Forum Thread

He couldn’t care that she was holding him. He flinched, slightly, but that was all.


“Scaramouche. What if I told you I could make you a God?” The Doctor said.

“I’d call you delusional. What do you need from me?” Scaramouche said, smirking.

“Your Gnosis, and your cooperation”

The Gnosis was handed over once again.


Almost 9 months of building, assembling, and attaching.
Divine Knowledge capsules attained.
He was hooked up in the Mech. He couldn’t leave.
The Everlasting Lord was almost complete.


And then the Traveler, Paimon, and the weak Goddess of Dendro, Buer appeared. She used some sort of Dendro magic. It did nothing to him

---

"This is..." She stared up at the mech. It was huge. Just a few inches smaller than her mother, she'd say. She held Makoto tightly, making sure he couldn't see what was going on. So much had happened after he left her. There was a gap, she saw, from before he came, and after he left.

---

Makoto was NOT having a good time right now. Not at all.


The Traveler moved to fight the mech, and got slammed down. He grabbed the Dendro Archon-

The Traveler moved to fight the mech, dodged the first attack then got blown away by a gale of wind. He grabbed the Dendro Archon

………

The Traveler was proving a tough enemy. But still, he was impervious. He grabbed the Dendro Archon and—

“Data Collection Complete”

A samsara. His body was destroyed.

He never had a chance, did he?

The mech was destroyed. He could barely move.

The Gnosis was being taken.

“No— wait— please—!”

He struggled, reaching out for the Gnosis, the “strings” attached to his back strained to keep him in place. Finally, he reached out far enough—

Snap

He fell to the ground in a matter of seconds.

---

She flinched, backing away and holding the back of Makoto's head. She wanted badly to catch him- to help, to do something. But all she could do was stand and watch.

---

Makoto was not doing well. Not at all. He knew what was coming next


A scene change. He was in the Sanctuary of Surasthana.

“Balladeer, you’re awake” the Dendro goddess said.
“…Buer…”
“You were in a coma for a month.”
“… I see”

Scaramouche was in the Sanctuary for a while.
A deal was struck. He would take the Traveler into Irminsul.

“Huh…wait…anonymous data…?”

A Memory was shown.

“...Mr. Niwa, are you certain this is worth the risk? We are talking about Tatarasuna's furnace, after all. It may not pay to act rashly...”
“There's no one else who can enter the furnace. It has to be me.”
“Is that so...?” The voice sighs “Well, since you insist...”


“What have we gained from adopting your new technology? Ominous, black smoke, mounting production problems... Worker fatigue and casualties are up, and continuing to rise at an alarming rate, and recently, as you well know, someone died because of that strange filth inside the furnace. We've kept the truth from spreading outside, but still, I suspect you understand it better than I do. None of the people who went out to get help have come back. Now, our mutual friend, the kabukimono, is taking the golden feather to Narukami Island to seek an audience with the Shogun. This is our last hope.” Niwa said, staring at the man known as Escher. “But that doesn't faze you, does it, Escher? Nothing does... Otherwise, why would you still be standing there with that smile on your face?”

“I'm just surprised that you finally chose to be so sincere. I'm sure you've been harboring these suspicions for quite some time.” Escher smirked.

…

“Drop the act. We're past that now. Whoever you are, it looks like your plan to destroy Tatarasuna has worked. I just want to know what you're still doing here. What's left? Don't you have all your answers by now?” Niwa glared at Escher, tensions were rising high.

“Honestly, I'm just waiting for the right moment.” A quick movement, and Niwa was stabbed in the stomach and he fell to the ground. “A moment like this where you finish talking and I stop you from entering the furnace.”

Escher revealed that his true intentions were to have the Kabukimono go into the furnace. Niwa was horrified. Scaramouche and the Traveler were horrified.

…

“If you give him... my heart... tell him that both Nagamasa... and I... see him as... one of us. He has nothing to prove to anyone... because not everyone... just wants to use other people. The only ones who think like that... are people like you...” Niwa breathed his final words.

It was then that Escher had dropped his disguise. He was not a simple mechanic from Fontaine. He was Dottore. And. His experiment went as planned.

The Memory stopped. The Balladeer did not cope well. After a few moments of talking about the Traveler’s sibling, he takes the Traveler by hand.

“In this world, is it possible... to change the past?”

The Traveler’s hesitation was all he needed. Within the minute, he entered Irminsul, erasing himself completely.

---

Mercy's eyes widened. He... erased himself? Why would he do such a thing? She could understand how he must've felt, but... to go that far... "I need to know... what happened to him..." She took a step closer to the memory, to Scaramouche.

---

“What do you mean- what happened. He doesn’t exist now. It was all for naught-“ Makoto managed to say harshly.

Almost like it was responding to Mercy, the memory rewound.

A puppet lay alone in the Shakkei Pavillion. It woke up, and began to wander the world. Nothing of note happened to it. It swapped its clothes from the silk to a better— familiar— outfit.
“Traveler”
“Drifter”
“Wanderer”
He was called many things, and had no name of his own.

“…you’re a puppet” The Traveler said, and the Wanderer was brought to Kusanali

---

"Puppets rely on other people to give them orders. He isn't a puppet...! He's not a puppet at all!" She defended him, stepping forward again. "It wasn't for naught- there had to have been a something here... Something he learned..."

---

“It was for naught. You can’t change the past. Everything that happened still happened.” Makoto said bluntly.


The scene changed. The Wanderer and the Traveler experienced what they were going through, memory hopping.
The Wanderer wanted all of Scaramouche’s memories.
The Everlasting Lord, the last line of defense for protection of his memories fought them.
A bright flash, and a whirl of wind.
A gift from the Gods. An Anemo vision

The Wanderer was snarky. But he was still the Wanderer.

He pledged his allegiance to Kusanali, and he asked for a name from the Traveler.

Makoto.

Suddenly— the two were back in the house. It was as if nothing had changed.

---

Mercy stared at the wall in silence, but that didn't last long. She quickly moved somewhere more remote for them to be alone- the bathroom- and set him on the sink counter, holding his cheeks. "Hey, it's okay- it's okay..." She kissed his forehead and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You didn't deserve anything that happened to you- whether it happened to Kuni, or Scaramouche- life has been too cruel to you..."

---

“I’m not them- why don’t you get it- I’m not the person you… you cared about!” He was confused. But he didn’t pull away. Not at all. She was warm…

---

"I don't care who you once were, or who you are now. You're my son, Makoto, whether you believe it or not." She looked up at him. "I'll guide and protect you. You can open yourself to me, I won't ever try to hurt you. You're free to do what you'd like. You are your own being. Not a god, or a puppet, or a vessel. You are yourself, and you're my son."

---

He tilted his hat towards his face as unwanted tears welled in his eyes. “…still a puppet… I have the joints” He said, trying to deflect the focus of the conversation

---

"Puppets are controlled. You're a doll. I knew a doll, once. And they were free as a bird, as are you." She wiped his tears away and lowered herself to look at him, smiling warmly. "I love you, and I'll do everything I can to make sure you can be happy from now on. And... I know you expect this to be transactional... So in return, I want you to be my son."

---

“I- I can’t do that..!” His tone wasn’t… angry. It was more like he was scared.

---

"You can, Makoto. What's holding you back? Are you scared that I'll betray you, or hurt you? Are you worried that something will happen? That I'll go away, like everyone else did?"

---

“…I don’t know how to be one” He mumbles, almost incoherently. He’s a sad boy. Bad but sad boy

---

"You don't have to know, sweetie, it's okay. Most of the time, I don't know how to be a mother, so I guess we're even on that." She brought a hand to his head and pet his hair, tilting his head back up. "It's okay to be vulnerable around me. I'll never tease you or try to bring harm to you. I ask that you build trust and have some faith in me. Can you do that, dear? Can you try?"

---

He fully broke into tears. He nodded slightly as a response to her question. He didn’t understand at all. He just… couldn’t… or maybe wouldn’t

---

"You're my precious baby, Makoto. You're a part of my family. And that means I'll risk my life to protect you. I'll give you the life and experiences you were stripped of." She picked him back up. Maybe he would wear himself out like that.

---