Blaze of Glory [Ignia/Root FTE] (Completed)

It was decided. Alexander Root was a terrible coward and he couldn't go through with it. He couldn't risk his life to save her. And he felt like a jerk for it. Normally he wouldn't care about being a jerk, but it was bothering him, and he felt like he really should reconsider. However, combined with the fact that it would upset Mariko even more by killing someone and therefore meaning he would have to be 'humane' with the killing and he didn't want to die in an extremely painful way; he rather not be the rat in an experiment or on the receiving end of the, ehem, less humane experiments he had conducted in the past. Ah well, the rats and his other subjects couldn't complain anymore.

He had talked with Iocus in the Sheriff's Office. He wasn't really avoiding Mariko, persay, and in fact he was looking for her right now. He wanted to be around her so he could protect her from idiots, like Taro, or someone who wanted to get. He couldn't let her die. He had to protect her. She had already seen such horrors, such death, and it upset him that she had to go through all of that. He wanted to save her from all of it, not just save her life, save her from the trauma. But that was impossible. And he hated being powerless to do something he wanted to do.

He was lost in his thoughts, and walked into the bank. He wasn't paying attention to his surroundings at all, which was really smart when one was looking for someone. And it was smart when he could easily be offed. It was one of those obsessive traits that he had, getting lost in his own head.

BAM! He walked straight into one of the walls and he stood there stunned for a moment staring at the wall contemplating what just happened. Fuck. He'd lost himself in thought again. He quickly looked around to see Ignia, who had probably just witnessed what just happened. "Erm, hello." Root really hoped she wouldn't comment, or if she already had, well he didn't hear her because he was too lost in his own head. "What are you doing here?"

Taro. At the sound of the traitor's name, Root's cold demeanor turned colder, almost to absolute zero cold. He was almost breaking the laws of physics and how cold something could get due to the kinetic energy measurement of molecules having - long story short, his expression was extremely cold.

"I don't blame you wanting to get away from that jackass," Root said darkly, "Did he tell you anything?" As a traitor he might know things, and with the way he was treating Ignia, well, it was like the guy was smitten with her or something. Maybe he let something slip. Something that could help them. It would be interesting, seeing as it would be nothing that he could ever get out of the asshole now. Not after he beat the hell out of him, punched him twice in trial, and subsequently was choked by the jerk, and well, revealed to this traitor bits in his mind he let very few see or even get a peek at.

"I have no idea why you would think I was looking for Mariko," Root lied trying to cover up the fact he was indeed looking for Mariko, "No, I was just exploring. Not looking for anyone, especially not Mariko." Okay, he sounded a bit on the offensive. And he was no actor; though he tried to be an actor at one point, he failed at it miserably.

However, Ignia mentioned her performance at the trial. It would be easy to just insult her, it would be easy to just break her down and make himself feel like he was better than her, but he knew that in the end, it wouldn't do him any good, and while normally he loved seeing people upset, he'd seen enough upset people in this game alone, and he rather not have to cause that much more pain to someone who was had been shocked by the last case, namely Saoirse's head. "Hmph. It wasn't that bad of a performance. If you hadn't gone with Taro, we might have missed the important information of the murder weapons or the blood in the supply room. At least unlike me, you didn't make incorrect judgements in regards to extremely important pieces in the case. Being unable to figure out everything in Nana's case… well, that was my fault. Mariko and I were the ones who found her, and while Iocus and Willow guarded, it was my duty to truly figure out what had happened with Nana. There was no point in the last case where I was really any help. Though, it was nice to punch Taro." Root stopped for a moment. Ah yes, his usual tactic of trying to do something nice, degrade himself.

Well, at least he wasn't the only one that Taro had dirt on, though he wouldn't blame Taro if he wanted to crush him, after all the had done to the guy. It almost made sense as well, if he could remember more details from their encounter. Root took his journal out and quickly flipped to the page about the encounter. After notes were obvious from their different tone and worse handwriting. Root could still feel the pain radiating from his hands. He'd been taking regular pain medications for it, but it wasn't like he knew how to set the bones or take care of them any better than he had. It was still worth it.

"Cryos Frost? Was he an ultimate? Who… was he?" It didn't surprise him to hear about Adrianna's flowers. He'd seen her video, and well, he knew her somewhat, though he would never claim he knew her well. He liked to think he understood her. She was a flower maiden, but she had the aura of a scientist about her. She'd created those flowers, they were her children, basically. It would be like him seeing a time machine he'd built destroyed. He would have been devastated from that as well even though he loved his sister, a machine like that meant whatever happened he could go back and save those he loved, consequences be damned, he'd take any consequence as long as the ones he loved could remain alive.

"Nagasaki? That's oddly specific, given the significance of the city in the second world war. While the nuclear bombs were detonated in the air which prevented too much fallout nuclear radiation… well, let's just say it's better than being at Chernobyl. Knowing the physics of the radiation decay as well as the length of time… well, if we are in Nagasaki it's probably more symbolic than dangerous. However, that begs the question, where are all the inhabitants of Nagasaki? If we're close to Nagasaki, then why don't we hear them?" Root spoke his thoughts aloud and looked up at the roof. The sky outside was clear. The edges of the park… there was nothing he could hear. He noticed no sign that they were near any sort of city at all. Did something happen? Or was Taro just trying to throw them off? He couldn't assume Taro throwing them off, but he couldn't also assume he was telling the truth. Then again, he could be telling the truth and just remembers being in Nagasaki before being taken to wherever they were right now.

"Why would I lie about that?" It was a simple question regarding the searching for Mariko. God. Was he really being that obvious about it? She'd discovered him and he could tell that she didn't really believe him. Was he not being as subtle about his feelings as he thought? … How did Mariko not find out then? Ha. He was just fool himself. Ignia probably meant nothing by it. She probably couldn't tell at all. Otherwise Mariko would've seen it too.

"Exactly my point. You were good in that trial. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have gotten accurate evidence from the place you went." And the best way to cheer someone up was to make sure that they knew they were better than him. At least then they could gloat over him, or whatever. Since, well, Root did believe on the inside, though he wouldn't admit it, he wasn't worth anything, simply living on stolen time from his mother.

Root quickly indicated his hands thinking about Taro once more. "Might have broken my already broken hands, but it was worth it. Though, I kind of wish I used my right more. My left is having a hard time writing my notes." But it wasn't like he was going to stop. He'd be lost without his notes. He needed his notes. It would be a scary day when he lacked any notes and any way to make notes. He'd have to resort to some other way of making notes. Blood on building writing at the very worst. But he was reliant on his notes to an almost scary degree.

Root thought for a moment about her friend. From the way she talked about him, well, Root couldn't help but think about his sister on the outside. Their history together and how he needed to get out to help her too. She was the way she was because of him and it was his duty to make sure she was alright. "We'll get out of here, eventually. You told me about Cryos, I suppose it's only right to tell you about who I saw. Once we get out, you'd learn about her anyways. My sister. She's out there waiting. I can feel her still out there, no matter what that video showed me." Root quickly looked away. "Or I'm just fooling myself. Either way, she's not well. A few years back, there was an accident. Caused all sorts of problems, but it was worst with her. She doesn't know anything about the world outside our home. She's delusional, and thinks the world is like the television shows she films at our house. Our father was taking care of her, but if something happens to him, then she'd be alone. There's no way she could survive on her own. And that's why I need to get out of here. I need to take care of her, because I was the one who caused the accident that damaged her as she is, even if her growth from that moment on was affected by my father's treatment of her."

He wished he could just see her, even, to make sure she was alive. He loved his sister so much, but he was still too much of a coward to kill anyone. He was too afraid of getting caught and dying, because he still had to do things. He had a responsibility to keep living, for his mom and his sister. However, he had become very attached to Mariko in this game. It was like there was something he had forgotten, as he was an expert with lost memories, regarding Mariko, something he wished he remembered, something that made him feel so strongly about a girl he had barely met. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember what it was, what he wanted to remember.

"If everyone in Nagasaki were dead… well, then whoever is behind this is more powerful than I even thought. You'd think we would remember something about what happened here. They couldn't have killed everyone so fast. We've got to be missing something… An important piece of information. I tried the sheriff's office, but all I found was blueprints of executions for people that aren't even here. The safes were locked up tight. I just… I just need to find out that last final key. Then I'll have it figured out. Fuck." He was looking around not at Ignia, mostly talking to himself. He was beating himself over this, again and again. He heard a voice, a faint sort of voice. 'Calm down. Just let it sit. You'll figure it out. I know you, you're smart. You'll always figure it out. Heehee.' When he closed his eyes he saw his sister's face smiling with her head tilted towards him. He clenched his fist and forced his eyes open to end the vision. She was right. He just needed to calm down. He would get it eventually.

These visions of people in his head were something Root had worked with since his mother had died. But they were never much else than just words or visions when he was alone. They had never interfered, and really, when he was sleep deprived, well that was the first time anyone knew of someone else that was only there in his head. Usually they only presented themselves when he was stressed out, and right now he was feeling a little more stressed than usual. He was working so hard to find out who the Mastermind was, the one who was behind this whole game. And then if he was able to beat them at their own game, he could save Mariko. He could save Willow, even if he wanted to. And really… he was starting to actually sympathize with Ignia. What was wrong with him? He was supposed to be a cold jerk who didn't care about anyone but himself. Yet, he couldn't seem to bury his feelings, no matter how hard he tried.

'Oh, poor Lexie-baby,' a lower, though not quite grownup, voice belonging to a male whispered in his ear, 'What if I were to tell you, I already have Mariko. And before I got here? Oh, I made Wendy suffer.' Root's face hardened trying to hide the reaction from Ignia. He knew it wasn't real. It wasn't real. But it was hard to hear it. 'She begged me to spare her. You don't believe me, do you? She told me all about you. That's why it was so easy to make you angry at me. To make you hit me. Your hands are hurt because of her. After I got what she wanted, I killed her. I slit her throat and watched the life drain from her eyes. I'm about to kill her. Better hurry up.' The voice of Taro Yamada slowly shifted into that of the bear. Root had fallen silent for several moments, not paying attention to Ignia after her final thoughts on where they could be and what would've happened to Nagasaki. The childish 'upupupu' rang through his ears and Root quickly turned away from Ignia and quickly ran from the bank, trying to get somewhere private so he could talk back to the voices, to keep them from torturing him. He would make sure to keep an eye on Taro, keep an eye on Mariko, and make sure not to avoid her this time.

In a rush, Root was gone. No words spoken, but he left as though he had somewhere to be urgently. And he did, for his mental state was starting to unwind and he needed to wind himself back up. The stress of Monoworld was starting to get to him. He needed to figure out how to save Mariko and everyone else quickly. So he made his way to his room where he began making maps of possible people being the mastermind, possible traitors, possible everything and begin weighing all the details against each other. However, he glanced over to his unfinished camera, and stopped everything, and started to work on finish the handheld camera for Mariko. That was the most important thing right now. Mariko and her camera. He had to finish it. But he couldn't close himself up too much, or he couldn't make sure to keep her safe. He needed to manage his time wisely. And as long as he stuck to a schedule, he would be able to do everything he wanted. He was best when he worked on several projects, working on one while the others mull around in his subconscious, the working on another project, then going out and protecting Mariko, most likely skipping meals and sleep in order to do everything he wanted. For now, three non-social, more structure projects would be the perfect amount of projects to work on while he felt he was safe to work on his work, even if he wasn't in his room while he did it: Camera. Time Travel. Beating the Mastermind. Project Mariko. Project Allison. Project Wendy.