Hi. Did you really expect me to stay dead? Haha. I settled on never forgetting or being forgotten. There was simply no way I would stay put forever. My gun, Ghost 45, had the power to break minds, allowing the owner to gaze upon the fragments and remember everything about their existence. Even if I die, as long as I bear the will to persist, I can turn into 1.45 MHz and back. It just takes a little focus.

Quite a convenience, I must say. You see? At Lobotomy Corp, employees are not really expected to survive until the end. Riding myself of my mortality will give me the chance to help Angela finish the job.

You got that right. I want to help Angela, not the manager. Do you remember the weird anxiety I got during my last life? At that time, I realized success was out of reach, although I didn't know the reason. No matter what, I couldn't picture a happy ending to this tragedy. There was not enough... of something.

Now that I focused back into my old self, I realize what the issue is: the manager wanted to end things without even starting them properly.

Let's leave aside the huge monstrosity of a concept L Corp is. What Ayin wants to accomplish is extracting the light out of people's minds and turn them into seeds. At the end of this, he will spread these seeds in an attempt to heal everyone. In other words, he wants humanity to discover the potential of the mind… and the light that sleeps within. If he succeeds, it will mean the birth of a new era.

'Why is he doomed to fail' you ask? Because his empire is built upon a huge failure. To attain the necessary state of mind to bear the light, Ayin needs to reach enlightenment, which means he needs to face his own fears to build the future. He even put that in the logo of his corporation in order not to lose track of his goal, no matter which iteration he becomes.

Sure. During the last three days, the voices that were heard at the end were his own, or rather, the older iterations of Ayin. The fact the manager overcame these struggles meant he was ready. However, there was something he forgot since the start.

Angela.

Ayin gave her a script for the 50 days that were about to begin and told her to follow every step until the project succeeded. In said script, there was an arc for every main character of its story, even for the Arbiter… but not for Angela.

Ayin hated her. She was the thing that never got to become his precious colleague, Carmen. The AI is his most embarrassing failure. The one thing he refused to acknowledge no matter how many cicles he suffered through.

By neglecting her, can he truly attain enlightenment? Theory and experience says that it is indeed a possibility, but the implications of that being the case… they were simply too cruel. I remembered my every moment in Lobotomy Corp, even the instant when I got imprinted into eternity. Not even once did any of the iterations of Ayin show sympathy towards her. There was no place for Angela in the grand finale.

I was a mere bystander and it got me so furious I had to dissuade myself from going to his office and off him myself. Killing the manager at this point of the game wasn't going to help anyone anyway, so I just exhaled my fury and laid down my gun. The day 50 was meant to be a last hurrah for Lobotomy Corporation just before an irreversible end. If things finally reached their conclusion, I would be sad, but at least Angela would be released from her obligations.

However, I wasn't the only observer to this story.

The Qliphoth Deterrence had yet to be reduced, but the alarms were sounded. An Ordeal was happening.

A Black Ordeal.

There were no enemies, no invaders, no breaching abnormalities… Nothing. In fact, there was truly nothing.

Nothing. The Dawn of Black.

A 'Nothing' appeared at Central Command's Main Room's very center, similar to a tiny black hole. There, I found someone I recognized.

Sam… also known as Zero.

Do you know the legend? The true reason why the Magical Girls fought the Jester of Nihil was because it would never allow them to meet their doom. Each girl would eventually break apart and turn into monsters that destroy what they sought to protect in the first place. This saddened the jester so much, it waited at the end of every road to reset everything back to the beginning... Back to their 'day 1', so to speak. One time, it would be a local clown who became the avatar. Some other time, it would simply be the entity itself. There was no way to know if they had gathered to become the jester, or if the jester had come to resemble them.

It didn't really matter. Unlike the other abnormalities, I couldn't see the ghost of its original, since there was no original for the Jester. It was an impurity. A special Ordeal that took form from everyone's misery. It was there to give everyone what they needed.

An enemy to stand against. A reason to seek hope.

As for Lobotomy Corp, Zero was going to drain all the energy we had collected during this cycle… and there was no way to stop them. Each time an employee shot the Ordeal, the bullet was sucked in into the void. Every strike against its empty shell, a pulse of blunt energy erased the attacker into nothingness. No matter what happened, it continued to drain the energy we fought so much to collect.

Just like it did with the Magical Girls, the clown witnessed Angela's story and decided it wasn't fair for her. The manager hadn't earned his victory. So it would always come back, no matter how many times we tried, and send all the energy and light into the hollow oblivion it originated from.

The cycle was doomed.

Hollow. The Noon of Black. 50% of our energy and light vanished into nothingness. The employees fought against Zero, but they were simply killed by a black wave of merciless destruction. It was so brutal… no preparation or time shenanigan could have saved them.

Gars, Martin, Izzy, Qwerty, O'Neal, Multiple, Fabb… their corpses were sprayed around the great Main Room of the bloodied department. Suddenly, the colors faded.

Void. The Dusk of Black. All returns to the void. Angela stepped forward in the midst of chaos. Her expression showed an emotion unnatural of her.

"Why can't you let it be? I wish things to end… even if it has to be like this…"

The Jester simply stared at her through their white mask with black tears and continued to steal everything we worked so hard to obtain.

Nihil. The Midnight of Black.

It was over. The lights turned off. The third trumpet concluded and gave way to the fourth. Every single clerk and employee had perished to the thick miasma that was spreading everywhere. The Sephirahs continued to search for solutions, but the manager went silent. To have his dreams stripped from him in such a cruel manner… It made for a good start on all the karma he built up.

Angela shot my dead body again with the Ghost 45.

"Wow. So much accuracy!" I congratulated, impressed by the trajectory of the bullet. It had entered through the same orifice of before. Or did I awaken just to resemble the trajectory? Mysteries for another time.

The Jester shook after hearing my voice. A cloud of miasma attempted to strangle me a second time. I ran for my life.

"Hey, hey! That's not nice, Zero! Why don't we talk this out? There's no reason to be hostile with each other anymore, is there? You achieved your goal! The cycle is doomed! The manager will have to restart from the very beginning!"

The miasma released me. It was reassuring to see Zero hadn't drown in anguish and was able to recognize me. Angela kept her distance from them, but I got closer. They were my apprentice. I trusted them. Calmly, we seated on the blood-painted floor.

"I get it, Zero. I really do. I wouldn't like things to end like this for her either."

"You… do…?"

Their voice felt natural. It got me so worked up I almost teared up a bit. Who would have guessed the Jester's soul could be restored by turning off the lights?

"Yeah. Now that I have achieved my awakening, I have attained some sort of immortality. With it, I would like to help Angela designing a new script. A better one. One that can truly save everyone."

"That sounds great! Then-"

"But… Angela perceives time slower than we do. While everyone goes through the same meltdowns again and again, she continues to suffer in silence, tortured by the clock that refuses to speed up for her. She deserves freedom, Zero."

"You don't know anything. She's gone through so much time already… What does it matter a few more eons? Maybe next time the manager will realize his mistakes! Maybe-"

"I don't think Ayin deserves that redemption… Angela… has probably given up by this point…"

Zero fell silent at my words, seeing the truth in them. Who would wish for the approval of a person that denied them since their birth?

"You're mistaken about me, my pupil. I know, in fact, everything… or rather, I remembered it. Everything there is to know about Simon, including what they saw. I don't think the manager will change in any of his iterations. That is why I believe Angela has earned a victory, even if it's not as perfect as she deserves."

The Jester stretched one of its claw-like hands and grabbed my head. I could feel it scanning through my mind. It released me violently. There was too much information to process, so they were harmed. I… wasn't really looking forward to all the digesting of information that I was forcibly postponing. I felt it beating on the back of my mind, protesting, demanding to be heard… Those… noises… Last night… I heard too many of them… I'm not okay… but I'm resolved to see them through.

Zero got agitated again.

"I can't accept this! If I let them be, they will walk a path that is unknown even to me! They… No… I am not ready for that. Nobody leads the way for that future… and I can't trust the manager!"

"I will lead the way."

Silence. Familiar explosions. Laughter.

"You… will?"

"Lobotomy Corporation doesn't need us, Zero. Angela can take care of things on her own. With a new iteration of A, with resetted employees and Sephirahs, she will reach day 50 again. We are just in the way. We need to walk our own path from now on and allow her the space she needs to spread her own wings."

The choice was tough, but, as the Inspector, I was used to leading the way. I rested a hand on their shoulder.

"Will you grant me this wish? For your teacher?"

Into the unknown.

The clown got up. I smiled. Their silence offered me the answer I desired. I could hear things most people couldn't, remember?

I turned back to the cyan-haired AI. Behind her, the Sephirahs had gathered, fearful and uncertain of what was to happen next. I cracked a smile.

"Good luck, Angela. The rest is up to you. I wish you the best. Once you find the right moment, please, tell everyone that I cared about that I said goodbye."

Her lips whispered something.

I grinned. Apparently, a millennia was enough time to grant a machine human features… like genuine emotions. Her future looked promising.

"We'll meet again. Until then."

Zero and I walked forward into Nowhere. Each step, the void said a name. Each step, I recalled my moments with them. The things I've seen. The people I've witnessed. I would take all of them with me until I decide to cease.

Ekpmephtil. They would manage to become more confident of themselves and their sinister past. I saw it during one of the cycles. They would be fine. They were a natural leader who knew both compassion and brutality in equal measure.

Lin was the main reason for that. They always found themselves an important spot in any team they ended up joining. They had competence in no short supply. Wherever they went, people would clash with them out of jealousy and admiration. Gregory wasn't the first to call them 'pink-demon'.

Kikas didn't really need the help of Today's Shy Look's help to smile. Their presence was a factor that helped many employees find hope in their jobs. Even the Sephirahs felt thankful to have them around.

Gregory, on the other hand, always found ways to make my life more miserable that it needed to be. That bully… However, considering my last cycle with them… I can forgive everything they've done to me because of that. I couldn't have found my light without them confronting me every so often. Truly, it's hard to bear so much gratitude.

Izzy was the heir to another Wing, yet they didn't like the idea of being handed the world to them and attempted to earn their own. Their greed might have been swallowed by L Corp, but it wouldn't end there. Their story was only starting.

Qwerty rarely managed to join any team. Even when they did, their lack of confidence made them waver at every step. However, when they found something they honestly wished to protect, Gebura always negotiated with the managers to scout them into her team.

O'Neal got to visit the land of Oz once. They helped the main characters defeat the evil adult who lied. They truly were a genius when it came to books. If Angela decided to create, for example, a library, oh, boy. Nobody would be able to stop them!

Garcia was a pretty decent person. The managers sometimes chose random employees to turn into Multiple. This manager made the right decision when they picked Garcia. It's always great to have someone like them in big amounts. You never know what they will do next! Besides, they were quite confident in themselves, which in turn made for a quite unified front against adversities.

It was quite appropriate that Fabb always found their way to the Extraction Team. An Arbiter, a Beholder… let's just say Ek didn't have exactly a good time when they were in the same team. That refreshed their instincts as a potential Claw, lasting throughout the cycles.

Sam and I were simple and generic employees. It took me some luck to start inspecting things… and even more luck to actually survive them! Sam sometimes shared the title of Inspector when I wasn't around. Their origins were quite similar to mine. Mere vagabonds of the Backstreets, fortunate enough to join a Wing.

Now, they had turned intoThe Void and I became a deathless witness. Our book left Lobotomy Corp behind and we turned a new page of our own story.

Once we became stranded in an unknown location, I made a quite interesting question.

"Tell me, my pupil. How does light taste like?"

"Quite good. I used to be a soulless puppet, but sucking all of that in is returning me of my senses. I will forever be the Jester of Nihil, but I am walking a new path after you. I can grow to become more than I ever was. Since I was nothing, that's easy, actually."

"Haha. That's great. Really… It's great to finally have you back, Zero."

"It's all thanks to you, Simon. Do you think Angela will find a place to call home?"

"What are you saying? Haven't you witnessed her as long as I have? She WILL make a home for herself with her own two hands! This won't be the last we hear of her, I assure you."

"Hope. A feeling the Jester was never meant to bear." They smiled. I filled the void with a happy hum until I got an idea.

"Another question, my good friend. You are the Jester. You can reset things with those skills of yours. Can you… er… let's say… get everyone back to us? When I mean everyone, I mean-"

"I can. I would never forget my progenitors."

"When I worked with the abnormalities, I saw their ghosts. I don't want to leave them behind like this. Please, grant them another chance."

"Anything for you, Teach."

"You're the best!" I sang, embracing them.

While Angela finally conquered the last obstacle preventing her from succeeding in future cycles, we set ourselves a new goal.

Phwooos!

A vast group of people appeared in front of us, floating in the void. They were confused. Some of them even panicked. Still, Zero and I used to belong to the now vestigial Inspection Team of Lobotomy Corporation. We knew those people better than anyone in the world… maybe even better than Angela.

I clapped my hands to gather everyone's attention.

These are the people we wouldn't allow to remain forgotten. The people who made good dreams. These… are the originals.


That's it for this fanfic. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Hm? I am forgetting something, you say? Oh, there are more abnormalities. Those in Library of Ruina, the legacy abnormalities, the WonderLab abnos... yeah, there are a lot of them. I have an idea of how to make their stories, but I won't be doing those any time soon. Since Limbus Company Bus is coming eventually, I might get back in the mood of writing these, so maybe I will do that at that point.

Anyway, that's about it. Thanks for reading! Enjoy your time here in Fanfiction!