We’ve studied before loneliness, and the many forms it takes, as observed on the small server known as Last Life. Let us study also the following, however, to understand the picture in full:
1. “He’s not awake yet,” Grian says to Joel. “That idiot. He missed everything.” The three of them are curled up next to each other. It’s warm. There may be blood on Grian’s hands, but it’s warm here, for the moment. He can’t forget that. It’s warm, right here.
2. Tango hangs up Skizz’s shield and leans against the wall. He does not hear the ghosts arguing over him. He doesn’t need to in order to know they’re there. Team ITS, together at last, one way or another. He laughs at a joke they haven’t told, but he knows they’re laughing too.
3. (BigB is still reeling, but he sits at the entrance to the Rocktopus and listens too. He’s not sure what Tango’s hearing or who he’s talking to, but it’s better than hearing no one’s voice at all.)
4. Etho says: “He’s gone.” Scott says: “I know.” The two of them stare at the campfire they’ve built for the night, seeing different things. They are next to each other as Scott turns a ring on one finger and Etho plays with a blackened rose.
5. Pearl watches them. There’s quiet guilt on her face, but she hasn’t left Scott behind yet, so she won’t now. She wonders if they’ll mourn when she’s gone, too. At her back, Martyn watched Ren, thinking the same thing, and wondering the same awful hypothetical. They aren’t aware of each other, mirrors in some terrible, lovely way.
6. From somewhere else: “See, Jimmy? I knew they’d do fine without us. We shouldn’t worry too much over them, okay? We can wait here together.”
7. Cleo takes Ren’s hand. Ren squeezes it once. Cleo puts it down again. That’s all the communication they need.
Observe: none of these are loneliness. Certainly, you can find loneliness in all of them. But none of these are loneliness, for all that this world encourages it. What they are is simply…
8. A soft whisper from the dreaming dead: “Oh. He loves me.”
(That.)