Shadow Hearts Part #42 - Episode XLII: Keep Digging

Part 42: Episode XLII: Keep Digging

Episode XLII: Keep Digging

Welp! Nothing about the scenario of having the girl you like dropping into your weird spectral soul graveyard can be a good thing... But here we are and we're just going to have to roll with it.

Alice gets up and looks around.

A graveyard? How barren… This entire land mourns and suffers…

I have the overwhelming feeling like I am going to regret ending up here...

Alice walks further into the Graveyard and looks around again.

This must be…

...
...I have absolutely no idea, but I am definitely not a fan.

Alice can walk up to all of the Fusion element gravestones and investigate them. Their text is slightly different from when Yuri checked them out...

Fire - A faint bravery in the face of adversity remains within the consciousness living in the seal.
Water - A faint spirit of repentance remains within the consciousness living within the seal.
Earth - A faint hope for tomorrow remains within the consciousness living within the seal.
Light - The spirit of a mother’s warmth faintly remains within the consciousness living in the seal.
Wind - A faint trust in one’s companions remains within the consciousness living in the seal.
Dark - A longing for one’s father remains within the consciousness living within the seal.

But to progress further, we need to lead Alice over to the Four Masks. It's been quite some time since we've had to talk to these jerks (at least as far as the main plot confrontations go.)

Ho ho ho! Who’d have thought she’d come all this way to the mind’s darkness? You wish to sacrifice your body, your heart, your very life over to the lad?

OK. Could we possibly slow down for just a second here?

Who are you?

Bwa... ha... ha...! Are you not frightened by us? My, you’re brave for a little girl!

If we're being honest, you're just some floating masks. You're not even in the top five most intimidating things I've seen today alone.
Ho ho ho! We've got a sassy one here, I see.

We are the unconscious inside the boy. People call us Fear, Envy, Anger, and Hate!

Fear leads to anger...
Anger leads to hate...
Hate leads to suffering.
...Envy is a bit of the odd one out most of the time.

Yeh... heh... heh...! The boy’s soul you’re searching for is seeking death and preparing for it.

Tsk, tsk, tsk! Yes, retreating to the memories of his childhood. He earnestly seeks the escape of death -- a place with no suffering, where no one can hurt him.

He's certainly picked the right place.
Yeh heh heh! It'll save everyone so much time doing himself in here.

Ho... ho... ho...! So cute… Those who come here can find peace. One can join the consciousnesses of their dead mother or father. No need to continue life’s hard struggles. The lad is mistaken. Running away isn’t a bad thing. After all, each person cares about themselves the most.

Bwa... ha... ha...! What’s the matter? Your expression… are you upset?!

We may be the boy's subconscious, but don't think we cannot see things outside here. We see you prioritize yourself when you get injured, miss noble white mage. It's fine. Wouldn't want those stats to falter.

Yuri… <shakes head>

Yeh... heh... heh...! What a silly thing to say. Would you drag a poor soul who’s finally about to find tranquility back to the burdens of life?

That seems like, as you humans would say, a real dick move.

Tsk, tsk, tsk! My you’re an interesting girl! May I ask? To this soul who was unable to obtain his father’s protection or his mother’s affection… What exactly do you have to offer?

<looks down> I… I don’t know.

Ho... ho... ho..! The freedom of death -- a resting place for a soul. Are you saying there is something more this lad desires?

I don’t know what I have to offer Yuri. I just know that we can get through any hardship if we stay together.

Tsk, tsk, tsk! Missing your top DPS output, are we? Those battles dragging on a little more than you'd like these days, are they?
No! It's not that!
...
...Not just that!

Bwa... ha... ha...! And what do you want of the lad in return, for your devotion?

I want nothing in return. I just want to be with him.

Yeh... heh... heh...! You make me laugh. Unconditional devotion… No such virtue exists.

...

…On second thought, there is one. The incomprehensible behavior humans call “love”. But you don’t… not this soul?

You'd known him for what? A little over a month, tops?
Bwa ha... ha...! One month half that concluded half a year ago, no less!
Yeh... heh... heh...! Seems unlikely.

<nods>

Tsk, tsk, tsk! This gets more interesting by the minute! To hear such a silly statement…

...

…Very well. If you’re that determined, we’ll open the Gate of Self. The lad’s soul is inside.

Alice turns and to the gate to the north of the Graveyard and begins to walk away.

However!!

Set one foot in there… and you must bear the lad’s karma with him. Even so, will you go? The Four Mask’s curse is binding. In return for opening the Gate, we will one day come for your soul.

Do not take this as some vague metaphysical mumbo-jumbo. Just to be clear, we will LITERALLY manifest in the material realm to claim your soul. Ask the lad about it. He can vouch for the validity of the claim.

I don’t care, as long as I can reach out to his soul.

Are you willing to sacrifice your own soul to rescue him? If so, proceed…

Alice walks away.

I did not wake up today think we would get a free soul to curse.
We don't sleep.
Tsk, tsk, tsk! You know what I mean!

That mysteriously locked gate to the north of the graveyard is now open. Guess it's time to dive further into Yuri's soul. I'm sure it'll go fine.

Music: Thorn of Mind

We find Yuri on the same hill as that flashback with him as a child and Ben Hyuga having no idea how to farm. Yuri is now taking the role of the subpar farmer.

Alice runs up to Yuri.

What are you doing? <inspects what he's digging>

What the… This is a grave!

<shakes head> Stop! Stop it right now!

Yuri stops digging, wipes his brow and turns to Alice.

<concerned grunt>

Heh heh, aren’t I a good boy? I’ve got to help dad any way I can!

This is no garden! You’re digging your own grave! Don’t you see?

You're on a rocky hill. You couldn't plant anything here if you tried!
That's not what dad says.
Then your dad was wrong!

Oh, c’mon, stop pulling my leg! I’ve got to seed the farm before winter comes. Now, move aside. <returns to digging>

Yuri…

I heard digging stop and I specifically said no breaks until you hit six feet, boy. Don't make me take off my belt again.

Rude as hell invading someone's soul graveyard like this. Young folk these days have the worst manners.

Who…?!

The boy calls me Fox Face. He never was too imaginative...

You put Yuri under a spell, didn’t you?

Fox Face walks up to Yuri.

<laughs> He failed to fuse with the Seraphic Radiance and it devoured his soul. What’s left of his consciousness is screaming to disappear!

<shakes head> He's not very good at it. Six months of this crap and this is the pathetic hole he's managed... Shameful.

Fox Face walks past Alice.

I’m only helping him. Don’t you see?

A smack upside the head here. A belt wallop there. The boy doesn't have the focus for crap.

You’re his father! Why do you make him suffer so?

<walks up to Yuri> I’m not making him suffer.

And I'm not his father. I'm just a manifestation of his subconscious from a curse that... occasionally bleeds into reality to whip his ass. It's a complicated matter, girlie. You've been here for... what? Ten minutes? Don't try to put labels on everything. The boy...

He’s scared and he’s weak. He thinks all the monsters he has fused with will devour his soul…

It doesn't remotely work like that. If I were really his absentee father I'd tell him that's dumb and he's dumb. But no, he's always all...

<shakes head> “I don’t want to turn into a monster!” he screams, every time he fuses. He thinks he might lose it and go on a killing spree if he keeps this up. He might even turn against his own friends…

Then again, I suppose he already has. He gave you and your pals a few good licks, huh?

Hmph! He can’t bear the dark fate of a Harmonixer.

Yuri stops digging again and turns to Fox Face.

Deeper, idiot. Dig deeper!

Does this LOOK like six feet deep, boy?
I... I only know metric measurement, dad...
No excuses!

Fox Face laughs and starts pacing around Yuri's grave.

There's an AWFUL LOT of Chinese folk that hates your guts. And with pretty good reason!

So much regret… So many lies… Poor boy… His fear attacks him like a monster. I’m the embodiment of his weakness.

Even his imagination is weak. Honestly. Just his father wearing a mask from his childhood? Pfft... I may as well just be a clone of him with an evil grin, voice modulation and yellow eyes

<shakes head> Yuri is not weak! There’s still hope and courage left in him! He’s a fighter!

He's an idiot that solves problems by limply flailing at them and calling it a punch.

<walks up to Alice> Ha ha ha! Look at him! He’s a weakling! Don’t you see? He can’t face himself. He wants to escape, that’s why he keeps digging.

Look at the fool. He's using a hoe to dig a grave. I've got a shovel behind that tree over there. Six months of tilling the same spot of earth and barely making progress and he's still at it. Weak and dumb as a board.

He doesn’t want to fight the Seraphic Radiance. He wants to disappear! How pathetic!

<turns to Fox Face> You wouldn’t understand! You can’t believe in anything! What do you know?

Alice starts crying.

Ha! You cry for him?

Music: ENDS

And so Alice gets Falcon Punched in the face for her troubles. Fox Face doesn't appreciate claims he's nihilistic. He obviously believes in something -- that Yuri sucks ass.