#omerta nostra epilogue

[chaoticclaybomber]

The sounds of woodworking surround him, the smell of sawdust and the sealant that Sasori uses to keep his puppets protected against weather mingling with the scent of weapon oil and metal shavings. Tobi is leaned up against the side of the bed Deidara is stretched out on, sharpening a stack of kunai and shuriken as he fills the lazy, warm air with idle chatter. His voice fades into the background with the sound of Sasori's carving knife working at a small block of wood, the puppet master for once working at a silly little project rather then a new or improved puppet. His legs are stretched over top of Deidara's, and Tobi's head is right at Deidara's elbow, all three of them content with the arrangement in a way that speaks of long hours working together and trusting each other with their lives. Deidara is mostly asleep, entirely relaxed.

For shinobi, especially missing nin, this is the highest form of trust possible.

Warm contentment that he's never quite managed to grasp before rests in the center of Deidara's chest. He wouldn't move for the world.

So, of course, that is when the world moves instead.

The door bursts open, and the blond shoots up, finding himself caught entirely off-guard. Wasn't the door open already? Hadn't he just seen Kisame and Hidan amble past? Who had managed to get into the base without alerting everyone else?

The ashy haired young man in the door looks tired but determined, and it takes a long few seconds for Deidara to remember he knows him. Steven sighs at the scene before him, at both Sasori and Tobi standing warily, before focusing squarely on Deidara.

"Hey. It's time to leave. It's a dream, comfortable as it may be, it's still just an illusion, and you know that. I thought you told me you hated illusions more than anything?" Sasori sneers, and Tobi gives a high pitched giggle that's somehow awfully menacing despite being so childish.

"Senpai isn't dreaming, this is very real. But you're invading our space, so now we have to kill you! Tobi is terribly sorry." Steven doesn't even look at the towering, masked shinobi as he lunges, but suddenly Tobi is being flung across the room. Smoke and mist explodes from him at the impact, and he doesn't so much as cry out as he staggers up.

"See? They're not real. Just like that Sharingan thing you told me about, right? The one that makes you see things that aren't there? I'm real, Deidara, they aren't. They're smoke and mirrors, and you need to wake up." Both Sasori and Tobi are thrown away as Steven steps up to Deidara, pressing the handle of the largest dagger he's ever seen into his hand. Then Steven does something absolutely insane and grips the blade, letting it slice into the palm of his hand to draw blood. Deidara is so taken aback that he can't focus on the mist in his peripherals or the lack of his partners.

"I bleed, I'm real, I'm not part of this dream. I came to get you out, you need to come back to reality and leave this place, okay?"

".... They're not here at all, are they, yeah?" He knows the answer, he's known it the whole time. Steven's face shows he knows that, and knows that Deidara needs an answer anyway. It still hurts when Steven shakes his head.

"Come back and stay with Ito and I for a while. It'll be better for you, I think." Steven glances behind him, and his expression goes tight. "Listen, we need to go. My ambitus is... well. They're both going to try to kill us right now, and mine might be a tad stronger than yours. So don't let go of me and keep running." In a flash, Steven has his wrist in an iron grip, and they're bolting through hallways and doorways, and it all blurs between underground passages and halls of shining metal. Deidara... doesn't remember most of it, not past the blur of movement and the screaming of voices he knows and one's he doesn't but Steven does. All he knows is that even once they get out, they don't stop moving, and Steven doesn't let go of him.

He thinks there's a door involved, maybe a dog? Honestly, it's nothing he wants to pay attention to when it feels like something in him has snapped apart, and he's filled with a rushing noise and pressure. It's worse by far than the moment he'd realized he'd nearly killed himself because of Itachi's Sharingan. The horror and fear and anger that had filled him then was nothing to the cascade of... of something that twisted and screamed in his chest like some creature had woken up and was trying to tear him apart.

Sasori was gone, dead, torn apart, and stabbed through what remained of his human form. He was gone, and it was Deidara's fault for having left him to fight alone. His arrogance had gotten Sasori no danna killed, and there was nothing that would bring back the real person.

Tobi was the same, likely no more than dust and atoms floating in a breeze in the miles of desolate emptiness that his final explosion had left. He'd killed both his partners, the ones he'd grudgingly liked, the ones who'd kept him sane in the cage Akatsuki had put him in. They were gone, he was gone, but here he was, still finding himself caught in illusions and cages like a gullible idiot. Because he wouldn't admit that he missed them, that he was alone and it hurt and he hated it.

"You're not, you've got me, and Ito, and Badou, and Uriah at least. You're not alone, so just breathe, okay? You're okay now." Who knows when he said any of that out loud, but Steven keeps up a steady litany of nonsense and soft chatter, and it gives him something to focus on, something to cling to.

The last time he felt like this... he was probably only four or five, being reassured by an older kid in the orphanage. What a miserable reminder of how far he hasn't come at all. But Steven came after him and dragged him out of his cage of his own making, and if he didn't trust him after something like that, what the hell would it take? So he cracks and shatters and Steven lets him scream and cry and get out everything he's been bottling up since Sasori died, just sitting back to back so Deidara can feel the warmth of him there but doesn't feel watched and judged.

It's not better, not really, but it is a little bit. At least he can breathe when he's done, exhausted and more drained, then he's been in his life.

"Get some sleep. It'll look better in the morning when you're not so wrung out." Deidara isn't sure if he really believes that, but what does he have to lose at this point? The room is comfortable, and Steven doesn't seem inclined to leave any time soon, so Deidara supposed he can let himself have a proper sleep. Maybe Steven will be right, and things will be better.

That would be a nicer dream then the illusions anyway.

[aevumisles]

EPILOGUE.

As the Echoes traverse through Sonare Isle, their wits and constitutions are tested through thick and thin. Eventually, they may find their way out through a MEDLEY, or perhaps on the back of the great SONATA RAYS.

Those who sought after the lost girl, SANDY TYLERSEN, will find her trapped within a coda, and not particularly keen on getting out of it. Her ambitions of fame and fortune fulfilled, wrapped inside the arms of her own dream, it takes great fortitude and a sobering countenance to remind Sandy that she has a family waiting for her back home....

Those who sought after the MISSING ARTIFACT within the grasp of the highest bidder, a member of the general populace of Sonare Isle. It can still be recovered and returned to the Arcanus Museum in due time...

"Conductor, if I may," said Octavia. She awaited his acquiescence before continuing. "It seems that the young Arcanus girl managed to escape from the Coda. No doubt it was the work of the Echoes who were searching for her." The Conductor glanced up from the silver goblet bowl at his desk. "Well, I can't say I'm really surprised," the goblet sloshed with his broad gesture, and the tinkling of small bells sounded. He let out a dry 'tsk'. "Ah, well. I'd say we'd welcome her back but the conceited ones always get a so dull." "She did seem rather taken with the prospect of such glory ... but are you certain we should have let them find her?" He clucked his tongue and wound his arm around Octavia's shoulders. "You miss the forest for the trees, my hyper-scrupulous friend. After an Ambitus like that? She's going to have the most miserable time going back to ordinary life. And is that not a downfall worth watching?" "Well. I do suppose when you put it that way—" "—That I am absolutely diabolical?" "Positively dastardly." Beat. "...What about the Echoes, sir? They now know Omerta lurks in the shadows." The Conductor nodded. "And now they are never going to forget it," he grinned, then downed the last remnants of silver in the goblet. "In the very least, I would love to see them try."

INTRODUCING: THE VICES.

As activity across the isles stir alongside the summoning of the Echoes, it seems that the Isle's own powers have been set in motion as well. The Aevum Isles are filled with Aercon of all creeds, but none are as dominant as THE VICES, four powerful Aercon with special abilities unique to each Vice, and the heads of the infamous OMERTA NOSTRA. As of the Omerta Nostra Campaign, The Vice of the Mind, THE CONDUCTOR, is now available for implementation in-universe.

(YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT THE CONDUCTOR HERE.)

THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING!

All Echoes who participated in Omerta Nostra will accrue the following benefits:

Aevum Isles awards 500 Emblems for participation in Campaign Events. 

In-Universe, Echoes who assisted with the MISSING PERSON'S CASE will be rewarded 5,000 keys.

In-Universe, Echoes who assisted with the MISSING ARTIFACT QUEST will be rewarded between 1,000-10,000 keys.

NOTE: You MAY write epilogue drabbles concerning the two Omerta Nostra quests and/or your Echo's escape from Omerta Nostra. These must be tagged accordingly. The MISSING ARTIFACT QUEST will be available for non-campaign threads until 09/07.