There's always a lighthouse

[wheremst]

And just like that, you wake up in the basement of a lighthouse in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There's a circle of 25 pods in the middle of the room, and two more in a room off to the side, and you can imagine who is in which.

An elevator to the side of the room leads up to the ground floor (or to the first sub-basement, if you want to check out the machine that brought you here), where you can for the first time in weeks look out a window and see the sky. Its a beautiful sunny day, with a strong breeze on the grassy ground of the island where the lighthouse stands. Have you ever been this happy to hear seagulls?

You're free. Whatever comes next, you're free and you won. Take some time to relish your victory, won't you? Reunite with friends you thought you had lost, go forth and just... well, enjoy this.

Comments

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[After a while, Cassandra joins Angel in the grass, almost rubbing shoulders with her as she sits down.



She could really just let the silence speak for itself.]

So... about the whole 'almost killing you' thing.

[She could've]

[didntgetdadslooks]

[ Angel thinks for a second or two, gaze still fixed on the sea. ]

I mean... you're not the first person I care about who's done that, to be fair. But as far as I'm concerned, that was Night Owl, not Cassandra.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Hmmmm that first bit doesn't exactly make her feel any better.]

It was, but it was still me. If I hadn't hesitated... [Well.] Or, I guess if everyone hadn't had their air horns and water guns, who knows what would have happened.

If you can forgive me, I'll try to make it up to you.

[didntgetdadslooks]

[ Nothing about Angel's past makes anyone feel better, but at least Angel's trying to start feeling better about it! ]

I forgive you.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[That's the good news about all of this: they could start feeling better now. They could start over.]

Then it looks like I have my work cut out for me. [What's that on Angel's hand? Is it... Cass's hand?] First order of business: getting somewhere that doesn't stink of VILE.

[didntgetdadslooks]

[ Oh no how did that get there. ]

No kidding. I do want to help Carmen get everyone fixed up, but... I also kind of never want to see the stupid VILE logo ever again.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Yeah. [Bitter truth of the situation, honestly.] As much as I don't want to deal with any more brainwashing... I can't abandon our friends like that.

[huffs!!]

Might not be going back to Corona for a while.

[didntgetdadslooks]

We'll fix them up. Redtext showed me how, it honestly feels way easier than you'd think to do the whole upload thing.

[ She smiles. ]

We'll get there. I'm excited to meet Rapunzel.

[ Like also Eugene, but what's the actual upshot on Cass having talked about him nearly as much?? ]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

I'm... excited to introduce you to her.

[And her dad. And also Eugene. He's important too, just. He hasn't gotten mentioned much.]

What do you think happened to, uh, Redtext?

[didntgetdadslooks]

[ Angel taps her head. ]

Back where she wanted to go. She was always a part of me anyway, so... I guess at the end of the day, she wanted to come back.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Well... being with you is a pretty great place to be. I can't blame her.

[didntgetdadslooks]

[ What the fuck Cass that's smooth who at VILE taught you that? Angel leans against her. ]

Glad you think so, because you're stuck with me for a while.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Would you believe that she's self taught?]

I think I can live with that. [ehehe] Hope Black Sheep can supply either a bed or a cheeseburger, because after weeks in that thing, I could go for both.

[didntgetdadslooks]

You're telling me. She gets around the world enough, I'm sure she knows at least one good burger place.