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Petals swirled through the ruins beneath the tower that shadowed Lumière, the ancient blood of the Gommage lifting up and into the air as Lune, Sciel, and Monoco all stood waiting outside that swirling vortex to a place beyond space.
Verso had vanished inside just as soon as Renoir had faded away. Maelle had gone after him, bidding them to stay and let her handle whatever laid beyond. The two had disappeared into that incomprehensible void, leaving the three of them to sit on their hands and wait.
And in spite of the circumstances, if there was one thing Lune hated more than anything, it was sitting on her hands and waiting.
“They should have been back by now.” Lune bit the inside of her cheek as she paced back and forward through the swirling petals. “What are they even doing in there?”
“Verso will handle it.” Monoco’s voice was flat as he stared up at the tower, his staff swinging gently at his side. “That’ll be that.”
“What will be what?” Lune scoffed, staring at the Gestral. “We’ve defeated Renoir haven’t we? What more is there to account for?”
Monoco didn’t say anything, his wooden muscles bunching up tighter in his back as he continued to stare up at the tower. Lune exhaled, going back to her pacing as her eyes traced across the portal, seeking some kind of answer in its incomprehensibility.
“We shouldn’t worry about it.” Sciel sat with her knees hugged to her chest and a quiet hum in her heart. “Whatever happens, happens. We can trust them to do the right thing.”
“Can we? Really, can we?” Lune bit her cheek, her mind working overdrive. There was… something, something somewhere in everything that had transpired that day that made things not sit right with her. Something in what Maelle had said, something it what Verso hadn’t, something something something. An itch at the back of her skull like when Renoir had triggered the final Gommage and stolen her life away just when she thought she’d finally earned it back. “There’s something wrong… we don’t have any idea what’s going on in there.”
“It’s not our place to decide what transpires.” Monoco still didn’t look, his hair swaying gently in the breeze. “Maelle and Verso, they’re something different. It’s their choice, not ours.”
“Why should it be?” Lune paused, stopping her pacing in front of the portal. “We’re as much part of this expedition as they are. If something’s happening in there… we deserve to know.”
“Maybe, but…” Sciel pushed herself to her feet, going to stand with Lune as she stared into the inky blackness beyond. “What do you expect us to do? You tried running after them, remember? It spit you back out.”
“It did…” Lune winced, remembering when the two had first disappeared and she had tried to chase them through the barrier. She raised her hand nonetheless, feeling the flow of chroma around it as she stared into the darkness. “But if I just tried again…”
“You’d be bounced right back.” Monoco turned around, walking over to join the two. “It’s pointless. You shouldn’t try. It’ll just hurt.”
“Shouldn’t try…” Lune’s heart settled then. The itch, the scratching, the something something something. It was driving her forward, driving her somewhere beyond. Somewhere past this place, this time, this Canvas that held everything she knew. It was as if she could suddenly reach out, suddenly touch, suddenly grab hold of what laid beyond. She felt the chroma flow through her fingers, felt the weight of the thousands who had fallen before to get her to this point. The world was changing there, just beyond their reach. Their world. And soon enough, it would slip through their fingers entirely. “Come on. We need to stop them.”
“Stop them?” Sciel raised an eyebrow, gasping as Lune pushed through the portal and fell through to the other side. “Oh!”
“Wait-“ Monoco reached out to stop her before Sciel pushed through too, letting out a groan at their sudden absence. “Damn it. Verso-“
The Gestral pushed through into the darkness, emerging out into the End alongside the others. Lune was taken aback for a moment by the sight of it all, ink and paint mixing at the edge of the universe beneath the light of a black hole sun. Verso and Maelle stood on opposite ends of the space, their breathing heavy and their blades bloody as they stared each other down. Between them, a child sat drawing on an everchanging canvas, oblivious to what laid beyond.
“What is… what’s going on here?” Sciel blinked, her brow furrowed as she looked between the two combatants. “What are you two doing?”
“Sciel, Lune. You shouldn’t be here.” Verso grimaced, looking toward Monoco. “Why didn’t you stop them?”
“My friends, you must help me!” Maelle took a step toward the pair, her white hair ragged as it hung loose around her head. “Verso’s trying to erase the Canvas, he wants to finish Papa’s work!”
“What?” Lune felt her heart drop, that itch turning to a burning fire as she looked toward Verso. “Is that true?”
“It is.” Verso nodded as Monoco stepped to his side, the Gestral’s expression as invisible as ever. “Maelle’s trapped herself here. She has no intention of going back. And as you well know, if she stays here she’ll die.”
“If I leave, everyone dies!” Maelle’s voice cracked, her grip tightening on her sword. “Please, you need to help me stop him!”
“We all die regardless if you stay.” Verso shook his head, looking towards where Sciel and Lune stood. “What do you think happens when her body wastes away in this fantasy? Renoir will destroy the canvas all the same. At least this way, we go out on our own terms.”
“Our own terms…” Sciel clenched her fist, her eyes alight as she stepped toward the man. “And whose terms are those exactly? Ours, or yours?”
“Exactly, yes!” Maelle smiled, a desperation within. “That’s why you have to help me stop him!”
“Is it true what he said?” Lune turned to the younger woman, the fire fading to a feeling like cool ice sliding down her back as she stared at the Paintress. “You plan to stay… and let this world be wiped away when you die?”
“No, I…” Maelle stumbled, glancing between the pair and Verso. “That isn’t true. Papa wouldn’t erase it then, not after everything…”
“Oh you’re well aware by now of what he’s capable of.” Verso hissed. “You lied to him. This world is doomed no matter what.”
“No matter what…” Lune stepped forward, falling in line with Sciel. “Our lives are forfeit… just for this game between you and your family?”
“No, that isn’t it at all!” Maelle’s voice peaked higher, desperate and pleading. “You’re my friends, all I want to do is stay here with you!”
“Even though it’s just a stay of execution.” Monoco shook his head. “Verso is right. There’s only one way this ends. At least if Maelle leaves now, she can live.”
“Only one way this ends…” Sciel looked to Lune, her fists still clenched. Gone was the devil may care attitude that laid beneath. Gone was the light that could brighten any room. Now in its place was the soul of a woman thrice betrayed, a world left in the balance for a game of a power higher than she could understand. “Lune. What do we do?”
“I…” Lune swallowed. She didn’t know why Sciel was asking her now. Why suddenly it fell to her, to find reason in the face of a clash of gods. All she had wanted was… something that seemed so far away from her right now.
And yet, that something was everything that led her to be standing here right now.
“Maelle, you need to go home. Paint everyone back, then protect this place from your father.” Lune nodded, staring at the girl. “That’s the best you can do for us right now.”
“No, I can fix this!” Maelle shook her head, her whole body shaking. “I can make it right!”
“You can. By going home. You can’t stay here…” Lune frowned at the girl, turning to Verso. “And you can’t damn everyone to die just so you can too.”
“Oh please.” Verso shook his head. “This is for everyone.”
“You know, the awful thing about guarding the truth with lies…” Sciel’s eyes were cold as she looked to the man. “It’s so hard to ever believe you again. But we did. And now look where it got us.”
“Both of you would doom us all, one way or another.” Lune’s heart set, no longer burning or freezing. No longer bound. It was hers and her own. And it was beating. “So if we have to decide, then…”
“Stop it.” Maelle’s hand swirled with power, her face contorted in pain as Lune gathered chroma in her hand. “Please. Just- let me fix this. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Neither do I.” Verso shook his head, blood dripping from his face as he looked down. “I didn’t want you involved. Please, let this be as painless as I can make it.”
“There you both go, deciding for us again.” Sciel shook her head, that old smile back on her face as she gathered power in her own hand. “But Lune is right. This is our decision to make, not yours. And if we have to fight, then so be it. We have since the start.”
“I love a dance, but even I can see it’s a pointless battle for you two.” Monoco huffed, cracking his knuckles. “She’s a Paintress, and our arsenals outclass yours by a mile. You’d be wasting it.”
“That may be.” Lune steadied herself, feeling more chroma flow through her as she prepared to make her stand. “But you’ve decided enough for us. And we die here, we die standing.”
“My thoughts exactly. And I wouldn’t worry too much about our strength. When one falls…” Sciel flashed her hand, a card appearing between her fingers as the portal behind her began to warble. “We continue.”
Flickering lights stepped out from the abyss, shattered faces and long forgotten weapons turned towards those who held fate in the balance. Their footfalls were silent, their shadows all but naught. And yet as legion they stood, stepping into the End for one last fight.
One last Expedition.
“Alicia, how did…” Verso stumbled over his words as he looked between the Paintress and the summoned army. “I thought you said you couldn’t maintain them any more?”
“I… couldn’t.” Maelle swallowed, taking a step back as the light faded from her hand. “How is this possible, it shouldn’t…”
“This canvas isn’t a playground. It isn’t a grave.” Lune’s eyes were alight as she stepped forward, flanked on either side by the ghosts of Expeditions past. “This is our home. All of ours. And if anyone should decide its future, it’s us.”
“Okay.” Monoco looked toward Verso, nodding. “Now it’s a fair fight.”
Verso grit his teeth, his hand on the hilt of his blade. Maelle’s face tightened, chroma flowing from her hands as she prepared to start anew. Lune looked between the two of them, some of her closest friends, each looking to end the only world she had ever known in their own ways. To take everything from them for their own visions, their own self-made lies. She looked at her dearest companions with whom she would have once trusted her life.
And she let the chroma flow.
For those who come after.