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Verso watched intently on the scene the portal Renoir conjured had displayed. A glimpse into the real world with his mother, dying and gasping for air. Her eyes covered in paint and her lungs seemed to huff in it too. She drowned in her grief, and the Canvas drowned her in its paint.
No son could ever bear this burden.
To be the reason for all this family strife. And it wasn't even him-him.
He was ready. He thought he made up his mind he would end this once and for all.
"Just a little longer." He turned to Renoir and Maelle.
"I want to trust you but - "
"You can." He could see through that lie being a liar himself. It was so obvious, Renoir saw it too.
He turned away from them since their conversation was a private moment. He heard Renoir, "I'll keep the light on for you. I hope you find peace. Hold onto each other." And the sound of him gommaging into petals.
His hand hovered over the portal, but before he could traverse through it, the scene changed. He saw Renoir at the other side, running towards Aline's struggling body on the floor. He saw him knelt down to her and embraced her tightly. The paint on her face subsided as she returned her husband's hug. His worry started to dissipate, and his resolve to end the Canvas faltered. His heart warmed seeing them together again.
Maybe... Maybe, it's fine.
When he set out and sided with Maelle who had regained her Alicia memories, he was genuinely guilty and remorseful of the collateral damage expelling the Paintress had done. Granted, Renoir didn't have to gommage everyone after he was freed. He simply could've just collected Alicia easily as the Curator, especially when she was still Maelle without her Paintress powers yet. Verso still felt like an accomplice to Renoir and wanted to help bring everyone back.
His goal, first and foremost, was his mother and as long as she stayed out and not killing herself inside, he would've been fine living forever. He still had his (painted) Alicia, after all. They could live as a family again, just the two of them together. He still had a reason to live in this Canvas.
"Verso...?" called Maelle.
He didn't answer. His eyes glued on Aline and Renoir. Renoir had eventually carried Aline bridal-style away from the Canvas. That's when he breathed out a sigh of relief and finally put his hand down, away from the portal.
"Don't worry. Maman and Papa will be fine," said Maelle with a triumphant smile.
Chroma gathered and swirled around their area, all the power were being vacuumed by Maelle. She had never felt so much power before. All the colors to reshape and remake the world as she saw fit, right at her fingertips. It was overwhelming and intoxicating. The power in Verso's Canvas.
The group watched all the chroma wash over Maelle and crowned her the new Paintress of their world. After absorbing all the chroma, she eventually panted, eyes glazed with power and a self-satisfied smirk.
She looked back at Verso - who himself looked conflicted, and then to the portal behind him. Just to be sure, she closed it off with a snap of a finger. Only one way in, no way out.
"Let's go," she told them.
At the harbor, where all the citizens had gathered before, Maelle used her power as the Paintress to repaint them back. Those she could recall from her memories and those she could not. For those whose chroma were gone like Gustave, she created them from scratch based on her memories and their essence. For Pierre and Lune's parents though, they were based on the illusion that Sirene had previously shown them.
Lumiere was alive with celebration. For its people had returned and the threat of the gommage had ended. Fireworks covered the sky. The harbor was filled with festivals, music and dancing. Strangely, it felt like nothing happened.
Verso walked among them. Feeling lost, alone and out-of-place. For his people were long gone.
Standing atop the stairs, he looked at the empty monolith where their Maman used to sit. Now, just a painted "PAPA VA T'EN" remained. It stirred quite a debate around the citizens discussing theories for who the message was left for. He looked at the harbor and grimaced whenever he saw his statue there. He hoped no one would ever recognize it was him. Everyone would've thought the original founders and Expedition Zero were dead. So that was a comfort to him. His eyes then searched for everyone he knew.
He looked over to Maelle and saw her happiness with Gustave back. She had given Gustave's journal back and his apprentices were fighting over it. They were laughing over some silly antics.
He looked over to Lune and saw her swarmed by her academic friends, bombarded with questions about all the knowledge she had found during their Expedition and the journals. Lune caught his stare and smiled sweetly. He returned the smile. Her friends noticed and started to tease her about him. Suddenly, he became the most mysterious man in Lumiere.
He looked over to Sciel and found her already in a corner making out with Pierre. She saw him looking and stopped to mouth the word "Thank you" and Verso silently mouthed "Get a room!"
Perhaps, this was the right choice, after all.
Then he looked over his bestfriends, Esquie and Monoco. Both were posing for an article and sculpture requests. He sighed. These two would take a while. So he decided to roam around again. To see the hanging gardens, the plaza, the boulangerie. He sat by the bench near Lumiere's landmark tree. He stared up at the biggest tree in Lumiere. It was no longer blooming red and white petals, but gold and white. This tree was as old as him, since the inception of Lumiere by Aline. Perhaps, the only and oldest friend he had left in Lumiere.
"Hey, tree," he found himself mumble. "It's been a long time, huh?"
Suddenly a voice asked, "Why are you talking to a tree?" Maelle smiled in amusement and sat beside him.
"It's kind of a habit. When you've been alone for some time, you can talk to anything really."
"Well, you're not alone anymore." She rested her head on his shoulder, just like she did before. "So why not join the festivities?"
"I'm too old for that."
Maelle chuckled. Her left hand casually crept on his right hand, looking for connection. He felt uneasy. He stood up, so he could dettach from her.
"Listen..."
"Hmmm...?"
Verso shouldn't be afraid, but he felt it. A lump of worry on his throat as he spoke of his plan. "I'm going back out there, once Esquie and Monoco are done."
"What?!" asked Maelle, confused. She stood up and touched him by his arm. "Why?!"
He backed a step away from her touch. "I joined to help you bring everyone back. And that mission is done."
"Exactly! You don't have to go back out there anymore. Lumiere is ours!"
"It's your home. Not mine."
"Yeah, it can be your home too..."
"I don't think I can live in a city anymore." He remembered telling the same thing to Lune. Sadly, it was still true. This was not his place anymore. It was out there, with the Gestrals, the Grandis, with Esquie, Monoco and most of all his Alicia.
"Just stay for a while, please?" He had a sinking feeling that if he stays, he'll never leave.
Maelle stepped closer to grab his hand. Each step she took, Verso took a step back, wanting to keep a certain distance between them. Until he eventually stopped, and she held his hand. Every touch felt like a need, a longing and desperation, to convince herself, he's here.
Verso thought this would go around in circles so he decided to stop beating around the bush. "I need to go back to my sister."
Maelle let go of her hold on his hand and her expression changed from pleading persuasion to coldness. "Oh."
Verso felt the temperature change, so he tried to assure her. "I will come visit from time to time. I will still look out for you."
But she didn't want his "periodic" attention. She wanted all of it, all his attention, presence, love, and devotion. To be the center of his life. His reason to live.
"Where is she?" Her tone had shifted to demanding.
Verso didn't answer, not when he felt a threatening aura from her. Instead, he pleaded, "Please understand." He hoped she would. After all, she got what she wanted. Gustave. Lumiere. Control of the Canvas.
"So you're just... abandoning me?"
"Maelle... You've got your brother Gustave back. You're surrounded by your people."
Aline wants her son back. Renoir wants you and Aline back. You want Gustave back. He remembered telling her. Although the cycle of grief had not ended, he hoped with Renoir at least getting Aline back and Maelle getting Gustave back, it would ease the burden of their world. His only worry would be if Aline returns for him. But that would be a problem for another time. Right now, all he wanted was to go back to his Alicia, ready to face all the anger and blame she would throw at him. To see Aline and Renoir together again, for him it was worth it. But it may not be the same for his sister... since their actual father was gommaged. He and his father had differences, but when he said "I don't think of him as my father anymore." It rang true, for he had disowned him for something unforgiveable. He had manipulated him to kill Julie. But he was still his father nonetheless and it still hurt to see him gommage. He was ready to atone... and if he had to beg his sister's forgiveness for eternity, so be it.
"Alicia - She's the only one I have left. After all I've done, I need to make amends to her." He walked away, to check back on Esquie and Monoco.
Maelle's eyes saw darkness. A swarm of emotions swept her - rage, jealousy, guilt, pain, fear, loss.
He's abandoning her.
He's abandoning her again.
He's abandoning her again!
Each walk he took away from her, felt like a singe of truth on her face. A dagger through her heart. She felt herself die again, little by little. A living ghost, as her father described her real self.
She can't. He can't. She won't. He won't.
"Verso!" yelled Maelle in concealed anger. She ran up to him and hugged him from the back.
He stopped on his tracks. "Maelle...?"
"What about me, brother? What about your amends to me?" cried Maelle, her forehead on his back, her hands locked him tightly in the embrace. "You left me alone! I was lonely. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep. All I had were nightmares of you! The truth is... when you died, I died too. I won't let you leave me again!"
Verso tried to peel her away from him, but he was already caught in her web.
Golden petals started to appear and seep into his skin. "No! Please! Don't do this, Maelle!" He tried while he still could, to break away from her grasp but the more her chroma seeped, the more he lost his will. Until he couldn't fight anymore. Tears fell from his eyes and his gaze shifted to the changing tree. A wave of wind brushed over it and almost all of the white petals were gone, overwhelmed by the golden ones.
Behind him, Maelle cried, "What good was all this, without you? I would bend this world to my will, to keep you. Bind you, so we'll never be apart again."
She claimed this painting as her own.
Verso was hers now and forever.
Maelle let him go and Verso turned to her, with tearstreaks on his face and pain in his eyes. Her eyes, blinded by her grief, couldn't see his pain and sorrow for the cruel thing she had just done.
Verso was too naive. He should've known better than to believe her when she said he was his own person and not her Verso, on the very same spot they were in right now. It gave him that false sense of comfort that she wouldn't be like Aline. Was it all a lie? Or did he just believe what he wanted to believe even when he saw all the warning signs - the touches, the lingering stares, the refusal to abandon him?
"Let's go home," she said, a content smile on her face. She held his hand and their fingers entwined together. The connection she craved, finally at her fingertips. She felt complete again. With absolute power, no one, not even Verso himself, could take him away. Except of course her family, but that's a problem for another time.
Verso couldn't do anything but to follow her. His will was no longer his own. Now, he knew he would never be free. Forever stuck paying for the death, and being a replacement, of someone he was not.
He'll never be able to leave. He'll never be with his actual sister again.
There was only one path to freedom, only one shot to break the cycle and he didn't take it.