Destination Forks: The Real World of Twilight

What is this?

Stop...

Stop!

Stop!

Not again...

Da...

Danger...

You...

What the hell?

Danger...

Hurry.

There will be a pillar of fire

where blind sheep gather

on holy ground.

The hour of Heaven's fall...

Hurry.

Go now...

Danger?

Wait, has something happened to Casca?

Epiphany

Snow, snow, flurry, flurry,

spirits of winter!

Drifting from the sky, spirits of winter!

Dancing as they fall, like puffs of down!

Try to catch them... How mysterious—

Spirits of winter...

Yay!

I caught something amazing!

Rickert!

I found a goblin—

Hey.

You've grown a bit, huh?

Rickert!

Welcome back, Erica.

Good work.

You've bulked up a bit.

I almost didn't recognize you.

Guts, you're alive?!

It's been two years!

Where and what were you—

Sorry, Rickert, but first,

is she...

Is Casca okay?

What's wrong?

Casca's...

Casca's gone.

Wh-What happened, Rickert?

Guts!

Why? Since when?

Where'd she go?!

It's all my fault!

It's my fault!

Because I took her with me to find nuts!

It happened about a month ago.

We had no choice.

After so long in the mine shafts, Casca was in pretty bad shape.

She was barely eating.

Erica felt sorry for her, so...

Before I realized anything was wrong, she was gone...

Rickert,

then why are you still here?

Why aren't you out looking for Casca?!

You know what state she's in!

You idiot!

Idiot, idiot, idiot!

What's with you?

You're the one who abandoned her and were gone for two years!

You have no idea what Rickert went through!

He did go look for her a million times...

He could've just left.

But Rickert...

He came back.

He still came back here...

There's a reason I can't go.

Shut up...

I can't sleep.

Godo...

Is it a disease?

Nothing so fancy.

It's old age. Just old age.

I don't feel like listening to your prattle.

Show me your sword and false hand.

Chips in the edge, blood, rust, warp...

Looks like you've been swinging this nonstop,

barely stopping for food or rest.

To survive, you can't afford sanity.

That's the kind of fighting you've been doing?

Two years ago,

when Rickert showed up at my door, all of you grievously injured...

I still don't know what happened to you.

Given the monster that came after you,

I'm sure it was something abhorrent.

But vengeance and repaying blood debts?

Don't you think you're running away to battle?

To your hatred?

Hatred is where you turn when you can't face your grief.

Vengeance is like sharpening a blood-stained,

rusty sword in a pool of blood.

The more you sharpen it, the more rust builds up, so you sharpen it again.

Ultimately, all that remains is a shattered pile of powdered rust.

You don't understand.

You can't understand.

Not here, where it's nice and cozy.

Not when you're about to kick the bucket,

acting like you have no unfinished business.

No one,

no human being,

can understand what happened.

They all died.

Every single one of them.

Without reason.

Without warning...

Without justice.

They died like vermin!

They died ignorant...

In that instant,

those who were irreplaceable to me...

To leave by yourself,

you cast aside those irreplaceable people.

Two years ago,

you went alone, leaving the remaining irreplaceable people,

broken after unimaginable suffering.

You fled to be alone,

to use your personal hatred to burn your very self.

Am I wrong?

You abandoned that girl.

Do you have the right to speak of vengeance for your fallen?

When it really matters,

you lean on war for your actions.

You're an unsheathed sword, whose blade has countless nicks.

It glistens with blood, encroached by rust.

A half-broken blade, with a lethal crack...

Hurry!

This way!

See? Over there!

What are they?

Graves.

It just gives me peace of mind.

I forge the swords to serve as their grave markers.

It isn't as if anyone actually rests under them.

There aren't nearly enough for all of them,

but we often did this on the battlefield, right?

Two years...

More than enough time for someone to change.

While I remained mired in hatred,

Rickert did this.

He accepted their deaths.

He mourned and found a new way of life.

It's just like him, this vigorous strength.

I know I'm safe here,

but without my sword, I can't sleep in the dark.

No...

I probably can't ever sleep at night for the rest of my life.

You fled to be alone,

to use your personal hatred to burn your very self.

I didn't run away...

I can't get away!

It's burned into my right eye,

that final terror and hatred.

I can never atone for this pitch black flame!

If I can't atone, and I can't run from it,

I must let it burn me.

I must let it engulf my enemies.

Keep bathing in blood,

killing,

and thirsting.

Forever alone.

Forever...

That's right.

I...

I left her in that state.

What right do I have now?

I abandoned Casca, who was the Band of the Hawk itself.

I have no right to speak of vengeance for the fallen.

You were captain of the raiding party, weren't you?

You said something about dreams or whatever,

but you left for selfish reasons, didn't you?

You weren't there in our hour of greatest need.

How can I call someone like that a brother-in-arms?

You've left us, haven't you?

You have no obligation to go that far for us.

Take her with you, even if by force.

This time, you have to.

If you don't, she'll...

You'll fight your own war, won't you?

You have to go.

You have to go, even if you go alone.

That's right.

I left long ago.

At that moment, I lost the right...

I guess I started that war.

It's true that it wasn't what I wanted.

But at least it wasn't anything that was forced on me.

It's a war I chose to take on myself.

But...

Even still...

Those camp fires back then...

They continue burning in my heart.

That's right.

Is this fragile, residual fire