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Author's Chapter Notes:

This is it everyone! The series comes to an end. I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has been following this since the summer. I know it didn't end how you would have hoped. I know there were times people weren't happy with it but I stand by my choices. It has been a stranger course of events. A lot of strain and a lot of stress but I like how it turned out. I'm glad many of you have expressed your keen interest in this universe and its characters. I really did not expect it to do so well so I'm more than pleased with the outcome. I would like to hear everyone's thoughts on it, final conclusions, likes and dislikes, the whole thing. Likewise if you haven't put in your preference for the next story be sure to do so! You can find the list in the last chapter. Anyway, thanks again! 

“So what happened after that? You know…in the end?”

The figure who sat across from the spritely young recruit anxiously rubbed some of the stubble on his jaw. His weary eyes wandered across the dusty earth, resting temporarily on his own boots before cautiously passing over those of his enraptured audience. In all there were five of them. All but their storyteller clutched weapons out of a youthful need for security. Their eyes glowed dim with curious but lacking anticipation.

“In the end?” the man grumbled. “In the end life went on.” The others wished to look into his eyes and see what he saw for just a moment. Even after everything he had told them they did not understand the gravity of his words. They didn’t feel the subtle stuttering, they didn’t experience the guilty nostalgia.

“So, what happened to the others? I mean, Zinc, Treble, Cyan? Did you ever see any of them again?”

The man bit his lip and lifted his face to the others. “No, not all of them. Cyan made it out, I saw her once more but then she was gone. Went somewhere South, I don’t know.” he paused briefly to rub his knees, as though each sentence wore them a little weaker. “The last male ended up getting so scared he ran off. We wounded him pretty well too. Days later the scouts said that they found his corpse. He bled out”

The others sat in a changing atmosphere of bewilderment. Some showed excitement, others confusion, only the one closest to him expressed doubt.

“You mean to say you killed four giants that day?”

“No, we killed one. The rest, well they killed each other. In the end Censor’s plan worked. That’s what was so odd to us. Plans actually working.”

The others didn’t seem to catch his meaning but instead shifted uncomfortable next to each other on the log, feigning comprehension. After a few ambivalent glances at one another, the smallest among them finally formulated his next question:

“So, if this all really happened, what became of the program? Why weren’t more chambers built? If it was...successful?”

“Yeah, and how did you even end up here anyway? I mean, the Blue Shirt jurisdiction is a long ways southeast.”

Then he smiled. It was the first real smile he had given during his tale. All others seemed constructed for dramatic purpose, all were dead. Now though, he seemed genuinely amused.

“Too much money, too much damage, and in the end what’s four giants? Sure it's impressive but it was only a Pyrrhic victory. Besides, I left and no one else would ever think about doing what I did. I like to think that’s how I expressed my courage. What little of it I had at least. As for how I got here. Well, I just needed to get as far away as I could. Besides, I thought coming home would be worth it. There’s too much left here to deal with and I’ve been putting it off for too long.”

The others nodded. Together the five had all experienced loss. There weren’t many people at that time who hadn’t. It was a shared pain that manifested differently in each individual. The mystery of their predicament left all in a shallow darkness. How many still faces had they each seen? How many brothers and sisters lost? It didn’t matter, numbers became unimportant. All that mattered was that there had been loss. The night sat heavily upon them but offered them some comfort in its obscurity.

“I’ve just been wandering around these last four years. Trying to do what I can. Trying to forget it all.”

“So you do want to forget it?”

“No. I don’t want to but I feel like I should. It would make life easier”

“Life’s not getting any easier for anyone.”

“True, but even then just knowing what might have been makes me even sicker.”

All fell silent. Their eyes sat on the thin figure who had once gone by so many names. What’s ironic was he only ever wanted one, and now even it was tainted. No amount of prose or poetry could compensate for the physical weight of it all.

“Do you miss her?” another asked. It was a question they had all been thinking about, but until that point no one felt it would be appropriate to ask. The poor man dropped his head again and mumbled softly to himself. Finally, after a few second he raised his gaze and seemingly stared at them with a collective, pining stare.

“At first I did, then I didn’t.  I knew how dangerous she was. I knew what she had done. In fact I was glad she was gone until I started telling you this whole story. Now I just sit here and wonder how my life might have been different if her’s had been. What if she wasn’t so poorly treated? What if she overcame her anger? What if I really came to understand her and she came to understand me? That’s what she is now, questions. Hell, I think that’s all she ever was.”

“So…?”

“Yeah, yeah I do miss her. She was terrible and she was wonderful all at the same time. I don’t think if you met her you’d really understand though. It was like she just needed to be something for herself and for one other person, and that person ended up being me.”

They all shuffled uncomfortably for another moment. It was as though they had stumbled into a very personal memory and were somehow ruining. Finally, one of them stood, shouldered his rifle and said:

“Well, thank you anyway. It was a...an interesting story, but I’m afraid we have to go switch out guards.” He turned to the others who still sat wallowing in their anxiety. “Come on boys we got patrol.”

Reluctantly each stood in turn and filed out into the night. The brief hum of the lantern shuddered before Ellis reached out and flipped it off. Through the dark he waded back to his tent. The only sound over the evening crickets was the distant trickle of a creek. The soft earth recessed beneath each footfall, invoking images of the giants passing over the earth. When he finally closed the canvas flap on his tent and fell back onto his cot his mind swam with thoughts of terror and delight. All existence separated itself from him, just so that he could rest with a peace. Calm finally overcame him, letting his mind be swept back by the waves of consciousness. All peace and war ceased and in its absence was a reassuring nothingness. Then, just as the dusk  hitched itself along the boughs of the trees. God’s and men would not emerge to kill one another for a brief eternity. In their struggle’s absence, everyone one would rest. Of all them, Ellis fell into it with the greatest ease. Finally getting the much needed sleep he had been missing all those years.

With that, all life let out a long breath, one it had been holding beneath its own awareness. Gravity kept the world spinning around the sun and for a second its purpose seemed unknowable.

 

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