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Shooting for that Xenoblade 2 ending?
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Only Human (Goddess of Victory NIKKE SI)
- Thread starter BakaSmurf
- Start date
Shooting for that Xenoblade 2 ending?
BakaSmurf
Only Human, After All
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Fuck off outta my thread and to an actually relevant one with this unabashedly off-topic discussion.
Jsebas19
Getting sticky.
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You know, when I play the game I can't help but
appreciate Joe because he's a better protagonist than the game's commander, seeing how his conflicts and inner demons, feelings, personality, etc. develop.
And I'm really grateful that there's no harem here because in the game it feels forced.
Going back to the story, I wonder what other changes Joe's presence brought, because apart from Sixo I don't know how the battle against Behemoth and Leviathan will be if here Rapi and Red Hood are the same person and need Grimm pieces instead of a power up pulled out of nowhere like in the game.
After reading the story I was able to note some more important changes that occurred due to Joe's presence:
1-The story of Rapi being Red Hood instead of being different-separate people.
2-Pressing to recruit Cinderella much faster, preventing Red Shoes from corrupting her and causing the raptures to perfect their corruption code to 100% or take much longer, which is why Pinne survived.
3- preventing Mihara from being judged and sentenced, allowing Yuni and Mihara to have a better future thanks to Joe's intelligent thinking (or forgetting that he had marked Ingrid or that the latter gave him the instruction, I don't remember well)
4-the possible little role of Oswald. Since Cinderella was not corrupted and Red Hood possibly did not leave Goddess, Oswald's role would be minor.
5-Rose being a heretic. I doubt that Red Shoes knew where her body was, I still believe that it was a random rapture.
6-Pioneer more united and in conflict with Dorothy. Here Joe's presence not only changed some members of Goddess (like Snow White who apart from being more capable of hunting and not being an imitator of Timon and Pumba) allowed Snow White to suffer a mind switch but keeping her memories due to the closeness with Joe. allowing to distrust Dorothy more strongly and even demonize her.
7- That Old Tales were never marked as suspicious or traitors since Anachiro never existed in this timeline and at the same time Cinderella would not be branded as a traitor, Old Tales would not lose confidence and would not fear Cinderella. Also the possibility that Red Shoes would be discovered before expected and Abe would not become Grave. (all this seventh place is theory)
Chapter 69 - Building Pressure
New
BakaSmurf
Only Human, After All
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===
Chapter 69 - Building Pressure
===
"Joe," Snow White, already covered in oil and grime, immediately called out the moment she noticed the Commander step into the armoury. "I need access to parts to properly upgrade this thing," she called out from where she sat amidst the disassembled parts of what had to be his exoskeleton. "Things to reinforce the existing limbs, and construct a new limb, among other things. Nikke parts would be ideal, but I could work with Rapture parts too."
Blinking, the Commander did not expect Snow White to have gotten to work so quickly. Neither did Rapi, given how visibly caught off-guard she was by the sight of the exoskeleton in pieces.
Lips parting as the man contemplated the sight, he hummed as he inquired: "Shouldn't you perform proper maintenance on Pioneer's weapons first and foremost?"
"All of our weapons are currently functional—save for the Glass Slippers, which I lack both the specialized parts and expertise to properly repair. You, on the other hand, are utterly incapable of fending for yourself in any capacity. Having this," she patted what looked like a leg servo, "will make you far more survivable in the field. So your equipment takes precedence."
For a moment, Joe was surprised to hear that even with proper equipment, Snow White couldn't do anything to repair the Glass Slippers. Just a moment, though. He was quick to recall how they'd been struggling to keep them maintained even back aboard the Avenger.
More facilities had apparently actually produced the parts needed to repair Cinderella's weapon, but they'd never found their way to Goddess' hands. The man wondered aloud, "...Whatever happened to the parts they never delivered to us, I wonder?"
"Eden claimed them," Snow White noted with a heavy frown. "They have the means and methods to keep the Glass Slippers in proper working order, and were even backwards-engineering them by the time we'd left. This doesn't do us any good today, as you might imagine," the starkly-maned woman declared as she started fiddling with a piece of machinery Joe couldn't identify at a glance.
Eden could even maintain the Glass Slippers? Holy shit, that was a big deal. All the more reason to make contact with Dorothy and figure things out, if they could get Pioneer back in working order. "...Well, for now, the Outpost's repair centre was finished not so long ago. I'm sure we could get at least some spare parts from there for you. There's a pile of Rapture parts near the tunnel exit to the surface, too."
"The Outpost has to contend with Rapture incursions?" Snow White looked up at the man, brow furrowing at the statement.
"Not in any great numbers," Joe assured her. "Our current defences have never reported anything serious making its way down the tunnel. Nothing's ever managed to get into the Outpost proper either."
"...Does the Outpost tunnel have automated defences?" Show White inquired, brow remaining furrowed in consideration.
"I-" Joe stopped, gaze shifting aside as he considered the question and realized he didn't know-
"It doesn't," Rapi answered for him. "Just Nikkes."
Snow White hummed, setting a hand on her chin ponderously. "I'll look into producing turrets and other traps to reinforce the entrance tunnel then. To think that the Central Government would allow a possible entrance to the Ark be left without proper automated defences all this time…"
Joe repressed a grimace. He hadn't caught onto that himself, and that rankled at him severely. There was a lot of shit going on, he had practically no time to notice, even, but still.
"I'll tear into the Rapture parts you have on hand and modify those for jury-rigging shortly then," Snow White declared as she made modifications to something that probably did something when plugged into something else on the exoskeleton. "Otherwise, I'll go to the repair centre and take what I need—which shouldn't be more than one or two spare arms. I'm going to add a tertiary support arm that should bear most of the weight and recoil of that gun Ingrid called out yesterday."
First Affection, Marian's submachine gun… Joe didn't quite know how to feel about the idea of bringing it into the field with him. But as it stood, it was his best option for arming himself with something he could use to defend himself at all. But, that aside…
"Snow," the Commander started, "Pioneer has fought Heretics on the surface before, right? Do you-" He trailed off, voice catching in his throat for a moment as he fought to keep his cool. "-Marian, she overcame the Corruption, even for just a moment. That is, I mean, I-" Sharply taking in a shuddering breath, he closed his eyes and did his best to calm himself. "-Do you know if there's any way to save her? Is there anything we can do to help her overcome the Corruption for good?"
At that, Snow White stopped dead, blinking once before she shifted her attention to the man. "...Do you not-" she paused, letting out a small huff. "I suppose that's among the many things you've forgotten."
Joe's eyes went wide, stepping closer to the Grimms and starting with no small amount of rising anxiety, "Forgot what!? Is there something we can-!"
"Yes," Snow White made a halting gesture towards Joe, rising to her feet and moving to the front gate, locking it with a huff. "Vapaus," she started as she spun on her heel to face the Commander and Rapi once more. "Bullets produced from a substance that destroys the NIMPH in a Nikke's brain, taking the Corruption with it."
That answer made Joe's eyes go as wide as dinner plates, breath hitching in his throat and entire body going tense. "'Vapaus' bullets," the man started, his gaze pointedly intense. "Where can we get them?"
Though Snow White grimaced—an expression matched by Rapi—at Joe's intense reaction, she replied by reaching under her cloak, and after taking a moment to fumble about, she produced from within a single pistol calibre cartridge. Setting it down on a counter set between herself, the man, and Rapi.
Joe beelined for it, reaching out for it without hesitation, though stopping as soon as he processed what it actually looked like.
Where most bullets were simply a copper or brass-coloured oblong spheroid sticking out of a casing, the so-called Vapaus bullet looked the same, however, the tip was crystalline—as though it may have been a hollow-point bullet that had its cavity filled in and capped with this anti-Corruption substance. The tip was ruby red, reflecting light as a jewel might… It looked more like an art piece than something that could be used to destroy Corruption.
Picking it up, somewhat gingerly, Joe lifted it into the light to get a better look at it. The casing, as according to the bottom, was a typical 10mm Auto. Brow furrowing, he started, "Why didn't you-" he'd been about to ask why Snow White hadn't used it against Marian, when she was acting as Modernia, but then he thought it through all the way. "-None of you carry pistols."
"I used to," Snow White noted grimly. "Pistols break easily, unfortunately. We've also found appropriately chambered carbines in our time on the surface, but…" She shrugged. "Weapons not built to Nikke specifications just don't last out there."
Joe grit his teeth in open anger. The pistol issued to him was a 10mm. They were issued in said calibre because Commanders were expected to either use them to 'dispatch' Corrupted Nikkes, or dangerous animals—10mm having been considered an effective anti-bear round, after all.
"The pistol I was issued and carry at all times is a 10mm," he growled.
There was a beat in which nobody said anything, Snow White eventually replying plainly. "Ah. Shit."
Had he been given the round back in the Yukon, before they went after Chatterbox and Marian… He could have used it, right then and there. Marian could have already been freed.
To describe this revelation as vexing would be an understatement.
But… They had it now. They only needed to find the opportunity to use it. Unholstering his pistol, Joe, ensuring that it was pointed in a safe direction, gazed at it, comparing the two objects held in either hand.
A few moments passed. A few moments in which Joe felt his stomach lurch up into his throat, eyes widening in horrible realization.
Using the Vapaus bullet on Marian would mean… Shooting her again. Settling the barrel on her again. Pulling the trigger again.
But… It hadn't even been him that pulled the trigger back then. Not without help. Then, on his first deployment, Marian had helped him. Marian had effectively been the one to pull the trigger for him.
Could he do it? Could he look down the sights of this pistol again, and pull the trigger himself? Even if it was for Marian's own good… It had been for her own good back then too, hadn't it?
Could he do it? Could he pull the trigger?
Joe had started to tremble with wide eyes as he stared at the cartridge and the gun. A sweat even began to form on his brow, and his breath came in shaky tremors.
While Snow White didn't wholly understand the reason for her Commander's reaction, Rapi very much did. Rapi knew exactly why he was reacting this way. It was, after all, her fault that he looked to be on the verge of having a panic attack right then and there.
Yet, her immediate response to reach out and comfort him in some capacity, fell short. Suddenly, the little blonde herself felt as though she'd been hit by a tidal wave of anxiety. This was her fault. He was reacting to the idea of being the one to shoot Marian because she had previously forced his hand. By what right did she presume to comfort him? Where did she get off, thinking she had the right to be there for him, to support him over an anxiety she had given him to begin with?
Rapi, eventually, retracted the hand she'd started to reach out to set on Joe's shoulder. At once, she couldn't seem to look at him, even.
That gave Snow White no small amount of deep-seated concern. This reaction from the both of them was worrying, and she didn't like it in the least.
"...Joe," Snow White started, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder to snap him out of it. He jumped, gazing at her with wide eyes as she continued, "You should head out for a walk. A long walk. Once you've done that, come back, and we'll talk things out more."
The man looked overwhelmed, but grounded. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, and upon reholstering his pistol… Snow White reached out, quickly snatching the Vapaus bullet back up. Joe looked caught off-guard by that, to say the least.
Snow White had an immediate defence, however. "I'll hold onto this until we need it," she asserted. "You just head out, you don't need any distractions right now. Go out on your own, and just let yourself work the anxiety out, then consider things you have on your mind."
Taking a deep breath, Joe nodded once more. He closed his eyes and clenched the hand which had been holding the Vapaus bullet. "You're right. You're right. I'll… I'll be back. Just…" Stepping back towards the door, he looked at his still-clenched fist, shook his head, and declared in a breathy, strained voice, "I'll be back."
With that, Joe about-faced, unlocked the door, and departed quickly.
Rapi, meanwhile, gave Snow White a decidedly put-off look. "What're you doing?" She demanded.
"He needs to be left alone," Snow White declared pointedly, holding firmly onto Rapi's wrist—having stopped her from following Joe when she immediately moved to follow him. "You'll only give him a distraction that'll stop him from focusing on what he clearly needs to. To say nothing of the fact that we, just as clearly, need to talk about what just happened."
"I-" Rapi stopped, grimacing as she, once again, averted her gaze. She didn't follow up on that, just allowing herself to fall uncomfortably silent.
"Rapi," Snow White started assertively, not feeling up to letting much of anything fester or otherwise stew where it clearly shouldn't be allowed to. "Just tell me: what happened?"
Rapi did not want to have this discussion. She did not want to have to vocalize what happened, openly admit what she'd done, but…
"I'm not letting you go until you explain what the Hell that was, Rapi," Snow White declared forcefully. "So. Start. Talking."
It would clearly be far worse if she tried to get out of addressing this, and the Pioneer clearly had her mind set on this besides. So… "...Joe and Marian were in a relationship," Rapi started, her voice low and defeated. "On their first deployment together, she was Corrupted. We defeated a Tyrant on his orders to save her. I… I made him be the one to… Put her out of her misery," she softened the harsh truth as much as she could.
Snow White didn't immediately reply to that, just closing her eyes and taking a deep, bracing breath. When she did respond, it was with a brow furrowed in no small amount of visible anger. "You're sitting down, and we're talking about everything that's happened before we were reunited, and I am not taking no for an answer."
This wasn't like dealing with Anis. Snow White clearly had no problems being forceful, and combative if she needed to be to get her way. Rapi knew that she wasn't going to get out of this. Thus, "...Okay," she capitulated in a deeply defeated tone, even as the younger, white-haired woman immediately went to drag her towards the disassembled exoskeleton.
Rapi hated being faced with confrontation.
Joe had gone for a very long walk. Straight for the elevator to the Ark. Not because he uniquely enjoyed being in the Ark compared to the Outpost, but because he needed to be alone to think. The Outpost was small enough that he was very likely to run into Cinderella, Rapunzel, or Scarlet, if not all together when he needed to be isolated, at least for a time.
At some point, he stopped, and just leaned on a tree in a park—a facsimile of the surface that was the closest most living human beings would ever get to experiencing nature.
He was doing it again. Not giving himself a moment, not letting himself stop and actually think about his situation, everything that was going on around him, the position he found himself in, the responsibilities being foisted upon his shoulders…
He was trying to distract himself from the obvious fact that the weight of it all was crushing him. Instead of trying to set it all aside, to even so much as lift the load to get it off of his chest and let himself just breathe, he refused to acknowledge that it was killing him, and tried to pretend that nothing was wrong.
Goddamned fool that he was, he hadn't even actually stopped and acknowledged the fact that Marian was still alive, and what saving her might entail. He was aware of it, he knew that he'd do everything he could to bring her home, but, he hadn't actually thought about any of it. How it made him feel, how that was not actually the last time he'd ever set eyes on Marian. How those words… Weren't really the last they'd ever share.
She was a Heretic. They would have to fight her to even earn the chance to see her freed from the Corruption. This, with the knowledge that only Rapi was able to actually stand up to her in a straight encounter, and she could not do so again. The danger in trying to bring her back was… Nightmarish.
They may well lose Nikkes trying to create the opening they'd need to use the Vapaus bullet on her. Was that a price Joe could actually pay? Was he really willing to risk a plurality of lives, trying to just save one?
Everyone was standing at his back, assuring him that they would support him in this venture. But, how much of that was just because they couldn't afford to lose the support of the Legendary Commander? How much of that was just them humouring his trauma? Trying to avoid breaking him?
He'd just kept refusing to think about anything. He'd address the surface level of shit, and little else.
Too much. All of it was too much, too damned much. Too damned much weight, too much fucking bullshit, not enough down time… Not enough time he'd just allow himself. All work, all work and no play.
How damned much of it was showing, he had to wonder? Just how deranged must he have started to look to everyone around him? Was he sleeping well? No, he wasn't. Was he eating properly? No, of course he wasn't. Son of a bitch, he wasn't built for this.
But it didn't matter if he wasn't built for this. It didn't matter if he wasn't ready. This was where he was, this was the situation he was in. He had to get his shit together, figure it out, and be the leader that was needed to carry everyone to victory.
That started with letting himself decompress, because this was… Unsustainable. He couldn't keep on like this. He needed to let himself just relax between missions. If he was wound up like this all the time, he was going to snap at the worst time, and probably get somebody killed.
But, how-
"-Hey!" A slap on Joe's shoulder caused him to jump and yelp, breath coming heavily, his gaze was immediately arrested by a large pair of gorgeous golden eyes framed by turquoise locks-
Ah- "...Privaty?" The man started, trying to catch his breath. "Holy shit- Why'd you sneak up on me like that!?"
"Sneak up-" The twintailed beauty started, staring up at Joe with an utterly flabbergasted look. "I've been calling out to you for the past minute and a half!" She asserted with a heavily furrowed brow. "Are you okay!?" She demanded, making no attempt to mask her very visible concern.
Joe blinked several times in rapid succession. A minute and a half? How could he have failed to notice that? She was exaggerating, right? "I- It's nothing, I'm fine, okay-" He raised a hand, to make a halting motion at her. He noticed too late that his hand was shaking—which Privaty very much did spot, given how she lashed out and caught his limb when he tried to drop it back down to his side.
Holding onto his wrist, Privaty stared at his hand, took in how it was outright trembling, then took in the rest of his figure, clearly, catching on to all of the other little tells even he himself hadn't noticed. She stopped on his eyes, met his gaze, and just stared for a few long moments.
Breath hitching, the man sharply averted his attention, feeling the rapidly mounting unease in the little woman's eyes as overt worry suddenly overtook her features land like a shiv in the kidneys. She saw right through him, and saw pain. At once, she knew that he was in a bad place, and made no attempt to hide the empathy she clearly felt.
Though, she didn't say anything outright. Privaty just stood there, holding onto Joe's wrist, staring up at him in unapologetic disquiet. Where she was typically combative, even if in a light way… There was none of that in her body language now.
The two just remained there in apprehensive silence for a time. Eventually, however, the little woman saw fit to act. She stepped back, still holding onto his wrist, she moved to draw him along. "Come," she instructed him, an uncharacteristic gentleness starkly present in her voice.
"Wha-" Joe started, blinking in confusion.
"Just-" Privaty almost snapped, but stopped short with a small, worried frown. "Come," she urged the Commander, lightly tugging on his arm without being forceful.
After a moment, the man let out a sigh, and just allowed himself to be pulled along by a fretful Privaty. Idly, he recalled how his previous meetings with the twintailed little beauty had gone, and despite himself, a small, anticipatory smile found purchase on his beaten-down features.
Maybe a meeting with an increasingly familiar little goofball was just what he needed, after all.
Chapter 69 - Building Pressure
===
"Joe," Snow White, already covered in oil and grime, immediately called out the moment she noticed the Commander step into the armoury. "I need access to parts to properly upgrade this thing," she called out from where she sat amidst the disassembled parts of what had to be his exoskeleton. "Things to reinforce the existing limbs, and construct a new limb, among other things. Nikke parts would be ideal, but I could work with Rapture parts too."
Blinking, the Commander did not expect Snow White to have gotten to work so quickly. Neither did Rapi, given how visibly caught off-guard she was by the sight of the exoskeleton in pieces.
Lips parting as the man contemplated the sight, he hummed as he inquired: "Shouldn't you perform proper maintenance on Pioneer's weapons first and foremost?"
"All of our weapons are currently functional—save for the Glass Slippers, which I lack both the specialized parts and expertise to properly repair. You, on the other hand, are utterly incapable of fending for yourself in any capacity. Having this," she patted what looked like a leg servo, "will make you far more survivable in the field. So your equipment takes precedence."
For a moment, Joe was surprised to hear that even with proper equipment, Snow White couldn't do anything to repair the Glass Slippers. Just a moment, though. He was quick to recall how they'd been struggling to keep them maintained even back aboard the Avenger.
More facilities had apparently actually produced the parts needed to repair Cinderella's weapon, but they'd never found their way to Goddess' hands. The man wondered aloud, "...Whatever happened to the parts they never delivered to us, I wonder?"
"Eden claimed them," Snow White noted with a heavy frown. "They have the means and methods to keep the Glass Slippers in proper working order, and were even backwards-engineering them by the time we'd left. This doesn't do us any good today, as you might imagine," the starkly-maned woman declared as she started fiddling with a piece of machinery Joe couldn't identify at a glance.
Eden could even maintain the Glass Slippers? Holy shit, that was a big deal. All the more reason to make contact with Dorothy and figure things out, if they could get Pioneer back in working order. "...Well, for now, the Outpost's repair centre was finished not so long ago. I'm sure we could get at least some spare parts from there for you. There's a pile of Rapture parts near the tunnel exit to the surface, too."
"The Outpost has to contend with Rapture incursions?" Snow White looked up at the man, brow furrowing at the statement.
"Not in any great numbers," Joe assured her. "Our current defences have never reported anything serious making its way down the tunnel. Nothing's ever managed to get into the Outpost proper either."
"...Does the Outpost tunnel have automated defences?" Show White inquired, brow remaining furrowed in consideration.
"I-" Joe stopped, gaze shifting aside as he considered the question and realized he didn't know-
"It doesn't," Rapi answered for him. "Just Nikkes."
Snow White hummed, setting a hand on her chin ponderously. "I'll look into producing turrets and other traps to reinforce the entrance tunnel then. To think that the Central Government would allow a possible entrance to the Ark be left without proper automated defences all this time…"
Joe repressed a grimace. He hadn't caught onto that himself, and that rankled at him severely. There was a lot of shit going on, he had practically no time to notice, even, but still.
"I'll tear into the Rapture parts you have on hand and modify those for jury-rigging shortly then," Snow White declared as she made modifications to something that probably did something when plugged into something else on the exoskeleton. "Otherwise, I'll go to the repair centre and take what I need—which shouldn't be more than one or two spare arms. I'm going to add a tertiary support arm that should bear most of the weight and recoil of that gun Ingrid called out yesterday."
First Affection, Marian's submachine gun… Joe didn't quite know how to feel about the idea of bringing it into the field with him. But as it stood, it was his best option for arming himself with something he could use to defend himself at all. But, that aside…
"Snow," the Commander started, "Pioneer has fought Heretics on the surface before, right? Do you-" He trailed off, voice catching in his throat for a moment as he fought to keep his cool. "-Marian, she overcame the Corruption, even for just a moment. That is, I mean, I-" Sharply taking in a shuddering breath, he closed his eyes and did his best to calm himself. "-Do you know if there's any way to save her? Is there anything we can do to help her overcome the Corruption for good?"
At that, Snow White stopped dead, blinking once before she shifted her attention to the man. "...Do you not-" she paused, letting out a small huff. "I suppose that's among the many things you've forgotten."
Joe's eyes went wide, stepping closer to the Grimms and starting with no small amount of rising anxiety, "Forgot what!? Is there something we can-!"
"Yes," Snow White made a halting gesture towards Joe, rising to her feet and moving to the front gate, locking it with a huff. "Vapaus," she started as she spun on her heel to face the Commander and Rapi once more. "Bullets produced from a substance that destroys the NIMPH in a Nikke's brain, taking the Corruption with it."
That answer made Joe's eyes go as wide as dinner plates, breath hitching in his throat and entire body going tense. "'Vapaus' bullets," the man started, his gaze pointedly intense. "Where can we get them?"
Though Snow White grimaced—an expression matched by Rapi—at Joe's intense reaction, she replied by reaching under her cloak, and after taking a moment to fumble about, she produced from within a single pistol calibre cartridge. Setting it down on a counter set between herself, the man, and Rapi.
Joe beelined for it, reaching out for it without hesitation, though stopping as soon as he processed what it actually looked like.
Where most bullets were simply a copper or brass-coloured oblong spheroid sticking out of a casing, the so-called Vapaus bullet looked the same, however, the tip was crystalline—as though it may have been a hollow-point bullet that had its cavity filled in and capped with this anti-Corruption substance. The tip was ruby red, reflecting light as a jewel might… It looked more like an art piece than something that could be used to destroy Corruption.
Picking it up, somewhat gingerly, Joe lifted it into the light to get a better look at it. The casing, as according to the bottom, was a typical 10mm Auto. Brow furrowing, he started, "Why didn't you-" he'd been about to ask why Snow White hadn't used it against Marian, when she was acting as Modernia, but then he thought it through all the way. "-None of you carry pistols."
"I used to," Snow White noted grimly. "Pistols break easily, unfortunately. We've also found appropriately chambered carbines in our time on the surface, but…" She shrugged. "Weapons not built to Nikke specifications just don't last out there."
Joe grit his teeth in open anger. The pistol issued to him was a 10mm. They were issued in said calibre because Commanders were expected to either use them to 'dispatch' Corrupted Nikkes, or dangerous animals—10mm having been considered an effective anti-bear round, after all.
"The pistol I was issued and carry at all times is a 10mm," he growled.
There was a beat in which nobody said anything, Snow White eventually replying plainly. "Ah. Shit."
Had he been given the round back in the Yukon, before they went after Chatterbox and Marian… He could have used it, right then and there. Marian could have already been freed.
To describe this revelation as vexing would be an understatement.
But… They had it now. They only needed to find the opportunity to use it. Unholstering his pistol, Joe, ensuring that it was pointed in a safe direction, gazed at it, comparing the two objects held in either hand.
A few moments passed. A few moments in which Joe felt his stomach lurch up into his throat, eyes widening in horrible realization.
Using the Vapaus bullet on Marian would mean… Shooting her again. Settling the barrel on her again. Pulling the trigger again.
But… It hadn't even been him that pulled the trigger back then. Not without help. Then, on his first deployment, Marian had helped him. Marian had effectively been the one to pull the trigger for him.
Could he do it? Could he look down the sights of this pistol again, and pull the trigger himself? Even if it was for Marian's own good… It had been for her own good back then too, hadn't it?
Could he do it? Could he pull the trigger?
Joe had started to tremble with wide eyes as he stared at the cartridge and the gun. A sweat even began to form on his brow, and his breath came in shaky tremors.
While Snow White didn't wholly understand the reason for her Commander's reaction, Rapi very much did. Rapi knew exactly why he was reacting this way. It was, after all, her fault that he looked to be on the verge of having a panic attack right then and there.
Yet, her immediate response to reach out and comfort him in some capacity, fell short. Suddenly, the little blonde herself felt as though she'd been hit by a tidal wave of anxiety. This was her fault. He was reacting to the idea of being the one to shoot Marian because she had previously forced his hand. By what right did she presume to comfort him? Where did she get off, thinking she had the right to be there for him, to support him over an anxiety she had given him to begin with?
Rapi, eventually, retracted the hand she'd started to reach out to set on Joe's shoulder. At once, she couldn't seem to look at him, even.
That gave Snow White no small amount of deep-seated concern. This reaction from the both of them was worrying, and she didn't like it in the least.
"...Joe," Snow White started, reaching out and patting him on the shoulder to snap him out of it. He jumped, gazing at her with wide eyes as she continued, "You should head out for a walk. A long walk. Once you've done that, come back, and we'll talk things out more."
The man looked overwhelmed, but grounded. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, and upon reholstering his pistol… Snow White reached out, quickly snatching the Vapaus bullet back up. Joe looked caught off-guard by that, to say the least.
Snow White had an immediate defence, however. "I'll hold onto this until we need it," she asserted. "You just head out, you don't need any distractions right now. Go out on your own, and just let yourself work the anxiety out, then consider things you have on your mind."
Taking a deep breath, Joe nodded once more. He closed his eyes and clenched the hand which had been holding the Vapaus bullet. "You're right. You're right. I'll… I'll be back. Just…" Stepping back towards the door, he looked at his still-clenched fist, shook his head, and declared in a breathy, strained voice, "I'll be back."
With that, Joe about-faced, unlocked the door, and departed quickly.
Rapi, meanwhile, gave Snow White a decidedly put-off look. "What're you doing?" She demanded.
"He needs to be left alone," Snow White declared pointedly, holding firmly onto Rapi's wrist—having stopped her from following Joe when she immediately moved to follow him. "You'll only give him a distraction that'll stop him from focusing on what he clearly needs to. To say nothing of the fact that we, just as clearly, need to talk about what just happened."
"I-" Rapi stopped, grimacing as she, once again, averted her gaze. She didn't follow up on that, just allowing herself to fall uncomfortably silent.
"Rapi," Snow White started assertively, not feeling up to letting much of anything fester or otherwise stew where it clearly shouldn't be allowed to. "Just tell me: what happened?"
Rapi did not want to have this discussion. She did not want to have to vocalize what happened, openly admit what she'd done, but…
"I'm not letting you go until you explain what the Hell that was, Rapi," Snow White declared forcefully. "So. Start. Talking."
It would clearly be far worse if she tried to get out of addressing this, and the Pioneer clearly had her mind set on this besides. So… "...Joe and Marian were in a relationship," Rapi started, her voice low and defeated. "On their first deployment together, she was Corrupted. We defeated a Tyrant on his orders to save her. I… I made him be the one to… Put her out of her misery," she softened the harsh truth as much as she could.
Snow White didn't immediately reply to that, just closing her eyes and taking a deep, bracing breath. When she did respond, it was with a brow furrowed in no small amount of visible anger. "You're sitting down, and we're talking about everything that's happened before we were reunited, and I am not taking no for an answer."
This wasn't like dealing with Anis. Snow White clearly had no problems being forceful, and combative if she needed to be to get her way. Rapi knew that she wasn't going to get out of this. Thus, "...Okay," she capitulated in a deeply defeated tone, even as the younger, white-haired woman immediately went to drag her towards the disassembled exoskeleton.
Rapi hated being faced with confrontation.
Joe had gone for a very long walk. Straight for the elevator to the Ark. Not because he uniquely enjoyed being in the Ark compared to the Outpost, but because he needed to be alone to think. The Outpost was small enough that he was very likely to run into Cinderella, Rapunzel, or Scarlet, if not all together when he needed to be isolated, at least for a time.
At some point, he stopped, and just leaned on a tree in a park—a facsimile of the surface that was the closest most living human beings would ever get to experiencing nature.
He was doing it again. Not giving himself a moment, not letting himself stop and actually think about his situation, everything that was going on around him, the position he found himself in, the responsibilities being foisted upon his shoulders…
He was trying to distract himself from the obvious fact that the weight of it all was crushing him. Instead of trying to set it all aside, to even so much as lift the load to get it off of his chest and let himself just breathe, he refused to acknowledge that it was killing him, and tried to pretend that nothing was wrong.
Goddamned fool that he was, he hadn't even actually stopped and acknowledged the fact that Marian was still alive, and what saving her might entail. He was aware of it, he knew that he'd do everything he could to bring her home, but, he hadn't actually thought about any of it. How it made him feel, how that was not actually the last time he'd ever set eyes on Marian. How those words… Weren't really the last they'd ever share.
She was a Heretic. They would have to fight her to even earn the chance to see her freed from the Corruption. This, with the knowledge that only Rapi was able to actually stand up to her in a straight encounter, and she could not do so again. The danger in trying to bring her back was… Nightmarish.
They may well lose Nikkes trying to create the opening they'd need to use the Vapaus bullet on her. Was that a price Joe could actually pay? Was he really willing to risk a plurality of lives, trying to just save one?
Everyone was standing at his back, assuring him that they would support him in this venture. But, how much of that was just because they couldn't afford to lose the support of the Legendary Commander? How much of that was just them humouring his trauma? Trying to avoid breaking him?
He'd just kept refusing to think about anything. He'd address the surface level of shit, and little else.
Too much. All of it was too much, too damned much. Too damned much weight, too much fucking bullshit, not enough down time… Not enough time he'd just allow himself. All work, all work and no play.
How damned much of it was showing, he had to wonder? Just how deranged must he have started to look to everyone around him? Was he sleeping well? No, he wasn't. Was he eating properly? No, of course he wasn't. Son of a bitch, he wasn't built for this.
But it didn't matter if he wasn't built for this. It didn't matter if he wasn't ready. This was where he was, this was the situation he was in. He had to get his shit together, figure it out, and be the leader that was needed to carry everyone to victory.
That started with letting himself decompress, because this was… Unsustainable. He couldn't keep on like this. He needed to let himself just relax between missions. If he was wound up like this all the time, he was going to snap at the worst time, and probably get somebody killed.
But, how-
"-Hey!" A slap on Joe's shoulder caused him to jump and yelp, breath coming heavily, his gaze was immediately arrested by a large pair of gorgeous golden eyes framed by turquoise locks-
Ah- "...Privaty?" The man started, trying to catch his breath. "Holy shit- Why'd you sneak up on me like that!?"
"Sneak up-" The twintailed beauty started, staring up at Joe with an utterly flabbergasted look. "I've been calling out to you for the past minute and a half!" She asserted with a heavily furrowed brow. "Are you okay!?" She demanded, making no attempt to mask her very visible concern.
Joe blinked several times in rapid succession. A minute and a half? How could he have failed to notice that? She was exaggerating, right? "I- It's nothing, I'm fine, okay-" He raised a hand, to make a halting motion at her. He noticed too late that his hand was shaking—which Privaty very much did spot, given how she lashed out and caught his limb when he tried to drop it back down to his side.
Holding onto his wrist, Privaty stared at his hand, took in how it was outright trembling, then took in the rest of his figure, clearly, catching on to all of the other little tells even he himself hadn't noticed. She stopped on his eyes, met his gaze, and just stared for a few long moments.
Breath hitching, the man sharply averted his attention, feeling the rapidly mounting unease in the little woman's eyes as overt worry suddenly overtook her features land like a shiv in the kidneys. She saw right through him, and saw pain. At once, she knew that he was in a bad place, and made no attempt to hide the empathy she clearly felt.
Though, she didn't say anything outright. Privaty just stood there, holding onto Joe's wrist, staring up at him in unapologetic disquiet. Where she was typically combative, even if in a light way… There was none of that in her body language now.
The two just remained there in apprehensive silence for a time. Eventually, however, the little woman saw fit to act. She stepped back, still holding onto his wrist, she moved to draw him along. "Come," she instructed him, an uncharacteristic gentleness starkly present in her voice.
"Wha-" Joe started, blinking in confusion.
"Just-" Privaty almost snapped, but stopped short with a small, worried frown. "Come," she urged the Commander, lightly tugging on his arm without being forceful.
After a moment, the man let out a sigh, and just allowed himself to be pulled along by a fretful Privaty. Idly, he recalled how his previous meetings with the twintailed little beauty had gone, and despite himself, a small, anticipatory smile found purchase on his beaten-down features.
Maybe a meeting with an increasingly familiar little goofball was just what he needed, after all.
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Crimson Reiter
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Time to make Privaty regret EVERYTHING
Also, hoooooly fuck, that's a lot of trauma there. Wonder if Rapi will also talk about her last memories as Red Hood and what caused her to become Rapi...
Thank you for the chapter!
Also, hoooooly fuck, that's a lot of trauma there. Wonder if Rapi will also talk about her last memories as Red Hood and what caused her to become Rapi...
Thank you for the chapter!
Jsebas19
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I'm glad that this timeline makes use of logic and coherence with the power of the characters.
because in the game it is illogical to show Cinderella and Pioneer operating at 100% without maintenance after a century.
Also Snow White said that Eden knows how to keep the glass slippers which means and in the game the only one who knew how to keep them was Abe, it means that in this timeline Abe never became Grave and works in Eden with Siren and Hansel And Gretel?
If so, then Red Shoes was discovered earlier and the attack on the orbital elevator in Old Tales didn't happen here? But what would happen to
Rose.
because in the game it is illogical to show Cinderella and Pioneer operating at 100% without maintenance after a century.
Also Snow White said that Eden knows how to keep the glass slippers which means and in the game the only one who knew how to keep them was Abe, it means that in this timeline Abe never became Grave and works in Eden with Siren and Hansel And Gretel?
If so, then Red Shoes was discovered earlier and the attack on the orbital elevator in Old Tales didn't happen here? But what would happen to
Rose.
NJesus
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that ↑↑↑ , I want to know that
dont remember from canon but wouldnt it logically make more sense to have a superhuman nikke fire the vapous or was the problem that their weapon grade would destroy that bullet? honestly dont remember been a while in game since vapous bullets were around
Your Target
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This was wonderful, but i am still hungry.
SuperPulp2789
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I forget, but for plot reasons, it had to be the Cummander, maybe
Also, Modernia didn't know about Vapaus, so she'd be less likely to take a shot from the Commander if she did, or anybody else, especially without her mecha
I hope Chatterbox gets jumped here
He talks like Marian belongs to him
From what I know of the Last Kingdom event, he reveals that corruption doesn't just change NIKKE but traps them. He did that one last corruption attack, likely because he knew they'd have to memory wipe Marian more than the usual NIKKE. That way, he hoped that Modernia, the corruption based personality, would really be the only remaining personality.
NJesus
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and doesnt get brought back which completely invalidated his perfect villian death with that last fuck you corruption
SuperPulp2789
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TBF, I think there's much mystery regarding him and the Heretics
What's their purpose in relation to the Queen?
I have heard before that Marian/Modernia's form is similar to that of a hornet or queen bee and that the hive will either fight it out on which will be the Queen, or one just replaces the latter
My guess is that Chatterbox hopes that Marian becomes the old Queen's vessel or functions just like her
When Chatterbox talks about the Queen to Nihilister and Individualia, he shows great loyalty and something about thanks for saving him, whether this was from the Counters+Snow White or it was from whatever occurred decades ago, not sure
Xaldreca
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Assumedly elsewhere around the Outpost?
It's not like they were deployed.
NJesus
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all of that could be explored without him being brought back tho , my problem isnt that theres nothing interesting that could be done with but the fact that he absolutely peaked as a menace right before his death and everything else they can have him do as a villian will pale compared to it
not to mention that they done that like 10 chapters ago and nothing came of it yet which makes it pretty weird but then again fhe same could be said about marian who's gone for even longer kek
SuperPulp2789
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The game is still just 2 years old, he'll keep coming back and getting beaten, till Marian maybe regains her memories
My guess is that what would really cause him to break, is for Marian to embrace her status, but decide against killing humans and decide that the Raptures need to be free, be like animals and part of the environment rather than a bunch of crazies meant to kill off humanity, if that's even their purpose
NJesus
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tbh I can see no possible ending in which coexistence between humans and raptures is possible no matter who's queen , theres no way the genocide of 99.9% of humanity and 100 years of war can be handwaved away , my guess is marian becoming queen and being the tragic final boss of the game down the line
GBucket
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Perhaps their name is quite literal, and the plot twist reveals that the consumed humans are uploaded into a digital paradise. Like in 'Expelled from Paradise', where humanity exists as digital entities.
Which would give the whole conflict a different spin.
SuperPulp2789
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I was thinking more that Marian would be made to bring the Raptures to outer space and the Commander shares one last kiss with her
Jsebas19
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When Snow White said that Eden knows how to keep the glass slippers, it could be a subtle hint or foreshadowing that Abe in this timeline works at Eden and never became Grave.
because let's remember that Abe is possibly the only one to keep the glass slippers because she was the one who created Cinderella and the rest of Old Tales.
If so, then it means that apart from Grave not existing in this timeline, both Siren, Hansel and Gretel are also with Abe in Eden. But I have a doubt, if the glass slippers were out of operation for a century, how did Cinderella defend herself from the kidnappings on the surface?
But I imagine that Cinderella had a fight/argument with Abe and the rest of the old tales about her decision to leave Eden.
If Anachiro never existed because of Joe's presence then it would mean that Red Shoes could have been discovered much earlier by Abe and Oswald because Red Shoes would go into reckless madness because he would no longer have a suitable guinea pig, and in his laboratory instead of photos of Cinderella would be full of photos of Joe with phrases like "You stole her from me", ""I hate you" or "Why don't you die?"
because let's remember that Abe is possibly the only one to keep the glass slippers because she was the one who created Cinderella and the rest of Old Tales.
If so, then it means that apart from Grave not existing in this timeline, both Siren, Hansel and Gretel are also with Abe in Eden. But I have a doubt, if the glass slippers were out of operation for a century, how did Cinderella defend herself from the kidnappings on the surface?
But I imagine that Cinderella had a fight/argument with Abe and the rest of the old tales about her decision to leave Eden.
If Anachiro never existed because of Joe's presence then it would mean that Red Shoes could have been discovered much earlier by Abe and Oswald because Red Shoes would go into reckless madness because he would no longer have a suitable guinea pig, and in his laboratory instead of photos of Cinderella would be full of photos of Joe with phrases like "You stole her from me", ""I hate you" or "Why don't you die?"
SuperPulp2789
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Joe: "I literally don't even know who you are"
Probably more pathetic if they never even met
Jsebas19
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In fact I imagined something like this:
-Red Shoes: "You stole my masterpiece"
-Joe: "I don't even know who you are."
But seriously, I have a theory of what happened;
When Joe took Cinderella faster he made Red Shoes go crazy seeing that her masterpiece was 'stolen', making her reckless and careless allowing Oswald and Abe to discover her faster, causing Old Tales and Oswald and Abe to seriously injure her. But managing to escape, in her flight Red Shoes would run into a group of raptures trying to make an alliance with them with their code of corruption, but the raptures killed her almost instantly upon seeing her, being an ironic way to die.
While the raptures took her legs and parts, in their data they saw the information to improve the corruption code, being the reason why they corrupted Rose, but unlike the game the raptures would take much longer to develop the corruption code, because red shoes was the one who improved him in the game. But since here Red Shoes would die before improving it, the raptures would only have access to the concept but not the instructions and even making the code in this timeline weaker, possibly being the reason why Pinne and several other Nikkes survived until the end. current era.
But taking Cinderella early and with Rose corrupted would make Scarlet and all of Goddess now suspected of being corrupted instead of Old Tales.
But I wonder what Hansel, Gretel and Siren's relationship with Cinderella would be like because the latter didn't beat them up when she became Anachiro, Siren keeps her jaw intact and Abe possibly doesn't have scars and maybe he isn't Grave.
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Larekko12
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Good show old bean.
Blaming Andersen for not getting with Cinderella is bitch mode.
All really men know the shovel speech is "don't let her down I approve of you putting a ring on her. " Else you'd never see the knife coming.
Eden sounds cranked. Neo Sparta indeed. Though in the face of the apocalypse only thing I can really call out is the washout policy. It's hard to imagine if earth went twenty percent as hard in unison they would have gotten beat. Unified citizen soldiers aren't the worst policy.
Blaming Andersen for not getting with Cinderella is bitch mode.
All really men know the shovel speech is "don't let her down I approve of you putting a ring on her. " Else you'd never see the knife coming.
Eden sounds cranked. Neo Sparta indeed. Though in the face of the apocalypse only thing I can really call out is the washout policy. It's hard to imagine if earth went twenty percent as hard in unison they would have gotten beat. Unified citizen soldiers aren't the worst policy.