Lol, what's this? I was scrolling through my bits-and-pieces document yesterday when I found this 400-word snippet that was initially written to be the Ace of Spades Finals cutscene before it got swapped out. I didn't have the heart to delete it back in 2016, so here it is! A very unedited omg alternate ending to Ace of Spades that I'm 100% hoping to trigger you all with. Enjoy my scabby 2016 writing!
March 10th, 2017; 1:00 pm
The cameras are rolling.
For once in their life, Emerson Monroe isn't thriving in the spotlight.
"Are you aware of what happened to the rest of the competitors?"
Emerson shifts under the glare of the bright lights, lifting their eyes to look their interviewer in the eye. "No," they say. "I wasn't told. I would assume there were survivors, though, but I don't expect that their lives are any better than they were before."
A solemn nod from the female reporter. The spotlights cast shadows upon the ground of prison bars holding Emerson away from the world. They are the only thing they've seen for days. After a moment of silence, the reporter asks, "Would you say that you regret participating in the event?"
"Well," they say, "there's a lot to be sorry for." Pause. "Most people don't know this—not that they know anything—but none of us did it for the money. Mort didn't bribe us into doing this, nor did we request payment. We were close to Mort and we trusted him."
Emerson inhales deeply and laces their fingers together. "But perhaps we trusted him too much. After that stunt he pulled towards the end. Because we trusted him, we dared to stand up to him. And by doing so...well, we sacrificed more than we could've. Three more lives...lives that were worth saving." Emerson's eyes flash with grief so strong it rivals the emotion they held when they woke up in the hospital alone what seemed like years ago. "What the world says is true," they say, firmness in their voice despite the waiver. "There's a price to pay for everything. I might have survived, but there's a lot more to lose than life itself. I lost friends who were so close it hurt, as well as someone I considered a father figure. I lost the freedom that I yearned for when Mort first took me under his wing. I've had a lot of time to think and...after a lot of thinking you start to realise that compared to all the other things you could lose, life itself is such a trivial thing."
With their vision starting to blur and a swelling in their throat, Emerson swipes a tear away before it's given the chance to fall. "All good things you feed the world will come back as something better. All bad things you give it will find their way back to haunt you. Sometimes, I wish I had the power to pick again."
