Fourth.

[trustmods]

The week has been relatively quiet after the utter debacle that was the previous weekend's trial; access to the fourth floor has generally ensured that no one has any excuse to not keep themselves entertained in one way or another, whether by way of games or by way of copious amounts of alcohol. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that this week's incentive came with a three-day limit this time – something that doesn't seem too geared toward discouraging the pattern that Fridays have fallen into around here. Thankfully, however, there are once again no bodies in the ballroom; it seems everyone has learned a lesson and decided to leave that place alone for the time being. But anybody heading upstairs beyond a certain point is going to have an...interesting time, let's put it that way. >Explore?

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[sunsong]

The bathroom...? [ She. APPARENTLY DOES NOT KNOW HOW OR WHY SHE WAS LIKE THAT EITHER, sorry for the massive unhelpfulness, Morty. Tabby probably has a better idea as to what the hell went on there, since she stayed to investigate while Weiss ferried Sol away. ]

I don't remember... [ Or she can't make sense of it. The last thing she remembered...? What the hell was that? She'd been going somewhere, maybe? With - ]

Where's Luna? [ That question keeps coming back to the front of her mind. Sol doesn't shake Morty's hand off, but she does give up looking around for her sister, refocusing on Morty. ]

[mortyfied]

[At that question, Morty's face immediately goes pale.]

Uhh... u-ummm.... [He diverts his gaze, looking towards another bed as he tries to think of the safest way to explain what happened. Honestly... nothing really comes to mind. There's no easy way to tell her that her twin sister died, is there?]

L-Luna, she.. sh-she's.... [His gaze trails back to Sol, at first looking her in the eyes but that just makes him feel guiltier, so he settles for staring at their hands instead.]


...she's dead.

[sunsong]

[ Sol's already pretty still, which is weird for her. She doesn't like to sit still or stay in one place. She's usually doing something, or fiddling with something. Right now, though, she just can't work up to it.

More than anything else, those words don't make sense. She's dead, like that's even a fucking possibility.

Luna and Sol, moon and sun. They'd never had anyone else for so, so long. They're not perfect if they're not together. ]

...You're lying. [ He's never lied to her before, but right now - ] Where's Luna?

[ It's not funny at all but Luna probably won't even be mad about such a bad joke, because she's always been the more even-tempered one, mostly. ]

[mortyfied]

I-I-I... [Morty takes his hand back, holding them both in front of him defensively.]

I-I'm not - sh-she's really... [Oh jeez, how do you even deal with a situation like this..]


I-I wouldn't joke about something like this. [His voice is soft when he says it, and his expression says he's telling the truth.. as much as he didn't want to be.]

[sunsong]

No, she's not! [ - Crap, that was too loud for her to handle just now, and it's clear Sol kind of gave herself a bigger headache from that outburst. But - no. They've survived years under the thumb of a certain government, and then four entire years in Area D -

One school would not kill Luna. A lot of people had died so far, but Luna was - Luna was her sister. Her little sister. If either of them were going to die, it should have been Sol, shouldn't it? She wouldn't let Luna die, there's no way she could still be alive if Luna were dead, so - so, Luna was alive. Had to be. ]

I - I want to see her. [ Her fingers curl up into the sheets of the infirmary bed, and she tries to sit up again. It's...about as successful as last time. ] I need to see Luna!

[ She's not dead, she's not dead, she's not dead and Sol's seen way too many dead bodies in her lifetime - she can picture all of them, replace them with Luna's body, but it's not true. ]

[mortyfied]

B-be careful! [Morty gets ready when she tries to sit up, in case she over exerts herself or something but luckily it doesn't get that bad.. yet, anyway.]

S-Sol, you gotta listen to me Luna's - w-we found her, at the bottom of the stairs. [Probably not a good time to explain in full detail of what happened but he'd rather get it through to her than have her in denial...]

Her body - sh-she wasn't breathing, Sol. She's dead, and someone in here is responsible for it. F-for what happened to you, too! [Probably.]

I'm so sorry...

[sunsong]

[ Yet is the key word... ]

No - she's not - [ It's impossible, this can't be happening. Solie, don't you think they'd like the chickens? Everyone back home. They'd gone to feed them together that morning - yesterday morning? The day before that? Sol's memories feel jumbled and she isn't sure when it happened.

Luna was smiling, though, their hands clasped together. ]

I need to - I need to see. [ It wasn't real if she didn't see Luna it wasn't. ]

[mortyfied]

B-but you're hurt.. [Listen, he doesn't want to police where you go or anything Sol but you're in no state to go anywhere right now as it is.]

I don't think you should move around Sol, y-you could make everything worse.

[sunsong]

[ this would be much less of a roadblock if she didn't need to sit there quietly for a bit longer before she was up to moving without assistance >( damnit morty ]

I'm not - I'm not hurt! [ Because a bald-faced lie will get him to assist her to Luna's corpse??? ok, sol. This is probably not going to work too well even though she usually steamrolls right over Morty...treasure the moment, dude. ]

She's - I need to - ! [ She does and doesn't want to see Luna. Has to be sure, can't quite believe it right now - Luna's just...going to come around the corner any second now, isn't she? ] Please, I...she can't be dead. If we're not together, we're not...

[mortyfied]

[You're really tugging at his heartstrings right now, Sol. You're REALLY making him actually consider helping you even though it's such a terrible, awful idea.]

B-but.. [Though, then again. If he were in the same position, with Rick or any other of his family members dead like that he'd.. probably react the same way. He'd most definitely want to see their bodies at least, see them off before it's too late.]


...aw, jeez. [Goddamnit okay, Sol. You got him. Are you happy now? Because he's going to just kind of.. crouch down next to the bed so she can climb on his back. Though maybe just keeping her up while she walked would work too but stairs... there are definitely stairs to consider.]

[sunsong]

[ It is 100% a terrible idea and someone should totally stop them. Sol, however, just looks relieved. Even if he's not lying, she has to...she can't remember what her last moment with Luna was. She has to be sure.

It'll haunt her for the rest of her life - however long that ends up being - but she has to see. This is going to be a bit awkward since she's still sort of out of it, but she does eventually manage to climb aboard the Morty Express! ...He's lucky she's a tiny thing, even if she's a bit taller than him. MAYBE HE WON'T DROP HER??? Dropping her would probably not help things, be strong Morty. ]

...Thanks.

[mortyfied]

[He'll be as strong as a 14 year old boy can be.

Which is....... strong enough.]

Y-yeah, of - of course. [Nobody stop them because this is for the greater good, even if it'll probably end terribly no matter what happens.

Anyway, he'll straighten up, shift her a little so they're both more comfortable and head for the door granted no one does stop them. Still feeling bad about the whole thing but that's not something that's going to go away any time soon.]

[sunsong]

[ It's not like Sol crying her eyes out is an avoidable outcome at this point so may as well, right? She's uncharacteristically quiet as they go, unable to think of anything to say. Her mind's stuck on Luna, playing memories at random, and she...

She still doesn't want to believe it. ]

[mortyfied]

[Just better prepare for that outcome, Morty. Prepare for the tears... which is kind of hard even imagining, to be honest.

Either way, a few bumpy trips over stairs later, they finally arrive to the third floor. Morty's steps slow to a halt, the crime scene is right there in front of them, having been at the bottom of the staircase leading to the next floor. She's lying, still and motionless as they had left but luckily enough, her body isn't the goriest thing.

It's still definitely a shocker to see.

He carefully sets Sol down on her feet and moves aside, his brow furrowed with expectation of the reaction to come. At least, if anything, he'll be there for any comforting she might end up needing...]

[sunsong]

[ Yeah, standing isn't a thing she feels up to, so she'll just...plop down next to Luna on her knees. This close, it's impossible to deny it; Luna...she isn't breathing. ]

Luna...hey, Luna...

[ Even so, Sol reaches out one hand - hesitates - and grips her sister's wrist. She's fallen asleep like this before, back home. Luna's hand or wrist in hers, both of them buried under blankets.

There isn't a pulse.

Sol thinks she can actually feel her own heart stop for a moment. Luna looks like she could just be sleeping, passed out falling down the stairs or something, but - this is an empty shell that used to be her sister. Yesterday. Last night. How long had she been here? It didn't seem right that Sol was still breathing if Luna wasn't. Maybe somewhere in the back of her mind she'd just always assumed that whenever death came for them, it'd come for them at the same time. Or only minutes apart. That they'd leave the world as closely bound as they'd entered it. ]

Luna... [ Wake up. Breathe. Anything. ] Lu, please - [ please please please don't leave me alone. What was the point of going home alone? Goz, the others, but even if she was the stronger one, how could she protect them all by herself? How could she do any of it all by herself?

Her grip on Luna's wrist loosens, but she doesn't make any move to leave Luna's side. Instead, she entwines their fingers together, holding Luna's hand. Luna doesn't grip back like she always has done. ]

Lu, you're all I have, come on... [ It's stupid, because Luna's dead and Sol gets that, but she can't stop herself from saying it. Luna's not going to answer, and she can't remember what the last thing Luna said to her was or what she last said to Luna. Did she tell Luna she loved her, yesterday? Today? Did she voice the words?

Sol can't remember, and somehow that seems like the end of the world. It is the end of the world. Luna on the floor, dead - that seems like the end of the world, to her. She's crying, but more quietly than one might expect, just looking down at Luna with one hand gripping one of Luna's tightly. She reaches out, tucks some of Luna's hair behind her ear. ]

Hey.

[mortyfied]

[Watching this, it's.. goddamn it's hard. He was expecting wailing, maybe. Some clutching of her dead body, something over dramatic for sure but the slightly subdued response is... it's not any better, honestly.

It's a little awkward for Morty to be standing there, watching as she clutches her dead sister's hand and begs her to wake up again. So he quietly kneels down besides Sol, trying not to disrupt anything but damn... this was just so hard to deal with. It was so sad, and even worse is that he couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of pain Sol must have been in right now. Even if Rick died Morty's not sure he'd be this devastated over his death. He loves Rick, but it's a different love than the one of someone you've been with since the day you were born.

He'll reach a hand out, and gently rub Sol's back while she grieves. It's the least he can do in this situation.]