[FICLETTE][Shadow Hearts] Confessional (Alice)

[nekokoban]

So, having seen the game recced on my flist, and by a few RL friends, I thought I'd rent it and give it a try. |D And it was fun! But because I got sick, I didn't get to finish -- managed to get all the way past the orphanage and the most irritating boss fight ever (mainly because I, stupidly, had not stocked up NOR leveled once I got my wallet back), but I was actually spoiled for how a certain Key Event does actually happen unless you jump through a lot of hoops and rings to prevent it. D:

Anyway. Short, and about Alice. Because I like Alice, damnit.

Confessional
Shadow Hearts -- some second-act spoilers
425 words
She knows she'll have no time to reach a church before it happens.

+++++

There is no time to stay at the church, no time to stop and kneel in a narrow confessional and speak her sins; everything is coming together so quickly now. Father Doyle is dead, Cardinal Simon is missing, Bacon is always two steps ahead and the road is growing thinner every day. In her chest, her heart beats now, now, now and she begs no, just a little longer, let me stay with him until this is finished.

She doesn't dream, but sometimes in her sleep she hears them laughing.

What she doesn't tell him, as they run through London's narrow streets, is that I was so afraid when my father died, so certain I'd be ripped apart like he was, and then you came and I was afraid I would be raped and now I'm afraid again but Yuri, Yuri, I'm not sorry for what I've done.

Around his neck the talisman glows green, and she can almost see a face staring back at her from it.

Her father, once upon a time, warned her the Devil had three faces, thus to parody the three Aspects of the Lord and told her to beware false promises. But the demon that set her soul its price had four masks, and she wonders if that is because her father was wrong, or if she'll fall into a gentle darkness that won't spit some parody of her back out for its own amusements.

Momentarily in the orphanage Yuri reaches back and takes her hand. It surprises her because he is warm and strong and the idea that he was ever weak enough to consider death seems ridiculous. She squeezes his fingers and swallows back against saying I want you to miss me, but not desperately, I don't want you to hang onto me and let me fester, I want to go quietly into that good night but I don't want to be forgotten, not by you.

"Are you all right?" he asks, low.

She smiles and he smiles back automatically; sometimes she wonders how she could have ever been frightened of him, because he's clumsy but he's genuine, and she finds herself drawn to that more than the flatteries of the young gentlemen that had tipped their hats to her years before.

What she doesn't say is that My heart has started skipping beats and I'm growing tired and I'm afraid I won't be able to stay by your side.

What she does say is that "I'm fine," and she squeezes his fingers again before letting go.

--end--

Comments

[shadawyn.livejournal.com]

LoL Shadow Hearts is on the way to me as a rental... I happened on the OST a year or two ago and decided I should probably try the game... I got the music memorized :D

[nekokoban]

It's fun! :D I wish I could've finished it, though; I was at a part where it felt like the plot was really moving -- and then it was time to return it. _o_

[jpegasus.livejournal.com]

Awwwwwww <3 Yuri/Alice is just about the best thing ever, yes. >-> If you don't get it re-rented and finished before less-than-or-equal-to the end of March, we own it, so you could always borrow it.

[nekokoban]

Ooooooo ... *______* I want to finish the game, damnit!

Though honestly what I should do is check and see if the local Hollywood Video has it, though I dunno when I'll have the time to play till Sping Break or thereabouts. D:

But even as far as I got, yes, Yuri/Alice is woobie cuteness. ♥ Thanks for the reading, and the offer -- I maaaaaay wibble at you about that later, depending on my time allowances. XD ♥

[sexybee.livejournal.com]

I've never seen the game, although it sounds quite interesting, but I'm not much of a gamer (obsessively study the game guides and help navigate and plot strategy with you, yes. push buttons, no.). And despite all that, I do like the ficlet. Alice ssems like the type of chacter I'd like.

BUT. I also wanted to let you know that there is Tactics fic over at Yuletide. (My present! Squee!) Winter and Renewal (http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/17/winterand.html). It is much love.

[nekokoban]

Heh -- usually, I'm the same; I'm usually the one armed with GameFaqs.com on my laptop and reading things aloud like and that's when you shoot yourself!, which is one of my more infamous flubs from when we were playing Silent Hill 3. |D But there are some games I actually play, and I'd heard enough good stuff about Shadow Hearts to give it a shot.

And, heh, I did see that tactics fic~ ♥ It's much love indeed~ ♥ :D

[duowolf.livejournal.com]

Yep Shadow Hearts is a great game and the sequal is even crazier. I'm now painetly waiting for number 3 to come out.:)

[nekokoban]

I will totally be there with you, I'm sure. Once I can get my hands on the first game again to finish it, and the second one to get caught up. XD

[laylah.livejournal.com]

*wibbles like crazy*
Oh, oh oh. Yes. Alice is love.

I have always jumped through the hoops when I played, because I love her so.

Though the second game presupposes that you did *not*, and that the Key Event does happen, and -- it has fallout for the entire plot of the second game. But I still recommend jumping through the hoops, because good ending = love.

I will probably flail at you about this in person eventually, so I can talk about my crack theories on What It All Means. ^_^

[nekokoban]

Yeah, my friend Wen is a HUGE fan of the games, and Alice in particular -- so I can remember when the second game was announced and she was all excited ... and then she logged on and screamed incoherences to the tune of NOOOOOO BAD ENDING WHYYYY from which I was accidentally spoiled to the Key Event. D:

And originally I was all "I'm going to play it as it should go!" only then I fell for Alice and went to GameFaqs to find out how to save her, for whenever I get my hands on a copy of the game again.

But I would totally love to hear Crack Theories, especially given what I do know about the end of the first game and how the second connects to it. ♥