now let's skip the tears and start on the whole-

[stagemanagers]

[You remember dying. Maybe the memory is clear and bright and your body still aches from the cause. Maybe it was fast enough that you didn't feel it and don't remember what you went through. But no matter how you went out you're still trapped here.

When you open your eyes it might take you a minute to recognize your surroundings. For the executed, it's your dressing room. For the victims, you startle awake in the place your body was discovered. But no matter where you are nothing is where you remember it. It's like everything has been picked up and moved to the other side of the room. The entire room has been perfectly mirrored from what it used to be and, upon leaving, it seems the rest of the opera house is just the same. If you remember one room being in the east wing, it's now in the west. If it was in the west, it's now in the east.


Welcome back to the Opera House, friends. Even in death you're still in the woods.]


WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5


[ooc: Welcome to deadland, darlings! It's a perfectly mirrored version of the Opera House and each week, as new people die after new floors have been revealed, the stairwell doors will unlock and allow you to reach them. For example, week 3 victims will unlock floor 2 and so on and so forth. Also, all dead characters will wake up at their actual canon point.

Have fun because we have some fun things planned for you.]

Comments

[superbeliever]

[Richard searches his eyes for something familiar, and comes up empty.

He frowns, his brows furrowing. He looks...Disappointed.]

I'm not giving up on you.

[That's who Richard is - he never gives up on anyone.]

But if you harm a single hair on any of their heads... You'll have to reckon with me.

[mcfife]

[He can handle threats. He is the fearsome and unbeatable prince of the galaxy. What harm can this former king do to him?]

Don't count on it. [He might not be in a good mood when they speak to him.] We do what we must to break free of this prison of undeath, and I do not plan to remain apart from my kingdom for long.

[superbeliever]

[He's still holding onto Angus' sleeve, and he tightens his grip, pulling them closer together with a snarl.]

I am the One True King to Unite Them All. My friends here are as much my people as the ones I left behind.

[The thought of Roberta makes his heart hurt. But he can't let that distract him from the people who he can protect now.]

If. You. Harm. Them. I. Will. Make. You. Kneel.

Are we clear?

[mcfife]

You? The One True King? Don't try to cow me into submission by making me laugh.

[That's not an "yes", but he's not fighting Richard anymore. He finds little reason to put in the effort without the Hammer or magic.]

[superbeliever]

That's what the last evil wizard said who underestimated me.

[Well, not exactly, but. Close enough.]

Before I killed him.

[mcfife]

[His smile disappears.]

And I am not Zargothrax. He and I and your wizard are not alike.

[He then attempts to pull his arm out of his grip.]

Now let me find a way to escape. If the Phantom is dead, it should be easier to undo his magic.

[superbeliever]

[Richard lets him go. Almost as if he doesn't want to touch him anymore.]

I hate to break it to you, but the Phantom is still alive.

[At least, he was still alive at the end of the trial.]

[mcfife]

[A noise of disappointment.]

She couldn't even kill someone like him?

[That girl...what was she thinking, climbing up there in an attempt to kill him? And there he was, dying to aid her in her failed quest-]

What did I do all that for?!

[superbeliever]

You helped her because you had hope.

Because she was a little girl trying to do something other than just stand there and die, and she made you remember what it felt like to fight. Back.

[Still nothing? Damn.]

She stabbed him twice, before he... pushed her over the railing.

[mcfife]

I did not do it out of hope that she would kill him. [Why would he do such a thing? He can't let someone else take the glory-]

I could have killed him more easily myself if I hadn't...

[Why did he ever hesitate to kill down there? Weak.]

[superbeliever]

[!]

Then you did it because you hoped she would make it. Because she deserved to live.

You were willing to die to stop yourself, but she's just a young girl, she's our friend. And she was hurt, and scared, but so very, very brave.

[mcfife]

And she died.

[Like the Deathknights. Like the Dwarven army. Like the Questlords. Like all who fail to defeat their foes.]

That was my mistake - to trust someone else to do the work by my side. I should have learned my lesson when The Hootsman couldn't even use his powers to protect me from the Knife

[superbeliever]

She died.

[His tone when he says this... He's thinking not only of Riley, and the conversation at hand, but of Red, as well.]

Even if she hadn't - if she had killed the Phantom and escaped - you would be just as dead. You didn't know you would be trapped here with the rest of us.

But it would have been worth it, wouldn't it?

[mcfife]

[Angus is silent. It is true that he would have tried to killed the Phantom regardless of the outcome, but to admit that Riley could have done such a thing is foolishness. It had merely been a lapse in judgement. So what if he had stood back-to-back with her surrounded by enemies, forced to work together?

Now Riley calls on him to join her epic fight
Last chance for mighty warriors will battle side by side

He had no reason to help.]

Don’t bother me with these questions anymore.

[He must get away from this man. His mind is not as sharp as it was.]

[superbeliever]

Why, because you don't have an answer?

[He's not holding onto you anymore, Angus, you're technically free to leave any time you want.]

Angus, you were a good man. It's not too late for you, you can still come back from this.

[mcfife]

Because I do not have time for your concerns.

[He turns away from the hallway of dressing rooms. There is no need for his presence.]

As a “good man”, I had set too many limitations on myself. This time, I will find a way out of here.

[And thus, he sets out to explore the remainder of the building.]