Into the Dark, part 25 (after battle)

You should have stabbed me! That harpoon should have pierced my heart! How! Why were you the one to - !

We must find the Pallid Whale! Look alive, men! Spring! Roar!

Harpooneers, tighten the ropes around your harpoons! Helmsman, set course to the Whale!

Full sail! Full sail, my first mate! Row! To the Pallid Whale from which the all evils of the world spout, we sail!

Navigators, chart course…! We set sail! We set… sail…

Ahab roars. She cries out to her crew, but they will never return.

Her voice scatters to nothingness.

I will watch you live. Because you are the proof of my wandering years.

So that I may endlessly struggle against the devouring seas. The testament to my sins. My Whale.

No, you will not look down at me…!

I am Captain Ahab. I, I…!

Pale blood explodes from the gaping rupture in the Whale's heart.

As though the Pequod's crew were raising a toast to victory.

Drink to the Pallid Whale's death.

Drink to the downfall of Captain Ahab.

Thus the voyage came to an end.

Oi... The Whale's not letting us out, it's caving in on itself...!

So what she said about destroying the heart and escaping...

Of course... Full of lies to the end.

Well, it technically wasn't a lie. We will eventually end up outside the Whale.

She didn't say anything about being outside the Whale in one piece, I guess. Ugh, I shoulda seen this coming~

THUMP!

Someone, something dropped a large, sturdy rope from above us.

…!

<Who dropped that rope...?>

Doesn't matter, let's take it!

Ishmael stared at that rope for a moment.

What are you standing around there for? Let's go.

This rope...

I have a feeling that this rope won't snap.

You... You should have killed me...

I should have been the one to kill the Whale...!

What... about her?

... We'll let her watch as this place crumbles around her.

The Captain must go down with the ship, after all.

We all grabbed onto the rope and climbed.

Like Ishmael said, this rope did not snap. We felt the cool breeze blowing in from the outside.

We never once looked back at the abyss that was the Whale.

Never.

After some time...

Apparently the Whale's hide's too thick and tough for most things to puncture...

... So how'd ya do it? Hmm? Hmmm?

The Indigo Elder did not seem to mind Rodya's persistent, somewhat rude questioning; he replied patiently.

I do not know if it is because the Pallid Whale swallowed the Golden Bough... or because it swallowed you and your friends. But its behaviors changed in ways that I had never seen before. I presume that something had gone wrong with its brain.

So I punctured a hole in it with my anchor. That is all.

Now... two of the five Calamities of the Lake have met their end by your hands.

Will you remain here, Indigo Elder?

Why would I leave? The sea still harbors three Calamities.

Hm.

Oh... That butterfly...

A solitary butterfly takes a moment to rest, before fluttering over the Lake's surface.

That butterfly looks similar to the one we saw in the Lobotomy Corp. Branch.

It appears to be the exact same Butterfly.

I'm envious. To be able to cross the Lakes so unbound, so freely like that.

<What do you think his deal was? Rim...>

<He did help us at the end of the day, but...>

He has certain expectations of us. I expect that he will return.

I don't like being a pawn in some dodgy bloke's games.

I think... he was watching us from a short distance away. Maybe a step away.

Ishmael was gazing beyond the Lake's horizons.

She no longer casts her gaze into its waters.

<Ishmael.>

Oh, I was reading the winds.

We're cutting it close. I expect to see the Waves rushing in our direction at any minute.

... Heh.

Ishmael chuckled lightly.

Then let's face it head-on this time. Ready, Dante?

<I... don't know how to sail.>

Haah... Don't you understand? After all that? It doesn't matter how good of a sailor you are.

What's important... is that someone is there to help steer you right.

And as the first mate of this ship, I'll trust and follow your directions.

So... you're my Captain. For now.

My skiff will go on an adventure of its own one day. But for now, I've tied that skiff to a bigger ship called Limbus Company and you.

Because I really want to find out what's waiting for me at the end of this voyage.

... Besides, you guys are the only friends I have left.

<Ishmael...>

I'll trust your decisions and your orders, Captain. But I'm not going to just accept them at a face value. I'll constantly question and try to understand them.

So that when I see that my compass no longer aligns with yours, I can take my skiff and sail away.

So that I won't let anything consume me again. So that I won't lose myself again.

I can see the Waves rushing toward us from a distance.

The Waves are as colossal as always. There is a little fear in my heart.

Yet...

<Well, I think we can manage that.>

Heh.

Waves incoming in 15 seconds. Get to the helm, Swab - No.

First mate Ishmael.

You're not even the Captain, Outis. Come on.

Sorry for intruding.

But Charon's got the helm. Hold on, everyone.

Khm...

Haaah...

Now that's a proper Ishmael sigh. I haven't heard her do that in a long while.

With it, she tightly gripped a handle of the bus, her gaze fixed on the approaching Waves.

Determined to never allow herself to be swept up by the tempest that the waves bring.

Her hair, the color of sunset, flows and flutters in the wind.

The wind feels... nice.

It's a perfect breeze to push us toward a new voyage.

Mhm. Voyage to ice cream. Splish splash.

My, what a mess...

…….

Is it still... not in your sights...?

That cannot be... We must continue our search... Comb... every corner...

Sorry that the Whale died.

But you don't have to completely give up on life, do you? What you've lost is but a 'single' Whale.

You... You're here to point and jeer at this Captain Ahab, have you...?

Captain. In this world of infinite possibilities... Do you really think that there is but a single Pallid Whale?

…….

Yes, now there's a spark in your eyes. I think we're starting to understand each other.

I'll help you kill that Whale. And I'll make sure that you're the one who gets to do it this time.

So that you may hunt every Pallid Whale in every world.

All I require from you is your staunch determination and conviction.

So, is that more than enough reason for you to come aboard my ship?

Let's make this voyage a good one.