Titles: I still got nothing

[thirtybits]

Characters: Judas and open
Setting: hanging gardens
Format: Starting action but I can match
Summary: Reflecting on regains and the last event
Warnings: the canon in which a bunch of religious figures are dorks

Floor 101

[Judas lies on his back in the garden, a bottle of wine at his side. He holds a photograph up, never looking away from it.  The hundredth floor only served to upset him, as much as he wished for a reminder of home. But the photo is exactly what he wanted. There are tears in his eyes as he stares at it, but for the first time in a long time he's truly smiling.]

Elsewhere around the tower

[Encouraged to do something for the rest of the tower by the happiness he's allowed himself, and possibly with some small help from the wine, after leaving the gardens Judas goes around the tower looking for anything he can do. There's tending to his crops, of course, but he would have done that anyway.

Finding very little to fix or clean, he starts approaching people on the lower floors.] 

Excuse me, is there anything you need - anything I can do for you?

Comments

[pinnaculum]

I believe it was an anomaly. This is the third time I have been returned to life.

[The idea of "second chances" strikes him as too irrational and sentimental.]

I am the one who did those things. I am not a different person.

I do not know if I regret them or not.

[Part of him wants to say that he was wrong, but then again, he is tempted to believe that he was right. He is angry. They had betrayed him. They deserved to be wiped out.]

They lied to me.

[thirtybits]

But you feel badly for it, at least. Or at least, that's how it seems right now.

I understand what you mean. If I was given the chance to do everything over again, despite how I feel about it, I think I would still do everything the same way. But even knowing that, my friend and God forgave and raised me from Hell. Don't you think it could be like that with you? Maybe it's not a perfect comparison, but I think it's pretty close...

[pinnaculum]

Do I feel badly?

[He hesitates again, and he's not used to hesitation. He simply isn't sure if he feels badly or not.]

I could... I could do it again.

[He's not without his power, and while he still exists, there is a chance he could accomplish his earlier goal, to absorb all the energy of the Planet.]

No one forgave me. My enemies deceived me and treated me like a child.

[He frowns. This is a sore point with him. They hadn't liked him at all. They must have hated him, and he hates the thought of being lied to.]

What if I killed you now? Would you forgive me?

[thirtybits]

[He simply listens and again, he nods.]

I would forgive you.

[pinnaculum]

[Sephiroth studies him curiously.]

Why?

[thirtybits]

Well, for one, I'm the greatest of all traitors, so...

[He laughs a little, nervously.]

But really it's because I simply believe in forgiveness. You don't strike me as a cruel person, you've told me how you want to help others and do good before. So I couldn't see it as something done out of inherent wickedness.

[pinnaculum]

I do not consider your act of treachery that significant.

[Sephiroth looks upon it practically. It's not as if an entire army was lost. That would be far worse than a single person.]

No, I wanted you all to suffer. To feel despair. I was angry.

[He's angry, now, especially because of the fact that Mr. Valentine, who was supposed to be his guardian, had been deceiving him, not that it's easy for him to understand or articulate the feeling of hurt.]

I do not believe in forgiveness. Everyone betrays me.

[thirtybits]

In my world it is, my name is used to call someone a traitor, and the great majority of the world knows my story. But I guess that just goes to show how our perspectives are very different. In my world, I killed a messiah, the son of God, the creator of all things, sent to Earth to bring salvation. To the people of my world that holds tremendous meaning, but to people of yours, it's irrelevant. Likewise, what you've done in your world is irrelevant to me, when I can't judge who was right and who was wrong, or understand anyone's motives. All I know is you seem to be a good person to me, and you have a right to feel the way you do.

[pinnaculum]

[Sephiroth listens to all this quietly.]

So the man you killed was significant. I see.

[That makes a little more sense to him, although he doesn't understand the ideas behind "son of God" and "messiah", as they're foreign concepts to him. He shakes his head, slowly.]

My motive was to become God. To punish them for what they had done to me.

[With the anger comes madness, and it is hard for him to resist. He doesn't know what to do. At times, to slaughter them all seems... right.]

I have thought of killing the people here, but they will be returned to life. And I do not wish to kill you, although it would be easy.