#zero time dilemma spoilers

[crocrubies]

SAVE ME WOMAN COVERED IN BLOOD WITH MASSIVE BOOBS

#zero time dilemma #ztd #ztd spoilers #zero time dilemma spoilers #zero escape #mira ztd #mira zero escape #j's art #blood #they did her dirty tbh I expected her to be a lot more interesting 😭 #still liked her tho her character archetype always gets me #shes like if saito sejima and kuon ichinose had a baby does this make sense #she could rip my heart out idgaf

[vampyraw]

Akane is so. so so so tragic. she's eternally haunted by the past; she can't escape it, she can't forget it, she can't let it go. how could she? she's still nothing but a helpless child forever lost in time. forever trapped, forever dead. however, she's still there. she's meant to die and she's the one who will never ever die no matter what. and all she does is just a big, immense try of her to make her life meaningful. because all she has to sacrifice, everyone she has to sacrifice, including herself and her own humanity, would be nothing if her existence itself was meaningless. she's convinced she's the only one who can do it and she's probably right. she carries a burden far more harder than one could even imagine. and yet, she's still there. she still tries. yes, her ways are questionable at best, but that's all she can do. she doesn't even regret most things because she's incapable of doing it any other way, and if she regretted it, wouldn't that mean she did everything for nothing? that she died for nothing? she deserves a better life, a better fate, but she's destinated to fail in a way or another. nothing will ever return her to be the person that died in the incinerator that day, so long ago, and so present at the same time. everything she does is inherently meaningless because she comes from ashes. and still, she tries. it's admirable, in a way.

#akane kurashiki #ze 999 #zero escape #999 spoilers #zero escape spoilers #zero escape 999 #999 #vlr #vlr spoilers #ztd #ztd spoilers #virtues last reward #zero time dilemma #zero time dilemma spoilers #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors #i'm so normal about her i swear

[nyctodromist]

i love zero escape because where else can you find shit like "a single snail is inadvertently responsible for every event in the entire series, the literal apocalypse, and the deaths of six billion humans" and have it be a legitimate and completely serious plot point

#bernie talks #the wiki page on this guy is hilarious #zero escape #ztd #zero time dilemma #zero escape spoilers #ztd spoilers #zero time dilemma spoilers

[spoilerbracket]

Qualifying Round: Uchikoshi Weed-Out #2

(What the hell is this?)

#zero escape #ai the somnium files #zero escape spoilers #virtue’s last reward spoilers #zero time dilemma spoilers #ai nirvana initiative spoilers #polls #round 0

[return-of-the-trinidude]

So I just finished Zero Time Dilemma and I am so confused

Spoilers for the entire Zero Escape Series below the cut

The game felt way too short. I have spent an average of 39 hours on the first two games but only 24 hours on this one. This is a small thing, but to me, it adds to the game's incomplete feeling.

Where on earth did Delta come from? When Q first points out Delta, it looks like a fourth wall break, but then it reveals that he's just always been there? Even when Q kills Delta, everyone just kinda looks at him like "Oh, that's who you killed.'' with no surprise. I get that the structure of the game is that the player is Delta looking through the eyes of Carlos, Q and Diana, piecing together their memories to figure out what happened, but then how is he also physically in the bunker with the others?

What's the deal with Q? Everyone goes from not knowing him to calling him Sean. His card even says that they've always called him Sean and nothing else. Huh? Did I miss something? And then it's revealed that they actually called Delta "Q"? What's the story here?

Delta's knowledge. How is he able to perfectly recreate the situation that led to his birth? He repeats constantly that he cannot shift, and the only reason he's able to know what happened in other timelines is by reading the memories of shifters. Who's memory did he read to build those games? Akane and Sigma were able to build their games using their shifter abilities and connecting to the morphogenetic field, but Delta doesn't have that kind of power.

Free the Soul's purpose. In Virtue's Last Reward, Free the Soul was a cult that believed in transcending humanity by separating soul and body (hence Free The Soul). This was their purpose for creating Radical-6. VLR claimed that Brother's (Delta's) beliefs were spurred on by the death of his brother, whom we meet a clone of in the form of Left. However, in ZTD, Delta claims that he created Radical-6 to kill the Religious Fanatic and prevent humanity's extinction. The storyline of his brother is also thrown to the wind. Did VLR lie to us? Not likely, given that Akane would have gotten that knowledge from Delta himself. Did Delta lie? If so, why? Is he lying about the Religious Fanatic too?

Delta's Plan. Did he really create a virus to kill 75% of humanity with the blind hope that he might kill the Religious Fanatic? Wasn't there another, surer way to go about this? Sure, it seems like he was successful, but that seemed to just be chance. Why use this method? Speaking of which,

Who on earth is the "Religious Fanatic"? This person seems to be the driving force behind the entirety of the Zero Escape storyline and we only hear about them near the end of the last game and even then, the information is bare. Was there supposed to be a next game after this one that deals with this person? The story feels so unfinished. There are a bunch of other things I didn't get but these are the main ones that confused me. I'm going to go read Reddit posts and wiki entries to try and fill in the gaps, but any fans on Tumblr can feel free to answer. I felt like I just needed to vent. I love Zero Escape, but this ending left me a bit disappointed.

#zero escape #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors #virtue's last reward #zero time dilemma #zero escape spoilers #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors spoilers #virtue's last reward spoilers #zero time dilemma spoilers

[kaemugiss]

"That was THEN! This is NOW!"

please don't repost my art!

#zero escape #zero time dilemma #zero time dilemma spoilers #ztd spoilers #diana ztd #image id in alt text #hey speaking of diana ztd here's a drawing #i really like this one :] there are some very cool details

[penny-nichols]

ZERO ESCAPE SPOILERS

Anyway. Made a tierlist of wtf is going on in these people's heads when being dropped into a death game. Basing it off of their first games appearance/involvement in the main situation being experienced because like. Akane knows exactly whats going on in 999 and VLR but *not* ZTD because she didn't create that one. so. Knows exactly what's going on tier is the masterminds. Pretty self explanitory, they set this all up, there's not really a mystery for them (yes sigma is in 2 spots on the list. that one is old sigma)

Kinda knows whats going on tier have all been in/set up one of these death games before or likely knew something about it (Mira and Luna for helping Delta and Sigma/Akane, Ace and 9th guy for 1st nonary games, Snake and Clover did nonary games prior, Alice likely heard from Clover so she kinda gets the idea of whats going on) Would know some of it if not for the amnesia- yeah these guys probably know some stuff about it. shame they can't remember though

Knows nothing at all about what's going on- had no clue about the death games or anything before we get to see them. tbh, Dio is like. on the line between Knows Nothing and Kinda Knows. But he didn't expect the escape rooms Gab tier (pupydog) -the tier lists I found for ZE characters kept putting gab on here. Gab.

#zero escape spoilers #zero time dilemma spoilers #virtue's last reward spoilers #zero escape

[privateolives]

I saw people talk about their Zero Time Dilemma fixes around the tag so I thought I'd dump in my convo on the topic too (With shout-out to @oriko-magicas's galaxy brain read on Akane and Junpei)

Absolute wall of text below.

Me: I'm having trouble finding it, but there was a post talking about Akane and Junpei in Zero Time Dilemma that I really liked the interpretation of It's essentially talking about how Akane don't want anything but the perfect future with Junpei. She went through so much and spend so long aiming for fhe one needle hole solution to live that she can't settle for anything but her ideal fantasy ending anymore. Meanwhile Junpei still experiences time the way it normally goes and he was burned by 999. He knows things will never be the same cause THEY'RE not the same, but he's willing to work with that to stay with her And I think it's a super thematic read, especially when you consider their VLR attitudes

Friend: Yeah, you know, that actually makes a lot of sense to me

Me: https://www.tumblr.com/privateolives/730880206913552384?source=share

Okay I’m thinking of ztd again, and it’s how Akane only accepts a future with Junpei if it can be fairytale perfect. She wants so desperately to be that kid who died in the incinerator again, the one… There it is

Friend: That would certainly explain the way she frequently reacts to this new cynical, jaded Junpei

Me: I don't think that's her exact motivation for that ending but the sentiment is perf Yeah

Friend: It makes much more sense to me. Every time she shakes her head and says "what happened to you" it's because she's hopeful to see that same boy she used to know

Me: I think Junpei's attitude would make a lot more sense if the assholery was played up when Akane acts like he should still be the same like he was before 999. Or like the world could be how they saw it before then. It'd underline the dynamic better of "I need you to be the person I cried out to back then" and he's like "I love you but you literally made that impossible" … paired up with Carlos like "I am begging you to just talk" Carlos: you are both cute and valid but I NEED you to communicate

Friend: I think maybe part of it is that Junpei's jaded asshole net is thrown a bit wide. 'cause on one hand it is like he's upset at Akane for 999 and part of it is like he's upset that she acts like he should be the same after that, but then there's also all the shit that he went through since then and it feels like he blames her for that as well He's been through a lot in what has somehow just been one year and it feels like, perhaps fitting for someone who has also become an alcoholic, he's looking to put the blame for it all on someone

Me: Yeah Also I've been thinking, and I think there's an easy fix to the stupid "complex motives" crap. And a lot of Delta honestly

Friend: hell yeah let me hear it

Me: The whole frame he jeeps setting up with the snail. It's all about a series of small butterfly effects that cause an extremely specific outcome. That's what he wants to do too, same as the other zeroes, but he has one particular handicap: he can't shift or read timelines. He won't just know how to make the bricks fall to get the exact outcome he wants. But if he could gather enough shifters, he could read their hopping around through their minds. Because resonance would make the memories clearer. So he sets up the game that can only be completed by getting the exact result he wants and then introduces the piranha - Mira - to the equation to ensure it won't be a dead end stalemate Then in the end he can explain that yes, his motives are complex. Because the solution to save 8 billion without killing 6 billion is a hairline precise set of circumstances that he wouldn't be able to figure out what is naturally. So he had to make them create it. He had to make them all resonate to read them and make them all resonate to give them all awakened shifter powers for the future and to read at all. Furthermore I would play up his narcissism. The smugness of his own intelligence being double edged to believing he has to cause this himself because he's the only one who can. A staunch belief that he HAS to be what causes the bricks to fall as they should. And it'd make his point of "but I didn't do anything in this timeline. Everyone is prepped and noone is dead" more valid. Because he doesn't shift. He doesn't emotionally register all the timelines he massacred to get this one. He only know the actions that caused his personal outcome as a list of checked boxes checked off through their memories

Me: Furthermore, there could be another reason why he has to be the one triggering these events. I was super annoyed that it was like "Oh so now free the soul isn't enough. We need another terrorist group with a world ending leader. And what was the left thing about?" Well what if its not a separate terrorist group. What if the religious fanatic he's talking about is himself, transported forward in time. A younger version of himself is ending the world to create the ideal existence Dio was talking about. But the Delta who arrived in the original way back when doesn't shift. He has to live all those years. He meets interesting being like Sean that makes him realize that the differences between people makes for various choices that makes life beautiful. So now he has to find a way to out-checkmate himself to stop himself. How? Prep a group of people capable of doing what he can't to try and outsmart him. And set up a winning condition entirely set on being able to do that.

Friend: that's actually so brilliant because yeah I think definitely the weakest part of this outcome is that it doesn't really solve the problem that he set out to solve "You're all really motivated now!" oh so… what they wouldn't have tried to stop a terrorist attack if he hadn't made them all kill each other? the heck is that also, yeah I was going to ask you about that at some point. like, he doesn't mention Left at all in ZTD and I was confused if Sean was supposed to be related

Me: I don't think so. Because he was an old man when he met Sean in the hospital. But I think he was fascinated by Sean's approach to life And maybe made him consider that something could be beautiful outside of Left

Friend: this man just goin around creating marvels of science to preserve dead little boys

Me: I'm thinking part of it is also like Solving the conundrum of giving him whatever he wanted. He has his dreams of the future. He can give him that. But he's not in despair of having to die before that reality. So he gives ukm the option of death too By just giving him the option at all, he's ensured both will happen somewhere Thus the ideal outcome of how he can have both comes true Lastly, Mira's ending. I think they should have empathised more that she became a killer to understand experiencing emotions instead of just pretending them. She chases Eric because she thinks she wants to feel that rush again, but her connection with Sean could show her something different. That either through resonance she could experience emotions through others OR that you can still essentially be human even if you're only able to "simulate" having those emotions,m like a robot does.

Me: Meanwhile Sean both wants better for and cannot forgive Mira for her crimes. But thanks to the choice with the bad and happy ends, he has an answer for how to both make Mira live with her crimes and ensure a future where it doesn't happen. By creating a split timeline where she goes back and stops her crimes from being committed. In this case, the original Mira would still know and have to live with what she did. But I'm one tjmeline a young Mira never becomes the heart ripper and the crimes are undone. The sins are therefore both being punished and remembered for happenjng and erased to begjn with at the same time.

Friend: you know what I like that one. that's a good way of interpreting it, especially with the way the transporter works also, doubly digging this idea. Mira being shown this robot child who either somehow experiences emotion or at the very least simulates it in such a way what it fools everyone (and also is capable of calling her out on her own emotional mistakes) should have so much more of an impact on her

Me: Yeah Like I genuinely think you could fix this game either a few tweaks

Friend: yeah absolutely also I'm not sure what the amnesia element really did for it? I guess it was to confuse the SHIFTers so they wouldn't know they had already SHIFTed but to what end?

Me: It might be to confused the computer. Keep it from figuring out its not the real Sean too fast If it remembers being Sean it'd be easy to compression and contrast all the things that Sean definitely couldn't do or know and reach the conclution If it doesn't remember being Sean, there's nothing to compare any contradictions to. It can only just assume that the reasons are things it can't remember Also, if the computer ONLY has Eric and Mira, it makes it more incentives to latch onto them and care about their situations, despite them both being monsters in their own right Oh Also The Carlos thing Rather than just "I couldn't have met you guys" you could do: 1) in order to fix this we need phi and Sigma here. That means we need a timeline where Akane and Junpei escape but don't stop Zero or the radical-6 outbreak. So he breaks in to bust them out. 2) they need the timeline where Delta gives them answers. Meaning they need a timeline where Zero "wins". So he can't interfere. 3) split worlds principle. By just introducing the choice to stop zero's plans or not, he's creates both options. This is the world where he doesn't stop Zero. But because he comes pre-packadged with the knowledge of what's gonna happen, he can still tale actions to secure the timeline that'll allow for them all to stop zero So there is a timeline where he stops Delta before DCOM, but because of the anthropic principle (there must be a perciever for the option to be percieved) Akane and Junpei never see it because they never had to go through the game. They only percieve the option where Carlos didn't stop Delta in time

Friend: that makes perfect sense to me gosh imagine that timeline, though. Akane and Junpei never go to DCOM so they never meet there poor Junpei is probably still chasing the ghost of this woman who …wait what was her reason for going to DCOM again?

Me: So her and Sigma could stol the outbreak Stop Of radical-6 ALSO also

Friend: yeah that's what I assume but I swear the game acts like she doesn't even know about Sigma or Phi or the outbreak

Me: (I've thought about how to fix this game a lot idk if you can tell) The thematic relevance of "but then I couldn't have met you guys" can actually be valid if you flip it around.

Friend: hahaha understandable how so?

Me: Because of Carlos, Akane can come to terms with the changes in Junpei and see the validity in the "broken" futures by showing there's things worth remembering even in the imperfect ones. Like the argument Junpei makes at the end of VLR, the relationships after the disasters still mean something to the survivors. And Carlos helps Junpei realize there's still fundamentally good people in the world and come to terms with Akane and what she did and who she is now. By inserting Carlos they're able to help mend their relationship. And if Carlos never met them because the DCOM experiment didn't go down like it did, their relationship wouldn't have been mended either They'd still just end up like how they did at the end of VLR. Essentially dead to each other "You're not who I thought you were, goodbye"

Friend: very true it certainly seems like by this game they were never really going to be able to talk it over on their own he was a necessary mediator

Me: Not to mention If Carlos never met THEM, he'd never realize the cause of the reverie syndrome to save Maria

Friend: True! Gosh she's kind of a whole anomaly herself

Me: Yes! I think it could be cool if the they worked her more into Carlos and his abilities tbh Let's think back to the 999 lore The idea of the Sender and Receiver If Maria was the "sender", she could have gone into reverie when she was stuck in the fire, trying to save herself and her family. She continues to be stuck in reverie because she keeps simulating how to a) save her family totally and b) save Carlos from all his other eventual dooms The problem with saving her family is that there is a huge world crisis going down soon that's gonna wipe out most of humanity anyway! So? Make sure Carlos goes to DCOM to save her and have her essentially be a satellite quantum simulator to feed Carlos his insights And through that also learn from Akane and Junpei or just the experience itself that either the timeline where their parents was also saved still exists but isn't percievable Or come to terms with their death by still having Carlos that survives both DCOM and the would-be apocalypse And thus be able to lay the endless simulations to rest and wake up (With the added cute twist that she already knows Akane and Junpei and their relationship with her brother when she wakes up. Thus why she's so invested in it in the epilogue)

Friend: that is a bizarre kind of adorable and sweet! she's his own quantum computer though I wonder if they'd be able to still use those abilities after she wakes up in that case

Me: I'm guessing it'd just go back to working like it did in 999. Carlos himself might be able to do it on his own from longtime exposure too, who knows.

#Zeph rambles #zero escape #zero time dilemma #ztd #zero escape ztd #zero time dilemma spoilers #I just went through all the games with my friend #Because if I had to suffer the third installment so did he #I do think you can fix this game #But it requires a serious polish

[trivorowo]

Zero time dilemma tells us a 120 year old cult leader can be defeated by a himbo, a divorced power couple, a kid, true family, and the most apt description of don't stick your dick in the crazy.

#zero time dilemma #zero time dilemma spoilers #spoilers #gaming

[zecretsanta]

Fic: Shrapnel

[AO3 Link]

To: @dcomexperiment

From: @lightphieric

Happy holidays from one Eric appreciator to another! The prompt was Eric going through horror and angst, and what could be more horrifying for him than dealing with his own guilt in the aftermath of that infamous grenade launcher ending?

Some content warnings because this is rather dark: Canon-typical violence, death, and gore, mental breakdowns, vomiting, references to past child abuse, and implied sex.

—

Eric dropped the grenade launcher as Mira pulled him out of the way, and with it, he let go of the power and confidence it made him feel. That was a high he would never achieve again. Cowering behind the staircase, he plummeted back down to small and powerless. The explosion left his hands buzzing with numbness; his ears whined and his vision was hazy. None of that seemed to fade as the dust settled.

“Now announcing the current casualties.” The mysterious voice warbled distantly. “C-Team: Carlos, Junpei. Q-Team: Q. D-Team: Diana, Sigma, Phi. These six are now deceased. As a result, six X-Passes will now be revealed: Fight, Jump, Bro, Red, Milk, Blue.”

Eric stood on unsteady legs. He felt weightless and too heavy all at once. Behind him, Mira pushed herself up. He was afraid to look at her, terrified to see her furious expression. Meanwhile, as he looked upon the destruction he’d wrought, the corners of his mouth automatically lifted in a smile, and he couldn’t pull them down.

“What an idiot!” he said thoughtlessly, before floating into the center of the ruined library.

There wasn’t much left of Q or his chair. One leg was twisted in the spokes of the wheels, and the rest of his limbs didn’t seem to be around. Eric averted his eyes from the flayed red void that used to be the old man’s face, swallowing down the smell of blood and burnt paper behind his smile.

“Don’t touch,” Mira said with a cough. She grabbed Eric’s arm. She had never touched him so forcefully, although it didn’t seem to be in anger. He thought he liked it, even though his arm was too numb to feel the pressure of her fingers. 

“Why would I touch them?” Absentmindedly, Eric took another step forwards. Mira pulled him back before his shoe glanced the blood.  

“Come on,” she insisted. “Let’s get out of here. Better not give Akane a chance to beat us.”

Akane. That was the name she noticed was omitted from the death count. Someone who was still a threat to them. Of course.

Eric stared at Sean as they escaped the library. He was drenched in Q’s blood, and his helmet was charred, with a piece of Q’s wheelchair having lodged itself in an eyehole. The kid had never counted as an actual participant in the Decision Game. His death meant nothing, but there he was, twitching with the last shreds of life he had.

Eric rubbed his eyes with shaking hands when he thought he saw Sean reach his arm out to him. When he opened them again, the library door was shut, sealing the dead behind the facility’s walls.

—

Eric’s fingers kept slipping off the keys as he tried to plug in the X-Passes. After misspelling the word “blue” three times, he needed Mira to sub in. She did it without complaint; what a relief that she didn’t seem to hate him. 

He dictated the passes for her, reading them off the scoreboard on the wall. Seeing the names written up there in that cold, clerical font, it hit him that six people had really died here. A bitter lump rose in his throat, but he swallowed it down as the rumble and shriek of the X-Door opening reminded him what that meant.

Mira took a step back as the door opened, and Eric caught her hand in his. She looked over at him hesitantly. He smiled back. It was okay. Six people had died, but it was all so Mira could escape.

Everything bad that had happened, had happened for her.

He ran out the X-Door once it was open, laughing with glee, and Mira struggled to keep pace. Their bracelets unclasped and clattered to the floor behind them as they ran, leaving all evidence of their ordeal squarely in the past. Now, the future was waiting for them. In the antechamber before the lift, they found duffel bags containing their wallets, Mira’s favorite necklace and other valuables they’d brought to Dcom, a change of clothes for both of them, keys to a truck, two plane tickets home to Nebraska and two keycards to a room at a nearby motel.

“Are you tired?” asked Mira, leafing through her wallet to make sure nothing had been taken.

“Nope!” Eric lied.

“Good. That means we can head straight to the airport.” She placed the keycards in her wallet and hid it in her back pocket. “The motel is probably meant to be a secluded place where the winning team can clean up. But you didn’t touch the bodies, so there’s no need for that.”

“What bodies?”

Mira smiled slyly. Beautiful. “Keep that attitude up and we should be fine.”

The night sky was cool and dry and huge and oppressive. Eric scrambled to get inside the truck when they found it waiting for them not far from the exit point. Something about the enclosed space was comforting.

Mira insisted that Eric drive. “There’s debris in my bra and it itches like hell. I’m getting in the backseat. To change.” She reached over him to angle the rearview mirror down and gave him a long, lingering look before slipping into the back of the truck. 

Despite how intently Eric focused on the path before him, there were no roads or signs in sight. Zero had prepared them for the endless desert with a map and a compass, but their directions scrambled into alphabet soup in Eric’s mind. Eventually, Mira begrudgingly hopped into the passenger’s seat, taking over navigation. After what felt like hours of aimless circling, they happened upon a road.

The hour was late and the road was barren. Cars still passed them occasionally, signs of human life that sent a shiver through Eric; under the eclipse, their shiny metal roofs looked soaked in blood. Eric could almost smell it.

—

The TSA were the reason Eric hated flying. They had a way of making him think he was guilty of something. He would always sweat under the metal detectors, convinced he’d somehow forgotten about the automatic rifle he was carrying or the dead body stuffed into his carry-on.

And now, it wasn’t just paranoia. He really was wilting under the airport’s fluorescent lights, and he was sure the agents could see that. He was shaking, like he had been ever since he saw another person step out of their car in the parking lot. And he was sure there was something, something staining his clothes that would make him unfit to be seen by human eyes, much less to fly.

Luckily, he had that unyielding smile to carry him. He stepped confidently through the metal detector, grinning so hard it dragged an eyeroll from the agent operating it. She waved him through after the beep and he barely kept himself from toppling forwards as he passed her, bowled over by a sense of relief. A sound like rushing water filled his ears, drowning out most of the airport’s ambient noise, and he could only stand there recovering until he noticed that Mira was still talking to the agent inspecting their bags.

Why would they be hounding Mira? She was the picture of innocence. Eric tried to look intimidating as he stormed towards them. His face was hot and red, but he feared his smile was undermining his image. Mira turned at his footsteps and gestured towards him with a chuckle. “My boyfriend. Can’t stand getting to the gate any later than three hours early.”

The agent gave a salute as she gathered up their duffel bags and beckoned for Eric to follow her into the terminal. “Enjoy Nebraska, folks,” he said with a grimace.

Mira offered Eric his bag, and when he didn’t take it from her, she frowned and slung it over her other shoulder. “We were just making small talk,” she said. “It didn’t mean anything.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong, Mira!” Eric sputtered. “You’re innocent!”

“Yeah, and making small talk can help convince people of that,” said Mira. She spoke slowly, like she thought Eric’s hearing was impaired.

Which it was. The rushing sound was only getting louder. “They should just leave you alone. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mira grabbed his sleeve with a huff and sped her pace. She dragged him forwards for a while, before stopping in front of a deserted gate and double checking to make sure no one was nearby. She leaned in, her lips by his ear. So close. “You’re doing a shit job of acting natural,” she whispered. “Try to keep it together until we’re out of public, at least.”

“You’re a good person.” Eric couldn’t stop himself from babbling. “You would never hurt anyone.”

“Tell yourself that.” Mira grasped his hand harder and started again towards their gate.

Eric followed. If public displays of affection like this were part of acting natural, then he shouldn’t have a problem with it. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling that a terrible mistake had just been made, that he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be.

They sat down at their gate, surrounded by people working on their laptops or talking or napping while they waited for the flight to board. The people blended in with the blue of the carpet under them and the sterile gray of the walls behind them. Eric knew they were all staring at him, like they hated him. Under their scrutiny, sweat dripped into his eyes and his teeth chattered. He flashed an appeasing smile at all the blurred shapes judging him, the same smile he’d been unable to shake for hours.

It finally fell as he set eyes on two people sitting rows away.

They were the only clear image in a sea of confusion: a young boy asleep, his head resting on the back of his grandfather’s wheelchair. The old man held the boy’s hand as he drifted off to sleep as well. Both of their chests were rising, falling. Peaceful, and alive. A hallucination. An impossibility, given that they were in the room with a killer.

He stood up like a shot before he even realized he was doing it. “Mira, get away.”

Mira sighed. “Eric, stop this.” She grabbed his wrist and tried to pull him back into his seat, but he shook her away like he thought he’d burn her.

“Get away from me, it’s not safe. I-I’m dangerous!” Eric swallowed painfully as the truth came crashing back onto him like a ton of bricks. He backed away from Mira into the thoroughfare, raising his voice so she could still hear him. “I killed them.”

“What are you talking about?” said Mira through grit teeth.

“Sean and Q!” He pointed at their analogues. “I killed – I fucking blew them up!” The boy and the old man remained asleep, but for the other passengers, Eric’s pointing arm drew a line straight to him. “God, fuck… I…” He brought his other shaking hand up to his forehead, wiping away the sweat stinging his eyes, then grabbing a fistful of hair. He pulled hard enough to tear away some strands, but he couldn’t feel the pain. He couldn’t feel anything but the blast of heat from the explosion on his face, the ringing in his ears as Sean screamed, a tug in his gut as he remembered the gaping holes in Q’s torso where his limbs used to be.

The only thing in his stomach was the beer he’d drank in the lounge, but it was enough. The alcohol burned its way back up his throat. Eric was thrown to his hands and knees by the force of his retching, and brown bile splattered onto the floor.

His fingers twitched against the soiled carpet, his left index finger gripping the cold trigger of a grenade launcher, the rest curling around a skinny neck, squeezing against the neckline of a helmet, snapping an arthritic spine. “Q… Sean…” He felt hard tile under his knees, vomit and overflowing water soaking into the fabric of his pants. “Chris…” Even though his legs had given out entirely, he imagined standing up and seeing his reddened face in the bathroom mirror. He saw Dad’s haggard beard and the wildness in his eyes.

Eric would avoid mirrors for the rest of his life if it meant never seeing that.

A kindly hand – thick-fingered, no long nails, not Mira – touched Eric on the arm. Eric thrashed as he brought his hands up to hug himself, shaking the stranger off. Other bystanders were not so charitable. He heard the beeps of people dialing their phones. There were footsteps, running back in the direction of the TSA. So many people gathered, ready to see him get tasered, arrested, committed, shot.

“I did it to protect us, Mira. Zero said ‘Kill one’ so I did!” He couldn’t stop himself from confessing, confessing, confessing. “But I was so angry… that little shit, he made me so mad. It was his fault!” A body appeared before him, small and covered with no blood, but lifeless all the same. Its face was blond and familiar. “It was Chris’s fault!”

His voice gave out on his brother’s name, rasping into a whisper. He’d been shouting and hadn’t even realized it, attracting a massive crowd which closed in around him. With no voice left to defend himself, Eric melted into violent sobs. The TSA arrived and he had no strength to resist them as they hoisted him up by the shoulders and dragged him away. He hung loosely in their grasp, just barely finding the strength to lift his head and catch what was surely his last glimpse of Mira, distant, disappointed and hating him.

Then a stabbing pain entered his neck, and the image of Mira turned to blackness.

—

He felt his whole body as he woke up. He wasn’t in pain, just very heavy. Denial couldn’t be the wind under his sails anymore. His voice rasped as he groaned, overwhelmed by the feeling of humanity returning to him.

“Hmm. You’re awake.”

Slowly, Eric turned his head. “Mira?” She sat next to him, regarding him coolly. The wall behind her was a warm white, the seat under her a rich cream. A small window framed her face, wisps of clouds floating by in the background. She was angelic, saintly, even; he felt like she’d saved him and taken him to heaven. “We’re on the plane?”

“Private jet, actually.” Mira gestured around her and Eric turned to look. The cabin was small and the rows were empty, besides them and a man sitting in the very back. He wore a red and black suit. It wasn’t clear whether or not he was watching them behind his sunglasses. “Pretty nice, right?” said Mira. “Free the Soul really came through. Dressing up as TSA and tranqing you was brilliant.”

“Free the…” Eric groaned and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. “I’m sorry, whose jet is this?”

“I’m not really sure, to be honest,” said Mira. “No one ever explained to me how these guys worked. Hell, you just murdered their leader. For all I know, this jet belongs to you now.”

Eric cringed as he remembered. He was a monster. He’d ended the Decision Game by killing two people. Some would say it was the right thing to do; someone had to have died or else none of them would have ever gotten out of there. But now he was out, and for the rest of his life, he was going to be a person who had killed. With that guilt weighing him down, his breakdown at the airport would not be his last.

He hoped she was kidding about the jet being his. The seats were the softest things he’d ever sat on and it looked like there was a fully stocked bar. Not to mention the beautiful woman in the seat next to him. All things he certainly didn’t deserve.

He looked at Mira with a pleading grimace. “Mira,” he said, “do you hate me?”

Mira exhaled through her nose and rolled her eyes. A laugh. “Hate is an awfully strong word for me,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever hated anything.”

“But are you mad at me?”

“I mean, I’m still a little annoyed.” Mira sighed and flicked a strand of hair over her shoulder. “But really, it’s on me. I have practice making myself look guiltless. You don’t. I should have coached you before we got to the airport.”

“The airport?” Eric bit his lip. She couldn’t have forgotten already, could she? “No, that’s not what I mean. Mira, I…” Now that he was lucid, it was harder to get the words out. “I killed two people.”

“One.”

“Huh?”

“Sean isn’t dead,” said Mira matter-of-factly. “Maybe ‘broken’ is a more appropriate word. He’s a robot, Eric. I put it together.”

She was inscrutable. She’d said a lot of weird things like this before, things that Eric had assumed were jokes. He’d genuinely thought she was the funniest person he had ever met, with her imagination and deadpan delivery. After the things Eric had seen the day before, he was starting to believe she had never been joking at all. “Oh,” he said. “That does kind of make sense.” It didn’t.

“He might be worth going back for, actually. See if he’s at all salvageable. And I guess Akane doesn’t deserve to be trapped there either… Stop pouting, Eric. I’ll spell it all out for you in simple terms later.”

Eric bit his lip and turned his head. He’d been so afraid of Mira despising him, but at least that would have made sense. She was looking at him with this calm, gentle, almost pitying look, and his brain couldn’t reconcile it. “But Q… Q is definitely dead, though,” he muttered. Did she not believe that either? Did she love Eric so much that she could ignore it? Or was she just that heartless?

“It’s funny that you’d think I’d care.” As Eric was starting to worry about what kind of woman he’d fallen in love with, Mira’s hand shot out and landed on his thigh. The touch was new and intriguing, the last thing he’d expected. And it made all his worries flicker out of existence. “You’re certainly not the man I thought you were. But the most surprising thing is that I think I like it.” Her other hand went under his chin, moving his head to meet her gaze. “You’re ruthless,” she said with a glint in her eye Eric had never seen before. “It’s quite something to see.”

Mira kissed him then with more passion than she ever had. Tongue, too. Eric worried for a moment about the man sitting in the back row, but eventually the world around them melted. Their surroundings didn’t matter anymore. The past didn’t, either. He smiled against her lips and let himself forget once again.

—

They got back home and made love for two days straight. Mira was commanding and intense, everything Eric had ever wanted. At the same time, her stark lack of experience eased his own insecurities. She tested out several pet names for him; as she purred them into his ear, he felt like he was worth something for once. They paused only to cook breakfast together, watch the new episode of Mira’s favorite reality show that she had missed while in Nevada, and sometimes just to rest and chat. Mira would lay her head on Eric’s chest, listening to his heartbeat, and mention things like Q or Sean or the Decision Game. 

But none of that mattered. The past was all a dream. Nothing existed but her and now and domestic bliss. Eric would just laugh when she tried to bring up anything else.

“What happened to you?” Mira asked him. “How did you get to be so… happy?”

It wasn’t happiness so much as it a delirium. But it was a good one. In Eric’s eyes, Mira’s apartment was awash in pinks and gentle yellows and she was haloed in a soft, hazy blur. His head felt stuffed with cotton and he could hear those distant waves behind his eardrums. It was a trance. It was wonderful. He never wanted it to break. 

As their two perfect days wore on, Mira’s eyes dulled with boredom. She lamented, “You have more important things to teach me than this.” Eric supposed he knew that this couldn’t last and that soon they would have to get back to their lives. But that life would be perfect, too: booming careers, a happy family, and so much love, forever and ever and ever. They were happy, and nothing would be able to stop them.

Not even a knife across his throat.

#submission #zero escape #zero time dilemma #zero time dilemma spoilers #ztd #dcomexperiment #lightphieric #zecret santa 2022

[lesbiankakyoin]

A single, solitary snail can change so many lives. I will show you how — with a simple anecdote.

One evening in Virginia, a woman who frequently took online polls participated on one hosted on Tumblr, dubbed "Bug Race". This woman had an odd quirk about her. She would always choose the second option on any given poll, regardless of what it corresponded to. While voting on the Bug Race, however, she picked the first option instead. The reason? She wanted to avoid voting for the snail that laid on the second option, for her distaste of the animal was larger than her usual quirk.

The first option, however, was the worm. It was easily the least favoured to win, garnering only about ten percent of supporters, while the other two options, snail and caterpillar, raced head to head in ever-changing positions. Seeing that she had picked the worm instead of helping either of the sides of the real competition, her fiancé, who had seen her choice, left her that evening. He figured what he perceived as her centristic "third choice" voting would reflect in her political views. Unfortunately for him, it turned out to be a gross exaggeration, and costed him his life...

Upon leaving the house he was targeted by a murderer. A man who bore witness to the scene was mistaken for the real culprit, and arrested as he walked over to the cab that would take him to work. He was sentenced for a crime he did not commit, and in his shame he killed himself in prison. The wife he left behind did the same to herself, and their children were thusly orphaned.

The cab that was supposed to pick the false culprit up was instead boarded by a renowned surgeon. This surgeon was on the way to perform a life-saving operation on a young boy, but he could not reach his destination, as the car crashed, killing passenger and driver. With no one to perform the surgery, the young boy died from his untreated malady.

The lives of nearly all those involved in this story were forfeit — and all because of a single, solitary snail.

Life is simply unfair.

#hiero.txt #ze #zero time dilemma spoilers #ztd spoilers #bug race #tw suicide #well fuck me. the image got smalled. whatever

[peachducy]

I'll never forget you

^ version without junpei's hand

#zero escape #zero time dilemma #ztd #AUUGGHHHH #junepei #akane kurashiki #junpei zero escape #junpei tenmyouji #akane zero escape #ztd spoilers

[spoilerbracket]

Qualifying Round: Uchikoshi Weed-Out #1

What the hell is this?

#zero escape #zero escape spoilers #virtue’s last reward spoilers #zero time dilemma spoilers #polls #round 0

[ghostampede]

she’s the protagonist she’s the antagonist she’s the villian she’s the hero she’s a bystander she’s a victim she’s vengence she’s a scared girl she’s going to save the world she’s meant to die she’s immortal she’s the saviour of the world she’s going to burn it all down she’s an extremist she’s pragmatic she’s optimistic she’s divorced she’s faithful she’s a prisoner of time itself she’s trapped eternally she’s free forever she’s dancing across the 4 dimension she’s playing games we will never understand she’s alive she’s dead she’s the observer she’s the cat in the box-

#zero escape #implied zero escape spoilers #this is about #akane kurashiki #genuinely one the most nuanced and complex characters i have seen in a while #akane zero escape #zero escape 999 #zero escape vlr #zero escape ztd #9 hours 9 persons 9 doors #virtue’s last reward #zero time dilemma #rambles #zero escape spoilers #2000+ reblogs later and i still feel pain whenever someone tags this as a blorbo post #this is about AKANE KURASHIKI put RESPECT on her NAME #fr though glad so many people have characters they connect to this #though i must reiterate i am being 100% specific and literal about this with akane kurashiki #please play zero escape for more details #:D

[sinlizards]

But we let it go on we let it go on (forever)

#akane kurashiki #junepei #zero escape #zero time dilemma #ztd #ze spoilers in tags #junpei tenmyouji #my art #fan art #undescribed #once i figure out how to undoom her from the narrative the wedding is BACK ON !!! #song is mercury&me by ee <-predictable

[kaemugiss]

diana and eric ztd are narrative foils and in this essay i will

when it comes to diana and eric from ztd, i feel like they're such poignant examples of how being abused can manifest in different people's lives. below the readmore is a short examination of each character's response to abuse- mind the content warnings in the tags.

diana has basically been pacified by the abuse her ex-husband committed on her. she's very nice and caring and empathetic, but she is 100% the type to put herself in the back of the line for other people and cannot stand the idea of doing wrong by those she's close to. i think this is also why her breakdown in d-end 2 hit me so hard— she tried her usual coping mechanisms at first when her and sigma were trapped in the shelter alone (she was just as compassionate as she had always been), but after a month, when she realized no one would come for her and sigma, she hit her limit and had an explosive breakdown, begging for any kind of relief or salvation. i would not be surprised if she had suicidal intentions even before then, but kept those thoughts to herself because she feared it would upset sigma.

meanwhile, eric's first reaction when he's stressed or thinks he's screwed up is aggressive. he doubles down on his paranoia and cannot admit when he's wrong, because if he does, that means he's in trouble. he has to be right and he has to always smile, no matter what, even if it causes people to hate him. it's the only way he's been able to survive thus far, especially when his younger brother was killed as a result of his father's abuse towards both of them.

they're both motivated by fear and have long histories of trauma and abuse, but the way that their adult selves manifest their poor coping mechanisms is one of the things i actually really enjoyed about ztd. abuse is never pretty, whether it's outwardly "acceptable" or not.

#zero escape #zero time dilemma #diana ztd #eric ztd #abuse tw #domestic abuse tw #child abuse tw #child death tw #suicide tw #suicidal ideation tw #character analysis #ztd spoilers #zero time dilemma spoilers