The Team Is Together Again

[Mr. Handy]

"So do I," says Sarah. "I haven't really known Brianna for very long, but she made quite an impression on me. We're such kindred spirits, she and I. We've both been through some of the same things. I know I could really help her...and she could help me. She's like the little sister I never had. Maybe even a daughter."

"I miss Brianna too," says Lionel. "She was the one constant in my life during those years when we were locked up in that awful place. I was so distraught that Sarah wasn't there, and she missed you terribly, Ronald. But we were able to console each other. If she hadn't been there, I would have gone completely crazy. Even though we were separated by vast gulfs of time, we were eventually reunited with those we love the most, and we will be again. Never doubt that."

"We'll meet again..." sings Sarah, hugging her father, "don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day."

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald seems frantically alert for the the emotional support Sarah and Lionel are offering the motivational children singer. He then suddenly shakes his hand as if to shake something free.

Oh H-E- double Hockey sticks.. Brianna? Are you OK?

Ronald looks frantically around, ignoring the others..

Tell me what you see sweety! Be really descriptive

[Mr. Handy]

"Brianna!" says Lionel, looking around, his eyes alight with hope. "Sarah, keep singing! It was music that brought them back together before."

Sarah nods and continues. "Keep smiling through," she sings, "just as you always do, till the blue skies chase the dark clouds far away."

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald begins to tear up and then grits his teeth with determination. He wipes his eyes and closes them.

Focus on the hospital Brianna, do you remember your room? Try and see just that and hold it in your head. We're headed there now. Listen for Sara... Shes singing your song kiddo!!!

With that he grabs Sara's hand and runs out of the room towards the children's ward of the hospital.

[Laraqua]

Ronald runs through the hospital which, despite its darkness and its gloom, might as well be well-lit and sunny in his panicked and desperate state. As the adrenaline kicks in he acts on instinct and doesn't get confused by little details like torn down doors, darkness, trash, and ashen shadows. In what feels like so little time, he manages to make his way to the Children's Ward, pushing the doors open and sending a hospital bed that had been pressed up against it sliding across the ash-slick floor, sending up motes of what were once children to dance through the air.

Sarah's song rebounds down the walls of the hospital, the only man-made sound for miles around, but the syllables manage to fall flat against the walls. Even Sarah's optimistic cheer can't help but sound false and insincere in this new world. There is no sign of Brianna. No tickle of energy. No swirl of ash that hasn't been kicked up by their feet. The world is lonely. Silent. Cold.

[Mr. Handy]

Lionel follows Ronald and Sarah to the Children's Ward as fast as he can, leading Agnes there. "You're able to hear Brianna?" he asks Ronald. "And she can hear us?"

"Brianna, I love you so much!" says Sarah. She turns to her father. "Could she be in this room, but in some other dimension or something?"

"I suppose that's possible. She might be here, but in one of the other worlds. Hmm...maybe we need to sing the right song. It was Big Rock Candy Mountain last time, wasn't it?"

"Yes, it was. We should all sing it, and concentrate on bringing Brianna back. Brianna, you need to sing along and concentrate too."

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald lets go of Sara's hand and then shushes Lionel and Sara.

Shhhh.. You two! I'm sorry , but please... Give her a minute to find us.

He waits patiently in the silence for a long moment before whispering..

Brianna

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah nods, and she and Lionel don't make a sound. She wraps an arm around him and rests her head on his shoulder.

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald collapses onto the floor and sobs uncontrollably.

She's... gone!

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah begins to weep too. She sinks to the floor next to Ronald and hugs him. "Brianna..." she cries.

Lionel kneels down and puts a hand on Sarah's shoulder. His eyes also watered. "I know," he says. "I love her too. She isn't gone forever, remember. Once we save the world, we'll all see her again."

[DSIGFUSS]

With Lionel's last words, Ronald stops crying. He balls his hands into fists and looks up at him..

Then lets finish this old man!

Ronald pulls himself off the floor and grabs the nearest garbage can.

Let's fill this gosh darn can up with ash and end this...

[Mr. Handy]

"That's the spirit, Ronald," says Lionel with a smile. He helps Sarah up, and they assist him in finding a container and filling it with ash.

[Laraqua]

There's plenty of those in a number of nurse's stations and other supply rooms from urine or feces containers to small sharps bins to lunch boxes in the break room. They can really take their pick.

[Mr. Handy]

"Let's use the urine jars," suggests Sarah. "They're small enough to carry conveniently and designed not to spill."

"Good thinking," says Lionel. "We should all carry a container of ash."

The two of them collect the jars and then fill them with ash before sealing them tight.

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald agrees.

Use something made of glass so it will explode on impact.

He smiles at Sarah... A forced smile, twisted with an unsettling mixture of grief, fear and insanity.

Ash grenades!

Ronald begins to fill up as many glass jars as he can and stores them in an empty pillow case from one of the beds in the children's care ward.

[Mr. Handy]

"Good thinking," says Sarah, making herself smile back. It's either that or burst into tears again, and she feels she's cried enough. "I've gotten dashed good at throwing things lately." She and her father help collect the ash in glass jars.

"Yes, you saved us all, Sarah," says Lionel, "you and Dahlia. It's a shame we don't still have that magic dust. I hope we don't have need of it again."

[Laraqua]

Their conversation seems troubling in the silence of the hospital. Perhaps the whole world is silent now. Silent and blanketed with the ashen remains of all those people you once knew from that brisk nurse to the perky shop assistant to that little boy who used to get in trouble a lot for playing football in the hospital car park at night. Everyone ... gone. Nothing but silence remains, left to swallow up the edges of your words, making them sound almost like desperate hammer blows in the nothing that is this world.

At least there are no more threats you can see.

It seems to be a clear path to where you want to go.

Down.

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald heaves his pillow case full of Ash grenades and readies a few good torches sticking them into the sides of his belt. He checks to makes sure his puppet Mickey is tucked safely away in his back pack and then looks sternly at Lionel and Sarah. He was angry now... angry that Brianna had not made it this far. Angry with Louie whom he still blamed for everything... just plain old angry at the world.. and his anger gave him courage..

C'mon.. lets go!

With that Ronald walked to the door leading to the stairs that he and Brianna had used to escape the evil dark basement where Louie had left them to die so long ago...

[Mr. Handy]

Sarah and Lionel sling their pillowcases containing glass jars filled with ash over their shoulders and go with Ronald and Agnes. "I remember the way back to the lift that leads down below," says Sarah. "It doesn't have any railings or anything, so we'd have to be careful not to fall off."

[DSIGFUSS]

Ronald nods, knowing the way as well.

He leads the way with grim determination.

Everyone check their torches... Its dark as H-E-double hockey sticks down there!

He clicks his flashlight on and off several times more then he needed to before opening the door to the lift. Ronald was equal parts angry and terrified. A welcome mix at the moment.