I'm So Sorry

Chapter Ninety-Five- The Aftermath

It's not the end yet. We have one more chapter to go after this.

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"I see." 

She tapped her pencil against her clipboard as the magic crystal's scene faded out. This had been a long journey, but a necessary one.

"...I won't tell you how you should and shouldn't feel. But just know that you most certainly aren't alone. I'm sure many, many people blame themselves or regret what happened that day. Now, I don't often leave my office, so I haven't heard of this before you came by... But I'm sure I'm going to hear a lot more about it in the future." 

"I know... I... I just... I know." The teen in front of her sighed, "you know, I... I didn't know... The full story. Before this... Watching the Attorney's Point of View... I only knew what I had seen and heard. Seeing the story more in-depth like that..." He paused, unsure how to continue. 

"I suppose... It makes me feel like, as heroes, me and my friends really just... Failed." The young hero tapped the magic crystal, "and the fact that us heroes- that did practically nothing, and didn't even see his death- are the ones ending up HERE while the HQ's being fixed by the egos... It's just not right." 

"Red, you can't help how you feel. If it hurts, it hurts. Therapy is something most people need in their lifetime- granted, humans usually have human therapists in their own world to help them... But it's healthy either way. The others have reasons for not going. If they felt they needed it, they would be here. But you need it, and they don't feel the need." The therapist- who doubled as a reporter for this session in particular- kept her voice even. 

"Yeah... Alright... We should probably get this over with soon- I want to do something before I wake up." Red sighed again, sitting up straight in his chair. The room they were in was small and white and had no windows. It had a desk, and a few sofa-chairs that faced a small table that had a crystal ball on it. They weren't sitting at the desk because the therapist felt it was too formal of a setting. 

"Okay then... I'll move on to the questions about the aftermath... Do you know how everyone else is doing? The families, the egos, all of them?" She questioned, flipping to a paper she could write on. "...The egos... They're... Well, the Septics ended up moving in to the Iplier Manor- along with Host and a few other Ipliers that didn't live there before. After the news about Dark and Jackie... Well, it seemed that nobody wanted to be alone anymore. And... Well... You heard what Dark's last wish was. The other heroes... We're all beating ourselves up over it, honestly. It shouldn't have turned out this way. At first, I blamed Mark, in fact, I wanted to kill him. I was going to, too, until... Until he had another ego project." Red stopped for a second, his eyes glistening with what might've been tears for a second.

"Oh? What did he do...?" The therapist was rightfully concerned. "I'll get to that in a minute. Uh... The families... I do remember hearing Anti talk to Char and Rev about Isolde's family- though, at the time, I didn't know who that was. Dara and Lustre got engaged... Adele has taken position as the new head of family... Her other sons are healing... And Isolde herself..." Red took a deep breath, remembering what he had just seen from the crystal ball. Isolde must've been in so much pain when Valtuare died...

Hopefully she's better now.

"...Yes...?" The therapist didn't like how Red trailed off. But there was no more need for suspense, the hero supposed... After all, this shouldn't come as a shock to anyone. 

"She's dead." 

"How...?" The therapist seemed to deflate as she realized just how much death came from this war. "Suicide. She left a letter... Now that her job on this world was done, and her family was healthy and somewhat happy again... She would go to where she would be happy. Just as her future predicted, her death was agonizing... But only emotionally." Red retold what he heard, his heart lightening just a smidge as he thought about The Isle Beyond. It made him wonder what was in store for dreamers when they die... Would they go to The Isle Beyond, or to whatever Earth's afterlife was?

Either way, it cheered him up a bit... To know that even when someone reaches the end of their life here, it would still not be the end. Even the tiniest insect could reach the Isle Beyond... It was a lovely thought. 

"...And... What about the funerals? And the poison in Anti's veins?" The therapist continued after a moment of silence. "There was a massive funeral for everyone that died in or because of the war... Though, I suspect it was mainly for Dark. As for Anti... Well, like it showed... He changed." Red answered.

"Okay... That's all I really have. Can you show me the video?" The therapist tapped on the glass of the crystal ball. "It's not... Only one video. The thing is... He posted all of it. He revealed everything, him and Sean worked together to provide the evidence of this world, and then... They explained everything. To the 'T'. It was a livestream that took quite a few hours... But he didn't stop at that. After revealing everything, he went ahead and made the ending Dark should've gotten. The project was huge, but it was one video..." Red put his hand over the crystal ball, allowing it into his head for the information. 

The video wasn't the 'canon ending' according to Mark. What actually happened was the 'canon ending'. This was just the 'good ending'. But despite the video ending happily, it was titled 'I'm So Sorry'. 

It was basically about Darkiplier's goal to kill Actor. In the end, it showed that Actor had kidnapped Mark and had been impersonating him- which obviously wasn't canon- and how Dark defeated Actor after a lot of hardships and saved Mark. There were a lot of parallels to what really happened, but none of that was the real interesting part. The interesting part was the description.

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The bell begins to chime.

A total of fifteen times.

First six,

Then nine.

The fault wasn't yours to fix,

But I hope you enjoy your rest.

Your endless slumber,

Your final death.

And though this part I detest...

Thank you for forgiving my crimes,

And know that the fault was mine...

As the bell ends its rhyme. 

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"That was... Strangely impactful... But... I'm glad he ended up doing something in tribute to the late king." The therapist smiled softly, as if that really did mean a lot to her. Which, Red knew it did. 

"Well... I hope that this has been a help to you, and I thank you for allowing the information you gave me today to get out. Normally, I wouldn't be allowed to tell anyone about anything that happens in this room... But I suppose this is a special occasion. Though, not a very happy one." She finished up her notes, about to end the session when she paused. 

"...Though... I do have one last question." She looked Red in the eyes. "What is it?" The teen asked warily at the look in her eyes.

"What about Guhretah?"