K'pandolu's question is a good one. Jack looks down, but his voice is steady when he answers. "I want to apologize. Whether it's true or not. I want to apologize for creating her. She'll say it would always have happened that way. But I am still sorry for what she experienced inside the Crystal. For what turned her from the woman she was into the woman she is now."
"I want to ask why she helped us. And I want to know if she really understands what it is to have an existence beyond life and death." He looks at Ramza when he finishes. The knight has hit the nail right on the head.
Jack looks back at his own Shadow. "She's going to die. Not by my hand. It's not my right. But I'm not apologizing for hoping she is alive and hoping that there is some putting this right by her being alive. So long as there is life, there is still some hope."
"Because you always give them a chance."
"Those are the rules."
"Can you hold yourself to the same standards as you hold your worst enemies? As he holds his worst enemies. Even with the deaths that you've caused, the deaths that have happened around you? What if you gave yourself one more chance?"
Jack looks between the faces of each of his friends. Ramza, K'pandolu, Mary. Even the ones who are not here, Chiaki, Chrom, Sparks. What they've got in common is that they will be the ones to tell him when he is making a mistake. But they haven't turned away from him.
Even Gwen, Owen, Toshiko, Martha....Ianto. Even they didn't, in the end.
"Maybe I still deserve a chance to set it right, too."
Jack's Shadow bows its head and nods with a sense of finality. There's a pause, and then it looks back up with a look that Jack recognizes, but has never seen aimed at himself. Without warning, the Shadow takes two strides to close the distance between himself and Jack, and his hands reach up...
...clamp on either side of Jack's head and pull him into a kiss. As the two of them make contact, the Shadow dissipates, absorbing back into the Crystal from where it came.
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"I want to ask why she helped us. And I want to know if she really understands what it is to have an existence beyond life and death." He looks at Ramza when he finishes. The knight has hit the nail right on the head.
Jack looks back at his own Shadow. "She's going to die. Not by my hand. It's not my right. But I'm not apologizing for hoping she is alive and hoping that there is some putting this right by her being alive. So long as there is life, there is still some hope."
"Because you always give them a chance."
"Those are the rules."
"Can you hold yourself to the same standards as you hold your worst enemies? As he holds his worst enemies. Even with the deaths that you've caused, the deaths that have happened around you? What if you gave yourself one more chance?"
Jack looks between the faces of each of his friends. Ramza, K'pandolu, Mary. Even the ones who are not here, Chiaki, Chrom, Sparks. What they've got in common is that they will be the ones to tell him when he is making a mistake. But they haven't turned away from him.
Even Gwen, Owen, Toshiko, Martha....Ianto. Even they didn't, in the end.
"Maybe I still deserve a chance to set it right, too."
Jack's Shadow bows its head and nods with a sense of finality. There's a pause, and then it looks back up with a look that Jack recognizes, but has never seen aimed at himself. Without warning, the Shadow takes two strides to close the distance between himself and Jack, and his hands reach up...
...clamp on either side of Jack's head and pull him into a kiss. As the two of them make contact, the Shadow dissipates, absorbing back into the Crystal from where it came.