[ It's well after midnight. The camera feed is a mess of black and grey, the Forge screen the only illumination. It turns Arthur's face sickly, throws unusual shadows across it. His voice is low. ]
Tell me a story.
[ There aren't many left familiar with the way he demands this in bored, petulant tones. ]
About someone you lost.
[ An
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[And the pause before he goes is practically heavy enough to break the Forge.]
There was this princess once. She was beautiful... spoiled, loud-mouthed, pain in the ass, all the things you expect from a princess. But brave, even if she didn't know it at first. One by one she began to fight against the monsters that plagued the land, kind of by accident, and one by one her court fell away from her, and when she finally had nothing left she traveled to a distant city. Full of lights, and people, and... designer shoe stores. Which she loved.
At first she was gonna try and be a princess again. Start fresh. She tried - she could have been. But she found friends in the city who needed her help, and even though she wanted those lights so badly, she knew she couldn't leave her friends alone against the monsters. She knew what she had to do.
And in time, with loss, she received a great burden. It was heavy and... frequently painful, but with it she could help protect people. Bring light to places that wouldn't ever see any. So she did. That was her way of fighting. She got hurt... betrayed, frightened, fell-- fell in love... and the burden she carried began to eat her life away. But she never stopped fighting. Not once.
[...]
Not even when one of those monsters took over her body, pretending to be a blessing. Left her... ruined. Asleep. Her friends tried everything to wake her, but...
Even like that, she still brought light to the people who needed it most. And when she died, it was as the one thing she was meant to be all along. A champion.
[...]
I have others. They're all kind of like that.
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Thought I did at first, but it isn't.
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[He doesn't even sound like he has it in him to complain about the stalkiness going on here.]
Which is probably for the best, since I can't think of a quicker way to a headache than you and Cordelia in the same building for very long.
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[...]
Maybe-- ...no. Forget it.
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Maybe what?
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It's just that... Wesley's here.
And he shouldn't be.
In fact, I hear there's a lot of people who are here who shouldn't be. This place doesn't care what time you're from, what state you're in.
[And he doesn't need to say she could still show up, but the lack of saying is evidence that he's been thinking about this.]
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This world's not so different from the others as they might think. Know you won't be surprised. It's got its quirks, but it follows certain laws.
Including that oldest one: loves don't come back for us waiting around for them. If they'll turn up, it'll always be right when we're looking the other way, doing something else.
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But that was a good story. One of the most admirable strengths, in my opinion, is the ability to carry on through adversity for the sake of others.
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Not all of them were really the tough guy type, but when you get caught in a battle what else can you do but keep fighting?
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All the more reason why they need people who won't.
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