After Eth had released Try from his short embrace, he took a moment to let it all sink in. This sense of humility, this moment in all of that chaos, for what reprieve there was to be had; this was it. He gave a small nod to Sae offered his thanks for giving him better perspective on his own feelings and the consideration of others thinking about how he feels but never expressed terribly in depth.
He felt...off, at least in the sense of since before they left their worldline...it was hard to explain. The "0" tattoo in his eye would occasionally flicker, but he wasn't sure what this meant.
'I feel as though I'm missing something...something important...'
Resolute Zero clutched his head briefly before he regained his composure in the wake of Recia's lamenting.
"R-r-right...well...you know how I kind of...went berserk when I awoke to Finis' power Anima? She's been.... surprisingly quiet, I don't know if it's about any sort of pre-set rule or an agreement, but I'm worried something is going to-"
"You needn't worry about that, at least don't bare the burden of that sentiment alone. Recia." Eth turned on a heel and spoke, "Listen. Nerves are probably as high as they'll get right now, this really is the last stretch of our journey. No sense in lamenting on seeing it through to the end."
He couldn't help but feel a newfound sense of purpose as he combed over the eyes of his comrades. There was a hint of unease placed somewhere at the back of his mind knowing that there'd be some level of shenanigans to deal with knowing their master. He shrugged it off for the time being and stroked Qi on the head as he clutched to Eth's leg. "We'll need your help getting home, could you please assist us?" Eth smiled at Qi as he reciprocated with nod. The light he illuminated was even more beautiful and pure than Resolute Zero's light of pale blue and yellows, Qi's was pure white as he coalesced into the shape of the X-blade for Eth.
Eth opened the wayfinder and... stared at it for quite a while, it was strange to see the current worldline, but branches numbered and populated, but when you observe their home worldline...a single world populated. ???????
????????????
??????
?
Quadratum. Quadratum?
The Keyhole populated and Lucrecia wasted absolutely not time at all diving into the beyond before the rest of them. The chip on her shoulder Eth had to imagine has felt heavier than ever, with Finis silent it really had him considering some failsafe if she went berserk again. As the rest of them funneled in, Shiki had approached Eth, Sae's eyes briefly meeting Eth's before he crossed over.
"Do you remember our last conversation." Shiki looked at Eth head on.
"Easy does it. We're not finished yet. Is your business that urgent before you go disappearing again...?" Eth gave her a nod.
"We went over that already, after everything is done...you seem distraught, what's wrong?" She inquired
"A single world on our world-line, all the others are unaffected...in fact they're returning to normal by the looks of it, but our world-line seems to just have a single world remaining...this anomaly was a result of our meddling?"
"It's anyone's guess, it makes more sense to just ask the master directly, unless..." she looked at him with hesitation.
"My tattoo still being on my body should put that doubt to rest as quickly as you ideated it Shiki. No Til the day the master gives me a reason. That won't happen." Eth stood firm on this one, before adjourning their talk to cross over the threshold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was about as strange as it was going to get. Crossing over to what he could only describe as an unreality, Eth had the strangest feeling in the pit of his stomach. As the others were captivated and making their own observations, he surveyed with his eyes scanning the area. The building's felt almost lifeless, like a grainy aesthetic before looking at the wayfinder again not exactly putting him at ease.
"According to his map, this anomaly is...some kind of Unreality? It's called Quadratum." Eth was looking at the wayfinder. "The map...is showing only this place. No Dorms...No Graveyard...No Radiant Garden...did the anomaly really just wipe every other world off this worldline via some kind of domino effect..?"
"As if! No way, how's that even possible??"
Finis decided to interject, "Your worldline was a bi-product granted by the events of every other previous worldline that was split. If you changed the events of a box being opened to create this worldline, essentially those previous conditions that lead up to your previous events and endeavors never came to be. Everyone here...is a living paradox."
"Couldn't have said it better myself old friend." a voice traveled from high up on the 104 building rooftop. "It's been ages my Resolutes, it's great that you finally managed to make it to me. I can now exercise a liberty and explain everything to you, but first I know i know, you've all got questions so ask'em now." there was a cloud of darkness lingering beside the master, it already raised concerns.
It felt like ice scratching against his brain, his thoughts ran cold for moment as he raised his eyes upward looking at the Master standing within reach of them. Instantly reflecting on Saebyeolbe's aggression to produce information of his whereabouts, such an oddly specific memory triggered. As his comrades were stuck gawking in awe at the master, he did raise a good point.
Questions, he needed to confirm something.
"Master, it's certainly been-"
"FOREVER!" Reforge burst into tears balling his eyes out and clinging to Try's leg. "Bwuaaaaaaaaaah hahahahaaaaaaa! I mi-mi-missed you so much! I didn't want you to leave! Bwuaaaaahhhhhh!"
"Hey now Reffles! Don't give me the waterworks, everything's gonna work out, after we clear one last hurdle." The Master looked at Saebyeolbe next "Well Ol'be, I don't believe i've seen your body with nary a scar in sight, you like like a new man! Good to see ya again."
The mass of darkness behind the master seemed to show no signs of fading away, and Eth's eyes were on it like a falcon. Turning his head, Iontis and Shiki seemed to be fixated on it as well, they were (on paper) his best three pupils.
"Master." Iontis broke his silence, "What happened to our home?"
"Dust in the wind Ion, your looking at whats left of the worldline. Classic domino effect eh?" the master lowered is arms. "That map ol' Ethy's got in his hands should all but confirm that fact. Reseting the first worldline started the ripple effect here. Two forces in play are why this anomaly is here in the first place. The first is that I am here with the final darkness out of the 20 darknesses, the second."
He pointed to Eth.
"Is Eth opening the box on this worldline and the bi-product of Anima being released devoured the remaining worlds...virtually having no effect on this unreality due to my presence here." He took a breath, "In other words, in order to reset everything here...Finis needs to stop being a pain in the rear and retire her power to allow for me to re-"
"You're insufferable Omni. Arrogant as always, I'll be damned if I let you anywhere near Qi to alter or change ANYTHING, the only ones I trust out of this lot are Lucrecia, Eth, and Shiki. Even you understand that last darkness is too valuable to fully eradicate which is why you kept it out of harms way to begin with!" Finis lashed out of frustration.
"Rectifying the wrongs of your peers to whom you didn't even know about or their stories until mere days ago. Sending them back into the cycle of reincarnation and simultaneously restoring their worldlines. Yet here they arrive to their home in a state of unreality as a result of your very presence as far as unleashing it upon the world. Your memory was always terrible Finis you must've forgotten when you turned your power against my apprentices inside a space Eth created known as 'All is Lost' sound familiar?"
"The anomaly didn't fully form until after those events transpired, what solidified it was the ripple effect of restoring the primary worldline. As I said previously, my presence here is consistent as this is the last worldline I was occupying, I am no where to be seen on the previous ones per the restoration, so all of those worldlines will persist without me save for here. And here we are, as the final darkness my resolutes were tasked to expunge needs a vessel to hold it temporarily in order for it to be purified, sealed, or if Finis would be so kind as to-"
"Why would I ever do anything in service of you?"
Omni wagged his finger, "You don't ever go back on your word. You've prided yourself, your integrity simply won't allow it, and per our arrangement in organizing this gambit in the first place, all parameters have been cleared. The agreement we reached was that you would allow for the complete re-shaping of the world on the merits of my 12 apprentices. As it stands, they did what none of their predecessors where able to, release you and simultaneously win your trust as well as rectify the mistakes of every generation of resolute before them."
The master raised the building up just slightly below him. "Now stand down Finis." he seemed to have an extremely boisterous approach to pacifying his peer.
"If you want things to go back to the way they were you're officially left with two options." he raised his arm, "You either eliminate me as I no longer exist on any of the previous worldlines as they've been restored. Or you eliminate Eth and the anomaly he created in that of All is Lost vanishes along with him."
There was a looming sense of alarm mixed with dread that flooded into all of the resolutes.
"MASTER WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SUGGESTING!?!" Kambria reacted in outrage, "WHY WOULD WE DO EITHER OPTION???"
"You can't be serious...theres just no way, no way, no way, NO WAY I'm doing either of those things! Isn't that taboo??" Yamato was combing his hair trying to rationalize the options.
"You're actually serious...aren't you master..." Komaeda's head turned to Eth, then the master and he drew his gun and turned to face Eth.
"Whoa whoa whoa! Hey slow down Nagi what are you-" Ref stood at the front and turned to hold his arm. "I'm sure theres a workaround for this, just give us some time to think this through."
"I'm positive he's been holding out even more information from us, think its a little strange that he started this whole situation?"
"We weren't even around to witness when that happened! Don't be so quick to condemn him." Iontis chimed in.
Eth was eerily quiet, he was just allowing everyone else agency to express how they felt. It was fine, he wasn't looking to be validated by anyone for the choices he'd made up until now, but regrettably even now he did hold back the truth of everything that he knew. Finally in position where all the eyes and pensive stares were on him questioning everything in his repoire, he let everything go. The threads of his raven-colored hair started to fade and silk to white matching Komaeda's, and it took a similarly unruly shape.
"It's Ethari. My name is Ethari...my mother's name is Freya, my brother's name is Revy and..." he exhaled and looked up at the 104 building, "The Master of Master's is our father."
"WHAT?!" all, including the master seemed to sharply respond to this revelation.
"Whoa kiddo slow down, I'm you and Nagi's....you and Nagi are brothers...? I'm your old man of mans? Your gonna have to provide us with a little more than a statement to-"
"Revy...I know you still have it, our mother gave us matching crown necklaces as kids. They were mementos from our father, it's not only proof that we're his children...but proof that you and I are family...if I'm going to be marked for death, then I've nothing more to hide from anyone here." Eth raised his amulet of heart.
"I never told anyone my name or about this...so why do you..." Komaeda raised his necklace, amulet rather that looked identical to Eth's. "I don't have a brother...and you...you're that kid the master took in all those years ago..?" It finally started to jog his memory.
"Mhm. I might as well put back the memories of everyone here as they always should've been." Eth raised his hand.
Silver aura resonated around him as he formed multiple screens of what looked like pieces of glass form fitting into the space. It was playing flashes from the past for each person here at different intervals. When Eth was tasked with wiping their memories and dropping them off on random worlds...he had to engage with each of them and utter "Thy Kingdom Come" in order to take them down without breaking the master's rule set. One by one, he did this exact feat with Shiki accompanying him, even her memory was wiped when he had to turn his resolve against her and drop her off on a different world. He was precise in placing back Komaeda's memories as well as the master's of their shared history and how they knew each other. Even the master was unaware that Eth was one of his boys, but he knew all too readily that Komaeda was.
"I don't care about any of that. Eth whatever you did, it was because it was a part of what the master put on you." Yamato spat to the side. "I'll be damned if I direct my anger at a man who put so much pressure on himself when all he wanted was to be closer to us this entire time."
"Orders are orders, no one that would resurrect those of us that died warrants being destroyed themselves. Pass." Iontis turned his head away from the master and sided with Ethari.
"Ethy saved my life, theres no way I could take him out." Ref pouted and puffed his cheeks.
"You guys are talking like you have much of a choice." Luxu shook his head, "Don't you even know what the master's resolve is? As if."
"What...what do you mean, what is it Luxu?" Kambria inquired nervously.
"Just watch." he pointed up at the master who'd taken in their replies and memories alike.
The master stood beside the mass of darkness and finally hit a point of levity where he just started to laugh. It was definitely adorable to see them pine over their comrade openly like this. It meant if they weren't going to eliminate Eth, then the chances were alarmingly high he'd be the next target, and it would thwart all his failed attempts to writing reality in the image he pictured. The darkness slowly started to bleed into the master, and he embraced the final darknesses desperation and clinging to life.
"You seem to be determined to undermine a direct command. Under normal circumstances, you'd need to agree to a command to accept it, however...one vital thing I've left out." he raised his hand and balled it into a fist. "Control [IS] Resolute."
"All's End: Perfect Sovereignty"
The lights...where bright. Everyone's tattoos were burning with a white intensity. One by one it seemed like the influence of the master's all's end effect was turning them to his will. Talk about a literal powerplay, all those rejections heard from his resolutes protests were starting to flip on their heads as his all's end was the active and total control over things within his range of relatively three-hundred and sixty meters. Or at least an unexpected instance happened.
"All's End--" Shiki uttered within moments after the master.
"Tch...I wouldn't do that if I were you Shiki." The Master revealed the small ring around her, as his All's End effects was so massive, the 'tug-of'war' occurring looked negligible in contrast. "Trying to counter my All's End's with your own so it's intended effect can't fully manifest is clever. Neither of ours have fully formed, we don't need another anomaly on our hands dear! So disengage immediately!" The master clasped his hands together and pleaded with her.
Eth was taken aback by this, loyalty was something that was important to everyone here. Each of the resolutes that spoke out, seemed to have taken to him, it wasn't about sides at this point, it was about doing what they felt was the right thing to do. That subjetive way of looking at the situation only complicated the matter, once trusting feeling over fact has never been Eth's way of handling anything over the years. It almost assuredly made the most logical sense to eliminate him, but he was starting to see that having a soft spot for a comrade was...normal...was human. As Shiki was attempting to repel whatever the master's All's End was, he noticed something out of place as his brother moved on his own and was by Shiki who was locked into place.
"Just let it happen...I'm awfully tired of your interference...just your presence in general..." Revy was hysterical, overwhelmed with everything happening. He emitted a powerful presence, his Wakeful Sleep resolve alone has been the biggest wildcard in this group mirroring his brother's anomaly.
It was as if the pressure was too much to hold, and Shiki released the All's End on her end, and the effects manifested instantly. Everyone's tattoos began to glow a fierce white color, and save for Ethari, Komaeda, and Lucrecia, they turned to greet the master as soulless drones that fell to the All's End: Perfect Sovereignty.
"A dirty tactic, but look how cooperative everyone else is. It doesn't effect Finis, so Recia you're safe for the time being. As for my boys, it looks like your mother inadvertantly saved you both with those mementos. They repel the authoritative power of my Resolve: Almighty." He spat to the side as he imbued himself with the final dark passengers and black wings burst from his back. "Finally time to be start over, the remaining resolutes have been pacified by my control. Look around you Ethari, if you just submit, we can make your death quick, you can even erase their memories of this entire situation if that'd--"
"Stop talking like this is over." Ethari was gearing up to utilize his own All's End.
"Hey now, easy kiddo, this is the end of time, you don't get anymore parlor tricks using it in a place where it doesn't even work. You've already experienced that on a harrowed end. And what do you possibly expect to do against your now deposed comrades. One word and you'll have the remainder at your throat, and I don't think you want that, especially when they truly have no agency or awareness of the violence enacted against you."
"Listen to him Eth." Komaeda spoke, "We can finally live in that world of light, no more darkness, no more suffering...none of it! Don't you want that kind of peace!"
"........." Eth fell silent before he looked over at Finis and remembered what he promised her, "...I said to Finis, that even peace has a price...and to let us pay it." he proceeded to shift his gaze to their rogue master now billowing with darkness.
"I won't carry this burden alone...not anymore!"
