Airy sleeps for about 12 hours. Which is funny, because he wasn't even really that tired. His brain just needed extra time to rest, maybe. He feels groggy when he wakes up, stumbling out of the cabin. It's raining.
Airy meanders over to the pool at the base of the waterfall. There's probably still glass in the sand. The top half of that lantern still rests at the shore, water lapping gently at its rusted surface. Over a decade has passed, and Airy still refuses to touch it. That's a dead body.
Though he won't touch it, he stares at it for a good long while. Raindrops run down its shiny surface. He wonders how that guy is doing. He's probably either sitting vacantly in the waiting room, or gone off running to wherever it is the souls go when they leave the place with the two chairs, or--the most desirable outcome, as far as he's concerned--he's found a new home in a different world.
Airy looks away from the body. He stares instead, into the dark water, raindrops causing its surface to ripple. He stares for a long time at his round, green reflection, but the rain makes it hard to make out his face.
He must have been there for a while, because after a few hours, the rain clears up.
Blinking, Airy comes back to his senses. His leg is sore from sitting so long. It's healed by now, but it still hurts from time to time. Carefully, he stands up, brushing the sand from himself.
Oh right. The competition.
He heads back to the cave, peering down at the planet. He smiles a soft smile. It's good that someone's here to take care of it.
The contestants have spent the past 12 hours trying to sleep under that artificial sun. They have also been talking with each other. Mostly, Naily and Candybar have been talking. Naily managed to get Candybar to actually talk to him, and accept that this is quite real. Meanwhile, Candybar has informed Naily of his knowledge of what this place could be. How long they could be trapped here. They had talked for a long while. Now, they're both trying to sleep.
"Good morning...contestants," says Airy. "I will now be eliminating the chosen contestant in...3...2...1."
With that, the tomato disappears.
Candybar sighs lightly. Guess he's staying here, for now.
"Okay, your next challenge will be...announced in about an hour. I need to go...make it." Airy mumbles into the microphone. He looks down at the little objects on his planet.
One of them is looking right up into the sky. It's the nail.
"Uh...Hey, Airy?" Naily asks. "Can I like...talk to you, real quick?"
"Oh, uh..." Airy leans closer. "Yeah, sure..."
"Like, I don't know how to ask this, without it being weird, so I'll just go ahead and ask it, but...you sound really, familiar? Kind of? And I'm just like...wondering, if..." Owen looks right up into the sky, a look of desperation on his face. "... Is that you, Liam?"
YOU ARE READING
Inheriting the Plane
FanfictionA fic about what happens after the finale, in which Liam remains on Airy's planet and enters a downward spiral that results in him becoming the new Airy.
