Record:Finale
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Vincenzo Barozzo: My goodness...
(The light from the inside shines upon him with its warmth. Without thinking any further, he walks to the front door with a limp foot. His clothes are dirty, and a little tattered. He knocks at the door.)
(There is only silence.)
(It lasts an eternity.)
(Heavy footsteps are heard. A light turns on in the hallway.)
(The door opens with a creak.)
(A sillhouette watches from the inside.)
Servant: How may I help you?
(Vincenzo Barozzo tries to put up a posture. But something weak inside him takes over. He barely manages to get out a sound.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: I-I just need a place to stay for tonight...
Servant: (Taking a short sniff.) I do not believe we have room to accommodate vagrants, Signore. Good night.
Vincenzo Barozzo: Wait, wait-
(The door shuts in front of him. The footsteps walk away.)
(He walks away from the door. Something begins to break inside him. An old flame begins to awaken.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: And this is how they treat me... Me... Me, Vincenzo Barozzo di Tolia...? This servile mutt, speaking like this to me? I can count more steps down my lineage than he has years! Me, ruler of Toconoprach, the scourge of this earth!?
(He angrily pouts off into the darkness. He begins to circle around the giant mansion, lined with windows. The lights have been turned off almost everywhere.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: I'll show him... And his master too, for how he's been teaching him. I'll get them, and then I'll have both of them shot...
(He continues walking. He sees construction materials lying around. An unlit electric lantern, some tools. A ladder sits upon a pile of planks.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: Oh, I will show them both...
(He clumsily takes up the ladders into his hands. They are big, and his arms are weak. But he does not give up on it. Stumbling down towards the towering walls, he smacks the ladder against them. They lead to room above. It is dark inside. The window rattles against them.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: This kind of place... What is it fit for but for a Dux?
(Vincenzo picks up the lantern, and puts the handle in his mouth.)
(He begins to climb the ladder. It shakes under the wind, and bends slightly under his weight.)
(He approaches the window. There is a faint murmur of voices inside. "Good night,Signore," one of them says. Vincenzo does not hear it. Footsteps begin to walk down the stairs.)
(The window is locked.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: (Muttering, with a lantern still in his mouth. He attempts to open the window with one hand, but can't.) Dam bis bing.
(He takes the lantern into hand. He begins hitting the window.)
(Thud.)
(Thud.)
(Thud!)
(Cracks form. Thud!)
(The glass breaks!)
(Vincenzo Barozzo, clumsily walking onto a ledge, puts his hands on the windowsill. He cuts his hands as he climbs over it and stumbles inside. The floor is covered in glass. It is all he can tell.)
(He looks around the room. It is an office. A lamp sits at the work table, looking at a small pile of papers left for tomorrow. Unsigned orders, decrees. Charts, information. There is familiarity in this.)
(There are slow footsteps in the next room.)
(Vincenzo Barozzo freezes in place momentarily. He attempts to hide behind the door. He awaits until someone enters the room, and rushes at him with the lantern in his hand!)
(The lantern, left unlit, hits in the darkness. A streak of blood flashes before him in the moonlight.)
Dux Marone: Bastard!
(The Dux stumbles for a few steps. Barozzo closes the door, and locks it. Barozzo fiddles with the electric lantern, turning it on.)
(Dux Marone stands in front of him, blood pouring down his temple.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: My goodness... After so many years... What luck is it finding you tonight...
(Dux Marone looks at him. It takes him a moment to recognize the face, but the voice is unmistakable.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: (Deliriously.) You may have forgotten about me, Marotti... But I could never forget about you.
Dux Marone: I took you for dead.
Vincenzo Barozzo: It would seem you are not alone. No one recognizes me in this place. It is as if I have come to a foreign country. But I have not lost who I am, oh, no...
(Dux Marone takes a few steps back. He crushes the broken glass under his feet.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: Like a scared little animal, aren't you...? You traitorous scum. Took over what is mine, and ruled like this in my absence, while I lived in a metal husk and ate with savages!
Dux Marone: You got what was coming to you, you crazy, tyrannical sonuvabitch.
(Vincenzo grabs the lantern with both hands, feeling its weight.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: How many years has it been? Fifteen, by my count. Had me running and jumping all across the ocean.
Dux Marone: Not enough, if you ask me. It always surprises me how cockroaches like you manage to stay alive.
Vincenzo Barozzo: The only cockroach here is you. I should have had you shot when I had you in prison. Somehow you made it to this day, you probably made this land a puppet of those Modhesian bastards to keep yourself in power.
(Dux Marone looks at him confused, but it suddenly clicks in his head. He has him confused with Giulio Moretti. He stays quiet.)
Vincenzo Barozzo: The moment you exiled me like this, you have sold your country out. You damned isolationists... Couldn't live in the world of today, so you once more threw a tantrum to rid the world of the old. Just as when you first exiled the Families, it would only lead to your own self-destruction. (He smacks the lantern with his hand.) I cannot convey to you how long I awaited a moment like this, even as I didn't expect it to happen as it did. But I'll take the reins once more.
Vincenzo Barozzo: I've been armed with experience, Marotti... Democracy... is not a system of good rulers. The "corruption" you spoke of was just some complex of justice you had in your head... But the world is not bound to it, the world only asks for leaders... no matter how they come into power. Let me tell you of the Gergtotemleips, as the savage Toconoprachis call them. When the head of their clans dies, do you know who comes into power?
(Dux Marone grasps his fingers firmly onto the desk behind him. He takes a glance towards the office lamp sitting on the table. Barozzo's shadow dances across the papers.)
Dux Marone: Who is it?
Vincenzo Barozzo: The one who had slain him!
(At once, Barozzo rushes towards Marone! He holds the lantern high above his head, and prepares to wreck it down at Marone. Marone, however, attempts to move to the side, and grabs the office lamp.)
(Barozzo hits the lantern against the desk, breaking the bulb inside with its force. The room goes dark. Marone, thinking quickly, takes the lamp and smashes it against Barozzo's head. A thump is heard on the floor.)
Dux Marone: (In darkness.) You bastard, dare to come into my home! (He hits him with the lamp.) You bloody tyrant, who brought our country to its knees! (He hits him again.) How many of your own people have you killed for your own sake!? (He hits him once more. The office lamp has begun to bend.) How many families have you destroyed! (Another hit. There is a wet droop falling off the handle.) You put Benetto against a firing squad! I could have been there instead of her! (The lightbulb breaks.) Even your own relatives, you shot everyone who stood against you!
(Dux Marone, feeling the blood rushing through him, rises up from the floor. He feels an uncomfortable wetness on his hands. The air smells like iron. His heart is beating like an industrial engine. His eyes widen.)
Dux Marone: But you were too proud of yourself to kill me. Too proud to kill Moretti. You just took out your anger at those weaker than you.
(Dux Marone begins to breathe heavily. The rush of excitement begins to wear off. He stumbles a few feet backwards. The moon glimmers in the puddle left on the floor.)