"The Mandela Catalogue III: Saints of Imperfection." — CD.
Apr 7, 2022 13:30:12 GMT -5
DIANA likes this
Post by Jason Long on Apr 7, 2022 13:30:12 GMT -5
— —
Masquerade II.
The first pay-per-view for Next Level Wrestling was about to reach its climatic main event match for the NLW Heavyweight Championship between Chris Sanderson and Nathan Cage. The crowd were red hot and could’ve been heard from the backstage area and behind the curtains, but from simply watching from the comfort of their own locker rooms, James Raymond and Jason along sat there and watched with the newly won XHF Tag Team Championships resting along their laps. Jason sat there with a smile on his face as he looked at James and nudged him on the shoulder, giving him a nod before the two clinked their championships together.
“See? This is what I mean by being able to achieve, being able to hold onto these championships, and finally putting an end of a four year journey that it took to become the fuckin’ Tag Team Champions.”
James shook his head, a smile resting on his face.
“I think you need the reminder of who convinced you to fight for those titles, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You convinced me to fight for them– but don’t take it away that we both won these, we both fought as hard as we fuckin’ could for these titles, and now, after four years of trying and failing? It feels worth it again, it really does.”
“Hopefully, we can keep these titles for a while now that we have them… We can’t just hold onto them and say that we did, we’ve got to make sure that we continue and create a legacy that we’ve been desperately trying to create for the past four long years, Jace.”
There’s a moment’s silence as Jason sat there, pondering to himself, the thought of holding onto the Tag Team Championships after so long was heartwarming enough—but to be able to create something with them, that was another step that they were awaiting to take the next hurdle with. Soon enough, just as Jason was about to turn to speak to James again, there was a knock at the door – and it was loud.
Both of the two looked to one another with confusion, wondering to themselves who it could’ve been on the other side of the door. James is the first to stand up, placing the title down on the seat as he moves to the door, turning the handle and slowly opening it to show… Scott Hampton.
The former ‘student’ of Jason Long stood at the doorway and was staring daggers right at the man who once taught him all of those years ago, James didn’t seem to know how to react and neither did Jason as he stood up and dropped his championship down onto the floor.
Scott walked into the room and closed the door behind him, keeping his back turned to James and continuing to stare right at the man that he went to war with months ago. The silence within the room is deafening, neither of the three men are willing to speak up at all to one another, but with Scott glancing behind him to look at James – the silence is broken as he begins to speak.
“If you could excuse us… we’d like a little bit of privacy.”
James glared right at Scott, who simply turned his attention right back at Jason, and judging by how quick that James curled his hand up into the shape of a fist–he was ready to pick a fight with Jason’s former student of his school, but before he could even raise his hand up to swing? Jason brought his hand up and stopped James in his tracks. A deep sigh soon followed from Jason before he shook his head and spoke.
“Give him what he needs. This doesn’t involve you at all.”
A look to Jason and then back to Scott – who gave another glare back to James – and James dropped his fist, sighing as he did so and even shaking his head in disappointment. James walked right past the two men and picked up his championship and his gear bag,
“If I hear shit going down, you’re not gonna stop me from hitting him.”
James pointed right at Scott as he exclaimed, taking a deep breath through his nose before beginning to make his way out of the room, giving Scott a hard shoulder nudge as he walked past him and exiting the room, slamming the door shut.
All that was left inside of the room was Scott and Jason, the first time that the two have stared one another down since their bloodied battle inside of the ring at Collision Course last year. The tension within the room was tight, the anger that made these two’s blood boil was building up deep inside of them, and Scott stepped right past Jason to take a seat on the couch that Jason was sitting on just moments beforehand.
Scott picked up the championship that Jason dropped onto the floor, having a good look at the detailing on the front centre plating of the championship before looking right back up to Jason and extending his arm out, handing the championship right back to Jason. He grabbed the championship out of Scott’s hand and placed it on a table just to his right, keeping his eyes on Scott the whole time and not even looking to blink for a second.
“What are you looking for?”
There’s a moment of silence within the room, but that silence is broken by the sounds of Scott beginning to laugh to himself, clapping his hands and shaking his head from side to side. Scott crossed his legs and kept looking up at Jason with a large smile resting along his face, still clapping his hands loudly.
“...oh, Jason… You failed us once again.”
“...what?”
Scott shook his head from side to side with a devious looking smile resting along his face, a click of his fingers followed and within a flash – his whole appearance changed, more bulkier looking and a whole new set of facial features, even a scruffier looking beard along his jawline. Jason looked completely shocked by the whole new appearance within Scott–but then it became clear, he recognised the face, a face of his past within the realms.
“Meliodas… I… I thought you were dead… the hell are you doing here?”
“Well, you see, you’re not really in the past… You’re stuck inside of my realms, in a vision that I created, and only making you relive a moment in your past – right now, this is just me speaking to you telepathically from the future, making you remember something that I told you so long ago without you even knowing. Get it inside of your head, Jason. This isn’t the world that you might think it is!”
Jason simply glared right at Meliodas, a stern look directly down at them.
“...let me guess, those fucks weren’t pleased with the fact that I didn’t live up to a promise again, right?”
“In this timeline? Well, it’s not happened yet. As far as they are concerned, you did the right thing when you won those beautiful XHF Tag Team Championships of yours, but you’re only a few hours away from the moment that’s about to break you entirely, Jason. Whilst I could spare you the details of such events, the moment that I do disconnect with your mind? You’ll forget that I’m even here.”
“Can you just cut the bullshit and tell me why you’re here? I know damn well that you didn’t come from whatever future it is to tell me about how there’s something going to happen in a few hours that’s going to fuck me up for good, if I’m getting it right from you.”
A scoff, before a light chuckle is heard coming from Meliodas. The figure stood up from where they sat and walked closer to Jason, keeping a smirk resting along their face and patted him on the shoulder.
“When a certain Scott Hampton walks into this room, he’d come to congratulate you on your efforts in winning the Tag Team Championships… whilst you might not think of it as anything, deep down? He still remembers what you – or more so – what Jason did to his wife all those months ago, and he’s not feeling like the man who’ll give you a second chance.”
“...so what does this have to do with me?”
“You’ll be asking Scott for one more chance at going ahead and getting the X*Crown Championship – considering that was one of the things that Jason put on the line against him a few months ago – but he’s not going to give it to you because of the miscarraige that his wife suffered at the hands of Jason’s sick attack on her in that match. The two of you scuffle for a bit and then…”
Meliodas goes silent, leaving the sentence on a bit of a cliffhanger. Jason raises an eyebrow at their comment just as Meliodas looks to Jason, running their finger along their own neck and gesturing to the life being taken away from Scott.
“I couldn’t have done that…”
“Oh, but you did. You’d have left this room and made sure that James never reentered this room again as you left it. Scott’s body wouldn’t have been found for hours after the event went off the air. You might not think you’re as dangerous as you can be–but you can kill people mercilessly and without even any slight hesitation. Now, you know I wouldn’t advise you killing someone or not killing someone — but I will make sure that this one? It won’t happen. You’ve killed one too many before in the past and we cannot afford making sure you continue killing more people.”
“...but do I get another shot at the X*Crown Championship in your timeline?”
A sigh soon came from Meliodas, shaking his head.
“You did… but it’s because of me convincing Scott myself that you got the shot at the title again, you enter the XHF Rumble Match. There’s roughly about forty or so people entering that match with you, so you’ve got a hell of a field to try and knock down with you.”
“And how did you even convince Scott to give me the chance to go ahead for the title if he wasn’t willing to do—I mean, it’s like you said… I killed him with my own bare hands because he wouldn’t give me what I wanted. What did you do that I didn’t see with my own eyes at the time?”
“I gave him hope. A family. The family that he was supposed to have for himself, and in return, he’d break the clause that he’s got against you and those two years that you weren’t allowed to go and chase the X*Crown Championship for? They’re all gone. Now, I can let that happen and make sure that he speaks to you personally to gain that championship opportunity – or I let you kill the man and leave his wife to lose her unborn child and her husband, the choice is very much yours, Jason.”
Jason was left silent as he thought to himself of what could’ve been the right choice, the obvious or the devious. He began to shake his head and took a seat on the couch that Meliodas was just sitting on a few moments prior, digging his head into his hands before pulling at his face to look up at Meliodas once more.
“I don’t want death…”
“I know well you don’t… which is why I’m giving you the option of wanting it or removing it from this timeline so you can fix this wrong, I can only do it once in a hundred years and if you want to chase down a legacy? This is the right time to make sure that this mistake is written away for good.”
“...then make it happen. Write my own wrongs. Let me restart things as they should’ve been done.”
“Remember, Jason… once I click my fingers, you won’t remember me until the next time I appear to you in this timeline, you’ll forget any of this ever happened and everything will be put back to the beginning. If you can’t fix your own wrongdoings this time, then I cannot come back over and over again until you finally realise the problem you’re making.”
A deep breath through the nose from Jason before he began to nod his head, giving Meliodas the answer that he needed. Meliodas smiled and nodded in approval to Jason’s answer, raising his hand up and snapping his fingers as a flash filled up the locker room they were in…
…
…
…
Masquerade II.
The first pay-per-view for Next Level Wrestling was about to reach its climatic main event match for the NLW Heavyweight Championship between Chris Sanderson and Nathan Cage. The crowd were red hot and could’ve been heard from the backstage area and behind the curtains, but from simply watching from the comfort of their own locker rooms, James Raymond and Jason along sat there and watched with the newly won XHF Tag Team Championships resting along their laps. Jason sat there with a smile on his face as he looked at James and nudged him on the shoulder, giving him a nod before the two clinked their championships together.
“See? This is what I mean by being able to achieve, being able to hold onto these championships, and finally putting an end of a four year journey that it took to become the fuckin’ Tag Team Champions.”
James shook his head, a smile resting on his face.
“I think you need the reminder of who convinced you to fight for those titles, don’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You convinced me to fight for them– but don’t take it away that we both won these, we both fought as hard as we fuckin’ could for these titles, and now, after four years of trying and failing? It feels worth it again, it really does.”
“Hopefully, we can keep these titles for a while now that we have them… We can’t just hold onto them and say that we did, we’ve got to make sure that we continue and create a legacy that we’ve been desperately trying to create for the past four long years, Jace.”
There’s a moment’s silence as Jason sat there, pondering to himself, the thought of holding onto the Tag Team Championships after so long was heartwarming enough—but to be able to create something with them, that was another step that they were awaiting to take the next hurdle with. Soon enough, just as Jason was about to turn to speak to James again, there was a knock at the door – and it was loud.
Both of the two looked to one another with confusion, wondering to themselves who it could’ve been on the other side of the door. James is the first to stand up, placing the title down on the seat as he moves to the door, turning the handle and slowly opening it to show…
Scott Hampton.
— —
It was nothing but a dream, a vision, a nightmare of one’s past.
“I NEED TO END THIS FUCKIN’ WAR RIGHT NOW!”
A heartbeat, loud and feeling it almost go through his chest.
“YOU DON’T STAND A CHANCE AGAINST THEM… STAND DOWN, JASON!”
A deep breath, his body beginning to convulse in fear.
“YOU KNOW THE RISKS! YOU KNOW WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE!”
The sound of the heartbeat getting faster, pounding in the chest, fear beginning to take control.
“THINK OF YOUR FAMILY, JASON!”
The faint sound of a click, the distant sound of explosions, before hearing that final scream for help.
“JASON… NO–”
Jason wakes up from his nightmare, quickly sitting up and sweating profusely, quickly taking his shirt off and finding himself running into the bathroom of his new Santa Monica home, looking at his reflection into the mirror and taking heavy deep breaths. The nightmare felt all too real, felt all too realistic, like he was relieved by a moment in his past—the moment that caused him to become the man – or even entity – that he is today.
There are days that he thinks about the bomb that ended the war before it begun, knowing that with his world being saved – there were lives at risk, and none of them could’ve been saved. Two billion people's lives were taken on that fateful day, including two people who were very close to Jason himself, his daughter and his partner. To know that their lives were taken and he couldn’t do anything about it, it’s always eaten away at him for years. Even during his supposed death, he was not at peace until he was finally released back into the wild a couple of months ago.
The thought of wanting to fix the past was always something he has so desperately tried over and over again, always coming up short or just not finding the way to fix the timeline, making sure that his daughter and his partner were saved in the blast that spanned across the world. It seemed to always have become too much for Jason to handle, too much for him to be able to function across this world, too much for him to even control himself in dire situations.
It’s been weeks since Meliodas’ visit to Jason’s realm, crashing his own version of Kobayashi Maru and creating his own development inside of Jason’s realm, but there was something that he said that he knew was right. He needed to fix himself before he could even begin about fixing the past, trying to gain control of what power he possesses, and using it to his own advantage. With forty other people looking to do battle with him in over a month’s time, it felt like time was imminent. If he wanted to go to battle, he had to fix what he needed to fix.
His motivations were lost, corrupted, spiralling out of control and making himself become an unstable entity inside of a world filled with mere mortal beings unlike himself, but the problem was trying to find that way of fixing his instability. Jason wasn’t even sure if he could fix his instability or not, it was a one in a million shot that he had to take. One that he knew would either bring back the ones he loved, or kill him in the process, burning him to ashes and making him obsolete to this world as a whole. A risk that he wanted to take, but felt unsure on whether to take it or not – his mind telling him one thing, his heart telling him another thing.
There was no cheating death this time around. Not again, not anymore.
Jason soon exited out of the bathroom and slipped back into his shirt, then pulling up a hair of cargo pants around his waist, before exiting out of the bedroom to head down the stairs. His heavy breathing was continuing as he rushed down the stairs, grabbing the closest pair of shoes to him as he reached the ground floor and slipping them on. The whole time he could hear a voice echoing throughout his head, he could hear his daughter calling out to him and pleading for him to come home. It’s not the first time that he’s heard her voice before, calling out to him from a far distance, wondering when he’ll come home.
It seemed like every day that passed, the voice seemed to either get more distant or more closer to him, it was always in some kind of inconsistent pattern as the days go by, and even when he think he’s getting closer to her—he’s always too far away from getting anywhere close to finding out how to fix his own instability.
“Daddy… Can you hear me?... I can’t hear you…”
Jason is quick to turn around, feeling the voice being right behind him on the stairs, but as he turned around… there was nobody there, not even a soul was standing where he thought he had heard her voice, this feeling was playing mind games with him. Jason ran back up the stairs, running into all of the guest bedrooms in the house to see if his daughter was there and playing tricks on him, but she wasn’t there at all. That voice has gone to his head too much.
His back hit the wall in one of the guest bedrooms as he began to slowly drag himself down onto the floor, into a foetal position on the floor as his hands reached to the back of his head, grabbing two handfuls of his hair and trying to pull them out of his head, screaming as loud as he can in sheer pain of the hair being pulled out of his head. He finally let go of his hair, hitting his head against the wall as he took a few deep calming breaths to try and calm himself down again.
The only way for him to go home now was to head back into the realms, head back into the past one more time, and see if he can finally fix what he had done all of those years ago. To make sure that his daughter is safe, to make sure his partner is safe, to make sure that the whole world is safe. He began to mutter to himself, trying to find the words that he wanted to speak – but hearing Amelia’s voice one more time finally made him gain consciousness and gain control of his words.
“I can hear you, baby… I’ll find you… I promise…”
Jason is able to pull himself back up to his feet, feeling a little bit groggy and holding the back of his head after taking the knock on the head along the wall, but he’s able to shake it off and find some balance on his feet. One final deep breath before he snaps his fingers and the room brightens up with a flash, allowing him to disappear into the realms.
Jason reappeared inside of Los Angeles, California – inside of Earth VI – and the date was May 13th, 2018, it was two whole hours before the incident that caused him to lose his loved ones. They would’ve been inside of the city at the time of the explosion near them that killed them, whilst Jason was back in London, England – looking to find a way to set off the explosion that would inevitably kill them in the process. Jason knew that he had time on his side to make sure that he got them out of the city in time before the explosion was set off, but all he had to do was to find them inside of the city, and without his realm powers – he was left with limitational options to find them.
— —
For over an hour, Jason has scouted out the entire city of Los Angeles with not a single sight of his daughter and his partner, searching far and wide, throughout the vast amount of buildings within the city and not even a peep of them being around anywhere in Los Angeles. It seemed like all hope was lost once again, not finding them in the city that they were supposed to be at seems too suspicious, but something caught the attention of Jason out of the corner of his eye.
The large blackened out convoy trucks that he knows to have been carrying the explosive devices begin to drive up the main street of Los Angeles and heading right for his direction. There still wasn’t any sign of Amelia or Hannah anywhere in the city, the trucks were an hour earlier than expected to have been, nothing was adding up right here and Jason was finally clicking all of the pieces together.
The large convoy trucks pulled up right beside Jason as he looked into the driver’s seat of the truck, seeing masked soldiers driving and then looking down at Jason with red lighted eyes. Three of the soldiers had gotten out of their respective convoy trucks and began to circle Jason—none of this was adding up as to what was meant to happen, not how he envisioned it to have ever gone before. The soldiers began to pounce on Jason, kicking him down and stomping him to the ground as Jason laid there helpless, unable to fight back, and continuously being beaten to near death by the soldiers.
The soldiers soon took a few steps back and returned back to their convoy trucks, switching on the engines and switching on the ignition to the explosives in the back of their trucks. Jason continued to lay there in agony, looking up at the sk and thinking about his final moments on this earth – doing what he did his best to do for years, trying to fix everything that he caused, trying to fix the past that he fucked up himself by his own doing and lack of judgement.
The ticking sound came from the back of the convoy trucks, gradually getting faster and faster before the explosion went off and destroyed everything around it. Buildings, nearby cars, people that were walking past and not having any notion as to what was happening. All of them were gone. And it wasn’t just Los Angeles either, every major city inside of the United States was hit by these sets of explosions. And not even the United States were affected—all across the globe were set off with detonations that caused death and destruction in every part of the world possible.
“...hey, wake up.”
That voice sounded very familiar to Jason, his eyes opened up and he found himself staring up at Meliodas with a disgusted look resting along their face. Jason looked around him and saw a black void surrounding him, immediately he knew exactly where he was… inside of The Infinity Realms. Jason was quick to get back to his feet, looking around him before clicking his fingers and finding himself back in Los Angeles, California – right where he was before the convoy trucks.
“How in the hell—”
“When you teleported yourself into your realms, you were left unconscious considering your powers haven’t fully been restored to it’s initial power. I had known that you teleported into the realms but I didn’t want to throw you off of what you wanted, so I had to improvise. Thus, finding us here.”
It was one thing to want to believe in what Meliodas was speaking about, but to be accepting of what he spoke about was another thing. There was no real reason as to why his power still hasn’t gained full functional use still, even if it’s been over a month since he was drained of everything he had by the spilling of his own blood. But none of this felt real to him, none of this should’ve been happening to Jason, not in the current stance of things.
“No…”
All that he could feel right now is denial, nothing that was happening right now was all just an imagination in his head, the voices inside of his mind weren’t something that he was faintly hearing – no – he was able to hear them up close and personal to him, these weren’t voices that he was just imagining inside of his head, they were echoing throughout the house that he was in. There was just no way that any of this was fake and untrue.
“No… No, I have to go back to Earth VI, she’s calling for me out there and she needs me, Meliodas… You don’t understand the shit that I’ve been through, how much she’s been inside of my head for so long now, how much they’ve plagued my mind. If I cannot find them or even help them, they’re going to torture me some more. I’m begging you, Meliodas. Please, from one guardian to another, let me go and save them for once and let me do what I need to do!”
Meliodas is able to grab onto Jason, trying to hold him in place as he still looks a little bit panicked, but the slap that Meliodas delivers to his face almost knocks Jason to the floor, dropping him down onto one knee. It was like a slap back to reality, shaking himself off of whatever was going on inside of his head, the voices seemed to have cleared away for now and his mind was once again at peace.
“Dammit, Jason… Can’t you see what you’re doing to yourself? Can’t you see what you’re making yourself believe in? You’re hurting yourself more than anyone could ever possibly hurt you– and you know it yourself, you’ve been hit with some painful blows. The more you continue to let yourself fall down this rabbit hole you’re falling into, the more hurt you’re going to be as the days go by and the more you’re going to become more corrupt and more unstable.”
“I’m trying to do what you told me to do, Meliodas…”
Jason had finally picked himself up from the ground, still holding onto his jawline where Meliodas had slapped him, and giving Meliodas a stern look for the slap—before giving them one of his own, slapping the entity with a slap right across their face. Jason then landed another one right after, almost knocking Meliodas down to one knee– but they remained balanced, kept to their feet as they adjusted their posture to look at Jason.
“I’ve been trying to forget, I’ve been trying my fucking best to make sure that I’ll move on from what’s been holding me back, and look at me… I can’t fuckin’ do it anymore, I’m losing control – I’m becoming fuckin’ unstable like you said! I see what I’m doing to myself and I don’t like it one bit! Do you know just how hard it is to let go of the ones that you loved the most? Doesn’t it make you want to just punish yourself because you couldn’t be there for them? I’m sure before you became a realm guardian, Meliodas, you once had a family that you loved and cherished, right? Wouldn’t you have done anything for them, even if it meant sacrificing yourself and everything you once were, just so you could protect them?”
“This is not about my family, Jason–”
“No, it’s not… this is all about me, making sure that the realm guardian of violence, destruction, and zero fuckin’ remorse is back to his normal roots and back on the frontlines trying to bring more power to the guardians and to make sure they win a damn war. That’s what you want me to achieve, to reach my highest potential again, and in order to do so? I gotta win that fuckin’ Rumble and remain the Tag Team Champion… because that’s what gives me power, seeing everyone fall under my feet, and standing tall on the highest mountain.”
“If you knew the kind of war that we’re dealing with right now, Jason, you wouldn’t be standing here trying to make a mockery of us and trying to prove some kind of point that you’re mentally unwell because of heartbreak and dealing with the loss of loved ones.”
Meliodas shook their head and began to walk away from Jason, raising their hand up and snapping their fingers to open up the realm’s vision once again, bringing Jason and themselves to a different location than before – to a whole new world, one unlike anything that Jason has ever seen before, into a void of space and galaxies. There they stood at the doorstep of a large building, similar to a castle-like structure, that looked to have been corroded and was beginning to break down piece by piece.
“This might be new to you but it’s because we weren’t sure when to bring you here, this is the Realm Guardian’s kingdom. It houses every single member of the guardians that are looking to protect the kingdom and make sure that everyone inside stays alive at all costs. The guardians are able to see into vast amounts of space, time, and dimensions. We’re currently at war with some form of alien species that has gotten through the realms and has begun to attack this kingdom, and we’re slowly losing power to fight against them–but we’re able to hold off for now.”
“But… Why are you showing me this?”
Meliodas let out a sigh at the question that Jason gave, shaking their head and once again snapping their fingers to bring them to the dark void of the realms that they were once in only moments ago. Meliodas began to walk closer towards Jason, his steps echoing loudly throughout the void.
“Without your power, we’re incomplete and we’re slowly weakening. Remember what you just said to me? You, Jason, are the realm guardian of violence, destruction, and zero remorse for any kind of person that walks on the ground they share with you. And, without you, we’re about to lose a war and we’re about to lose the entirety of the realms as they were. This, right here, is where we stand right now. We might be able to hold off for now but we’re not even sure of how much longer we can. That is why we’re trying to make you focus on winning, achieving, accomplishing, and conquering—so you can finally become the man that you once were.”
“Surely there’s a way of trying to piece myself together without trying to corrupt everything around me and everyone that’s going to be around me, right? Like, you didn’t bring me here just to show me exactly what our world is going to look like in the span of months, if not weeks, have you?”
A large deep breath as they began to shake their head, but Meliodas seemed to be visibly concerned about something, about something that they knew. And knowing that answer that they had for Jason, they knew it was going to be something that they didn’t want to see happen but they had zero choice anymore.
“...you’re right, it’s not what I brought you here for. But, I didn’t tell you until now because I knew that if I did earlier, you’d try to find a way to disappear for however long and we’d be stuck in war without you to control it for us.”
“Meliodas… what are you trying to get at?”
Another audible sigh from Meliodas, shaking his head and placing his hand onto Jason’s shoulder before slowly wrapping his arm around his head. They seemed to have been uncomfortable with the solution that they were going to suggest– and it just made them keep holding his tongue, trying to make sure that they didn't say any more than they needed to– but they had no control over it. To save a friend? They had to speak up sooner rather than later.
“There is a way to fix you, make you find control again, and restabilise everything that you have power over. Though, I don’t think it’s something that you would want to take on, Jason. In order to bring control back to you, we’re going to have to wipe the memories of everything that has held you back. That means everyone that you loved will be forgotten, never to be remembered for ever again, and they’ll be new people to you. That means people like Amelia, Savannah, Hannah, Alyssa, and just about anyone… they’re all going to be forgotten, it’s a clean slate for you.”
“Are… are you sure this is the only… the only way of making sure I focus, and I’m back to a stable position? Because, I don’t want to do this if it means that I’m losing so many memories for the sake of losing a war and still being unstable and out of my own control.”
“This is the last ditch effort that we have left for you, Jason. We have given you opportunity time and time again and you’ve still found yourself lost, out of place, and feeling unlike a guardian and more so like a mere mortal human being. You’re not you. That’s your problem. And you need to let go as soon as you possibly can. It’s the only way that we can finally have hope for everyone here, Jason. We need that hope to be stronger again, Jason. That hope is you. You are the last hope that can help us win this war.”
Jason seemed hesitant by the offer made, there wasn’t really a choice if he wanted to make sure the guardians kept the war of theirs to be won, and he didn’t have a choice if he wanted to gain full control of his own power. To forget everyone that he loved so much, to forget those that are the most important in his life, to forget everything that’s happened over the past couple of months to even the past couple of years… it was a stab right into the heart, but one that he knew it had to have been done.
“...fine, I’ll do it. Just… give me forty-eight hours. To say goodbye. Please. I beg of you.”
“I don’t want to waste anymore time, Jason… but fine, you’ve got forty-eight hours, then I’ll come and find you so we can wipe away those memories of yours. Do we have a deal?”
Meliodas extended their hand out to Jason, looking for the agreement to be completed. Jason still kept being hesitant about the whole ordeal, he wasn’t sure if this was the right call to make, he wasn’t sure if what he was doing was the right thing to do. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment—inside of his mind, he pictured all of the times that he had with his daughter and his former partner, to then the person that he was ready and preparing to spend a whole lifetime with, and even a new acquaintance that he came close enough friends with after saving her.
His eyes opened and he looked to Meliodas, shaking his head from side to side in disagreement… but then he grabbed onto the hand of Meliodas, shaking it and finalising the deal. His grip onto their hand was tight, feeling like he made a deal with the devil, but there was no turning back now.
“Deal.”
— —
