hadriel | 005 ✿ text

You should have just killed me.

[Did you expect her to be thankful? Delight's text post comes a little belatedly after the poll has been closed and isn't quite the pleasant cheeriness that some of you have come to expect from her.]

I died the moment you saved Hope. We all did. This is just prolonging the inevitable.

I don't much care what you think of my decision or my actions. I tried to save what I could. I planned Hope's assassination for months, negotiated with the beings that killed everything I knew, traded the life of someone I adore very much- all to save my other allies and to save you. This was not a decision made quickly or lightly and I will not be made to regret doing what I felt was right.

I see now that I was too optimistic. You could not be made to lay down your weapons for a more peaceful arrangement- I suppose I should have known better, considering how antagonistic you've been. Still, I had to at least try. Nobody else would.

There's nothing more to say, save for this- don't rely on the other gods to save you. Fear will turn his back at the first opportunity and Hope will not fight alongside you. The others will use you how they see fit. What opportunity for survival you may have had with the Null has faded now. You're on your own.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So you truly believe that a deal with the Null would save us? What of those of us on the Null's kill list? I was one of them, simply because I couldn't countenance the murder of children or the man I love. What would have become of me and people like me under the Null?

I believed that a deal with the Null would have saved more of you than the alternative. I understood that the more abrasive of you would likely die, and it's something that I deeply regret- but I've lost an entire population before and I refused to do it again. If some of you survived, that was better than none.

I wasn't being abrasive. I was taking a moral stand. So were many of the others who got added to the list after it was first released.

May I ask why you believe that we're all going to die, regardless of what is done at this point?

It's the same to them.

Have you been listening? The Null killed our host population. An entire species of sentient creature, extinct. The Null killed us. Our entire species, save for Fear and Hope, gone.

Imagine if every single human on your world was suddenly killed by an unstoppable force. Now imagine that but multiplied, across multiple worlds. That is what I have seen. That is what I tried to protect you from.

Then it sounds like they have poor grasp on nuance.

I understand your desire to protect us from a similar fate, but what made you believe we'd share it? Just because something has been done before, it doesn't mean that it will be done in the future.

What possible reason could I have to not believe you'd share it?

Simply put, we are not your original hosts. Many of us have abilities and skills that set us apart even from other humans. Even those of us who don't have inborn abilities have shown themselves willing to learn how to fight back