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“No! You must save her!” Notch screamed the words but the Greatmask did not answer.
Someone else did.
I will speak with him, Argeon.
The Greatmask and his darkened table vanished, replaced by the machine room and the prone figures, no lighter or darker than before, as if no time had passed while he and Argeon spoke. But his hands were covered in blood, as was the bone he held. Blood also ran from his chin to drip to his knees but at least the pain had eased.
“Notch.”
He looked up at her voice... Sofia.
She had not changed. Her form was ghostly, as though she only Spirit-Walked, but she still wore her Mascare robe, dark hair free from the hood and her equally dark eyes regarding him with a look of... kindly patience.
His shoulders slumped as he lowered the mask and he smiled, relief pouring forth. “I have a way,” was all he could manage. It was as though the long search coming to an end, finally, had stripped away all of the strength he’d felt mere moments before, in a sudden rush that eased his desperation too.
There was no need for it now; he could restore her.
Sofia approached, hands outstretched. “Stand with me, Notch.”
He rose but could not clasp her hands, it was like trying to grasp air. “Are you in pain?”
“No.”
“Lonely?”
“No.”
He swallowed as he nodded. “I am glad.”
“It is not like you imagine, I suspect. Else you might not have fought so hard to reach this moment.”
“I would have done the same, no matter.”
“Then thank you,” Sofia said, offering a smile. “I have seen all that you suffered on my behalf; Argeon has shown me. You’re as stubborn as ever, I’m half-pleased to see.”
He laughed softly.
“I am also glad to learn that Flir and Luik are alive – but you must survive too, Notch.”
She meant the Fura Leones, but the Bracers were quiet for now.
Sofia continued after a pause. “I know you have visited the Eon Sage, Qu-Sitka and you know that what he told you is indeed truth. But it is wrong. And you know that also.”
Notch gripped Argeon hard. “It would work.”
“Is she truly such a villain that you would sacrifice her, Notch?”
He looked down at Emisa.
And he could not lie, not to Sofia nor himself any longer. “No, she is not.” Emisa was no evil creature. She was curt and driven, determined to save her people from the Ecsoli lust for power... and she had kept her word, through every moment leading to the defeat of Chelona.
“And so you should keep yours, Notch,” Sofia said. “You are a man of honour; that is the man I trusted while I lived, who acted as a Father to me while I could not find my own. Will you continue to be that man?”
Tears built as his throat closed up a moment.
There was no other way!
But she was right... he let Argeon fall gently to the stone, but when he looked up, he shouted to the darkened ceiling. “It isn’t right! Why, by all the Gods?”
Sofia placed a hand upon his shoulder. “Notch.”
He glanced down, now feeling the pressure of her touch. “Yes?”
“It would be equally unfair to Emisa, to take her life on my behalf, you know this.”
A nod.
“And more, it would be cruel for you to suffer after, as the Fura Leones would surely ensure. Notch... Notch, I need something from you.” She waited until he looked into her eyes. “Because I cannot have them, I want you to have the things that were denied to me, and the things which you have denied yourself.”
He blinked, then shook his head. “That doesn’t matter. I’d be happy if you could return.”
“I cannot be a part of taking her life, Notch. You know what that would do to me. To me, Notch.”
In the silence that followed, Notch shook his head, though it was at himself, a thread of bitterness rising with the movement – he’d been a fool, of course. Sofia would never have agreed to take Emisa; that was not who she was at all.
Sofia would never destroy an innocent, or worse, destroy someone so vulnerable, someone who could not even offer their consent.
Consent... there was one more person, someone who could give their consent.
Notch met Sofia’s gaze. “Sacrifice me.”
She moved back. “What?”
“Take what is left of my life instead – that way no-one suffers.”
After a moment she returned to lean close, where she pressed her lips against his cheek – and he felt them too, for just a moment before she drew back, a sad smile upon her face. “You are a sweet man but still a fool, Notch.”
“I mean every word,” he said, voice rising.
“Then hear me – I will not do this. I have already convinced Argeon not to be a part of it, so you must accept that. You must live where I cannot.” Her voice grew firm. “The Notch I know would not abandon his friends. He would never break his word.”
“But...” It was all falling apart. Everything he’d gone through to reach this moment... had it all been for nothing? He could not think clearly. “I vowed I would save you.”
“Yet I do not need saving, as you must realise now. But others do need you – Alosus for one. You promised him too, Notch.”
She was right once more. And each truth was a blow to his heart. Alosus still needed help in finding his family... and protecting his people. As did Emisa. And far closer, there was Flir. Had she survived the upheaval within the city? And what of Luik? Luik who was somehow alive, somewhere out there. Flir mentioned he had changed... for the better or worse?
“You must accept this truth also,” Sofia said, drawing his attention back to her. “You have not failed, Notch. You have more than met your duty in preventing a disaster here with Chelona and Zasemu. I say again, it is time to help others, and to help yourself. And you must do so without reservation, for you are in danger of becoming unworthy of the Fura Leones.” She paused. “And more, unworthy of my memories of you.”
Notch took half a step back, as though physically hit. “No.”
“Yes.” Sofia nodded, though more gentleness had returned to her voice now. “You do not need me to say these things; you know them already. Go, Notch. Protect those who deserve it. You’ve been blessed with the ability to change many lives and you cannot dare waste that. Be satisfied that while I lived, you changed my life. I would not have accomplished all that I did without you, or your friends. Go and live for them in my stead.”
“Wait.”
“I cannot; Argeon calls me.”
“Sofia!”
“Find happiness, Notch – for if you do not, I will come and haunt you, understand?”
And then she was gone and only silence remained.