Narrators Remain ; It's execution day, naughty murder children. Breakfast is served in the dining hall, all the better to fortify you for what is to come. Wherever you might wander in the castle, you will find yourself drawn to the foyer when the clock strikes not twelve, but ten. In the distance, there is the sound of clanking armor. Ann Takamaki appears, flanked on either side by suits of armor, escorting her to her punishment. She stares straight ahead with each step closer to the group that they take. A moment later, the Tiger appears on the foyer's staircase. Her hand trails down the banister as she sashays down it, and she takes her place at the head of the group, standing in front of what appears to be a wall. "Come along, darlings," she says. "The execution awaits." You blink, and then it's there — a door leading to the outside. The Tiger steps through it. You have no choice but to follow. Welcome to your second execution post! Please see here for the results of yesterday's voting. In addition, make sure you fill out your CR Chart for Chapter 1! If you have any questions, please ask on our Discord server or ping us on plurk. Please direct pings for the NPC to Danielle (Discord DMs preferred, then entrappings), as she will be taking point for today's NPC, and the moderator team will be on deck for all other questions. full navigation. locations taken (statuses) stories (profiles) info & faq wishing well private conversations

Comments

[finethanks]

Wait...

[He's not trying to move, but he's moving anyway, and clumsily, he tries to reach for someone close by as if they might anchor him in place, but it doesn't work. Soon enough, he's with Tiger, staring at the sheet with wide eyes.]

I don't want to choose something like this! Isn't this too much? [His eyes flick over to Ann, like she might help, but that's just as bad, isn't it?]

[varas]

[ Ann is still flanked by her armor guard and comes to a stop not far from Eichi. Her eyes are redrimmed, her cheeks a bit puffy - and, like yesterday, she continues to struggle for breath. By this point, however, it may be more accurate to say she's given up the struggle. She's certainly not hiding it anymore. ]

Whatever.

[ She doesn't look at Eichi, or anyone. ]

Just pick, okay?

[finethanks]

...I'm sorry, Takamaki-chan.

[It's the first time he's addressed her by name to anyone, since he'd been pretty angry at her sellout on Akechi earlier. Now, her fate is up to him? He stares at the list again, still standing tall, now even more focused on appearing confident, no matter what.]

It's going to be a gruesome death no matter what, isn't it? [And so... what would be the best ending to this Story, then?

His heart is beating too fast, he's a little pale from how sick he feels, being responsible for a real death, but he points, finally.]

The Little Mermaid.

[themodsgrimm]

[As soon as Eichi speaks and makes his choice out loud, the other two options vanish, and the scroll disappears. Something happens. In front of the crowd a small, peaceful pond appears before them. The water's dark and deep, silent without the movement of fish and surrounded by tall grass and cattails.

Eichi and Ann will feel themselves being marched forward toward the pond.

At the end of her life, the Little Mermaid returned to the sea and dissolved into foam. The water calls to them to return her home. Eichi's hands itch to help.

He knows what he must do.]

[varas]

[ Approaching the pond, Ann stumbles once. By now, her breathing has crescendoed to a fever pitch. Panic, in addition to the curse, leaves her gasping for air. Fear causes her to drag her feet in direct opposition to the need to move forward; she almost falls and has to right herself at the last second. Her eyes are wide, her lips trembling. ]

Carmen...

[ Help her, please --

But no one answers. ]

[finethanks]

[Again, his feet are moving without him trying, but he refuses to turn his desperate glance back on everyone watching. His hands are itching, there's knowledge burning in him of what he has to do, and that's—]

I thought... [His words are soft, resigned in a way and thoughtful, as his left hand reaches and closes around Ann's neck. His breathing isn't much better than Ann's, though that's all on his illness, and he still moves. There's hesitation in between his movements, but when he uses his hold to push her into the water, dropping to his knees with her to keep her under, it's all fluid.]

I thought you said that I wouldn't have to bloody my hands like this?

[That he wouldn't have to kill her himself if he chose. Instead, here he is, holding her underneath the water by the neck, refusing to let her come up.]

[varas]

[ Her head is thrust under the water and Ann knows enough to hold her breath, but her curse compromises her far sooner than she would like. As her throat feels hot and her need for air gives way, she opens her mouth to the pond. The water flows in, flooding her throat, causing her lungs to burn and her nostrils to flare. She wants so badly to cough it all up, but every convulsion of her throat brings in more water. Her hands begin to pound against the floor, skin stinging and turning red with each desperately smack. She can't reach him. If she could...

Well, she can't.

This isn't how things were supposed to go, Ann thinks. She was promised her world, taunted with images of Shiho's face, made it clear how much she had to lose. She had talked a big game to begin with but she crumbled under their pressure. She's no different from Sharpay.

She thinks of Akechi, his face contorted in animalistic rage, the way his voice had bellowed through-out the garden. Had she ever really understood him? So little of it had made sense, and now it seems like he's the thought she'll carry with her into her last moments.

Slowly, Ann's struggles cease. Her hands grow limp, knees buckling further. Her neck limpens against the edge of the water, head hanging at an uncomfortable angle. Some hair rises to float on the surface of the pond.

And... Ann Takamaki is dead. ]

[themodsgrimm]

[Once Eichi lets go--and eventually he'll have to--Ann's body slips, limp, deep into the water. She sinks farther into the dark water, her body bubbling and dissolving into foam as she does. When there's nothing left, the pond, too, vanishes, and Eichi is left alone on the floor of the Foyer, as if none of it ever was.]