WEEK SEVEN: ENDGAME

[saturations]

ENDGAME

Sunday morning starts peacefully enough. After the events of yesterday, it was probably a relief to go about your evenings, reveling in the presences of your friends and loved ones, grateful to be alive and well. Everything is quiet until around noon when alarms start going off on your phones. It’s a gentler sound than the noise that once alerted you to the executions to take place on Sundays. You can always ignore it until 1 PM, but then you’ll blink and find yourself back in the Central Node once again.

The color in the node seems a little brighter as the archway where the Tree once stood continues to shimmer. The fog has gently blown back, revealing an opalescent area just past the entrance. It’s warm and it’s inviting, little tears in the air around it showing off different places you may know as home.

You get the feeling that perhaps, finally, the Prism has listened to your wants and desires. Nothing is forcing you out right away, though nothing is making you stay either. The clock from the Tree continues to tick, counting down to twenty-four hours from now.

The Prism isn’t what it used to be, though all of the nodes have reverted to somewhat pleasant locations albeit drab. Take a tour of places you haven’t seen before, or say goodbye to the places you grew fond of in your time here.

Take your time to say goodbye. There's nothing stopping you from going to someone else's world - but you'll find you need to be careful. The Prism is a delicate thing, constantly in need of balance. You'll need to maintain it, if you're going to use it to go from place to place. All it takes is color - something strong, both positive and negative. When you come through to visit other worlds, you have to offer something that you have faced from home, big or small. A good day, the happy vibes from a birthday party, the sad vibes from a funeral, the pain of an injury. Coordinate, and take care of the space you have cultivated. It's your responsibility now to make sure the Prism doesn't try to hurt itself in its confusion.

You could even stay here if you wanted, now that the Prism’s cleaned up again. You'd slowly forget, just like the Residents did, but it'd be a long process. You could live a normal lifespan in peace.

Or don’t. So many of you are ready to return from where you once came. And that was never really the point, right? You have to face the music. It was always about taking your problems head on, and not running away.

Your phones will still work no matter where you go. You may not always be able to be together in person, but you'll always be in each other's contact lists.

As for your Residents, both current and past? It seems that Thinker, Revenge, and Scout have all vanished, their items mysteriously missing and pieces of themselves left to be regained. As for Dreamer... you don't know what happened to him.

For the living Residents, well. Fret, Rindo, Caduceus and Ei have a decision to make, too.

Make good choices, now. Balance is key.

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Comments

[bestaround]

[ 9S can be found in various places around the prism—take your pick or void, live your best life—seeming as if maybe he's taking one last look at, well, everything. But it's entirely possible he could be stalling too. Who knows!

Anyway, if you do find him: ]

Guess we had nothing else to worry about after all, huh. We really can leave now...

[classmate]

Mm, aren’t you happy?

[ Anyway, she’s taking his hand. ]

Nines-kun, do you like surprises?

[bestaround]

—Huh? Um... Sure, I guess I don't mind them.

[ unless it's a bad surprise but, it's Marie. ]

[classmate]

Then we’re going to go give some good news to both Damien and Crow-san, okay?

[ Swinging their hands… she’s so happy. She’s made two fucking insufferable people fathers. ]

[bestaround]

[ ??? ]

Er—are we?

[classmate]

Mhm!

We’ll tell Damien that you’ll be joining him in his world. And then I’ll join you all once I’m done solving things in my world —

That’s what you and Wicked had promised, remember?

[bestaround]

Well, I remember that last part...

[ With the rest being ???, but details. ]

Is he gonna be okay with that?

[aitou]

[ONE MARINE GOODBYE FOR THE ROAD...]

We can... are you going straight home?

[bestaround]

[ my marine homies.... ]

Me? Nah. [ time to quickly gloss over that! ] But I take it you are, yeah?

[aitou]

Yeah. We have to.

[They have to complete their mission, after all--though they'll likely linger until most everyone has dispersed. He tilts his head slightly, though.]

Where are you going to go?

[bestaround]

[ Well, now that his future from here is a little less ??? ]

With Damien, it looks like. Guess I'll finally be able to see how humans really lived.

[ And not this weird, bizarre place. ]

[aitou]

Oh! That's a good idea, he'll take good care of you.

[he absolutely will not]

[bestaround]

[ This can only go well(?). ]

Hey, I can handle myself just fine, too!

[ Nevermind he is treading completely unknown territory. ]

[countermeasures]

That seems to be the case.

[she's ready to head back to her world! ...after checking in with people.]

Have you thought a little more about what you plan to do next?

[bestaround]

[ a nod ]

Got that figured out at least, so—you don't have to worry anymore.

[countermeasures]

Good.

So, where should I go if I'd like to come and visit you, later?

[bestaround]

[ With some mild surprise: ]

You'd do that?

[countermeasures]

I said it yesterday, you're my friend!

[bestaround]

Y– yeah, you did...

[ which is still wild to think about. dang. ]

For now, I'm leaving with Damien.

[slashay]

Feels pretty surreal after everything, huh? Like... I feel like I gotta knock on wood for saying it's wild that this didn't blow up, but.

[IT DIDN'T... He looks and sounds kind of in awe.]

[bestaround]

[ Yeah, same? ]

Not gonna lie, I was really expecting it to.

[slashay]

Honestly? Samesies. [HE JUST DIDN'T WANT TO SAY IT.] But I'm reeeally glad that's not how it turned out.

[bestaround]

Tell me about it. I'm exhausted just thinking about another week of this.

[slashay]

Yeah, I was pretty ready to take drastic measures if that happened. [He would simply pass away.] ...So - y'got any plans?

[bestaround]

[ Heh, that'd make two of them. ]

Nothing huge, if that's what you're hoping to hear.