Video | Day 451

[secondborn]

[Alastair is pale, and he looks like he's gone through hell. For those who know him, or at least recognize him, he looks several years older than he did only a few days ago. He takes a deep breath and runs a hand through his long hair and looks directly at the camera.]

For any of you who might still be skeptical about what's at stake, you need to hear this.

[He looks away, bracing himself for what he's about to say.]

All of you need to hear this.

[He looks back at the camera again, and there's a new intensity to it, a desperation. His voice cracks slightly with the despair lurking beneath the shock he's still feeling.]

My home is gone. Destroyed. If you have ever had any doubts before, listen to me now. Your homes are in danger. I watched my world crumble and die and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It withered and died because Yggdrasil is withering and dying.

Think what you will about the gods and their methods but this war isn't for nothing. You have something to fight for, and you need to fight for it or it will be gone. Gone in death and destruction and more pain than you can possibly imagine.

[He swallows and looks away again, the pain crossing his face as he tries to compose himself.]

I know because I watched it happen.

[He takes a deep breath and looks back once more.]

If you... if you have any questions, I'm ready to answer them.

Comments

video;

[bratking]

You know that if this war is won, you'll be sent back home, right? Even if you've got nothing to go back to. That's what I've been told.

video;

[secondborn]

I'm aware of that. [He takes a deep, resigned breath.] If the war is won, maybe the gods will be merciful and let me stay. If not, then I have to get used to the idea of dying, I suppose.

[ video ]

[thoughts]

[ questions. she knows she has one, or many, or too many to be counted, let alone asked. but there is anguish in her ears and despair in her eyes, losses ticking away on every past second.

perhaps there's only one. river can't ask the voice in her head, but he said he's ready to answer. ]

Do you hurt?

[ video ]

[secondborn]

Yes.

[His head is still reeling, reconciling years of memories in the span of two days, and more than that, everything he's seen during that time. He's in shock, but there's a deep, overwhelming ocean of pain that hides beneath the surface of the numbness that he knows he'll confront eventually, though for now, it's impossible.]

Yes, I do.

video.

[brainiest]

[ Her eyes widen and she's speechless for a long moment before - ]

Are you alright?

video.

[secondborn]

[He shakes his head.]

No. [And he suspects it'll only get worse once the shock wears off.] But I'll live.

[Video]

[grudgebreaker]

You watched it happen? How is that possible...? And how did you escape alive? Are you okay?

[Video]

[secondborn]

I don't know exactly what happened, but it was like... [He sighs, trying to find the words to describe it.] ...it was like I was here, but pulled home at the same time. I spent years at home and only two days here but saw both happening simultaneously. I escaped alive, I think, because I was still connected here. So I suppose I have the gods to thank.

[As for that last question, he takes a deep breath.]

No. I'm not okay.

Video

[kage_senbon]

How can you know that for certain? What if it's just another of their tricks to confuse you?

Video

[secondborn]

It wasn't a trick. [He considers how to explain it.] At home I... had a connection to the world that let me feel what was wrong with it. In better circumstances, this would have let me heal it when it was sick, but this... [He shakes his head.] It was an illness that couldn't be healed.

The danger is real. They didn't kidnap us to fight a war that wasn't ours, it is our war. And if we lose, we lose everything.

[video]

[notsogrimreaper]

...How?

[Ryoji's voice is quiet so no one overhears, but the pain and devastation in his voice is still audible. He had been afraid this would happen... He had kept hope that the Seal still remained intact, but if worlds were being destroyed, maybe that wasn't the case.]

[video]

[secondborn]

[Alastair wets his lips and takes a breath, his eyes shifting as he tries to put the explanation into the right words.]

Think of it like a disease. A contagious disease. Yggdrasil is sick, and its in danger of infecting every world in creation. My... My world... [He breaks off for a moment, collecting himself.]

My world was infected, and... succumbed.

video;

[notbychoice]

[ Well, isn't this a complicated message. For one thing, the Doctor's home is already gone, but then there's the earth to consider. ]

And you know your home's gone for sure? That this isn't some trick?

[ It seems like he's sure enough, if the expressions on his face are anything to go by. But he has to be certain. Just because he hasn't had dreams of his own home planet or the earth being destroyed doesn't mean a lot, not in this instance. ]

video;

[secondborn]

It's not a trick. I was... it's a little complicated to explain, but I had a connection to my world, I could... feel it. In ideal circumstances, this connection is there so that... people like me can help heal the problems, but this... [He shakes his head.] There was no chance. We tried everything we could, but in the end there was nothing. Nothing we could do. Nothing I could do.

text;

[tigers]

What a tearjerker.

But I still don't give a toss one way or another.

text;

[secondborn]

Do you care about your own life? Because if we lose, we're all dead. Everyone.

video

[itistolaugh]

Was it- Did it happen fast?

video

[secondborn]

[He sighs.]

You know, I wonder if it would've been easier if it was, but no. It... it took years. By the end there was only a handful of people left. And then it was all gone.

[allpurposescarf]

Of course it's not for nothing! Wars very rarely are.

[secondborn]

No, that's true. What I meant, I suppose, is that this particular war is worth fighting.

[bythewaves]

Dagor Dagorath [ The murmur is soft, almost to himself. Maglor has not been sleeping well, and half the time he cannot remember when he is - but this is familiar enough. He breathes a bitter laugh ] So. The Final Battle is to be fought here, and am I to be Turin then? How strange the turn of fate.

[ Clearer ] I thank you for the news, bitter though it be. Will you be well?

[secondborn]

Will I be well?

[He chooses to ignore the first part, it didn't seem directed at him, and he didn't quite understand it anyway. He doesn't really have the energy to attempt to dissect a comment like that.]

No. Not for a while, anyway.

[video]

[theredviper]

What of yourself? Where will you go?

[video]

[secondborn]

I haven't quite thought that far ahead, honestly. There's a war that has to be won first.

[video]

[silkandmirrors]

...does anyone else from your world reside here?

[video]

[secondborn]

[He shakes his head.]

No. I'm... [His voice breaks and he looks aside, taking a breath, before continuing.] I'm all that's left now.

[Video]

[comeonthensexy]

[ Well, that's ...

He's seen quite a few worrying things concerning his universe but it could just be his universe and have nothing to do with this war. ]

How did you see it?

[Video]

[secondborn]

I was there.

[He takes a deep breath and shakes his head.]

But I was also here. I'm not sure how it happened, but I'm pretty sure that's what saved me.

video; super late tag-in my apologies >>

[torchwoodteaboy]

Forgive me for asking this, but. How do we know that Yggdrasil has anything to do with your world at all? How are we to believe any of this? It seems all rather convenient, the fact that they can just snatch us from our lives to fight their fights, and then feed us a story about how our worlds depend on it if we don't.

[Skeptic Ianto is a skeptic.]