Episode 26: Pieces / Fragments

**"Broken Shards -pupil-"** *Transcription:* "Kakera -pupil-" (Japanese: 欠片 -pupil-) is the twenty-sixth and final episode of *Madlax*. It debuted on September 27, 2004 in Japan.

## Synopsis

Bearing witness to all that happened at the doorway to the other world, Lord Kuanjitta fulfills her role of observer. Friday Monday starts monologuing again until Madlax says, “Stop getting in my way,” and shoots him. It’s hard to tell if he died because he disappears. Then the mercenary gives her gun to Margaret, saying it’s up to her to let Madlax and Leticia live or to erase their existences. Margaret asks what will happen if they all become one person again, and Leticia tells her she will be able to use The Talent to make a wish come true, even something that could change the era of humanity.

Margaret seems indecisive, and Leticia rightfully says it’s that indecision that’s kept her trapped in a lonely world for twelve years. Since Poupee is gone, the doll-girl is all alone. She will only be satisfied if Margaret chooses to become whole and makes Leticia disappear. If that choice is made, though, Madlax will disappear too. The mercenary girl doesn’t seem to be worried about it all. Margaret asks why Madlax is ok with disappearing, and she says it’s for two reasons. First, because making Margaret whole is something that Vanessa would have wanted. Second, because Madlax will continue to “exist” in the hearts of the two women who fell in love with her: Limelda Jorg and Naharu. But Madlax warns that she is a “murderer,” and if Margaret chooses to unite with her, she will have to carry those sins.

“I don’t want you to carry all those burdens by yourself,” Margaret tells Madlax, taking her hand. With her other hand, she holds Leticia’s, saying, “I’m sorry I ran away from the truth.” Margaret Burton has made her decision. The three girls become one. Now wearing Madlax’s white dress and red shoes, Margaret becomes her true self, but there’s one problem left. Friday Monday reappears. He talks for a long ass time, but long story short, he says he wants to teach everyone that the world is twisted and cruel, but all human instincts are pure and not wrong. At first, Margaret seems to be going along with this. Abruptly, though, she points Madlax’s gun at Friday.

“I’ve always known,” the girl says, “that this world is crooked. That people carry evil within them. I’m sure everyone else knows it too. So there’s no need to teach them.” There’s no need to force them into acting out their animal instincts. Margaret says she wants to kill Friday for causing the deaths of her loved ones, and will do so, but with the knowledge that it is, in fact, a sinful action. That’s another difference between her and Friday. The masked man doesn’t think killing is sinful, or even that sin exists in humans. Sin, in his mind, is only in the world of morals that keep people separate from their instincts.

Seeing that she’s serious, and that their goals are opposites, Friday fires his gun at Margaret. The bullets don’t even touch her; in her current state of completion, she is invincible. She shoots him, but instead of dying right away, Friday wakes up in his castle-like home. To his horror, Madlax is there, even though she’s no longer supposed to exist. Madlax slaughters all the soldiers that run to Friday’s aid. She is struck once by a bullet, but this time, she actually bleeds like a normal human. However, she’s still able to shoot and kill Friday once and for all. He dies trying to grasp one of the holy books as his fortress goes up in flames; he dies not understanding what has happened. Well, this is what happened.

The whole and complete Margaret Burton walked up to the Door of Era and made her wish. She wished that Madlax, Leticia, and herself could all exist as three separate people, each with their own human mind and body. Margaret asks the human Leticia to become her little sister so neither of them are alone. The red head happily agrees.

## Trivia

* When the last episode was aired on TV Tokyo, the denouement had the end credits play in the foreground.
	+ The spiritual predecessor and successor in Bee Train's Girls with Guns trilogy, *Noir* and *El Cazador de la Bruja*, did not do this for the debut of their final episodes.
	+ The only other Bee Train anime to do this at the time was *Avenger*.