Episode 47 - Regrets

## Regrets

Solomon's glasses are drawn in white. The lens on the right is cracked. The lens on the left is completely shattered, with the falling pieces drawn in red.

### Author

William A. Wellman

Diggory leads a revolution, Riot makes a rescue, and Percy stands with his family. The theme of tonight's episode is Regrets.

***Content Warnings:** Abuse, Animal Death, Violence, Death + Injury, Blood, Sexism and Misogyny, Transphobia, Homophobia, Birds, Guns, Misgendering, Emotional Manipulation, Body horror, Religious Violence, Evangelism, Character Death, House Fires*

## Intro - Almost Isaac

Nikignik speaks to the Dreamer as if they were Solomon Reed, addressing him as many things - a musician, a woodworker, a man of God. But today he was a father and holding his new-born (see Percy Reed) for the first time, he does not feel love or elation, but relief at having done what he was meant to do and have a family. He attempts to name his child Isaac, but Abigail Reed tells him that Percy was a girl, and that his (referring to him as 'her') name was Persephone. Solomon acknowledges to himself that Persephone was not a biblical name, but don't speak out in protest. They leave the hospital, the sun not yet risen.

Nikignik stands in the battlefield outside of Solomon's house (see Episode 46 - Teeth), acknowledging that this was not his first time doing so, and he suspected it wouldn't be his last.

## Story One - To Good Places

Diggory Graves stares into the flames of Solomon's house (see Episode 46 - Teeth) and feels no fear. They watch as Solomon gathers his instruments and leaps from his house to his back yard, and if there was music Diggory couldn't hear it as they'd stuffed their ears with Wax pellets (see Episode 24 - Storms and The Mendie's Bell). They watch as Polly skips out of Solomon's house, having set it alight (see Episode 46 - Teeth) and dances up into the sky after Solomon, and they watch as he is followed by Yaretzi and Mort. Upon seeing Mort, Diggory is pulled into a flashback (see Diggory Graves and Ruth Esther Barnes (boat)). As Rizwana Mirza they say fair well to their wife Cindy Lockheart, who tells them to promise her that they'd come back, and Rizwana promises, kissing her. Cindy nods and yells up to the deck of the Ruth Esther Barnes to Barty Chum to take good care of Riz, and he leans over the railing to tell her that he would, Riz watching as the suit that Mort now wears is deposited onto the boat by a crane.

Diggory snaps back to reality to Percy looking at their face and telling them that they couldn't sleep, not now. Diggory tells him that they weren't and informs Percy of how brave he'd been talking to his father like that (see Episode 46 - Teeth), and Percy thanks them for the compliment, saying that they he had to try, and asking where Riot Maidstone was. Diggory looks around, and finds that they can't see her, worrying out loud that she might have gone into the house, both of them turning their heads to look at the flaming building. Diggory runs to the other side of the house, taking the wax out of their ears to call out for her. The reach the garage, and find the other Mendies, who all stair up at them calmly. Diggory asks them what they were doing and if they were alright. Leyland Blooms informs them that Floris Scrubbs was 'having a moment', telling Diggory that it was good to see them. Floris speaks up, telling Diggory that they were not alright, that they [the Mendies (minus Diggory)] didn't know what they were going to do now, and that this was all Diggory's fault. Diggory asks how this was their fault, and Floris tells them that they'd given Leyland ideas. One of the Mendies informs Diggory of them no longer having a bell, another telling them that they could make their own decisions now, another tells them that they didn't know how to make their own decisions, and another informs them that they just needed some time. Solomon begins to ring the Mendies Bell in the distance, and Diggory has a moment of fear, but when nothing happens Floris whales out to Diggory that they'd replaced their bell (see Episode 43 - Relics) and tells Leyland to tell Solomon where they'd buried it. But Leyland simply tells Floris that they wouldn't be needing it anymore. Diggory backs this sentiment.

Leyland tells Diggory that they [the Mendies] didn't know where to start, telling Diggory that they were not brave like them. Diggory tells them that they were not brave, that they were frequently afraid, but they simply walked and followed their heart, which had led them to Percy, who they notice is floating nearby, and then the Scoutpost, and would lead them to many good things in the future. They tell the other Mendies that if they did not know where they wanted to go yet, they could come with them back to the Scoutpost. The Mendies agree to this, Leyland saying that that would be good. Diggory tells them to get out of the fire, and to follow the people wearing yellow jackets when they left, telling them that Percy and themself were going to go face Solomon now. The Mendies leave the garage, and Diggory ask Percy if he was read. Percy tells them that he wasn't ready at all, but it was time to go.

### Interlude - Trees Out Of Time

Nikignik tells the dreamers that it was a morning of change in The Hallowoods, that Solomon's house was a burning pillar in the central woods, that the wards that kept the forest at bay (see Episode 42 - Walls) around Solomon's property had been weakened to the point of breaking, and the Scoutpost along with any friends that Walter Pensive had accumulated over the years had rallied for a final fight (see Episode 40 - Graves). He says that the Woods themself was a testament, where life met death, and captured in these soft round faces and weary hearts and weathered hands, standing together to save their friends and family. There was death in the north, and spirit and harvest and oblivion given shape, mountains beyond space and trees out of time. And yet it was home.

## Story Two - Hide And Seek

Riot kicks down the door to Solomon’s house and rushes inside, calling out for Clara Martin, needing to find out for herself if she was really working for Solomon (see Episode 45 – Tombs). She looks through all the rooms on the bottom floor, and after finding nothing she descends into the basement, finding what she describes as “an actual murder dungeon” (see Solomon Reed’s house). Then Al appears, scaring Riot and causing her to almost cut him in half with her sword on reflex. She looks at him (see Al), and asks if he was nice or scary, and Al tells her that he wasn’t scary, and introduces himself. She does the same, telling him that she was going to put her sword down, and he wasn’t going to attack her. He asks why he would attack her, and she tells him that she didn’t know, as he was the ghost out of the two of them. He asks her if she wanted to play a game, and she tells him that she was busy and looking for someone, and asks him if he’d seen Clara, giving him a description of her. He tells her he had, he’d seen her upstairs and that she helped Solomon.

Riot conceals how this development makes her feel, wondering if Clara was being forced into helping him. She thanks Al for his help, and Al asks if she could take him with herm as he didn’t want to be alone. She complies after hearing a noise from upstairs and recognising that she was running out of time, picking up Al’s toy drum just as Polly set the room ablaze upstairs, ducking behind a worktable to stop herself from getting caught in wave of fire that came down the stairs. She looks up, and sees that that hallway was alight, and she curses. She gets her sword at the ready and charges upstairs, only to stop in her tracks when she sees Clara floating in the middle of the room on her broomstick.

### Marketing - Perfect Smile

Lady Ethel Mallory interrupts the broadcast with her marketing segment. She begins to announce that they were about to witness Valerie Maidstone and ‘Riot Maidstone’ (see Also Riot) be reunited, but she’s cut off by Nikignik telling her that she wasn’t going to be interrupting him today, Ethel continues, saying that they [Also Riot and Valerie] had waited so long to be reunited, and Nikignik tells her to quiet down and get out of his broadcast. She continues to talk, saying that they only had a few minutes until the reunion, but Nikignik manages to drown out her broadcast with his own.

### Story Two, Continued

Riot lowers her sword, wondering if she was dead because she couldn’t seem to feel her heart beating. She calls Clara’s name, and Clar does the same, the reunion being interrupted by the room above them collapsing. Clara grabs Riot and flies out the back door, dropping Riot on the burnt lawn and wrapping her arms around her. Riot tells Clara that she’d thought she was dead, and that people kept on saying that she was working for Solomon. Clara denies this immediately, telling her that she’d [Clara] had need to learn what had happened to her [Riot]. Clara asks Riot where she [Riot] had gone, and who all the people there were. Riot tells her that she’d been looking for her, seeing as she hadn’t been in their meeting spot, and asks about her Broomstick. Clara tells her that she’d waited in their spot for weeks, that she’d thought the instrumentalist had gotten to her, and asks about her sword. They hear the sound of Polly setting Solomon’s orchestra on fire (see Episode 46 - Teeth). Riot tells her that they could talk later, but she was going to kill Solomon. Clara tells her that she was going to help.

They stand up, and Riot looks up to see Winona Carline riding her Night-gaunt, and she begins to run towards approximately where she knows Solomon was, joined by Clara’ seeing the Solar stag and Zorgelleck as she went. She gets Solomon in her sight, backed against the tree line and fighting off Yaretzi with his remining instruments, ducking as Yaretzi goes rolling past her. Solomon attempts to take to the air again but is knocked down by Polly hitting him with a bolt of fire. Riot takes advantage of Solomon’s moment of weakness to run into the battle. Solomon pushes himself up to see her rushing him. He laughs at the sight of her, asking if this had all been her doing, telling her that he’d thought she was just a thorn in his side, but it turned out that she’d been a sword. She tells him that he’d bet she was, and lifts her sword in attach, but Solomon summons a ghost, which after a short fight Riot kills her with her sword. She sees a group of spirits charging towards Clara, and yells at her to look out, but Clara manages to dissipate the ghosts with her abilities (see Clara Martin). Solomon, having failed to read the situation, tells Clara to grab Riot, that the intruders would cease their attack if they did so. Clara glairs at him, and sticks Dogsmell on him, but Solomon summons even more ghosts to defend him against the hound. He tells them that he was going to show them what a master of spirits could do, and Clara takes to the air readying for Solomon's attack. Riot charges him once again, and he swarms her with ghosts, and she fights a losing battle against them until she acks into Mort. He asks her if she wanted to be his friend, and - very confused - she says yes. To this he catches an oncoming ghost by its head and cuts its strings.

Riot watches as Solomon is once again pounced on by Yaretzi, however he manages to pry her off with his ghosts and he roles to his feet. and he calls out to the crowd. Telling them that they'd come there to rail against death with the devil himself, but there would be no more of that, ash he'd be dome, on both earth and heaven. But then Polly appears behind Solomon, and sets ablaze even more of Solomon's instruments (see Episode 46 - Teeth), disarming him. Solomon screams, and Polly dances away before Solomon could react. Riot realises that Diggory was standing beside her, and she prepares herself to finish the proverbial job,

### Interlude - Heavy

Nikignik asks that dreamer if they'd been enjoying the nightmares he'd been given them, telling them that it was still too early to tell them why he was doing this broadcast, but he felt it was going well. He tells the dreamers that he could feel the weight of being in the Hallowoods, that even in the act of remembering someone it was still difficult to be reminded of them. That he shared the final moments of humanity for Amaryllis, who he wished had lived longer, telling the dreamers that if they ever took a human for a friend that it would be the most pleasant few moments of their lie that they might know, but then it'd be back to being alone again.

And, of course, Marolmar's memory was there too. His heart may beat it was devoid of life, simply a mechanism there to 'spin the wheel of ages one last defiant time'. Marolmar was everywhere, and Nikignik laments that he wished he could forget him; but he wouldn't let himself do that, as if he let go of the memory of Marolmar it would be like killing him a second time. Nikignik questions what he did wrong, if he could have prevented what had happened to Marolmar, insisted he stay with him, or had gone with him, but he steals himself, saying that he could not afford to get distracted.

## Story Three - Quiet Is Good

Percy watches in awe at the inferno that was the remains of Solomon's instruments, watching as the ghosts tied to them cried out in joy as their proverbial and literal bounds were broken and they dissipated, as Solomon tried helplessly to save his past twenty years of work. He stands with Diggory, Riot, and Clara watching him suffer in his powerlessness, being also joined by Yaretzi, Mort, and Polly who stand as by their own. She watches as Bern and Hector, as well as Winona's Night-gaunt also emerge from the smoke. Percy watches on as Solomon tosses away his conductor's wand and turns to look directly at Percy.

Solomon speaks out to him, telling him that he must hate him if he was willing to conspire with his enemies against him. Percy bears witness those around him begin to close in on Solomon, intent to kill, but Percy finds himself choked to a loss for words at this allegation and pushes his face into Diggory's jacket. Polly summons an armoury of flaming spears and points them at Solomon, telling him that 'this is for my Umbrella' (see Episode 36 - Swords). Solomon screams and falls back, looking at Percy one again and seeing Diggory, pulling the bell out of his pocket and ringing it, but to no result. Diggory tells him that they and their siblings did not answer to Solomon anymore, that he'd killed Irene Mend, he'd been a cruel master and an even worse father.

Riot then charges forward and goes on the attack, the first of the group to do so instead of threats. She tells him that 'this is for Walt' (see Episode 36 - Swords) and swings at him with her sword, but he dodges. Her tells her to worry not, as she'd be seeing Walt soon, pulling his bone fife from his pocket and summoning the ghost of Abigail Reed. Polly tells Mort to hit Solomon, and he does, sending him flying back into the wall of trees, which attempt to snatch him up but drop him, though he splits his head open in the fall. Riot charges him again and be picks up his fife and orders Abigail to kill all of them; but before she can follow this order Percy floats forward, making his presence known to her. This is all it takes for her to turn on Solomon. Solomon starts to yell at her and Percy, telling them that they owed him everything, but he is then shot by Zelda Duckworth.

Solomon collapses, the fatal wound causing him to lose his supernatural youthful strength and maintained age (see Solomon Reed). Riot yells at Zelda, telling her that she was supposed to have stayed home, but Zelda simply nodes and states "Nobody messes with Zelda" (see Episode 7 - Nightmares). Diggory approaches Solomon cautiously, taking Percy with them. Percy sits next to his father's head. He tells Solomon that he was sorry as he begins to cry, Solomon states that it was quiet, and asks why it was so quiet, saying that there was supposed to be trumpets and harp song, but it was quiet. Percy tells him that sometimes quite was good, Solomon looks around, asking who'd said that, looking straight at Percy yet being unable to see him. Percy tells him that he was Percy, and that he was his son. This relives Solomon, who simply tells Perc that's he'd always wanted a son, before breathing his final breath and dying. With this the wards stopping the Hallowoods from entering Solomon's property collapse and the forest lurches inward.

## Outro - Regrets

Nikignik talks to the dreamers about regrets, saying that it was strange how much time one spends wishing their story had gone differently; but the ink was already dry, that which was written burned forever into our hears, and one only has the blank page of tomorrow to create. Yet still one wheeps for their old chapters, for the journeys they might have walked, for the safety of the past. Nikignik wishes the dreamer a life without regrets, that when they wake in the morning, they know that the future - although terrifying - belongs to them.

##### Till next time dreamers:

"Until next time dreamers, please don't do anything you think a secondary character in a horror/adventure film might do. Act like the main character, you deserve the spotlight."