Episode 6: Will

**"Dying Wish -leave-"** *Transcription:* "Yuigon -leave-" (Japanese: 遺言 -leave-) is the sixth episode of *Madlax*. It debuted on May 10, 2004 in Japan.

## Synopsis

A young boy with green eyes wanders around a half-destroyed town in the dark. He has no idea where he is. An explosion from one of the houses nearby knocks the boy off his feet and stuns him. Nearby, a picture book is lying on the ground, and pages are being torn out of it by the wind. An adult man with a mustache comes by and tries to help the green-eyed boy, realizing that he is in danger. The man asks the boy’s name and he replies, “Poupee.” Then we see Margaret waking up in bed at the Burton estate. She wonders if the scene she just saw was really just a dream. Could it be a memory?

Eleanor goes to a consultation with a psychiatrist concerning Margaret. The girls seems fairly normal, Eleanor says, much to the amusement of fans, who think that the young Ojou-sama is an air-headed ditz who often talks nonsense. Margaret doesn’t realize that she only has memories starting twelve years ago, and she can’t remember her parents. The only new thing to report is that Margaret has lately been obsessed with a picture book. She takes it with her everywhere she goes. Eleanor can’t remember ever having seen the book before, but she suspects it has some connection to Margaret’s past. (In reality it's the Secondary holy book.)

At school, Margaret’s classmate Kiara invites her to party taking place that night. Boys will be coming to the party, including one who said he was interested in Margaret. Although she isn’t very sociable, Margaret reluctantly agrees to attend the party. Later, when she tries calling home to tell Eleanor, she can’t reach anybody. So Margaret goes ahead and rides with Kiara to her house, planning to use the phone there to try calling Eleanor again.

After leaving the mental health clinic, Eleanor runs into Vanessa, who skips work in order to spend some time with her. Vanessa mentions that the new military leader of Gazth-Sonika has been decided. Apparently she is keenly interested in what’s happening in that country. Soon the conversation goes back to Margaret. Vanessa often wonders about the girl and the strange accident she was involved in twelve years ago. This leads us to a series of flashbacks from that time.

The Burton family’s butler, also the grandfather of Eleanor, gets a phone call telling him that the plane Mr. and Mrs. Burton were on has gone missing. Their daughter was with them. A few months later, a very young Margaret shows up at the Burton house, much to the surprise of the butler and young Eleanor. That plane was never found, and everyone on it was declared missing, but somehow Margaret escaped. She can’t remember anything about the plane, or about what she was been doing for the past few months. The only thing she recalls is the strange word “Madlax.”

Back in the present, Eleanor thanks Vanessa for having been Margaret’s tutor in years past. Without the private lessons from Vanessa, Margaret wouldn’t have been able to go back to school so soon and start living a normal life again. The two women part ways, but that evening, Vanessa comes over to the Burton house looking for Margaret. Eleanor says she hasn’t returned home yet.

   At the party, a high school boy named Moreas Lopez introduces himself to Margaret. He asks to talk to Margaret alone outside and she foolishly agrees. Before going outside though, Margaret does call home and tell Eleanor where she is. Eleanor asks Vanessa for a ride to Kiara’s house, since she is worried. Apparently, the maid has researched Lopez and knows that his conduct at school has been violent.

Lopez and Margaret talk, but don’t get along very well, since Margaret is uncomfortable around strangers, and also strongly suspects that Lopez isn’t being honest. Fireworks go off and Margaret drops her bag by accident. The picture book, Secondary, falls out. Lopez picks it up and starts looking through it, even though Margaret asked him not to. As the boy gazes at the book, his face becomes grim and his eyes briefly glow blue as if he has been put under some spell. Abruptly, he shuts the book and demands that Margaret start dating him. Before Margaret can answer, Lopez grabs her wrists and forces her into an embrace. He starts telling her he loves her, ignoring Margaret’s complaints that he’s hurting her.

Eleanor comes to the rescue, telling Lopez to back off and kicking him in the jaw. Vanessa recovers Margaret’s book and hands it back to her. Infuriated, Lopez draws a knife and attacks Eleanor. However, the maid kicks him in the neck hard enough to knock him to the ground. Then Eleanor asks if Margaret is alright, and she replies that her wrist is sore. In response, the savage maid stomps on Lopez’s hand even as he lies unconscious on the ground. Vanessa called that action, “atrocious,” but actually looked impressed. Leaving Lopez behind, Margaret and her guardians return home.

While watching Margaret sleep, Eleanor recalls a past memory. When her grandfather, the Burton’s butler, lay dying, he entrusted Eleanor with the care of Margaret. He said the Baker family has always served the Burton family. Young Eleanor swore an oath to always protect Ojou-sama. Sadly, Eleanor’s grandfather passed away a few moments later.

We then see Madlax in her apartment getting a phone call from someone. Hanging on the wall behind her is one of the pages from the same picture book that Margaret carries, the Secondary.

## Preview

Episode 7

*"Morality is nothing but an illusion. Spend half a day in this war zone and then you'll understand what I'm talking about. The world you live in is fragile and impermanent."* – Madlax