exsilium | [Video; backdated to early May, a few days after the Australia mission]

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[Video; backdated to early May, a few days after the Australia mission]

[Filtered to Symphonia cast, minus Mithos]
[Right off the bat Emil looks hesitant, but he doesn't take too long getting to the point.]

This is just for people from home, and Zelos already knows some of this, but...I have something to say. There's something I haven't been telling you, since I arrived here.

[He takes a breath and steels himself before going on with the next part.]

I'm not human. Not in the same way you are. I am Emil, but I am also the Summon Spirit Ratatosk, spirit of the Giant Kharlan Tree and lord of monsters. After my tree was destroyed I was asleep until the worlds were reunited, but when I was reawakened I caused a great deal of trouble.

[At this point Emil turns his head, so he's not looking directly at the screen.]

I murdered Aster, a researcher who came to me asking for help. I would have tried to destroy humanity. Instead, a lot of things that shouldn't have did happen because of what I did. And I deceived all of you while that went on. I assumed a human form, Aster's form, and a human identity. I thought I was human, but when I traveled with you, Marta, all of my friends - all along, I was lying to you about who I really was.

And when I found that out, even though I could have tried to destroy the world again, everybody...everybody trusted me not to do that. And in the end, I didn't. To stop the world from being overrun by demons, I sealed myself inside the doorway to the demonic realm. So if you meet me in the future, even that won't be for long.

[It was better than he deserved. This is better than he deserves now. Emil shakes his head, making eye contact again.]

But now that I'm here, I've kept it a secret from you again. I know that you're from different times, or timelines, but I still feel like I've betrayed your trust again. There's no good excuse for that. After what I've done, I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me again. I just thought that you deserved to know...and that I'm sorry, even though I know that's not enough.

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[Sheena isn't really in the middle of anything when she gets the message. It's a good thing, too, because the way her mouth falls open is anything but attractive. What if there had been food involved?

She starts to say something, stops, and then she shuts off the feed for a bit to think. That's probably not polite, but it's all she can do right now.

It's a lot to think about, Zelos is right.]

... I thought something was strange when you mentioned Derris-Kharlan, but I thought-- if you trusted me, then you'd tell me eventually, or I'd just find out when I went back to our world.

[She tucks a stray bit of hair behind her ear.]

I didn't think it'd be something like this. I was expecting... that maybe you were an angel or something. But a Summon Spirit? It's kinda hard to swallow.

[Emil offers no proof. Nothing but his own story, his own visible shame as he recounts his identity and his ultimate fate.

Sheena looks at the tablet.]

But I believe you, so it's okay. We're friends, aren't we?

Actually, I think we're a lot alike. There was something I kept from my friends for the longest time. I regretted my past more than anything, and I thought they'd leave me if they found out what a failure I was...

I guess what I'm saying is, I understand.

[She smiles softly.]

Thanks for telling me.

Edited 2013-05-19 06:13 (UTC)

[Emil has been more apprehensive about Sheena's reaction than Zelos's, mostly because Zelos already knows some of what he's just said. And he'd never even considered the possibility that his story might be hard to believe before - not when everyone else accepted the truth before he did in his time - but it makes sense. And that Sheena chooses to believe him, and tell him this...it means a lot to him. He's just not sure why she's doing it.

It takes Emil a little while to reply back himself, as he tries to figure what to make of her response.]

I never knew that. About you, I mean. When I first met you, I thought you were amazing. We got to know each other more after that, but I still can't imagine you doing anything that your friends would leave you for.

Y-you... thought I was amazing?

[/That/ gets a reaction. And a bit of a blush. She's-- not used to taking compliments. Not like that. She looks down and away, abashed. Sure, when she was traveling and making pacts, Colette and Lloyd wouldn't hesitate to heap on similar praise. It still affects her a bit.

She takes a deep breath.]

Since you talked about what you did, it only seems right to share. You know I'm a summoner, right? I make pacts with Summon Spirits. [Like Emil, except she's never made a pact with a tree spirit.] For a long time, the only pact I had was with Corrine, because... I failed to make the pact previously.

When I was strong enough and had completed my training, my grandpa, the chief, took a bunch of people to the Temple of Lightning. I was told to form the pact with Volt.

... But I couldn't understand him at all. I couldn't form the pact. Volt became angry, I think because he was betrayed, and... a lot of people died. Grandpa got hurt, too, and he wouldn't wake up no matter how much we prayed.

Everyone in the village blamed me and avoided me. I'm a murderer and a failure, and I can't do anything right... At least, that's what I thought. But my friends-- your friends, too-- they trusted me and believed in me when no one else would.

[She wrings her hands, then looks up.]

That's what friends do.

[Now that she's brought it up Emil recalls that Regal once brought up something like this before, but Sheena's describing it with much more detail and the situation is different now, too. The story is an oddly familiar one, with him on the other side of the pact; even now, he understands how Volt must have felt and he still remembers the time where he would have killed all humans because of it. But Sheena - her part of the story is familiar, too.]

It is. I would never have gotten anywhere on my journey without everyone's support.

[Emil takes a second to think again, because he knows that talking about things like that is probably as hard for Sheena as it is for him. And if they're still on speaking terms...]

You all trusted me not to go back to how I was before I met everyone when I regained my full power. I was so afraid I would try to destroy mankind again, but you believed in me even when I couldn't. And I'm thankful for that, for everything, more than I can say.

[It's hard to convey the difference between who he used to be and who he is now in words, but Emil does know that it's entirely thanks to his friends' influence.]

[Sheena is sure she made the right choice now. In the beginning she wasn't so sure, but now-- now she knows for sure.

She's not entirely sure she understands the difference between 'old Emil' and 'new Emil', seeing as she's only met one of them, but that's okay. She'll understand someday. And she doesn't need to understand to really like him, either.]

I'm glad I met you. Or... will meet you. That's weird to think about.

[She clears her throat.] About back home... are you alone at the gate? Don't you have anyone to talk to?

[She's glad to have met him. Despite all he's been through there's a part of Emil that will never stop feeling wonder when he hears something like that. And even now he's not sure how much he deserves it, but all the same it makes him happy.

As for the Ginnungagap...well. Emil's working out how he feels about that.]

I have the Centurions. They're my servants, who carry out my commands to control the world's mana. You'll meet one of them in the future - Tenebrae. He's a little stuffy, but he's loyal too. Good to have at your side.

[He smiles, thinking of his travels, but it fades a bit when he thinks about the other occupant in the Ginnungagap. Describing Richter is significantly harder than describing the Centurions, mostly because Emil's history with him is significantly more complicated.]

And for a while, there's Richter. He was Aster's friend, a half-elf. He tried to open the door to the demonic realm for his own reasons, but we stopped him before he could do that. Now he's helping me.

[For a while? What does that mean? -- but then her question is answered. He's a half-elf, then... so he'll live a long time.]

Oh, got it.

[She lifts her hand.]

This sounds a little silly, but-- if you want, we can try making a pact sometime. That way you can see your friends whenever you want.

...

[That prompts Emil to take a sudden interest in things that aren't the tablet screen. His fingers sure are intriguing, aren't they?]

I don't wish to make a pact.

[Sheena blinks. Wow, she hasn't been shot down like that in a while. The Summon Spirits were all a bit touchy after Mithos' betrayal. Maybe it's the same thing here.]

That's fine... but... can I ask why?

[Emil is definitely stiffer right now that he was a few moments ago.]

The last time I gave my power to a summoner, four thousand years ago...it ended in the death of the Giant Kharlan Tree. I--I trust you, Sheena, but even now I can't forget what happened because of that.

[There's only one summoner from back then.]

It was Mithos, wasn't it?

Edited 2013-05-28 00:15 (UTC)

Yes, it was. You've met him, right?

[He remembers talking with Zelos about something to that effect.]

Yes. [And more than that.] Mithos betrayed the Summon Spirits he'd made pacts with. It was something we had to overcome in order to reunite the worlds. They put their trust in us, but it wasn't easy.

Mithos... was our friend, for a while. I think he wasn't sure what he wanted. Lloyd accepted him so easily. Everyone did. Eventually, Mithos revealed himself to be the reason the world was in such awful shape... and Lloyd was forced to take his life in order to set things right.

I'm not trying to get you to feel sorry for him or anything, but-- you should know that he won't be able to hurt anyone ever again. Lloyd... still regrets the way it ended.

Edited 2013-05-31 11:10 (UTC)

So that was it.

[He's learning a lot of new things here.]

Zelos told me he was alive, and then dead. Lloyd, in my time - he told me about that once, too, but I didn't understand until now. A friend he killed, somebody he wanted to make things right with if he could...that was him?

[She nods.]

Yeah. They were alike in some ways, but Mithos... I guess he changed after he lost his sister.

His sister? Martel? What happened to her?

Martel... She was killed by a human when the peace treaty was supposed to be signed.

Killed? Why would somebody do that?

I don't know. It might've been someone who was against the peace treaty. They wanted the world's mana all to themselves.

[Sheena lets out a little sigh.]

I hope nothing like that has to happen ever again.

It almost did, but...not exactly, now that I think about it.

[Not a happy subject, but relevant.]

In my time there was an anti-Tethe'allan organization that sought to use my core to power a mana cannon, like those that harmed my tree thousand of years ago. It wouldn't have worked because the core they after wasn't a true one, but...we didn't know that at the time.

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[Video; backdated to early May, a few days after the Australia mission]

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