マッジ、あなたは何をしましたか？2：レクイエム

When we arrived back from the past, the future was far worse than the last time. Instead of having plants overgrown like the last time, our house nothing more than a pile of wreckage and there were three graves. I knew who they belonged to. I knew this was going to happen. If the previous time had a catastrophic outcome, then the second time was going to be even worse. The rest of the houses in the neighborhood were or near to being the same way. Madgie, what did you do? I thought. We walked further through neighborhood and came across a stuffed rabbit doll wearing pink dress, bloodstained. My heart instantly broke because, knowing its small size, I knew what likely became of the owner and who it belonged to. I picked it up as if it was a precious child.

My eyes welt up into tears. Toki's house was encased in a metal dome but I knew she or her 'family' had to be destitute. "Madgie, sweet Jesus, you ended the world and I don't think we can reverse this, with or without Toki's help!" I screamed, sobbing in the process. The world was destroyed by many years of war and I knew this was going to happen. I could have ended this long before it began but I didn't and, now, some angels are probably lying in their graves, dead from war. Madgie seemed not to comprehend her errors, not fully. I struck her across the face and said "Look...at…what...you...did! Look long and hard." Her shoulders fell and she looked around. I surveyed the land for survivors and spotted someone that I assumed to be Brownie. It was Brownie, she was pawing the ground for some reason. She looked up and spotted us before running over.

Something about her was different. She looked different. Her once beautiful golden blonde hair seemed to be crudely cut and faded and she appeared to be going bald. One of her arms was so badly mutilated to the point it had nearly lost its function and, judging by its appearence, it seemed to have been damaged by nuclear forces. One of her legs looked similar to her arm, only to a lesser extent. Her left cheek had scars. Her right ear had looked as if it had been shot off. Her nails had overgrown. She had been reduced to wearing only rags and underwear as clothing. Her appearence told me what words could not simply express. 

"I guess you're wondering what happened. It's okay if you are, just don't mention the names of those deceased, in the meantime, let's take a walk and I'll explain." she said, leading us. As we walked, she explained what things used to be and how it all faded.  

"You see, this was once our neighborhood and, now, due to the long ended wars, it is now a desolate wasteland that cannot be rebuilt. The world had been destroyed by wars, each war two or three years after the previous, and the wars themselves ended when majority of the countries were destroyed and some left in permanent damage. The last war there was in the history of the world was World War VII and between that war and World War VI was when we lost the most, including which the owner of the doll you hold had been lost. Due to circumstances, we had near scarce food, have no running water, no electricity, or heat and have been reduced to primitivity. The source of electricity we have are batteries, which were deemed useless during the war, the only source of heating houses come from fire and that is also what we use to cook our food, we wear what we can find and we'd be lucky if we found or had anything nice to wear, and what we use as food is what we can either kill or grow. Worst thing about being scarce on necessities is that we can hardly feed the children or keep them warm, without Toki to hold things together, we quickly fell into hard times and Doki was forced to take her place." Brownie said, wishing things were the way they were before.

"Is Toki still alive?" I asked her. She nodded and said "Yes, during one of the wars, she left went into seclusion and never returned. Why she left is something we don't know but our guess is that she did it to protect us. Doki fosters no ill will towards her sister, only anguish and grief that she left without even saying goodbye. She knows how you two can reverse this and knows where the time transport is but only one of might make it and reverse time, after all, it only requires either of you to jump in it and makes no difference if one or both you jump it, all that matters is that you two reverse time by jumping in it." 

Madgie seemed to have one thing in mind and that was to make this world the last thing that her eyes had to see. I could tell visibly that she had lost her will to live and her demise maybe imminent. Brownie led us through a hidden tunnel that let us out into Toki's basement. I smelled herbs and meat brewing. "Doki must be making rat stew again, as usual, obviously it is our only meal for the day. At least it's better than last night's when it was cold." Brownie said leading us upstairs.

I saw a long line waiting to go to get their bowls of food. A familiar toddler was in the very front of the line. Vielle? No, Rose, Vielle's cousin, one of the few that hadn't perished. I knew she wasn't Vielle, I wanted to convince myself that she was but she wasn't and never will be, unless time is reversed. She looked similar to her but if Vielle had lived to toddler age then, she would be wearing walking braces and glasses. When we were gone, time had not only altered but two years had passed. 

In the line I spotted Miki, second, her left ear had gone and her right had a few notches made from bullets. The third and fourth I spotted were Cyanne and Antoinette, whose eyes were bandaged. Antoinette's hand was firmly wrapped around Cyanne's and I didn't have to guess that she had permanently lost her sight. 

Fifth, I spotted a bald and scarred Leiline, as if she had been suffering the very effects of Chernobyl, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki put together. Sixth, infantile Emeraldine, trembling and struggling to hold her head up because of a badly damaged spine.

Seventh, Patrinia, the bones in her arms and legs had been broken numerous times and, without adequate medical care, failed to heal properly. When I saw Patti (short for Patrinia), I expected to see the rest of the triplets but they were nowhere to be found so it was obvious of what their fate was. 

Eighth, Spin, he was wheelchair bound and had no legs to stand on. Ninth, Jinx, he was near skeleton thin and had lost his prosthetic arm. Ten and eleventh, Crocosmia and Holly, she had lost an ear, eye, leg, tail, and her ability to walk, requiring for her sister to push her around in makeshift wheelchair. Twelfth, Brittani, she was in a condition similar to her sister, except worse. Thirteenth, Penny, her legs were badly turned inwards, crippling her.  The last in line was Brownie. 

The sight further had broken my heart. I knew they were starving and Doki wasn't faring any better. She slaved all day to make one cauldron of slugmullion for the entire house, yet, seemingly, not taking any food for herself, not that there would be any left. She looked inside the pot to see if there was any more. She stood up and sighed, proving that she couldn't get any for herself. She coughed harshly and was having apparent wheezing fits, a sign she may not be well. Her strength was leaving her and she had no clue on how long she was to live without her sister. She spotted us. Her eyes were filled with anger and grief. She walked out of what was the kitchen and into what used to be the livingroom.     

She had an electric lamp that was being powered by a car battery. Under the lamp, she had a book of writings by many a trembling hand. I knew some of it had to be Doki's handwriting because she was the one who likely owned the book. "I'm writing our story, not that it would matter, anyway, since the only way for us to get out of this place is to either die or immigrate to a country that has not been completely destroyed. You need to go to Toki and undo what has been done, only she knows where time transport is. I wish I had her back, I really do." Doki said. I remembered Brownie saying they never mention the names of the deceased so she wasn't saying Vielle's name because she had died and a mother who lost an infant will likely not try to say too much because it might put them in even more psychological pain. Brownie and Antoinette were assigned to escort us. They escorted us further into the wasteland.

"Toki resides in the area where nature has taken what is no longer wasteland or impure. In staying there, she is the near maiden essence of purity itself." Brownie said. We walked and walked for hours, until, unfortunately, being so wracked with guilt, Madgie ran off. We ran after her and, ultimately, we found we were too late to save her, she jumped into a deep ravine, her blood splattering all over the entire crevice. It was obvious that she had committed suicide because of her guilt. Only I was left to complete the task. 

Antoinette kneeled and smeared her fingers in Madgie's blood, saying "Now, she has become one of dze ones whose name shall not be mentioned. Odd dzing, she dzought it would be fair if she died to make up for all dze souls of dze lost angels dzat were taken, only to end up one, herself. I shall utter a prayer for her soul to be forgiven." Brownie's nose twitched and she said "I never thought of Madgie being suicidal." Neither did I but she committed suicide to justify the outcome of her experimental time travel. I was told that God would only permit do-overs so many times, so if I messed it up, my chances have run out unless I asked for another. 


Leaving Madgie's bloodied corpse and after tossing a couple flowers into her 'grave', we continued. As we walked, I heard Brownie mutter something about her smiling as if she was satisfied, the moment she hit the bottom. Maybe Madgie was satisfied with dying, in some way. In just moments of her death, it started to rain, the wind sounding vaguely like the voice of many crying children and as well as the rain smelling like tears. "Dze angels are weeping for Madgie and are asking for God not to admit her past dze border, yet, dzat which is his decision." Antoinette said, staring up at the sky with blinded eyes. 

As we continued, we found ourselves walking through the city. "We are almost dzere, Lapin." Antoinette spoke. I feel neither grief nor resentment over Madgie's demise, instead I feel confused. My emotions are racing about and I wasn't sure on how I should feel. Since, she was satisfied with joining the angels because of her guilt, however, the angels were asking the Lord himself to give her back 

As we neared Toki supposed location, I heard a familiar singing. The voice was female and beautiful, like an angel's. The location itself was wooded and beautiful, like Brownie had said, no longer wasteland but free of impurities. We walked into the forest. It contained little reminders of civilization and the time before. We followed the singing until we came across a house in ruins but inhabitable. "Toki?" I asked. The singing slowly stopped and a hand reached out. Antoinette placed her hand in it, gently leading the owner out. Toki looked at me bittersweetly. She was glad to see me but knew what had happened to Madgie.

Toki was quite the same as before, only she was well abled. The only thing I noticed that was different was that she wasn't wearing anything aside from a floral white veil and was nude, not wearing anything but the veil, though most of her seemed to be obscured by wearing said veil. Seeing where she lived and the circumstances, she probably didn't need them or had given them up to those in the who's who needed them. 

"I know what happened to your sister, you don't have to tell me. Whenever a child dies, the angels weep in the Angels' Storm, when I felt the tears, yes, and heard the wind, I knew she had to have died. However, you can have her back once you reverse time, when everything had been set back to the way it was. I know where the time transport is, go to the large ever-growing tree and touch the blue crystal in the center of the tree. The tree is not far and is just down this path, however, you will have to make this journey alone." Toki said, pointing down a cleared path, with flowers along the sides. I made haste in thanking her and ran down the path. 

As I ran down the path, I looked back, she, Brownie, and Antoinette were waving, but I also spotted someone else, she looked familiar. It was Madgie's spirit and, when I looked back again, she disappeared. As I ran, I spotted her again, walking on the path, fading. She died but she wanted to be certain that I was going to finish it out to the end. When, I made it to the tree, Madgie's spirit disappeared. I reached out and touched it. Certain parts of the forest had highlighted blue and glowed and there was a flash of blue light.

Next thing I know, I wake up, apparently passed out in the same spot where I found Vielle's doll. I sat up. Everything was back to normal. Vielle and Rose were infants again. Antoinette had her sight again. No one as I've previously saw were dead and no one had scars. Everything was back to normal. I got up and ran home. When I got there, Stinky was in his bed under mine, IdiotPants was in her corner, Lightbulb was watching TV. As for Madgie, she was alright, only in the hospital, injured. I went outside and Toki gave me a passing glance, closing her eyes assuredly, as if to say, only as she could say it, "Usagi, that dream is no more and you had awaken the world from its post-apocalyptic sleep."

It was over and I wonder if Madgie remembers. Likely not because she committed suicide and He restored all those angels back to their bodies. The world had ended when Madgie sent us back in time but it was restarted when she committed suicide and I touched the crystal.