Read parts 1 and 2 first...
Ten years later...
Another decade had passed in nearly no time at all. Yvonne looked across to see the new man in patchwork, who was still sat on his chair, and on the other side of him, The Entertainer who was holding himself tightly. The Entertainer still wore his colourful green and orange jester suit, completed by his silly hat, but he was obviously not feeling in a jolly mood at that time.
He turned to Yvonne, and muttered, "It hurts when I'm still here and the time moves fast. I didn't know that..."
Yvonne now noticed that a few small wrinkles had now grown around The Entertainers eyes and cheeks. The usually jolly man was beginning to look frail in the girls eyes.
The door on the side of the room opened, and Eric strolled in. "Hello again," he said to Yvonne and The Entertainer with a slightly forced smile. In place of his beard he now had fair stubble, and a rounder face than Yvonne had seen on him before. He walked into the room towards an empty chair, and patted it thoughtfully. Then he leaned on it's back with both arms, and looked at Yvonne and The Entertainer.
"Been a while, hasn't it?" said Eric, "Can't say I've had much to do since my big day. To say that I'm now bored would be a bit of an understatement, in fact." He left a moment of silence after saying this, evidently hoping that one of his two companions would conjure something of interest.
The Entertainer looked at Eric with fixed eyes. "What will you do? What will you do to me?"
Eric looked at the fool as if he was a bit strange, which was pretty close to the truth anyway. "I've done my job," he said defensively, "and enjoyed it, too! Who doesn't find satisfaction from a good job well done? Very efficient, me." His eyes glazed over a bit now. "Not got much to do now, though."
This answer clearly didn't help The Entertainer to relax, but he was afraid to ask any more questions.
Yvonne couldn't work out what each of the men were thinking. Each seemed troubled, but for very different reasons, and it was obvious that neither could help the other in this state.
After a bit more silence, Eric announced to the room, "Maybe I will find something as I go forwards. Or backwards. It depends on your perspective, I suppose. See you later!" Then he walked over to the door and left the room.
As the door clicked behind him, The Entertainer whimpered quietly, hearing before Yvonne did that the humming sound was beginning again. It grew to be louder than it had ever been before. The room blurred, and the years took flight for the last time.
Ten years later...
The room came back into focus.Yvonne and The Entertainer were still sat on chairs, with the motionless patchwork man still between them. Firgo stood in front of them all. The Entertainer was holding himself again, and said through clenched teeth that it felt like someone had punched him in the gut.
Firgo gave The Entertainer enough space to recover, and then seemed to launch into his plans. He asked The Entertainer to carry the unwoken new man to the other side of the door, so that he was hidden from the room. The fool did so in silence, not quite closing the door behind himself.
Firgo grinned at Yvonne and said in a proud voice, "Today is the day! But then, I suppose, today has been the day for everything," Then he called out to the room in general, "Martha! Martha, my sweet- be here!"
A fold of purple fabric appeared in the room, and swept around to reveal Martha standing facing Firgo. She gave him a kind and genuine smile, but did not step closer to him. She looked as if she wanted to say something to him, but Firgo did not indicate that he had noticed this. Instead, he brought a purple scarf out of a pocket and stepped towards her..
"Please wear this," he said to her, holding it up to her eyes and holding it in place as a blindfold, "I have one final gift to give to you."
Martha looked afraid at this ominous statement, but could not find any words to object, and so stood patiently on the spot, blinded by the fabric, clearly trying, with all her strength, to trust her man.
Firgo called out, "Entertainer, please come back into the room."
The Entertainer came back through the doorway, carrying the unwoken man with him. The Entertainer was not young any more, but he was still strong enough to carry the body to the middle of the room and stand it on the floor, where it stood rigidly upright, facing Firgo and Martha. Having done his job, The Entertainer stepped away to watch the next moments.
Firgo seemed ready to burst with excitement, and wore a huge grin.
He held his breath, and let go of his grip.
The blindfold slowly dropped from Marthas eyes.
Marthas eyes opened, looked straight ahead, and saw the new man. Her eyes widened in wonder and awe. As she gasped with surpise, the man in patchwork drew his own first breath in reaction, opened his own bright, white eyes, and saw Martha. His expression was also one of wonder and awe, but also one of joy. Martha broke into joy also. The woman in her deep purple robe and the man in his colourful patchwork stood staring at each other, longing and amazement in their eyes.
Martha suddenly remembered Firgo beside herself, and turned to him, communicating merely with her face a mixture of confusion, worry, hope, and a question.
Firgo, still smiling, nodded and said, "Go to him."
Martha took a second to believe that she had really heard this, and then ran straight into the arms of the patchwork man. They held each other strongly, and kissed, and looked closely into each others eyes. Happiness shone from both of them, and the rest of the room gave them the silence they needed for this wonderful moment.
Yvonne could see the joy in the moment, but was impatient with all of the confusion that had been building up inside her. She broke the silence with a quiet question. "Who are you?" she asked the man holding Martha in his arms.
The man turned so that he held Martha at his side with one arm, and was facing Yvonne. His smile was warm. "I am the right person to ask a question! I am Answer. I am the Answer. I do not need my identity to be hidden by Martha, because I have completed Martha. Martha is the Mystery. She has been a Mystery with no satisfaction for so long, until now, when she has found her Answer."
Yvonne looked at them both. "You are Answer? And your real name is Mystery?"
"Yes," said Mystery, playing with her purple gown, "I am the Mystery in your story. So it was in my nature to hide things from you, such as who we really are. I am so happy now I have found, for the first time, the Answer!" She kissed him again, but then remembered Firgo, who was standing behind her, and turned to him with concern. "How will you be happy if I leave you?" she asked him.
Firgo was not showing any signs of regret. "I am happy that I have served my purpose. Besides, our relationship was not meant to complete you like the one between yourself and Answer. You were searching for something like a husband. But I was not like your husband- I was more like your father, and it was my pleasure to bring you together with your true romance."
Answer explained to Yvonne, "The true identity of Firgo is Fate. Fate and Mystery are, you could say, related, but Fates purpose was not to leave Mystery unsatisfied. Fate created me to be a match for his Mystery."
"I," said Mystery with playful impatience, "have had to wait for years, without a clue, until I met him. He just gets to wake up when I'm already here. He had it easy!" She winked at Yvonne.
Answer jumped into the air, span, and landed on the ceiling, holding his hands in a familiar 'ta-da' pose. "So now you understand the story. A very simple story, but-" he reached 'up' and kissed Mystery, still on the floor, on her forehead, "even the simplest story can be a beautiful one. And now that everything has been completed, we are at the well known part of the story..."
They all turned as the door opened, and a young, smooth-faced Eric skipped in. His grey suit was clean and tidy, and he had a spring in his step. He beamed at everyone, and looked at each face in the room as if for the first time. Then he settled on Yvonne, walked up to her with a smile and bowed. "Hello," he said in an energetic voice, "I am End."
"End," said Mystery, "for the rest of the story, you will use the name Eric. And don't tell anyone how all of this comes together!"
"OK, then," said End in a voice that could have said "Happy to help."
"End has started life at the end of the story, because he is the end itself," said Answer to Yvonne, "To have a lifespan, he will have to live his life backwords through the rest of the story, and he will be his oldest at the beginning."
End indicated that Yvonne should stand away from one of the chairs, and when she had, he laid his hand on top of the chair. When he did this, it dissappeared. End seemed satisfied with this result, and stepped towards the next chair to continue.
"He is starting to wrap up the story," Answer said to Yvonne. Yvonne nodded at Answer, and watched End perform his vanishing tricks. She noticed that Fate had disappeared again, yet as normal, it felt like he was still somehow around. Then she remembered The Entertainer, who must still be in the room somewhere. She looked around, and saw the old fool cowering in the corner, eyes fixed in fear on End, who was oblivious to such attention.
End had nearly made all of the chairs disappear. Mystery held Answers hand, and pulled him down towards her. He spun and landed lightly back on the floor. Hand in hand, they said goodbye to Yvonne, who said goodbye back, and then they walked over to the door. Mystery reached the door first, and opened it. Answer followed her out, and closed it behind him.
End, having now emptied the room of all furniture, walked over to the door and touched it. The Entertainer let out a small cry as the door and doorway, the only visible means of escape from the room, disappeared. A blank wall was left in their place.
End sighed and said "A job well done, so far. I do like this! This is my purpose, my use, and it's always nice to feel useful!" He beamed at Yvonne.
The Entertainer finally burst. "Don't touch me!" he screamed at End, "Don't! Why? Why does the entertainment have to stop? I don't want to go!" The old fool was shaking in his corner, close to tears.
"What are you talking about?" asked End, "I'm not going to touch you!"
"What?" The Entertainer sniffed, looking confused by this gentle response.
"Mystery has been solved by finding her Answer. Fate has done its job. If you hadn't noticed, I'm a Happy Ending!" He gave a smile to prove the point, "And the thing about happy endings, about all good endings, is that the feeling stays with you even after the story is over. The entertainment goes beyond the end. A story," End turned to smile Yvonne, with a sparkle in his eyes, "lasts longer than itself."
The Entertainer looked at him, and then broke in relief. "Of course!" he said, finally smiling again, "Of course, how could I not have known that? Happens all the time! Haha!" He stood up straight and shook his head just to make his hat bells jingle. Then he stepped out of his corner and patted Yvonne on the back. "You might not see me, then, but I'll be around!" he said with a smile. Then he stepped backwards so that he was behind the young girl. A moment after that, Yvonne knew that just like Fate, he was no longer there. Yet in another way, he was.
Only Yvonne and End stood in the room now.
"So," said End, "that's pretty much all of us. I hope you've been entertained, Yvonne?"
Yvonne nodded, "Yes, thank you." She noticed that the walls, ceiling and floor had faded to darkness.
"Then," said End, standing in front of the little girl in nothing but the empty space that they started with, "It is time for you to wake up..."
End placed his hands on Yvonne' shoulders, inhaled, and breathed out slowly onto Yvonne's face...
See another fantasy story...
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