Episode 21: Light Confession

**"Cruel Confession -guilty-"** *Transcription:* "Kokuhaku -guilty-" (Japanese: 告薄 -guilty-) is the twenty-first episode of *Madlax*. It debuted on August 30, 2004 in Japan.

## Synopsis

Carossur Don was taken in by Friday Monday when he was only a teenage boy, and he has no memories from before then. He feels that everything he knows is fake, and longs to learn the truth. He thinks of all this while anxiously waiting for Margaret and Lord Kuanjitta to connect to The Other World with the three holy books.

Vanessa Rene took the wounded Madlax to one of the village houses and put her down on a bed. Since Madlax is undressed, we can assume her companion treated the wound, or at least did some first aid. However, Madlax still should have died from such a serious shot. Yet the next morning, she is alive and breathing, though not yet conscious. Vanessa watches over her, and wonders about Margaret too.

Eleanor is infuriated after Naharu told her that Margaret went to open the door without her and that the only ones worthy of interacting with Margaret are Carossur Don and Kuanjitta. Refusing to accept this nonsense, the devoted maid follows after Ojou-sama, who is down in the caves with Kuanjitta and Don. As instructed, Margaret activates each of the books. Firstary is activated by the words of Awakening, Elda Taluta. Secondary is activated by the words of Nature, Sarkus Sark. Thirstary is activated by the words of Truth, Ark Arukus. When Eleanor reaches the end of the cave, she only sees Kuanjitta, who tells her that Margaret and Don are now on the other side of the door. The maid says there is no door, but Kuanjitta holds that only those with “The Talent” can see it.

While a solar eclipse darkens the scenery, a discouraged Eleanor returns to the village and updates Vanessa on what’s happening. Vanessa comforts her friend. Just as the maid is preparing to make some food, she and Vanessa notice that Madlax seems to be having a nightmare and is saying, “no,” in her sleep. In her head, Madlax can see Margaret and Don in an alternate world of orange lights, getting ready to open the black door that appears in front of them: The Door of Truth, AKA The Door of Era. Margaret senses Madlax’s frantic objections, and also sees Leticia, who tells her it’s not yet time to see the truth. That makes Margaret let go of Don’s hand—which she had been holding in order to help guide his spirit—and reconsider.

Unwilling to back down no matter how his companion begs, Carossur Don opens the ominous door. Margaret falls down, vanishes, and reappears in beautiful meadow of wildflowers. She asks if this is a dream, and is answered by Madlax, whose consciousness is also connected to the meadow. She says this isn’t a dream.

The scene changes abruptly. A plane full of passengers is experiencing some turbulence. Among the passengers are Chris Krana, a boy who looks like Poupee, and five-year-old Margaret Burton. Note that the doll she has is the same one we constantly see in Leticia’s arms. Margaret’s mother is present but her father is not. Suddenly the plane is struck with something like lightning and pulled downward into a storm of neon colors and black clouds: clearly something magical. The plane is flying right over the place where Friday Monday, far below, is opening the door to The Other World. The villain is laughing. The plane goes out of control. Everything fades into blinding blue and white lights.

Next thing Poupee knows, he is climbing out of the crashed plane where it lies in pieces in what would have otherwise been a beautiful green meadow. Young Margaret is alive, but crying piteously because her mother did not survive. The boy who looks like Poupee gives Margaret her doll and together they leave the scene of the crash behind. They journey through areas stricken by war and destruction, while Friday stands above the chaos and laughs maniacally. When he opened the Door of Era, he wished for fighting and devastation, and so it came into being via the power of The Other World.

The children take shelter in a ruined house and Poupee assures his friend that someone will come to rescue them. As the boy comforts Margaret, his real identity becomes apparent—he is actually Carossur Don. However, Don wonders, why does he look so different now? The boy’s hair yellow, and Don’s is brown. Their facial structures look different—the young boy has the face of Poupee, while adult Don’s face looks strikingly similar to that of Friday Monday when he is unmasked.

The flashbacks continue. Some men in helicopters are searching for Margaret, but they’re caught in an area of fierce battle as the civil war is starting. Don-Poupee and Margaret run through the back streets and encounter a strange scene. Friday Monday is standing across from Margaret’s father, saying, “You should understand this, Colonel Burton—no, Madlax.” Margaret’s father (apparently known to Friday as Madlax) wastes no time in shooting his nemesis. The bullet missed Friday’s head but scraped the side of his face and put out one of his eyes. So that’s why he wears half a mask.

As Friday runs away, Margaret’s father is still shooting at him. Then Margaret, being an eternal idiot, runs right out into the fray. The boy who looks like Poupee pushes the little girl out of harm’s way, but a bullet goes through his chest. Before the adult Carossur Don can see any more, the black Door of Truth shuts itself abruptly. Immediately, the man tries to reopen the door, but Leticia tells him, “If you open it, your existence will disappear.” Regardless, Don opens the door. He then realizes that he is not a real person, but an existence created by the combination of Poupee’s strong will to live and the magic power of the other world that Friday opened.

Knowing that he is going to disappear, Carossur Don thanks Margaret, who is lying on the ground next to him, and holds her hand. He confesses that the boy he used to be—Poupee—had been in love with her. Carossur Don will never wake again. He and Margaret are lying on the ground in an unknown location, and for some strange reason, Friday Monday is there too. He steals the Firstary back. Well, presumably, he steals all the books, as well as Margaret, the girl whose presence is required to open the door properly since she has The Talent.

Still unable to move her body, yet somehow conscious, Margaret remembers what she and Madlax saw in episode 20. It happened right after Poupee was shot. The little girl known to us as Madlax appeared out of nowhere and shot Colonel Burton dead right in front of Margaret’s eyes. Madlax is aware of that vision too. At this point we can assume that the Madlax we know is an existence like that of Carossur Don: a spirit created by Margaret’s intense desires, with a body made by the power of the other world that Friday opened. She took the name Madlax because that was the last word Margaret had heard spoken. But why did Madlax shoot Colonel Burton?

## Preview

Episode 22

*"My heart yearns to touch the truth, and I will fight to do so rather than suffer quietly in obscurity. I want to be free from the burden of ignorance."* – Vanessa Rene