For Tomorrow

"For Tomorrow", also called "It's Been A Wild Ride: Vaultwatcher" and "Reaching Out To You: Singlehanded Savior" is the fourteenth episode of Reflection, and part three of the three-part finale of the series' first Act.

*Death’s attack on OPIA HQ begins in full. Will tomorrow come and will it bring with it a future worth living in?*

## Summary

Vinter wraps up his work at his office, the legions of the Court of Death all in position to annihilate the forces of OPIA. He is approached by Sonnet, who asks as to why Death is taking such an uncharacteristically direct role in the conflict. Vinter explains that, alongisde OPIA interfering with the cycle of death and rebirth, their position as the guardians of the Flame of Creation will make it difficult for the Demonic Courts to harvest the Flame when the time comes. Sonnet then asks if Fio's actions were a misstep, but Vinter says that, even if his and Fio's courts are ideologically opposed, as long as his daughter remains within the bounds of the Queen of Flames' will, he welcome any mischief Fio gets up to. Fio, who had been spying on the conversation, runs off to begin her own plans.

At OPIA HQ, Lyst Solais breaks out of the prison of crystal created by Cast. She wanders through OPIA's Reflection hall, eventually stumbling upon Cursor, who has inhabited a doll version of herself. Cursor asks Lyst if she knows why some Reflections are missing. Lyst gets worried, and lies, saying that she doesn't. At the same time, she shoves a Reflection further into her dress.

On the second layer of the Coda, the members of FLOW and their allies scale the massive World Tree created by Mic. The region of the layer that has been pierced by the World Tree has disrupted the alien physics of the layer, shattering the stacked Penrose triangles into a series of platforms tied to various branches of the world tree. This allows the party to escape the layer by simply climbing up, rather than hunting for holes in reality. They pass by various Demons wrapped up in the tree, including the Junker Demon that the party tricked into clearing a path for them. It does not seem hostile anymore, but it does begin to follow the party, which attracts the interest of an ESPer named Pixie, who has to be dragged back on course by her comrades. At one point, the party is stopped by Stephano, who informs "Lord Arg0s" that Vinter has returned to the bottom of the Coda. He asks if he is allowed to depart from them and assit Lugh, who he called an "honored guest of the Court of Death". The party is confused but decides to push that revelation to the side for now, allowing Stephano to do as he pleases. Satyr appears in front of Circuit and Colt and tells Circuit that it's time for them to enact his plan. Circuit goes with him, collapsing all of her bodies as they vanish into Satyr's ESP.

The party continues to scale the World Tree. Arg0s scouts ahead through a dark area full of Demons, managing to navigate of path for the rest of the group to pass through unscathed. He climbs to another platform, where a projection of Fio tells him that she has a simulacrum stored somewhere in the Undercity, and that she'd like Arg0s to find it for her. When the rest of the party arrives, Arg0s informs them of this. Ace is immediately suspicious, and doesn't want to be distracted from saving Ruth, but Arg0s assures him he is not possessed. As they make it to the first layer, the party agreed to split into smaller groups once again to achieve their individual objectives. As they arrive on the first layer, they are greeted by Melli and Lugh. After some of the party runs off to admire Pirate Radio, the entire group heads up to the surface, where Verona shepherds them away from a mass of supportive paparazzi and into Station One. They reunite with Cam and Basil. Basil embraces Ridill in a hug, frantically making sure that she's herself and not the other version of her. With everyone together, OPIA splits up into groups for their final deployment.

Arg0s and Verona, with Mic resting in Arg0s's headset, head to the Undercity to retrieve Fio's body. An entire series of blocks have been quarantined off by ESPers due to the massive amount of Burn emanating from the simulacrum as Fio possesses it. The two encounter Jas, who warns them about the dangerous Burn levels in his basement, but thanks them for helping out against GEIST. He lets them into his basement, where they begin making the difficult walk to Fio's simulacrum. To lower Burn, Verona begins frantically narrating various stories, including how she recieved a journal from a past version of her that gave her crucial information that led to OPIA's founding, as well as an instance where she gained a bit of a crush of Ridill after watching her ravenously eat a loaf of bread on a vaction to the Sylt Islands. Arg0s streams the entire process as well in order to calm his nerves. Mic, delirious from her wounds, continues to ramble on incessantly about how powerful she is. Arg0s finally manages to accrue the strength to open the door to where Fio is being kept, which causes him to take a near fatal amount of Burn. He manages to push through, entering a vision of Fio sitting on a bed in the Queen of Flames's castle. He gives her the final push she needs to break into her simulacrum, and Arg0s exits the trance, finding himself in front of an open birthing tube that Fio comes out of.

Higher up in Fuse City, the Court of Death has begun its assault in full. Charybdis, Melli, Lugh, Aura and several ESPers help to defend civlians from the Demonic army, while attempting to stop the army from severing Upwind's arm. At the same time, a team consisting of Ace, Ridill, Willow, Basil, Cam, Twice, and Uno arrive at OPIA HQ, where they find Cast entombed in a massive crystal at the center of the lobby. In front of the crystal, Stein teleports in to drop off Rio Fenrir and the Hunter of Mortals, and then disappears. The two groups immediately begin a brutal combat as Willow enters yet another duel with the Hunter, while Twice trades blows with Rio. Ridill, Ace, and Basil sneak further into the hospital during the chaos. They come out into the garden, where they are confronted by Treble and Decca, who decided to ignore Vinter's orders and come with Treble to fight OPIA instead. After using True Magic to boost Basil and Ace's abilities, Ridill runs off to fight Treble, while Ace and Basil engage Decca. Ridill and Treble pretend to fight for a few minutes before Treble is able to enter Ridill's ESP field, where Vinter can't see her. They teleport to the OPIA ESP lab, where they hastily begin constructing a new body for Ruth made of the Elements of Sunshine, Darkness, and Divinity-as-is-Beast.

Ace and Basil continue to fight against Decca, who proves himself to be an extremely competent fighter, wielding a Reflection of his own that consists of two autonomous talking swords. Ace sacrifices one of his ribs to Vaultwatcher in exchange for the Immortal Blade. After being wounded several times while fighting, the will of the Immortal Blade begins to seep its way into Ace, and he sees a vision of the personality inside. Ace finally manages to deal a massive blow to Decca, shattering his mask, but Decca quickly retaliates, dealing a devastating attack that seems to kill Ace. Ace feels himself being pulled towards the Flame of Creation, and as he dies, he suddenly finds himself in a vision. He stands in front of an old church. The architecture is exotic to him. He looks nearby and sees a graveyard, and is confused as to what it is. Behind him, three people drive up in a car and exit it, remarking in horror that Ace is alight with blue Flame. Ace attempts to speak with them, but the moment he does, the people erupt into flames, transforming into monsters shrouded in shadow. Ace runs towards the church, where he sees a rainbow Flame. He ignores it and attempts to enter the church, but cannot. Defeated, he sits down at the foot of the church, awaiting his death. Vaultwatcher appears to him and convinces him to defy fate one last time. He reveals to Ace that he knows that in truth, Ace does dream, of a single, horrific blade. With Vaultwatcher's help, Ace summons Seagazer and drags himself back to the world of the living.

Satyr and Circuit teleport into a massive pyrimidal GEIST facility floating in space. Satyr instructs Circuit to erase Colt's data from the GEIST AI, unofficially pardoning Colt of his status as a criminal and allowing him to leave the Undercity. He then has Circuit erase his own data, but doesn't allow her to look, saying that what's written there paints him in a bad light. Circuit argues with him, eventually agreeing to keep a copy of the data but not to open it. They then sneak further into the pyramid, where they find the central coffins of the GEIST CEOs. Satyr pulls out a machine gun and shoots them all, but the CEOs remain alive. They explain to Satyr that they have impressed their shapes onto the Flame of Creation and have therefore become "eternal". They will never die, and even if the world ends, it is now ensured that they will reform into the next world. Satyr quickly teleports back to OPIA and grabs Ridill while she was attempting to save Ace. This infuriates Treble. The CEOs laugh at Satyr's desperate last attempt. Looking at Ridill, some of them wonder if, as a reincarnation of the original Tormented that became Gnashing Maw, they could turn Ridill into a Demonic Arm. Ridill, angry that she'd been taken from Ruth, pulls out the artificial Reflection Progress which, by exploiting its ability to turn the energy from healing Burn into devastating laser blasts, destroys the GEIST CEOs and their coffins. Number Five, who had actually already fled far in advance, collects the CEOs' wayward Flame, which does not return to the Flame of Creation, and consumes it. He then fires Satyr, but, not wanting to cause any more problems, leaves OPIA to itself.

Ace reawakens in the garden, where Basil had angrily attempted to revive him. Decca attempts to continue the fight, but Treble and Fio appear. Treble admonishes Decca, whose mask has fallen off to reveal that he's actually an incarnation of Ace from a previous world. He compliments Ace's fighting ability, but says that the next time they meet, he's going to kill him. He then leaves. Fio approaches Ace and Basil and tells them that they should follow her, as their companions need assistance downstairs. In the lobby, the final group, now assisted by Arg0s, continues to fight Rio and the Hunter of Mortals. The Hunter, noticing that the situation has turned severely against the Court of Death, collapses OPIA HQ beneath him, sending chunks of the lower floors hurtling towards the Undercity. Treble and Fio create fields of Anima that greatly slow their fall, allowing Arg0s, Willow, and Cam to face off against the Hunter, who has assumed a massive new form. As they fight, they are joined by Ace, Basil, Ridill, Treble, and Fio, who work together to defeat the Hunter. Ridill gives Willow a cartrdige of Flame to implant in her Echo Weapon that will force mortality onto the Hunter when he is hit by it. The fighting continues, and the Hunter of Mortals is greatly wounded. Using Singlehanded Savior's special ability, Arg0s summons copies of the weapons of everyone on the field. They attack the Hunter of Mortals all at once, killing him utterly. As he dies, the Hunter accepts his death with grace, fading into Flames. Treble and Fio's Anima fields give way, but the party is intercepted by various FLOW and OPIA agents and their allies as they fall towards the ground.

Two months later, Willow, having moved in with Melli, meets with Ridill and Treble to discuss their plans for OPIA in the future. With GEIST mostly having backed off, and Ridill having armed several people with Reflections during the chaos, OPIA has decided to begin training its third Wave, and wants Willow to be the head instructor of one of its "Gates", or training programs. She accepts. Outside, Colt, who had to have his eye amputated and replaced with a prosthetic, walks with Circuit. Colt has since joined FLOW and binded to Six Chamber Heartthrob, which replaced his legs, which also had to be amputated. Some time later, Circuit assist Satyr in setting up his new job as a private investigator. His first client is Ulilara, who is looking for Uno, who disappeared after the battle had ceased. Out in the Sylt Islands, some prospective Wave Three members, including Danger, Cast, and Charybdis, have begun training camp. Ridill informs Cam that he has been gifted a plot of land by the Seers of Cialla, who have apparently divined that Cam factors into the God of Humanity's grand plan. Cam spends the next few months in Cialla with Basil and Mic, living in a wizard's tower granted to him by the Seers. During this time, Mic grows a tail and her teeth are replaced with more draconic ones as a result of her Reflection's EX Feedback.

Elsewhere in Cialla, near Ridill's old cabin, Treble and Ridill show Arg0s to Fio, who has been sitting in a clearing, catatonic, since the battle ended. Treble explains that Fio directly assisting Arg0s against the Hunter of Mortals was an infraction severe enough to go against the will of the Queen of Flames. Fio's consciousness has been dragged back down to the Coda, and the Demonic Courts are in the process of attempting to replace her as the Archdemon. Treble theorizes that the Courts might have a stockpile of other Muses ready to replace her, as the ability of a Muse is not restricted to Fio. Treble and Mic, for example, both have the ability to "listen to the world". Arg0s promises to rescue Fio. At the bottom of the Coda, with the Hunter of Mortals dead, Vinter installs Rio as the new Stranger of Death. She asks how Fio is taking the entire situation. Vinter responds that she is throwing a bit of a "temper tantrum".

At the OPIA bar, Lyst serves Lugh a drink. She inquires as to the Burn-inducing handkerchief he has. In response, he inquires as to the Reflection that she had stolen in the chaos. Lyst finds humor in their somewhat antagonistic conversation. In the GEIST district, Ridill, Treble, and Verona convince Number Five, now the sole CEO of GEIST for the time being, to increase their funding and return the stolen Reflections. After exiting the GEIST tower, they encounter Basil, who has adopted yet another new outfit. Verona explains that GEIST has relinquished all guardianship of Basil, and she can leave if she wants to, but Basil decides to stay. In the Undercity, Ascalon talks to Twice about how she feels like she needs to prove herself again after being so easily countered by the GEIST AI. Twice shares her own excitement at fighting more Demons in the future, specifically Rio. In the Undercity, Stephano and Sonnet visit Marco's shop. Sonnet notices many copies of *Deus ex Machina*, and is pleased to see her book sell so well.

Some time later, FLOW and OPIA gather together to wish Ace a final goodbye as he leaves the team. Ridill asks him if he wants to stay one last time, but he denies it. Mic also attempts to convince him to stay, but when he doesn't, she promises to come to his apartment and cook dinner for him every day. With a final round of goodbyes, Ace departs from FLOW, his goal achieved.

On a mission, Ridill's van gets stuck in the sand again. Aura tells someone to go out and push it. Ruth, now in a new body and back to work at FLOW, leaves the van first, alongside Captain, who is acting as a therapy animal for her. She is joined by Ridill, who still does not possess the upper body strength to push a van, which Ruth makes fun of her for. Irritated by their bickering, Aura asks the rest of the group to get out and help them. Willow, Arg0s, Basil, Mic, Cam, Colt, and Melli all exit the van, their combined strength being more than enough to push the van. As it rolls out into the desert, they hop onto the roof. Ridill watches the sky as she sees a shooting star in the sky, a shocking thing to see in the middle of the day. She wonders what it is as it breaks apart in two in midair, continuing to fall to the earth.

## Characters

### Party

* Ace Galatine
* Arg0s
* Willow Wisp
* Basilisk Id
* Ridill Arondite

### FLOW

* Aura Pridwyn
* Lyst Solais
* Ascalon
* Lugh
* Twice
* Ruth Galatine

### OPIA

* Dr. Verona
* Director
* Treble
* Cam
* Mic
* Circuit
* Cursor
* Cast
* Danger
* Captain

### GEIST

* Satyr
* Number Five
* GEIST AI

### Demonic Courts

* Fio
* Stein
* Vinter
* Sonnet
* Stephano
* Hunter of Mortals
* Rio Fenrir

### Other

* Decca
* Colt
* Melli Luxity
* Charybdis
* Uno
* Ulilara
* Marco
* Jasconius
* Birdman
* Pixie
* Shriek

## Trivia

* Two characters from *Diligence*, an unstreamed Call of Cthulhu game GMed by Brin, appear as background NPCs in the scene where Arg0s and Verona approach Fio's body.
* This is the first episode of Reflection in which the Captain has appeared, marking the conclusion of a running gag of him not appearing onscreen despite being extremely prevalent in promotional material.