After glancing at Luka, Stella lowered her eyes. "...Sorry. I just... I thought I'd put this behind me years ago. The not knowing what happened, and now..."

She shook her head. "Never mind. We can talk about it later..."

---

Everyone starts heading out, having said their goodbyes.

---

The screen turns off.

"Well Hazel, it was nice meeting you! I had fun, I guess, with this whole game thing," Iris says a little uneasily.

"I'm glad to get to know you," Hazel rasps. "You seemed like you had fun. Though our time draws to a close. I'm going to have a lot to think about."

The two push open the door out of what appeared to have been a cozy living room.

The evening sir is cool and the two see that they are outside the front of a medium-sized house on a heavily-wooded street.

Up on the porch is a sign which says, "999 Castle Lane".

There are two cars out front. One is running.

A woman opens the door of the running car, dashing up to the two of them. She wraps her arms around Iris.

"Iris! Did you win? Wait, are your memories back yet? That's so crazy that they had you do that and erase your memories. Though seems like it was a lot of fun, huh?" the woman laughs, though she quickly notices Iris's confusion and backs off.

"Wait, baby, do you still not remember me?!" the woman blushes bright red.

"Yeah, I mean you seem really nice and all, but yeah I'm not super sure who you are?" Iris laughs nervously.

Suddenly Iris's eyes open wide, "Wait, you're my wife?! Emily?! What that's so crazy for so many reasons! What does this mean?!"

Her wife, Emily, laughs, "Whoa the game must've been really nuts, huh? You'd think you wouldn't be so shocked to see your wife considering we've been together for eight years!"

"Yeah, well, cut me a break! It was insane! I don't even know if it was real?" Iris's mouth slacks as she tries to reconcile her memories.

Emily sneaks a peck on Iris's cheek, and laughs, "Who's your friend?"

Hazel gives a polite nod and shakes Emily's hand, "I'm Hazel. Iris and I played the game together, but I'm also quite confused about it. I'm looking for my great granddaughter, so I can get home."

"Oh, is that her?" Emily points over Hazel's shoulder.

They turn around, and there, stepping down the front steps of the house is a tired-looking, gangly woman with sandy blonde hair. She's carrying a heavy suitcase with her, "Hey Nana, are you ready to leave? I've got your stuff. These rocks are really heavy though."

"There you are!" Hazel called out to the woman who was dragging the suitcase. "I didn't think that you would be involved in this game... Uh..." Hazel seems confused, like she's trying to remember something important.

"Uh, what was your name again? You'll have to forgive me as I'm so forgetful." Hazel asked, as she rubs her chin with her free hand. It seems like she's trying really hard to remember the woman's name.

Before Hazel could even finish speaking, a series of loud clatters rang through the clearing as the old woman's suitcase fell down the end of staircase. It fell face-first onto the ground with a worrying crack.

"Aw, shoot. Sorry," the woman muttered with a resigned sigh, running her fingers through the strands of her messy blonde hair. "It's been a really, really long day..."

She continued down the stairs and hefted the suitcase once again, not checking the contents. Then she carried it over to Hazel and smiled sweetly at her.

"Nana...don't worry about it. I'm still Wesley Naught, remember?" She replied, "Now let's get you home."

---

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Iris was laughing until she heard that sentence. She stops and stares in utter confusion.

"What?"

Hazel stared at her great-granddaughter with utter confusion on her face.

"No, that's not right. My great-grandson's name was Wesley Naught. There's no way that you could be Wesley Naught. What in the world is going on?" Hazel asked, completely confused.

"I guess you were expecting someone else, huh? Well, a lot can change in, uhh...how much has it been now? Thirty or so years?" She frowned and rubbed the back of her neck uncertainly. "Something like that."

"Anyway, it's been a while since the 'Wesley' you've been talking to passed away over here. But if you ever want to speak to him again, he's not as far away as it might seem."

---

Hazel raised an eyebrow at her great-granddaughter. "What do you mean? You're... saying that my great-grandson's name wasn't Wesley Naught?"

"Of course it was!" Wesley replied, "I'm just not a boy anymore. But I'm still the same Wesley you raised!"

She sighed and turned to the other women. "We have this sort of conversation a lot..."

---

"But... But..." Hazel stammered, completely lost. "Jason Church said that he watched you die all those years ago..."

Then a sudden realization occurred to Hazel. She recalls Jason mention something about alternate timelines. "Wait, if you're alive, Wesley... Oh no... Don't tell me..." There was the look of dread on her face. Part of her didn't want to know the truth, and yet... She wanted to know the truth about what happened.

"Just tell me the truth about what happened that day all those years ago." Hazel said.

“Well, that depends,” Wesley explained, “Of course, I survived since I’m here before you. When that combine started up, I really thought I was about to die...but then Jason threw me out of the way of the blades. But in doing so, he lost his grip...” Wesley trailed off, a somber look appearing on her face.

“That incident at the combine...I guess you could call it a linchpin. See, Jason had a lot of trouble building up the courage to try to save me. If I were to push him out of the way first and fall into the combine myself, events would have played out dramatically differently. Perhaps Jason would have grown up, stolen my name, and become a famous actor. Who knows, right?” Wesley chuckled knowingly.

---

As it turns out, Jason's death didn't affect Hazel like Wesley's death did.

"I figured that was the case. I'm sorry you have to witness your friend's death." Hazel simply said, before she started thinking about what she witnessed during the entire game. Then she realized something very important. Something very important about the Blinking Slate. "I think I understand the true nature of the Blinking Slate. Zero knew about it as well. Hmmm... How to explain the Blinking Slate in detail..." She thought deeply about it, before she spoke.

"We all know that the Blinking Slate are said to contains the voices of the dead, right? However, that's exactly what a normal person would assumes. There's actually much more to the Blinking Slate than we already know. Assume this scenario: two people wanted to communicates with each other, but these two people are in two different timelines. Let's label these timelines as Timeline A and Timeline B. Let's assume both timelines have different events that happened. For example, the incident all those years ago... Let's say that Timeline A is the one we're in right now, where you're alive and Jason is dead, and Timeline B is the one where you are dead and Jason lives."

"So, how can the two people communicates with each other? Let's think about this for a bit. What if Timeline A's Blinking Slate acts as a link to Timeline B's Blinking Slate? It would be easier to understand if we think the Blinking Slate were like screens. The Blinking Slates would allows us to see into the other timeline. Like how Iris and I were able to see Jason and the others because of the screen we were using."

Hazel pauses before she looks towards Iris for confirmation before she looks back at Wesley.

"It's the only explanation for what Iris and I witnessed in the game." Hazel finished with a nod.

“Yes, that’s exactly right, Nana!” Wesley said, “Though on their own, the Blinking Slates are only capable of transporting voices. They have to be developed significantly to function as screens as well.

“But anyway, you get the idea. Perhaps you remember how important the Blinking Slate is to my husband and myself?”

---

When Wesley brought up the mention of her husband, Hazel doesn't seem surprised. In fact, she have been meaning to ask about the wedding

"Funny that you say that, Wesley... I was going to ask you about your wedding." Hazel said, before she got to thinking about the implications of the importance of the Blinking Slate was to her great-granddaughter and her husband. "... Oh, that explains why I remember you being alone at the altar. Your husband... is actually in the other timeline."

“Mm-hm! That’s exactly right,” Wesley said cheerfully. “What a perfect day that was! Forrest is such a wonderful man. Even though he wasn’t physically present, I could feel him there with me all the same.”

“Oh, I guess you all knew him as ‘Max’ though...” Wesley added, “That disguise of his was so ridiculous...He really does love to have his fun.”

---

"Max? Ah, so that's where I know him from..." Hazel smiles. "I knew I liked him."

"Anyway, we should probably get you home. It's almost nine and it's pretty cold out here," Wesley says, supporting her great grandmother over to the car, "It was nice meeting you Iris! I hope we can see each other again. Goodbye!"

Iris and Emily wave goodbye and begin to leave.

As the two of them approach the vehicle, Iris freezes and tilts her head.

"Wait a second... do I even have a sister?"

Emily snorts, "No, just you! You and your parents, anyway. We were thinking of going to visit them if that sounds good to you still?"

"Oh so Vivienne was lying, huh," Iris grumbles, a look of realization on her face. "I would love to see Mom and Dad though! I think I'm beginning to remember some stuff and I remember how hard it was to leave them and go all the way out to Hollywood. I'm really glad I met you back then. It would have been really lonely -- and overwhelming. I would have uh... I don't know if I would have made it..."

"Yeah, of course! You do a lot for me too," Emily hugs Iris, and the two of them get into the car.

...

Ember sits at her desk typing furiously at her computer, at least, as far as anyone at the office can tell it's Ember.

She isn't writing an article though, and it's not the Ember that her coworkers know.

No, Ember isn't even writing on driveinstars.com, even if she enjoys chatting about movies, the wounds for her there are still fresh. All of the activity is still probably on movies she doesn't want to think about anymore.

Ember smiles, looking up and down her script. It's packed densely with excellent ideas gathered from throughout her entire life. Each piece of dialogue has been so thoroughly thought over and agonized for her entire lifetime. She has gathered so many memories from throughout her life, and from so many timelines. The script is excellent.

It's nice to have the nonary game activate her ability like this. She's always wondered why she was always blacking out, turns out it was because she would later become very adept at jumping backwards through time. Of course, in her timeline, she already knows how good the movie will be, but she can't help but feel giddy for her previous self.

At the very end of the document, Ember signs it out with a couple of particularly valuable numbers, ones that'll help her fund her movie.

With that, she leaves her own body, proud of her work...

---

Luka plays the recording, suddenly filling the room with a crisp, clear recording of the warbler's birdsong.

It has been a few months since Luka Jepsen started going to Fox Harbor University. Twenty long years after he should have graduated high school, but just as ever he is a very hard worker. Thankfully, without his dad constantly looming over him, Luka feels great about doing the work.

Astrid's lab is pretty nice. Luka works there as an intern, running tests on the warbler's song and all of that.

Nearby, Stella sits, carving ornate patterns into the side of a candle. Of course, she only brings in Cousteau after business hours at her work, and always keeps a close eye on him to make sure he is safe. Luka and Stella still get along pretty well after the game, and they both chat as they sit around the equipment.

Astrid herself is typing up an important document when she hears the recording sound out clear. She gets up and heads over to check out the test set up, noting down another successful trial.

She sits back down, looking thoughtfully at her design for a Symphonic Warbler Rehabilitation Device. She does not expect the project to be lucrative for her in any way, but it does her soul so much good to see herself making progress. She's hopeful for the future.

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Jason's phone rings. He's in the car, making his way back home from The Emissary Game. His head swims with thoughts as he fumbles with the phone.

Vivienne, who had given him her number, is calling him. His stomach lurches, unsure what to do. He knows he isn't ready to have the conversation he's about to have. As much as he wants to make things right, he still needs the time to compose himself and quit feeling so bad.

Jason thinks for a second, but ultimatly picks up the phone.

"Hey Vivienne, I'm so sorry about everything. I mean congratulations, but no amount of money could possibly make up for--"

"Jason, I'm not Iris's sister. You were right about pretty much everything."

"W-what? Do you mean that..." Jason's voice trails off.

"Hey, Jason, it's me. It's Wesley. Wesley Naught of Zero Games fame. So, how are you? Do you have time to talk? Catch up?"

Jason chokes back some tears, "Yeah, uh, hey..."

---

Wesley hangs up her call, which, of course, she had to make through her computer. Her computer has a blinking slate at the very core of it. All the little fiber optic cables blink lights into it, and those signals travel across space and time. It's the same way the whole game has worked.

She wipes her eyes. It's been an emotional day, and speaking with Jason had been a real trip. Hearing from him again, it made her feel so complete. He had saved her, and she never forgot him for it.

She looks over at her chess board where the monitor turns on. There he is, her husband, Forrest Carroll AKA "Maximillion Lauder".

As soon as he sees her, his face lights up, "Leelee! We did it! That was so much fun!"

Forrest and her begin talking about their day over the game of chess, just enjoying one another's company as usual. They discuss how the game went, and all the stress that had been put into it. After a while, the two of them begin to get a little tired.

Suddenly, Forrest asks a question out of the blue...

"Hey, so do you know, uh, what happened with the combine? Why did it turn on, do we really not know?"

His voice sounds a little uncomfortable for a second. It's highly uncharacteristic of his usual carefree and romantic demeanor.

"I just, uh, I had a vision I think, when I was in the sensory deprivation tank, and I saw the combine and you and Jason, and I don't know, I wanted to stop the two of you from climbing on the combine, but I couldn't for some reason. I clearly saw that I was in somebody's body, and I just wonder, was that from the morphogenetic field? If so... does that mean that there really was someone else there?"

Wesley shakes her head, "Don't worry about that. I mean, it's sad that me and Jason died, but there's no real point to worrying about that anymore, okay? It was a freak accident, and as far as I know, nobody else was there. I know you're just worrying about me, but look at me, I'm okay, so don't worry."

Forrest laughs it off, "Of course! Of course I won't worry! I never worry about those types of things! It was just something that you might have wanted to know..."

In Forrest's head though, the mystery person haunts him deeply. Every night he sees the combine from the eyes of the third person, unable to get it to leave his head.

Forrest's love for Wesley is so strong that he would do anything for her. Ever since he was a young boy, he wanted to be a great husband to his eventual wife, so naturally the question of how to stop this unknown figure begins to occupy his spare time. He can't just leave it alone like Wesley told him to...

He can't...

---

Wesley is grateful.

As much as it haunts her, she's glad the accident happened.

It gave her a chance to meet her wonderful husband, which she never would have otherwise met.

She still remembers her grandmother's blinking slate stone falling out of her hand as she gripped the rope above the spinning blades.

When that rock hit the blades at such an angle to create a slice down the direct center, it created a unique rock.

Years later, when she walked behind her house, she found the blinking slate stone still there by the combine. That was the first time she heard Forrest Carroll, as that day he was going for a walk outside of his house too, and he was talking loudly on the phone.

It was weird meeting him that way, but that split rock was there for both him and her, and so they called each other from across the vast distance of time.

Wesley would not have it any other way.