Deleted 'The Angel of Death and The Old Man of the Sea' scene

The first thing that comes to view is a familiar golden box, engraved with the images of winged creatures all over it. On top of the lid, the Hope insignia, and below it, the Ampora bloodline crest.

“What’s that?” the Heir’s voice asks.

“Oh, I was just thinking about how Sabera has the shield pendant, and how you guys have items you pass from one session to another when you help them,” Nereus says. He turns to the Heir, who passes by him to get to a shelf by the wall. They reach up for a box at the top, standing on their toes. They can’t reach it.

Nereus snickers. “Do you need help?”

“Shut up, I can fly,” they say, lifting off the ground to pick the box up. They settle back down to the floor to rummage through it. “So, what’s that for?”

“I don’t know, I guess just...if you ever had to train another Hope player, but you can’t do it face to face since H-O-B would kill them if they knew about him - this might help.” Nereus tosses the box up once, catching it as it comes down.

The Heir looks up at him. “What’s in it?”

“Memories,” Nereus says. “I enchanted them.”

“You enchanted your memories.”

“Mm.”

The Heir clicks their tongue. “You’re getting good at this, aren’t you, mage boy?”

“I am the best mage in all of paradox space,” Nereus cheekily says, and the Heir rolls their eyes. “You can say it, it’s alright, I know you’re awed by my magic - “

“I’m awed how you stay standing with how big your head is.”

“And I know you think I’m amazing.”

“Nereus, a lizard puts more awe in me than you do.”

“You’re so mean,” Nereus whines. “But, anyway. Maybe this can help you - you have a whole thing about being guided by fate, right? Like, fate sets everything just right for you and all, maybe you’ll need this for something.”

The Heir hesitates. “Nereus, they’re your memories.”

“I’m not going to lose them, these are copies.”

“Yes, but, still.”

“I don’t mind,” he says. “This is an isolated enchantment, though, I don’t know when it will be used, if it can be used. So...it’s a one-shot spell.”

“Nereus,” the Heir says, sighing. They set the box they’re carrying on the floor to approach him. He holds the small golden chest to them.

“I know you’re very tired,” Nereus says, “I know that, regardless of what I will say, if you choose to leave, you will leave. If I could convince you to never go where I cannot follow, I would.”

“Don’t quote Lord of The Rings at me, idiot,” the Heir mumbles, taking the box from him, tracing over the engravings.

He chuckles. “Smile a little, sometimes, would you?” he asks. “You always look so sad.”

They sigh again. When they do look up at him, they smile.

Eridan thinks, that through some tragic irony, it still looks sad.

“Thank you, Nereus,” they say.

“If I cannot be there, then at the very least, I can help you from afar,” he says.

“I thought you hated me,” the Heir jokes. They make a motion with their hand, and the box disappears into their sylladex.

“Oh, I do,” Nereus says. “I hate you, in the way the cliffs by the seaside hate the sea that chips away at them. I hate you, in the way the rocks of the forest hate the river that slowly erodes at them. I hate you, in the way the moon-eating sea serpent chases after the moons in the nighttime and cries foul when he cannot devour them by the time daylight breaks.”

A hand reaches towards them, taking one of theirs. Nereus brings it to his lips.

“I would let you chip at me, I would let you erode me, and time and time again, I would let you escape me, if it meant you would always be there to do those things in the first place,” he says, “Because I love you, in the way the waves of the sea always return to shore, in the way the sun never fails to rise from the east and set in the west, in the way life always returns to death. I love you, whether you will stay in this world you have helped us bring into existence, or leave to pursue a cursed friend. I will love you, whether my memory will remain with you through the streams of time, or you will forget me as time dulls your memory. I will love you, whether you will love me forever or will love another after me. I will love you, and I will love you, and I will love you.”

“Nereus,” the Heir of Doom says. “That is the worst decision you have ever made in your life.”

“I know,” he says, laughing. “But when have I ever made good decisions?”