(Untitled)

[dr_stranger]

It ended.

It ended, it fell apart, it died.

We killed it.

Killed them.

Five million

five million

who'll never know why

and Shesta, who'll never know either

I killed them all.

Comments

[loyal_shesta]

For a brief moment, a portal fizzles open and a piece of paper blows out into Schreber's room, gently swaying back and forth and eventually touching down to the ground.

Dear Dr. Schreber, it reads.

I am sending this letter to let you know that I am in fact all right, and that I had simply found a different portal in which to exit from the city. I have been unable to find a reliable portal back to the Nexus, however-- those I have found are either too small or too unstable, but if you're reading this right now, I have found a successful way to move a piece of paper through the space

[dr_stranger]

Schreber's only just come back into the room, and the sizzle of the portal makes him jump.

Then he sees the paper flutter out.

He looks at it blankly for a minute, then sits down to read it.

When he's finished, he blinks in astonishment, and actually smiles. Just for a moment.

Then he realizes he may not have much time to answer, and hastily finds a pen to scribble on the back of the note.

Shesta--

It is an enormous relief to hear from you. I thought you had been trapped when the city collapsed.

There is no city to worry about, now.

Schreber hesitates, unwilling to put it down in writing, then plunges ahead.

It was entirely destroyed. But your concern is appreciated.

I wish you luck when you find Dilandau again. Hopefully we will meet again.

--Sincerely,
Dr. Daniel Schreber

And he folds it up and drops it through, just in time before the portal shrinks and vanishes.

It wasn't a very good note. Not even close to expressing all the things going on in his head right now. But it'll have to do.

[dr_schreber]

You shouldn't be alone right now. And it's not your fault. That we both live such different timelines should teach you that things just happen no matter who we are.
Come here? Just for tea? We don't have to talk about anything. Just not being alone will probably help.

[dr_stranger]

I think I'd rather not be over there, right now. I don't think that would help.

[dr_schreber]

I can come... somewhere else. You shouldn't be alone. You'll end up going circles in your own head.

[dr_stranger]

There's nowhere else to go.

[sarah_branigan]

Daniel Dr. Schreber,

Please visit. I don't like the idea of you being alone. I'm not up to baking at the moment, but there are some leftover cookies in the icebox.

You did the best you could, under the circumstances.

[dr_stranger]

((posted on D_M. *prods you over there plz* And Schreber . . . really doesn't want to talk to Sarah over here right now.))