Marco the Phoenix (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fierybluebird) wrote2013-02-18 07:49 am
fierybluebird) wrote2013-02-18 07:49 am
Ace and Sabo are gone // Written, Action
[The first few times Marco tries to find his voice, he can't. This is what Robin, what everyone tried to warn him about isn't it? And he didn't listen. He always refused. Even if his father had been here and told him the same things, he wouldn't have listened to him either. At first he tries to seek solace in the rooftop, the memorial for his Pops, but today, not even that is enough. Where can he go other than "home?" And home is no longer CH3. It is still Luceti, scattered throughout his loved ones, but other than Leanne, that describe CH3 now.]
[He opens the journal and tries to speak, but he can't. So he winds up writing instead.]
Happy Post-Valentine's Day to anyone. I hope many happy couples found each other and no one was too disrupted.
[His hand shakes, and then clenches and the pen breaks. Too angry, so much rage. He uses the bottom half of the quill as best as he can to write more.]
My little brothers, [A long pause. He looks up at the flag and... it's not enough. Nothing is.] are both gone. Even knowing that every single day they had here was extra time, and as grateful as I am for that, they deserve more. I can't tell you they've gone to a better place, because they haven't.
[The last thing Sabo saw before his death was fire. And Ace died crying and smiling at the same time.]
But they're in good company I guess.
[Good company? He was jealous of them, still, even now. He had a huge fight with Ace about it, but he was jealous. Ace was jealous that Marco could be with the living, and Marco was jealous that Ace could be with the dead, could protect someone he loved that deeply by dying for them, something Marco never could. It was a dumb thing to be jealous about, but even knowing how infantile it was, didn't make it go away. It's a good time to go get a new pen. So Marco jumps down and goes to the item shop, finds a pen and right there, in middle of the shop, sits down on the floor and continues.]
I've lost a lot of nakama before, but Ace's affected me the worst. He brought with him a new era. He saved the man who will be the New Pirate King and renounced the world's idea of villains and heroes. [Marco sets the book and pen down so he won't break them again and it's all bit before he picks them back up.] In legends, phoenixes are supposed to herald the changing of eras, but I hate it. Mankind's eras in my world are tragically majestic things, but what use are they to an individual?
I'm not going back to the apartment for a long time. And I might move when I'm ready. I took the important things with me, but I'm not going back there.
Luceti is still my home. Make no mistake, I'll fight forever for my right to stay and the right for anyone else who wants to stay. I always will. That's who I am.
[He needs to talk to people, to try to comfort them in the wake of Ace's absence, in the wake of Sabo's, but all Marco wants to do is fly away. It's too cowardly though, so he won't. He wants to switch into phoenix form and stop feeling anything, but that's also cowardly and he know Robin's been trying to break him of the habit.]
If you think you can find me, you can try, otherwise, say the word and I'll come find you. No promises about the state I'll be in.
- Marco
[He opens the journal and tries to speak, but he can't. So he winds up writing instead.]
Happy Post-Valentine's Day to anyone. I hope many happy couples found each other and no one was too disrupted.
[His hand shakes, and then clenches and the pen breaks. Too angry, so much rage. He uses the bottom half of the quill as best as he can to write more.]
My little brothers, [A long pause. He looks up at the flag and... it's not enough. Nothing is.] are both gone. Even knowing that every single day they had here was extra time, and as grateful as I am for that, they deserve more. I can't tell you they've gone to a better place, because they haven't.
[The last thing Sabo saw before his death was fire. And Ace died crying and smiling at the same time.]
But they're in good company I guess.
[Good company? He was jealous of them, still, even now. He had a huge fight with Ace about it, but he was jealous. Ace was jealous that Marco could be with the living, and Marco was jealous that Ace could be with the dead, could protect someone he loved that deeply by dying for them, something Marco never could. It was a dumb thing to be jealous about, but even knowing how infantile it was, didn't make it go away. It's a good time to go get a new pen. So Marco jumps down and goes to the item shop, finds a pen and right there, in middle of the shop, sits down on the floor and continues.]
I've lost a lot of nakama before, but Ace's affected me the worst. He brought with him a new era. He saved the man who will be the New Pirate King and renounced the world's idea of villains and heroes. [Marco sets the book and pen down so he won't break them again and it's all bit before he picks them back up.] In legends, phoenixes are supposed to herald the changing of eras, but I hate it. Mankind's eras in my world are tragically majestic things, but what use are they to an individual?
I'm not going back to the apartment for a long time. And I might move when I'm ready. I took the important things with me, but I'm not going back there.
Luceti is still my home. Make no mistake, I'll fight forever for my right to stay and the right for anyone else who wants to stay. I always will. That's who I am.
[He needs to talk to people, to try to comfort them in the wake of Ace's absence, in the wake of Sabo's, but all Marco wants to do is fly away. It's too cowardly though, so he won't. He wants to switch into phoenix form and stop feeling anything, but that's also cowardly and he know Robin's been trying to break him of the habit.]
If you think you can find me, you can try, otherwise, say the word and I'll come find you. No promises about the state I'll be in.
- Marco
[Action]
The same she told me when she had the chance. That I must never go over to where she is now, because I'm the Phoenix Saint, the Saint of Hope that keeps rising no matter what. That I must go live for my brothers and for the whole humanity, no matter how much I want to see her again, I must never give up and I must keep moving forward. Forever.
[Nothing Marco doesn't know, being a phoenix as well, but back when that happened Ikki didn't know it. He hadn't realized how much being the Phoenix Saint meant, what it implied. How it forced on him the "gift" of never been able to truly die.]
I didn't know I couldn't die back then, I thought I was going to die and join her. But she came to me, her soul didn't let me go further and she made me realize exactly what it meant to be the Phoenix Saint. That's it's more than just a mere title anyone could attain... I don't know what happened to her soul afterwards, despite crossing Hell several times after that, and even going to the Elysium, she was nowhere to be found. So I suppose that what she did, meeting me when I died to deliver that message, was something she shouldn't have done and was punished for it. Maybe by getting her soul erased or something, it fits the way the gods work.
[At any rate, Ikki has clearly given up a long time ago the hope of meeting her once more ever again.]
And I know that was her own decision, just as she was the one who wanted to go see the final test. But I still hate it. I can't stand how they can be so kind and pure and give a guy like me so much that there's nothing left for them. As if that would make me happy. Specially when they go and say things like how they only care about me being happy and they are fine even if they have to suffer or go through something they don't like.
[The "she" becomes a "they" without him realizing it. But it's true, how many times has Kotomi told him something like that? How many times they have "argued" about how Ikki doesn't want Kotomi to just be happy because he's happy? To be happy for herself, to do things she wants to do even if it's something he doesn't like or enjoy. It really isn't a wonder why he has so many issues regarding her, she probably would be stupid enough to do the same things Esmeralda did for him if she was given the chance.]
[Action]
People like that... All you can do is try to make sure they don't suffer any extra, eh.
[He listens to the story calmly, and really, he wishes he had more to add, but yeah, the news about the cost of being a phoenix wasn't new to Marco at all. And if anything, he's still a little angry at Ace, at his father. Because as grateful as he is for all the time they did have together, it would never be enough, and being told that the has to live to protect the rest of his brothers seemed like a punishment. An unfair trade for a cursed fruit, or a type of armor.]
[Action]
[A brief pause.]
Just so you get an idea of how it was... Gathering flowers was considered a murder because plants are living beings as well. There weren't many flowers that could survive in the island, but there were still a few and Esmeralda liked to collect them and put them in a vase as a reminder of her for those times she couldn't come to see me or tend my wounds.
[So it's clear that she was hell material according to how the Specters interpreted the laws. It's also clear in his tone how unfair that was. It's the only reason why he thinks that, after all, killing Hades and destroying both heaven and hell was an improvement for those who died. Even if all that awaited for them was nothingness, it was better than an eternal torture just because they stepped on an ant once. He doesn't comment on the reincarnation part, even if it was possible, he doubts Esmeralda was lucky enough to be able to do so.]
Try to make sure they don't suffer any extra. That's easier said than done. Specially if they come to understand what's the price of being a phoenix and realize that no matter what, at the end we will always be hurt and lose those we care about. It's one of the things I try to not let Kotomi-chan know, as oblivious as she can be at times, if she were to understand that, and she could... It would hurt her more than it could ever hurt me.