the end

[productions]

murder manor end



servants' wing

20 players alive.

[The walls of the servants' wing shudder and groan, but do not give out. Inside, the servants' wing is pitch dark, lit only by the glow of Kanaya's skin. Very slowly, the energy field flickers and vanishes, the great machine stops humming, the keypad goes dark, until it is simply a cold piece of metal.

It's difficult to tell what is going on; outside, it sounds as though a powerful storm is raging. The sound of heavy winds and crashes that could be thunder can be heard, and sometimes the walls themselves tremble as though in danger of giving out. Occasionally, bright flashes of light seem to light up the building for a moment, seeping in between cracks in the wall. It certainly sounds like a storm powerful enough to destroy the shack everyone is huddled in, but the building remains standing.

Inside, it is incredibly crowded. Twenty people, two dogs, a horse, and a dove are all sharing the space, not to mention the rodents, miniature panda, and Rin's lifeless body, and the space is only one room half taken up by a large machine. It is also gradually growing bitterly cold.

Gradually, the lost abilities and memories (including reunion memories) will return to everyone inside. The storm continues on for about a day; you'll have to wait it out.]

Comments

[inthebones]

...I can sense souls as well, too.

[A wan smile towards May. It seemed inappropriate to be overly celebratory at at time like this, but having had such an essential part of her stripped away had been difficult to bear that first week. That morning she had awakened and pounded at Belarus's door...]

And... quite a bit more, actually.

[Susan had entered this game with the world muted in every sense. Her awareness suddenly expands - it feels as if she can sense every crack in the stone beneath her feet and every clump of soil beneath that, as if she can hear the heartbeats of those around her and identify the one to whom it belonged, as if she can see clearly once again even without Kanaya's dim light...]

It seems our 'important memories' have returned to us as well. The influence of this game must be loosing, somehow.

I do wonder what's going on outside. Perhaps we're being carried over a rainbow.

[pandacea]

[She tries to squint through the cracks in the walls.]

It seems like it's awfully cold and dark out there for a rainbow.

I'm starting to remember things too. People I'd forgotten...[The smile on her face fades away to something more wistful.] Do you really think we'll all be able to go back home?

[inthebones]

I admit I stopped believing it, after what happened with Lithuania. It seemed as if the game was aiming for nothing more than prolonging our misery at that point.

[Susan will move aside slightly so May can peer out if she wants.]

But I think... after all of this.

There's room for a little faith.

[pandacea]

[The expression on her face doesn't fade away; if anything, it seems to get even more downcast. The words she says next are so quiet that only Susan can hear them and laden with guilt.]

I don't know if I want to return.

[inthebones]

[Susan doesn't seem to react at first, simply keeping her gaze directed at the ground. After a moment, she drops to a kneeling position as if tired of standing, reaching out and beginning to gently fuss and smooth May's clothing as adults tend to do.]

...Well. Since it seems to still be negotiable, I'd like to mention that I would much prefer it if you did.

Why not?

[pandacea]

It's not that I don't want to go home again. [She does, so badly it hurts, but even she can't tell whether it's from homesickness or from the sense of duty to her people.] But to leave now and allow the show to continue tormenting more groups of innocent people...it just doesn't feel right.

And what Felicia Marlow said...she said that if we return home, we may forget everything that has happened here. [And that's the real crux of the matter for her. Sure, it smarts her pride to let Felicia go free and her sense of justice that the show would continue running, but it's the possibility of forgetting all the dear friends she's made that really terrifies her. To have gone through all of this horror and come out stronger for it, and then for it to have been like it never happened at all...it would almost be as bad as being trapped in that theater for eternity.]

[inthebones]

[Susan looks irritated for a brief moment.]

I had meant to negotiate with her before. ...Part of allowing her to go free would be directing us towards where they truly did produce this show, so we could bring it to an end ourselves.

In all the chaos...

[But as for May's true fears...]

Felicia Marlow wouldn't know. Felicia Marlow may be human, but she seems to have been absent during the part where they handed out all the things that are meant to define humanity.

It may very well be that we'll lose specific memories. I won't say it's not true. Some of that would happen, too, inevitably, with the passing of time. But remember, that first week... when we were mulling over the memories they had taken. Even without them, didn't we understand the importance of what it was we had lost? Each of us knew and we knew it was something to be fought for.

Our minds may be able to be manipulated, but some things run deeper than that. ...Into the heart. Into the bones.

...When we meet again, I may not know the name 'May Chang', and I may not know the face of the person who stands before me... but I have every confidence that we will come to know each other once more as dear friends.