Part 1: What art thou journey's objective?
The smell is terrible and Mira falls to her knees. Echo explains "Even if you feel like throwing up, you won't be able to do that, since we are inside of a memory. Your real body's mouth might feel like you threw up though." Mira says "What kind of place is this and why aren't you affected by this Rena?" Rena answers "You can't see it thanks to the darkness, but I'm currently holding my nose so as to not smell it. I feel like throwing up also."
Then Echo says "Care to explain where we are master?" To which Mira says in a surprised voice "He is here too?" Then Centipede says "This place… If you wait for a moment, the place will light up shortly. Just listen to those noises outside."
Then Mira and Rena listened more closely and heard man and woman talking to each other. The man said "So is this where the item is?" To which the woman says "Yes. It's inside the basement. I'd ready myself for the smell if I were you." Then the basement door opens and the light from the outside illuminates the basement.
Then the man from the outside grabs a light and walks down to the basement while saying "What sort of item would make this bad of a smell?" To which the woman responds with "Just go further in and you'll see."
When the man gets to the basement floor, he moves his light around to see where the item in question is. Then Mira and Rena see something and Mira proceeds to scream.
The man asks the woman "Oi oi. Are you serious? You telling me that this kid is the item you want off your hands?"
In front of them was a malnourished child that looked to be around three to four years old. He was surrounded by a cluster of centipedes that had a red line running from the head to back.
The man asks the woman "Aren't those red line centipedes? One of the most venomous insects around?" To which the woman said "That's right. The boy seems to somehow attract them and is immune to most poisons."
The man asks "You tested that?" To which the woman said "The woman who handed it to me said that they tried to kill it with multiple poisons found around here, but the kid came unscathed. And if you look closely, it is filled with bite marks from the centipedes."
The man then says "Why not just throw the kid out to the woods or something if they want to get rid of it so badly?" To which the woman says "For what I asked, they said that it would bring bad karma to their family if they did that. I was planning to throw the kid out to the woods if no one would have come to buy it."
The man says "I was told if I paid, I'd get something interesting, but what the heck am I going to do with this?" The woman says "Not my problem and you wont get any refunds."
The man scratches his head and says "Damnit. Well, might as well try to get some use out of the kid. Might as well make him my errand boy or him my sword skills or something. What's its name?" To which the woman answered "The woman who gave it to me said that it didn't deserve the name it was given and left it at that."
Then the man thought for a moment and said "I can't come up with anything decent, so let's call the kid Centipede since those suckers seem to like him so much. So how am I supposed to take the kid who is surrounded by one of the most venomous things around?" To which the woman just said "Good luck" and started to leave. The man responded with "You fucking bitch! Can't you care at least a little of your customer's safety?! Oi! I'm speaking to you! Oi! … That bitch. Left me to fend for myself. Too bad bitch. I'm going to look if there is anything else lying around before getting the kid."
The man looked at the kid who had empty eyes. Then he said "Listen to me boy. I'll be your master from now on. My word is law and you will never question me. Are we clear?" The boy just looked at the man with empty eyes.
The man said "Don't tell me you can't even understand me." Then the man scratches his head and says "My wife left me, I was banned from being a formal swordmaster and now this." Then the man sighs and says "Fuck it. Let's cook with all we have on the table and make the best of the worst."
Then Echo snaps her fingers and soon they are on a busy street where child Centipede is significantly better. Mira asks "Where are we now?" To which Centipede says "This place. If I recall, I'm currently waiting for my master. And soon he should…"
Then a kid much older than the kid Centipede comes to talk to him. He says "Hey kiddo. Are you alone? Waiting for someone?" To which kid Centipede responds with "Master… Inside… Told… Stay here."
The other kid says "I see. Wanna skewer?" The kid Centipede asks "Ske…wer?" The kid then gives a skewer to kid Centipede and says "Here. My treat."
The kid Centipede looks at the skewer stick for a moment, grabs it gently, looks at the other kid for confirmation, to which the other kid says "Dig in". Kid Centipede tilts his head as to tell he doesn't understand what the other kid said, but soon decides to take a bite of the skewer.
The other kid asks "How does it taste?" The kid Centipede asks "Taste?" To which the other kid responds with "You don't even know what that means? Well let's see… Do you… enjoy eating it?"
Kid Centipede tilts his head and asks "En-joy?" The other kid seemingly gives up for a moment and then asks "How does it make you feel?" After which kid Centipede closes his eyes to deeply think, then an idea pops to his head and he says "It… Pom pom… then… Whush stree… And then… Pack pack… and then… Mammoriona." Then kid Centipede gives a smirk as he says "Like that."
Then with a gentle smile, the other kid says "I see. So what's your name?" This made Rena and Mira think "He gave up." The kid Centipede makes a thinking face, which makes the other kid say "Like, what does your master call you?"
Kid Centipede responds with "Master… when call…" Then with confidence he says "Boy." The other kid then says "I see. How old are you?" To which Rena and Mira thought "He gave up again."
The kid Centipede puts up his thinking face, which makes the other kid say "Year. How many years have you lived?" Kid Centipede thinks of the word "Year" and then says with confidence in a loud voice "Wife left seven years ago!" This makes people around them stumble for a moment and look at the kid Centipede with pity.
The other kid just accepts defeat, says "I see" and sits down next to kid Centipede. Kid Centipede is just munching the skewer the other kid gave him, until the other kid says "Look kid, I have a special type of intuition. That intuition tells me that there's something in you that can bring prosperity to the world or bring it to ruin. Complicated stuff, I know. But what I'm trying to say is that if you ever are in trouble, look for a name Lu Rack Lon and come and find me again. I'll make sure that you'll be well taken care of like you were family."
This made kid Centipede ask "What is family mean?" To which the other kid says "Let's see. It's the kind of thing that is made when people care very deeply for each other. They laugh together, cry together and fight together. When one of your family passes on, you feel a deep cut in your heart like there's something that has gone missing. Being part of a loving family can be a beautiful thing."
Then the other kid rises back up to his feet and pats kid Centipede on the head and says "You should think about these things with your loved ones. I'm sure they'll give you an answer you seek. But now it's time for me to leave or my own family will get angry at me. See you later, kid." Then the other kid leaves and shouts while he's leaving "Remember! If you need help, come find Lu Rack Lon!" He waves at kid Centipede, which kid Centipede awkwardly copies.
Then Centipedes' master comes out of the building and says "Let's go." Kid Centipede follows and Echo starts to follow them, which makes the rest of the group follow her. After walking a little, kid Centipede asks "Master… we… family?" To which his master responds with "No we are not. Families are for idiots."
After walking some more, kid Centipede asks "Then… me and master… not loved ones?" To which the master says "Damn right we aren't. Love is stupid. It comes back to hurt you every time when you least expect it."
Echo stops and so does the group. They hear the master ask "And where did you get that skewer? I don't recall lending you money or teaching you how to steal." Echo says "That's this part over" and snaps her finger again and the scene changes.
Now they are in a forest and adult Centipede is carrying what looks like a naked corpse of his master. He threw it to the ground, swept the sweat from his forehead and said "Well that's it. Just as you wished, master. There is no need to honor the body of a dead man since he won't be there to appreciate it. Now then, since that's done, let's go do something else."
The adult Centipede starts to walk away with jolly steps, but then he suddenly stops and starts to speak to himself "Wait a moment me. Aren't I forgetting something? But what is it that I forgot? Hmmm… A good question indeed. Many questions. Many questions. But I can't remember. Should I feel something, or… Nah, whatever. Let's just go."
After walking around the forest for a while with jolly steps, the adult Centipede stops again and ponders "Come to think of it, what was the master's name?" He ponders and ponders, until he confidently says "Yep. No. Can't remember." Then with a pondering voice "He said that he used to be a writer, so maybe there are books at our home that have his name. Yes, let's do that. Let's go look for the books that the master wrote." Adult Centipede is about to take another step, until he remembers something and says "Wait a moment me. Have you perhaps forgotten that you can't read? Good point me, but maybe Echo can read them for me or something. She seems smart, so let's… wait a moment me. Have you perhaps forgotten one of the lessons that master taught me? Good point me. The lesson was… The lesson was… Yes! Fuck literature! And what did master proceed to do after he taught that lesson? He proceeded to destroy any book he had his hands on. Yes. It was a beautiful bonfire. Fun times."
The adult Centipede thinks for a moment, until confidently nodding with the words "Yes. Fuck all that. Remembering the name of a dead man is stupid, the act of trying to do something about it is stupid and feeling any remorse about not knowing it is stupid. Yes. That's how it is. No remorse. No mourning. No sadness. Not worth it."
Then the adult Centipede starts to walk away. Centipede asks Echo "Why are you doing this? What meaning does it have to show those two what kind of man I am?" To which Echo says "You shouldn't interrupt a woman when she is cooking. Huh. I'm picking up your speech style. I need to keep an eye on it." Then she snaps her fingers once more.
A woman's voice says "I cannot save you." After which the scene turns into an adult Centipede sitting in what looks like an oasis on a desert with a dark skinned woman with ashen hair.
The adult Centipede says "What does that have to do with you wanting to part ways?" To which the woman says "For more than a century, I've been trying to make you open your heart to me. I have somewhat succeeded, but it's not close enough to save you."
Adult Centipede asks "Why do you need to open my heart? We work well together as we both are demons in mortal bodies, so why end things because of such a trivial thing?" To which the woman answers "We are different, you and I. I want to become someone more than a demon, but you don't want anything to change. You are just stuck in your endless conflict of trying to find what you seek but not being willing to receive it when it comes to you. You are in a self imposed limbo."
Adult Centipede, still with a smile, says "I still don't get it why should we part ways?" The woman then says "Would you mourn for my death?" To which adult Centipede says "Of course not. Why would I do something so meaningless as there is no one who benefits from it?"
The woman says "That is why. I've tried to make you understand that it isn't for the dead that you mourn, but for yourself. I've tried to make you see me as family, but you will always keep a certain distance between us." To this, adult Centipede gets closer to the woman and says "I can increase our skin to skin contact if you like." To which the woman reacts by showing him away and saying "That's not what I mean."
The adult Centipede looks at the woman confused. Then the woman says "It has to be this way. I can't bear to stay as the demon lioness of bloody justice. I want to be something more, but if I stay with you, that's impossible. That is why we must part ways."
Adult Centipede stays silent, and the last words that the woman says in this memory were "I'm sorry I couldn't be able to save you. Perhaps in the next life."
After the woman finishes saying those words, the scene turns to a battlefield where the woman from before has her lower body missing and the adult Centipede staring at her dying body. The adult Centipede says with a smile on his face "Well would you look at that. Someone able to beat you appeared. I hope they'll have an interesting weapon for me to take."
The woman says with a weak "...fault" The adult Centipede gets closer and asks "What is it my friend? Do you know where they went?" And as the woman is breathing her last breaths, she says "It's not your fault. It wasn't your venom that put me in this way, so please…" The woman didn't have the strength to say any more.
The adult Centipede continues to stare at the woman's body for a while with a smile, until eventually saying "Stupid. You. Are. Stupid. Can't even tell me simple directions. Whatever, it's not like you are listening anymore, so what am I even talking about?"
Then out of nowhere, the adult Centipede summons a sword that will one day pierce his heart and stab the woman in her heart with it. The woman starts to glow a little and then vanishes. Adult Centipede then proceeds to leave the battlefield.
With a snap of Echo's finger, the next scene makes the group appear inside a clearing in a forest in winter. The memory Centipede is surrounded by dead wolves, who presumably died after attacking him.
The memory Centipede notices four wolf puppies huddled together with one of the dead wolves. This intrigues the memory Centipede, who then grabs one of them and places it some ways back. In his astonishment, the wolf puppy walks back to the same dead wolf.
This confuses the memory of Centipede, who then sits down cross legged and starts leaning on his hands. He keeps staring at the wolf puppies and the time seems to rapidly move on.
The time slows down two days later as a group of bandits come and see what's going on. One of the bandits says "Is that guy even alive?" and then one of the bandits tries to touch the memory Centipede, who then says "Don't touch me."
The bandit who was about to touch the memory Centipede says "So you are alive. That makes this a bit harder for us. Hand over your stuff and we may let you live." To which the memory Centipede responds with "Do I look like I have anything worth taking?" To which one of the bandits remarks "If nothing else, we can take your clothes. Now start stripping."
The memory Centipede says "I'm busy right now, so I'm willing to let you live if you leave me alone." This makes the bandit group speechless for a moment and then makes all of them laugh.
One of the bandits says "This guy thinks that HE is the top bitch here. What a joke." The bandits continue to laugh for a while, until one of them gets tired of it and says "Last chance dude. Hand it all over, or else."
The memory Centipede stays silent and one of the bandits takes out a sword and is about to hit the memory Centipede. Just as the bandit is about to hit the memory Centipede, a sword appears and blocks the attack. The attacking bandit is confused and utters "What the…" and proceeds to be cut in two pieces by the sword that deflected the attack. This makes the other bandits ready their swords in panic, but they can barely react as the sword cuts them all into pieces.
After all the bandits have been dealt with, the sword turns to her human form and takes on the appearance of a young girl with white grayish hair. She says to the memory Centipede "I've taken care of all the troublemakers, master." To which the memory Centipede doesn't respond at first.
Then the sword asks "Master?" After which the memory Centipede reacts with "Oh, right. Sorry. Thanks for your work. What was your name again?" To which the sword responds with "It's Lua, master."
The memory Centipede says "I see. I'll reward you with personal maintenance when I get around to it." Lua seems happy about it and says enthusiastically "Yes! Thank you very much, master!" Then the memory Centipede says "You may leave." To which Lua says "Yes." and disappears like a mist.
The memory Centipede hasn't taken his sight of the wolf puppies for a single moment after first sitting down, and so many days seem to pass rapidly. The memory Centipede and the wolf puppies have been covered by a thick layer of snow, but the memory Centipede hasn't changed postures or looked away once.
Then an unknown force wipes away the snow that is covering both the memory Centipede and the wolf puppies. An elegant eastern woman who has long fine black hair, pink eyes and is a very picture of beauty appears next to the memory Centipede and says in a voice that both Rena and Mira recognise "You really are fixated on those little ones."
The memory Centipede responds with "I don't have the time for your antics Hime. Leave." Hime responds by saying "Even though most of the swords know that you can live months without eating, drinking or sleeping, the little ones are starting to get worried about your health."
The memory Centipede says "I'm in the middle of deep contemplation. I don't wish to be disturbed. Now leave." Hime is silent for a moment, until she says "What part makes you fixated on these ones in particular." To which the memory Centipede responds with "Why would they stay with something that no longer is of use to them?"
Hime answers "They are… were mourning." The memory Centipede says "But why are they not trying to survive? They could have even eaten the wolf they were so close to, but they just kept laying there doing nothing. The corpse had nothing else to offer to them."
Hime says "Sometimes grief is so strong that it gets over our base instincts and makes us ignore the world." The memory Centipede just says "I don't understand. Why can't I understand?"
Then Hime says "I suppose you'll first have to open your heart to someone." To which the memory Centipede asks "And how do I do that?" To which Hime responds with "I think you have to find someone who you take care of. Like a disciple."
The memory Centipede says "A disciple, huh" and then Echo snaps her fingers to change the scene to an eastern home where a green haired person who looks like a boy is pouring alcohol into a cup held by the memory Centipede.
The memory Centipede looks happy at first, but when he takes a sniff at the alcohol filled cup, his mood dampens while still holding out a kind smile. He says to the green haired boy "Thanks for the treat, my little Hummingbird. Your master is very pleased." Then he drinks a bunch of it and feels the effects of alcohol. He says "That's some good stuff you got me, my little Hummingbird."
Soon after, the memory Centipede begins to cough blood and Hummingbird just stares at him blankly. After a while, the memory Centipede drinks the rest of the drink in the cup, which makes Hummingbird surprised.
Hummingbird asks "How are you still alive?! I know you have resistance to poisons, but this is absurd!" To which the memory Centipede just responds by extending his hand with the cup on it to tell Hummingbird that he wants more. This makes Hummingbird furious for a moment as he shouts "Are you making fun of me?!" To which the memory Centipede responds with "No. I'm just appreciating the gift that my one and only disciple gave me, consequences be damned."
Hummingbird raises up and shouts "What about our mantra?! What about not forsaking life?!" While pouring more of the poisoned alcohol to his cup himself, the memory Centipede responds with "I haven't forsaken life. I'm just cherishing the gift that my disciple gave me. After all, what kind of master would I be if I didn't cherish my disciple's gift?"
Hummingbird is stunned by this and after coughing more blood, the memory Centipede says "If my body isn't capable of living past this, then it means death has won a fair game."
Hummingbird doesn't know what to say and the memory Centipede says "I don't know why you did this, but if it is something you set out to do, that is fine by me." Hummingbird responds with a sad tone "Aren't you supposed to be an evil demon? Why would you let my betrayal go?" To which the memory Centipede says after coughing more blood "I see no betrayal here. Just a disciple giving their master a gift."
Hummingbird begins to leave and as they open the door, the memory Centipede says in a happy tone "Next time you bring me a gift, make sure it's made of stronger stuff." While no one is there to see it, Hummingbird sheds some tears and closes the door, never to be seen by Centipede again.
The memory Centipede shouts cheerily "Live on, my little Hummingbird! Show those misogynists what the fuck is up and fuck up the world!" The memory Centipede continues to cough blood, but he continues to pour himself more of the poisoned alcohol. Then he shouts "And don't be shy liking cute and sweet stuff! You'll always be my little tomboy of a disciple!"
The memory Centipede continues to drink the poisoned alcohol all night long, until eventually waking up some time later by a girl with long white hair and blue eyes poking at his cheek.
The girl is short, wearing only a large hoodie and has a near expressionless face. She keeps asking with a cheeky voice "Oi papa. You alive?" She stops poking after the memory Centipede opens his eyes and says "Matrix huh. It seems I'm still alive. How long was I out?" To which Matrix responds with "It's only the next morning, so you didn't miss much."
The memory Centipede then rises up to sit and pats Matrix on the head saying "Good girl. I'm fine now, but can you give me some alone time?" Matrix sees the gloomy smile on her papa's face, so she responds with a smug face "Got it. Matrix will fix everything once papa is done." and starts shooting other swords away, who have gathered in the house.
After everyone is out of the house, the memory Centipede starts to laugh in frustration. Then suddenly he stops laughing and starts throwing things at the walls. Centipede starts to leave the house together with Echo, which makes Rena and Mira follow soon after.
What follows is the utter destruction of the whole house as the memory Centipede rampages. He keeps shouting "Why?! Why do they evade me?! Why?! Why can't I have either of them no matter how hard I try?! Why?! WHY?! Every! Single! Time! Why?!"
After some time, the memory Centipede stops rampaging and calms down a little. Then Matrix comes to find her papa in the middle of all the rubble. She says "You really did the place good. I sure got a lot of work on my hand after all of this, so you better compensate me a lot afterwards. Just kidding. I know you had it hard, so it's a freeby this time."
The memory Centipede continues to look at the ground without responding to Matrix. Then Matrix says with a somber tone "Sorry papa. If I weren't there to reconstruct some of your organs, you could have…" and the memory Centipede places his hand on Matrix's head and says "You have nothing to be sorry about. I knew what I got myself into when I created you, so you don't have anything to worry about. You just did what you were meant to do."
Matrix says "But papa, you are…" To which the memory Centipede says "It's alright. It's alright. I'll leave the reconstruction to you."
The memory Centipede leaves Matrix to fix the house. Centipede explains "Her power is to reconstruct anything to how it was. And if the materials aren't available, she'll use mana to compensate for the missing material."
Mira asks "Why are you telling us that?" To which Centipede says "This means, as long as there is even a strand of hair of a person left, she can recreate the body from it. This also means that she can make copies of anything she wishes, including people, but she is limited to the realm of materia."
Rena says "You didn't answer her question." Centipede just says to that "It means, that no matter what you do to me, as long as a piece of me remains, Matrix can work independently to create a copy of me and use one of her sisters to guide my soul to the new body, making me nigh unkillable."
Echo asks "Are you going to go to the main part?" To which Centipede says "With Echo's power, I can trap myself into a mindscape temporarily. Through this Meka, the sword that can transfer souls to another vessel, is unable to move my soul freely to another body. And as this was for the preservation of Rena's life, I can trick my psyche to allow this death to happen to some degree."
Then Rena says "So what you are saying is…" and the scene turns back to Centipede's mindscape that is filled with swords as he says "Yes. Even though this all happened by pure chance, from the bottom of my soul I beg of you…" Then Centipede prostrates himself in front of Rena and Mira and says with all sincerity he can muster "Please, be the instruments of death in my stead this one time and allow me to face the dishonor that has evaded me for so long. I beg of you."
Part 2: Will thou fight it, flee from it, or…
Thews's body was surrounded by Rena, Mira, Ludwig, Echo and Hime. The moment Thews made a cut on Rena, he collapsed and Rena and Mira were like they were before, only this time knowing the past of the man named Centipede.
Echo asked "So what is your choice Rena?" Rena tries to utter a word, until Mira gets on top of Thews and starts slapping his face. This surprises everyone and Ludwig asks "What are you doing your highness?!" To which Mira said "I felt like slapping him a little since what he asked us to do in the vision annoyed me." Rena said "The… vision…"
Mira continued to slap Thews some more, until she stopped, humph and raised back on her feet. Mira then pointed at Rena and said "I have decided. He will become my pet when I become an adult and can appoint him as my personal knight." Ludwig got out of breath and said "Your highness! You can't just…" And Mira continued "I can only have that if he lives, so if you have an issue with it, then you are free to fight me on this."
Rena is about to say something, until an unknown man's voice says "That's not how this is going to go, kiddo." This made everyone get on their guard, as they felt a powerful aura coming from a white haired man in black rags.
Ludwig asked "Who are you?! What is your business here?!" To which the man said "What a pain. I knew I would have some explaining to do on this trip, but right off the bat?" Ludwig shouted "Identify yourself!"
Then the man points at Thews and says "I have come for this child's soul in case he dies here. You know… since I'm Death from his original world?" This surprises everyone but Echo, who then says "I'm surprised you made a personal appearance. I haven't heard of a case where you made a body for yourself when you came to take souls before?"
Death said "This is personal. He is one of my instruments and he bears my blessing. Or curse, depending on who you ask." Mira asks "What does the blessing do?" To which Death replies by saying "It is none of your business. All you need to know is that I gave him something once."
Mira then asks "Then are you responsible for the misery he suffered until now?" To which Death replies with "No comment."
Rena says "So you are here to take the soul of a man that once belonged to a man known as Centipede?" To which Death replies with "Something along those lines." Rena asks "What do you mean?" To which Death replies with "No comment."
Mira says "You better give us some damn answers." Ludwig says "Your highness!" And Death says "Look… The more time I spend here, the more intertwined I get with the different realities of this world. The deal I had with one of your guys was that Miranda Altrenas and Rena Witsur should make a decision regarding the fate of this child's soul with minimal input from me. Now since one of you has made a decision to keep his soul here, all that's left is for the other one to make the choice."
Rena says "You mean me? What happens if I choose to let you take him?" To which Death says "When it comes to that, it'll be up to me to decide as the third party. Should you choose to keep his soul here, then I won't have to make any decisions on the matter."
Mira then asks "We have been told that there is an afterlife when we die, but in Centipede's memories, it has become quite clear that he believes there is no such thing in your world." Death answers this by saying "No comment."
Mira asks with an annoyed tone "What do you mean "No comment"?" Death answers by saying "It is not for mortals to know what is the truth of death and what's not. This differs from world to world, but in my world, I've decided to keep it ambiguous. And I'm not obliged to tell you what the policy of the one who rules over death in this world is."
Mira says "You start to annoy me, old man." To which Death replies with "The feeling is mutual."
Rena then asks "What about the part in Centipede that was one Mathews? What of him?" To this Death responds with "There is no difference." Rena says "What do you mean there isn't? Wasn't Mathews flooded with the memories of Centipede's life when he was little and those memories took over him?"
Death says "So that's how you see it? Honestly, you three dimensional beings are so hard to deal with. Lowering my sense of self into a third dimension is already a pain in the ass, but then you ask questions that should be obvious to those in higher dimensions. Look what makes a person, a person?"
Rena answers with "Their… environment… and memories?" To which Death replies with "So that's the limit of three dimensional understanding. No wait, you are nine or something, so I shouldn't expect too much in the first place. While that is mostly true, to any higher dimensional being, a person is… How do I explain this so you can understand? … A person is a focal point of one strand of paths that has led to that point. That is right. A focal point that only exists in one moment in time. In one single instance. Two focal points, as the thing that makes a person a person, can be very similar at different moments in time to the point of not seeing any difference, but to someone in my dimension, they can be vastly different people."
Rena says "What are you talking about?" Death then says "To make it an example that you can understand… What is a long span of time to mortals? Day? Hour? Week? Month? Years? It was years, so let's make the time span about half of a human, so… Well, I don't know about how long people here live, but let's call it 50 years. I want you to picture yourself 50 years in the future where you chose to kill this child. I need you to picture yourself in that."
Everyone there imagines that kind of future in their heads. Then Death says "Then I want you to imagine yourself 50 years in the future where this child has been there for your whole life, influencing you as and those around you as you have lived on."
Everyone tries their best to do that, and then Death says "Now I'll ask you a question. Can you call those two different you's a same person?" Rena says "I can't" and Mira says "They are the potentials of each choice, so what does that have to do with Thews and Centipede?"
Death says "The way the reincarnation sword that this child used doesn't alter the way souls work in any other way than letting the recipient remember the experience they had before reincarnation. This child has, is and will be the same child no matter what world they enter or no matter what point in time they are. This child is this child. He may have gotten out of my jurisdiction after coming here, but he is still one of my children as he retains his old memories."
Rena asks "What are you trying to say?" And Death answers "Person is but a moment in the endless sea of possibilities. But the soul, no matter how tainted it may become and no matter how many pieces you shatter it into, it will still remain the same. Centipede. Mathews. Rossan. Mercury. Lissen. Cole. Richard. Mary. Leon. Pork. Santo. Achmed. Ein. Timothy. Reginald. Franciscus. Winnie. The soul remains the same in each world, in each moment in time, in each reality. Only the person may change. So I ask you, Rena Witsur, in the endless sea of possibilities, is or is this not your brother, Mathews Witsur? The boy you know or the boy you in another reality knows?"
Rena remembers a moment just a couple days ago. At that moment, Rena had gone past a maid who was about to go wake up Thews, but Rena said "I can go wake him up." To which the maid complied and left it to Rena.
Rena went to the room and opened the curtains to let light of the sun get in. Thews just turned away and adjusted his sheets to be more comfortable. Then Rena said "Wake up Thews. We are about to start breakfast." To which Thews responded with "Just a couple more minutes."
Rena then proceeded to take the sheet from Thews, which made Thews just whine while half asleep "Cold. Cold. Cold." Rena went to throw Thews out of his bed, but then Thews did something she didn't expect. Thews hugged her.
Thews muttered while still half asleep "Warm. Warm. Warm." Rena was a bit flustered for a moment, but regained her composure quickly and said "Thanks, but you still need to get up and dress up."
Thews hugged even tighter, which surprised Rena a bit, since Thews was only seven and he barely did any training, but the strength was enough to hurt her a little. Rena said "No matter how tight you hold me, I'm still making you come to breakfast while dressed up properly."
Thews said "I let go if you tell me you love me." To which Rena answered half heartedly "Yes, yes. Big sis Rena loves you very much." And then Thews stopped putting strength into his hug and said with a tone of sadness "Thank you, big sis. That really means a lot."
Then Thews stopped hugging Rena and discreetly did a hand motion that indicated to Rena that Thews had cried. Nonetheless, Thews smiled as he always had and said "Since my big sis gave me a special treat, I might actually put some effort into this morning."
Rena absent mindedly said "If that is the prize for you to put in some effort, I'll let you hug me while I say "I love you" as many times as you need." This made Thews twitch in shock and say "Oh, no sis. You don't need to do that all for me. After all, I would get too pampered if that were to happen."
Rena continued by saying "Then big sis is going to pamper you a lot so you can actually put some effort. Or are you saying that you don't want your big sister's affection because you don't want to put in any effort?" Thews answered with "Slander! I never said those words. I just… said that you shouldn't reward poor behavior? Yes! That's not good at all for someone as young as me. Yes."
Rena then said "Right right. Now dress up properly and let's go to breakfast. Show Mira some of your good sides every once in a while." To this, Thews responded with "Who's Mira?"
And then Rena returns back to the present and says "He… is my brother no matter how you look at it. No one else." Death then says "So now that you got your answer…", mutters under his breath "And wasted my time…" and continues "Which is it? Kill him now, let him get what he seeks and let me take his soul to whence it came, or let him live in this world as is?"
Then Rena says "I want… I want him to stay with us. Because…" Death stops her by saying "Right, right, right. I don't care what your reasons were, all that I needed from you two was to only make the choice. Now while I'm at it…" Then Death clears his throat and says "I invoke the sacred rule of dibs on this particular branch of the timeline. Anyone who says otherwise is stupid outside of the use of the sacred rule breaker "Nuh-uh", in which case it will make every version of you stupid, in every timeline, reality and moment the sacred reverse card is not placed on the table of infinity. Should the sacred reverse card be pleased upon it however, then it is up to the council of you's/me's to decide the canonicity of this particular branch of the timeline. This is what I declare as Death."
Then Death stops for a moment and says "And that is my job done. Keep my appearance here as a secret from this child and I owe you a favor in return. I also recommend you to keep what happened here in general a secret between you all to some degree, but this is only a recommendation. This was Death, and I…"
Then Mira shouts "Wait just a moment!" Death sighs and says "What is it, future daughter-in-law? I don't want there to be any more realities of me than is necessary, so I let you ask only one question. Speak."
Mira says "Daughter-in-law? That's not it. There is so much to unpack here, so…" Death then reiterated "Only. One. Question. Bitch. Speak." Mira is annoyed, but stays calm and says "While there are many things I want to know, the most important thing I want to know is what kind of being are you exactly?" Death says "A being that exists in a much higher dimension than your 3 dimensional asses. Once this part of me returns to that dimension, I am able to see many different realities, be in many different realities, feel the emotions of every me in every reality, add time as something irrelevant to me as well, multiply that by couple of times and you get close enough picture of what I am, can do, and will do. That is my answer. Now then. As a married man, I salute you my child, for you have to deal with this bitch much more than me. Well, relatively speaking of course. You don't have to deal with many different versions of her, but I digress. Death. Peace!" As he ends saying that, he proceeds to do a peace sign and vanish.
Then the five people left discuss what to do and come to the conclusion that Hime and Echo should take Thews somewhere safe. Thews being nowhere to be seen for several hours is nothing unusual in Witsur household, so it'll pass as him slacking off somewhere. Meanwhile Rena, Mira and Ludwig will return to the house and inform Thias about the attack while leaving out Thews' involvement.
When Thews comes to and realizes he's not dead and is instead welcomed by Echo and Hime, he knows that the two girls have made their decisions and doesn't ask any questions. Echo informs him that all of them decided to keep his involvement as a secret and, while quoting Rena, Echo said "To keep pestering Thews about being the embarrassment of the Witsur household."
This puts a genuine smile on Thews' face for once, and then he says "Since I'm the embarrassment, I might as well sleep for a couple more hours before I get hungry. I'll return home eventually. Or Rena will come and find me."