'Iron Fist Wedding' Chapter 10, "The answer":
(Author's notes on bottom)
"And that's what happened…" Roger Smith explains to William Prime as they both sit on the park bench in the city.
"Roger…" A voice states; and they both turn to see R. Dorothy standing behind them. "Wow; I didn't even hear her come up…I must be getting deaf…" William mutters sheepishly to himself.
"R. Dorothy? What are you doing here?" Roger asks her. "I heard you leave; and I followed you here," she explains, and then appears to smile a little bit, "Thank you."
"For what?" Roger asks, a little confused. "For not being a louse anymore." She replies; taking a seat next to him.
"Um…not to interrupt here or anything; but…" William begins; raising his hand into the air a little. "Oh, right; sorry…" Roger replies with a slight laugh; removing his shades again.
"Well; after that; I began my new life in the true Paradigm City; with R. Dorothy. The city was isolated; as I found out; and no one ever left or entered the city because of the experiment. After the experiment ended; I thought that would change…but it didn't. People just continued to live their lives as if it were still happening; and nothing that I did changed that. You're one of the first visitors to this city in quite some time…people just don't come here anymore. It's almost as if the rest of the world has forgotten about us…almost as if the experiment is still going on…" Roger explains with a sigh; placing his hands on either side of his head.
"Well; I know that the experiment has ended; it was reported by the news in Brasilli. Honestly; I didn't pay much attention to it; since it didn't matter to me at the time; but I do remember hearing about it." William replies.
"That's good then…" Roger replies; his voice trailing off.
William sits up a bit more and looks over at him again. "Anything else happen after that?" He asks him.
"Not really, William. Time passed; and all of the people I had known from before didn't exist any more. Angel, Norman, Dan…they were all gone; along with the experiment. There was a few times that I thought I saw them; but it was their real world counterparts; the people that they had been based upon. When they designed that experiment; they did it well." Roger replies.
"That's amazing…" William states in awe of Roger's story. "What is?" R. Dorothy asks him. "Everything about that…the experiment; the revelation; the fact that you two are still here despite everyone else being gone…" He replies, then rubs his chin a little bit, "…Makes me wonder about what Alan said…he wasn't lying, was he?"
"Lying?" Roger asks him with a little confusion. "It's just that…no; it doesn't matter. It's in the past; and the fact is that it's over; and only you, R. Dorothy and Big O exist to tell of it." William replies with a reaffirming smile.
"What was he lying about?" Roger asks him; ignoring William's comment. "Well; now that I think about it; maybe it wasn't so much him lying as it was him assuming he knew all the facts…" William replies, "…Like when he told me that Seldano was actually Wayneright; that was a lie…but then again; maybe he didn't actually know the truth behind it and just said that; assuming it was right since it seemed to make sense in his mind." William explains.
"I see…" Roger replies, "…Was there anything else that he was wrong about?" "Well; I already told you what I could remember from our conversation. I'm sure there were other things that were wrong as well; but it was the ravings of man who had lost his sanity long ago…I guess I shouldn't have believed as much of what he said as I did." William replies; looking away sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it, William. We all make mistakes; and we are all lead blindly sometimes. That's what life's about; learning and growing from those mistakes. You wouldn't believe how much I've changed over these past years since the end of the experiment." Roger states.
"I can imagine…" William states; smiling a little as he looks over at him. Just then; a beam of light hits his face; causing him to try to block it with his arm.
"Wow, it's already dawn?" Roger replies. "Time flies…" R. Dorothy states, causing both of them to look at her. "That is the proper use of that expression; is it not?" She asks; and both William and Roger laugh a little bit. "Yes, it is, Dorothy…" Roger replies with a smile as he looks down at her.
"Should we go back to your place then?" William asks him. "Yes; that's a good idea, William." Roger nods. They all get up and start to walk out of the park as the Sun's warming rays begin to penetrate the chill of the evening; leaving a slight dew on the windows of the shops in town.
They walk back to Roger's place; walking towards the main living room as they enter. "You know; that is one thing I do miss about the experiment…" Roger suddenly states as he hangs up his suit jacket. William looks up at him as R. Dorothy walks by and into another room. "What's that?" William asks him, slowly removing his suit jacket.
"Norman Burg…he was a good man; and I never got to thank him properly for everything that he did for me," Roger states; looking blankly across the room, an image of Norman in his mind. "He may just have been an illusion of reality; but he was real to me." Roger finishes.
"You miss him because he's not here to clean up after you anymore." R. Dorothy states; appearing at a doorway adjacent to the room.
"That's not it at all…" Roger yells; getting mad for a moment; but then he calms down and sighs, "…That's not it. Sure, I loved having to not have to do my own laundry and everything else; but I miss him as a person; not because of what he did."
"I was only joking Roger Smith; trying to lighten the mood." R. Dorothy replies and walks out of the room again. "You two really are something else…" William laughs as he hangs up his coat finally. Roger watches as he walks past him; unsure of what to say in response; but eventually decides to say nothing and follows him into the living room.
William takes a seat in one of the chairs; holding his hands together in front of him as Roger sits directly across from him. "Have you ever been in love before, William Prime?" Roger asks him.
"What?!" William shouts; totally shocked by the question. Roger flinches a little; taken back by William's reaction; but moments later recovers and asks the same question again.
"I…I can't say…" William replies in a mutter. "Not really sure if it was true love?" Roger asks him. "Not so much that; but rather I…" William begins; but stops himself in mid-sentence, "…I just can't say about it. I can't talk about it; sorry."
"Alright; I understand." Roger replies with a nod. "You do?" William asks; a little confused now. He sits up a little in the chair and stares at Roger in confusion. "I understand that you can't talk about it now. We all have secrets we have to keep." Roger replies.
"Heh; you're still good…" William replies; leaving Roger a little perplexed. "What…" Roger begins to ask when William waves his hand a little bit; causing him to trail off in mid-sentence.
"You're still a good negotiator; I mean," William states with a smile, "You almost convinced me to tell you about what happened. That was very clever; but unfortunately; I can't discuss it. It's still too painful; and it's something I have to come to terms with before I can discuss it with anyone else."
"Thank you, William Prime." Roger replies, now leaving William confused. "For what?" William replies, "I more or less just shot down your attempt at finding out about my past. How is that something to thank me over?"
"No, I mean thanks for telling me that I'm still a good negotiator. This is a thankless job; and more often than not I get people who are pissed off at me for not doing things like they think it should be done and so on. I rarely get compliments these days; and it's nice to finally hear a sincere one again." Roger explains.
He smiles and laughs a little; out of happiness. William shrugs a little bit, accepting the reason. "You're welcome then, Roger Smith." William replies with a smile as well.
"I'm really surprised that I'm not tired; speaking I didn't sleep at all last night." William states after a few moments of silence. "It's amazing what an active mind can do." Roger comments, waving his hand a little to emphasize the comment.
"Do you like scrambled eggs, William Prime?" R. Dorothy asks; suddenly appearing next to him with a tray of food. "Oh, I didn't realize you had made breakfast…" Roger replies; looking up at her.
"Yes. Since Norman is not here anymore; I have to do take care of his duties. You know that, Roger." She replies; looking over at him. "I know…but I just wasn't expecting it…" Roger laughs; trying to avoid sounding stupid.
"Yes, R. Dorothy; I like scrambled eggs. You didn't have to make me anything." William replies; looking up at her as he remains seated. She doesn't reply; but instead just sets the food down on the small coffee table between William and Roger. "Well; thank you for the food; R. Dorothy." William replies with a polite nod; and she lightly nods in response.
"She's something else alright…" William laughs a little to himself as he picks up a fork, "You're a lucky man, Roger Smith."
"I know that now…" Roger smiles happily; grabbing his fork and proceeding to eat some of the breakfast. All of a sudden; a loud blaring sound breaks the mood; and causes both Roger and William to drop the their forks on the floor.
"What the…?" William begins; reaching down into his pocket automatically. "The sound's coming from your device…" Roger replies; leaning forward and looking at William as he pulls out the device and looks at it.
"That's strange…" William responds, scratching his head a little. "What is it?" Roger asks. "It says the same thing as before; but it's addressing me…I think…" William responds. "What does it say?" Roger asks him. William looks up at him with confusion, "It says, 'The answer to all lies in Paradigm, Dominous.'".
Author's notes:
What is this new development? Why is the device referring to William as a dominous now; or is it even referring to him in the first place? Keep watching and find out! (And hopefully the next chapter won't take as long as these last 3 did. ; ).