( afterlife )

[tearable]

[ Elizabeth remembered dying so vividly. She remembered the pain in her head was unmatched - more than anything she'd ever felt and now..? It still hurts. Trying to make sense of everything... of what was left to be or feel.

She remembers looking down at Bigby as he laid there bleeding, helpless even if he gave his life to help her. She couldn't return the sentiment. It takes a while for her to leave her new "home" and the sun was so searingly bright she has to shield her eyes. She's looking for him - looking desperately to see if they ended up in the same place. There's so many questions and reasons for her to be angry... for his lies and deceit but -

She just wants to know he's okay.

The first place she goes to find is some oddly shaped lounge - she hoped, somehow figured, that was what they all needed. A good drink. She recalled Jack offering it to her, so why not? Why wouldn't lounge be where she finds Bigby?

She enters like she did Booker DeWitts office, she thinks. Her hips swayed and she's cautious as she moves. The dim lighting didn't hide the man at the bar. No. Once the door shuts... Elizabeth is standing there with her hands clasped together in front of her. ]

...Bigby.

[ That's all she can say. ]

Comments

[puffing]

[ death for Bigby has been a strange journey. where-as he wasn't sure if he was supposed to go to heaven or hell or somewhere in between like nothingness, he is instead... here. his memories are nothing short of a mess and he hasn't even bothered trying to sort them out since arriving. the peaceful and quaint atmosphere feels almost deceiving after everything he and the others have been through in the Complex, and considering his last interaction with Judy, he trusts absolutely nothing she says about the revealed truth.

so what does he do to get by? he goes to the bar. there seems to always be one around every corner, even in the afterlife.

his thoughts are in the bottom of a glass of the strongest liquor that can be provided. is the place run by another robot bartender? who the fuck knows and who the fuck cares. he's been there for longer than he can remember, on his third drink with no intention of stopping. being completely removed of all of his wounds doesn't make him hurt any less. he feels like he fucked over the few people he learned to care for in the short amount of time he's been a scientist, and all he can remember about Elizabeth was the way blood was pouring out of her nose before he passed on.

did she live? did she die? Bigby hates to even consider what may be more plausible. all he wanted to do was keep her safe. to own up to his promise even when he's deceived her and the others in so many different ways. he has always had a lot to own up for, long before they all showed up for the experiment. he should be used to this feeling. except he's not.

he's about to take a swig of his drink when he hears his name called out. the voice is familiar and his glass drops to the floor in a dozen shattered pieces. Bigby slowly turns to look at the woman, looking as clean as the day he met her in her form-fitting clothes. she will notice the large man not wasting a fucking second in standing up, rushing over to her and wrapping his arms around her form in a tight embrace. maybe he doesn't deserve to hug her; maybe she doesn't want it. but he's both happy to see her and sad to confirm his suspicions that she was unable to survive.

they remain like this one way or another for about ten seconds. ten seconds of silence as he squeezes around her curves and keeps her close to his chest. only after that does he lift his head up to her ear, and in a hushed voice, he whispers. ]

You have to be really tired of hearing this, but... I'm sorry.

[tearable]

[ No matter what memory fuckery that is going on, Elizabeth remembers dying. She remembers feeling like she was stuck between worlds. Whether that's real or not remains to be seen. For now, Elizabeth was focused on finding some people here, to see if this afterlife was even real. The neatly packaged homes, decorated as if they had just moved in were strange to her, unsettling... so she needed out.

She needed to find Bigby.

Elizabeth finds him, maybe because she's use to seeing him run to the Complex's lounge area for solace. He turns and the shattering of his glass catches her off guard. He's on her in a warm, welcoming embrace and she freezes. She's never had someone hug her so passionately, with so much welcome and it's something foreign. Unknown.

He's hugging her so tight she can barely breath and soon, he apologizes.

Soon, she pulls back enough to crack her hand down onto his face. Her eyes glossed and she'll finally bark out: ]

T-That's for lying to me... for being whatever role you played in this whole thing... for contributing -

[ And another slap, enough to cause his face to flush red. ]

And that's for doing something as stupid as ... dying ... for me...

[ He sees her cry now, the confliction culminating in her face as she cries for him. ]

[puffing]

[ talk about a bittersweet emotion going through him right now. it was good to see her. really good, even if it was not too long ago they had apparently died together. he had passed on a few hours before her, so even if she had just arrived here recently, Bigby had some time to get familiar. familiar enough to know that a bar exists and a pool table was to be found, anyway.

but then there's the fact that he had failed her. he wanted nothing more than to make sure she lived along with the rest of Apartment #7. a promise means nothing if he can't uphold it, regardless of how hard he tried. maybe he should have argued with Rhys more. maybe he should have just killed him after all of the bullshit he's put the others through. none of that matters now, though. Bigby's large arms are hugging around her for dear life, as if he wouldn't allow her to even think of moving.

she's able to, though. one way or another, she wriggles out of his grasp and he's given a sharp reminder of the fact he can still somehow feel when she smacks the fuck out of his face. Bigby looks at her with a bit of bewilderment, but it sobers up completely when she slaps him the second time. she lectures him for his mistakes and all he can do is reach a hand up to squeeze her wrist. it's a mirror of the first time they argued, and he almost alarmed himself in thinking her hand was still busted. he looks down to ensure she was okay before tightening his grip, pulling it away from his face while his other hand goes for her remaining one. just in case she has any ideas. ]

Hey. None of that. I made my decision long ago that I was going to try and keep you alive. My only regret is that I couldn't fucking do it. You understand me? I've fucked up plenty, but I didn't fuck up when it came to you.

[tearable]

[ Her head still hurts, mind you. The flood of emotions and memories - both from Judy and with this... afterlife... gives her a pained expression every so often.

There's so many questions Elizabeth has - a bitterness to him was understandable for being part of those group of monsters. Elizabeth won't see it any other way, she can't. There's no way she can ignore how she felt, the pain that lingered on with knowing her entire life was seemingly one big research experiment. Whether that was real or not, Elizabeth still feels it. She finds it hard to think he didn't watch her - that he didn't view her as a threat like the rest of him but... he saved her... right...?

That's why he died - he couldn't, for whatever reason, complete the "assessment". She wants nothing more than to slap him, punch him, scream at him but he stops her. The grasp on her wrist makes her flinch, gasping out in a frustration that was unmet. Elizabeth struggles and she wants so badly to believe that hitting him would fix her feelings... fix her bitterness at all of this. But.

He speaks of his regret and he sees her shoulders slump down. ]

L-Let go! [ She's still fired up, struggling so often as she tries to reel back her emotions. ] You could have killed me - twenty times over by now... You didn't.

[ She feels like she needs a drink or to just sit for a long, long time. He feels real - his grasp certainly strong enough and... she narrows her eyes to him. ]

It doesn't matter anymore, does it? The Why's and the How's... we're both dead. I just wanted to get out - I wanted... I hope everyone else is alright...

[puffing]

[ after what Judy's subjected her through? Bigby would forgive her for having a migraine as long as she was forced to deal with. even being melted by a laser meant nothing in comparison to what happened to her. he doesn't know the full picture, but if it was enough to kill her without having actually been inflicted any pain... he doesn't even want to think about it. she's enough of a handful in her current state as is, so he doesn't have to do much to distract himself. ]

Nuh uh. Hitting something or someone isn't going to do you any favors. I did it enough. Trust me, not as beneficial as I wanted it to be.

[ she talks about how many times he could have killed her and he frowns. his eyes are cast downward and he avoids looking at her. regardless of his good intentions, his moral standing, he was still a part of a group that was going around killing others for the name of science. for a greater goal that couldn't have been foreseen by anyone or anything. Bigby's hands have never been free of blood, before or after this experiment, but he knew one thing for certain. ]

I was never going to let you be killed. By me or by anyone else in that group of psychos.

[ his opinion of the other scientists is revealed, but it's not like it would soften Elizabeth's outlook on him. he isn't looking for her sympathy. she's allowed to be as angry as she wants to be, and considering they're about to spending much more than just ten days together, she can also take as long as she needs to as well. with her calming down to an extent, he lets go of her hands and instead holds her by the hips. it's more of an act of reassurance than anything, but she can take it as she wants. ]

If it matters to you, it matters. But yeah. We're... we're dead. Or whatever it is we want to call this.

[ the acceptance of that is rough, especially when he considers where they are currently at. Bigby takes a look around the bar before settling his eyes back on her, running his hands up and down her sides to try his best to keep her calm. ]

We met in a bar for the first time. Didn't, uh. Think this is where we would wind up finding each other in the afterlife, too.

[ there's something about constants and variables in there that can be considered an entertaining thought. ]

[tearable]

[ Elizabeth's huffing, trying to regain the emotions that wash over her. She wants to hate him, she wants to hate all of them for subjecting her through this. But... she can't. She feels nothing but pity for the rest - knowing the others would rightfully face action for their choices but for Bigby..? After his sacrifice, Elizabeth is conflicted.

His words make her stew, looking down in a bit of anger. Elizabeth was fine accepting death, dealing with the repercussions of her actions. For how vocal she was and how many strings she pulled over the few days she had been tasked to find the staff members. He died so she could live - and look, she didn't get very far.

Elizabeth feels like she let him and a lot of people down, but she waves it off. She has to. ]

Why..? [ She's asked that a lot now. ] You believed so heavily in what I was trying to do?

[ To help them, she means. Elizabeth feels loss and when she realize the irony in this - the irony in meeting in some bar again... She weakly smiles. Bigby's hand on her side makes her look back up to him, as scared as she was the first few days after executing Luke... ]

Hey - now's not the time for nostalgia.