Delayed Reunion

Patience is a Virtue

Somewhere on Jabberwock Island: Hajime

Waiting.

Waiting....

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

That's all I've been doing the last few hours is waiting. The group of 3 came back for a brief moment to check on me, but then went back to trying to examine the rest of the place. It seems they've figured out where we were. I was right... THAT island. The one that we were on in the simulation. Jabberwock Island. But, it's not fake anymore, it's the real deal. There's no bridges, there's a main building, and everything is exactly as it should be. Except..

There was a problem, a huge problem. It seem as though just like in the simulation, there's no person on the island. No BODY. It's like they all up and vanished just like in the simulation. It's had me thinking for a bit. 'If this isn't a simulation, then why is the island still just as empty and abandoned as the simulation? If anything, this should be a safe haven for the survivors of the tragedy, right?'  I took a few seconds pondering this, waiting for the next person to pop out.

But...

All I've been doing since then is waiting.

...

...

That's it, I have to do something.

I got up, and I started looking at the main machine in the middle, there was a lot of weird lights around it, and buttons. I looked around on it, trying to make sense of it, but the only thing I made sense of was the time limit on one of the monitors on the contraption.

"18:21"

It was signifying a time, maybe? But a time for what!? Could it be the time of the day? Which would make it... 6:21? But it doesn't seem so like that time at all, in fact, they said that the moon was already in the sky, and it was probably around 10:00 to midnight. I looked back at the monitor, and my eyes widened.

"18:20"

The time went... down?! But why?? Is there some sort of time limit for the system? If so, what is it counting down to?!

I began looking around frantically, and noticed the words just above the numbers, in smaller text than it should be.

"Shutdown sequence"

What...?

What...?!

WHAT?!!?

I looked at all the pods, and began to get worried. What would happen to them if the whole system shut down with them still in it?? Would they....

Die?

I paused, I could've sworn I didn't say or think anything of the sort, but, it still popped up in my head. Where did that voice come from..? It wasn't mine...

"Agh! Nevermind that! I need to find out how I can get them all out of there, this thing is taking too long!!"

I looked at all of the pods, and there seemed to be about 11 more to open up. Assuming that all the people that died in the simulation can't wake up, then that would leave... Sonia!

I started thinking of a solution, anything that could help them all to get out, but nothing was happening. Why is this damn machine taking so long to wake them up, and why is it that we don't have any kind of security or anything around us?!

I then stopped for a second, then remembered what happened at the end of the Simulation, just before I woke up. "Naegi... Kirigiri.." where are they?? Shouldn't they have been here?! I started getting delirious, what if this was all a trap, and they're just waiting for us all to wake up, so that they can take us all into custody?? What if they were against us the entire time?! Or maybe.. something happened to them in which they couldn't stick around..

I tried to calm myself down, then looked down at the monitor again. It seems that there are 18 hours and 20 minutes until shutdown.

*click*

Uh... 19 minutes.

I backed away, and turned to the wall, leaning up against it with my head in total agony and despair. But there was a small piece of hope that I was holding onto, that one bit that maybe everything would be alright in the end.

'If you just do it... things will turn out ok!'

'Huh?'

Just at that moment, I heard the decompression sound, and turned around. There it is... someone's waking up!!
I rushed over to the pod in a frantic state, looked in and felt.. happy.

There Sonia was, eyes still closed, but alive, and recovering.

We'll be fine.. we have to be.