♦SEPT-NOV

something i don't see fans talk about enough is the insane cruelty of flux CHOOSING saps as his scapegoat. saps, his friend who witnessed his fearmongering speech, who saw all the leaders turn against him, who, even after all of this, still reached out to him; invited him into to his home and was there for him. when the world betrayed flux, saps was still there. and in return? when it suited him most, flux turns the world on saps; makes it so that the world is safer without him, that he can never ever exist in it now, that his reality is not the real one, and the best thing that he can do for the world in the realest sense is to DIE. he does this to his friend who was there for him despite EVERYTHING. and the worst part about it all is that flux isn't remorseless for his actions.

he explains himself that he doesn't feel good about having blood on his hands - whether he's to be believed is up to the audience i guess. but the point is, flux's core conviction is that he believes all of his actions as necessary. he did it because he ENTIRELY BELIEVED that if saps didn't die, the entirety of island 2 would fall. and he would at least grant his friend a quick death, capital punishment after a "fair" trial... but saps doesn't endure a quick death. he escapes, dooming himself to the painful future of a fugitive. i wonder how flux felt day after day, knowing he was still out there somewhere. rejecting everything that came before, saps no longer a friend but a symbol - the card that could expose his own shortcomings. "he's choosing to bring this pain on himself. i've done so much to get to this point, the least he can do for me is to get it over with."

i wonder how he felt after the borders were opened, how he felt witnessing island 1 & 2 denizens get along, how he felt meeting with island 1's leaders and realizing that the propaganda and fear of the early days had been long gone, long sorted out. i wonder how it felt walking among his fellow islanders after that revelation, knowing he took away all of their beloved leaders for nothing. i wonder how it felt being unable to say ANYTHING because he'd already gone this far. so when tricolor first accuses him of the murders, the only thing he can stammer out is denial. how outrageous it all is. and then, much like the man he had to frame, he finds himself running and escaping attempts on his life, again and again. taking out more and more of those very people he swore he'd save in traps premeditated just to keep himself one step ahead, and for what? the world is safer without him, he can never ever exist in it now, his reality is not the real one. sound familiar?

every time saps tried to clear his name, the political tide shifted. the covenant... "look at all of these people dying because of you." and now, as people are beginning to find the truth, flux would be the one in this position. harborbloom... "look at all of these people dying because of you." all leading up to the war, then the coliseum fight. flux ooc said on his channel somewhere that if he won the coliseum fight, he would have killed himself afterwards. which. at this point of the story he is surly aware that the murders were in vain, but he keeps going anyways, continuing his plan not because he thought he was truly correct, but just to win. and after winning what did he have left? after the battle of infernus, he stands before the one person who alongside him started it all. saparata. not the symbol, but the person, "a friend," he calls him. a friend who, even after everything, still reached out to him. and unlike the day 4 meeting, unlike the rigged trial, saparata grants fluixon an ending with agency. the fandom's duo name for them, "polarity duo," is really neat - they each performed the same roles but at opposite ends of the story. much of the thoughts they felt about the other at any point in the story could also be mirrored right back. the guilt, the blame, the existentialism.