Sunset
Episode Notes Redesign
This is the basis jist of the series. There will be 26 episodes. 25 of them will be regular story episodes, with the 26th being kind of like a reunion show that catches up with the main characters five years after the end of their journey.
Episode 1: On Our way
This is the first episode of the series. It serves to introduce Reene and Hul on a superficial level, as well as the continent of Rivelya and the civil war. Kurin’s disease, Hul’s special condition, and Reene’s past are all alluded to or mentioned in passing, to set up further explanation in later episodes. The basic plot here is that a bounty hunter is after Hul. He wants to capture him and turn him into a government run medical center in exchange for the huge reward. Reene and Hul go about their business, and it is also here that Victor is first mentioned, and their journey to find him. Eventually, the bounty hunter confronts them, and Reene defeats him easily. At Hul’s request, she allows him to live, and the two continue on their way.
Episode 2: Reene
This episode begins to address Reene specifically, and her quest. Basically, she is looking for a man named Victor. When she was nine years old, bandits kidnapped her from her family and sold her to Victor. He raised her, and trained her brutally to become proficient as a soldier and to harden her heart against emotions. She stayed with him for ten years, trying several times to escape. She finally succeeded at 19. Now she hopes to gain vengeance for herself by finding him, and killing him.
Episode 3: Sitrin
Reene and Hul travel through a small city named Sitrin, that has been particularly hit hard by Kurin’s disease. Many of the adults died very early, leaving behind teenagers to take over the role of running the city. This episode explains Kurin’s disease in detail, as well as Hul’s special immunity to it. Basically, Kurin’s disease was developed during the war as a biological weapon. After it was used, it quickly mutated out of control, and spread throughout most of Rivelya. It’s different forms attack different parts of the body, but in the end it is almost always fatal. Hul is special, because he is one of the very rare people that is completely immune to the disease. Reene and Hul spend the night there, and awake to find that their things have been stolen. When Reene tracks down the culprits, she discovers that they are siblings who were orphaned during the war.
Episode 4: Those Left Behind
Reene and Hul are still in Sitrin. Now that they’ve found their stuff, Reene feels a strange urge to make sure the children are cared for. She stays with them for a few days, until a suitable family can be found to take care of them. At first she doesn’t understand why she’s so attached to them, but later realizes that it was the first time she’s ever had any motherly urges. After they are taken in, her and Hul leave the town.
Episode 5: A Warrior’s Duty
Another episode that explains some of Reene’s past. While under the tutelage of Victor, Reene was taught to be an assassin. During the war, she carried out many missions for both sides of the conflict, doing only as she was told to by Victor. Now, after several years, the son of one of Reene’s victims has tracked her down, and demands a duel to avenge his father‘s death. Hul doesn’t understand why either one of them wants this, but both Reene and her challenger understand it. During the duel, Reene’s main weapon jams and becomes useless, leaving her seemingly defenseless. However, Reene carries more than one gun, and uses her other concealed weapons to win. She spares her challenger, explaining that since she no longer obeys Victor, she has no problem with him or his family. The challenger returns home, and Reene and Hul take a detour to get her gun fixed.
Episode 6: Artemis
When they arrive at a special gunsmith, Reene requests that her gun be repaired. Coincidentally, the person who runs the shop is the man who originally made the gun. He explains the gun actually has a name, Artemis, and he shares the story of all the grief he went to in order to make that gun. He also explains to Reene why it jams. The gun was built to have that defect; it was something that Victor had specifically requested. Reene is left to wonder why Victor would give her a weapon that was defective.
Episode 7: Beyond the Battle
This is the first episode that specifically deals with the Rivelyan civil war, and both Reene and Hul’s parts in it. After several days of traveling, Reene and Hul come to a small encampment outside of the major city, Shiba. There, they find several dozen shell-shocked and misadjusted soldiers, who have had difficulty rebuilding their lives after the end of the war. Seeing them reminds both Reene and Hul of some of the horrors they saw during the war. Hul wants to stay with them to try to help, even though Reene advises against it. After a few days, one of them snaps violently, and Reene finally convinces Hul that it’s time to go. Once they reach Shiba, though, they find more problems associated with the war.
Episode 8: The Dogs of War
Now in Shiba, Reene quickly realizes that the entire city is on the brink of exploding into violence. She wants to leave immediately, but sees someone who catches her eye. His name is General Max, someone that she used to work for during both her time with Victor and after she ran away. The people are split, some supporting him in his efforts to take control of the city, while the rest violently oppose him. Reene gets caught up in the politics when the anti-Max groups begin to allege that he had ties to the enemy. The truth comes out: Max had one of his own leaders assassinated to keep the war going, and Reene was the person who was hired for the job.
Episode 9: To Arms Once More
While Reene is trying to accept the role she had in prolonging the most devastating war in Rivelyan history, Shiba’s factions come to blows in small skirmishes. When an attack takes place on a school, the powder keg seems ready to ignite. Wanting to find out the truth from Max, Reene decides to take him out of power. After forcing him to admit the truth about everything, he resigns in disgrace and is promptly jailed. Life slowly begins to return to normal in Shiba, and Reene and Hul continue on their journey.
Episode 10: Reflections
Reene and Hul travel to the town of Named. It’s a medium sized town, but it is known all throughout Rivelya for having the best Kurin’s clinic on the continent. While passing through, a man named Jes contacts her. He tells her that he’s a wealthy man, and will pay her a lot of money if she agrees to protect his daughter for a week. Reene initially declines the job, but Hul wants to try to help as many people as possible. He finally convinces Reene to take the job, saying that they need the money. Jes explains that his daughter is named Lia, and that local thugs have been threatening to kidnap her and demand a ransom. As the week progresses, Reene and Hul become close with Lia. Lia shows Reene her special mirror, and explains that only her friends can see their reflection in it. Lia scoffs at first, but after a few days of spending time with Lia, Reene finds herself looking into the mirror to see if her reflection is there. Lia sees her and laughs, explaining that only her friends would bother to look into the mirror anyway. As the week progresses, they ask her about her family. Lia says too much to them, and Reene discovers the truth. Jes is actually a smuggler, using his position in the clinic to steal medical supplies and sell them on the black market. The business has become more dangerous, as another man named Inis wants to take over Jes’ business. He’s threatened to kill Lia if Jes isn’t out of Named in a week, and has hired several gangs to do the job. One group of thugs is led by a man named Calico, who will do anything for money. However, Jes can’t leave. Lia has Kurin’s disease, and he can only afford to take care of her by staying in Named. Jes offers Reene even more money if she’ll kill Inis. She agrees, but Hul overhears the whole conversation. He pleads with Reene not to kill Inis, and just talk to him. Reene listens, but tells Hul that someone will die, either Lia, Jes or Inis. While Reene is off to talk to Inis, fighting breaks out between the various gangs in Named. Reene hurries back to protect Lia. Calico sees his chance to jump the deadline and claim the reward for himself. Reene appears just in time to see Calico pull the trigger, hitting Lia in the back. She stumbles for a few feet, then falls forward onto her face. Reene races over towards her, but it’s too late. She’s dead.
Episode 11: Shattered
Reene tries her best to resuscitate Lia, but she’s gone. In the commotion, Calico and most of his men manage to escape. Hul is shocked. He wonders how anything bad could be allowed to happen to someone as sweet and kind as Lia, but there she lies, dead. They carry her back to Jes, and deliver her cleaned body to him. Reene tells him to wait three days before burying her, and that she’ll be back by then. Hul asks her where she’s going, but he already knows. She’s going to kill Calico. Once again, Hul argues with her. Reene doesn’t listen to him this time, saying that they’ve tried things his way before, and now she was going to do things her way. Hul insists on going with her though, saying that they’re family, and family has to stick together. They first stop off at Inis’ house, to find out where Calico is. They find Calico’s hideout, and Reene makes short work of most of his guards. One of them shoots her in the left shoulder, but she continues on. She finally reaches Calico, and a brief battle takes place. After she defeats him, Calico sits on the ground, wounded. Reene places the gun to his forehead, and prepares to pull the trigger. Hul can’t watch, and screams for Reene to show mercy, and grabs her arm. Reene reacts violently, knocking Hul to the ground and pointing the gun at him. As their eyes meet, there is a moment where both Reene and Hul think that she’s going to pull the trigger. Calico interrupts though by trying to escape. Reene shoots him again, knocking him to the ground. She leaves Hul where she is, and shoots Calico in the heart. Hul watches in horrified silence as Calico’s lifeless body slumps over. The two go back to Named in silence. They attend Lia’s funeral, and Hul says a few words. Afterwards, Reene stands in front of Lia’s tombstone with the broken mirror in hand. She wonders if killing Calico is really what Lia would have wanted.
Episode 12: How We First Met
Reene and Hul haven’t spoken to each other since Lia’s funeral. The two are still in Named, making final preparations to leave. As Reene is in the hospital having her shoulder looked at, Hul waits in a local tavern. He talks to the barkeep, explaining the events of the last few days. He also tells the story of how he and Reene first met. Reene was still a soldier in the war, and her unit was liberating his medical camp. Hul was in the camp because of his special immunity to Kurin’s disease. After the camp was liberated, he was walking through the debris when he saw Reene. They stared at each other for a while, and Hul knew then that she was the closest thing to a mother he would ever have again. Reene’s heart reached out to his as well. Even though she’d spent the last 11 years of her life fighting and burying her humanity, when she looked at Hul, she saw all the things that she’d lost at the hands of Victor. This was like a second chance to protect those things, and she would do so by protecting Hul. They had been together ever since then, like brother and sister. Hul remembers that Reene was a cold killer when they first met, and that it had taken a lot of talking and time to get her to warm up and try to resolve things without killing. Hul now wonders if she’s gone back to her old ways, and after seeing the look in Reene’s eyes as she pointed the gun at him, he wonders if the last year he spent with her has been a waste of time, and a mistake. Reene comes back from the hospital, and the two silently leave the tavern.
Episode 13: His Mother’s Eyes
Reene and Hul are on their way out of Named, when a stranger stops them. He confirms Hul’s identity, and tells him that a woman in town is looking for him. Reene thinks that they should continue forward, but she feels guilty about what happened with Calico and decides to let him go back. When they get back into town, a woman approaches them. She greets Hul specifically, asking him many different questions. Reene is a little wary of the woman, but Hul, in his naïve goodness, talks to her. She tells him that her name is Keris, and that she’s his mother. At first, Hul doesn’t believe her, but then he notices how much she really does look like his mother. It’s been almost four years since he was taken from the burning debris of his hometown, but his mother’s image was still fresh in his mind. Especially her eyes, the soothing hazel color he’d come to rely on. While he spends time with her, Reene travels all over the city, trying to learn anything she can about Keris. Eventually, Hul becomes comfortable with Keris, and she tells him that it’s time for him to go home. He has serious reservations about leaving Reene, and Reene is not happy to let him go. But after the events of the last few weeks, both of them doubt if they can really stay together for much longer. So, with heavy hearts, they both say goodbye to each other. Reene goes back to the taverns she’s been visiting, and Hul prepares to leave town with Keris. Reene finally discovers that Keris is actually a bounty hunter who’s real name is Kiala, and that her resemblance to Hul’s mother is just a coincidence she exploited to get close to him. She runs out of the bar, but she’s too late. They’re gone.
Episode 14: Second Chances
Keris and Hul have already left the city, but Reene is determined to find them. She retraces all of their footsteps in Named, gathering information about where they’re headed. She discovers that they are going back to Shiba. Reene races after them, hoping that nothing has happened to Hul. In the meantime, Hul continues to talk to Keris. Now that the initial shock and joy at the prospect of having his mother back has faded, Hul is beginning to have second thoughts about leaving Reene behind. In spite of her problems and issues, he loves her and doesn’t want to never see her again. Keris tells him that this is the only way, and that Reene is just a part of a painful past he can now forget. He has become a little bit more skeptical of her, but now it’s too late, and Reene is gone. As she chases them, Reene realizes how much losing Lia hurt both her and Hul, and how much Hul really means to her. She’ll do anything to protect him, including sacrifice her own life. She finally catches up with them, and she confronts Keris directly. A battle eventually starts. As Hul watches, he realizes that his mother is really dead, and is never coming back. All he’s got is Reene. But that’s not a negative in his eyes. All he needs is Reene now, and he wants to always be there to help her find the person she lost to Victor. He throws his full support behind Reene in the battle. Realizing that Hul will no longer go with her, Keris withdraws from the battle. After the fight, Reene and Hul finally sit down and take the time to talk about everything that happened in the last two weeks, and how much they actually mean to each other. With Lia, Jes, Calico and Keris behind them, the two leave Named for good, and continue their journey.
Episode 15: Fool’s Gold
After another week of traveling, Reene and Hul come to a small mining town. Their money is nearly gone, and they both agree to seek out temporary employment while they’re in the town. Reene takes a job working in the mines, digging for gold. Hul, on the other hand, accepts a job as a servant for a wealthy aristocrat in town. Hul learns many things from the old man, who is dying from Kurin’s disease. Reene works relentlessly in the mine under the cruel watch of the foreman, and eventually leads the other mine workers to unionize. Reene also meets a man named Will. He is a little older than her, and runs a small but successful shipping business in town. The two meet several times, and each time Will does his best to impress her. Reene doesn’t notice his attempts until another woman points them out. When she does, she finds herself with a new problem. She’s never had a man chasing after her before, and she doesn’t know what to do.
Episode 16: Terms of Endearment
Reene continues to work in the mine, and also be on the receiving end of Will’s attention. One day, she realizes that she has feeling for him too. She’d been attracted to men before, but never had the time or opportunity to explore those feelings. Now, at the age of 23, she has no idea what to do about it. Hul sees the way she gets whenever Will comes around, and becomes extremely jealous. He starts trying to devise ways to keep them apart, but everything he does seems to bring them closer together. With all this going on, the company that owns the mines sends a group of thugs to break up the union, and kill their leader, Reene. Reene has to find a way to contend with Will’s advances, Hul’s jealousy, the union breakers, and her own feelings. The union breakers prove to be the easiest to deal with, and after a brief show of force, they retreat with their tails between their legs. Hul continues to skulk around, until Reene assures him that she’s not going anywhere, and that Will won’t come between them. Hul only seems half convinced, but stops harassing her about it. Her own feelings are more difficult to deal with though. She talks to the other woman and Will, but doesn’t come to any conclusions. The mining job ends, and Reene and Hul get ready to leave the town. Will promises to see Reene again, and before she realizes what she’s doing, she gives him a kiss on the cheek, and leaves town.
Episode 17: Diamond in the Rough
Reene and Hul continue on their journey, passing through a small town. On the outskirts of the town is a dilapidated medical camp. Seeing the camp brings Hul’s memories of his time in a camp crashing back, and he tells the story to Reene. Hul had the distinction of being immune to all forms of Kurin’s disease, and was a very valuable prisoner. While in the camp, he befriended a much older man named Roger. He looked after Hul, and helped him to survive his first few weeks in the camp. He was also the person who encouraged Hul to keep his optimistic view on the world, promising him that he would escape and have a better life. But Hul’s day in the experiment room was approaching fast, and death was a certainty in there. As a final act of kindness, Roger switched his ID tag with Hul, taking his place when his number was called. Hul promised that he would escape, and that he would make the most of Roger’s sacrifice by living the best he could. With that weight off his shoulders, it seems that Hul has finally escaped his hard past. There is still one thing left, something that was brought up by Kiala’s attempt to impersonate his mother. Hul wants to find his mother’s grave, to pay his final respects and bury his past. Reene agrees, and the two take a detour to try and find her grave.
Episode 18: Family Matters
Pretty simple here: Hul and Reene tell stories about their families while they search for Keris’ grave. I haven’t thought of the stories themselves yet.
Episode 19: First Contact
I haven’t really given that much thought to this episode. Basically, Hul and Reene have no idea where Keris’ grave could be, and find themselves wandering through the woods. They find a mythological creature there, one that is able to let both Hul and Reene relive their memories. Hul thinks about the times he had with his mother, and despite not finding his mother’s grave, he is finally able to accept her death. Reene has already accepted that she will never see her family again, and instead elects to relive some of her experiences with Victor. After doing so, she remembers how to reach him, and they continue their journey.
Episode 20: Descent
Night falls, and Reene and Hul are still in the woods. As they travel, Reene suspects that they are being followed, but she doesn’t know if it’s a man or an animal. Eventually their stalker strikes. He’s an assassin like Reene, and his target is her. A battle ensues, during which Reene’s hands cramp badly. She’s so overcome by the pain that she’s unable to hold her weapon, and it seems as though her attacker will kill her. At the last moment, the same creatures she met before attack the assassin, and drive him off. Reene collapses from her injuries, and wakes up in a strange house. It sits in a clearing, surrounded by lilies. At the end of the episode, an older woman enters the house, and Reene gets the feeling that she’s met her before.
Episode 21: Where Lilies Bloom
The older woman tells Reene and Hul that her name is Hanah, and that she has lived in this place for several decades. As Hanah tends to Reene’s wounds, Reene struggles to recall where she’s met her before. It comes back to her in a flash: Hanah made several visits to Victor while Reene was still there. Reene immediately withdraws from her, and tells Hul that it’s time for them to leave. Hanah convinces them to stay, and explains several things about herself and Victor. It turns out that she is Victor’s lover, and they’ve been together for nearly 30 years. She explains why Victor chose his job, why he gives his student’s weaknesses, and who the person after Reene is. His name is Chase, and he’s Victor’s latest student. Hanah explains that Victor makes his new students kill his old students, in order to prove that they are good enough, and that’s why Chase is after her. Hanah also tells Chase’s secret: he can’t fight during the day due to an extreme sensitivity to light. With this information, Reene knows that he’ll be back tonight to finish the job, and prepares for the battle.
Episode 22: No Turning Back
The evening comes, and Chase appears, as expected. He and Reene speak for a few minutes, and Reene actually tries to talk him out of doing this, and to leave Victor. Chase explains that he actually sought Victor out, and requested to be trained by him. Reene suddenly hates Chase, and swears to kill him. As the battle continues, Reene’s hands begin to bother her again, and make her vulnerable to Chase. Hul runs over to help her, and together the two of them manage to kill Chase. After the fight, Hanah once again fixes Reene’s wounds. She tells her that they’re not that far from Victor, and tells them how to get there. Finally, she takes Reene off to the side, and asks her a few questions about her hands. Reene doesn’t understand her interest in her hands hurting, she just says that they’ve been sore for years, but they only started interfering with her actions recently. Hanah tells Reene that she suspects that she has Kurin’s disease, and the episode ends.
Episode 23: Regrets
Now that she knows Victor’s exact location, Reene is ready to go and finish her journey. However, Hanah’s warning about Kurin’s disease dominates her thoughts, and she takes one final detour to have herself diagnosed. It’s confirmed: she has Kurin’s disease, specifically the mutation that attacks the arms and hands. It will kill her eventually, but there’s no telling how much time that will take. It could be weeks, months or years. With the news, Reene begins to actually contemplate her death. Ever since her first assassination, she’d always known that she could die, but she never thought that she would die. Now, it was all but certain that she would die before her time. As she contemplates it, she sees Will, of all people. He’s in town making a delivery. The two talk, and for some reason Reene feels a strange urge to confide everything in him, and she does. Hul’s jealousy comes back, but he does his best to control it, for Reene’s sake. With everything that’s happened, Reene begins to have regrets for the first time, and thinks about all the things she wanted to do after she killed Victor: stop roaming aimlessly, take better care of Hul, maybe even start a family. She’s not sure if those things are possible anymore. Will promises her that she will die a happy, old woman, and that he’ll be at her side for the whole time. Reene finally acknowledges her feelings for him, and makes a promise to live as long as she could. But before she could worry about him, a family, or even Kurin’s, there was still one thing she had to do, and that was confront Victor.
Episode 24: Victor
Reene and Hul are on the last stretch of their journey, headed straight for Victor’s house. As they walk, Reene reveals a few more things about her time with Victor, and the things he put her through. Hul knows that this has been her goal for over a year, and that Victor probably deserves to die. But with everything that’s happened on their journey, he wonders if Reene will actually kill him when she finds him. At the end of the episode, they finally reach Victor’s home. There he stands, as if he’d been waiting for her this whole time.
Episode 25: What You Live For
After everything that’s happened on their journey, will Reene go through with her plan and kill Victor? I haven’t given this whole episode a lot of thought, but she does spare him.
Episode 26: Afterthoughts
It’s been five years since the end of their journey, and Hul recounts the events that occurred between then and now in this reunion show of sorts. Reene and Will are married, and have a two year old daughter named Lia, after Jes’ daughter. Reene’s condition has steadily deteriorated, but she lives a relatively happy and healthy life. There are no guns in the house, and the Artemis lies in pieces at the bottom of a river. Even though he knows that Reene will be gone soon, Hul says that they will make the most of their time together, and that’s all that matters.
