French Revolution Mafia [Concluded]

[GeneralHankerchief]

"A man should be mourned at his birth, not at his death."
~ Montesquieu

Day 6

It was a long, lonely walk to the guillotine for Csargo.

Oh, sure, he was in the company of other people - some drumming, most jeering, a few praying to the various aspects of Reason or the Supreme Being or some even the old Christian God that this was the last of it, that Csargo was who they were looking for - but he let all of that noise was over him. "In the company of other people" was not the same as "with others". And despite the crowd of hundreds outside the Place de la Revolution in Paris, Csargo was well and truly alone.

He had been for most of the day, he realized. Ever since he and Manasi, the last of the Militarists, the only faction with more than one member remaining, had dissolved their partnership out of paranoia and turned on each other. They had plotted together, voted together, shed blood together - most notably in their coordinated effort to get Montmorency killed out of a desire to fulfill Renata's last wishes - but that did not stop them accusing each other of engaging in nefarious, traitorous deeds.

Hard, brutal math had dictated to each other that their longtime comrade was most likely the enemy. After all, the only two other choices were Zack and Choxorn, and both of them trusted Zack and Choxorn more than they did each other, apparently. And though Choxorn got a vote early in the day from Manasi, soon it became pretty clear that Zack and Choxorn were the swing votes. The two sides made their arguments, Zack and Choxorn thought about it, Csargo and Manasi kept fighting, and Zack and Choxorn decided in favor of Manasi over Csargo. Thus began his long, lonely walk.

It had been a hard road for the Militarists, first realizing that they had been infiltrated by Monstrdude, then losing their most trusted member Fenn, then coming under suspicion for mis-ordering a brazen attack right in the middle of Convention deliberations, then being unable to stop the lynch of Dp101 in what had been the biggest display of factionalism to that point, then finally losing their spiritual leader in Renata. And now this. Elsewhere, Manasi hoped that this was the last of it, and that she could form a coalition government with the Girondins and Populists afterwards, but for Csargo, it didn't matter. He was about to die. What was next for him was an entirely different animal.

He ascended the steps, ruminating over his life's accomplishments as well as his life's regrets, both political and private. Memories flashed by: his upbringing, his favorite old tree in the field outside the town he grew up in, his first kiss, his entry into politics, his first vote, getting that critical piece of legislation passed. Others. None of these memories and thoughts of actions matched the list of crimes that the Convention official was reading off on for the crowd.

He knelt down, taking it all in one last time. Despite all of the violence of the past week (and few years), Paris had never been more beautiful. The people attending his execution were so many, so full of life. If only they knew what it meant to be breaths away from death, perhaps they would treasure their time more. Only now, with the end approaching, did Csargo truly understand this, like the millions of others before him throughout history.

The blade dropped, and Csargo's final ruminations ended. All over, the people of Paris held their breaths.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 6 tally:

Csargo: 3 | Manasi (1330), Zack (1345), Choxorn (1347)
Manasi: 1 | Csargo (1316)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still alive (3):
Choxorn
Manasi
Zack

Killed:
Fenn
Monstrdude
Logic
Kagemusha
Arakhor
BSmith
Askthepizzaguy
Renata
autolycus
Al Sipsclar
Snerk
Winston Hughes
seireikhaan
Montmorency
NotACop

Guillotined:
Jabbz
atheotes
Dp101
El Barto
Lewwyn
Csargo

TO BE CONCLUDED