diff --git a/Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain b/Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain index ff8e47b..478c176 100644 --- a/Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain +++ b/Story/0BattleRoyale.fountain @@ -2007,47 +2007,122 @@ Azure stands. Very slow. Green sword in one hand, trailing. He does not raise it AZURE (quiet) -You were here the whole scene. +You were watching the whole time. ROOSTER Yes. AZURE -You could've — +You could've helped — ROOSTER -Mm. +Far be it from me to interfere with such a grand display. She died honorably. Neither your bond nor your quarrel was mine to interrupt. A beat. The bowstring does not slack. AZURE (exhales) -Take the shot. +What are you waiting for, then? Take the shot. I'm ruined. ROOSTER -Mm. +It is not my intention to shed unnecessary blood. I have no quarrel with you. But know that if you raise that stolen blade towards me, you will meet your end. -The arrow fires. +AZURE +(panting) +What, then? I'm not going to just sit here and wax philosophical while the bubble closes in on us. -It takes Azure through the upper chest — left side, high, a perfect arc given the cave's low ceiling and Rooster's angle. The green sword falls out of his hand. +ROOSTER +Why not? + +AZURE +I don't want to die. + +ROOSTER +Then don't. + +AZURE +That's not a choice! Either we fight, or we rot. + +ROOSTER +Is that so? Or is it in our best interests to simply wait out the clock? + +AZURE +You can't be serious. If neither of us attack, we both die. + +ROOSTER +There is no higher crime than to strike first. No circumstance, no matter how dire, can ever excuse the violation of another's will. When you are pressed to initiate force, it is a trap laid by those who would have you abdicate your moral sovereignty; the only righteous path is to refuse, and if violence is offered, to answer only in defense of your own life. + +AZURE +What the fuck are you saying? + +ROOSTER +The bubble is converging on this location, and I will not be the first to violence. + +Rooster smoothly lowers himself onto his rear, spindly legs folded, the bow straddling across them, but keeps the arrow nocked and ready. Azure shakes his head. + +AZURE +I don't want to die. Your life is a threat to mine. + +ROOSTER +Not so. + +Azure scoffs. He hefts the green sword, the product of the valor he never earned. He eyes it with a mix of contempt and desire. + +AZURE +I need to keep this. You know, it's all I ever wanted. + +Rooster says nothing, stares coldly. + +AZURE +(CONT'D) +I'm not letting you take it from me. I've come this far. + +Rooster's beak tips and his feathers twitch around his longbow. + +AZURE +(near whisper) +My lord will grant me the badge, the sword, the glory. One last friend to die, and I'm finally worth something again. + +ROOSTER +If your worth depends on rank, you’ve handed judgment to the crowd — or to a lord you serve without reason. + +AZURE +(snarling) +My lord is all there is! You will not take that from me! I will serve him! + +Rooster stands solemnly. + +AZURE +Shut up, and get out of my way! If you don't wanna die by my blade, you can go meet the bubble yourself. + +ROOSTER +I'm staying right here. + +AZURE +(snarling) +Then die! + +He lunges at Rooster in one forceful dash, his final gambit. The arrow fires. + +It takes Azure through the upper chest — left side, high, a perfect arc given the cave's low ceiling and the point-blank range. But the force of Azure's lunge is as true as Rooster's arrow; the blade of Adrian connects with Rooster's beak, leaving a gash. He flinches, hard, gasping. The green sword falls out of Azure's hand with a clatter. Azure staggers. One step. Two. Stays on his feet, somehow, for one more. AZURE (barely) -Why — +My lord. I have failed. ROOSTER (from the hood, simple, even) -I guess you didn't want it enough. +It seems to me that you didn't want it enough. Azure's face, for one second, is the face of someone who has spent his life being the skekSil and has just had the punchline explained to him by someone not laughing. -He *lunges.* +He *lunges* again. -Last strength, no plan, hands open — not for the sword, for Rooster himself — grabbing for the hood, for a face to have been pierced by, for anything at all. +Last strength, the final act of his will. No plan, hands open — not for the sword, for Rooster himself — grabbing for the hood, for a face to have been pierced by, for anything at all. -Rooster steps neatly aside. A second arrow — pulled and nocked while the first was still in the air — fires at close range into Azure's chest as he passes. +Rooster steps neatly aside. A second arrow — pulled and nocked while the first was still in the air — fires at close range into Azure's chest as he passes. Rooster fires the arrow behind him without looking or turning. Azure folds.