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

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act 2

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

[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.]

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[ Her eyes go wide, and all she can do is stare.

Chess looks up at her already choking up blood. She looks down, concerned only with the fact that she might've gotten blood on her shirt. She didn't. Content, she turns, the sound of the other girl's gurgling in her ears.

Quite suddenly, the bear's squished between them, as Riley launches herself at Stephen, arms awkwardly wrapped around him from the side in a terrified hug. ]

I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry.

[oh. this is happening.

...

He's okay with it. Stephen didn't realize how close he was to breaking down until her arms are about him, and- maybe he doesn't fully break, but his shoulders tremble as he wraps his arms back around her. After days- over a week of convincing himself that it was Okay, he can at least, admit to himself, admit to Riley?

It's not.

He doesn't say it out loud, though. He just rubs small circles on her back, breath hitching just a bit. If he focuses on her, he can manage himself. He can...lie and say he's fine.

Shadowmen, apparently, have many different utilities.]

[ She trembles as she holds him. Her lips rest next to his ear, and as his shoulders shake, her grip tightens.

She repeats what she did to Jeremy, when it had come out that Stephen was the last one to kill. ]

Got you. I g-got you.

[ Honestly, she doesn't know what else she can say. It sticks her still, but she doesn't want to let go. ]

[For now, she does. But how long will that be? How long until they're brought back to play another part, or- sent back, having fulfilled their use?

I know where I'm going.

He squeezes her tight, not wanting to let go.]

Don't give up on yourself. For me? No matter how hard it gets. And- find Christine and Jeremy, too. I don't really understand, but- the Wizard said your worlds are the same, and they weren't before. So you all can look out for one another. Or at least write. [Given...everything.]

What?

[ She chokes lightly. What is she to respond to first? Her fingers dig into his sleeve. ]

Don't talk like that. Y- you were alive there. It doesn't- why would you have to go back to being dead? If we're all- brought back? You can't- you can't tell me those things if you're just- just going to-

I've spent the last week getting used to it. [he sounds Tired] I don't...I don't see another option, Riley.

[...does he want to? Who knows.]

I could've done that as a mistake to fix, go back to before I lost my memory, but- I realized that you all are so much more important to me. And I don't think the Wizard's going to suddenly decide that I get a second shot, anyway.

The Wizard doesn't have anything to do with it, I don't- don't care what he wants. If they c-can fix things for the others, they can fix things for you, too. You don't have to- let go.

[ Please don't let go. Please. ]

[He wants to believe it. So badly. He's petting her hair, now, trying to soothe her - and himself.

He can't break down again. It's already unfair, how much he's put on her shoulders. He's treating her like an adult, but she's just a kid.]

If there's a way. [He swallows around the lump in his throat] If there's a way that doesn't involve hurting anyone, I'll- I'll take it. I just...I don't know if there is one, Riley. Even if we were still in that damn place.

He- the Phantom said he- that he could. That he would. If he can, then...the others, can- Or- B-Beetlejuice, he said he could do something...if the Wizard's gone. There are ways, there have to be ways.

[ Her chin digs into his shoulder. Refusing to let go, refusing to even loosen her grip, lest... ]

I- Y-you could...go home...with Jeremy and Christine or- or someone. You could- be safe.

[ Not like she can offer anything. Not like she has the place to. ]

[The only one he wants to go home with isn't an option anymore. But he allows himself a moment - just a moment! - to imagine that there is a chance, and he immediately regrets it. There's such a feeling in his chest, something he's been refusing to allow himself to feel for days.

Only then does he realize his eyes are wet.]

...we'll see. [It's soft, but it's all he can manage right now]

[ You have to promise me, she wants to say. It's desperate, insistent, more in-tune with the firm girl she tries to be. But instead: ]

You have to visit me. They're n- not going to. [ They. Her parents. Her- ] Please. I can't- can't do this on my own.

Riley...

[And although
I'll be out of sight, dear
Know I'll be right here
Right here, forever

The song rings in his head, but he can't voice it. He won't voice it, he won't do that to her. Instead, he pulls back just enough so they can look at one another, and so he can offer her as much a smile as he can manage.

Thing is, it's not a fake smile. And while it's a weak smile, it's real.]

If there's a way, I will. I promise. But you won't be doing this on your own.

[ That smile ignites a little spark in her. Just enough to keep the flame going. Like a little kid, like the scared stuttering girl from fourth grade, she sniffles and almost pitifully asks: ] I'm not?

You charmed a fallen angel. You really think he's gonna let something like jail stand in his way of getting back to you?

[ Her expression just crumbles and she buries her face in his chest. ]

H-he said- he was g- going to meet my- my t-team. F-f-friends. [ The word hurts in her mouth. ] He s-s-said- he was m-my own personal fallen angel.

[ She doesn't want to talk about him, with Stephen, because-- because she knows it must hurt. But, she misses him, that gentle love and approval, every day. ]

He will. You're important to him.

[It hurts, but- not as much as it could. Talking about Mephisto loving Riley is one thing. Talking about how Mephisto feels about him...

Stephen continues rubbing her back, just...trying to soothe her.]

And like I said- Jeremy and Christine could see you. Write you, if nothing else. Everybody who can, will. A lot of people care about you.

[ With a muffled whimper, she cries: ]

What kind of p-parents'll let their k-k-kid write to a c-convicted felon?!

[ It's followed by another burst of tears, and another wave of shame. Crying about going to jail, for something she did. Lives she stole. Pathetic, aren't you pathetic, too pathetic to even get away with it. ]

I-I knew Che- Chess since...we were k-kids, Farrah was- was fifteen, and I- I helped send Mattie t- to prison, she's just- she's younger than Red! They're g-gonna think I'm- know, that- I am dangerous.

[ She swings rapidly, from urgently needing connection and feeling sickened by it. Knowing she's not strong enough to do this alone, but loathing herself to even dream... ]

[They don't have to know. Except- that's not right. He doesn't have an immediate answer to that, not that isn't patronizing.

Except...]

You were dangerous. And maybe you still could be, but- so could I. And, Riley? [He reaches down to touch her chin, force her to look up] You wanna know why I told you that you weren't like Angus, before? It's because you felt bad about what you'd done. You said it was a mistake. You knew you'd done wrong, and- that means there's a part of you that still wants to be better. I want to believe there's a part of Angus, too.

So let's get better. Okay?

[ That moment was so far away until now. Everything from that day is like...like looking back through a shifting kaleidoscope. Every so often, Riley gets a full, yet refracted, picture. A small whimper escapes her, as he brings her face up to look at her. She’s a mess of tears, hair puffy and out of place from shoving herself at him, and what he says prompts a hiccup of a breath, as she looks at him with a blurry gaze. ]

Th-the way everyone- all of you—the way C-Cai looked at me... I don’t... I can’t stop thinking... H-how can I be better...without her?

[ You are nothing, you have nothing,
Without— ]

I ruined...whatever w-we could’ve-

[Her words make him think of Mephisto, and this time- this time, it does hurt. To betray him, not once but twice- Stephen swallows, not letting her look away, as he forces himself to also think of his talk with Richard.]

Because we owe the ones we hurt to be better.

[His voice is soft, pained]

Even if we don't get to be with them, we owe them.

[ Riley whimpers. She doesn't mean for it to slip out, but it does anyway. There's a lot she doesn't mean that still happens, isn't there? ]

I-it hurts. She was the...the only person, I could... The only one who- [ The words catch in her throat, and they're presumptuous. She...can't be sure. But, thinking of days getting caught in the rain, nights drifting off head on her shoulder, strong arms and gentle fingers caressing her cheek— ]

Who loved me.

[There's honestly not much he can say to that. Or sing. His throat has closed off, only allowing him to breathe, no more; there's a heavy weight in his chest that's like lead. Wordlessly, he gives her another squeeze, allowing her to hurt- and simply being her for there in the midst of it.

What else can he do?]

[ Riley's been sitting with this hurt for weeks. Ever since- well, before she died, back when she started to connect the puzzle pieces of her fucked up memories. So, right now she just...slumps forward. Letting him hold her and...hold her up, as well. One of her hands has fallen to the teddy bear, still between them.

She sniffles. Lets out a small breath. Feels the stone from the crypt against her arm. And just...lets herself feel this.

And... ]

When somebody loved me, everything was beautiful.
Every hour we spent together lives within my heart.

And when I was sad, she was there to dry my tears.
And when she was happy, so was I.
When she loved me.

[ That's...what it was, wasn't it? That's what she was feeling, all those years. Too blind, too...focused, on looking for love from people who were never going to give it to her. ]

Through the years when we were small,
We had each other, that was all.
Just she and I together, like it was meant to be.
And when I was lonely, she was there to comfort me.
And I knew that she loved me...

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

cw: choking, death mention

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cw; continued 'fuck living', just assume it happens more-or-less the rest of the thread

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