Thaw out a Second Life

To Face the Truth

"Give me back my friend!" Victorious clutches her sleeves
"I wish I could....." Tirpitz lowers her head
"You're a liar and a pretender! The worst of the worst!" Victorious hits her again

No matter how much Victorious smacks Tirpitz with her curled up fists, the latter doesn't flinch and allow her to vent every ounce of frustration knowing it's futile anyway.

"I'm the worst, aren't I? Rather than do the right thing, I ended up agreeing to this facade. You can hate both of us for putting up this half-assed lie to spare your feelings"
"Huh?"

Tirpitz gently grabs Victorious's hands and lowers them as she wants to continue her explanation. It doesn't matter to her whether Victorious believes it or not, but she has the right to learn the truth no matter how much she looks away from it.

"I'm not a good person, so keeping up this lie for someone else's sake is never my intention....at first" Tirpitz wryly laughs
"......."
"At first, I didn't want any of this because this isn't the new life I imagined. Having a body but living as someone else isn't living at all. I wished I just died that day and save us all the trouble"
"Then why?! Why did you take her body and pretend to be her?!" Victorious grabs Tirpitz's collar
"Why don't you ask your shitty friend?"

Tirpitz pulls out the sealed envelope and lifts it for Victorious to see. It's slightly wrinkled since Tirpitz has to keep it with her after her room is damaged and she cannot entrust it to someone.

"That's the last thing she left behind. It's one of the two letters I refused to show you when I woke up in this body"
".......!"

When Tirpitz willingly hands it to Victorious, the latter can somewhat recall finding Tirpitz sitting on a beach after the issue with Victorious META is solved. She remembers Tirpitz getting nearly upset when she tries to read the letter.

"This is Tirpitz's handwriting"

At first, Victorious slowly opens the envelope and hesitates to pull out the letter while her grip remains weak and her fingers tremble. She can at least recognize the handwriting within the first few words of the letter.

"That damn friend of yours made me keep it from you and everyone else for two months. The same way I can't say anything to you even if I wanted to put a bullet in my mouth all this time" Tirpitz clicks her tongue
"........"
"That part is for you"
"Tirpitz......"

Victorious, knowing you, you'd certainly curse me if you find out I'm no longer here
I never told you the most important truth and left you behind without knowing anything
You never gave up on me and always supported me, so I'm horrible for lying to you
Even if you say you wouldn't hate me, I hate every ounce of myself for choosing this
Rather than spare you of the truth and let you grieve, I left the burden to someone else
If you must blame someone, blame it all for my terrible decisions in life
I thought I could still keep you happy even after death, but lies don't last forever
It will hurt you once you notice something's wrong and have it confirm in front of you
Even if you can't forgive me, I want to apologize for choosing the lie over the truth
I'm truly sorry because I wanted to spare your feelings knowing I'd be long dead
Just know that, you saved me the moment you dragged me outside.
That's why I didn't want you to be alone and possibly blame yourself for my death.
You are and will always be someone important. I'm sorry and farewell......for good.

Victorious reads most of the paragraph dedicated to her and moves away the letter when fresh tears stream down her cheeks. She doesn't want to stain the letter, the only last remembrance of her deceased friend.

"Why did she choose to deceive us.....?" Victorious's knees surrender to the ground
"The only explanation I got from her is wanting to keep you happy and giving me a second chance in life. She wanted to die a meaningful death, and I couldn't turn away from that foolish wish" Tirpitz sighs
"........" Victorious stands up
".........?!"