Chapter 4: An inevitable fate descends; Ryuubi speaks to the people
[As the feed switches on, Ryuubi is sitting on a mostly-darkened room, the faint gray light from the stormy day outside barely penetrating. Lit from below by the PCD, his expression can best be described as raw, all exposed pain and tattered courage. Yet it's wistful as well. He is staring into some distance only he can see.
Then he looks directly as the camera and speaks.]
I know - that maybe I should not speak. I haven’t been here long, I don’t know all that much about this world, or about all of you - what you have here, what you have waiting back home. Not much.
But I do know all there possibly is to know about fate, about inevitability - about knowing. And you, all of you who are here, right now, who have people here they care about - all of you got the greatest gift, the most precious chance. Do you understand? I’ve always known what fate waits for me, in the end. I’ve known before coming here, and I’ll still know when I come back. The battles I must lose, the friends, the life’s work left unfinished…
[He trails off, shaking himself out of that train of thoughts. Between pain and wistfulness, the wistful wins out. He speaks with the passion that moved empires in that distant history that haunts him, reaching out with all his heart.]
But you - you who got this taste of knowing, just enough for a last goodbye, a last touch, a last confession - you who have the chance to both know and not-know, to know long enough to love and laugh one last time, and then forget the grief to come - do you understand how blessed you are? I love my brother and sister a thousand times more because I know I must lose them, but if I could have that love for only three days, and then lay down the knowing - if I could have what you’ve been given! And instead you’re mourning, or angry at this gift, or denying it... but if I could - if I could hold Unchou and Ekitoku one more time, after they’re gone - without knowing how many more times I must lose them again - if I could - !
[He can't continue; he stops, breathes deeply, and then looks up at the PCD again.]
Raise your heads, all of you. You are the lucky ones.
Then he looks directly as the camera and speaks.]
I know - that maybe I should not speak. I haven’t been here long, I don’t know all that much about this world, or about all of you - what you have here, what you have waiting back home. Not much.
But I do know all there possibly is to know about fate, about inevitability - about knowing. And you, all of you who are here, right now, who have people here they care about - all of you got the greatest gift, the most precious chance. Do you understand? I’ve always known what fate waits for me, in the end. I’ve known before coming here, and I’ll still know when I come back. The battles I must lose, the friends, the life’s work left unfinished…
[He trails off, shaking himself out of that train of thoughts. Between pain and wistfulness, the wistful wins out. He speaks with the passion that moved empires in that distant history that haunts him, reaching out with all his heart.]
But you - you who got this taste of knowing, just enough for a last goodbye, a last touch, a last confession - you who have the chance to both know and not-know, to know long enough to love and laugh one last time, and then forget the grief to come - do you understand how blessed you are? I love my brother and sister a thousand times more because I know I must lose them, but if I could have that love for only three days, and then lay down the knowing - if I could have what you’ve been given! And instead you’re mourning, or angry at this gift, or denying it... but if I could - if I could hold Unchou and Ekitoku one more time, after they’re gone - without knowing how many more times I must lose them again - if I could - !
[He can't continue; he stops, breathes deeply, and then looks up at the PCD again.]
Raise your heads, all of you. You are the lucky ones.