6-6: Leave it Behind

6-6 Leave it Behind	Episode 06 Previous 6-5 (Story) Next 6-7 (Story)
He has never forgotten the promise he once made...

Characters
Sasha (Faust) Eno (Mephisto) Talulah
Backgrounds
1 2 3

“

An account of the childhood of Mephisto and Faust, and their encounter with Talulah.

”

<Background 1>
???	Eno, what's this book about?
Eno	Ah, I read it. So I brought it for you. I think you'll like it, Sasha! It's a book about ideals.
Sasha	Ideals?
Eno	Yes.
Sasha	What are your ideals, Eno?
Eno	...Ideals, huh. I don't know. Can I have ideals?
Sasha	Of course you can! Why couldn't you?
Eno	Ah, crap, it's time to go home...
Sasha	You don't want to go?
Eno	I don't want to go home.
Sasha	But Eno, you said that if you didn't go home, your father would beat you... But I'll see you tomorrow, right? I can still see you tomorrow.
Eno	I know. I'll put the book and some bread in here. ...Sasha, I don't want to go. It's terrible. I'll get beaten even if I get back now.
Sasha	...... So come out tomorrow. If you get hit, you can hit me.
Eno	Huh...? Hahaha, Sasha, did you get in another fight? Did they knock your head around? You have bruises, so many wounds.
Sasha	This way, people know you're hurting. At least someone will know.
Eno	Well, I know what you're thinking. But I won't.
Sasha	If those kids are still picking on you, let me know! I'll take them all down!
Eno	I know! See you tomorrow! I'll come and sing to you again!
<Background black>
I don't even know what happened to him. All I know is that he gave me food. I only know that he could read, and I wanted to read, and he taught me. I only know that the other kids liked to bully him because he gave me bread and I was stronger, and I hit them and they hit me. But I don't know what happened to him.
<Background 2>
Eno	I'm scared, Sasha. I'm really scared. I think... I don't belong in that home. I overheard that my mom... My mom isn't even in the house. The way they look at me, they're all terrifying, and I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back...
Sasha	But there's no food, or anywhere to stay here, It's just... Just sewers.
Eno	I don't care.
Sasha	But...
Eno	...... Do you hate me too?
Sasha	What...? Why?
Eno	Because I like to laugh?
Sasha	No... No. Why would I?
Eno	Because I shouldn't laugh.
Sasha	Nonsense! Eno, you should keep laughing.
Eno	Really?
Sasha	Really.
<Background black>
Would things be different if he didn't go back that day? Just because I thought my place was too cold and dirty, I sent him home? If he hadn't gone back, would it have changed everything?
<Background 2>
Sasha	You're hurt! The wound on your stomach... What happened, what happened?!
Eno	Sasha... I've been laughing. You see, you told me I could laugh, so I kept laughing. I never stopped laughing... Sasha, do you still want to hear me sing?
<Background black>
After that, he visited me from time to time. And each time he had more and more scars... So many more. I realized how much the things I said influenced him. So I started talking less. Would that make things better?
<Background 1>
Sasha	Your back! Your back...
Eno	......
Sasha	...Does it hurt?
Eno	......
Sasha	This can't keep happening. Who the hell did this?! Why they are doing this to you?! Whoever it is... they need to be punished! Whatever it is, it needs to be destroyed! Eno, take me with you!
Eno	...All right.
Sasha	Huh?
Eno	I will.
<Background black>
I didn't know what I'd said. I didn't know if I could say anything anymore. What did I do? What the hell did I do? I've read a lot of books to, but no book ever told me. Nothing ever told me.
<Background 1>
Eno	Look. Look at it, Sasha... You told me that you wanted to destroy everything that hurt me, didn't you?
Sasha	...... Come on. Your wounds...
Eno	They're not important. It doesn't matter. You see, with one little breath... It's all better. It's all fine.
Sasha	Come on, I'll bandage you up! There must be some cloth around here!
Eno	That man cut my leg... Then with one breath, it's better. An old man slashes my back. One light touch, and it was fine. And it's all thanks to that Originium rock that fat woman shoved down my throat!
Sasha	That's enough, Eno. Really...
Eno	I can't sing anymore, but you see, it's all from the Originium! There's nothing I can't do!
Sasha	Eno!
Eno	...You're unhappy. Why? I only did what you told me. Why are you unhappy? Obviously they're all happy. Just do what they say and they'll all be happy...
Sasha	...Because all of your family are assholes. All of them.
Eno	Yes! So the kids killed them.
Sasha	...What?
Eno	The Infected kids who hadn't been driven out of town...
Sasha	What did you do to them?
Eno	They hit me, too. They hurt you too. Now, they are like pieces on a chess board. My literal pawns. As soon as I healed their wounds, they obeyed my every command. I'll take that bunch of ugly, disgusting people, all of them... All of them! You see, Sasha? You see what I've done? We'll burn it down in one magnificent blaze! All of it!
Sasha	......
Eno	Sasha, what's wrong with you?
Sasha	Don't do anything like that ever again.
Eno	But I thought you said...
Sasha	I didn't think it would turn out this way. Eno, do what you really want to do. Not this. I can help you. You don't have to do this.
Eno	But I...
Sasha	That's enough! Just do what you truly want, Eno! Not what you're forced to do. Not the bloodshed, not the heartbreak, not the revenge! You don't even like this kind of thing!
Eno	...Sasha... I... I want to... Sing... Ugh...
Sasha	......
<Background black>
I couldn't do anything. I was useless.
<Background 2>
Sasha	Eno...
Eno	I can't sing anymore.
Sasha	We'll go together. We'll survive.
Eno	Survive? What's so great about that?
Sasha	...... Nothing. But we can do it together.
Eno	What are you going to do?
Sasha	This is the Originium I stole from the mine, I was going to sell it for some food.
Eno	Sasha!
[Sasha swallows the Originium.]
Sasha	Mmm! This way, we're both infected. Let's survive together.
<Background black>
???	Such things? I'm not interested. There is no reason for anything you do. There is no meaning to your life on this planet. No, you don't need anyone to save you. Pick a name you like.
???	This one? Good. Mephisto...
???	Mephisto. From now on, you are Mephisto. You are no longer what you were. I don't trust you. I have no right to trust you. The only person you can trust is yourself. What you did cannot be written off. You will always carry your past, even if you forget, even if you cannot understand what you did. Everything you do, everything you go through, will become your kindling. They compel you, to keep the fire burning within you... Until the whole earth is free, until you throw away all the others have given you, until you finally understand yourself. At that point, you can even discard the name. It's your choice to stay or go, live or die. Mephisto, I can't change your ideals. If you don't have it, go find it. We'll help ourselves. Who am I? That's not important. What should you call me? ...Talulah.
[The one speaking to Mephisto (Eno) is revealed to be Talulah.]
Talulah	I'm a rebel, an ordinary woman. I'm nobody. But for now, you can call me Talulah.
And Talulah didn't say much to me. She held me tightly and rapped three times on my back. Talulah trusted me. Yelena, Buldrokkas'tee, Lyudmila. They all believed in me. I thought I could put the childhood I spent in that city behind me. Only, things changed quickly. It started with what happened in that village. It was a tragedy. But why did that tragedy make her this way? Why did things turn out like this?
<Background 3>
Mephisto	I'll do whatever you want me to do...
Talulah	No need. Do as you please. I allow it. You are Mephisto, after all.
Mephisto	But, you said before...
Talulah	That was years ago. It's only natural that some things change over the course of a career. If we don't keep up with the times, we're doomed. So we, and our fellow Infected, must fight for our collective future. Anyone can be sacrificed for that ideal.
Mephisto	I can trust you, can't I?
Talulah	Yes. Because I am Talulah.
Mephisto	Then I will!
Talulah	You will, I'm sure you will. We can't do it without you. You can do anything, and you can accomplish anything.
<Background fade out and in>
Talulah	Come in.
[Faust (Sasha) enters.]
Faust	......
Talulah	You should have seen it all.
Faust	Who are you?
Talulah	I am Talulah, of course.
Faust	The Talulah I knew... is not you.
Talulah	Talulah is just a name. Talulah is just Talulah. Help him. Mephisto needs your help. Mephisto needs you to give him value. He trusts only you and me.
Faust	Talulah would never do that. You're taking advantage of his trust in you!
Talulah	None of us have the power to choose.
Faust	......
Talulah	You'll do it for him. Everything.
<Background black>
Talulah	Or would you rather watch him die?
[Faust talks with Mephisto.]
Faust	Don't you realize what happened? After passing through that village, Talulah changed completely! She's not the same person!
Mephisto	I know.
Faust	Then why are you doing this?
Mephisto	I don't trust anyone but you and her. And I don't want to choose.
Faust	......
Mephisto	Faust, where are we going?
Faust	...I...
Mephisto	Faust, tell me. What should we do?
Faust	...We survive.
Mephisto	Isn't it painful to be alive?
Faust	It's painful. But we can do it together.
This book, it's a book about ideals. My ideals are...