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It was a bit longer than Martin expected for Jon to come back from his ominous monologue. For a brief second, Martin wondered if he’d actually smote Oliver, but that hope was defeated when he didn’t see the signs of them using that power like he had back by the merry-go-round.
“Did you-“ Martin began.
“No smiting today.” Jon said, tensing up his shoulders a bit. Martin must have looked concerned, because Jon then gave him a small smile. “He said he’d.. uh, he said he’d stay out of my way. And that’s fine with me.”
Jon picked their backpack off the ground and started walking again.
“Wait, how did he tell you?” Martin asked.
“Do you think I just come up with these statements by myself?”
“Uh, yes.”
“Well-” he sighed. “Mostly I come up with the statements myself. From… all the suffering in the domain. But… Oliver wanted to speak to me, I suppose.”
“Oh.”
“There’s no need to be so sullen about it.” Jon chided, elbowing Martin lightly. “You did want me to kill him.”
“And for good reason! How many people did he kill again?”
Jon sighed, again. “Thirteen.”
“Yeah! Thirteen. He’s evil.”
Jon was silent for a moment. “He only did that because he was the avatar of The End.”
“That doesn’t change anything. Jane Prentiss only attacked us because she was a Corruption avatar.”
They sighed again. Was Martin really that annoying? “It’s- it’s different. At least Oliver tried to help. He tried to warn people.”
“And then didn’t he let someone die so he could impersonate them and then…” he rubbed his index finger against his chin “Kill thirteen people!”
“He was desperate.”
“He was a serial killer.”
“He was just doing what I was doing.” Jon readjusted his backpack. “You know, before your little intervention.”
“You’re not a bad person. You’re not as bad as him.”
“I’m not trying to say I’m a bad person, just that Oliver isn’t as evil as you want to believe.”
“I’m pretty sure killing thirteen people is considered evil-“
“What about killing two?”
There was silence, save their footsteps as they tried to step around the thick, black vines.
“That’s different. The Not-Sasha- thing , she wasn’t a person.”
“And Peter Lukas? You said his only wish was to die alone.”
“Well, at that point-“ Martin exhaled. “You did it for me.”
“At that point he wasn’t a person, either.”
“I-“ Martin stepped on one of the vines in their path. “Yes. He wasn’t a person.”
“The thing is, Martin, neither am I.”
“Please don’t pull this again, Jon.”
“It’s not even a self-hatred thing this time. It’s just a fact.”
“You are a person.”
“Well-“
“No. You are. You might not be exactly human, but you’re a person.”
Jon sighed, but didn’t argue the point, choosing instead to walk ahead in silence.
“This might… cross into statement territory, but I think I should say it anyways. If that’s alright with you.” Jon tightened the straps of his backpack, something Martin had quickly learned they did a lot while walking.
“If it gets too much, I’ll tell you, alright? I don’t want you to have to keep stuff to yourself.”
“Alright.” Jon took a deep breath in and began.
”When I was… in my coma, Oliver came to me with his statement. He’d given a statement for the institute before, Case #0151403, under the name of Antonio Blake. He told me about how he fell more towards The End, how his desperation to escape the vines that had invaded his waking life led him to impersonate a scientist on an expedition to Point Nemo. On the ship, he would finally get a good night’s sleep, mostly unplagued by the tendrils of death that had invaded his life on land.” Jon laughed, a short thing that was more of a bark.
“Do you know what I’d do for a good night’s sleep? One night without looking into the eyes of all the people whose lives I-“ he fell silent. “Well, they have worse things to worry about now.
“When they arrived at Point Nemo, the vines came in full force, twisting around each of them in turn. An instruction. Oliver knew what he had to do.
“I was thinking, after saying his statement, that perhaps The End really was the ruler of this new world. The thought of it gave me comfort, Jonah Magnus, who wanted to be the undying ruler of this… hell, was going to fall to The End. But it’s really the knowledge of it that makes death scary. Without knowing you’re going to die beforehand, there is no fear. Because when it comes, you’re already gone.
“They sailed towards their deaths, being led by death itself. There is no use straying from the path, this will always happen. If not to the debris of the satellite then to something else. In that way, maybe The End is kind.
“He told me to make a choice, to jump off the ledge and meet death as a human, or to live as… something else. And I made a choice. And with that choice did I simply help move the inevitable on? Or did I..” he smiled, a small, bitter smile. “We’ve both heard what she said
“Do you to expect me to believe that the life of someone who killed two people for their own self gain and revenge, who forced five to relive some of their darkest memories purely for their own thirst for knowledge and hunger for statements, who ended the world and spent… well, more than a fair amount of time wallowing in self pity about it, before going out in it and getting off completely Scot-free’s life is worth more than the person who tried desperately to save the people who’s lives were doomed from the start, finally becoming free of The End before having it guide him towards the inevitable deaths of himself and his thirteen crew member, and even after all that, trying to save the life of a stranger he really shouldn’t have bothered with?
“I’m not saying he’s good. I’m just saying that if you love me, then it’s a little hypocritical to hate him.” Jon looked at Martin. “Um…statement ends. Was it too much?”
”No, it was… it wasn’t bad.”
“Good.” Jon held Martin’s hand in his and squeezed it gently.
Martin squeezed it back. As jealous as Martin was over Oliver managing to wake Jon up, he didn’t want Jon to get hurt over it.
”First of all, your life does matter.” Jon opened his mouth to speak, but Martin cut him off. “I, for one, would have been distraught if you hadn’t woken up. Or if you’d spent eternity in The Buried. You’ve done bad things, I definitely know that. But it doesn’t make you a bad person. Because you’re trying, right. Look at us. We’re… un-helling your scape or-“
“What?” Jon laughed, he looked so baffled, that Martin couldn’t help come out with a burst of laughter.
“You should see the look on your face!” Martin said, barely able to keep himself from laughing more. “That’s definitely what I’m calling this now. We’re on a quest to un-hell this scape.”
Martin fought hard to keep a straight face. “But seriously,” All it took was one look at Jon’s bewildered face to start another laughing fit. “I- I’m sorry-“ Martin took a deep breath in. “But seriously, you’re trying to undo the apocalypse that wasn’t even your fault to begin with, you worked to stop taking live statements. You don’t have to kill anyone. I’d be a pretty bad person if I forced you to kill someone, and I’m your boyfriend. So… I’ll stop going on about Oliver. And telling you to kill things.”
Jon smiled at him, one of the smiles Martin had never seen before the Scottish Safehouse. Martin would do anything to see that smile on his face. “Thank you, Martin.”
“I am in full support of any future killings, if that’s something you’re interested in.
“Hm…” he pretended to be thinking hard, the smile still on his face. “I’ll get back to you.”