04x12 - The Ascension

[bunniefuu]

-[thunder rumbles]
-[wind whooshing]

-This is madness, Pike.
-What?

Saving Grog?

Doing anything
to protect the people I love?

You told me you'd do the same.

-[footsteps approaching]
-[Percy] Vax!

-[Vex] Brother.
-We don't have much time to...

Pike?

You're okay.

And w-wielding multiple Vestiges. Wh...

You guys don't understand now,
but you will.

-Grog!
-Don't touch him!

What the f*ck?

[Pike] The Whispered One
will bring him back.

If you want to help Grog, stand down.

You know we can't do that.

"Can't"?

Or "won't"?

Listen to reason.

The Whispered One isn't invincible.

Four of his lieutenants are already dead.

He doesn't need them to ascend.

He just needs my blood.

What? Why?

I know you're all shocked
that poor little Pike might be important.

-N-No, that's not what I'm...
-Argue later.

We have to get the hell out of here.
All of us.

Then we can cure Vax's blight,
figure out Grog...

Please, Pike. We have to go back.

[Pike] There's no going back.

I already gave him my blood.

-[gasping]
-Oh, Pike...

[Delilah] With this celestial blood,

given willingly,

your oath shall be sealed,

and your spirit shall ascend
beyond the confines of mortality.

[voice echoes]

[screaming in pain]

[Vax] Then there's no choice.

We have to fight him.

Not happening.

What are you doing?

Saving the world.

[dramatic music playing]

♪♪

♪♪

[dramatic music playing]

[thunder crashing]

[Gideon screaming in distance]

[Vex] The ritual.
We've got to get up there.

I'll go.

[screeches]

-[Percy] Keyleth!
-[groans in pain]

Damn it.

Restrain Pike, but don't hurt her.

As if you could.

[Vax] f*ck it, I'll get him.

[panting] Vax, you can't.

What are you...

It can't be you.

The Matron said if you face him, you die.

There must be another way.

There is, if you would just listen to me.

What do you owe the Matron?

She sent you here to die
so she can keep pulling our strings.

Just like the Everlight did
with my ancestor.

The gods lie.

Choose your own fate.

That's not how fate works.

No!

It will be.

[screams in pain]

Vax!

[shouting]

Got you! Keyleth!

[Vex] What are you going to do?

-k*ll us all?
-[shouting]

[Pike] Don't you get it?

Death won't matter anymore.

No.

Grog!

[Delilah] By the covenant
sealed in her blood,

your body shall transform
into a vessel of divinity.

Take your sacred vow.

[screaming in pain]

[straining]

J-Just as you are my blood,

I am yours.

May it nourish a new path,

free of pain, suffering,

free of the tyranny of the old gods.

A world where our fate is our choice,

for your new god makes it so!

[voice echoes]

[Pike] Buddies.

I'll get you out of there, Grog.

Let me help you.

[straining]

Get away from him!

[exhales sharply]

Leave us alone!

Pike, what are you doing?

Why does it hurt?

Necrotic magic.

Like his.

Damn it, Pike. Let us out!

I had to survive without Vox Machina
for a whole damn year,

while you guys went off and became
lords and ladies and elemental princesses.

Broke up the team without ever
dropping a word to Grog and me!

We didn't know.

Why would you?

You only come to me to fix your problems.

You get hurt, and I heal you.

You make a mess, and I clean it up.

And what thanks do I get?

Deceived by the Everlight,

rejected by Scanlan.

[breath trembling]

I give everything.

I lost Pop-pop.

And Grog.

And myself.

Who protects my heart?

Who heals me?

[crying softly]

-[Grog groans softly]
-[gasps]

[groans]

Pikey?

Did we win?

[laughs] Whoa. Hey.

Easy there, big fella.

You're okay.

Yeah. Course I am.

Oh, it'd take more than Delilah Briarwood

and some robe-wearin' idiots
to stop ol' Grog.

Is the Orb shut down?

Wait, this ain't Ank'Harel.

Buddies, listen, I-I...

[Vex] Big guy. Over here.

Oh, sh*t, the fight's still on.

-I'm comin'!
-No. Wait!

Uh... Don't just stand there.

Delilah's got the guys trapped.

It's not Delilah who's trapped us.

Oh, no. Pikey.

What did you do?

[somber music playing]

[exhales] You've missed a lot.

We can play catchup later.

The Whispered One
is up there becoming a god.

Drop the shield, Pike.

I can't.

Are you under some kinda spell
or somethin'?

[exhales]

Then drop the shield.

You don't understand.

You were gone.

-Dead.
-And guess who k*lled you.

The Whispered One brought Grog back!

The Whispered One?

He k*lled innocent folks.

Hurt a lot more.

Why are you defendin' him?

Because he's right.

We don't have a choice.

The gods never gave us a choice.

You always got a choice.

Do the right thing or do the wrong thing.

He's trickin' you.

The gods are tricking us.

The Matron said Vax's fate
was to die fighting the Whispered One.

And we came anyway.
That's what friends do.

[whooshing, rumbling]

That can't be good.

[Vax] Release us or we'll all die.

No one will.

The whole reason he k*lled those folks

is because he knew
he could bring them back.

Grog. [stammers]

He could bring Wilhand back.

Maybe, but it don't erase the memory
of what he done.

It ain't right, Pikey.

Well, so, what, I-I...

I was just supposed
to let you die for no reason?

I did die for a reason.

To save you.

Wilhand died to save us, too,
with no thought of comin' back.

This Whispered Prick
kills to save himself.

You can't trust someone like that.

That is a bad god.

Come on, now.

The ones we lost, we gotta let them go.

[cries softly]

Fine. Then I'll beat the sh*t
out of him myself.

What? You-you can't. He-he'll k*ll you.

Already did. Got better.

Stop.

Wh-What if you stop him
and his power dies with him?

I can't lose you again.

You let this happen, you lose me anyway.

-I said stop! [shouts]
-[shouting]

[gasping]

♪♪

[groans softly]

[panting]

Oh, God.

I-I didn't mean to...

Here, l-let me heal you.

No! No.

I don't need healin'.

I need my buddies back.

If she still exists.

There has to be another way.

Run or blow up the tower or-or...

[Vax] Calm now, Kiki.

She said you'd die.

He isn't a god yet.

And the Weave of Fate is still frayed.

Maybe there's a chance we can mend it.

Thread the needle
and change all our fates.

[Keyleth] If this is the end,

we face it together.

[somber music playing]

A life don't mean a thing
if it's spent causin' hurt.

Wilhand taught me that.

[Delilah] In the name of Truth,

with the blood of the divine
and the faith of the righteous,

are you willing to die for us?

I am!

Then rise as a new god

and be granted life eterna...

[screams in pain]

[exciting music playing]

[screeches]

Finish the ritual, Delilah.

Finish it.

[Vex] Not without a fight.

I'll destroy you both.

[shouts]

[Gideon] Delilah, come back.

[screeches]

You will never win!

-Neither will you.
-[gasping]

Have the decency to stay dead this time.

[Gideon] You dare to interrupt

my ascension?

No matter.

I don't need to be a god to damn you all!

[voice echoes]

I have outwitted gods,

confronted champions.

[screams in rage]

[Gideon] I will not have



Ain't you heard?

We're Vox Machina.

We f*ck sh*t up!

[Gideon] You certainly do.

No! Mythcarver!

[Gideon cackles]

What will you do without your holy blade?

[grunts fiercely]

[dramatic music playing]

Well met, Champion.

But it's time to end this folly.

[shouts]

Keyleth!

Then let's end it.

[triumphant music playing]

Betrayer.

I offered you the world!

Maybe.

But I choose them.

Give her cover.

Mythcarver's the only thing
that'll k*ll him.

No more lies.

[Pike straining]

I never lied to you, Pike.

-I can bring them all back.
-[screams in rage]

Archibald. Kashaw.

Zerxus's husband and child.

Wilhand.

[echoing scream]

Everyone you lost along the way.

Stop usin' words on my buddies!

Grog!

[all screaming]

Ungrateful brute.

A god's gift granted
can also be rescinded.

[screams in pain]

[straining]

[straining]

Matron. It's time.

Grog!

Not a god yet, as*h*le.

Vax, don't!

Wait. Mythcarver.

If you do this, you die.

Then I'll take you with me.

It seems our fates are sealed, Champion.

[cackles]

[groaning in pain]

[screaming in pain]

[screeches]

[groaning in pain]

f*ck fate.

[demonic wailing]

[expl*sive boom]

[panting] Please. Please, please, please.

[groans softly]

I'm alive?

[laughs]

-You're alive.
-[stone thudding]

[low rumbling]

My gods.

The Whispered One is gone.

And everything he built is going with him.

Including the Orb back to Whitestone.

Move. Move, move!

[suspenseful music playing]

[screeching]

[Percy] Whitestone portal, dead ahead!

[Vax] Maybe "dead's"
not the best choice of words.

It's fading! Go!

Uh, the last time
I went through one of these,

it didn't end so great for me.

Then in you go, big guy.

We're not gonna make it!

[all panting]

Got to shut down the Orb before...

-Darling.
-[energy pulsing]

Did we win?

[Pike] Grog.

You're...

I-I'm so sorry.

-I-I just...
-It's okay, Pike.

I know you messed up, but you came back.

And that's all that matters.

[Keyleth] Vax? Vax.

[Vex] The blight. It's-it's everywhere.

But we made it out. You changed your fate.

Now drink.

Drink the elixir.

Please work.

[somber music playing]

[crying softly]

[sobbing]

[groans softly]

[gasps softly]

You did it.

Thank you.

It's over.

It's really over.

[laughter]

Come here, you.

-I'm so glad you're okay.
-Never gonna let go of you again.

-[laughter]
-[sighing]

-[Whispered One] Wonderful.
-[gasps]

Now we can begin.

What the f*ck?

I worried I was laying it on

a little thick back there.

But you all played your parts splendidly.

And here we are,
reunited where we first met.

What beautiful symmetry.

Mm, I did need your blood
to bind this godly power.

But I also needed my body to die

to transcend beyond my physical form.

There were so many options.

You don't plot for 500 years

without some contingencies.

Hmm, who would it be?

Uh, Delilah the zealot?

Pike, the doubting angel?

The Matron's Champion,
fulfilling his so-called fate?

You had Mythcarver.

It could have been any of you.

Which is why I was so disappointed

when you all went your separate ways.

But I wasn't about to let your.

"Happily Ever Afters" spoil my prophecy.

It took some doing.

But a few well-placed chapters
in some adventure books

were enough to convince a dim-witted pawn

to bring you back together and send you

on a collision course with moi.

Though I must say,

I didn't expect the little Ashari
to be the one to do the deed.

But it proves my point.

You saved your man,

in defiance of his god's destiny.

Love is strong enough to conquer fate.

Like the love my followers have
for their god.

[all chanting] We are his blood.

[distant] We are his blood.

We are his blood.

That's where I went wrong
all those centuries ago.

I lacked the power of belief.

People who hoped and trusted
and believed in me so fiercely

that they would
willingly offer themselves up.

[wails in pain]

[ethereal music playing]

[Whispered One] The more believers
one has, the stronger

one becomes.

[voice echoes]

But you lot know that. You're heroes.

Vox Machina, the Protectors of the Realm.

And if these people believe in you,
imagine how strong I'll become

when you kneel to me.

[groans softly]

A pity the Matron's pet no longer has
those divine powers to challenge me.

Thanks for that, by the way.

But this gives me the chance

to offer you something
your gods never would:

a choice.

The eyes of Exandria

are upon you.

The faithful shall be
forever reborn in my glory.

So, bend the knee.

Swear allegiance to me
in front of all the world,

and I promise you

the champion will live.

You will all live,

happily ever after in a glorious new age.

Or option two.

-[gasps]
-No.

The world watches.

[growls softly]

-[hissing softly]
-The choice

-is yo...
-[Keyleth] I submit!

[crying] I submit. Please.

Just let him go.

Please.

[somber music playing]

[Percy] I submit.

[Vex] I submit.

-[panicked chatter]
-[Pike] I submit.

[Grog] I submit.

Please, let him go.

What say you, Champion?

[crying]

[suspenseful music playing]

Get f*cked.

Hmm. A pity.

Stop!

[sharp boom]

[ethereal music playing]

[Keyleth screaming] No!

[voice echoes]

[Whispered One] Congratulations, heroes.

You saved the realm.

Forever.

You shall be remembered.

[cackles]

[dramatic music playing]

♪♪

♪♪

Chirp.