You shiver as you walk through the Underwhere with that key around your neck.
You feel strange. The cold air stings all the small bites all over you. But you're no longer afraid of anyone seeing you. You don't care about any of that anymore. And it's not like anyone would recognize you. Without your mask or your clothes, you look like a new person.
You feel like a new person.
It's awfully quiet.
Painfully quiet.
You find yourself longing to hear someone's voice. Longing not to be alone. But you are alone. You look around you and see that there's no one in sight. Before, perhaps you'd be relieved. But now... you desperately wish someone else was here.
You can hear your footsteps, and the distant sound of water flowing in the River of Twygz far out in front of you.
You let out a small breath, then hum to yourself to fill the silence.
It's a soft humming. You don't want to be too loud, although you don't know why you care. You look around yourself as the shadows seem to edge closer and closer. Grambi, you hate how dark it is down here.
But you don't let the dark stop you. You have to get rid of the key.
You have to get rid of the key before someone else finds the door.
You have to get rid of the key before he makes another doll of someone.
You have to get rid of the key before he finds a way to get it back.
You have to get rid of the key before this story ends.
But...
But a story is never truly finished... now is it?
It just stops being told.
Is the end ever really the end?
You'll have to spend the rest of your aftergame living with the memories of what happened. Surely Mr. L won't be able to completely forgive you for all you've done. You've killed him, told him you hated him, insulted him, and openly told him that you don't want him around. You were very clear about it. So, reasonably, he'd likely end up avoiding you for the rest of your aftergame.
Your heart breaks a little at the thought, and you hate yourself for all you said earlier.
You remember him running from you and calling you crazy when you tried to explain that world. You remember trying to chase him down, forcing him to understand.
But how could you make him understand when you never understood him? Why did you expect him to listen when you never listened to him?
Why did he want that doll back?
You remember the sewing room... and it suddenly makes sense. You knew he wasn't a complete idiot. He probably knew his search for Blumiere was a lost cause long ago. He was just trying to keep himself occupied. Until... until you pushed him away. Then.. those eyes on the wall must have told him to get the doll back.
And him, having nothing else to do, obeyed, and came to you after you had pushed him away, to retreave it. Thank goodness you didn't.
You could have sent him to his death.
You would have sent him to his death.
Again.
You shiver at the memories of that world. The memories of the Alternate L strung up. Of the rats, the image of Nastasia being dragged down, the Alternate Bleck turning into a large, horrifying spider-like monster.
The memory of that hand reaching for you, and being snapped off after you slammed the door on it.
You find yourself being paranoid. But... what if that hand was alive.
You can almost imagine that hand scratching its way through the door and crawling around, looking for the key. Although.
Your mind makes you believe you're hearing the sound of metal lightly clicking behind you.
You don't look though. You don't want to look, because what if you look and see it? The thought of this not being over yet is terrifying, and you don't want to see it. So you don't look.
But you swear, you can hear a gentle,
Click...
...
Click...
...
Click...
...
Click...
Just behind you. The speed increases and the noise seems to be getting closer. But your mind is just playing tricks on you.
You hope.
...
You really hope.
You softly hum as you walk to the River of Twygz with the key, shivering in the cold. It's naturally cold down here, but it feels far cooler without your poncho to help warm you. You miss it. You miss it a lot. Your mask too. But, you had to leave those behind, along with the Alternate L.
The Alternate L, who was a replica of the real one. You have to keep reminding yourself of that.
You have to tell yourself that he's not really gone.
Even though he is.
You have to keep reminding yourself that the feelings the Alternate L felt came from the real L and that the real L felt them too. But still... it hurts you that that other L never got to live. He felt things, yet he was trapped in that fictional world for his entire short existence.
You slowly look over the cool, murky purple water, and pull out the key, still attached to the thin chain around your neck. You let out an almost relieved sigh when-
You swear you can hear the clicking speed up. You're not sure if it's real or in your mind. But you can hear it getting closer... and closer... and closer until-
You're dragged down by the neck, and let out a surprised scream as the chain you're wearing suddenly starts pulling you by the neck back towards the door. You struggle and scream as you're dragged, and look up to see the hand grabbing the key, pulling you away.
Sure enough, it's the think, long, metal hand. With a strength that's unbelievable for its size. You're not entirely sure how it's moving. Was the Alternate Bleck able to control it from so far?
It was somewhat impressive if you took the time to think about it. However, now was not the time to admire such things.
"NO!" You scream, grasping at the chain as it squeezes.
It drags you down the hall with incredible strength.
You continue to struggle until the door is in sight. The hand briefly lets go of the chain and crawls up around your neck, snatching the key off of it. You gasp for breath when the hands swiftly move over and unlock the door, opening it. The tunnel is glowing a horrible green. "NO! STOP!" You scream desperately as the hand moves back to the chain around your neck and pulls it tight to drag you, when-
"HEY!"
You recognize the voice.
Oh, thank Grambi, it's his voice.
His beautiful voice. At this moment, it sounds like a sweet melody being placed on a lovely harp on a mid-summer's day.
You shield your eyes and look up as Mr. L quickly rushes up, wearing that ridiculous welder's helmet. He uses a wrench and hits the hand away from you, but not before it grabs ahold of his leg and trips him, knocking him down right in front of the glowing door.
You cough and grasp your neck, before looking up at him.
He lets out a gasp as the hand firmly grasps his ankle and starts dragging him into the tunnel. "Whoa whoa whoa!" He shouts, a terrified quality to his voice.
"L!" You yell, holding your arm out in front of you. He grabs onto the edge of the tunnel, trying to prevent himself from going in further as the hand tries to drag him in. His grip on the wall loosens, and he lets out a terrified shout.
The gravity inside seems to switch, making it so he'd fall towards the other end. His welding helmet falls off his head and down the tunnel, where the Manguer on the other end takes it and bites into it, cutting clean through the metal. He begins to shake when the hand crawls up to him and knocks one of his hands away.
"Gah!" He shouts, looking down under him. Inside you can see the other door open, and the Manguer waiting with an open mouth.
"WHAT. IS. THAT?!" Mr. L shouts, looking down at it, before looking up at you.
"Dimentio!" He cries.
The hand slowly moves to his remaining hand, knocking off one finger at a time as L winces.
"DIMENTIO! HELP!!!" He cries, squeezing his real eyes shut. "Please!"
"Pl.....see, ....g....o,"
Your eyes widen, remembering the Alternate L's final words to you. One of the only things he ever said.
You don't know who you want to listen to.
Oh, Grambi, who are you going to listen to!
This is probably exactly what the Manguer wants. He wants you to try to save him so it can pull you in and drag you down.
But if you don't, it'll pull him in and drag HIM down.
It's a lose-lose! You can't win! You have to make a choice!
Who will you listen to?
"DIMENTIO! HELP!"
"Pl.....see, ....g....o,"