016 [Action/Video]
[It had happened that morning. Luke, in this time period, had a much easier time of sleeping and waking early, and so he was in the weapon's shop when it hit him.
All those memories that had been buried thanks to the Malnosso. Traveling with Tear, meeting Jade and Anise, killing his first human being, Guy, Master Van...
Akzeriuth... Cutting his hair. Trying to save the world he screwed up. Killing his own master. And the long month afterward... He can even feel the link he has with Asch flaring to life again.
Luke freezes in his spot, holding a fancy sword in his hand. How... How could he have forgotten all of that? How could he have acted like such a jerk to everyone? Such an ignorant, thoughtless... He was so nasty to everyone whom he considered his friends, and now... they... who knows what they thought of him now? This boy who had to relive who he used to be, the person he's ashamed of.
The sword in his hands trembles, and without thinking it through at all, Luke suddenly brings the sword back to slice through his hair, cutting the back of his neck and leaving only a small piece of the long hair behind. The rest is clenched in his hand, his knuckles almost white from the strain. All those terrible things he said to everyone, to Xion and Asch and Ion and...
Noel.
"You're a criminal?"
His face pales, and the sword in his hand clatters to the ground. Thankfully for the staff of the weapons store, he doesn't drop the mass amount of hair.
But he does abruptly leave, and he runs back to Community Housing Building 2, head lowered the whole time so that no one can look at him. He doesn't want anyone to see him, the leftovers of a massacre that he created. Ashes of the sacred flame...
... Asch.
It's that thought which makes him pause just outside of the door to his apartment. He barely even realizes that he made it there until now. Would Asch accept him back? He hadn't tried contacting him since the link came to life again... What if he just ruined whatever progress he made in their already strained relationship?
But... this was still his home. So, he keeps his head low again as he knocks on the door, hair still unknowingly clenched in his other hand.]
[A few hours later, the video option of the journal is activated, and Luke's face appears on the other side. He's not looking at the journal, and he keeps brushing his hand through his now short hair, so very similar to how it used to be. He looks... tired, depressed and stressed, as if a whole ton of weight was just added to his shoulders.]
Everyone, I... [How does he even start? He didn't have to do anything like this after Yulia City.] I guess I don't really know what to say. Heh... pretty pathetic, right?
[No, that's not good enough. It sounds like an excuse to not talk to anyone. He shuts his eyes and takes in a deep breath.] ... I'm sorry. A lot of you saw me with long hair, and... I probably treated you badly. That...
That person was who I once was. The Malnosso did something to me to make me forget everything that happened back in my world. I... [Killed hundreds. Thousands. I was manipulated and betrayed by the only person I trusted at the time, and I was tossed away like a piece of trash, and I was abandoned...] ... went through a lot to make me who I am today. I'm still not a good person. But I learned in my world... I guess you could say it made me open my eyes to who I was.
I'm not going to be that person anymore. I promise all of you that. And... [I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry -] I know I can't apologize enough for everything I said or did, even though I want to. But I want to do anything I can to let everyone know that I won't ever be like that again. I'm not that person anymore. [I'm not even the real Luke.] So... If anyone wants me to do something for them, anything, or... has any questions, just... talk to me.
[He finally looks at the little camera.]
... I'm sorry.
[After another hour or two to himself, Luke walks out of the apartment building and tries to find whoever he met when he still had long hair. Whoever he was particularly nasty to... to apologize to their faces. To own up to what he did and take responsibility, not from hiding behind a book, but face to face.
He especially looks for Noel. After what he said to her... He needs to see her now.]
All those memories that had been buried thanks to the Malnosso. Traveling with Tear, meeting Jade and Anise, killing his first human being, Guy, Master Van...
Akzeriuth... Cutting his hair. Trying to save the world he screwed up. Killing his own master. And the long month afterward... He can even feel the link he has with Asch flaring to life again.
Luke freezes in his spot, holding a fancy sword in his hand. How... How could he have forgotten all of that? How could he have acted like such a jerk to everyone? Such an ignorant, thoughtless... He was so nasty to everyone whom he considered his friends, and now... they... who knows what they thought of him now? This boy who had to relive who he used to be, the person he's ashamed of.
The sword in his hands trembles, and without thinking it through at all, Luke suddenly brings the sword back to slice through his hair, cutting the back of his neck and leaving only a small piece of the long hair behind. The rest is clenched in his hand, his knuckles almost white from the strain. All those terrible things he said to everyone, to Xion and Asch and Ion and...
Noel.
"You're a criminal?"
His face pales, and the sword in his hand clatters to the ground. Thankfully for the staff of the weapons store, he doesn't drop the mass amount of hair.
But he does abruptly leave, and he runs back to Community Housing Building 2, head lowered the whole time so that no one can look at him. He doesn't want anyone to see him, the leftovers of a massacre that he created. Ashes of the sacred flame...
... Asch.
It's that thought which makes him pause just outside of the door to his apartment. He barely even realizes that he made it there until now. Would Asch accept him back? He hadn't tried contacting him since the link came to life again... What if he just ruined whatever progress he made in their already strained relationship?
But... this was still his home. So, he keeps his head low again as he knocks on the door, hair still unknowingly clenched in his other hand.]
[A few hours later, the video option of the journal is activated, and Luke's face appears on the other side. He's not looking at the journal, and he keeps brushing his hand through his now short hair, so very similar to how it used to be. He looks... tired, depressed and stressed, as if a whole ton of weight was just added to his shoulders.]
Everyone, I... [How does he even start? He didn't have to do anything like this after Yulia City.] I guess I don't really know what to say. Heh... pretty pathetic, right?
[No, that's not good enough. It sounds like an excuse to not talk to anyone. He shuts his eyes and takes in a deep breath.] ... I'm sorry. A lot of you saw me with long hair, and... I probably treated you badly. That...
That person was who I once was. The Malnosso did something to me to make me forget everything that happened back in my world. I... [Killed hundreds. Thousands. I was manipulated and betrayed by the only person I trusted at the time, and I was tossed away like a piece of trash, and I was abandoned...] ... went through a lot to make me who I am today. I'm still not a good person. But I learned in my world... I guess you could say it made me open my eyes to who I was.
I'm not going to be that person anymore. I promise all of you that. And... [I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry -] I know I can't apologize enough for everything I said or did, even though I want to. But I want to do anything I can to let everyone know that I won't ever be like that again. I'm not that person anymore. [I'm not even the real Luke.] So... If anyone wants me to do something for them, anything, or... has any questions, just... talk to me.
[He finally looks at the little camera.]
... I'm sorry.
[After another hour or two to himself, Luke walks out of the apartment building and tries to find whoever he met when he still had long hair. Whoever he was particularly nasty to... to apologize to their faces. To own up to what he did and take responsibility, not from hiding behind a book, but face to face.
He especially looks for Noel. After what he said to her... He needs to see her now.]