Sebastian leaves Theodore's gauntlet visibly changed. He entered gripping his pistol with both hands, defensively aiming at nothing. He exits stomping toward Theodore, aiming with the revolver's reckless, one-handed stance.

Sebastian no longer entrenches himself in trauma, remembering the past as worse than it was. Likewise, through metanarrative recalls to The Evil Within's flow, design, and packaging, The Evil Within 2 summons the player's memories of flight to rewrite them in victory.

We have focused on Sebastian's multiple journeys through the story archetype, but we have not considered our own. Leaning on our memories of The Evil Within, we re-enacted his trauma on old terms. We ran and hid. He provided our epiphany when he broke our control and modeled a new strength. We wavered as we died and restarted against the old stalkers, learning new tactics. Nonetheless, we persevered and secured the turn from hunted to hunter missing from The Evil Within.

Even though Sebastian drops his characteristic trigger discipline when aggressing toward Theodore, he doesn't need to shoot. We have won. Theodore burns under Sebastian's and our combined power — a memory of fire.