Hello, everyone. :) Connor here with another update. I ended up cutting and heavily editing a lot of this chapter, and the final product is about a thousand words less than my rough draft. I felt like Mary's character wasn't really working in the first draft, so I changed it up a lot during my edits. I think that she's a more interesting character when she's a bit more fragile and compassionate than I originally had her.
And I don't actually have too much else to say. Have a great day! :D
"Grandma?" Ninten said.
Mary's presence didn't make any sense. The only way for Ninten to be seeing Mary inside of her Magicant now is if she were the one controlling Lucas. But Mary wouldn't do that. She wouldn't possess an innocent boy like Lucas. She wouldn't kill an innocent girl like Kumatora.
And she wouldn't be telling Ninten to run away from her right now.
Mary walked up to Ninten by the edge of the deck and put her hands on the wet railing, gazing out into the ocean. After staring for a couple of seconds, she looked over at him and smiled.
"Nevertheless," Mary said, "It's nice to see you, Ninten. Thank you for figuring out what happened to Lucas for me. I'm sorry that you had to go through so much pain only to find out that he had already passed on."
"I didn't mind," Ninten said, narrowing his eyes.
Mary nodded. "I never could have imagined, of course, the truth about what Lucas did. I honestly wanted you to keep an eye out for him in case you two happened to pass by. I had no intention of getting you tangled up in this mess. And George tells me that you figured out why I couldn't go out there and look for him myself."
Ninten drew a sharp breath.
"But you know," Mary said, "Being dead doesn't feel so much different from being alive in most other ways. Still, I hope that it's a long time before you have to think about what to do with your own consciousness after your life on this earth runs out."
"I've already been considering my options."
"Because of George?" Mary stared back out at the ocean. "I can try to reason with him."
"Since when has he ever listened to you?"
"I… guess you have a point." Mary sighed. "And I suppose that I shouldn't keep feeding you lies. We've both gone too far for that. So you're right, I don't think I'll be able to sway George's judgment. I can get one of the school administrators to send a data file explaining the situation to your parents. You'll need one hell of a lawyer to take on my husband's trumped up charges."
"Thanks."
Ninten studied Mary. Why had she wanted him to run away from the Nowhere Islands V-game? She was clearly connected to the V-game somehow, but there must be some deeper secret that she was still hiding.
"And because I swear to tell you the truth from this moment forward," Mary said, "I can say that I love you from the bottom of my heart. When I'm stuck here alone without any visitors for days, I always think back to the way we would talk together and share laughs behind George's back. I'll always hold those memories close."
Ninten nodded. The sincerity in those words couldn't possibly be faked. Any doubts Ninten had about the person in front of him being the real Mary faded away in that moment.
Which meant that his great-grandmother had possessed Lucas and killed Kumatora.
"But I'm sure that you're about to explode if you keep holding your questions in," Mary said with a smile. "So ask away. I'll answer anything."
"And you'll give me the full answers?" Ninten said.
"I will."
Ninten walked up to the railing next to Mary and stared out at the sea. He focused on one small area of water and watched as it bobbed up, down, up, down, shimmering in the sunlight.
Maybe it would be easier if he didn't have to look Mary in the eye.
"Are you going to keep fighting me?" Ninten said.
"Oh, I hope not. I don't want to make you suffer any more than you already have. But if you keep trying to find a way to stop George from within the V-game then I'll have to show you the way out. It's a pointless endeavor."
"So we're still within the V-game?"
"Yes. This little deck here exists as part of my psyspace, which George trapped inside of this V-game. When you tried to enter Lucas' body through use of the Franklin Badge, I used a special PSI technique to remain inside of his body as well. That's why we're meeting here in my psyspace."
Ninten gripped the wet railing. Too many follow-up points to question.
"So we're both technically inside Lucas' body right now?" he said.
"Right. And since both of us are inside, the game freaked out and sent both of us to my psyspace. If Claus uses your in-game body to kill Lucas', then we'll both be sent outside of the V-game."
Which could happen at any moment. Ninten took a deep breath.
"How did George trap you inside of the V-game?" Ninten said. "If I knew that he was holding you in a cage this whole time, I would have started shouting at him years ago."
"I can fault my husband for many things," Mary said, "But locking me away inside this game isn't one of them."
Ninten looked away from the ocean to see Mary staring down at the damp wood of the deck. She gave Ninten a slight head shake as her dress rustled in the ocean breeze.
"In fact," Mary said, "You're the only reason that he keeps me around. I'm sure you know that he tries to use me to influence you."
Ninten continued to stare at Mary. She released a sigh and walked away from the ocean towards one of the tables on the deck.
"Why don't you come over here and sit down?" Mary said. "We've been doing a lot of standing and running around."
Ninten pictured Lucas' plasma sword lighting up the air, revealing the glint of sadness in his icy eyes as he swung the blade down towards Ninten.
It was hard to think of his great-grandmother as the same person who tried to kill him.
Ninten walked over to one of the tables under an overhang. The wood of the chairs didn't look curled, and he placed his hand on the seat to find it smooth and dry. On the table was a piece of white paper with some scribbles on it. Ninten looked over at Mary, and she motioned for him to take a seat. As Ninten slid into the chair, he studied the paper.
The scribbles on the page seemed to depict a giraffe, albeit a messy one. Once Ninten heard the sound of Mary sliding out a chair across from him, he looked up to see her sitting down and gazing at the paper.
"Do you know who drew that picture, Ninten?" Mary said.
"It must be a child." Ninten frowned. "I couldn't call these scribbles abstract or modernist. They're just… bad."
"Well, I thought it was sweet," Mary said, "Especially since you were the one who drew it for me."
Ninten looked back down at the scribbles on the paper. He had liked to draw animals like zebras and giraffes as a child, so he supposed it wouldn't be impossible.
"Well, at least I can say my drawing skills have improved a bit over the past dozen years," Ninten said.
"If you ever become a parent, Ninten, you'll find that the quality of your children's artwork doesn't mean much. You gave me this picture because you thought I would like it. It meant the world to me."
Okay. Fair enough.
"In fact," Mary said, "It was what convinced me not to kill you."
A chill ran down Ninten's spine.
"I never thought I'd be telling you this," Mary said, "And I'm sorry that you have to find out the truth. But I did promise that I wouldn't lie to you any longer. Maybe if you know what actually happened, you'll see why the only way to stop the cycle of suffering is to walk away."
"Tell me," Ninten said, leaning forward, "Why you wanted to kill me."
"Another promise," Mary said. "One that tore me up inside. I saw the world rip itself apart during World War II. George and I spent much of our time in Korea like I told you, but we discovered teleportation during the war and tried to assist in the war efforts across the world. And sometimes, that meant undercover operations in Axis-occupied territories. Since I was better at languages than George, I gathered information in Europe while he went to Japan."
"Did the Allied governments believe that you could use PSI?" Ninten said.
"We never told them. Not because we were worried that they wouldn't believe us, but because we were worried that they would. With the Japanese internment camps in America, the British occupation of India, and the Gulag camps in Russia, we didn't want to give any of the Allied governments the ability to oppress more people with PSI. So George and I worked alone, the two of us against the world."
Mary took a deep breath.
"And then I stumbled across a holocaust camp in Poland," she said. "I think that was when I realized exactly what we were fighting against. Not a person or a country, but a system so dark and vile that it took me years to come to terms with. Even decades later, I would still have dreams about the sea of haggard faces that I saw. Sometimes when I close my eyes, I can still hear the screams."
"What does this have to do with me?" Ninten said.
"Of course, George found similar atrocities when he visited Japan and the Pacific Islands. It got so bad that we didn't see Korea—or each other—for years at a time. So by the time the war was over, we couldn't do anything to stop the country we loved from tearing itself apart. Both of us watched Seoul fall to the communists in person. More blood. More screams. It seemed like the pain would never stop."
"Like a cycle of suffering," Ninten said.
Mary flashed a weak smile. "Right. We both dealt with it in our own ways. George swore that he would kill every last communist on the face of the planet. He fought in the Korean War and used PK attacks to slaughter thousands of North Korean soldiers. I think that the Americans were confused, but they weren't going to question any force that got rid of communists."
Ninten nodded. Not entirely surprising, given George.
"And you?" Ninten whispered.
"I…" Mary looked off into the distance. "I made a promise that I would do whatever it took to prevent World War III. The world was groaning under the weight of our sins, and I knew it couldn't take much more. So I devoted my life to politics and tried to topple communist governments without creating large-scale wars. I did terrible things in pursuit of an eventual peace, and I don't think that the world will ever forgive me for what I have done. Yet I needed to keep going, and I transferred my consciousness to my psyspace so that my influence would live on. But that was only half of the plan?"
Ninten frowned. What else would Mary need to do in order to live forever?
"When you're here," Ninten said, "Can you contact the outside world at all?"
Mary shook her head. "Someone else has to come into my psyspace for me to talk with them. George has some of the school administrators check on us every day."
"So you needed a way to access the real world by yourself," Ninten said. "That was the other half of the plan. And it somehow involves my death."
"I…" Mary looked away. "It was a stupid idea to begin with. I can't believe I thought it would work."
A way for Mary to get outside into the real world… it just didn't seem possible for someone whose body had already died. Sure, she could exist as data inside of a psyspace, but Mary would need a body to go out into the real world.
Wait.
She needed a body…
No fucking way.
"The Franklin Badge," Ninten said. "It exists in real life."
"There's nothing by that name," Mary said. "But…"
"But you were developing a way to channel spirits into another person's body. Just like the Franklin Badge could do."
Mary looked up at Ninten, her eyes glistening with tears.
"You planned," Ninten said, "To channel your spirit into my body so that you could live on inside of my body."
"Ninten," Mary said. "I am sorrier than I can express. I can't believe that I would ever even think of harming you like that."
"That's why I was adopted and brought into your family," Ninten said. "George wasn't trying to use me for my natural PSI talents. You were."
Mary hung her head in what must have been shame.
"I bet I made the perfect vessel," Ninten said. "White. Male. Powerful PSI. Someone who would be respected. The asthma would be annoying, perhaps, but manageable with strong enough PSI."
"Ninten…"
"Just tell me something," Ninten said. "Let's say that you did go through with the procedure and possessed my body just the same way that you possessed Lucas' body in the V-game. What would have happened to me? Would I have faded away entirely?"
"No." Mary took a deep breath. "Let me show you what would have happened."
Mary snapped, and the deck faded away from existence.
The ocean and shore were replaced by a world of colored blocks. Shades of red, blue, green, and yellow scattered the landscape, forming large staircases and slides. The colored cubes and cylinders looked like massive versions of children's building blocks, and they were stacked to make life-sized castles in the distance. Ninten looked around and saw stacks of blocks with holes in them that looked like a jungle gym.
It looked like something out of a children's book.
"The plan was for me to swap places with you," Mary said. "I would take control your body while you would come over here into my Magicant. I planned to swap our positions when you were still a young child. I knew that you wouldn't age once you arrived here, so you could explore this life-sized playground as a child forever. I thought it would be a mercy from the horrors of the real world."
"So even back then," Ninten said, "You wanted me to look away from the truth and live my life out in ignorance."
"I think I've seen a little too much truth for my own good," Mary said. "For me, the innocence of a child seemed like a blessing."
"Then why couldn't you bring yourself to go through with your plan?" Ninten said. "If you thought you were helping me, why didn't you end up killing me?"
"Well, for one your parents might have found out and tried to stop me," Mary said. "And George might have as well."
"I doubt George would have cared about me," Ninten said.
"Perhaps," Mary said. "Although he may have wanted me to stick around with him after death. Our psyspaces are connected, you know. That's why we can both go to that deck overlooking the ocean. And as much as he hates people, I don't think he would have wanted to be left alone with a child."
"But I'm sure George wouldn't have been able to stop you from fulfilling your promise," Ninten said, "If you were prepared to kill your great-grandson."
"No," Mary said. "He wouldn't have."
Ninten took a step towards Mary. "Then tell me why you let me live."
"I didn't have any other choice." Mary looked away. "When you gave me that giraffe drawing, I knew that I couldn't bring myself to do something so unspeakable to you. At first I called it weakness. Then I called it love. I'm still not sure which one it is."
Most of the pieces had already clicked together in Ninten's mind. Mary, the person that had hugged Ninten every time he cried and listened to his rambling every time school stressed him out, had at one point been planning to kill him. Ninten's entire childhood had been a lie.
And the scary part was that Ninten could sort of see where she was coming from. He looked around at the colorful blocks around him, the buildings and mountains of wood that would take days to climb and explore. It wouldn't be such a bad place to live as a child forever. And that was the only price. Mary only had to trap one lonely orphan in this world of toy blocks and she would have another eighty years to keep world peace.
Wouldn't that be worth it? One life for the protection of millions?
"I know it probably doesn't make sense to you now," Mary said, "How your little picture could convince me to give up on a plan to protect the world that was seared into my mind along with my memories of the holocaust. But I think that if you become a grandparent, you'll understand. The reason I devoted my life to protecting this world was so that people like you could grow up without fear. I saw you as the symbol of everything I had worked for. So I couldn't sacrifice you."
"If that's the case, I don't know how much I can really blame you," Ninten said. "You would have killed a nameless orphan to ensure the world's safety. I think many people would. But you didn't kill your grandson Ninten. I think that's what matters."
"You," Mary said, grimacing, "Are so sweet that it's giving me a headache."
"Uh… thanks?"
"You're supposed to hate me," Mary said. "You're supposed to run away and leave both me and George behind. We never caused you anything but pain."
"Not a compliment." Mary shook her head. "I swear you'll hate me by the end of this story."
Ninten blinked. There was more?
"After I decided not to kill you," Mary said, "I went searching for another nameless orphan to act as a vessel for my consciousness. Nobody had as much natural PSI talent as you. The only person who came close was a boy I found on a newly discovered island in the Pacific."
A chill ran down Ninten's spine. "Claus."
"Actually, Lucas. I had the military storm in and seize him, but Claus volunteered in his place. It didn't make much of a difference in my mind, since both of them were equally talented in PSI."
"So everything that happened to Claus and Lucas was also your fault."
Mary planning to prey on Ninten was unfortunate, sure. But going overseas to harm some innocent kids in a happy little village? It just felt wrong.
"I am a monster," Mary said. "More of one than my husband, in fact, and as I recall you said to his face that you wanted to strangle him and watch the life fade away from his eyes."
Ninten reminded himself that Mary probably wanted him to get angry and leave. If he really despised what she had done, the best way to fight against her would be to keep his cool.
"You're not giving reason to argue the point about you being a monster," Ninten said. "But please, continue the story."
Mary's eyes widened in hurt. Well, what did she expect?
"I wanted to push Claus to his limits with his PSI, since he still didn't have as much potential as you do," Mary said. "I always figured that if I broke his mind then I could just find someone else. And I did break his mind, so I went to find someone else."
Ninten gritted his teeth. Mary had been right to initially call it weakness when she couldn't bring herself to kill Ninten. Why had she spared him just to force Claus into a deep depression instead?
She should have just killed Ninten instead.
Mary looked over at Ninten, her gaze pinning him in place. "You look like you want to say something."
Ninten shook his head. "It's nothing."
"Tell me. Please."
"It's nothing."
Mary sighed. "I wish you would get angry with me when I talked about harming you. I'm glad that you judge me for what happened to Claus, but your life matters too."
"Yeah, yeah."
"I'm serious, Ninten. The real world is going to eat you alive if you don't learn to care for yourself."
"You said that you searched for someone else after Claus' mind broke."
"Fine." Mary straightened her posture. "I was going to use Lucas as a vessel."
"You-"
"Right. Claus made the military promise not to harm Lucas if they would just take him, and I was going to break that promise. But then, using satellites that were circling around the islands, I saw Lucas at the summit of the mountain."
"Mountain?"
"The Nowhere Islands are volcanic, Ninten. They're all made of mountains, really." Mary took a moment to catch her breath. "Lucas had ventured up all the way to the summit to a shrine. He prayed for the Dark Dragon to remake the world anew and protect all life on this earth. Even in his darkest moments, he still had hope."
"Just like me and Claus now. We'll find a way to stop George and save the Nowhere Islands."
"Yes, you're all so lovably innocent. Just like with you, I couldn't bring myself to use Lucas as a vessel. He wanted to protect all life on this earth, even people like me who had harmed his brother. I couldn't hurt someone like that. So I sent him over to America to give him an education. But I don't think he ever recovered from the death of his mother and brother."
"There's still hope for him."
Mary sighed. "The truth caught up to Lucas, and it ended with him falling off a cliff. Stay in the V-game long enough, and it will do the same to you. The Nowhere Islands cannot be saved, Ninten. Not after what I've done to it."
Ninten shook his head. "There has to be a way to stop the cycle of suffering. I'll find it eventually, no matter how long it takes."
"You're just going to end up hurting yourself and everyone around you," Mary said. "To this day, I wish that George and I had never discovered PSI. I thought I was saving the world, but I was only bleeding it dry. Our only choice is to turn around and walk away, Ninten. The human mind is too fragile to handle the truth."
"I don't think so," Ninten said. "Claus and I both discovered the truth about the Nowhere Islands, but we did it together. And if one of us ever falters like you and Lucas did, the other one of us will be there to offer a hand. By working together, we accomplished more than we ever could have alone. But we're not going to stop here."
"You said it," came a voice from the right.
Ninten looked over to see Claus standing by a tower of life-sized toy blocks, grinning at Ninten.
"How did you get in here?" Mary said, frowning.
"There was a Magicant portal," Claus said, "And with you just lying there on the floor, I decided to take it."
Mary grunted. "This doesn't change anything. You'll both fall back into despair eventually if you keep trying to help the Nowhere Islands. It's for your own good that I'm telling you to leave it all behind."
"Considering that I'm stuck here," Claus said, "Then I guess I had better make the most of this happy little phase in my life-after-death, hmm?"
"First Ninten and now you," Mary said. "I swear, if I see someone else who's obnoxiously upbeat…"
"Then what?" came another voice.
Ana materialized into existence next to Claus moments later. She gasped and looked around at the world, placing her hand on one of the enlarged toy blocks.
"This is…" Ana trailed off.
"A little childish, I know," Mary said, "But that's not the point. I'm sorry that you dragged yourself into this mess as well, Ana."
"This is awesome," Ana said, looking up at the tower of blocks. "Did you make this?"
Mary blinked. "If you're talking to me, then yes."
Ana walked up to Mary and extended her hand.
"I don't think that now is the time for polite introductions," Mary said.
"Aw, come on. I wish that my own psyspace looked half this good. You do a good job of hitting me right in the nostalgia with the building blocks."
Ana's hand remained out in front of her, and Mary took a step back. After a moment, Mary glanced over at Ninten.
"What are you planning?" Mary said.
"I didn't even know they were coming," Ninten said. Looking over at Ana, "Especially you."
"Lucas let me into the V-game," Ana said, "After explaining what happened. And Claus seemed nice, so we decided to go into this psyspace together. A psyspace inside of a V-game inside of a psyspace… talk about meta. Psyspace-ception. Whatever you want to call it."
"Right," Ninten said. "This is actually my Great-Grandmother Mary's Magicant. We've been chatting."
"Ooh, nice," Ana said. "Always good to work in some family time even when trying to save a V-game world."
"Did you learn anything about how to weaken George through the V-game?" Claus said.
Mary looked over at Ana's hand. "Sorry, but I'm not going to shake your hand."
Ana shrugged and let her arm fall to her side.
"What Hinawa meant when she said that George could be hurt in this game," Mary said, "Was that if you find a way to blow this game up, the explosion will annihilate both of our psyspace."
"Maybe you should have led with that, back in the cave," Claus said.
Mary flashed a sad smile. "I knew that Ninten wouldn't have the heart to blow up this V-game even if I told him how."
"Right," Ninten said. "I won't risk Claus' and Hinawa's lives."
"They'll be safe," Mary said. "George and I would be the only ones with nowhere to run. The explosion would erase us from existence and liberate everyone else. But I knew that Ninten still wouldn't do it."
"Because of you," Ninten said.
"Because of me," Mary said.
All this time, Mary had been fighting a different type of battle with her words. Because the only way for Ninten to save himself was to annihilate Mary and George both by exploding the V-game. Much easier to do if Ninten already hated Mary and had given up on trying to protect her. Every one of her words was a missile, armed with the purpose of getting Ninten to despise her.
All for Ninten's own good.
"There has to be another way," Ninten said.
"Don't mistake me, Ninten," Mary said, her voice dangerously soft. "What I told you was the truth. I deserve oblivion just as much as George. You are going to leave my psyspace and leave this V-game. I'll send Hinawa directions on how to blow up the V-game, and you can try. Only someone as gifted in PSI as you will be able to perform the trick. I'm guessing it could take months of practice, but once you vaporize George any criminal charges will vanish."
Mary had probably planned some dramatic lead-up to her claim Ninten that he should detonate the V-game to destroy her and George both. And knowing her, it might have worked. Thankfully, Claus and Ana had arrived to throw off her tempo and force her to play her trump card early.
A crucial mistake.
Because really, Ninten on his own was no match for Mary. When she was controlling Lucas back in the cave, she had convinced him that he was doing more harm than good to everyone. Ninten had been seconds away from leaving the V-game altogether. And here, Ninten had no doubt that she would have convinced him to erase her existence along with George.
But Ninten didn't need to be a match for Mary. Because both times, his friends had stepped in to set him back on track.
His guilt wouldn't get the better of him.
His hatred wouldn't get the better of him.
Not with Claus and Ana to bring out the best parts of him.
"No," Ninten said. "I'm staying, and so long as my friends are with me I'm sure that we can find a way to defeat George while preserving the memory of the Nowhere Islands. Do you want to join us?"
Mary clasped her hands together. "You know I can't. I have to ask that you leave now. I'll send Hinawa with the directions for how to detonate the V-game. Once you get rid of me and George, you'll be free to do whatever you want. Be an artist, psion, teacher, scientist, whatever. We won't harass you ever again."
"And if I refuse to leave?" Ninten said.
Mary looked Ninten in the eye. "Then I'll have to send you out by force. I won't enjoy it, but I'll do it."
"And If I come back?"
"I'll force you out again. As many times as it takes."
Ninten shook his head. "I don't know if Claus and Ana are with me, but I'll keep returning to the Nowhere Islands as many times as I need to. I will stop the cycle of suffering."
"Of course I'm with you," Ana said. "This sounds like way more exciting than chemistry and physics anyway."
"And obviously I'll stand by your side as well," Claus said. "I would even if this had nothing to do with my homeland."
"Well, there you have it," Ninten said. "We're here to stay."
Mary took a deep breath. "Then I guess I'll just have to kill you again and again until you finally see that I'm the exact monster I claim to be. Eventually, you will see the truth. I just hope that you can run away before it steals your sanity."
Mary raised an arm to the sky, and a steel blade materialized in her hand. As she pointed the sword at Ninten, the world started to shift and morph.
"Please believe me," Mary said, tears coming to her eyes, "When I say that I'm sorry for this."