act28side

Years have come and gone, and now that hat in the wind has finally landed back on the ground.

You can see <i>my</i> tears...

But what about them?

Them? Who?

Jessica doesn't give him an answer. She merely looks back at the desolate mine. After the explosion, it looks all the more devastated.

Sir, do you know what that used to look like?

I don't.

Well, I do...

I know there was a time when the energy tower burned endlessly to bring warmth to the residents here.

I know there was a time when that diner never closed. Everyone would gather around the tables over beer and sing to their hearts' content.

I know the winters here are long and cold, but with their dedication and hard work, every last person who lived here filled this place with light and warmth.

Their fierce, brilliant light enveloped every inch of this place to drive out the frigid cold and darkness of the winter nights.

They turned their bustling everyday life into burning red blood, and injected it into this plate frozen by the long winter, giving it life and vitality.

They were people whose path was uncertain, but insisted on walking it nonetheless.

They were people who were cruelly tormented by life here, their necks bent under its weight. Even then, they lived here amid the snowstorm.

They... were people who shed tears, but no one ever noticed.

My tears... can't stand in for their sadness.

The girl raises her gun, and through its sight she sees an array of faces.

Some look confused, some disapproving, some stunned, some dazed. Some are chuckling, some are lamenting.

But their faces are not important. They quickly enter the girl's eyes, and exit them just as fast, never stopping in her heart for a moment.

Instead, a few other faces appear in her mind.

The girl who prayed in the tent.

The woman who scampered away in the snowfield.

The old man who drew his gun in the dark night.

The man who departed in flames.

But my gun will cry for their sorrow.

She raises her arm up high toward the sky, and fires all her bullets in one go.

As the snow thrashes through the air, the empty casings fall to the ground, melting the snowdrifts away with their lingering heat.

The gunshots reverberate in the air for a long time. Before silence returns to her surroundings, the girl's ears catch a faint, feeble sound.

It's the sound of her tears smashing into the earth.

Huff...

Ugh......

You lose.

Sorry, Woody. I chose war. I chose never-ending war.

So... my life is like a bullet. An explosion that can't be stopped. A siege and a defense with no end in sight.

I can't end war, but you can end me.

Only when the last soldier fighting it falls, can the war finally end.

Rupert...

Now there's a name I haven't heard... in a long time.

Thanks, Woody, for still being willing to say that name. Aside from you, there's not a single person who remembers it.

Goodbye...

Cliff closes his eyes and waits for the bullet to tear his forehead apart.

But before that, he hears a ringtone.

He pulls out his communicator, takes a look, and chuckles. Then he puts it back into his pocket.

Who was it?

The military.

Don't worry about it. Go on.

Is it Bolívar... or Victoria?

Nothing you need to worry about, Woody.

Is it Columbia?

Do it!

Another war is about to start, isn't it?

...Where will it affect this time?

A forewarning, perhaps. It's not set in stone.

Give it to me.

Woody, a lot of the things I have on here are just trivial, everyday matters to me. But to you...

They'd be a whole new nightmare.

...Hand it over.

If you insist. Feast your eyes on them.

Who'll take all this over once you're dead?

Someone.

...They shouldn't.

There shouldn't be nobody else like you.

He throws the communicator to the ground and shoots it full of holes.

I can't kill you.

This sin is yours to bear.

Woodrow sets his gun down on the floor and raises his hands.

Behind him, attracted by the sound of gunfire, a crowd of mercenaries surges into the area with frantic footsteps and moves to surround him.

In the sky, the last few snowflakes of the night are fluttering down.

Okay guys, take me away. I'm ready.

The girl holsters her firearm, and lifts her hands above her head.

Put your hands behind your back.

...Handcuffs don't feel as cold as I thought they would.

Because I've been keeping them warm this whole time.

Thank you...

Can I have a word with you before we go?

I should thank you too, sir. Thanks for listening to all that.

It's fine... Before you, there was another guy who jabbered away just as much, if not more.

I'm sure... he'd be happy that you remembered what he said.

Oh... You knew him, too.

He was a good kid. Hard to forget once you've met him... Goodbye, Jessica.

The mercenary taps the girl's shoulder, raising a cloud of dust as the sun rises, and turns around to leave.

As Jessica gazes at the floating dust under the sunlight, she suddenly realizes that the night has already passed.

Likewise, the snowstorm had subsided at some point.

♪She spread her arms, spread her heart, showed me that pretty face♪

♪And from that moment on, I found my dreams in her embrace♪