the truth is, everyone wishes to be saved.

[finalring]

The execution has come and passed with the death of two more Agents. However time moves on without cease and so must the living. There are no celebrations, only the silence that grows heavier and heavier with every day and the feeling that something is pleased with what it has done.

There are two more days before the new week arrives: what will you do?

Comments

[oxidegreen]

[She goes still when she hears that. And then:]

How?

[kaliedoscopes]

Do you remember the other night, when I told you I had an idea of why we had all lost our memories?

[oxidegreen]

[Remaining silent, but nodding.]

[kaliedoscopes]

[ It's kind of funny. He had gone several weeks walking around the issue even though the fog had become thin and thinner each passing week. But just a few days ago he had been forced to confront it, actually confront it and not just throw out random guesses to the wind. That night he had told Haku what he remembered, and it's that memory that makes him wring his hands and exhale deeply before he starts speaking. ]

Everyone in Psychadelica, the last mansion I was trapped in...we were either dead or near dead, comatose. It's something I found out by reading their memories and hitting a dead end—no matter how many times I tried I couldn't retrieve a memory past a certain point. I wanted to think there were other possible explanations, but the other night I remembered what had brought us to Psychadelica in the first place.

It wasn't just a mysterious mansion ruled by a heartless mastermind, but the world between life and death. And we were stuck there, trapped by the lives we weren't willing to let go of.

[oxidegreen]

[...Oh. When she speaks again, it's a whisper.]

...Phantoms.

[kaliedoscopes]

[ ................. ]

It's not bad, putting a name to it.

[oxidegreen]

I know more phantoms than living people in my world. So... I'm a little used to it.

[kaliedoscopes]

[ He smiles, bitter, and opens his mouth to say something then thinks better of it. A gentle shake of his head to clear his thoughts and he tries again. ]

Well, now you know one more.

[oxidegreen]

I always got along better with phantoms anyway.

[Welcome to the pham, Hikage. If. She were at all warm enough to think about phantoms as any kind of family. But either way, there's no judgment in her voice.]

[kaliedoscopes]

I should have known then, huh? [ A weak attempt at a joke, but he's smiling. ]

[oxidegreen]

Maybe I should have realized it sooner, too.

[She's not quite smiling, but her voice is just a midge lighter than the norm.]

[kaliedoscopes]

I'm hard to read sometimes. [ ...you know he's going in for one more headpat. ]

[oxidegreen]

[She's getting more and more used to them these days, but it doesn't make them any less special. Actually, she makes a soft sound--

Was that a laugh?]

[kaliedoscopes]

[ (...)

There might be something funny in the air, because while Hikage doesn't laugh either, the breathless exhale is close enough to one. ]

...thanks for listening.

[oxidegreen]

Thank you for telling me.

[Phantoms are rather tricky business even in her situation, after all.]