[spoiler]Cell-3=Celle Briggs Student Nazo=Nate Briggs (Dead) Snowy=Miss Snow HoTh=John Hothman xX_miniatimat_Xx=Mini (Dead) TheGreatAdidas=Greg Adler VP Hammer=Xavier (Dead) Mjolnirschpang=Mjol/Mr. Mortis (Dead) NIL=Ninette (Dead) MØØSE=Tom "Moose" Martin Artemis=Arty Crowe (Dead) Verminator=Verm Digsby (Dead) Zbruh=Zhenya Deatheater200=Jason Darth Turtle=Daniel Turk Ems468=Ems (Dead) OrangeTwelve=Oran JestingWorm697=Mr. Jester Batpug74=Bat Secondary character: John Watson=Walter "Watts" Hutsen (Dead)[/spoiler] The year was 1955. Eight years had passed since the incident onboard the Siren. People still talked about it, throwing around their theories. The police had never released a full report on what had happened, passing it off as a lunatic's attempt at mass genocide purely driven by mental illness, leaving people to speculate for themselves what had really happened. Meanwhile, in a corner booth at the back of a dingy bar near the outskirts of detroit sat Celle and Jason, downing beers and puffing away on cigars just like they had done for the past eight years "You sure she's coming?" Said Jason, checking his watch. "She's never this late" "Maybe she got caught up in traffic" said Celle. "I'm sure she'll be here. She said she wanted to tell us about her trip" They waited for another half an hour, when finally they heard the jingle of the bar door being pushed open. In walked Snow, her face red from the biting December winds. "Hi Celle, Jason" she said as she shuffled into the booth. "Hey Esther" they replied in unison. "Sorry I'm late. Barry got the car stuck in a snow bank. Had to wait for them to pull him out." "Dont worry about it" said Celle, smiling. "How was Chicago?" "Not bad. Not bad at all. In fact, I brought you back a little souvenir" Celle felt someone lay a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see his old friend, smiling down on him. "Moose!" He cried in surprise, rising from his chair. "Hello Celle. Hello Jason. It's good to see you two" he smiled. Moose had aged just like the rest of them. No longer frail and skinny, he stood with his previously curly brown hair slicked back with a pair of horn rimmed glasses atop his nose and a short shaggy beard. Celle nearly didn't recognize him. "Have a seat!" Said Celle. "It's been a long time" And truly it had. After hopping off the boat the second it harboured in New York, Moose had never reached out to them again. "I know" he chuckled. "Too long. I spent quite a while trying to get back into the swing of things. It was hard, after The Siren, but I made do. And it looks like you did too" Celle smiled "I read your book" said Jason "It seems like everyone has" laughed Moose. "What did you think?" "I think you made me sound like an ass. Quite an accurate portrayal" he laughed "I'm glad you liked it" laughed Moose. "It was hard to write at first. I didn't like revisiting the past, but it needed to be done." "Did you get in any sort of trouble for writing it?" Asked Snow. The police weren't too keen on telling the full story. Worried that someone might try to take after the psychopath." "Nah not at all. They never made me swear to secrecy, and it's my story to tell anyways." Snow turned to Celle "Have you read it yet?" She asked "I was gonna start it this weekend. Judy and I are taking Ricky to see his grandparents" "Oh how's little Ricky doing? Been a while since I've seen him." Said Snow Celle pulled a photo out of his pocket. "There he is. We took it last week" The picture showed a grinning woman holding a smiling baby boy on her hip. "Richard Nathaniel Briggs" said Celle proudly, showing the photo to Moose. "Born last March" "Congratulations!" Said Moose. "Thank you!" Said Celle, putting away the photo "So guess who else I heard from while I was in Chicago?" Said Snow "Who?" Asked Jason "Greg. Him and his family have lived there for a couple years now. They came back from England about a year after us and brought Mini's brother with them. He's made a full recovery and now he's finally off to college with Greg's other boys. He never got to go" "That's great news! Did you happen to run into any other of our old allies along the way?" Asked Jason "No, not yet at least" she answered "I did" said Moose. "I took a trip to England a few years ago. Oran and I met up for a drink" "Oh? How's he doing?" Asked Snow "He's doing well. He opened a school for dance and it's doing great." "Good to hear" said Celle. "Daniel and Mr. Jester reached out to me too. They sent me letters after I published my book. Daniel said he's married now and teaches woodworking at a boys boarding school. Jester's didn't say much but he said he thoroughly enjoyed my book." "Have you heard from Zhenya at all?" Asked Celle "Nope, but I bet he's doing just fine for himself. Probably went home to Russia. Can I buy any of you a drink?" Asked Moose "No thanks. Leslie's trying to get me to quit." Said Jason sourly "I'll have a beer" said Celle "Same here" said Snow After they had drunk three more beers, Celle set down his glass. "You know, I never told any of you this, but after Nate died I started having strange dreams. It was a memory of him and me playing together, only at the end of the dreams he'd sort of burst into this bright light." "That's strange. Do you think it meant something?" Asked Snow "I don't know, but after Mortis died, I had the dream one more time. Only this time he didn't burst into light. We just kept playing. I don't remember the dream ending." "Well, I'm not sure what it means, but it sounds peaceful in the end" said Jason "Yeah." Said Celle. "It sure does" The End