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Language:
English
Series:
Part 2 of Greyscales
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Published:
2019-10-14
Completed:
2019-10-14
Words:
3,661
Chapters:
3/3
Comments:
7
Kudos:
20
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3
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384

Ebony

Chapter 3: Ending 2 - Royal

Summary:

The room felt empty before she reached the door, yet there was comfort in knowing ghosts would soon occupy it, making it entire.

Notes:

The second ending to Ebony! It's a short one, but I hope it is enjoyable nonetheless.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Three words. Tsumugi was beginning to detest trinitarian entities. 

“I bid you farewell,” Tsumugi said. 

“ Au revoir , Shirogane,” Kaede said, a final act of detachment. 

Tsumugi abraded herself from the room, the girl, and everything that wrought warmth in her life. Her rout was a wordless one. The room felt empty before she reached the door, yet there was comfort in knowing ghosts would soon occupy it, making it entire.

I bet she thinks I don’t know what that means. 

The following twenty-four hours pulled Tsumugi along, a canine in a collar at the heel of a cruel master. Existential conversations of life and death existed exclusively as hushed whispers exchanged between comrades. Trepidation was born from incompetence and ego. Shots were fired, or were they thrown? Tsumugi didn’t know and she couldn’t care; she was a slave to her own creations, carrying out her will with a newfound resentment of self. Irony broke her ribs, guilt broke her spirit, and her heart broke.

Pinks, greens, and blues burnt away in front of her eyes, yet Tsumugi only saw their pigment when she blinked. The world was cast in a grandiose greyscale, except when she slept. Then it was a nauseating kaleidoscope under her thick eyelids from which escape was unfeasible.

She heard yelling. She saw pandemonium. She felt naught.

The following evening, Kaede’s neck snapped on E flat. 

Notes:

I hope you enjoyed this short chapter! This is the second and final ending. Something about tragedy is so alluring to me, so I just had to write one :')

List of references:
- “Three more words. Tsumugi was starting to really dislike trinitarian entities” is reference to trinity, holy spirit and how I think of Tsumugi as a blasphemous individual (as I said in the former chapter).
- the title is a reference to the color royal blue! It's really subtle, so I thought I should make my intention clear. I chose "royal" because I like to think of Tsumugi as a malevolent queen, and this is "her" ending in the sense that it focuses on her solitude in absence of Kaede.

Notes:

The end is nigh! I have written two separate endings because I feel one was not comprehensive enough (and because I couldn't choose which one I liked more). Here is a list of references of this chapter!
Allusions:
- “blonde and viridescent plantation engaging in intercourse...” This isn't necessarily an allusion, but it's a play on the word "intercourse" and its two meanings ;)
-“ What better than to die at the hands of her Beloved, her Paraclete...” The holy spirit is often referred to as the Beloved or the lesser known Paraclete in liturgical writings!
-“Trust the veracity of no-one, not even yourself...” deadass this is just a reference to the trust nobody not even yourself meme
-“truly an embodiment of Plato’s forms and the trinity to which the human eye cannot do justice” This is an obvious reference to Plato's theory of forms and the transcendental realm.
-“There was only Tsumugi and Kaede, Hell and Heaven, Creator and Creation, and everything in between them, all the humanity that could bestowed into a single man.” This is an obvious allusion to the bible, but it is also referring to the Creation of Adam painting (cuz the little space between god and Adam's finger is representative of humanity and all that).
-“Maybe she could play the third act of Hungarian Rhapsody number twelve.” Imma be real I searched "fastest piano songs" and this was one of the first that came up.
-“The nations will put their hope in her name.” A direct line in which the pronouns are changed from Matthew 12:21
-“classical arch” refers to renaissance arches in architecture (yes I know that line was awkward as fuck shut uP)
-“Sanguine” the words means hopeful, especially in a bad situation, but the archaic definition means “blood thirsty” which relates to Kaede's hope due to her protagonist syndrome, but also her willingness to kill Rantaro.
-"Tsumugi spoke at a tone which she thought was inaudible. 'I betrayed you for twenty silver coins, and you still forgive me?'" OBVIOUS reference to Judas, who sold Jesus to the Pharisees for 20 silver coins.
-"yet it was an act of self-flagellation, if anything.” This refers to medieval flagellation! I don't have any sources because I learned about this in a history lecture (sorry :( ), but people basically walked through the streets and whipped themselves on the back as an act of repenting. They thought that, in inflicting pain, god would see their rejection of licentious sin and forgive them.

That's all for this chapter's notes!! Please read the endings, and leave a comment yelling at me if you liked or hated them :O

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