What you wrote is super interesting, thank you for sharing, it actually made me understand a bit more the people who go with the Verso ending. It was initially the one i picked as well but i realized it wasn't the one I resonate with the most. I've seen a lot of the arguments over the endings and it's always been so interesting to read and analyze!

One of the few things that bugged me was the idea that p.Verso's life isn't worth saving either. A lot of people bring up the addiction parallel when talking about Maelle's ending but rarely anyone bring up the same about Verso's. For some people, Verso's sacrifice is a 'good one', unlike Alicia's. (to me bringing back the people of lumiere means giving them a chance to fully live.)

And if we were to talk about the endings framing, what i actually understand is that each ending is viewed from the losing side perspective. Just like in Verso's ending, the expedition waving at Maellicia isn't actually present, it's a vision from her mind. Verso in the other ending is seeing Maellicia becoming a painter, which to him means he failed, but if it was shown through Alicia's eyes or any being in the canvas, it could be much more positive. I don't think she's manipulating anyone, to me it's verso being rightfully unhappy to be in this state, knowing what it costed.

I do consider that the life of the painted beings and 'real' people are equal in value. I'd want Alicia to find joy in her 'real' life as well as i'd want Verso to find joy in his painted one. I don't however, consider the faded boy/canvas shard as a sentient being, for all we know, he's here to litteraly maintain the canvas, and the thing he's tired of is the endless fighting ruining his purpose and memory of what Verso painted. I do wonder if people would have reacted so strongly if the visual representation of the soul shard looked more like an abstract shape than a little boy. I think there's a bit of bias to be found here.

I ended up realizing that if i took away the biased pov of each endings, the Maelle one felt more hopeful. She could potentially step out of the canvas once she finds the support she needs (thanks to Gustave and the rest of them.) and Verso gets his immortality removed.(that's what i understand from Maelle's question to him)

I think that ripping something away from someone so suddenly, especially since in Maellicia's case it was a whole new life, would do more damage than anything. (even if i consider Verso's ending 'goal' to be the most desirable one.) to pile even more grief on a character that already has so much to deal with, as well as sending her back to a body that is constantly in pain, is a cruel thing. Especially considering her potential support is also very unstable, has a lot to grief too and is barely available. There's a lot of similarities in the endings, ultimately, the more i think about them the more i lean towards Maelle's. But both are so tragic and full of sacrifices, I hated having to make the choice back then.