47 Usagi Days / Finale, Pt 2

- 47.1 -

When Ruby came to, she was in a vast, dimly-lit area. The walls were covered from floor to ceiling in displays, showing all kinds of information and data. Consoles and workstations everywhere—all abandoned. On one wall was a giant holographic map of Ithaca. Alarms still blared outside, but inside this space they were relatively subdued, muffled and distant.

… Was this the command center?

Her arm was slung over Violet's shoulder, who was supporting Ruby's weight as best she could.

Violet hadn't noticed that Ruby had woken up. She was busy looking ahead, at the shuttle platform set into the wall ahead of them, embedded within the vast, cavernous room.

Anemone was on the raised platform, standing just outside of a railcar, whose doors were just now closing. Inside the car was packed full of what looked like high-ranking R.A.B.B.I.T. personnel.

Anemone's sister was among them, sitting with her back to the glass, facing away from Anemone. She never once looked back, as the small electric train left the platform, and disappeared down a pitch black tunnel that sealed itself closed with a massive blast door.

Anemone stood on the empty platform for a long time. Clutching some kind of card in her hand. Finally, she turned around, looked at her friends.

Ivy.

Lucy.

Violet.

And—

"Oh … Ruby's up," said Anemone, blankly.

- 47.2 -

Ivy: "You don't have to do anything, Annie."

Ruby: "( … Do what?)"

Violet: "She left you. Your own sister! She's just manipulating you. All that stuff about, the greater good. Stopping the Last Orc on Earth. They're just trying to get you to do their job. It's not our responsibility."

Ruby: "(… What's not?)"

Anemone: "I know … I know. Onee-chan, she—… Look, we were never going to board that shuttle. It's for R.A.B.B.I.T. VIPs only. Not even Onee-chan can swing that for us. She at least tried to—"

Ivy, outraged: "'Tried'!? She tried nothing! She left you! Us—okay, fine. But you—you're her family! And now she wants you to Orchestrate!? Open your eyes, Annie! She doesn't care about you! She never did!"

Ruby: "(… Orchestrate?)"

Anemone, defensively: "Onee-chan is the reason I'm still alive! The reason we all got in here in the first place! If it weren't for her …"

Violet: "Look, we can leave. Let's just leave. The cargo elevator. We have the keycard. We can just … leave."

Ruby stamped her feet on the ground. She had never been as alert as she was now. Her head still slightly ached, but right now her biggest concern was—

"… CAN SOMEONE PLEASE FILL ME IN ON WHAT'S GOING ON!?"

- 47.3 -

Anemone: "Ithaca's undergoing the Evacuation Protocol. Step one: eliminate all R.A.B.B.I.T. personnel, and their families living on the premises. Except for a small, select group. … My sister among them."

Ruby: "Personnel and families? But that's basically everybody. There's nobody in Ithaca from the outside world. … Except us. We were basically the first and only exception."

"Yup. It's basically, 'Kill 'em all'. … Step two: Evacuate said select group through the shuttle you just saw. I tried to convince—" She paused. "Well, we're not on the shuttle, so the outcome's kinda self-explanatory."

"… And step three?"

"Step three: Orchestrate the Void-Null. A superweapon derived from Orc technology. Designed to eliminate all matter within a certain radius."

Ruby rubbed her eyes. "Wait, wait—if they're going to wipe everything in the area with a superweapon, then why have the wardens shoot everybody first? What's the point, if the Void-Null will take care of it anyway?"

"Contingency, I guess. Void-Null might not even work."

"… You're saying there's a chance it could fail?"

"I'm saying the Void-Null is Orc-tech that we can barely comprehend, much less predict. Case in point, the operation itself requires 'Orchestration'—meaning someone has to be present to monitor the gradient alignments. Compensate for any inverse fluctuations."

"You don't even know what those words mean."

"Just repeating what I heard. Anyway, Orchestration's not hard. Anyone can do it—it just has to be manual." She nodded toward a bright, white corridor beside the cargo elevator. "The Void-Null chamber's down there."

Ruby ran her hands down her face. "… Basically, someone needs to stay behind in the blast."

"Yes. Evacuation Protocol dictates that one of the high-ranking members stays behind. I don't know how they choose. Maybe draw straws or something. Kinda like … the captain going down with the ship, you know?"

"But luckily for those R.A.B.B.I.T. cowards, we happened to be here. Your sister wants you—us—to do their job for them."

Anemone: "…"

The five of them were silent for a while. Ruby and Anemone, sitting side by side behind two of the workstations. Violet and Ivy nearby, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Lucy, wheezing tiredly, reclining, her head in Violet's lap, Violet stroking her hair gently.

Lucy's skin was turning a pale grey. Her fingers were becoming more claw-like, her eyes almost completely black now.

Distant sounds of energy blast fire. The Orc roared and laughed from somewhere in the facility. The sounds had been ongoing all this time, but they were getting closer to the control room as time passed.

A display across one wall caught Ruby's eye: Two-thousand faces on the screen, the vast majority of them greyed out, with a red X over them. The only ones still highlighted belonged to the girls, plus a few wardens. A live feed, showing the vitals of everybody in Ithaca. The R.A.B.B.I.T. high brass had been monitoring them all.

Each time the Orc laughed, another warden's face turned grey, a red X appearing. Pretty soon, the only people alive in all of Ithaca were the five girls sitting in this very control room.

Anemone: "… I never said I would go through with it."

Ruby stood up. She quickly snatched the Void-Null card from Anemone's hand, before she could react.

Ruby: "Good. 'Cause if anyone's going to Orchestrate, it's gonna be me."

- 47.4 -

Ruby marched down the white corridor, headed for the Void-Null chamber. Behind her trailed Anemone, Violet, Ivy and Lucy, as well as their objections.

Ivy: "Ruby, what are you doing?"

Violet: "Stop it. None of us have to Orchestrate anything. All we have to do is leave. The cargo elevator …"

Anemone: "I don't get why you're doing this. I really wasn't going to do it. You don't have to—"

Lucy, out of breath: "… Stop. …Ru-by."

The truth was, Ruby didn't know why she was headed for the Void-Null chamber. She could hear her friends' objections behind her. And they made sense. She even agreed with them.

… So why was she so determined to Orchestrate?

The Orc's words echoed through her head. Worthless. Useless. The girls don't need you anymore. They have no more use for you.

Ruby continued marching, even as she listened to her friends talk about her behind her back. ("She must still be out of it… Right?" "… She's not thinking clearly." "… What did they do to her down there …?")

"We have … to stop Louie," muttered Ruby, not even managing to convince herself with those words.

Anemone: "… Who!?"

Ivy: "Ruby, even if you kill yourself to take the Orc out, there's … there's more of them out there, remember? The ones who took out your village …"

That made Ruby stop in her tracks.

She turned around, faced Ivy. A slight smile on her face. "No. Those responsible for what happened to my village—they were just people. I know that now. … Louie really is the Last Orc on Earth. But thank you—all of you. I know you never really believed me, all these years. But thanks for going along with it, all this time. You're all—… Thank you."

Anemone grabbed Ruby's hand, the one holding the Void-Null card. She looked straight into Ruby's eyes, and said, "Listen to me carefully, Ruby. If you get into that chamber, I'm going in there with you."

- 47.5 -

Ruby: "What is this? Trying to guilt me out of Orchestrating?"

Anemone: "I'm not trying to guilt you into, or out of, anything. I'm simply saying that, if you get in that chamber, so will I."

Ivy: "(Guys, come on. This is completely unnecessary. We can all just leave.)"

Ruby, ignoring Ivy completely: "Why, Annie? Do you want that badly to also play the noble, self-sacrificing hero? … It's funny how you care so much now, when you were ready to let me walk away out of Ithaca, so easily. Didn't even try to stop me."

Anemone had to think for a bit, to understand what Ruby meant. Then, exasperatedly: "That night on the bench!?—That was your decision! What did you want me to—" She pinched her forehead in frustration. "Okay. Look. You've just come out of a coma. You're disoriented. I get it. But—"

Violet: "(I don't understand why you guys are fighting. Let's just leave. No Void-Nulls from anyone!)"

Ruby: "No, actually, I'm thinking perfectly clear right now. I think I get it now, Annie …"—(You're lying to them, Ruby. To yourself. Why are you picking a fight? All you have to do is leave. … What are you doing?)—"… maybe you actually did want to Void-Null. Yeah. Perfectly eager to carry out your sister's orders. You just needed someone else to volunteer first, so you didn't look like a pathetic little puppy, doing what your owner wants, even as they beat you and kick you and leave you alone on an empty platform!"

Ivy: "(Ruby, stop! Enough!)"

Anemone didn't say anything. She simply glared at Ruby.

Violet heard enough. She stepped in between them. "ENOUGH! STOP THIS, NOW! … There is an Orc headed our way. Turn around, both of you, and get in the cargo elevator. We can talk about all this later, once we're out of Ithaca."

Ruby and Anemone looked at each other. They knew Violet and Ivy were right. Neither of them really wanted to Orchestrate. But the tension between the two, all the unsaid feelings over the last six (seven, now) months down in Ithaca—it was boiling over.

There would be time to sort it all out.

But for now, they had to leave.

Ruby sighed. "Okay. Okay, fine. You're right. Let's—"

Before she could finish her sentence, she felt the Void-Null card vanish from her hand—replaced by something small, and hard, like a pebble—as Lucy slipped past them, in a blur, down the final stretch of the corridor, and darted into the Void-Null chamber.

- 47.6 -

The Void-Null chamber door hissed shut, with Lucy inside.

The four girls banged on the door. They yelled into the small, observation window, but Lucy was already sliding the access card into the center console. Her back turned toward the girls.

Ruby: "I'm sorry. I was—I was being stupid, okay? Lucy? Annie's right. I was dumb, okay?"

Anemone: "You don't need to do this, Lucy. None of us need to do this."

Ivy: "We'll leave together, Lucy. Open the door, sweetie. Come on. You're not a tool! You don't have to trade your life away!"

Violet: "Lucy, please … If you get rid of this one Orc, who's to say they don't all come back to Earth tomorrow? Don't do this, please."

Lucy turned around to face them, through the window.

She was smiling. Tears fell from her eyes.

"Lucy … made … her choice. Not because … of Ru-by. Or An-nie. Lucy … not … a tool. You … showed me that. Thank … you.

"Lucy … won't be … Lucy … soon.

"So … please … Lucy doesn't want to … be remembered … as … monster."

The Orchestration chamber was beginning to hum, as various components began to power up. Violet and Ivy were crying. Ruby frantically pounding on the door. Anemone watching, stone-faced.

"… Lucy wanted to … eat ramen with … Usagi girls.

"Lucy … sorry … not able to.

"Lucy … loves … Usagi … girls.

"Lucy … had … lots … of fun.

"… Good-bye."

The observation window slid closed.

Over the PA system, an automated voice rang out. "Void-Null sequence activated. Complete and total annihilation in TWENTY MINUTES."

- 47.7 -

They stood in front of the Orchestration chamber door. Ruby trying in vain to pry it open. Ivy and Violet both trying to convince Lucy to stop.

Anemone stood a small distance away, her back turned to the others. Blankly, she said, "We have to leave."

Ruby stopped what she was doing. Angrily: "We're not leaving Lucy in there."

Anemone repeated, in the same emotionless voice: "We have to leave. Now."

Ruby pulled away from the door. Storming toward Anemone, she snapped, "Hey, ice queen! Just because you can just turn your feelings off, doesn't mean the rest of us can! We're not leaving her in there!" She reached out for Anemone's shoulder, intending to grab hold of it, and turn her around. "There's no way we're leaving—"

Anemone spun around before Ruby's hand could make contact, and slapped her hand away. Her eyes were red, her face wet with tears. Her voice trembling. "YOU THINK I WANT TO LEAVE HER IN THERE!?" She shoved Ruby, who looked back in shock. "Of course I don't! I LOVE HER JUST AS MUCH AS THE REST OF YOU!"

Ruby had never seen Anemone like this—the same Anemone who had barely reacted when her own sister left her to die inside Ithaca.

Anemone wiped her eyes with her sleeves. "… We have less than twenty minutes before Void-Null. The cargo elevator ride itself is going to take nearly that time. Either we take the elevator up, or we stay down here, squandering that precious time to try and stop an operation that was purposely designed not to be stopped."

"You don't know that—"

"And when we're caught in the blast, Lucy's sacrifice will have meant nothing. She'll have done it all for no reason. Can you really dishonor her, like that?"

Ivy, Violet and Ruby were silent. Anemone was right—they just didn't want to accept it.

The PA system announced they had eighteen minutes left.

It was around that time, that a powerful thud sounded from the control room entrance—as though something were trying to get in through the reinforced steel blast doors.

The girls froze.

They heard the sound of metal tearing, twisting.

Then—a deep, booming voice that sent chills down their spines.

"HEEEEEEEERE'S … LOUIE!"