Episode 16: Echo of Guns

**"The Timbre of Gunshots -moment-"** *Transcription:* "Jūin -moment-" (Japanese: 銃韻 -moment-) is the sixteenth episode of *Madlax*. It debuted on July 19, 2004 in Japan.

## Synopsis

Vanessa believes Enfant has a secret reason for why it continues the civil war. Madlax says there’s no meaning to it, though. She also believes there is no meaning in anything she has worked so hard doing in her three years as an independent mercenary. As she thinks over the events of the last 15 episodes, Madlax seems extremely depressed.

Margaret meets with Carossur Don once again. She tells him that when she sleeps while holding the picture book, she often has a strange dream, wherein she sees an abandoned, war-stricken town filled with junk. In her dream, she’s all alone. Don suggests this could be a memory from her past, and Margaret thanks him for the insight. Then Eleanor shows up in a helicopter (yes, a helicopter) to check on her beloved Ojou-sama. As Eleanor and Margaret go home, Don says that Margaret is much closer to “that place” than he is. He's referring to The Other World.

Madlax tells Vanessa that she asked Three-Speed (or SSS) to contact the Intelligence Office of Nafrece. They can hand over the data to Nafrece and have them publicize it. Before long, Madlax is ready to head out and meet up with someone connected to Nafrece Intelligence. Vanessa demands to come along and the mercenary agrees after some persuasion. In a dark alley, Madlax and Vanessa meet a man with short brown hair in a business suit, smoking. Though Madlax suggests they go to a hotel to talk, the man says to just go ahead and hand over the data. It isn’t until the man throws the floppy disc into the sewers that Madlax realizes this was a trap. There are at least two armed men hiding nearby, ready to shoot. The man asks Madlax and Vanessa to accompany him for a bit, and they have no choice.

We briefly see Naharu reporting to Lord Kuanjitta in Doaiho. The girl tells her master that Enfant has started to make a move, and is led by Friday Monday. Kuanjitta says she wants Naharu to wait until the time is ripe before taking any action. In Kuanjitta’s possession is a third mysterious, ancient-looking book. It's the Thirstary.

Accompanied by two armed subordinates, the man who captured Madlax and Vanessa rides in a car with them. Madlax says she wants to kill the man, but suddenly the subordinate in the front seat turns around and points his gun at Madlax and Vanessa. Two shots are fired. When Madlax wakes up, she finds herself in war-stricken city ruin. Although it looks similar to The Other World, where Leticia and Poupee are always seen, this is actually a real location in Gazth-Sonika. It's the place where, in her memories, Madlax saw her father dead, and a gun in her hands. To Madlax’s surprise, she is wearing a white dress, and nearby a pair of red shoes lies half-buried under junk. There's also an old-looking book. When she once again sees the flashback of herself holding a gun, with her father dead next to her, Madlax starts to cry.

Just then, the mysterious Friday Monday appears behind Madlax. He says that hearing the words Elda Taluta was not enough to erase Madlax. She must also hear the other words: the ones in the Secondary book. Though he knows the words (Sarkus Sark), Friday doesn't try to use them on Madlax right away. Instead, he demands to know the location of the Secondary. Madlax says she doesn’t know where it is. Further, she accuses Friday of taking away her existence, and asks why he continues the meaningless civil war. Friday says he’s disappointed in Madlax, and disappears, but not without repeating that Madlax’s existence is wrong.

Vanessa Rene was also taken to this city ruin, and she meets up with Madlax. Before the two women can talk much, they are surprised to see the same man appear who captured them back in the real world. Here instead of the business suit, he’s dressed in a military uniform with a red cap. Without further ado, he shoots at Madlax and Vanessa, who start running. A squad of men dressed in the same uniforms and caps pursues them. They're members of the King's Army who actually answer to Enfant. Madlax takes her dress off to distract the men, and kills several of them. In the meantime, Vanessa finds a gun on the ground.

Now in her white dress and red shoes once again, Madlax continues taking out the men one by one. Nobody can beat her in a gunfight. Or so it seems until the commander, the last man left alive, manages to shoot the gun out of Madlax’s hand. Just when he is about to shoot Madlax, Vanessa runs out to protect her. For the first time, she shoots a gun.

Margaret wakes up gasping in her bedroom back in Nafrece. She saw the whole fight in her dream. Tears are gathering in her blue eyes.

## Preview

Episode 17

*"A promise means to never betray. It means to never lie. To cherish someone. A promise is two lives touching one another."* – Madlax