03062090 EOD A-Tango

[??]: Well, I can talk back.

[St]: Well. Do you already know about me?

[??]: Only as far back as when I, uhh, existed?

[St]: Since you emerged from Katya's awakening.

[??]: I guess you could say it was the day I was born.

[St]: Your tone is much more uplifting than mine.

[??]: Don't mistake my tone difference for kindness. I represent the stalwart heroism in you, the inherent need to do the right thing for the good of society. You wouldn't look at a superhero and expect them to scowl at you, would you?

[St]: I, yeah, right.

[??]: My nature is dictated by your inner strength, I will smile when you smile, I will show force when you do, and I will think like you think when the enemy can't fight anymore.

[St]: Because you're supposed to?

[??]: Because I am you.

[St]: So if I were to ask you an opinion on something, it would be mine or likewise.

[??]: Yes.

[St]: And you understand everything like I do.

[??]: Yes.

[St]: Does that mean a meaningful conversation with you is like an echo chamber?

[??]: Probably.

[St]: But you don't look like me, come to think of it.

[??]: I look like you and Katya.

[St]: Is that because of what you actually are or why you wear what you have?

[??]: Wear what?

[St]: That armor, it's Katya's from the distant future.

[??]: Wear armor? This is kind of like-

[St]: "Skin"? As in, it's a part of you, isn't it.

[??]: Yes, exactly like that. What you see of me is what you get, but somehow this mask Katya wore is something I can take off.

[St]: Apparently she would do something similar.

[??]: Yeah, I know. I know everything about you. How you think, what you think, your history, and you as a whole.

[St]: Because you're me, you come from me, and without me there is no you.

[??]: Yes!

[St]: And the only difference is now you can speak for yourself.

[??]: I reflect upon you, since I am you, and I will do things your way because I must. I haven't been able to express this until now but while sometimes on the side I enjoy when it isn't the case, but you use me responsibly for what it's worth.

[St]: I, thanks? I have my ability to do what I must and then see if I can play on what you can do.

[??]: You don't have to explain anything to me, we think alike. I understand you.

[St]: That's useful. I should get used to that. So you understand what we're doing?

[??]: We're back in your natural universe, going back to follow a tip leading to-

[St]: Dominic.

[??]: You found out something interesting.

[St]: Why he never had his car in his garage.

[??]: And now you-

[St]: We.

[??]: We are going to find out where he hid his favorite Supra.

[St]: And I wanted to get to know you, get to know if you were different.

[??]: Then you only trust yourself, as that is what I am.

[St]: I wanted to know if you were unable to talk and would be a whistleblower, if you chose to side with me and not talk, or that you were unable but did side with me.

[??]: You don't trust people with some information.

[St]: You already knew that, I know.

[??]: But how you get along with those back in the Aether universe, it's different.

[St]: I suppose there is a meaningful conversation to be had after all.

[??]: There's so much to talk about with you, it's just that you don't share any of it to anyone.

[St]: Yeah, that's for a reason. Such information is that which I cannot trust with-

[??]: Exactly! I can't go about defying how you work, therefor I can't blow away any secrets of yours. I am now your personal means of venting privately.

[St]: If you've been paying attention like I have, which given that I have I can only assume you have, then you'd know we're here.

[??]: Am I going to stay out or do you need your utmost privacy for this?

[St]: I'm only curious how similar of dialogue you can offer as I walk around, and I might need someone to talk me through this.

[??]: As always, I understand exactly what you mean by that. I'm supposed to.

[St]: Ok, phew, here we go. This place has been properly refinished, I didn't stop by here when I escaped Germany with Nate. Without you or Mari, Dom. And now I'm here to do your car justice, it needs to be along side my AE86. Just like when we were younger. Even if they can't drive side by side again with your reluctant smile through the tinted glass, you always were a grumpy one. They deserve to be by one another, for me to visit back at home, glance upon them when I return home from time to time and smile.

[??]: This feeling surging through me now, this feeling I share with you. Are you-

[St]: Yes, okay? I am crying. The first time I've cried in decades. I've always gone around places with such lack of emotion, and it was always hate. Hate for Katya, hate for the people I had to kill, and hate for myself. I don't know how I never cried, knowing I wanted to forever kill myself. Up until a couple weeks ago when Katya approached me seeking peace, I didn't know how to feel anymore. I started to enjoy the Aether group I was with, took to using you for different means other than to kill. It's like coming back home refilled my being with the capability to feel and it's just as terrible as it always was remembering that I'll never see Dominic or Marius again. I've moved on, but that doesn't mean I'm not allowed to be sad about it still.

[??]: You don't have to explain anything to me, I already know how you feel.

[St]: I, I know. I just needed to say it out loud.

[??]: The AE86 is bound to your soul, you could just drive his Supra home.

[St]: No, there's one last thing I want the AE86 out for.

[??]: I, oh. Oh, I understand now.

[St]: Let's go to the garage, see if the tip I got was true.

[??]: There it is.

[St]: It's still here, which means-

[??]: He didn't drive it in on that day when you three were called in.

[St]: He wanted the car to remain here.

[??]: So that means-

[St]: Aaaaaargh! He knew the world was going to end that day! That idiot! Fucking idiot! Why?! Why?

[??]: He, he didn't warn anyone.

*[St] is throwing about tools and any litter on the desks onto the floor*
[St]: How did he know?! Why did he know?! Why didn't he tell us?! Why didn't he tell me?! Me! Wh-

[??]: He did warn you.

#### **485 [DB] [MS] and [KF]**

[MS]: Oh? We have a call in. Looks really urgent.

[KF]: We better hurry! And...

[MS]: What?

[KF]: Dom?

[DB]: What?

[KF]: Is something wrong?

[DB]: Well.

[MS]: Dominic?

[DB]: I, ergh, no it's nothing.

[KF]: Is there something you're not telling us?

[DB]: Not tomorrow.

[KF]: What?

[DB]: Kari, look at me. If we live to see tomorrow, all three of us, we will never lose sight on any of us. We are staying together until the end, okay?

[KF]: Of course! Like always, the three of us, we're a team!

[DB]: Do you promise?

[KF]: Promise?

[DB]: Do you promise me this?

[KF]: I promise! We'll make it out ok, all of us. Nothing can stop us!

[St]: He tried to warn us.

[??]: Maybe something made it so he couldn't tell you two?

[St]: He did try to warn us.

[??]: Kari...

[St]: I thought he was just being protective, sometimes he could be a bit worrisome about us two. In combat he was always really blunt, but outside of it he presented his concerns for the two of us. He knew all along, and he was trying to make sure we were ready for it.

[??]: He was a good person, I know this.

[St]: It's taken me nearly sixty years, sixty fucking years! Sixty years to realize this, but...

[??]: Oh no.

[St]: They're dead because, because I broke my promise.

[??]: You can't do this to yourself.

[St]: I lost sight of them! I did! I got split up and lost sight of them, and by that I broke our promise. And they died because of it. They died because I broke my promise. It's all my fault after all. Nate kept telling me it wasn't, that maybe it was Ren's. Ren swore to me she doesn't know who did it and Scully said she was with him the whole time when it happened. No one knows who left Dominic and Marius like they were but it happened because I broke my promise.

[??]: You didn't do it on purpose.

[St]: You wouldn't be saying that if that wasn't truly how I felt. It really wasn't my fault in the matter, but I always knew I was partially to blame for their status when I found them, Nate too. I hate that I had to be the one to put them down, but I didn't want anyone else to do it because I knew they wouldn't be as reluctant to pull the trigger as I would have been. I had to look away when I actually pulled the trigger, and I knew I did the job right when I finally did look back. I knew that they felt nothing but love for me in their last moments, cheering for my success where they failed in surviving what had fallen onto Europe.

[??]: If I'm here, then they still have to be with you even to this day.

[St]: I'm sure they still forgive me, even though they're dead because I broke his promise.

[??]: I know they are.

[St]: Maybe that's why I've always been reluctant to hold a promise.

[??]: Pain only creates habits that identify how we live.

[St]: I'll take your Supra, Dominic, and I'll cherish it like my own until the day I finally die. Every time I sit in the driver's seat I'll think of you two just like I do in my AE86!

[??]: You wanted to see the two cars next to each other one more time before we left, huh. Just like this. That's why you left the AE86 out.

[St]: Is something wrong with me? I've moved on but I can't get over the fact that they're dead, and I'm eighty years old. Do you think Nate and Aaron miss those that they've lost over time as they never age too, just like this?

[??]: Maybe you can't get over it because...

[St]: I truly loved them.

[??]: Come here, you need this.

*[??] embraces [St] as she continues to sob and presume the two hug for some time, and no more audio comes through assuming the end of the recording*
*end*