Chapter Text
Tobias Felix leans over the river bank, knees wet in the silt. His jaw is clenched, a ripping agony tearing through his chest. He lets out a strangled yell, directed down at the swelling stream. Is this really it? Everything leading up to this? It’s nothing but a sick joke, it has to be- everything to draw him back to the depths. His boots, once beloved, sit beside him. Maybe someone will find them and take care of them, maybe they’ll rot in the mud. It doesn’t matter. He feels like he should say a few words- a prayer? But nothing comes to mind. He died the day Malcolm Graves died in that hell-pit called Zaun..
He stares into the water until caps of bubbles breaking over stones that lurk beneath start to feel like patterns. It’s almost peaceful. Before wading into the icy, rushing currents, he takes off his hat to set it by his boots, but as soon as he does he freezes. Cold laughter in a voice he doesn’t even recognize as his own manically spills out of him as his eyes fall on the card tucked in the rim of his hat- the ace of spades. Not just any ace of spades, a card he kept from their first game together all those years ago.
It’s all just a game , and he’s been living in death for as long as he can remember. And now he can’t stop laughing. Why shouldn’t he play a few more hands until his debts catch up to him? Until his sins drag him down to hell itself?
The sun has started to dip below the trees, bringing with it a chill in the air. Exhausted, a muddied Twisted Fate replaces his hat, carefully fastens the clasps of his boots, and walks away from the river bank.
He has a long night ahead of him to reach the nearest town.