Hearts Unbroken (before battle)
Erlking Heathcliff awaits us on the rooftop. Just as Faust expected, the powerful and oppressive energy that surrounded him had only grown more ferocious since our last encounter.
This must be because of the Golden Bough and the 'pure' form of humanity.
Heathcliff watches us stumbling up the stairs through our exhaustion. He lowers Catherine's coffin to the rooftop floor.
What a sorry ending to this tale, is it not?
You have no idea of the lengths I've gone to destroy both Hindley and Linton. How much I have pushed myself to the brink again and again.
This is my own heaven. It is finally within my reach.
... Heaven? This shite is your idea of a heaven?
Look again. You're in hell. Right in the middle of it.
When I heard the news of Catherine's passing, I... began to see her face in all things.
Even my very own face brought back her memories. Everything in the world became an unending reminder of who Catherine once was.
A reminder of the fact that she once existed, only to be forever lost because of me...
So... to breathe, to let my heart beat... I had to think of nothing but that singular wish.
That burning, unchanging desire. My wish.
…….
To kill every Heathcliff in every world.
Yes. That singular wish is the ultimate proof of my love.
Through my campaign, I have seen so many versions of Heathcliff. Some grew wrathful. Some begged for mercy, for their lives...
But in the end... they all admitted that they all had to perish for the good of Catherine, and willingly forfeited their lives.
I found no pleasure in my work.
How could I, when I made it my mission to slay those poor, wretched souls? When all of them died so alone, unloved by all that is living, by the world?
Did you know that no one ever weeps for Heathcliff's death? So, the task falls to me to bury them. To shed my tears for them. Yet, only silence shall attend my own demise.
No. Your method's all wrong.
Of course, I would have given anything to make Catherine happy. Anything. But...
... even you, who saw the possibilities of every world... missed something.
What do you mean?
You said that in every world... Catherine and Heathcliff were destined to be miserable, didn't you?
But we could have been happy. We just missed that smallest key to happiness.
No. No such world exists.
Because of me - No, us! Because of our existence, Catherine will...!
Haaah... Bloody hell. I'm telling you that it's got nothing to do with our existence. The problem was that I wanted to believe that it was.
All I had to do...
All I had to do was to get over my embarrassment. That little fear. I just had to scrounge up the smallest morsel of courage to open the door... and talk to her.
…….
... But how will you prove your theory when we have nothing left to prove it with?
When my Catherine is long gone?!
Right.
I can't change the past, like you said. I can't prove it to you, either. Maybe none of this matters in the end, and Catherine might never wake up again no matter what I do. But...
... I'm here anyway. On this rooftop.
Do... you understand what that means?
…….
You, me... we're both wretches. I understand that...
But... I refuse to break like you did. Leaping from world to world, seeking to kill everyone that you deemed to be the cause of that misery...
... No matter how broken my heart has become.
Your speech rings hollow, Heathcliff, for the outcome is already decided. I will end your life and leap over to the next world to do the same.
Then what the hell are you waiting for?
Heathcliff pulled the Golden Bough from the roof of the manor, where it was installed as a lightning rod.
Haah... your struggle is meaningless. You cannot destroy the Golden Bough.
I can't destroy it, no... but I can stop it from working.
You mean to kill me? You?
No. I will stab myself, just as you wished.
... You're... what?
I see.
I don't exactly understand why, but this Golden Bough bein' imbued with lightning is a necessary part of your plan, innit?
What if I just... drained its powers? That'd cock up your grand scheme, won't it?
<Wait... how do you even know that, Heathcliff?>
I ain't educated, but you know I'm good at sniffing these things out.
<Heathcliff!>
Catherine...
I'm back.
Please, open the door.
Why... why did you stab yourself? Is this how you wanted this to end?
Because I need Cathy in every corner of this manor to hear my call.
From what I've seen, the Golden Bough...
... connects the hearts... together. Look, I'm flying by the seat of my trousers here.
What are you...
Catherine... has become Wuthering Heights itself.
I don't understand how that happened.
But if Cathy... if she saw the same mirror that Nelly and this git peered into...
And if her heart was the same as mine all along...
... I feel like I'd know what kind of choice she made.
Now that I think back on it... from the moment we set our foot upon this manor, Wuthering Heights kept pushing me away while the diary continued to soothe me.
We were never honest. Cathy, I... both of us.
Heathcliff, what are you talking about...?
The diary flips through its pages until it comes to a stop on the last page.
Would you like to hear a story, Heathcliff?
Long, long time ago, Josephine told me a little tale.
She said that there is a deep, ancient river flowing beneath this manor.
Every architect said that this was not a good place to build anything, let alone a house. That nothing should ever be built atop this hill.
Wuthering Heights was built here nonetheless. Over the unseen, hypogean river.
Ever since I was a child, I saw... the ghost of my late mother, wandering the halls of this manor.
Nelly... can't you see that ghost?
I told you, Miss! There are no such things as ghosts!
Why didn't you take your nap like I asked you to?!
…….
Ooh... Mistress...
Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who was seeing ghosts.
I, Josephine, knew that you would one day return to our side.
That the river flowing beneath these lands would bring your grace back to this manor...
That, should my duties at this manor be complete, you would allow me to drink the river's waters...
And I've repeatedly seen that vision as I grew up.
After Heathcliff left me, after I'd lost every will to live...
... Nelly brought me a mirror.
Miss, I... found an interesting mirror.
It shows you some fascinating things; I suppose it is a magic mirror of sorts?
I thought you might enjoy such an invention.
…!
In that mirror, I saw the infinite variations of Heathcliff and I.
I pulled Heathcliff to the utter abyss of desolation. He grew cold and unhappy... mired in an endless cycle of misfortune.
It was as though his fate was already written to be miserable. No matter what he did, he would always meet a wretched end.
Do you see that? I see... another ghost.
Miss, you are still very ill. Please do not let the chill winds sicken you further.
Why does that ghost weep so tragically? And why does she appear so... familiar?
I... I must gaze into the mirror again, Nelly...
I wished to find that single strand of possibility where Heathcliff can be happy...
So I gazed into that mirror night after night, night after night...
Until blood began to stream down my cheeks in place of tears...
At the end of the ceaseless wailings...
I found the Catherines who tasted the deepest despair.
You are... No other Catherine weeps as terribly as you do. Not in any of the worlds I have seen.
Because in this world... I am Heathcliff's murderer...!
We were just like you... desperately searching through every world we peered past the mirror...
But in no world are Heathcliff and I together in happiness. Our tale always ends in tragedy.
Thus suffering is all that remains! I have nothing to live for alone. I have no reason to go on. Ahhh...
Why can't Heathcliff be happy? Why can't *any* Heathcliff be allowed even an ounce of happiness?
There is but one answer.
That we are the cause of his misery. Because Catherine's existence is what brings misfortune to Heathcliff...!
…….
Every Heathcliff is miserable... because of me...
If I were to no longer exist in any world...
... will every Heathcliff in every world find happiness?
Yes, he will. So... it's not too late. For the sake of every remaining Heathcliff in every world...
Please, invite us to your world beyond.
So that we may kill you first...
... and move on to the next, to kill the Catherine of a different world. Again, and again...
Then...
... only then can every Heathcliff reach his own heaven. The heaven where I no longer exist...
It felt as though I was freed from a heavy yoke.
It felt as though this was precisely what I was meant to do.
Because I love every Heathcliff.
Because he deserves to be happy.
I have done as you ordered. I have used some of my... connections in the Backstreets...
... to bankrupt Mister Hindley. Last I heard, he gambled everything he had away.
I used Nelly, who asked her acquaintance to bankrupt my brother. Then I took the ownership of Wuthering Heights from him...
Don't worry about the results. We've done similar experiments in the past.
It'll all work out as long as the laboratory is ready.
Certainly. The laboratory will be completed as you have requested. The price is not a matter of concern.
And... like I've told you repeatedly...
This method will overwrite your identity with that of another.
Which is to say that your body should be free of consciousness.
We've learned from one of our previous experiments that full, complete Identities can be summoned only when the body is empty.
I installed a massive laboratory in our basement to invite Catherine to our world.
I acquired the Golden Bough with Linton's help. However...
To summon a fully intact Identity... is an incredibly power-consuming procedure.
A single Golden Bough won't be enough to power it.
Lucky for you, we have recently procured ourselves a Golden Bough.
This Golden Bough, once installed on the roof of your manor, will collect all the necessary energy and relay it to the Golden Bough installed in the laboratory.
You are so kind.
What kind of payment do you ask in return?
Not monetary, that's for certain. Instead...
... allow us to make a 'dough'. That is all I ask.
A 'dough'?
Yes. A pure, uncontaminated dough.
Invite me, please... please...
Mmhm. The experiment should be complete soon.
Nelly.
I no longer fear the ghosts.
Because all fear stems from the ignorance of its origin.
Maybe that is why I was so afraid of talking to Heathcliff.
Because I could not know, nor could I understand his ever-distant heart.
What I had thought to be ghosts... were just us from the other worlds.
Suffering, in wretched pain, yet wandering the manor still, determined to end my life.
Now, after the lightning strikes seven times upon your coffin...
... the path to the other world will open, summoning the Catherine you want from the other world here.
I am certain that Linton will be happy.
Because you are doing this for me, whom you love so much.
Once this coffin closes, that is it. You won't ever open your eyes again.
I know.
But this is not the end. I will always be watching over you, wherever you may be.
... Your word is my command. Everything shall be as you willed.
Sweet dreams, my love...
Oh, a 'dough' of such high purity can become pretty much anything.
What I seek lies beyond that dough, however. It's something more primordial, something at the far beginning of all things...
But for you, I present a different Heathcliff...
Not your Heathcliff who left you without a word, and doesn't even care to return. A Heathcliff who exists for Catherine... and only Catherine.
And the river that flows beneath your manor... will be of great help to the both of us.
It may be that your consciousness isn't lost forever. Because the deepest river... arrests them from moving on.
Perhaps you would have a front seat to everything that is to transpire.
Heathcliff who exists just for me...? What are you talking about?
And... why am I watching all this happen?
Where am I?
Can anyone hear me?
Don't you worry. We will make sure that this summoning ritual is a resounding success.
And just in case you forget... remember to hold steadfast. Remember that all of this is for the good of Heathcliff whom you love so much.
…….
... The clock turns to revive Heathcliff, who stabbed himself with the Golden Bough...
... Catherine.
Eventually... Catherine from a distant world is slowly pulled from the Coffin the other Heathcliff is carrying.
The Golden Bough that impaled Heathcliff began to return to whence it came...
... Back to where Heathcliff first tore it from, like it was meant to be.